Schliemann decided to look for Troy, having reached the age of 50 and made himself quite wealthy through various businesses (including the slave trade) and erudite through independent study.
He started looking for Troy in an entirely wrong place, a natural hill with a naturally flat top, further inland, and found nothing. He was ready to give up on it and head home but encountered Frank Calvert, who had already dug test trenches at Hissarlik and found stuff.
Schliemann also was about to buy the land where the Palace of Knossos was buried. He called off the deal because the seller tried to cheat him on the number of olive trees on the property.
Unknown to the land owner, Schliemann had actually counted them.