What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to an episode of Stacking Slabs here, your hobby content alternative. It is 2026, turning the dial up, feeling energized, feeling hopeful, thinking a lot about this space that we know and love and that we operate in, the hobby, the industry, whatever you want to call it. It is a vibrant time to be a collector. It is a vibrant time to be a business owner.

We'll start with the hobby versus the industry. There has been a lot of sentiment that I have heard, seen, or read from longtime collectors regarding the fact that this is no longer a hobby. This is more like an industry. I see the comments. I see the commentary, and I understand as a collector and a business builder in this space, my point of view might be a little unique, but can't it be both?

I think it's both. Naturally, in any hobby that sees growth, that sees scale, there are going to be businesses that are looking to provide products or services to meet the demands of the individuals participating in the hobby. I know absolutely nothing about mountain biking. And for whatever reason, mountain biking is the first example that came to my head. But I would imagine maybe some of you out there in Colorado, one of your favorite hobbies is mountain biking because you've got a beautiful view.

It's scenic. You've got the terrain. And so you spend money on a very expensive mountain bike to be able to support your journey and your path through the mountains, and you use that as an escape. You use that as a hobby. Perhaps you connect with other members of the mountain biking community where you live in.

And each of you has a bike. Each of you has the shoes, specific products, the apparel that will support conditions, climate, whatever it is. And I would imagine members of the biking community probably have online, places to communicate, to share in your passion. And while mountain biking is a hobby, there is certainly an industry around mountain biking to make sure that the individuals that are participating have what they need to continue to grow. That is just one other hobby.

There are millions of others, and this is a space that we all love that is growing rapidly, and there's undeniable changes that are taking place. But it can still be your hobby, and you can still treat it as your escape even if the price of cards are going up and the values are going up and new companies are popping up. Because this industry is getting corporatized in a way through acquisitions, through new products and service lines, new technology does not necessarily mean that we can't still call it a hobby. And I wanted to share that as a backdrop, and I want this episode to reflect on some of the things that I am thinking about heading into 2026 from both the lens of a collector and a individual who is building a business in this space. We'll start here, actually, yeah, we'll start here from a collecting point of view.

2025 was my favorite year of collecting sports cards since I've been back into the hobby, and nobody else or no new product or no new service or no new technology or no new company drove that, happiness. It came from continued growth, continued maturity in this space from me. The more time I spend in this hobby, understanding the psychology behind why I collect, understanding what I like and what I don't like, understanding where I wanna spend my time, the more enjoyable it gets. It's unstoppable. It's undefeated.

I don't ever look back and say, you know what? This sucks. This stretch. This isn't fun. It's always increasing in enjoyment and satisfaction from my end because of my curiosity and because of the personal growth I'm going on in this journey as a collector in this hobby.

And there are there is a lot going on from the industry perspective. There is a lot of new, a lot of changes. And the most important thing that I have learned through this growth is to to understand that there are things that are going to continue to happen that are around me, and I can't change them if I don't like them. So don't focus any my time and energy on those things and instead be an observer. Understand that it's happening, but focus my energy and time into what I can change.

And that is the way I collect, how I collect, the time spent in the hobby, the education, the curiosity, and digging in. So I would imagine if I'm doing the same podcast this time next year, it's going to be the same response. I'm going to say this was my favorite year in the hobby, or at least I hope so. Something dramatic would have to happen. And, also, I'll say this as I move into the business builder, the reflection and the thoughts that I have on my cards and what I picked up and decisions I made this past year was not manufactured.

I had no idea for the most part that certain things would come my way and deals would happen. And I think being actively engaged and being able to be thoughtful and make decisions and and also say no to things like that to me, those intangibles help me secure cards from last year that I can look back on now and be very, very excited about. Now I think from a business building perspective that this is the best time of all time to be an entrepreneur in the industry or the hobby. I hope you all who tune in to Passionate Profession on a weekly basis get inspired or gain insight from the stories that are told on that podcast. I know I do.

I am fired up each and every week to put those conversations out because there's always nuggets in those conversations that I use as a business builder in this space, and I try to use them to my advantage. There are so many different types of companies that serve so many different types of needs in this industry, products, services across all categories, across all sports. It's nonstop. And if you zoom out and observe how people are operating and how businesses are operating, a lot of the time, there is it's very hard to differentiate one from the other, and that is where the opportunity is. That is where the opportunity lies.

It is to understand what you're really good at, understand where your passion is, and go all in at building whatever your thing is and make it different than anybody else. Differentiation in the ability to stand out not only helps getting attention in the sea of people screaming and trying to get you your attention, but it helps you find your network of people that are going to be repeat customers, audience members, whatever that is. The only reason stacking slabs has continued to grow year over year, or maybe not the only, but the primary reason it has been able to grow year after year, the reason why I'm able to do this full time is because what I am building and how I am building it is not like anything else that exists. There is content. There is podcast.

There is conversations about cards. But I try to uniquely position what we represent and what we're about here and double down on that and evolve that constantly because I want to produce a fresh product for you, the loyal listener of the Stacking Slabs podcast and Stacking Slabs network, and that you feel so confident about what's coming out here. You trust me as a creator, and you begin to tell your damn friends about it. I don't I consume a ton of content. I probably consume more content or just as much content as I create, but I never get done with the content that I consume and say, you know what?

I wanna be like him or I wanna be like her or let me try these new things. I'm consuming content to con to inform, but I am focused in on delivering something based on the values I have as a collector and my passion as a creator. So there is a lot going on in my head as we enter this year of 2026, and I wanna share from the lens of collector and from the lens of the business builder. I wanna share five different things that are on my mind as we enter this great year in the hobby. Number one, research is a superpower for long term collectors.

The market obviously is roaring, but guessing what's going to happen this year or investing thousands of dollars in cards without research or context is the quickest way to the bottom. I love data. I love using platforms like CardLadder to understand trends and stats. We obsess over single sale prices, but we do not obsess over the context, and context is always king. You have to zoom out and ask the questions, why are cards selling like this, or what is it specifically about this card?

I think one of the biggest misses that we have in this space from a macro perspective is this focus always on the individual player. And this player's market is going up or this player's a long term hold and this player and that player. I think that that that point of view and that perspective is certainly valid, but it's not the only perspective. The perspective that interests me the most is the card in the product itself and the context behind it. What is its origin?

Why is it here? What's the design look like year over year? Where's their consistency, lineage, legacy? It is rare that you get productized information about specific cards delivered to you in a consumable way that's not only going to inspire you, but is going to help you purchase. And I'm not talking about those couple sentences that auction houses put, next to premier cards and position position those cards as the greatest cards ever.

I'm not talking about hype. I'm talking about real data, real information facts. I'm talking about taking that information and putting it on the surface and making it easier for collectors to make decisions about cards. If you know the forces at play, you as a individual collector will make smarter moves. I literally spent 2025 compiling data on sales and production and trying to get context on certain sets and why they matter.

Of course, what's most important is your your personal belief and your personal attachment to the cards, whether it's a look, aesthetic, design. Those things matter more than anything. The player obviously matters more matters. But understanding the product itself is a huge gap, and that's where research comes in. I try to look at things like which products are limited or how many cards were printed or who is driving the interest.

So many cards are hyped up right now. But when you thoroughly research a card, you're able to do real risk assessment on the card, especially when you're before you're spending money. One card can be worth thousands. Another card can be next worth next to nothing depending on the context. If you don't research, you're gambling.

I am building a system where I can trust my own research. And over time, I've seen collectors who dig in and learn about these players, products, print runs, grading nuances nuances, and they consistently win. The ones chasing headlines or hot tips or what's trending always flame out. Knowledge is the confidence excuse me. Knowledge equals confidence plus patience, and this equates to staying power.

Research in this industry or this hobby, whatever you wanna call it, and it can be both, is the anti bait and switch. It keeps you honest and on solid ground. I am so confident in collector's ability to find cards that they love by spending time in on research that I am trying to think about more and more ways that I can incorporate this train of thought into Stacking Slabs content because I believe the more we get educated around research, the more individuals will stay in this hobby. And one of the biggest issues, I think, right now in our space is the lack of education, the lack of showing new people the fundamental tools of how to not only gain knowledge on specific products, cards, parallels, but how to use it in a way that gets you really excited. So research is a superpower, and research, it's like anything.

It's like anyone making a New Year's resolution right now. There's always people that, you know, wanna lose 10 pounds and people that are dedicated to going to the gym, at 5AM, four or five days of the week, and you get through that first week and you do it and you start to feel good. Then week two happens and something pops up and it distracts you and you lose your path, and then all of a sudden you're back to where you were because it's easy. It's easy to just hit buy it now on a card. It's it's easy to say, I wanna lose 10 pounds and I'll I'll go to the gym.

It is a lot harder to say to challenge yourself. And whether that's continuing to go to the gym and going to bed early so you wake up and you don't miss that gym date or to not smash by it now even though you're so excited and that's something that you wanna do right now in that moment. But taking a step back in researching, spending time to truly understand why that card should matter to you. If you haven't been able to tell already, I'm trying to activate the importance of research with everybody. And I'm going to talk about research a lot this year.

I also believe, and this is, in a way, very stacking slabs self serving because this is my approach and my strategy. But I think niche category specific content strengthens the hobby. Last year showed us that broadening the base makes the hobby deeper. On the Stacking Slabs network well, let's start there. We moved from being the Stacking Slabs podcast to being the Stacking Slabs network, and there was no big launch or parade or we didn't, you know, throw a party to do that.

I just subtly started talk changing the way I talked about what I did because we began to focus on categories, women's basketball with the WNBA card podcast, football cards with the football card podcast, entrepreneurs with passionate profession, consignment with the staging area in DC Sports eighty seven, technology built for the hobby. We are launching a brand new podcast this Saturday that I'm super fired up about, and it is on wrestling cards. And it is, booked to last, and it is with Adam Gelman and Ryan Bannister at RBI Crew. And that is a continuation of the vision that I have with stacking slabs and with category content. And my belief is that it will strengthen this space and it will motivate collectors because it is fun to consume general hobby content about what's happening in the headlines and big sales.

But when you really want to start changing behavior and moving people from, passive to active participants in this space, you bring them together around content that speaks to their interest and needs, and you bring them closer together to people who share in their interest and needs. I'll never tire of saying that more focused content excites people. When we spun up our WNBA card podcast, it engaged thousands of collectors who otherwise might have gotten ignored. We did the same for football and for others because fans crave people who like what they like, who can speak their language. It signals that the hobby matters to them.

Niche content helps build infrastructure, which infrastructure is forming right now as the hobby evolves, but sometimes the right infrastructure does not exist, and that is where I see stacking slabs as wedge, an opportunity to create specialized podcasts, Instagram pages, opportunities where like minded collectors can connect. It means more varied products find buyers. Instead of chasing one fad, collectors rally around what they love. This creates stability. So I believe any effort to strengthen the hobby should double down on niche content.

Whether you host a tiny corner case card show or write a blog about vintage wrestling rookie cards, you're enriching the hobby. And we can all do this through the our tools. We all have social. We all can focus, and we all double down. And that approach is an approach that I am not only thinking about, but I'm actively executing on.

I'll share this. I just told you we're launching a wrestling card podcast. We have a WNBA card podcast. We have a football card podcast. I have two other concepts that I'm working on right now that I just need the right people involved with and, you know, potentially the right sponsors involved with, and those will go out the door.

But I have built a system to be able to satisfy this demand, and I believe hobby businesses or hobby, yeah, companies in this space should be focusing in more on niche content because this is what their customers crave. Alright. Next one. More from a collector perspective, but I think deep understanding of one of one cards is essential for value stability. We all know one of ones are rare, but rare alone isn't enough.

Many people treat one of ones as an instant jackpot, and I think that's a trap. In reality, one of ones worth comes from its story, the player's level of interest, the set's prestige, whether it has a patch or autograph, you know, grading might matter, maybe past comps. I think manufacturers and timing certainly plays a role, and the value of specific one of ones will always depend on the market demand. I experienced in a very short time going from this phase of, man, one of ones seem so obtainable, and there's no way I'll ever have one of ones in my collection, to, in a very short time, being an individual who prioritized one of ones. And part of the reason I was able to do that is because there has been a proliferation of one of ones across the industry.

You'll get sets with multiple one of ones. And so you have to understand because we're an era of one of ones, what one of ones are going to matter. And sure, it could not matter, and you could just like the card, and that's all you need, which is great. But if you're looking at it from a perspective of, man, I hope this card stores value after I spent $3 on it, it makes sense to research and have context around that those one of ones. I also think the one of one of it all is very important as supply continues to increase, as parallels continue to increase.

The more manufacturers create more parallels to satisfy repacks and breakers, the less important all the cards that aren't rare are going to be. And, if it's stuff you just wanna collect because you think it looks good, great. That's admirable. But if it's stuff that you want to have hold long term value, I think this is where you really have to understand the cards, where they sit, and why they matter. I think when you are making a purchase around a card, specifically a one of one, the more you can understand why it costs what it costs and what is the history of the parallel, the better off you'll be.

It's interesting. I think about this a lot, but you I go back to the era of when I grew up collecting cards in the nineties. There are one of ones in that era, but the one of ones in that era are very rare and very unique. They weren't promoted. They weren't something that people necessarily even showed or talked about or might not have even really made it to the Beckett price guides in the days.

Sure. They were probably there, but the coverage wasn't. Now it's a lot different. There's new products being ripped online every day, and there's new cards being pulled. And we have to ask our question, does this matter?

Will it matter anymore? And so I think the topic of one of ones is certainly something I'm thinking a lot about, especially because it is a lane I collect in and enjoy. Alright. Next one, maybe the most, passionate I am about this topic as an observer and just making sure that this topic gets elevated on platforms like this and gets to maybe start a conversation or get people to focus in on a conversation around this topic. But I strongly believe this, that the current top of the funnel experience in this space is broken and in most instances not most, but in a lot of instances, predatory.

Now top of the funnel obviously is a marketing term. I'm a marketer. You think about bringing people into this space and putting them into the funnel to go down the bottom and to go through these phases of, buying behavior. The funnel is very wide in this space and it's only gonna be be more it's only gonna widen. Right?

The and it'll only widen because the big message from the big manufacturer is 10 x the hobby, and it's also we want to convert sports fans to be collectors, and that is on full display everywhere. And I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. I love this, and I love the idea of growth. I love the idea of converting people from from just being a casual sport fan to at least putting cards in front of them and showing it's available. I'll never forget, like, seeing Tops Krum on w WWE Raw and them promoting that.

And that was big. And seeing, you know, these stars and these hobby rip nights and going and looking at Fanatics Fest and seeing how it is organized around sports, culture, and cards. And if you're going through the experience of going to a show like Fanatics Fest and you have no idea about the hobby, you're going to leave with some idea about the hobby. And in all likelihood, it's going to be whether you saw one of your favorite athletes looking at cards or saw it after the fact on social media. So the undeniable super forces that none of us can control, there's one big one, and that is the biggest manufacturer in this industry that controls the most power has a strong desire to continue to promote product to people who are not yet collectors.

Think about whenever you start something new. You usually suck at it first. Right? And it takes a lot of passion and desire to get good at something and to stay in that. Whenever you're new, especially new to a category or a space or a hobby and you've got money to spend, there is always going to be people who are going to take advantage of you.

There is an ugly side. I think the way new collectors in this space get treated sucks. I do. I'll say this, my content and what I create here on Stacking Slabs is not built and designed for people who went to a basketball game, who saw an ad for Topps Chrome basketball, who then decided to buy into a break. Like, them listening to my content and it resonating would probably not make sense.

There are a lot of different things that need to happen for that that new participant to consume my content and to have it resonate and be something that they come back to. And I recognize that. I'm self aware of that. There's no I've never had an intention to be for everyone in this space because when you're for everyone, you're for no one. But so many people want to be for everyone.

And in all actuality, they end up being for no one. So I hate saying this, but the entry point to our hobby feels very toxic. And I don't want to generalize because I think there's some amazing brands, companies doing things the right way, and a lot of companies are doing it the right way. But you'll just look at I think, one, you look at the cost for basic products. It's insane.

I my my kids' favorite thing to do is to go to Target and to get a toy. And if they're good, we, you know, go to Target, pick up some things, and go through the toy aisle. Well, I decided to stop through and look at the price of mega boxes and blaster boxes and hobby. I just looked at the price and I just laughed. I like across the board.

They had a lot of new inventory, but I was just like, I could never justify paying this because I'm not gonna get shit in the box. But there's no way I would know this and cost in return. I would not I would I would not know this if I was just getting into the hobby now. Would see some silly YouTube video and I would go to Target and just spend money on on a box. If you're a kid or a casual fan who just wants to buy a few packs or a retail box, your dollar goes zero nowhere.

Most new releases are amid flippers and speculators, not fans. Companies are flooding the market with flashy expensive products. You've got repacks, light breaks, high end inserts, all hyped on social media. Dude, my least favorite thing to do, and it's so painful, but I do this sometimes, is sometimes I'll just stop into the break. Right?

I'll just do the scroll and stop in. I'll be like, what's being talked about? What's being ripped? How's it being positioned? And just every parallel card feels like the biggest hit ever.

And it just the the it's a it's a charade. They're playing to an audience of people who aren't fully educated or are educated or can't help themselves and just have to keep buying in. So you've got individuals taking advantage of people who are just coming into the hobby without giving them context. They're just hyping and this is the best and this is great and come back for more and sorry you didn't get anything this time. Next time, we'll pull we'll pull a parallel for you out of one fifty and make make sure you feel like it's the biggest thing ever.

The newcomers get hype, force fed down their throat with the promise of these big hits or instant flips, and most of all of them walk away burned. You've got markup of cards. You've got just this constant chase to the bottom, and we need to fix this. But nobody's fixing this because everyone's so concerned about their KPIs around whether it's breakers, repackers, manufacturers. It's all about hitting the bottom line.

And I understand that. Like, I'm in I'm in the business. I'm trying to make money. I'm trying to make money to keep doing this. I'm trying to make money to support my family.

But I'll be damned if I just sit on the sideline and watch this mentality and mindset continue to, destroy new participants that are coming in. The top of the funnel is brutal right now. It's so bad, and I hate that it's bad. It's great to turn on the neon light. Think about Vegas when people are rolling in.

The neon lights, It's going to attract people into the building. But once they're in the building, they're getting absolutely railroaded, losing their money. And that's what the hobby feels like to me. Instead of funneling everyone into the same high stakes game, we should empower collectors at all levels, hobby shops, leagues, conventions. These grassroots experiences must be protected from the core corporate onslaught.

And when I'm saying corporate onslaught, I'm saying that from the lens of the breakers too and the repackers and everybody involved trying to make a buck off of the uninitiated and the uneducated. Is the growth right now real or is it fake growth? Are we going to six months from now look over and those people who came in and were freaking jacked to the gills, who attended Fanatics Fest, who bought into breaks, who were so excited, are those people out of the hobby? Is it fake growth? That's the question I have.

The industry growth is great on one hand, but it's it only serves speculators. We hollow out of the hobby. We have to call this industry driven churn. Churn is going to happen if this industry does not start prioritizing education, nurturing new participants. Probably can tell I'm fired up about that one.

Yeah. So that my my closing topic is kind of along the lines of that is the only way forward is nurturing more collectors. If research and education are tools and cultivating passion is the ultimate goal, a hobby defined by its collectors, people who care about cards themselves, not just the next resale price. That is facts. To survive and thrive, we must, as a hobby and an industry, build more collectors.

This means teaching new fans what collecting really is, building a set PC you love. It means discouraging this buy low, sell high game that a lot of people focus on today. The flipper mindset can help the markets jump in the short term, but it doesn't create anything lasting. Collectors, on the other hand, invest in the hobby's future. They go to card shows, junk communities.

They help others. In my experience in running a business, the strongest teams have always been composed of the most knowledge, the most insightful, those who get it. If you have enough flippers creating or chasing quick profits, once the hype dries down, the market collapses collapses. We saw an echo of that in oversupply in '21. Real collectors adapt and flippers will fade.

Greed is powerful. And I'm not here to say all flippers are bad. I actually have many flippers who are friends, but they do their part in educating on the cards that they're picking up. If you are a longtime collector arguing with a newcomer or accusing people of only wanting to flip, understand what I'm saying. It's okay to have a healthy market, but don't lose sight that some of us love cards for their own sake.

We can help build a bridge. Many dealers understand lists, and they're using business strategy to serve collectors, not the other way around. We have to spread that mentality and encourage new people coming in to make want lists, to trade fairly, to appreciate the game and stories behind cards, supporting shows, supporting honest creators. That is how we go. I am all for business big business in this space.

I've helped grow parts or tried to grow parts of this through my content. I believe in the innovation from companies in this space, but I also know that hobby values patience, integrity, and focus, and they must remain central. The tension between hobby collecting as a passion and industry collecting as a business is real. They can coexist, but too many times people pretend they're the same thing. To me, they are different roles.

One sells product, the other preserves the soul of the game. In 2026, I'm doubling down on the hobby side, and I want more people who care about cards, more analysts who do research, more fans creating content about exactly what they love. I'll always call out practices that harm the hobby that are bad, bad actors, even if it means rocking the boat. Because at the end of the day, if we nurture the bad actors, the wrong people, the music will stop. But if collectors, informed, passionate, and patient collectors, are focused in off, this hobby will stay alive.

That's what I'm thinking about as I record this episode, the January. I hope you appreciate the perspective, the passion. If you enjoy what I'm doing here, make sure you hit follow. Tell a damn friend. Really happy you're here.

A lot more content coming out on the Stacking Slabs network. Take care. Talk to you soon.