Back in the 1990s, while working as a flight attendant, Jeremy Shepard made an impulsive purchase

that would change the course of his life.

I was on layover in China, and there is a market there, the Hong Tao Shirtang in Beijing.

It's a market where flight attendants used to go to buy anything from knockoff

purses to clothing. There was an entire floor of pearls. And not knowing anything about jewelry or

really being much of a shopper, I went to buy a strand of pearls for my girlfriend back home.

Long story short, the pearls were appraised at about $600,

and I think I had paid about $25 for it.

Shepard sensed an opportunity,

and on his next flight to China, he decided to go all in.

I cashed my paycheck.

I went to the bank.

I took all the cash I could out of my credit cards.

And I had another flight attendant friend of mine write a letter in Chinese to the same person that I had purchased the first strand from.

And it said, I want to buy exactly what I bought last time, as many of them as I can.

And I went home with about $3,000 of pearls in my bag.

He sold all of these pearls on eBay, more than doubling his investment.

And so began his second career as a pearl entrepreneur.

I started importing pearls on layovers, and on my days off, I went on the jump seat and flew to China,

stayed at the crew hotel, collected pearls, and I brought back suitcases of pearls every month.

Within a couple of months, you know, my pearl business was outpacing the

flight attendant job significantly. Today, Shepard is the CEO of Pearl Paradise.com, a large online

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