JOEL BOBLIT

Net Worth: $2.1 million

Joel Boblit, 29, is founder of the BigBadToyStore.com in 1999. He sold action figures as a hobby for extra money while he was in school. With the help of his parents, he was able to turn it into a thriving business. BigBadToyStore caters to specialty toy buyers with vintage favorites like Star Wars figurines and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as comic- and movie-related items. His projected 2005 sales were more than $4 million.

Joel Boblit parlayed nostalgia for his childhood toys into big-time business when he discovered how much Transformers–robot action figures whose popularity has continued since the 1980s–were being sold for online. He launched BigBadToyStore.com in 1999 shortly after graduating college, while he was reliving fond memories of trading his favorite childhood toys–GI Joe, Masters of the Universe and Transformers.

They went heavily into debt to finance the business, and worked 100-plus-hour weeks alongside him for BigBadToyStore.

Housing his inventory at one point, his parents had to create aisles in their home to navigate around the ceiling-high boxes. Says Boblit, “They have been instrumental throughout all this and worked just as hard as I did to keep it all together during the tough early years.

” BigBadToyStore caters to specialty toy buyers with vintage favorites like Star Wars figurines and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The biggest challenge in those early days? Boblit admits: “Being teased by my friends.”