What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another flagship episode of stacking slabs, your hobby content alternative.

This is the OG. This is where we get started. Opportunity each week to just talk about how excited we are about sports cards, collecting everything that is going on, and dig into psychology behind all of the madness.

I feel so fortunate to be here recording this episode, sharing some thoughts on a topic that I'm super passionate about.

Really appreciate all of you coming into the stacking slabs ecosystem, whether you're listening to a podcast or on the Patreon, reading the weekly rip newsletter, reading collecting for keeps, the new book, which is out now digital free.

Link is in the show notes. Engaging on, Instagram. Shout out my man, John at pack Nicholson. He's creating reels, nonstop reel maker here for stacking slabs. Just doing, so much awesome work and just the expansion of the brand.

So many new shows. We're bringing in awesome sponsors. I'm just lit up right now. I'm having a blast. We're coming up on year one of me just doing stacking rewarding experiences that I can ever remember, professionally.

I get to sit here and talk about sports cards all day and meet many of you who love sports cards. I feel very blessed. I should be, feel like I should be working at this intersection of collecting and content.

I feel a purpose, and I'm I'm really energized right now. Quick programming note for all of you who are the stacking slabs content consumers, and you're binging everything we're putting out over here.

We are not quite done with cards in hand. We've got one more episode, and that is not happening this Thursday. We're going to air that the following Thursday, and you're gonna wanna check that episode out.

It's gonna be with Joe at low pop poppy. Joe is an awesome collector. We talk about prism inserts in that conversation. And while I was talking with him at the national, he had a lot of them with him, and it was fun to dive into that.

So that'll be, not this Thursday, the following Thursday, which is, as I get out my trusty calendar now, it is the twenty fifth.

So the twenty fifth will be the close of that series. And this week, we're bringing back, Vaulted, an episode or our collaboration with PSA.

And I've got a very special conversation with Nat Turner, and Nat is going to talk through his top 100 cards from the national, and, that's gonna be a lot of fun. So just wanna share that programming note.

Today, in this conversation, I want to talk about a topic or a mindset that I've been sharing and haven't shared in a while ever since, I started stacking slabs, and that is turn left when others go right.

The power of discovery in sports cards. Again, like, so much of what is happening right now is exciting. There's momentum. There's high prices, but there's a lot of, there is a lot of desire to chase.

And I had a example or I had a purchase this last week that was not on my list. I didn't plan to buy the card. In fact, I had no idea that this card existed, and I ended up buying it because it spoke to me.

There was something about this card. And the best part about this is in the lead up and after buying this card, there's so much uncertainty I have.

I have questions. I'm trying to dig in and explore. I'm using resources, and it's stimulating. So I'm gonna talk about that example as a kind of a backdrop to this episode, but I I see prices go up.

I see people selling into the prices. I see people chasing these cards. And and collectors circle around the same stuff when it gets hot.

And instead of playing with that fire, especially if you don't need to in that moment or you are just trying to jump in because everyone else is doing that, I think there are some fun alternatives and ways to approach the hobby, at least from my perspective, and I wanna share that in today's episode.

So let's get into it. When I first started this show, I used to say turn left when others are going right all the time. For me, it was a mindset thing.

That was wasn't about being different for the sake of it. It was more or less reminding myself and hopefully reminding some of you that the the hobby in collecting sports cards is always more fun when we think for ourselves.

I would consider myself an independent thinker. I am pretty much down the middle, with anything in life where try not to jump too hard in one way direction or the other.

I like to take my time. I like to think through things for myself. Does what I'm doing and the decisions that I'm making align with my goals, my values, those sorts of things?

I don't necessarily not necessarily. I don't like to be told what to do. It's probably some sort of and many people don't like to be told what to do, but I I think maybe I'm on the extreme end.

Maybe it's there's a reason why I left corporate America and sitting in my, studio at Stacking Slabs HQ, working for myself and working on sports cards every day.

But I just think it's way more fun when you are doing things because of your own personal interests, and whatever you're doing is something that is unique, one of a kind, and helps you as a collector express yourself.

Back when I started the show, everyone was doing the same stuff, including myself with base prisms. Right? Everyone was buying them. Everyone was grading them. Everyone was making money.

The motivation wasn't passion. It was profit. And people wanted to make a quick buck, and for a while, it worked. Like, it worked for me. But it's easy to look back on that experience and understand how it wasn't sustainable.

And I think you saw that, and you saw the ripple effects. You saw a market collapse, and a lot of folks get burned out. And then those folks who were just here because it was trendy and they were making a few bucks quickly left.

You can fast forward to today. And one of the dynamics that I am thinking a lot about is how does this market where people are super excited and, were record monthly sales.

How does this look different than this last time? And I'm I'm digging in. I'm like and and it's not just me. I'm I'm sourcing people. I'm trying to gather information.

And while we're not all chasing base prisms and grading them, we're not doing that. I'm starting to feel the echoes of some of that energy. And the faces and sets are different, but the behavior feels similar.

Price like, for instance and the but I'm gonna give these examples, and I'm not sabotaging any of them. I'm just sharing observations. And in a lot of these instances, like, I have self interest in this because it's stuff I collect.

Just take twenty twelve prism, for example. Like, prices keep climbing. If you listen to the football card podcast, we talked about the Clay Matthews black finite.

We talked about the Troy Polamalu gold prism. You keep looking at rare and scarce exquisite stuff. That stuff keeps climbing. Every big auction sale seems to pull more and more people into the chase.

And not only that, there's more and more people that like to share their cards when their big sales are happening. So this cycle of influence is inevitable. Right? Big sales, people hold some of these cards or adjacent cards.

They post them. And there's individuals out there who are maybe questioning, like, is this something I should be doing? Why don't I have these cards? And what's different about this era is we're not talking about base cards.

We're talking about incredible cards, incredible products. This is the difference, and this is my primary observation is that we're in an era where we are almost propping each up each sale up with another big sale.

But at least this time, some of it is starting to make sense. These are cards we, as collectors, want in our collection.

I love twenty twelve prism. I built the entire Colts prism gold team set over the last two to three years. I think they're a big part of the hobby history, but I'm noticing herd mentality forming again.

People see a big sale. They see everyone else running after it, and they feel like they have to join in. This is I'm I'm not knocking individuals doing this. It's part of human nature, and we all feel that pull.

But I think there's a problem. When you collect like that, you start comparing yourself to everyone else. And a quote that I haven't met used in a while from, good good old Theodore Roosevelt is comparison is the thief thief of joy.

You stop focusing on what makes you happy, and you start worrying about what everyone else is doing whether your collection stacks up or not. That's the easiest way to lose all the fun. And remember, this hobby should be fun.

It shouldn't be stressful. If you're stressed, like, it's probably a good time to evaluate what you're doing. So this episode is about kinda doing the opposite. It's about slowing down thinking for yourself and leaning into discovery.

And for me, that reminder came last week when I won a card I'd never seen before at auction, and that is the 2,000 score Marvin Harrison team 2,000 autograph one of one.

I didn't know anything about this card when I placed the bid. Very little. I did a little research. I asked a few questions. But even after I want it, I'm left with more curiosity, and I need more answers.

But you know what? Like, that feeling, that spark of discovery, it's been incredible. And it's been incredible enough for me when I sit in this seat and I'm thinking about what do I wanna talk about this week.

It's like, this is what I wanna talk about. I wanna talk about this experience because it reminded me that there are corners in this hobby that are sitting dormant waiting for you, the collector, to explore them.

And that does it like, it is not a requirement to have a benchmark sale for a category to, be something that you should set up a safe search on.

And as a matter of fact, like, I think the best part about it is finding those things out yourself. So that's the journey I wanna talk about today.

Why following the herd is never as satisfying as blazing your own collecting trail, and most importantly, why independent thinking makes collecting so much fun, and why the best part of the hobby might not be chasing what everyone else is doing, but discovering stuff for yourself.

So before we dive into kinda, like, the the roads less traveled, we let's talk about the most traveled, the hype cycle driving so many of these buying decisions. And I mentioned it's human behavior or it's it's human nature.

And, by extension of that, it's collector behavior, and it tends to follow a predictable pattern. And we see something getting popular, valuable, whether it's a set, player, parallel, and the hobby tends to gravitate towards this.

It is that herd behavior. It means people are making decisions by observing others. And we have these tools in our hands right now where all we need to do is take a picture, post, share some copy, and it's just adding fuel to the fire.

Think in the hobby right now, the herd is stampeding towards those grail products, and players have shown have lately shown big returns.

I don't need to rehash this, but we can talk about the Kobe duo, Jordan duo, exquisite one of one logo men sale.

We've talked about it enough, but, really, the Jay Cutler 2012 Prism Black Finite sale that Pac bought really set the set that category off or appear to set that category off.

And we've seen even lesser players, in exquisite prism and other sets commanding higher prices than ever before.

Man, I'm thinking right now. Somebody posted a random black finite. It wasn't random, and it wasn't a 2012. Just a black finite of a player. That was, like, notable, but wasn't like a hall of famer, and it was, like, a $1,200 sale.

And it was like the question was like, is this the world we're living in now? I think on the surface, following the trends where the money is going up, it isn't irrational.

I think especially if many of us look at a set like prism who've been I've been collecting prism ever since I got back in the hobby. It is my favorite set.

And it's hard when a certain segment of that is going up to just abandon it. It's hard, especially when that's part of your collector identity. And many collectors have don't never leave, and they just keep staying.

But they try to adapt and figure out different ways to collect. Think the rub, though, is, like, when everyone pie piles into an even scarce segment at the same time, you can still get a bubble.

Prices could overshoot reality if people are buying just because others are rather than from personal conviction or fundamentals.

I think we have to remember that even rare cards can be overvalued if the hype outpaces the real collector demand.

One more time because this is really important. I think we as collectors need to remind ourselves that even rare cards can be overvalued if the hype outpaces real collector demand.

And I don't wanna be the guy that gets up here and is like the wet blanket on an exciting time in our hobby.

And I'll tell you, it's an exciting time in our hobby. I like it when it's like this. I don't like paying the prices, but I like the the momentum.

I like the excitement. I don't like everything, but I would much rather kind of be in a operate, build a business in a space, and collect cards in a space that there's more people excited.

I think what's fascinating to me is and what I've been thinking about is, like, the psychology of the what's the of the what's driving the herd.

And we see the rapid price gains, and we see the FOMO and the next sale and just being like, is am I missing out? The and FOMO is huge, and it doesn't get talked about enough.

But when trends heat up, most folks experience this anxiety. If I don't jump in now, I'll miss my chance at profit. It's everything we see in our society right now with crypto, meme stocks, all of it.

Think FOMO can be deadly. It can cause us to make impulsive buying at peak prices. And there will be someone inevitably if it's not a car that's being held for a long time or ever to buy at peaks.

I think the problem is when people are just chasing because of FOMO and they don't quite understand or do the research to know what they're buying.

They're writing momentum, and they're not collecting with intention. I ask myself this all the time when I see it. Why why is fall why are so many people following the herd?

Why is it so tempting? Again, we're humans. Right? We're collectors, but we're humans. But a big part about this and an element that I think a lot about in marketing is social proof.

Here's an example of social proof from a marketing perspective. When I launched the book, Collecting for Keeps, I was creating my launch plan. I was like, we're gonna create a landing page, and the landing page got put together.

And I looked at it, and I was like, this is good. And then I thought to myself, you know what? This would be even better if I got a quote from someone who's already read it.

Authentic genuine quote because it's not just me telling you to read the book, but it there's someone else to help. And so the only other person who I had shared it with at that point was Chris Miguel.

And I he read it, gave me feedback, and I said, hey, Chris. Would you give me a quote? And I can put it on my landing page, and I did. And he gave me a great quote, and I'm very thankful for that.

But that validates that that validates that it's not just me stacking slabs telling you to read this book. But in fact, there's another individual in the hobby and a contributor who's sharing his experience.

And I think this moves over to collecting too. It's comforting to move with a pack. There's a sense of safety in buying what everyone else says is hot or essential, and this combines with FOMO.

But I think part of it is also comparison and ego. And we see fellow collectors posting their big pickups on Instagram, and suddenly we measure our own collecting based on that. And that is not a good place to be.

Comparison is the thief of joy. And I love this quote, and I've mentioned it before, especially in the hobby, because it means that the more you you compare yourself to others, the less happiness you find, with what you have.

And if you're constantly measuring your collection or buying choices based on against the next person, you'll never be satisfied.

There will always be someone with a bigger card or chasing the latest trend that you're not on. And chasing collective consensus can rob you of the simple joy of collecting what you love.

Think a lot about psychology. And when we start collecting for external validation and you hear this a lot. I I hear my friends who are contributors in this space, and you heard it on the last card ladder confidential.

Josh talked about how many people are sliding into his DMs asking them him about LeBron cards and if it's a good time to buy. And these people aren't even LeBron collectors.

So people want this external validation, and we end up setting ourselves up when we are relying on external validation for anxiety and disappointment because it's you know, those buys are missing the core reason of why collecting rules.

We're buying these cards because of connection.

We're buying these cards to express ourself. Think you might hit a snag with a hype card, but if you bought it just because everyone else wanted it, like, the question is, does it truly make you happy?

Or do you immediately start worrying about the next card that you don't have that others have? That's a vicious cycle.

You gotta focus on your own path, and you're not here to prove anything to anyone else. Remember, collecting is not a competition. Think it's really important to understand these human impulses, herd behavior, social comparison, FOMO.

It's important because it recognizes when you're being pulled by the crowd rather than your own compass, like, that's not good. And I'll be honest. Even as someone who preaches this stuff, I'm not immune to Tugs of Hyatt.

None of us are. It's part of it. But I think I guess, ultimately, what I wanted to say is just, like, be aware of it. So I am much more of the mindset that we gotta be independent collectors.

I talk about my collection. It's centered around my city. It's centered around my teams. It's important to me. I think comparison is the thief of joy, reminds us that happy collectors aren't the ones chasing someone else's checklist.

They're the ones digging into what personally fires them up. And to me, that that's interesting. It's interesting to be able to show something to a community of people that they're not used to and to use words to explain why it matters.

Evolving past the looking over your shoulder, looking what your friends are posting, and buying for yourself is important, and that's why dig dig through the Stacking Slabs archives.

We I've talked about Northstar enough. I've talked about buying for yourself enough. I've talked about independent thinking enough. But we tend to, especially when money's involved, start to get envious of other people.

We start posting about it. We start buying what we don't want, but we think we should buy. And there's nothing there's nothing wrong with collecting popular stuff, but as an observer, for me, it's always less interesting.

Like, for me, I always have this, like, hang up with card shows, and I'm I'm not anti card shows. Just in fact, I go to card shows all the time if I have the time.

But when I go to a card show, my intention is never to buy something. It's more to be immersed in the community. But my rub against a lot of card shows is that you go and you just see the same stuff. You see the same set of players.

You see the same products. You see the new stuff, this overhyped stuff in showcase after showcase because that's what people think that they need to be buying because that's what everyone else is talking about.

Then when I had a showcase of nineties football grails or mid two thousand stuff, it's like, damn.

Let me sit and enjoy this. It looks like a collection, and we've talked about that before. So I just think that is it resisting this urge to compare and instead collect independently, I think, is really satisfying.

And if you can get yourself to that stage, if you're not, you should try. Don't force it, but try. Your ups and downs of how you feel about cars and collecting won't be tied to hype cycles in markets that you can't control.

There's been plenty of instances during this run up where I thought, man, maybe it's a good time to sell a card.

And I think that's normal, and it's okay to sell cards into this market. If it presents a new opportunity for you and it helps you, make your collection a better version of your collection right now, it's that's fine.

I think my issue always comes with trying to just buy something because you see other people are doing it.

So a way to maybe get out of the herd and jump in something fresh and new is to focus in on discovery. And discovery is fun. I love discovery. I think about discovery all the time. I think about discovery when I'm having conversations.

I think about discovery when I'm having, doing recordings. I think about discovering discovery when I'm searching for sports cards. I love to tee up questions that produce results that that gets me going. I'm a curious person.

I think the power of discovery and why it can be so much more rewarding than chasing the same shining objects than everyone else. There's a lot of power behind it. I had a moment last week that perfectly encapsulates this.

I won an auction of a card I literally knew nothing about days before. And that's so not me, but in this era where I'm seeing prices, it felt right. And it was the two thousand score team 2,000 Marvin Harrison autograph one of one.

I think part of it, not like part of this is I got the 99 contenders, gold Edgerin PSA 10 auto. And I was like, god. I'm not an auto guy, but I love this.

And I love this idea of an autograph of a player that I love on a card early and early in their career. And so I saw this Harrison card, and it mimics his 2,000 his, his rookie scorecard, 96 scorecard.

He's ran he's he's in a Syracuse uniform, which, again, goes against the grain of typically what I like, but it's got an autograph on it, and it's a one of one.

And there was something about these elements. It was like, man, this is kind of a pairing in a way with this edge that I bought. And remember, I collect in pairs, and that's fun.

But this card was never on my radar. I didn't know it existed. I wasn't hunting for it. And truth be told, I didn't even realize that it was for sale until I stumbled upon it. But a lot of these elements just spoke to me.

The experience of discovering an obscure gem what has been refreshing. Before I placed a serious bid on it, I did as much research as I could. I looked up 2,000 score trading card database, all these resources.

And I had a small window, and it just so I went with my gut. I went with my instinct and said, this is this is a card I want. I'm gonna put a bid on it. If I don't lose it, whatever. If I lose it, whatever. Like, this isn't on my list.

And if I win it, great. This card appeals to me. Well, after I bought the card, I started to dig in and research and started to not see a lot of information and see what where is the other information about the one of ones at the set?

I'm looking through trading card database and, like, can't find anything else out, then I'm like, this is bizarre.

Like, I'm usually on it. I usually know everything that I'm buying, but I'm in this phase right now where I'm seeking answers.

I'm looking for answers to a card that I just purchased, which is a unique position that I'm in. I'm sourcing people. I'm asking questions. And I say all of this to say, I'm getting a card that I have never heard anyone talk about.

I have I no one talks about square football. No one I didn't even know this set existed, but it's deeply interesting, and it's deeply fascinating to me.

And it while on the surface yeah. It's Marvin Harrison. If you go down a couple layers, it's like, man, does this really fit in the collection that I'm building?

But for this moment, it does. It certainly does because it is driving me to think about my collection in a whole new light. And I feel really good about the price because I know not everyone else is jumping towards it.

It's it's exploring a corner of the hobby that's been sitting dormant. It's really satisfying. It's a it's a reminder that countless cool cards are out there that aren't in the hobby stream.

They're sitting dormant, and they're waiting for people like us to go find them. And when you find them and you buy them and then you still have questions, I think for me, it's like that's that's multiplying my excitement.

This is fun. This this this phase in buying this card has been different, and it has been fun. And I think that's the power of discovery.

It personalizes your collection and makes the hobby feel new again. Going on going against the grain, I'm a I'm a I'm a turn left when everyone's going right is enjoy and it I I find a lot of enjoyment of out of it.

I think it can pay off too, especially if you're trying to be financially prudent. Right? When you're not competing with their herd, you often get better deals.

Deals. You avoid bidding wars. That's that's that's positive. You've also got long term upside. If you're buying a car that no one else knows about and you love it and it's got traits and qualities that can drive future demand.

Hey. Getting there before everyone else matters. The thing most importantly is having personal connection, making sure that no matter what happens, the card matters to you because there are elements from that card that you connect with.

Community. I think, oddly enough, when you follow your own niche, you often find like minded collectors who are doing the same thing and form tighter bonds.

I've connected with a few collectors on this card asking questions, and it's been a lot of fun.

I think with this episode, I'm not saying you should never buy a card that's popular or chase a big auction. I'm gonna con I'm I'm gonna be doing this.

I do it. It's natural. But there's nothing wrong with owning cards that people don't know about. It's all about mindset. I guess it's not about following what everyone else is doing blindly. Doing it on your own terms.

If you love a hype card, awesome. Love it for what it means to you, not just because everyone's talking about it. I think a great rule of thumb I've heard and I try to follow is collect what you like, and you'll like what you collect.

It sounds simple, but it's really can be the compass that never truly fails. Everyone always says collect what you like. Everyone does it.

But, like, if it didn't matter, if it didn't resonate, people wouldn't be continuing to say it. So as we wrap up this episode, I I wanna leave you with a reinforcement of that original idea of turn left when others go right.

To me, this doesn't mean being contrarian just to be contrarian. It means staying true to your own collector identity even if it diverges from what the crowd is doing. It's about trusting your taste, trusting your instinct.

Remember, you're the CEO of your PC. Never forget that. Think about the stories you'll have by charting your own course, the collection you'll build, how it's going to be different, how it's going to be unique.

We're a fun time. It's it's fun. People are fired up about cards. But make sure that you're buying stuff that speaks to you. Maybe it's a player set, quirky subset.

Who knows? But give yourself permission to explore. Give your permission give yourself permission to do discovery, ask questions, research. Independent thinking is important. It will take you places. I promise.

And I know there's a ton of independent thinkers out there, a ton of independent collectors, but this is just a reminder. It's a lot of flashy sales. It's really easy to fall into the trap. Remember, comparison is the thief of joy.

I like hidden treasures, especially when they connect and resonate with me. Thank you so much for supporting Stacking Slabs, continuing to follow along, telling a damn friend, reposting all the things you're doing.

I love talking about sports cards and appreciate you being an audience out there that's listening, passionate, and engaged. Happy collecting. We'll talk to you soon.