This story is part of CNBC Make It's Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they've used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.
When Blake Martinez was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 2016, he didn't foresee leaving the NFL to sell Pokémon cards.
Yet after six-plus seasons as a prolific NFL linebacker, Martinez retired in November 2022 to focus on his side hustle, a company called Blake's Breaks. There, he buys and resells Pokémon cards — a habit the lifelong Charizard fan picked up in 2020, when he noticed cards selling for thousands of dollars on resale platforms like Whatnot and Mercari.
Already an investor in Whatnot, Martinez decided to try it, buying boxes of cards on eBay — some costing upward of $30,000 — and auctioning the individual cards on live streams. Some sold for as little as $5. One fetched $672,000.
In July 2022, Martinez officially created Blake's Breaks, running it as a side hustle. Within months, he projected its annual profit to exceed his yearly NFL earnings, he says — so he left the league to put up to 80 hours per week into the business.
Since its launch, Blake's Breaks has brought in more than $8.3 million in revenue, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Martinez, 29, declined to provide profit figures, but says 25% of them get reinvested back into the company.
Today, about 60 people work for Blake's Breaks. Most of them are streamers — people who open and auction items on live streams — hawking everything from Pokémon cards to vintage purses. Martinez says he wants to teach them to sell, so they can create their own lucrative streaming businesses.
Here, he discusses why he wants to train his future competitors — and how, without any prior experience, he grew his side hustle from a solo operation into a thriving business.
CNBC Make It: What was the hardest part of growing Blake's Breaks from a single person's side hustle into a full-time, 80-hour-per-week business with employees?
Martinez: When I was [reselling cards] on my own, I learned a lot about business — how to scale, how to hire, how to fire — from a friend of mine who owns three restaurants in New York. Selling food and selling Pokémon cards is obviously different, but they both depend on culture.
I learned you have to believe in the culture you've built. Don't get caught up in greed. If you're focusing more on money than the quality of the product [or service], or try to take shortcuts, people are going to notice that, and it'll affect the business.
We want to connect with people and have fun. [We're] also understanding that even if you mess up, you're capable of turning opportunities into something for yourself, or other people. I kept sticking to that foundation, and the right people started showing up.
I tell my team all the time, "I don't care if you make me $1 million or $1. You have to abide by our concept of culture."
How do you recognize the "right people" when you're interviewing them?
With football, you have a record of your performance. You've got your high school before you get recruited for college, your college tapes before you get drafted.
When you're hiring streamers, it takes trial and error. Some people have never done it before, but you talk to them and can feel their energy.
We have people go through three rounds of interviews. I talk to them last. I start to turn my head when I find someone who knows how to build a community, like on YouTube, or just knows how to hold a room and connect with people.
At that point, I'll say, "Let's give this person $5,000 worth of product and see what they can do."
You've said your goal is to teach employees enough for them to leave Blake's Breaks and launch their own lucrative businesses — even ones that compete with you. Why?
Growing up in football, I never really got ownership. I had coaches say, "Hey, go tackle that guy. Go hit that guy. Make me look good." I resonated more with the coaches who made me feel like I was part of something.
I believe my job is to allow people who don't have the opportunities to succeed to succeed. I want them to gain more skills, like a Swiss Army Knife. When people take advantage of that, like, the sky's the limit.
When they're successful here, they're building communication skills, growing their connections for their personal careers and learning every single aspect that goes into business. That makes Blake's Breaks more successful, too. If they're growing out their business, it keeps expanding our reach.
Just last week, I told everyone, "This isn't about making Blake's Breaks money. Every time you turn on a live [stream], that is your show. You are your own boss. You are making possibilities and opportunities for yourself every single second."
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