Probably not the story you were looking for but might be the story you never knew you needed. We could get into personal stories into who influenced me but I'm not sure I want that on the blockchain yet.

I once was at a coop style antique store and I came across a booth and the seller had a bunch of hockey cards including a $800 Gretzky rookie card. He just happened to be in and we discussed a bit and learned a lot of the cards were from his own collection he accumulated hoping they would rise in value since his childhood and now he was making a retirement living selling his cards. The thought sat on my mind for a while, the whole thing sounded ridiculous at best but he was happy and it appeared to be working. Proof is in the puddin right? So I started analyzing players since that ship as sailed for the great gretzky or Sidney Crosby but surely another great would rise up because I aspired to be that asshole to turn a cardboard piece of paper into a fortune just for holding on ( I will be happy if that fortune is an ounce of gold).

That player I selected almost a decade ago based on my experience at the market was Alex Ovetchkin having bought the card when he was a semi nobody a long time ago, I paid $60 for it. I was informed today it is now selling on ebay for $2500 cad and climbing. The funnier part, @silvergingerman got jealous bitch syndrome and bought the card for cheap too way back when and now we both have one and we both are that asshole. That blew my mind today.

The real moral of the story, What I learned from that fellow, that finding undervalued items or products and hanging on to them for the right time can be lucrative so I have done that in various ways in my life to diversify in creative ways and just wait for it's moment to shine because it can be worth the wait.