How this 48-year-old went from getting laid off to making $1 million a year

www.cnbc.com

by: Zack Guzman

104123627-sites-default-files-images-104056656-cnbc-mary-stevens_slot-mods_david-beattie_160614-600x400

Laid off at 48, David Beattie of Slot Mods rebounded by making $300,000 miniature race tracks. Nice article about a slot car racing success story on CNBC.

At the peak of the financial crisis, David Beattie was living the same nightmare haunting millions of Americans: He had been laid off late in his career. Unable to find work, he wasn’t sure where to turn.

“Losing your job when you’re up in age, when you’re 48 years old, it’s a very scary feeling,” Beattie says. But rather than giving in to fear and taking another unsatisfying job, he turned to a childhood escape that would eventually become his million-dollar passion project: Slot cars.

 As the youngest in his family growing up, his many older brothers let him play with their replica slot car tracks, but it wasn’t until his job as a manager at a printing company ended in a layoff that he rediscovered the hobby. Friends visited his Detroit basement to race as he started designing a few tracks himself with the extra time, even selling a couple here and there.
104123599-sites-default-files-images-104065382-beattie_3-600x400
David Beattie (center) and employees test a replica track at Slot Mods headquarters in Charter Township of Clinton, Michigan.

“I wasn’t making really any profit out of it. I was just enjoying that there was other people enjoying the hobby along with me,” he says. “Out of fear can come a lot of creativity, and you’ve got to be open to those vibes that are coming through.”

Watch Full Interview

Read full article here: How this 48-year-old went from getting laid off to making $1 million a year