Retail success: Pearl Paradise

Here's an excellent entrepreneurial success story from the Wall Street Journal: Jeremy Shepherd was a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines on a layover in Beijing. He bought a set of freshwater pearl jewelry at a local market -- earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace -- for $20 and later learned was worth $600 in the U.S. Jeremy was in business. Nine years later PearlParadise.com, offering a wide line of jewelry from the popular akoya pearls to the more exotic Tahitian and South Sea varieties. Shepherd had $5 million in sales last year, supplying the jewelry to 13 other Web sites that sell pearls around the globe.

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