Antiques have always been part of Tom Johnson's adult life, and the President of the antiques marketplace Ruby Lane is surrounded by them and lives happily with them. "My home in Naples, Florida is filled with antiques that give it a 50s-60s decor," he says. "My 1906 flat in San Francisco has very eclectic antiques and vintage furnishings. My office is full of vintage stuff. It's one of the great things about my work - I can combine my interest in technology with passion for antiques."

Even in a down economy, antiques still attract avid collectors. Ruby Lane has seen steady and even slightly increasing sales in recent years. "There is some sense of security with buying antique and vintage items," says Johnson. "They remind you of better times, something you had in your childhood. If you can find it and buy it is comforting. I think the antiques and collectibles area will survive this downturn."

Johnson has even helped the site keep up with environmental concerns: a current promotion on the Ruby Lane's home page touts antiques as a "green" product because buying them is essentially recycling rather than causing new products to be manufactured.

Johnson, 45, studied computer science and piano performance in college - two fields that share a mathematical basis. He worked for IBM for several years until, in 1998, he decided to strike out on his own.

"I wasn't getting enough out of what I was doing," he recalls. "I wanted to combine something hot - which was the Internet - with something I like to do, which was antiquing."

Starting with two laptops, one server and no venture capital, Johnson and a business partner "knocked out" Ruby Lane in nine months in 1997. "We built our own computers. We were completely organic and self-funded," says Johnson. "We quit our jobs and worked as hard as we could to make a business we were proud of."

Since it first went online in 1998, Ruby Lane has become one of the leading online marketplaces for antiques and collectibles. Over the years it has added such features as Monthly Finds, a Quality Assurance Program, a Live Help service, and a blog called Notes From the Lane. Recently, Ruby Lane has streamlined its search feature. The site also organized the 360,000 collectible items offered by its 2,000 virtual shop owners into a set of "lanes" such as the Doll Lane (which has nearly 14,000 items), Glass Lane (28,000 collectibles), and Antiques, Vintage Collectibles, Fine Art, Silver, Books, Porcelain, and more. Ruby Lane attracts 1.3 million unique visitors each month.

Over the years, that growth has presented many challenges. "The huge challenge is the Internet itself," says Johnson. "When we started, nobody knew how to make it work and how to make money from it. The Internet is constantly evolving, with new things such as online communities like Facebook and Twitter."

In keeping with the World Wide nature of the World Wide Web, Ruby Lane's staff are also over the globe: its tech staff is in Malaysia and the Philippines, customer service staff in the UK; and other employees across the U.S. with headquarters in San Francisco.

These days, Johnson still enjoys going to flea markets and estate sales. That keeps him going, as well as owning his company, working with his team, and making the sales process easier for Ruby Lane's shop owners.

"When I mention that I'm with Ruby Lane, nine times out of 10, people have heard of it," he says. "It's a great thing that I can work at something I am really passionate about."

Ruby Lane has some nice shopping features, including the ability to find sellers by location, a Monthly Finds feature, and Todays Arrivals. You can review the site's "Knowledge Base" here.

Information about selling on RubyLane.com can be found here. There is a one-time set up fee, monthly fees for advertising, one-time listing fees and variable monthly maintenance fees, see details on this page.