Really interesting reading everyone's experiences, although it seems like most FT'ers have an entrepreneurial streak a mile wide. I especially like MarathonMan's childhood anecdotes as they remind me of stuff I used to do.

I used to one of those kids that would bring those fund-raiser chocolate bars to school... looking at how much money I'd raise during these fundraisers, I figured, "Why not just sell your own candy bars and pocket the profit?" As a 5th grader I was pulling in $200 weekly (straight cash!) after all expenses, but soon got shut down by the principal for "overexcessive fund-raising". Apparently, the student store was not pleased with the new competition... although all the girls at school were impressed by my rad hypercolor T-shirts and my collection of limited edition Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lunchboxes. (Dating myself, I know)

In university, I quickly realized the joys of being a middleman: bought cigarette cartons from bonded warehouses overseas for $18 and sold them for $4 a pack from my dorm room. Stopped when I had people knocking on my door at 3AM asking me for smokes. Then got chummy with a bunch of Malaysian exchange students and helped set up a textbook business. Unbelievable how $130 calculus textbooks in the US cost $20 in Malaysia/Singapore.

My wife and I have always enjoyed traveling, and although we're pretty young, we've been through Asia and Europe pretty extensively, but always on coach and without harnessing any hotel rewards programs. It was only until our most recent economy flight to HKG - where I developed a crick in my neck for three days - that I declared to the Mrs. that we would only travel in Business from then on.

From there it was the 75,000 mile Aadvantage signup bonuses (2x each), getting familiar with the blogs and of course FT... we're definitely new to the game, but we've already set up a trip to Tokyo with miles from the Aadvantage sign up bonus miles and four nights stay at the Park Hyatt with the Hyatt card's bonus, so I'd like to think we're on the right path.

Thanks to all of the FT'ers that unselfishly share their experiences and tips here. I'm lucky to be able to benefit from all of your knowledge.