Collectibles & Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship all begins with an idea, a passion, a longing, a need, that compels you to create something new. For Justin - it was his lifelong passion for making people genuinely happy, a longing for a community to belong to, and his desire to enjoy some of the simplicities of life. These immutable forces drove him to found The Otaku Card Shop, right in the city center of Portland, OR. With the wild resurgence of Pokemon Trading Cards, people who enjoyed all those two decades ago starting coming back into the fold, as well as a whole new generation of children discovering the Pokemon universe for the first time. Whether it was creating exciting core experience for kids, or diving back into old childhood memories for adults, Justin always delivered unrivaled service.
Summer Reading Program
For two years in a row, Justin created and ran a Summer reading program for children ages 12 and under. The program consisted of a board game they received, then every week they would read a book and come in to tell us about it. In addition, they also had to tell us what the most important thing they learned was. After being able to talk about the book, they got prizes that started off with 10 free cards and got better each week, all the way up to an exciting raffle for a $100 box! However, they had to make a book report and read it out to get a raffle ticket. Parents and kids alike loved the program, bringing people all over the city to participate.
In addition to running the physical card shop, Justin created a Whatnot channel to stream Pokemon cards on. Starting off very modestly, he found a few followers who liked him and enjoyed watching his upbeat antics and solid playlists of music. In under two years, Justin managed to grow his stream of just a few followers and a handful of reviews, to 3000 followers and an incredible 663 '5-star' reviews. Whether it's auctioning off individual cards for the exciting starting price of a $1, or opening packs and getting awesome cards with remarkable art for people around the states, Justin does it with true showmanship. Click on the Whatnot logo picture above to check out the card shop profile!
