What Makes TRIKE SPORTS CARDS Different?

[00:00:00]What is up YouTube? Welcome back to the channel. I am here with my good friend and my inspiration for getting into the hobby, Trike Sports Cards.

[00:00:08]Thank you so much for being here. This is This is awesome. Yeah, man. I'm I'm I'm excited and the kind words off the bat. I I really appreciate it. I mean, I love I love what you're doing. You're killing it on YouTube and I I I see the journey going. So, I'm excited to get talking. Dude, I'm I'm like you don't understand how much I appreciate that. A little bit nervous. I don't know if this shows. It's like my first I went on a podcast before, but I was the one, you know, getting interviewed.

[00:00:31]>> Yeah. Less pressure. Much less pressure for me.

[00:00:34]>> It's a different experience. So, I I just got a bunch of questions for you.

[00:00:37]Hopefully, the goal of this would be to help people who are kind of coming in the hobby um and just learn a little bit more about what you do. I know you've done some podcasts before. You kind of explained it, but I want to dive a bit deeper and maybe ask some questions that people haven't in the past.

[00:00:52]So, just starting off, very first off, for people who may not know who you are or who may only know you through your YouTube, who is Trike outside of the scope of cards?

[00:01:01]Ooh, outside. Okay, I like that. Outside of the scope of cards. Um Yeah, I'm I'm man, I'm so programmed.

[00:01:08]I'm so used to like the first question is always like what's your card journey?

[00:01:11]I was ready to get right into it.

[00:01:12]Outside of cards, well, some people may know, some people may not. Like I I played college basketball back in the day. Like basketball was always a big part of my life. Um and I played overseas in the Philippines after school and then I still play.

[00:01:25]That's probably the biggest part of my life for sure outside of cards even now today. Like I play like five times a week. So, um besides that, you know, I guess content creation, but I'm assuming that's like part of cards.

[00:01:37]Yeah, I don't know. I'm just I'm just a normal guy. Like I I do cards and then outside of it, I like to play basketball and travel is something I really like doing. So.

[00:01:44]>> Yeah, I've seen I've seen you've been traveling a lot recently, which is like sick. It's so cool that you can use your your business in this platform to like make your life more fun. You know what I mean?

[00:01:53]For sure. For sure. And that's like with everything. Like I tell people the same thing about basketball. It's like, for sure like be like locked in and like keep the main thing the main thing, but like when you can use something you love and it's kind of like your job to see the world, like that's that's the best thing. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:02:08]So now now now I'm going to give you kind of the more traditional question that you get pretty often. So how what originally got you into sports cards? Not as a kid, but like in this recent Yeah. You started You know what I mean. The recent >> Yeah, for sure. For sure. It was pretty simple. Once again, I'm I'm I'm harping on my life story here again, but I played basketball in college and one of my teammates in college was John Collins who plays for the Clippers now. Um, but yeah, but at the time he was he was kind of like it was only a second year and my buddies actually had been big into the sports card world for a while and I asked them I just wanted to get a card for my collection basically, right? I had heard murmurs they said like, "Oh, you can kind of invest in guys." They had told me how they had made a lot of money on like Jason Tatum back in like 2019 or whatever it was. Um, so then I was like, "Okay, well, if I'm going to get one of his cards, I like I I want to get something good." Then they're like, "Well, you know, okay, so probably prism." I was like, "Okay, prism prism They're like, "There's auto" They started explaining to me all the intricacies of grading and all this stuff and I kind of just got obsessed with it. I was like, "Wow, this is really interesting." So originally I just bought John Collins cards and like Tyler Herro and stuff like that. Um, and then I I I'm never I'm never going to sell John Collins stuff cuz that's my PC, but on Tyler Herro and like Shea at the time, I kind of like was accidentally making money. Like I bought it and I was like, "Oh, I don't really like this card as much. I'm just going to go sell it." But this was during like COVID hype and then I would like 2x my money. I'm like, "Wait a minute. Like what's going on?" And long story short from there I kind of just got more and more into into the cards and the financials of it all and here we are today. That's awesome. And it's got to be sick seeing your boy like on a card himself and really on it. Like Yeah, I can't even imagine. That's dope.

[00:03:50]Yeah, that's that's Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but yeah, that's that's my that's my PC, too. Like I have a couple guys Now they make Euro League cards um of of people like who I played with in college and stuff like that. And that's like still the best feeling. Like it's you get a little numb to um the collecting aspect of it when I'm sure you can even relate at this point. Like you just move through so many cards, but still seeing those makes me like really happy, which is fun. Yeah. So, kind of piggybacking off that first question.

[00:04:16]Yeah. When did the flip When did the When did the When did you flip the switch from like hobby to passion, making this a full-time thing? You don't like from >> Yeah. making your your job. For sure.

[00:04:29]Yeah, there was probably two switches.

[00:04:31]Is like the first was like, "Okay, I'm going to actively try to make money."

[00:04:35]That was still a long time before I went full-time.

[00:04:39]Um I don't really know when that I think Do you know what it was? I think it was my first grading order came back. This was probably still 2020. And like I just kind of saw how powerful that was. And at the time, too, I was kind of like, "Oh, well, I can't afford to just buy whatever cards I want for my collection." I was like, "Okay, if it's like this, like" I don't know. I just felt like I had to figure some things out. I'm like, "All right, let's go for it." Like I was lucky once again. It was during COVID and stuff. I was like, "I have time on my hands. Let's Let's actually try to be a little more active with that." I think that's when I first when I got that PSA return back and I saw what margins could be. Then I'm like, "All right, let's really try to do it." And then full-time, there was kind of like too many switches. First, I I moved back from the Philippines and uh from playing professional basketball.

[00:05:26]And I was like, "All right, well, you know, I kind of went {quote} {unquote} full-time." I was like, "Let me at least" cuz I didn't have a job or anything. I was like, "I'll just spend all my time with cards." But I didn't really think it was ever going to be a career. It was more just a stopgap. Um So, I did that for a year. It was cool.

[00:05:39]It went well, but it wasn't really a full-time living. So, I got a sales job for like a month. And long story short, I just I hated it. I really, really hated it. Um my my parents are very like straight and narrow. They're um they're they were always like pushing me like school and stuff is always first. So, I was really surprised when I was doing my sales job. I was like, "Yeah, I really hate it." And they're like, "Well, weren't you making money with the card stuff?" And I was like, "Yeah, you know, I was doing all right." And they're like, "Well, were you making enough to like sustain yourself?" And I was like, "Yeah, probably not enough to be like I can survive on it. Like it's not great.

[00:06:11]It's not a career." But they're like, "Okay, well, why don't you just try it.

[00:06:13]Give it another try and really go all in and see what happens." And that really shocked me. So, I was I was I was really blessed that they kind of give me gave me that extra confidence to go all in and then that was in 2023 and then since then it's it's grown a ton and it's been great. That's awesome. That's awesome.

[00:06:28]>> Yeah.

[00:06:29]So, just popping in real quick. If you guys are enjoying this interview, make sure to hit that like button and if you're new here, make sure to hit that subscribe button. We're on the road to 3,000 subscribers. We're kind of close, few hundred away. And yeah, I don't want to waste any more time. We'll get right back into the interview.

[00:06:43]And uh sorry, one more thing. In the comments, let me know if you guys like stuff like this. If you want to see more stuff like this. I had a ton of fun filming it. So, yeah. All right. Won't waste any more time. Back into the interview. Peace. Back going back to your old self, how would you compare the old Trike versus today's Trike? Just in terms of Ooh. content in terms of anything.

[00:07:02]Yeah. Um I would say a couple things stand out. I mean, definitely with the content like I mean, I don't mean to hype myself up too much, but like you kind of mentioned at the beginning like I was hella nervous. Like it's just it's tough starting out. You know what I mean? I think I think everyone has said that. Like for me, I I go back and watch my first videos and they're fine, but it's like just the whole tone. It's like a lot slower, like a lot less confident, all that kind of stuff. So, that was a big change and then even in like the past two years, I think I've become much more of a a risk-taker. But I but I think in a good way. Like I I'm so um I'm a anti-risk in general in my life and I was like so scared to lose even if like if I lost like $5 on a card, it would break my heart. It really would.

[00:07:47]Um and I I I think obviously I'm not recommending to people like, "Oh, just go light money on fire." But I would say for for my personality type, one thing I've learned is like, "Okay, if you lose $5, but the next two swings you make let's just keep the numbers simple, 20 and 20, then that would that actually was a worthwhile investment losing that five to go make you those those extra two 20s.

[00:08:11]Um as opposed to like before like it really was and even still I I still need to work on a little bit. It's like almost a pride thing. I'm like, "I will not lose money on any card." And then that's why I kind of stuck with like the dollar bin and stuff for so long is because it is kind of impossible to lose money on that. Versus if you go on the high end, you're going to lose money.

[00:08:28]Like it's going to happen. You can't you don't find 2x margins in the high end for the most part. But I do think that if you really want to scale up, um you [clears throat] do have to take some risk. Once again, people listening, be careful. I'm not advocating to someone start. You should start in out in the value bins in the lower level, but you know, it's it's don't don't be so afraid of taking the occasional loss.

[00:08:49]That's great advice. And that's been one thing that I've actually not pride myself in, but I'm pretty decent at taking L's. Like I I I understand that yeah, it hurts short-term, but in the long run if you're if you're making money on even seven out of 10 cards and you have a decent margin, 10 plus percent, like you're going to be more than fine.

[00:09:11]For sure. For sure. I've I've liked that listening to your videos. Like you you understand the I didn't even I like I feel like I'm pretty good with numbers, but I never understood what's that thing? It's like if you make 10% I think it's seven times, you already double your money. You know? It's the um I I forget what they call it. It's like But yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:30]>> Yeah, but I just never like I never really like thought of it that way.

[00:09:33]You're good at like I'm just going to move it move it quick, keep churning it over. And that's especially at the beginning it's super important.

[00:09:39]>> It might be called the law of 70. Don't quote me on that, but I know what you're talking about.

[00:09:41]>> Okay. Okay, for sure.

[00:09:43]All right, let's go let's go over the business side cuz I have I do have a question cuz you've been through you've been in this hobby a long time relative to most people. I feel like there's a lot of beginners myself like I've only been doing it for 10 months now. I've only seen, you know, the hype bull markets.

[00:09:58]I haven't experienced [clears throat] a bear market. So, how do you how do you survive a bear market in sports cards?

[00:10:04]Yeah, I think in a way like I'm kind of lucky going back to like kind of my journey is I started at the worst time.

[00:10:12]You know what I mean? Like a lot of people actually got burned cuz they went quote unquote full-time during COVID and they're like this is easy. I can I'm making they just were making, you know, I'm making 10,000 a month like I'm just going to do this forever, you know, and and it's easier to do that and uh I I started on hard mode, you know, I was a dealer and the tough thing I was telling someone is like when people try to when people try to sell me cards, I'm like, "Well, it's just going to be I know for a fact these cards are going to be worth less a month or two from now even on good stuff." Like it's crazy to think about now of like, you know, I was buying Messi cards and and it's it was like catching a falling knife. They're going to be worth less next month, you know?

[00:10:48]Um so My dog going crazy. If my roommate should come here.

[00:10:53]No, you're good.

[00:10:55]You dog guy or cat guy?

[00:10:58]Uh I had a I had a cat before. I like dogs as well. I'm I'm I'm I'm a little bit of both. I'm a little bit of both to be honest. Um but yeah, going back to that. Yeah, basically so it was a lot harder, you know, so I think that I was kind of lucky is like I kind of started on hard mode. So, for now it almost feels it feels easier compared to them, but yeah, people people have to be careful, but I think your strategy is just changed cuz at the same time too like back >> Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet.

[00:11:27]Back then back then I was getting better deals. Like I remember like it's weird to think about now. like I was buying like Jordan love I was buying RPA like PSA 10s for like 70%. You would never in a million years get that now, you know?

[00:11:40]So, or and also the fact PSA grading was like 15 bucks and it took like a month.

[00:11:45]So, there is definitely you just have kind of have to change your your strategy. Like something you've talked a lot about is like now you can you can buy strong. Like a lot of times you can just buy things basically at comps and you kind of find a way to you'll get a new margin. So, um it it's just and also So, it's good and bad. Like back then I was more I was really tough with percentages, right? I was like, "Hey, this is what it is. If take it or leave it." I can't I can't do that now. So, it's it's good and bad. It's easier now, but I'm just saying like you just need to change your strategy if you're in like a down market. For sure. I was I actually I mean the video won't be out.

[00:12:19]I'm very ahead. So, the video won't be out till like mid-June.

[00:12:22]But I I was talking about in one of the clips I was just filming that my strategy my strategy essentially is buying based off of the comp value cuz that's all you really have. Yeah.

[00:12:32]Selling on based off of what I think I can get on eBay cuz there's a big arbitrage difference there.

[00:12:37]But I was very clear that I don't think that that strategy will work in a different market environment where people aren't buying as crazy as they are now. So, it'd be a big adjustment and I need to kind of learn a different style almost. For sure. For sure. Yeah, it's all it's all just different. That definitely wouldn't work back then. Another big thing too is just because there's so many liquidity options now. I think the nice thing with what you're doing as well is like, "Okay, I'm buying at comp, let's say, or 95% of comp." It's like, "Okay, well, the good news is if you put it on eBay and it doesn't work out, it's like, "What with Discord and repackers and card shows?" It's like, "Okay, what's at least as of now?" Like we're saying, right? Things could change, but it's like my worst-case scenario is I basically just walk it up to a repacker put it on Discord and I basically get out for what I'm into it in, you know, or I lose five bucks. So, there there's definitely some advantages now, but like I said once again at at card shows before back in 2022, sometimes like I'd be literally the only one buying in the room. So I could get some >> insane to me.

[00:13:37]Yeah, it's it's I'm telling you like I'm I'm going to get crucified for this and whatever people it's like it was 70% a lot of the time. But it's like that's because no one else was buying and also the fact of like 70% is a little harsh, but it's like it was 70% but I'm like I know the next comp is going to be below.

[00:13:53]So it's like then then if I pay paid at 80% then I'm paying it like 95 basically by the time I I process and do all this stuff. So um yeah, like I said it was weird.

[00:14:04]People would come up. It's crazy to think now people would come up with like gold Justin Herbert's Jordan Love RPAs and they're like begging me to take them. I was like I literally would say I'm like I don't want this. They're like come on just what do you said that you would do this like just give me any like I don't know. It's crazy, you that's crazy to me. All right, so my next question. You said you hated losers, but I think you learn you learn a lot from your winners, but you learn more from your losers. So what are the biggest lessons you have learned from losing money on cards?

[00:14:32]>> Yeah.

[00:14:33]Ooh, um Bad buys or losses or just like mistakes. Yeah. I I think the major one I've been lucky like really the as to a fault like I kind of said I'm an anti-risk taker. So I don't have a ton of like big losses. The one that stands out is during the height of COVID I bought I spent like 10 grand which at the time was like an insane amount of money. I kind of like flipped my way up all the way to 10 grand and I spent it on like KD Tops Chrome base um just a bunch of base Yeah, it was all base cards. Um because I I looked at the graph and I'm just like well, it's just going to the graph is just going to continue. Like I'm like this is just how it works and then everything plummeted. I mean I think I sold that for like $2,000 or something like that. So that um just kind of showed me that Excuse me. Things don't just always go up forever. Don't assume that past performance is is what the future performance is going to be.

[00:15:27]Um so I'm always wary of that now. I think that's helped me out a lot. I don't get too caught up in it. It's just like okay, just cuz things are going like this means it's going to stay that way forever.

[00:15:36]Absolutely. Now let's go into your I want to go into your revenue mix a bit cuz you have I mean one thing I recommend to everyone that DMs me is like start making content cuz I think >> Yeah. it's so powerful like you can me a year ago today I would have never imagined I'd be in this position right now interviewing you. So it really like it's a testament to just sending it in the starting. So I want to ask you like how do you let's let's say you put all your revenue in like a pie chart. Yeah. What percentage is allocated to each? So like what percentage is to the cards itself at this point content?

[00:16:08]Roughly?

[00:16:08]>> Ooh uh yeah yeah. I think so content is kind of in the past year or so has overtaken cards. Um so I'd say content is probably like 60 65%. I don't think it's 75 yet. Just cuz especially cuz maybe it would have That was kind of the plan but cards has been so strong this year that I'm like I I can't ignore it.

[00:16:28]I'm just I got to keep keep in the cards moving. So I'd say like 60 65% content and then the rest would be cards and then within content I would say YouTube AdSense is probably like 15 or 20% and then like it's pretty low and then 30 or I guess I'm doing a 100 Yeah, no okay. I'm getting my math mixed up. So 15 like percent YouTube AdSense like 20% brand deals like 30% affiliate um I guess the rest Okay, so I did that within 60% but you know what I'm trying to say. Basically yeah YouTube AdSense is actually a relatively small uh sliver of what's bringing the content revenue at this point. That's interesting. I I would have never guessed that. Uh Yeah. I would have guessed YouTube and the sponsorships are about even. I don't know. I haven't even I haven't cracked that world yet, so.

[00:17:20]Yeah, it'll it'll I mean I was the same.

[00:17:21]I I didn't start like YouTube AdSense was everything for like the first like 2 and 1/2 years. That's just kind of how the journey goes, you know what I mean?

[00:17:29]And and then the the brand stuff and affiliate. Actually, we'll we'll we'll have to talk more like off air. You can get the affiliate stuff going now. Like you could make some money off affiliates right now. The brand deals are kind of tough. That takes more time, but you know, we'll we'll talk about that more later. So, kind of piggybacking off the last question, is there a part of the business you kind of want to expand more on in the next few years? Like let's say live selling for example, like Whatnot or Yeah, I got to Yeah, um >> is the question. Would you would you want to do Whatnot more? Something like that. For sure. I think that to be honest, I sound like such a d-bag. Like I hate it when people like take themselves so seriously as quote-unquote businessmen, but like I'm just going to say what I'm thinking is the next thing would definitely be um doing things that aren't necessarily trading my time for money. You know what I mean? So, it's like right now it's like every card is like it's effort and money out, which is good cuz you can control it a lot more.

[00:18:23]Same with content to an extent. Um I definitely would love to do some stuff of like if I I want to do Whatnot, but my ideal thing would it be it'll be more like a brand and other people are running the streams, you know?

[00:18:35]>> Okay. So, so it's good I think that's the thing. It's like there's a lot of stuff I would people ask me like more Whatnot. Why wouldn't you do this this and that? I'm like pretty capped with what I am with where I am now. Like I just don't have enough time to do everything I want to do, you know?

[00:18:49]Um so, I think that that's the next thing whether it's through content or kind of like uh cards as well as like lifting other people up, but also like being more strategic behind the scenes.

[00:19:00]Like that's definitely that's very aspirational. Like you got to have capital. You got to get plugged in. You got to do this this and that, but I think that's definitely the next frontier that I'm hoping for. Right. So, delegating under the Trike umbrella essentially. Yeah. Yeah, I think that'd be that'd be good. Cuz I I like I also say too, like believe it or not, like people ask me about all this card stuff.

[00:19:18]I'm like, I I actually don't think I'm that good at flipping cards. Like especially when it comes to certain things like being a killer negotiator, or like all this kind of stuff. Like I'm fine, I do all right. I think I have really good knowledge and experience at this point, but I like to think one thing, the best thing I can share with that, like my real skill I like to think is kind of like marketing and strategy and knowing and putting in the 10,000 hours in YouTube and whatnot and all of these things where I think that's where I can help people with the most.

[00:19:45]So, kind of I kind of relate tying things in that last question. Do you think for the future of not your card business specifically, but let's say as the hobby as a whole, is it going to be for businesses as a whole more looking at just selling inventory and moving cards, or kind of creating a brand around the inventory? Like for for example, for you it's Trike, for me it's LP. Yeah, for sure. I mean, the brand is definitely I've always told people like the content and the brand is what's the most sustainable, to be honest. Like I don't mean to like rain on anyone's parade when it comes to cards. Like I flipping cards is great, and you can definitely do it, and there's a lot of strategies and stuff like that, but I think that it's it's not as um it it's and people should can do it and they can have long career, but like it's you can't grow it exponentially as much.

[00:20:30]Like I said, like I I always give people this example, this is a good one.

[00:20:33]Flipping one card doesn't make it easier to flip the next card. You know what I mean? Like you get more bankroll, but it's like you keep just repeating the process, which which I'm sure you've already seen at this point, like uh if one YouTube video does well, it's easier to get views on the next one. You know what I mean? And like yeah, and like there's a little bit of that with cards, for sure. It's like, you know, once you make deals, once you make connections, things flow a little easier, but it's not quite the same. So, um I think also one thing people should be wary of, regardless of whether they're breaking or all this kind of stuff, is Fanatics is in PSA are kind of like taking over everything that's going on. So, I think, you know, you see like even from when I started, right? Like before before I made a lot of money grading cuz it was so hard to grade, you know, like there wasn't GameStop, there wasn't click on eBay to do this. Um things like TC Sports and stuff wasn't as easy. You couldn't just ship it off and they give you like 90% or whatever it was. So, like I said, people would sell to me at like 70. So, um I think that is one thing to be wary of of like I think that I don't want to say it's going to be harder to flip cards because with how the market's going, like it's making it better and the margins are better right now, but it's just something to be aware of. Speaking of PSA, how do the new turnaround times impact you if at all?

[00:21:50]Yeah, it's I mean, you just got to plan differently. Like actually, it's funny.

[00:21:54]The reason I'm late is cuz I was getting a PSA order out the door. Like cuz I'm like, "Dude, I need like I need this back as soon as possible." Like every every minute counts at this point. Um But yeah, the the strategy changes, you know, like before, like I said, I was you I was getting cards around in 1 month at one point. So, now it's like I'm planning for you know, soc- like soc- I do a lot of soccer stuff, which I know a little bit.

[00:22:16]You do, too, but I'm like, "I don't think World Cup's going to be well over by the time I get all this stuff back."

[00:22:21]So, you just got to think about it differently, but for the most part, um I'm still going to keep keep chugging along with PSA subs. This is this is what I'm surprised you haven't done yet cuz I feel like with your reach, this is such a big opportunity. Why haven't you considered making a Shopify store and selling your cards through there and just using it as another outlet with no fees?

[00:22:42]>> Yeah.

[00:22:43]That's That's not a bad I mean, I've I've thought about it. I guess just in my head, I was like the effort versus what I'm going to make, I'm not sure how worthwhile that's going to be. You know what I mean? Like maybe what I should do is I should be smart and have like a fully integrated um inventory system where I can list and then it goes to it should go to whatnot and all this stuff.

[00:23:05]But right now I do eBay all manually. So I would have to go and then upload a Shopify as well and it's like I mean realistically how many people am I going to get coming direct to me like I don't know. I might do let's call it like 3,000 in sales a month. I mean that's pretty optimistic as well. Like the eBay percentage on that let's call it 10%.

[00:23:26]Like three you're saving like 300 bucks.

[00:23:28]It's just not worth it at that point, you know?

[00:23:29]>> It's just not there.

[00:23:30]>> Yeah. And and I just haven't I don't know. I think you have to be like a m- I don't know. I It'd be interesting to talk to like Jeff Wilson or Card Collector 2 or these guys who I know do the Shopifys um how much traffic they actually get through that cuz for me I just think that so many people just go through eBay. Like that's where it's just the reach is is is so big. Um and to to be fair also when people people reach out via IG and stuff all the time.

[00:23:57]I get a lot of deals done off there anyways. So I think the people who would have gone to Shopify just DM me anyways.

[00:24:03]So for me maybe I'm wrong on that but I haven't really seen the opportunity there as much. That's fair.

[00:24:08]Have you ever lost a card? Like cuz you have thousands of eBay listings. Have you ever [clears throat] been an order and you just be like where where is this? Oh my god.

[00:24:18]Today, yesterday. I'm like I'm I'm bad.

[00:24:21]That's what I'll be transparent with people on is like I'm not I am not >> [laughter] >> I'm not great at organization. Like some people I I have a little bit of system but some people have like SKUs and like I said a full integrated inventory management. Um I don't I don't I don't have that. So yeah, I do. The the main thing that happens is one like I'll sell something at a show or I'll sell it on IG and I forget to take it down in the heat of the moment. That happens sometimes. Um for the most part though I would say knock on wood I'm pretty lucky. I don't have too many cards like straight up disappear. You know, like lost lost.

[00:24:55]It's more like oh damn I I think I sold.

[00:24:57]I remember I did this, this, and that, and I just forget to take it down off eBay. Um and once again, knock on wood, like I also know myself in that way, so that's why I don't like Like some people do um value boxes at shows when they're set up as a dealer, but I'm like, dude, I know I'm not going to be able to keep track of that versus eBay, things are going to get stolen, things are going to fall out, all this stuff where it's like even even, you know, um things as stupid as like I know people walk around with cases and rolly bags and all this stuff, and I'm like, dude, I'm going to lose that. Like one of these days I'm going to lose that. Like I have it in my backpack, I have a little case of cards to make sure I don't really lose anything. That That's That's fair. I have Luckily, I don't have that issue cuz I have I think I have at this point 160 eBay listings with like less than 100 more cards than that. Um my operation is very small.

[00:25:43]>> Yeah. But I'm just wondering like in the future when I have hundreds of thou- not hundreds of thousands, but hundreds of thousands, like what am I going to do with all this stuff? Yeah, it's tough.

[00:25:52]You definitely have to um Like before when I was like I got that side, too, I just kind of had my cards just like laid out, you know? But then even once I got to like 600 listings, I was like, dude, I'm losing stuff. That That I think that That at that time I was like, I'm just straight up losing things. Like I didn't even It'd be, oh, I put it in my closet, and I didn't even mean to blah blah blah blah blah. So I'm like, all right. Then I started doing alphabetical by sport.

[00:26:14]Just like little things. The The systems are When you scale, it's really important. Same thing with content. Once again, not to get on the content thing, but it's like sports or military or work or anything. It's like the systems are really what make things go, you know?

[00:26:28]>> Absolutely.

[00:26:29]So I kind of have I have a question about a specific card. It was one I saw you buy in one of your videos.

[00:26:34]And it It's one that I think I can learn from. You bought a Don Kincaid gold auto, I believe. Yeah. PSA 10.

[00:26:41]>> Yeah.

[00:26:42]What What is kind of the the plan with that? Cuz when I see that, I kind of see I'm not going to lie to you, and I I I No disrespect, but I kind of see a brick. [clears throat] Yeah. Yeah, well, it's funny you asked me about that cuz I'm like, I still got it. So, who knows what the plan was with that. Um I think I think, you know what? The only the only issue with that card was and I tell people this. People ask me all the time like, oh, you know, dude, like how important is it to know sports versus to know cards? And I really think knowing cards and grading and sets and stuff is really 95% of the battle. The only few edge cases where I'm like, it would it would it would benefit me a lot more to be really tuned in with sports is someone like Dalton Kincaid cuz I think for a while ago, he was like kind of a big name, but then he got injured, kind of fell off, and like Yeah. You you >> Yeah. Well, okay, big name is a stretch, but I know people were buying him for sure for a while there.

[00:27:38]Um And I'm obviously tuned in with when someone like Jayden Daniels gets hurt or Otani or these big names, but some and basketball I'm pretty tuned in just cuz I follow the sport really well. But football sometimes I miss out on some of these edge guys where I'm just like, oh, you know, Kincaid, Jaylen Waddle, I don't really know what they're doing.

[00:27:56]So, um I think one, yeah, the mistake there was I bought someone that just there's not that much of a market for anymore. But at the same time with someone like him, it it's it's good and bad because I still think I will do well on that card because like you said, it is a brick, so the guy sold it to me and didn't really want it. Yeah. But that's one of his best cards, Prizm Gold Auto PSA 10. Yeah. So, you do just have to wait for the right collector to come along. And I I I know someone will come along for that. And it's like we said, it is a little bit of a brick, but it's like there's a comp out there. I think I paid I might have even paid below comp. It's like, okay, well, worst case, I'm going to lose 50 bucks on this card, and I pretty much have that guaranteed. So, I'm down to take what I think could be like a $500 profit swing on that, you know? The risk to reward. That makes sense. You And with such a I mean compared relative to mine with such a big bankroll that you don't feel that loss as much or you don't feel that cash kind of locked in as much. Yeah.

[00:28:56]I always just like I'm down to take swings on on good cards at all. You know what I mean? Prism gold auto PSA 10.

[00:29:03]I'll pick if I'm around the comp, I'll pretty much take that at any point just because it's it's something that people want, you know. My only mistake there was once again is I thought that Kincaid was a little bit more relevant than he is, but that was my thinking there.

[00:29:17]Right. I I kind of see the vision. I had a much smaller scale, but I had a Kevin Huerter Kevin Huerter uh >> Yeah. black gold.

[00:29:26]Who's buying Kevin Huerter up like >> Yeah. But it numbered to eight and I sold it on eBay for like 19 bucks or 18 bucks.

[00:29:34]So it's kind of similar thing. I held it for months, but it finally moved to the right guy, the right collector who collects him. So I guess I guess that that kind of thing kind of scales up to even the higher end cards, the $650 cards.

[00:29:48]>> For sure. And and that's what like there's a collector out there for every player. Like I said, you know, someone would see a John Collins card be like, this is a this is a brick, but it's like I would buy it, you know. I think that's a good that's the one thing I tell people a lot about soccer is like sometimes people try to sell me like Leicester City cards or all these random things out there and like calling it what it is is like there's not really a collector out there for this or there might be one, you know. People people and there's the majority of soccer buyers are buying Barcelona, Man U, Real Madrid versus in in in football or basketball or baseball, like you said, there's someone, you know, your buddies that you played baseball with. Like you're a buyer for that. Like there's always if you can find once again, they're good stuff, gold autos, PSA 10s, out of eights, all this stuff is like and also you're going to make a way better margin than once again counterintuitively being so focused on like Otani or these big names is like you're not going to be able to triple or quadruple your money, but on a Kincaid or Huerter, you actually could. It's just going to take longer. Absolutely.

[00:30:45]Yeah, and and it's trading the time for the margin which when you're doing eBay's an okay thing to do.

[00:30:50]Yeah, I think it's good to do a I found the most success with a mix. You know what I mean? It's kind of like you move quick and then you set aside a little bit of of a bank roll that you know is going to sit, but it all it all comes eventually and it's just like a little bonus. For sure. Today, where do you source most of your inventory?

[00:31:07]Ooh.

[00:31:08]Giving up my secret sauce here a little bit. Um, I would say most of it You know what?

[00:31:15]Ah.

[00:31:17]I I A lot of it I'm I'm >> [laughter] >> I'm Yeah, I know what I'll just tell people.

[00:31:22]Um, I mean a lot of it is overseas at this point honestly. Going to these international shows has been pretty big for me just cuz it's so competitive here.

[00:31:30]Um, but then you know local shows too. Um, it's mainly all cards. I don't do a lot online.

[00:31:37]It's just a lot of It's a lot of work.

[00:31:40]It's a lot of grind. It's just not my It just doesn't suit my style very well. It is It is a grind.

[00:31:46]So, yeah, it's mostly just buying at card shows a lot of which have been overseas lately. Um, and that's that's where most of my uh inventory is coming from.

[00:31:55]And the great thing with that is you can two birds one stone. You're at You're buying inventory and you're making a great video.

[00:32:01]Yeah, for sure. Oh, and the other thing too is to be honest, I don't buy a ton of I Most of my inventory comes from raw to grade actually, too. I don't buy a ton of straight-up slabs. Um, so most of the stuff that I'm actively moving and stuff is is is a lot of what I graded myself.

[00:32:17]So, that's probably something interesting that's different than most people. That's cool. Yeah, for me right now I'm probably like 95% online, 5% in person, but I think over the coming months it's hard when I'm at school cuz the closest shows are 2-hour drives, hour and a half drives.

[00:32:32]>> Yeah.

[00:32:33]But in the coming months to years I definitely want to shift to more, you know, 90% in person, 10% online. Should be being very opportunistic online.

[00:32:42]Yeah, for sure. I I think the card show we've talked about it before, right? I think the card show thing will really be a game changer for you, especially on the low end. Like if you're cooking off low end right now online, like and also the fact of like I said, kind of the mix of the um the the the slower flipping versus the quicker flipping is like with the dollar box stuff, it'll pay for itself, too.

[00:33:02]Because it's like, okay, you buy it for a dollar, it'll sell for let's call it five bucks eventually. And then that you you do that, you know, you do that like 10, 20 times, you're already good. Like now you have a bank roll for your for your dollar box flip forever, and you never need to really sell you don't whatever one sells, you're just good.

[00:33:20]So, that's definitely And when you have so many eBay listings, just like building that eBay store, you'll always have a few sales pop up per day cuz you just have so just the distribution of what you have available. So, you have that consistent cash flow.

[00:33:33]E- exactly. And and also, too, like something people don't talk about enough, I don't think is is I think it's really good for your algorithm, too.

[00:33:39]It's like I know there's some people who like just sell $1 cards just so they get pushed more in the algorithm, but I think even better, do it profitably, you know? It might only be a $5 card, but then that I think that genuinely helps it push your $500 Ohtani card if someone's just looking for an Ohtani random PSA 10, you know?

[00:33:59]So, when you're looking to buy like bigger deals, I know you have that dude that you've done a few videos with where you go out to him.

[00:34:04]>> Yeah. Uh I don't know where he's from, but what do you look for in these big collections in these very large deals?

[00:34:11]Yeah, I mean, the first thing, too, is just like the main thing right off the bat. I get so many people That's the other thing, too. Like sorry to be like such a Debbie Downer, but like so many people message me and I just they the reason I do they just have no idea what's going on. It's like yo, you what's up? Hey, are you buying?

[00:34:28]Got some stuff. Okay, you want to take a look? Yeah, for sure. I got a look and I don't It's like it's just it's too much.

[00:34:35]It's too much, you know, even even if you're you're starting out. So, the main thing off the bat is like is this person serious and are they going to be like a pain? Do I have to hold their hand through the whole thing, you know? So, when people the collections that I actually get done and why I got done with that guy is he sent me an email.

[00:34:49]He's like, "Here, look at I got these Wembys. I got these LeBrons, blah, blah, blah. I'm looking for in this range, blah, blah, blah." I'm like and it and and I ended up if you seen the video, the number he was asking for was way too high, but I'm like, "All right, at least he's thought about this a little bit and I know he knows how to conduct business properly." Like he knows that his time and my time is valuable. Here's mainly what I have. I have a bit more and then you go from there. So, um so yeah, that's the first thing basically just seeing like sorry for lack of a better word. When I do any deals is like is this person an idiot or not? Sorry, that sounds harsh, but it's like if you're if you're an idiot and you're going to be tough to deal with, I'm good. I would rather just do something else. Um but then more into the actual cards themselves. Um I have to see I have to see a little bit of not high-end, but just something in there that's worth going. You know what I mean? Like I think you can tell really quickly. And nothing wrong with that if you if it's your collection or I'm sure you can find a way to move it, but you can tell pretty quickly it's like, "Oh, this person just ripped a ton of retail." Or this is just a leftover base or all this stuff. So, that's the main thing. I got to see a couple things that catch my eye that make it worth going for.

[00:35:52]Um yeah, and that's what I'm looking for.

[00:35:54]It's like, "Okay, so the stuff obviously if there's high-end stuff in there, I'm interested cuz it's nice. If they have a lot of good raw to grade stuff. Like that's kind of what caught my eye about that is like he had a lot of really high-end raw that he had been getting from breaks or they have um a bunch of like liquid slabs. It's like, "Oh, they have Otani, they have uh Curry, Shea, Wemby, all this stuff."

[00:36:14]Then then I'll kind of go for it. So, basically it's like which one of these There has to be some vertical where I feel like I can I can make money and going back to something we talked about earlier. It's like if they had all like Dalton Kincaid slabs and a bunch of retail, it's like, "Ah, that doesn't really fit into to what I'm talking about. So, I'm probably good on this collection." Absolutely.

[00:36:32]So, kind of straying away from buying back into the selling. Where I know you're primarily an eBay business. Is that where pretty much all of your selling is or do you do some selling in other places? And what kind of distribution would you say?

[00:36:47]Yeah, I would say eBay is Ooh, eBay's probably 70%. Really? That's lower than I would have guessed. Oh, okay. Yeah, maybe maybe maybe like 80. I don't think it's more than 80 just because in terms of like volume, it's probably like 95 or something or 98. But a lot of the bigger deals just cuz the fees and stuff are so big and people get worried about shipping and all that stuff. A lot of that happens um uh like, you know, on IG or at shows or stuff like that. So, I think I think that's the only reason most of my higher dollar higher dollar stuff happens in person.

[00:37:26]And also the big thing too and like when you when I set up as a dealer at a show, that's the best opportunity to get cashed out especially by the repackers.

[00:37:34]That that really is what makes the business hum. So, a lot of my sales actually come from that. I'll set up at a show. I'll kind of aggregate all my good stuff. I put it out. And then like when I was in London, I got cashed out three times. Like they just came, took everything. Bam, took everything. Bam, took everything. So, um I love eBay and and it's great and it's a big part of my business, but you just don't have it happen like that. You know, like you will at a show. So, there is there is definitely, like I said, the two opportunities would be just be able to do these big bulk deals that kind of has to happen at a show for the most part.

[00:38:10]And also high-end stuff. I feel like a lot of times best served off eBay.

[00:38:15]Going back to the content side, I know they probably don't care as much about that cuz they're more into the cards and less on the content side, but I did have one question I think would be valuable.

[00:38:23]Yeah. How do you idea How do you come up with these ideas like the blindfold idea or stuff like that?

[00:38:28]I like that. That's a good question. Um I think that I mean, to be honest, uh yeah, I I mean, to be honest, a lot of the ideas they come from uh other niches, to be honest. Like seeing what other people are doing cuz I I watch a lot of YouTube. Like I watch a lot of YouTube, and a lot of it is not not card YouTube and just like the Sidemen and stuff like that. It's like there's definitely been some inspiration for stuff like that. I'm like, "Oh, this is a cool concept. How do I kind of work this into the card world?" Um but a lot of it is, yeah, just just kind of thinking. It's like, "What would I Well, the main thing is then people this say this is content is really important is finding your your content pillars.

[00:39:08]So, like the blindfold video for people who don't know, I did a video where I uh flipped sports cards without checking prices at all. I just kind of blindly bought them then went and flipped them.

[00:39:17]I just kind of tried that one time and just kind of was a random idea I had of, "Oh, it'd be kind of cool to buy cards and then send them straight to auction so the math is clean and I can really give people a proper uh breakdown." That kind of just came from me thinking like, "Okay, what's a way I can" People always They always want to see the numbers, but as you know, it's tough when it's like, "Oh, well, I sold this one and then I had a lot coming in and then I traded with him and all that. There's only one way to get the numbers clean like that.

[00:39:43]Um but then that video performed well, so then you kind of have that pillar of, "Okay, flipping series is now a pillar for me. What is the spin on that?" And that's a lot of how my videos have come from. Like I made a a retail rip video like 3 years ago. That was one of my biggest performers, and it's like, "Okay, what's what's the spin on that?"

[00:40:01]So, um going back to the flipping thing, it's like, "Okay, well, I flipped regular.

[00:40:06]What can I do that's that's different but still the same thing?" I'm like, "Oh, well, what if I didn't check prices at all? Or what if I did high-end versus low-end cards?" That's where a lot of my ideas come from is I'll try a new format and if it works I'm like, "Okay, what's the slight spin I can do on this that makes it a little different?" Dude, I liked how you said you get you get a lot of ideas for other niches. You're you're like a student of the game and honestly I do that, too, but I want to do it it's kind of tough with a smaller bankroll and less cash. In the future I definitely want to deviate more and do more similar to what you do, but taking more inspiration from others.

[00:40:41]Right now I'm kind of taking inspiration in my editing style from like, you know who Ryan Trahan is? Yeah, yeah. I'm taking I'm trying to get some inspiration from his editing style cuz I really like the way he paces his videos and he's able to make just a mundane day in the life like him driving with his wife 8 hours to another state so entertaining.

[00:41:00]So I think for me for my channel if I can kind of study him and take bits and pieces cuz realistically my weekly business breakdowns Mhm. it's just me explaining what happened, but if I can make that entertaining using his editing styles and kind of fitting it into my personality Yeah. it'll create like a a more cinematic or it'll feel more like a movie or like an episode rather than just a here's what I did.

[00:41:26]For sure. And that's why I like what you do, too, is cuz you're doing exactly the exact advice I've given people is like people come into the hobby and they're like "I'm going to do a Jeff Wilson video.

[00:41:37]I'm going to do a Sports Card Investor video." And it's like he has a thousand times your production budget and he's more probably I'm not talking about you.

[00:41:44]I'm just saying like people in general like you're you're he's he's more comfortable on camera. Like why would it you just can't really compete with him at this point, you know? But what people really like and honestly what content is shifting towards more on Tik Tok, Instagram, authenticity. You don't need production budget. You don't need to be buying big cards. Like you just authentically show your journey and that's what people like to see, you know? So that'd be my recommendation to anyone whether you're just even just doing quick Instagram content. Like I make these little things where I'm just like here's what I bought and here's what I bought it for and it performs so much better than versus when I do like these crazy produce like I went to London and did this this and that for $30,000. It's like people don't even like that. They like when I do really simple stuff of hey I set up at my local card show. I take pictures of the card.

[00:42:32]Here's what I bought it for. Here's what I sold it for cuz that's authentic and that's real and you don't need production value for that. But I think kind of the the reason it's also so successful and this is what I tell people cuz I mean Yeah. objectively I'm a small YouTuber. I have just over 2500 but relative to my size like I'm growing at a good pace and I think a reason for that is I have a story like I tell a story and that's what you need to do with your content. You need to tell a story.

[00:42:56]>> Yeah.

[00:42:56]Right now I kind of frame everything around how it's building the business because honestly at the end of the day that's all I have the budget for. I don't have a big budget so my pillar like you mentioned earlier is like how can I frame this into growing the business and continuing to grow the business.

[00:43:13]Mhm. And that does [clears throat] well for me and I again I would like to deviate from that in the future and do a lot more but I'm doing what I can with what I have.

[00:43:21]For sure and and last thing on the on the content creator talk and then we'll we'll we'll we'll leave it but I have one more I have one more I have one more comment.

[00:43:28]>> Well I have I have one I have one more thing. One thing I had at the beginning and I think has served me really well and I think I don't want to speak for you but I think from what you've told me you have a little bit too is I have a healthy insecurity about my content. So and one of the reasons you've grown so cuz a lot of times when people start they're like I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. I'm just going to here's my sports card mail day like I'm just going to talk about whatever. Like you know what I mean? Like they don't they're not concerned about providing value to the people who are watching.

[00:43:56]That's what I like about your content is you're like like that's how I like about I to be honest once again maybe this is not the right way to think about it but my starting point is why the F would anyone watch me. You know what I mean?

[00:44:08]Um and you have to have some confidence to put yourself out there and really do it, but it's like I don't just think someone would watch If you just think someone watch would watch you just do whatever, then you're going to put out like some BS and a lot of people do that. But it's like, okay, if I share like you're sharing your business journey, that helps people. They can learn from that. That's interesting.

[00:44:26]You're consciously thinking about other niches and what performs well and how can I bring that into mine? Like that's really what's going to bring success.

[00:44:33]Honestly, so I got lucky. I found success pretty early within my first five long-form videos.

[00:44:40]>> Yeah. But like if you look back on my channel, my very first I would say two or three long-form videos were exactly that. Just I got this mail day for 80 bucks. Here's what I did. And to no one's surprise, it gets zero views.

[00:44:54]>> But when I cuz again, I watch a ton of YouTube. I'm At this point I study it, but I've always watched it and to watch YouTube.

[00:45:03]>> But gosh, I lost my train of thought.

[00:45:06]Um Well, I'm I'm going to I'm going to go in really quickly, too. One one one other random comparison as well. Is it similar to like basketball? Like I think a lot of people start YouTube and they're like, I am going to be LeBron James. Or I'm going to be Shea. When you start YouTube, you need to be like I mean, this once again, I'm I'm aging myself here. I don't know if Well, let's think of someone recent. Like Hartenstein or someone like that or Think of Think of Think of who you were Who were you going to say? I want to hear the old guy.

[00:45:33]>> going to say I was going to say Andrew Bogut. I was like, I don't know if that's Okay.

[00:45:38]No, but I'm saying that that's it's like, okay, I'm going to set screens.

[00:45:41]I'm going to be really What I'm going to do different is I'm going to be really transparent and help people. Like, you know what I mean? You know what I'm trying to say. It's like if you come on a YouTube and you're like, I'm LeBron, people are just going to want to show up to this show. It's not going to work.

[00:45:52]You have to start out as Hartenstein or one of these guys, Caruso, and then you work your way up.

[00:45:56]>> You're going to learn the hard way. I completely forgot what I was going to say, so I'm just going to, you know, fly by it.

[00:46:00]>> Okay. You're good. Last content question. What kind of content do you think the hobby needs more of?

[00:46:06]Um Well, it's tough because I think what the hobby needs more of is good collector based like stories of really collecting and stuff like that, really the joy of that. But people always complain about that all the time, but people don't watch it. That's the thing.

[00:46:26]Is you know what I mean? Like you go, "Oh, I wish why do you always talk about money?" It's like you're created it's your guys the the algorithm like and from I give the people what they want, you know? And a lot of Yeah, yeah. Like you're kind of be the ones deciding what goes out to be honest. Um so that's that's what I think should be out there more to kind of bring more positivity, make the hobby like I don't know, just the it is an easy for me to say with the content I make, but I think that there should be more like non-financial, non-big, definitely non-big hits, all this stuff.

[00:46:54]There needs to be a different land of content, but it's just it's probably not going to perform well. So I just don't really see that coming anytime soon.

[00:47:02]That makes complete sense and I do agree. It's it's hard to It would be kind of interesting to make like a collector series, but it's hard to make that work.

[00:47:10]Be hard to make that work at Well, that's that that's the thing. Like once again, I hate to rain on your parade, but it's like people say, "Oh, why do you always talking?" If you put out a video like to be honest, I've done stuff like that for the most part. It's like, "Oh, here's you know, here's my story of a guy I played basketball." Like people just don't watch it as much, you know?

[00:47:26]That's the thing that kind of sucks, you know? I saw I saw a long time ago one of your videos on um gosh, which one was it? It was the one where you were going to to give the one of ones to your >> Yeah, in the Olympics. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:47:38]I feel like that's more of a collector type video. How did that one And it did awful. Did it I think it's one of my lowest views ever. So that's the thing. And once again, maybe I'm just salty cuz that video didn't perform well. And not that it was the best video ever. It was fine, but like it's just that's not really what what the what the market is asking for it at this point uh content-wise.

[00:47:56]Interesting. Okay. All right, back to cards. We're done with the content.

[00:47:58]Yeah.

[00:47:59]You guys probably have had enough of that. But when you when you create it, you understand. There's like a We we speak the same language. Yep. Um So, what does an average day in the life look like for you? Not like a grand day, just like, you know, your average Tuesday.

[00:48:13]Yeah, it's it's pretty nice, actually.

[00:48:15]So, I wake up, um, I usually the first thing is like, respond to like eBay offers, email, stuff like that, kind of check the notifications, like see what's going on in that world. That's probably like an hour I do that. I don't know how granular we're getting, but I usually just do that in bed, kind of knock it out. Then, I get up and, um, I pack my eBay orders for the most part from the day before or get out PSA or kind of like do more hand tactile card things, whatever I need to do, actually handling cards. Um, and then I That usually takes like an hour, not too bad. I drop that off on the way to the gym. I play pick-up basketball or lift almost every day.

[00:48:49]Um >> you're San >> San Francisco. San Francisco.

[00:48:53]>> How's How's the pick-up How's the pick-up life there? It's pretty good.

[00:48:56]It's pretty good. Once again, not to get into the weeds too much, but you probably know as a hooper. Well, it gets different once you get older. The most important thing is not like, oh, I want the toughest comp. It's just where do I go to not play with you know?

[00:49:09]And I found Yeah. I don't I don't I don't For me, it's just like, where where are there people?

[00:49:15]Yeah, I think it's it's it's different when you get like, cuz have you ever hooped at like 24-Hour Fitness or any of these spots?

[00:49:22]>> So, back home in Miami, bro, Miami, you would be so surprised, unless I just haven't found it, the worst pick-up scene ever.

[00:49:28]>> Really? Like no indoor courts. It's just I hate playing outdoor. I mean, I'd I'll do it >> Yeah, I I've kind of seen that. I was looking at when I was visiting my mom. I was like, oh, where can I hoop? And it's like, everything's outdoor. I'm like, what the heck is this? But anyways, I'll I'll I'll keep it like I have a good place where I play basketball, and that makes me happy, even though the comp isn't isn't that.

[00:49:47]So, yeah, I do that. I come back, and, um, at that point, usually like I make lunch, relax, or whatever, and then there's like a 2-hour window of Well, the tough thing, too, is basically that whole next window is free, but it's not free. You know, like there's some days where I come home and it's like I might basically do nothing for 4 hours and then work for 5 hours at night. Or I'm kind of like watching TV, but I end up doing card stuff for basically the next 10 hours. So, I would say the beginning is really structured cuz I have to respond to these emails, I have to get the cards out. After that, it's it's pretty free. That's That's the good and bad thing about running your own business is I always tell people it's like I can eff off and do whatever I want pretty much at any time, which is pretty which is a great blessing, but it's like I'm constantly [snorts] doing stuff. You know, like some people they shut their laptop at 5:00, that's it. They don't give one thought to what's going on. It's like that almost never happens for me. I'm always doing at least some type of work at all times.

[00:50:43]That makes sense. How often are you getting PSA submissions out?

[00:50:46]Uh, like once every 2 weeks, pretty often. Pretty often. Fire. I have I have three out right now. I have a March, an April, and a May. And uh, dude, I'm like I have a lot of money, again, relative to me, locked up at PSA, and I want to I want to keep getting monthly ones out to, you know, create that pipeline, but it's just so hard. Like I really have to be I either have to like sit down for a few hours and create a strict financial plan or you know, you get what I'm saying. I think the good news is with, you know, the tough thing, like you said, with how long PSA is taking, um, and knock on wood, I don't know exactly what you sent and it depends a lot on how it grades, but the return is so big right now is that you can invest $2,000 in a PSA order and it's not that absurd at all for it to come back and that's like $8,000 worth of cards. So, the good news about that is, you know, once you get that first one back, I'm hoping it's like, "Okay, well, there your bankroll is already kind of settled at this point." what I mean? And then And then you don't have to trip. So, right now it's probably tough, but I think once you get those first two, hopefully, you know, those those subs were all right and you'll get a really nice then you'll be set, you know. Yeah, for me it's more of it also I mean obviously there's a financial perspective, but there's also the content perspective where it's like if I keep getting PSA submissions out, which I could do in theory >> Yeah. I would have to spend less money on my flips, but my flips is where I get my content from. So >> Yeah. it's kind of it's balancing content with Well, the PSA reveals are good content though, too.

[00:52:18]>> right, but it's like I have to wait 3 months to get that and then with the new turnaround times and then with um Yeah. if I'm getting one out a month, then it's like one extra video a month, which is great, which is great. Yeah, well once again, we'll we'll see how it ends up going. Things can change, but I I think that I just don't for most people I find it hard to believe where you're going to be like, man, I really regret doing all those PSA subs, you know? It's like you're like it might take a while, but it's like it's it's worth your while, the return is good, you'll get some con- you'll be all right. You'll be all right once I regret one. I made I did a Pokémon submission. It was like eight cards.

[00:52:53]Oof, I I barely broke even. Mhm. And and the video I made out of it flopped. Pokémon stuff. Pokémon stuff. I think you stick to sports, you'll be all right. Yeah, I I definitely learned the hard way.

[00:53:05]All right, I got I don't have too much more for you. I have a few more questions. I feel like we've gotten a lot of good stuff down.

[00:53:11]And uh I mean we've been we've been going for over an hour at this point, which >> [laughter] >> Yeah, it might have to be two vids. I don't know if we want to take up that much real estate on your thing, but yeah. Yeah, I mean I don't I don't really care. I could do like a I could do like the long form and then the next week cuz I I want to post more on Saturdays could be like a chop down version or chop down version then full version, something like that.

[00:53:29]>> Okay. Okay.

[00:53:31]That's that's my thing. I want to get more content out.

[00:53:35]I got to stop talking about content. We can talk about content when I'm done with this interview.

[00:53:38]>> Yeah. Okay.

[00:53:40]Oh, yeah, this is a good question. This goes into the business side.

[00:53:44]So, you do do this full-time, so this is your full-time income. How do you think about paying yourself? Do you pay yourself a W-2, or are you more of just like Like how does that work? Yeah.

[00:53:54]Well, right now, um yeah, I do I finally like in the past year or so I set up a proper LLC.

[00:54:01]Um and I and I do get paid a salary. Um and we won't get too into the weeds with that, but there's certain ways to do it with like tax implications and stuff like that. I don't think you have to worry about that right now. No, I was just curious to see how you would structure it.

[00:54:12]>> Yeah. It's more so I mean, just to keep it simple though, like the way I'm wired, I've never really had to worry about it because I've always just wanted to put every dollar I could back into the business, you know? Like even I think about now, I'm like, "Oh man, taking these extravagant trips." Like that's really what I spend my money on, but it's like that's literally for business though.

[00:54:30]Like it's to go to these shows and stuff like that.

[00:54:33]>> a write-off. You're you're lowering your taxable income. So, it's like >> Yeah. There's a You're traveling, but you're also benefiting yourself financially.

[00:54:40]So, yeah. So, for good and for bad, like I mentioned, I'm not Like it's when I first started going out, I was never super organized where I'm like, "Okay, I only get $1,500 of personal fun money this month, and the rest has to stay in the business." I've always just been so like the business was just the most important thing. So, I've never really like me taking too much money for my own fun personal use has never really been an issue. So, I guess the long story short is now I have a specific number just kind of for tax reasons and all that, but otherwise it's like I I'm just so locked in on the business and all that stuff is like I I'm putting every dollar I can into it. So, it it all works out. Dude, I'm I'm a I'm an accounting major, so I start my master's next semester. But like it's a two-year program, so once I'm done get that CPA, bro, it's going to be so nice like being that hobby CPA cuz I'll like really understand it. Yeah. Yeah, that'll that'll be huge. Actually, funny enough, my my CPA is like a hobby CPA and he's in Florida. I think he damn near might be in Gainesville, so that's funny.

[00:55:41]>> Oh, I wonder is he I had a I mean probably not, but there was a dude who commented on a few of my early early videos who was like >> Yeah.

[00:55:49]Uh gosh, I don't remember what his YouTube was, but he was he was an accounting guy from from around here. I wonder if it's the same.

[00:55:54]>> Yeah. I'm sure it probably is.

[00:55:56]That's pretty funny though.

[00:55:58]Yeah. Um oh, I kind of asked like most of these already. Okay, well what part of your business became harder as you >> grew?

[00:56:07]Um oh, I mean everything. I mean I would say organization is the big thing though. Just keeping on track of like where you're at right now. Like it's I just kind of I knew where my cards were or like responding to Instagram DMs and all That's one thing that's really tough is like I'll come back from the trip and I'll have like 60 DMs. I'm like, where do I even start with this, you know? Um so that's been probably the biggest thing is just yeah, being on top of everything and also keeping the the the mental bandwidth of everything that's going on, you know? Um is because like especially me, I'm lucky I do this full-time, so I have actually a lot of hours in the day to do stuff, but it's like your mental capacity to focus on so many different spinning plates is uh is tough. So that's probably been the biggest limiting thing of like I don't know. Yeah, I think you know what I'm trying to say. Yeah, I got you. I got you. All right, I got like one more question then I'm I'm going to give some advice for beginners. So >> Okay.

[00:57:01]I mean, in your videos you come across as a humble guy, but even talking to you like you're obviously you're humble, you're grounded. Where where does that come from? How do you stay humble and and keep your head on straight not get a big ego, all that?

[00:57:11]Uh two things mainly. I would say the first is like um I This is going to sound kind of messed up, but like I think that a lot of times where people get into to issues with having an ego in the card world is like when that's the first attention they've ever gotten their life, you know? That sounds a little harsh, but it's like at this point in the podcast if you're still listening, you get the real thing.

[00:57:32]So, it's just like I don't know, I just I I I think the more and then the more going off of that, the more ground it take, which also is true, is like from playing basketball, I've learned that there's always someone way better than you, you know? Like you start off, you're like, "Oh, I'm I'm best player on my AAU team." Then you get to high school, you're like, "Oh, damn, I'm at a big high school now, there's someone better than Then you go to college, it's like So, I've just kind of learned it's like you should never be that high on yourself because there's always someone who's like way bigger than you, you know? And that comes from the YouTube thing is like, "Okay, I have {quote} this many subscribers." In in the grand scheme of YouTube, I'm really nothing, you know what I mean? So, there's no Same thing with business, with cards, like there's people have way nicer collections than me, way way bigger flipping. So, it's like there's really no reason for me to have an ego about any of this stuff. But more so, like I said, so logically that and then also just coming from my upbringing is like I've I've been, you know, dunked on literally, figuratively so many times in my life, it's like there's really no situation, no matter how well it's going, there's always something that can knock you down, and I've learned that so many times, it's like I'm never going to get a big ego about anything, really.

[00:58:36]That's great. That's fire. That's a good way to put it.

[00:58:39]Um All right, I'm just going to give you one more just for Yeah. just for beginners. If you're starting the hobby brand new >> [snorts] >> what's your best piece of advice?

[00:58:50]Um two two things Well, the first thing would be take it take it slow. Um don't you're no matter what, the thing I always tell people, whether you're doing it for business or purely as a collector, you're going to make mistakes. People are like, "Oh, I don't I want to do this, and that." Like if you no matter how much research you do, if you go and spend 10 grand right off the bat, whether it's as a collector or as a business person, I'm sorry, it's probably going to be a bad 10 grand.

[00:59:11]Like you're going to make mistakes. So, I would say start it slow. Um and cuz you're going to learn along the way, and it's better you make your mistakes with $1, $5 cards whether than than than with the big stuff. Um and then otherwise yeah, I don't know. That's the main thing. I would just like I tell people all the time that if you're trying to flip, start out in the dollar boxes.

[00:59:32]Start in the value boxes. Like that's where the margins are. That's where you can afford to make mistakes and stuff like that. Um and then also I guess the last more wholesome would be is like enjoy it, too. Whether you're creating content or whether you're flipping or all this stuff is like you're going to burn out quickly if you don't um if you don't enjoy it. So, make sure to have fun along the way.

[00:59:52]That's awesome. Thank you so much for doing this. I really enjoyed it. And yeah, if you're still watching, thank you guys. This was a long one, but I think it was value packed and we had a lot of fun.

[01:00:01]So, appreciate you guys. Like and subscribe.

[01:00:03]Peace.