Here’s an interesting story on money.cnn.com about entrepreneur Jimmy Brown, owner of the Guitar Emporium in Louisville, Kentucky.

Still a teen, [Jimmy Brown] had a pretty savvy business plan: After he acquired a few quality guitars that could fetch several thousand dollars, his mother would drive him to concert halls during sound check. He’d knock on the loading dock entrance and ask to show his wares to the road manager; more often than not he’d get invited backstage to sell his instruments to such guitar gods as Keith Richards (a pair of Gibson acoustics: a 1940s L-5 Archtop and an L-1 flattop from the ’20s), Eric Clapton (a 1959 Epiphone Coronet electric) and Pete Townshend (a 1960s Epiphone Texan flattop acoustic).

“I’ve been in business since 1975,” he says. “You name them, I probably met them.”

That same year Brown became a partner at Guitar Emporium, which a friend had recently opened. Instead of injecting capital, he provided the inventory and customers. A year later he borrowed money from his father and bought his partner out. He played nights in a band, worked days at the store and attended the University of Louisville in between. By the late ’70s the business was thriving, but Brown admits he nearly lost it all because of his “rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.”