Value Added: A small niche in collectible coins grows into a $5 million mini-empire

The 100 coins sold out in less than three hours; Morin turned a $6.50 profit before shipping on each $10 sale.

"The demand was so high that I called the manufacturer that day and ordered 500 more," he said. The 500 sold out in three days, too. This time, the total profit was $2,500.

"I started to realize . . . there's some money to be made in this business," Morin said.

The burgeoning coin business outgrew his barracks at Camp Lejeune, so he recruited his mother to help from her basement in Stafford. He paid her 75 cents to address and mail each envelope. He also learned another important lesson: The $3.95 "shipping fee" he charged customers covered both the postage and most of the cost of each coin, adding to his profit.

The Ohio woman gave him an idea: Why not make custom coins for fathers, brothers, sisters and every other niche having to do with the Marines, from cooks to sharpshooters to infantry grunts? Soon, Morin sold coins that had meaning for every recruit who came through the Corps, expanding his potential customer base into the millions.

He found manufacturers that would make them for lower and lower prices, eventually finding a Chinese company that charged him 90 cents each.

By the middle of 2003, Morin had left the Marine Corps and was selling $15,000 of coins a month.

Then he bought a book that taught him how to advertise on Google using key advertising words like "custom coins" and "military challenge coins."

"We had orders pouring in," he said. "I had to hire customer service reps."

Within days, he got a call from Target, the retail giant, which led to a contract for 50,000 coins for a "Star Wars" movie premiere the retailer was sponsoring. Morin beat his suppliers down on prices, eventually paying 60 cents per coin and selling them to Target for $1.35. He pocketed around $35,000 on the deal.

Morin was 22.

In the past five years, Morin has expanded his coin business beyond the Marines to include other service branches, weddings, sports teams, and corporations such as Starbucks, Delta Air Lines and United Parcel Service. He hired a Web designer to jazz up the online site. He changed his company name from Marine Corps Coins to Coins for Anything and has expanded into trophies, pins and lanyards (the neck straps to which security badges or credentials are attached).

The enterprise now encompasses five companies that will generate around $5 million in revenue this year, with the coins and trophies representing the vast majority. His costs include $2.5 million for the products, $500,000 in payroll for 16 employees, and about $7,000 a month in rent on a 4,000-square-foot headquarters in a Stafford office park. He pays Google around $1 million a year.

I estimate that Morin's companies earn a net profit of around $1 million; he didn't deny that estimate. He is rolling most of that profit back into his enterprises. A competitor offered to buy the coin company for $4 million a couple of years back.

"I'm a serial entrepreneur," he said. "I get a high on taking an idea and starting new companies."

Next up: He and a buddy are partnering in the T-shirt business.

Reach me on Twitter at addedvalueth.