20 years ago
2006. Tallahassee, FL.
I bet $1,200 on a Ghost in China to start my first venture.
20, in my first apartment, scrolling a shady website filled with perfect-looking sneakers. No contact info, just a cart. I selected a few Jordan releases, wired cash via Western Union, and waited.
No confirmation. No tracking number. Just faith in a loophole I’d discovered: the space between a warehouse in Guangzhou and a buyer on Ebay.

When the boxes arrived, I listed them on eBay. They sold fast. Then the feedback hit: “FAKE.” “NOT REAL.”
The venture lasted weeks. The lesson has lasted 20 years:
You can’t build on borrowed trust.
Every project since has been about creating real foundations. Focusing on truth, not just product.
The shoes are gone. The website vanished. The lesson remains: build things that hold weight.
