I ran into a guy the other day who makes his living as a real-life treasure hunter. Yes, I’m serious. His name was Steve, and he told me that he got started in the “business” when his dad bought him a metal detector for his 12th birthday. He began by searching for “treasures” such as loose change, watches, jewelry and such at the beach near his home in eastern Virginia. Then, before he even realized it, he was making almost as much each week as his dad made on his job selling cars at a local dealership. Not bad for someone who wasn’t even a teenager yet!
As he became more and more skilled with his metal detector, Steve branched out to other venues such as high school sports stadiums, parks, and hiking trails. Since he was still a long way from being old enough to drive, he would pay his uncle to drive him to “work” and back every day after school and on most weekends. And even after paying for the rides his profits were often in the low 3 figures per week!
By the time Steve was old enough to drive himself to “work” he was averaging around $600 per week in profits. Today he is 27 years old, and he has never worked as much as a day on a public job. He literally hunts lost treasure for a living, and he makes a pretty good living at it indeed. And to think it all started with a $300 metal detector that he received as a gift. Now he is a master at profiting from the carelessness of others. He does go about it in an ethical manner though. On those rare occasions when he finds a valuable object that can be traced back to its owner, he makes every attempt to return it.
As a kid I used to daydream about finding lost treasure just like the treasure hunters in the old movies and cartoons that I watched on TV. While I seriously doubt that I could ever become as successful as Steve, I just might buy a metal detector of my own some day and give it a try!