A man who quit his day job to pursue a nostalgic side hustle says he generated £2.4 million in turnover in the past year and urges others not to "get stuck in their nine to five".
Aaron Pearce, 38, originally from Suffolk and now living in Essex, said he has "always been interested in" collectables such as Pokemon cards, football stickers and cards dating back to his childhood in the 1990s. After graduating in his early twenties, he worked his "way up" through the fitness and leisure sector, eventually becoming an area manager overseeing multiple gyms.
From Spare Room to Full-Time Business
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, Aaron said his industry "completely shut down", allowing him to explore reselling as a side hustle, including trainers, clothes and football cards. Football cards proved most successful, and he used social media like Instagram to network with collectors and trade cards he sold for up to £20 each.
However, it was his discovery of a live shopping marketplace website in 2023 that transformed his enterprise from a spare-room pastime into a full-time job by March 2025, complete with dedicated office premises and a team of seven. Instead of trading individual cards, Aaron established a niche by opening cases during livestreams and selling spots to participants.
He can purchase boxes of cards for £400 or complete cases containing 12 boxes for £4,800, with each box holding 150 cards. A Liverpool FC fan might purchase a £100 "spot" on a livestreamed case opening, entitling them to all the Liverpool cards that emerge. The number of spots varies, though he cited one evening in July that attracted 340 filled spaces.
Revenue Growth and Big Hits
Aaron generated almost £700,000 in revenue during his first full year (July 2023 to 2024), rising to £1.2 million in his second year, and reaching £2.4 million in the last year. He said: "One of the biggest cards we've had is a Lamine Yamal rookie card, which was a one of one, meaning there's only one of them in the world. Someone bought that spot in a case break for about £15 to £20... the card itself now is probably worth over £100,000. It's a crazy feeling."
He added: "Because we open so much product, we're very lucky with quite a lot of big hits, which could change quite a lot of people's lives."
Aaron remembers collecting albums of football stickers with his father as a child, but said they got "lost along the way" into adulthood. After graduating with a degree in sports and exercise science, he "progressed into the personal trainer world" and worked his way up from sales to reception to various levels of management.
Taking the Leap
Over the years, Aaron tried reselling trainers and clothes as side hustles, but they "fizzled over time" due to "demand dying down", so he looked into football cards. Initially a hobby, he progressed to buying and selling individual cards ranging from £5 to £20, making small profits. At the start of 2023, a friend suggested he try opening packets of football cards in livestreams, and he was immediately "very interested".
He researched and found the live shopping marketplace Whatnot, so he decided to make a "heavy investment" and take a risk by dipping into his savings from his fitness job to buy a £4,800 case of football cards. He would then sell spots to collectors via his account, Baller Breaks UK. Aaron said: "I was definitely nervous at the time, but I was excited too. It was a product that I would have never been able to open up myself because I wouldn't have been able to afford it. But at the same time, I realised that it was a very good business opportunity and if that went well, it would set us up for the future, which it did."
Aaron made £6,324 in revenue during that first livestream. In the early days, he would come home from his day job and do livestreams in his spare room from 9pm until as late as 2am, to an average of 20 to 40 viewers. He said: "Across a two-and-a-half year period, I think I had 10 days off from streaming. So it was really just driving the consistency."
Scaling Up and Future Plans
Now, having moved into a new house with a separate outdoor office space for business and stock storage in the summer of 2025, Aaron can do three livestreams a day and said he could have a case of cards worth £10,000 "come in one day" and by the end of the day, it had "already been turned over". To help upscale, he has hired a packaging team, an operations manager, and additional livestreamers so he can "become a bit more hands off and manage the business".
The growth meant Aaron could give up his full-time job in personal training in March 2025, having more time to network at international card shows. He said: "It just came to a point where it didn't make sense to continue the full-time job day to day. We had an unlimited potential earning in this side hustle and it was a no-brainer."
He feels "very proud" of how far he has come, especially when he helps secure rare cards for customers, like when two people paid £10 each for a spot last year and got a dual autograph card of Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho, which they sold for £35,000 at auction. Depending on securing enough stock from wholesalers, Aaron hopes to get to a point where the business is livestreaming 24 hours a day, seven days a week to global audiences.
Looking back, he said: "A lot of people get stuck in their nine to five, but they have a passion that they want to follow. I think it's important to try and pursue that. If you've got something that you really enjoy and you can put your full focus into that, you can grow something that's going to change your life."
