Photographer Edweard Muybridge tried and failed at all sorts of other occupations before hitting upon photography.
One (unlikely) one was as a financial expert (he had zero background) in England. At one point he set up two sham companies, hoping to take advantage
of the then-bubble in Turkish investments in the wake of the fall of the Ottoman Empire. "The Ottoman Company" was an investment company, intended to raise money
by selling shares; the money could then be lent out by a banking company he also set up. He had handsome engraved shares printed up
(by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co.) . . . they features an Arab in a turban with a camel, despite the fact that there were no camels in Turkey at the time.