219: Joe Brewer, Serial Hobbiest and Arcade Collector
So Money with Farnoosh Torabi
Farnoosh Torabi
4.7 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2015
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s guest proves that some people can transform a quirky hobby into a profitable business.Joe Brewer reached out to me with his story a few weeks ago. His quirky hobby is arcade and pinball repairs and restoration. Salvaging an old, abadoned Ms. Pac Man arcade machine turned into a hobby of restoring vintage arcade and pinball machines which were found through Craigslist, online forums, or simply word of mouth.Joe has such a passion for this that he even has a full-blown arcade – Brewer's Arcade, it’s called - in his home that you can actually visit. It’s open to the public a couple times per year.To date, he’s made a profit flipping games that he has restored and then sold and makes extra income running a YouTube channel, Brewers Arcade, which specializes in left handed guitars and you guessed it, arcade games!A little financial background on Joe - He and his wife live an anti-debt and fairly frugal lifestyle – their only debt is a mortgage where they make extra payments when possible. They both live within 2 miles of their jobs and save money by either walking or biking to work. Joe was even able to start a program at his office that pays employees a small stipend to take alternative transportation to work.Joe and his wife’s lifestyle are an example of how you can find unique ways to make extra cash to pay down debt and hopefully, retire at an early age.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So Money episode 219, Joe Brewer. |
| 0:04.8 | You're listening to So Money |
| 0:06.3 | with award-winning Money Guru Farno Shorabi. |
| 0:09.3 | Each day get a 30 minute dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business minds, authors, influencers, and from Farnus yourself. |
| 0:18.0 | Looking for ways to save on gas or double your double coupons? |
| 0:22.0 | Sorry, you're in the wrong place. |
| 0:24.0 | Seeking profound ways to live a richer, happier life. |
| 0:28.0 | Welcome to So Money. |
| 0:30.0 | Hey, welcome back to So Money, everyone. Thanks for joining me again. I really appreciate |
| 0:38.5 | your consistency coming back and back and back and back. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into with a daily |
| 0:44.8 | podcast and just happy to know that I've got some consistent listeners and if you're just |
| 0:49.4 | joining us for the first time or you're not really a consistent listener still love you still |
| 0:53.4 | appreciate you welcome to the show I'm your host Farnoosh Tarabi a very unique |
| 0:58.6 | guest today this is a guest who may not be the run-of-the-mill so money guest, although he did reach out to me with a very, very interesting |
| 1:08.1 | personal story and I thought, wow, I really want to learn more from him and I think listeners would |
| 1:12.1 | also like to learn more about how he is turning a hobby into a profit. Joe Brewer is our |
| 1:19.8 | guest today. He reached out to me with his story about a month ago and this is Joe he has a |
| 1:25.2 | quirky hobby it's arcade and pinball repairs and restoration it started as a |
| 1:30.7 | project a small project salvaging an old abandoned Ms Pac-Man arcade machine, |
| 1:36.4 | which apparently is very, very rare, turning that into a hobby of restoring vintage arcade and |
| 1:41.3 | pinball machines that he found on Craigslist, online forums, or word of mouth. |
| 1:46.4 | He has such a passion for this that he has now a full-blown arcade, Brewers Arcade, in his home, and you can actually visit it a couple times a year, it's open to the public. |
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