A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Jason Doran Jr.

A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Jason Doran Jr.

A hard-working businessman, Jason Doran Jr., has worked his way to running a business, while also having two other jobs. Doran is an assistant manager at Phantom Fireworks in Highland, Indiana. He also coaches the Portage High School freshman football team, and additionally runs a sports card industry. 

Doran started his business selling sports cards online, knowing that it would be a hard task. He and his business partner, Jr. Beltran, were determined to make it work. They do something that you don’t see very often; they deal in card breaks. They host this event over a live stream on their social media and eventually sell those cards.

“Starting a business in the sports card industry seemed like a hard task to do, but me and Beltran, were determined to have an online business of sports cards in Northwest Indiana. We deal in card breaks, which is something that is relatively newer to the industry. We live stream breaking open boxes of sports cards and then disperse them to consumers who have previously bought spots,” Doran said.

Doran thought that the idea behind card breaks was worth bringing into the card industry and has succeeded in doing so. Consumers are able to get high-end cards that they maybe wouldn’t normally get.

Outside of his online business, Doran coaches the freshman football team for Portage High School. Doran grew up in Portage, having played a multitude of sports. However, football has always been Doran’s favorite, which is why he decided to coach.

“Growing up, I played sports in Portage. I played little league, Pop Warner, and, most importantly, football. I played football throughout high school, and I went on to play during college at Concordia University Chicago. I studied business management and knew that I wanted to own my own business one day. I wanted to coach because I wanted to be able to stay around the sport. I was given the opportunity to coach at Portage,” Doran said.

Doran, who is very sociable, loves the fact that he is able to meet and connect with other people around the community. Whether it be working in Phantom Fireworks, his online business, or the football team, Doran appreciates that he has gotten to meet a lot of new people and individuals.

“Honestly, my favorite part about all of my jobs is the people that I have been able to meet. Whether it has been through Phantom, coaching at Portage, or making connections with other businesses. Being able to build relationships goes a long way, especially in trying to build a business from the ground up,” Doran said.

Other than working, Doran enjoys collecting sports cards, playing video games, and spending time with his girlfriend.

“Collecting sports cards really started when I realized how big of an industry it was. I like to focus on collecting cards of my favorite athletes to watch, like Vladmir Guerrero Jr. Playing Xbox started when I was younger since technology started blooming around then. I love watching TV shows with my girlfriend—it really just helps me ease my stress and helps to be able to focus on something else and let my mind rest,” Doran said.

If you would like to learn more about Doran’s business, you can visit his website, J&J’s Card Breaks.