What's going on, everybody?

Welcome back to stacking slabs. This is your hobby content alternative. I am Brett. Flagship time coming at you. We are moving along in the collecting for keeps series. We're in chapter seven here. We're almost done.

What am I gonna do after this? I'm gonna have to figure something else out, but that's what we do. We get creative. We come up with series. We dive into topics. It's the fun part about being the creative control for stacking slabs.

I don't need to run my thoughts and concepts up some, totem pole. No approvals. I'm approving it. Today, I'm excited to hit making moves strategy, execution, and adaptation.

It is going to be a lot of fun if you are making moves, trying to get cards, dealing with people, trying to figure out how to maybe get the cards out of people's collections.

I'm hoping this conversation will be for you. I wanna first and foremost thank Inferno Red Technology for sponsoring the flagship episode of Stacking Slabs.

They're the engineering team behind some of the biggest names in sports and collectibles like DC Sports 87, Comsea Collectors, Upper Deck, and eBay from AI powered solutions for startups to full stack platforms for industry leaders.

Their team can tackle your toughest technology challenge. They build awesome software for the hobby, for leagues, and fans, and for everyone in between.

See what they can build for you at infernored. com. There is a lot on my mind. Hopefully, you're spending time this week on things in the hobby that are significant and meaningful to you.

At the end of the day, whenever I am not able to land a card or there's nothing really going on from a card perspective net new, I always make sure that I try to carve out some time to spend with my collection.

Lot of utility value, spending time with your cards, reminding yourself why you're here. And I always just think that's a good reminder.

And before we get into this episode, got to just plug a few things. If you can do me a favor, if you are a rabid listener of stacking slabs, I've a few small ass. Hit the follow button on the show.

Make sure you're wherever you're listening, make sure you're getting it. I send out a newsletter that sets up this conversation every week. It's called the weekly rip. It goes out Sunday. It's free. There's a link in the show notes.

It's a substack. Hit it. Subscribe. I'm trying to build that list out. It's a intentional goal of mine. What else can I ask you to do today? Tell a damn friend, would you? And I always got the Patreon group.

If you wanna get crazy, you can join me over there. But it feels in every conversation I have, and you're hearing them on this channel and through my own investigation data, we're cards are banging, skyrocketing every week.

We're in a true bull market. Let me cite an example from last week. We had the, 2013 Cordero Patterson Black Finite rookie one of one go for $5,300.

Instagram started posting about it. All those things. And first of all, sidebar, Cordero Patterson was when he was with the Falcons playing running back, he's like a fantasy hack.

I was I followed him on all my social accounts because I always he could get him in, like, the tenth round, and I was like, man, he's sick.

So when it was that card, it was, like, kinda symbolic in a way. I was like, man, he's added value to me. But, you know, it $5,300 for his rookie card.

That doesn't seem normal, and it doesn't look like anything we're used to. But times change, things shift, motivations, desires change. If you're a listener and you bought that card, please post it.

I would love to see who is the new owner of that. But we're seeing Instagram is flooded with these record sales. We see mailed bag posts, which I'm a fan of. Like, if you're getting cards, bangers, cool cards, show them. It's awesome.

There's a lot of buzz around what's happening on the show circuit. But I think behind all this excitement, many of us are asking ourselves, what am I really doing? Is this right? It's a strange mix of exhilaration and anxiety.

The market is up, but so are the doubts. And that's something I think about a lot. It's like when there's exuberance, excitement, people are excited about card prices going up, stuff that they own.

There's always, like, the same it's mashed with the same level of uncertainty and doubt. And I felt it, and it's just like nagging curiosity if I'm chasing passion or if I'm just, like, stuck in the zone chasing hype.

And so in times like this, it's clear that just being excited isn't enough. And I think to really thrive and enjoy the hobby, we need something more grounded.

And for me, that means a a a having some sort of strategy. So we're diving deep into strategic thinking in the hobby, especially crucial in the market we're currently in.

It's really about being intentional with each move we makes, executing smart plans, and adapting when the ground shifts under our feet.

This is like this is gonna be somewhat of a my personal playbook, and it's also gonna be, like, probably very, it'll be like a confessional in a way on a lot of stuff.

I'll share how I'm navigating the frenzy blending in research and real talk, probably get a maybe a little vulnerable.

But hopefully, by the end, we'll see why strategic collecting, thinking long term, turning left when others are turning right is not just key to surviving boom the boom, but coming out on the other side with a collection that's intact.

You can say turn left when everyone turns right. You can say zig when everyone zags or maybe you're zagging when everyone zigging.

Who knows? But in this market, one of the hardest but most important things to do is to go against the grain. Prices surging, influencers talking, headlines blaring, next big thing, and it feels like money is being made all around.

The instinct is to jump in on the action, but strategic collectors just hit pause. There's wisdom in hitting pause. I when this I know there are a lot of individuals that we monitor that, might project like they're Warren Buffett.

I do find inspiration on some of, famous Buffett quotes. And this this time in particular, I can't help but think of a quote that he has that says, be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.

I god. That I I think about that all the time, and I try to, whenever there's a frenzy, try to remind myself that. And I think in hobby terms, this means don't blindly follow the herd.

I've made this analogy. There was this game on Sega when I was growing up called Lemmings and just the cover of it. We had everyone just falling off the cliff, and I feel like you start to see that.

That was prevalent in the pandemic era, and you start to see that in this era a little bit. Specific sets, players, parallels suddenly explode in value overnight.

I think unless it's the stuff that you're deeply in with and you deeply collect, then you've you've gotta be careful. Often the best move is to go against the grain and be opposite of what the hype suggests.

Consider the pandemic boom during 2021. A lot of the modern cards that we saw every day shot up ten, twenty x value in months. It was irrational exuberance, and seasoned voices knew it.

I was newer at the time, and I luckily followed and became friends with people who'd been here for a while. And I just I trusted those people in what they were saying, and they were right.

A correction may have needed needed in a correction may have been needed in modern, but when items are going 20 10 to 20 times and you see these prices, stuff gets crazy, people get excited, but, eventually, markets really start to correct themselves.

Markets work in cycles, and I think that's something that I'm constantly reminding myself and try to tell myself. And what goes parabolic one minute often comes crashing down the the so just as fast.

I think one of the biggest issues that we have in our industry is the fact that so much of the narrative and so much of what you hear at the surface level is player performance and it tied to market value.

And, like, that's the leading indicator. And it is an indicator, but it it there's many indicators.

And, like, if you're just going off of that, then you're going to get absolutely annihilated because you have to have a deep understanding of cards, sets, parallel like, you you've gotta be deeply intimate, and have a love of this space.

And so many don't, and so many it's very obvious that people are chasing cash, and it's whatever your prerogative is is your prerogative. Like, you do what you do.

But in order for this industry to be sustainable, the people with strategies who are trying to collect and build, awesome collections are critical in order for us to continue to be able to enjoy and do what we're doing in this space.

And I think a strategic move in the bull market is to sell into the strength, and buy during the lows.

I know it has taken me five years to get to the point where it's like, you know, the best time to buy a certain player or card is typically not when I'm excited about them and when they're playing, but it's when no one's thinking about them.

And if a a player's card triples because of one big game or some hype video or documentary, God forbid, like, you gotta be careful. Instead of paying the hype premium at peak frenzy, I think it's important to wait for quieter windows.

Off season, a dip when excitement cools off or after a highly hype released has passed. I jumped into the Bowman, Chrome University stuff, and I knew what I was doing, but I didn't care.

It was like, this is my one time a year, maybe two times, Prism Football. Yeah. But this is I was like, I don't care. I'm paying a premium. I'm gonna buy into some breaks just because I wanna be a part of it.

I wanna see the product. But I knew that going into it. But you put you're gonna hear me say, you know, turn left when others go right a lot, but masses chase what's flashy.

And the quiet cards, but the cards that are meaningful to you turn out to be the the wiser long term plays typically once the dust settles. None of this is to say you should become a contrarian from contrarian's sake.

Rather, I think you should stay grounded in the fundamentals and your personal belief When the hobby feels like a carnival of speculation, which it does a lot of the times, you gotta double down on what you love.

For example, if you're pouring money into some ultra modern prospect, you might wanna focus on historically great players and scarce cards that have enduring appeal.

I think the bottom line is strategic collectors don't panic or blindly follow the crowd. They observe the crowd, sure, but then they make their own terms.

Being willing to go opposite from the hype, especially in a bull market, can protect you from painful losses and set you up with undervalued gems that everyone else was too frenetic to notice.

I think hobby hype can come and go, but a clear collecting path is what keeps all of us centered.

In chaotic times, having that north star is really important. Every great collection has some structure behind it, not because collecting must be rigid, but because intentionality makes it more rewarding.

I've always believed in an operate operating with intention. I'm a parent. I'm a content creator. I try to plan things out, and the same goes for my collecting.

That's why I'm drawn to this idea of project based collecting, setting defined projects or themes for my collection, which transforms into transforms random buying into a mission.

When you're working on a collecting project, whether it's completing a team set, building a rainbow, parallels, or chasing a player's key cards, you give your collecting a purpose.

In other words, a project gives you focus. Instead of feeling like a leaf blowing in the winds of eBay or card shows, you have some sort of compass.

Personally, the moment I set a clear project, I found what I call the groove. You know, the zone where you just pick it up and it clicks.

Suddenly, the cards you acquire aren't just random additions. They each fit into a bigger picture you care about. That feeling of alignment is a signal you're building the right way.

Before, I had stretches where nothing I saw appealed to me, and it felt aimless. Now I'm rarely bored because I'm always chasing specific cards, and I know it when I see it.

If you are struggling amidst the noise, a big thing you can do, and I've said this a lot, is shrink the scope, shrink the sea of the hobby universe.

Maybe it means only collecting your team, a player, a specific set, but narrowing the lane. Narrowing the lane paradoxically can expand your enjoyment because you trade overwhelm for mastery.

That mastery that we get when we know a player's card catalog deeply, intimately, a specific product deeply into intimately is is very valuable.

It's no coincidence that focusing my collection on my collection, building focus within it, I should say, made it more fun.

I stopped trying to chase everything. This idea is echoed by many experienced collectors. I try to be a sponge. I try to take on as much as I possibly can from all of the conversations that I'm having.

And I naturally, as a human being and as a professional, pick and choose themes that I hear throughout and synthesize those themes, and those become principles for me as a collector, but also fuel for the content that I'm creating.

It might feel like you're limiting yourself at first, but trust me, I think it's really freeing.

A focused approach doesn't mean you can't grab a cool card just on a whim. It means just having some boundaries. I think one more benefit of a plan is it guards you against trend the trend chasing trap.

That's hard to say. And there's a lot of that when the market is red hot. I think having some sort of plan, like, here's 90% is your focus here, 10% is this, like, I'm gonna have fun experimentation pile.

That's kinda how I roll. Like, I don't say all this to say, I follow this plan rigidly. I do, but then I also, like, I mentioned when Bowman came out, it's like, I give myself some wiggle room.

Having a strategy is one thing, but executing it is another. And when I say this, this is how I think of it, and it might be overwhelming to you to, like, hey. You have to build a strategy for collecting, like or you have to execute it.

Like, those that sounds like a from a a business perspective. And I shared with you last week, like, a lot of this approach at operating when it comes to collecting, I think about it from a business perspective.

So the words I'm using are how I think about it, and they're not meant to overwhelm. I just wanna say that, like, it can just be as simple as, like, having a plan and going doing going and doing it.

But I think making smart moves in practice and buying and selling shrewdly and dealing with others respectfully and managing resources is the key to it.

In the heat of this market, execution matters more than ever. Mistakes get costlier when prices are high and opportunities can be fleeting.

So it's doing things like buying smart, and a big part of execution is knowing when to strike and when to hold back. And we've already discussed not paying peak high prices. Concretely, this might mean setting your own personal goals.

Discipline. It's key. One practical tip is to always check actual sales data and anchor to a realistic value, not asking prices in a friend in this frenzy, buying with data, not hype.

In a bull market, sellers often list cards at crazy high prices. They're looking for people who are drunk on the exuberance to take another sip.

Ground yourself in your own research, your your sold listing population reports, and that can help guide your experience. Saying say no. Learn to say no. Decisiveness really matters.

Great cards don't just show up. They based on your schedule, they pop up. When they pop up, there's a certain preparedness you we have to have. Sometimes we have to leverage our collection or do things on our own terms.

But strategic collectors find smart ways to finance these moves so the moves don't come back to buy them later. I think it's also important to know who and how to negotiate.

In a people driven hobby, it is really important to evaluate sellers differently because they're not all the same. One of the most underrated skills that I've observed is the ability to read the seller and tailor your approach.

You've got flipper, emotional attached collector, cash is king dealer, make me an offer guy, the story over comps collector.

This could go on forever, but you've gotta understand the intentions of the people that you're trying to work with.

If you're dealing with a peer flipper at a card show, you might be able to get a better deal by bundling cards and pointing out realistic market values.

They just wanna churn inventory with the emotionally attached seller, patience and relationship building helps. They need to feel cards going to a good home.

Seriously. They do. The cash driven dealer might respond to a firm cash in hand offer on the spot. The offer guy, you'll need to propose the number first, come in respect respectable, non insulting, or you'll lose them.

And for the story driven collector, you might share why the card matters to you establishing a human connection, and I've had collectors come down on price simply because they like that I truly cared about the card significance.

The point is negotiation is as much of an art as a science. The key is knowing who you're working with, reading the room to improve your chances of getting the deal done. Treating every seller the same is a rookie mistake.

Execution means observing, listening, and adapting your tactics in each negotiation. Not only will you likely get better prices, but you're also going to build better relationships in the hobby by meeting people where they are.

You might be asking yourself, well, how do I do this online? Ask questions. Ask questions. People suck at asking questions. Just ask questions.

Just ask questions. That opens it up. We're having conversations here, everyone. It's all you gotta. Start there. You gotta balance logic and passion. I think strategic execution is a balancing act between cold data and warm emotions.

On one hand, you wanna be rational, set budgets, stick to your focus, don't overpay out of impulse. On the other hand, the hobby is freaking emotional. That's why we love it.

The trick is to spend where it truly counts, and I'm a big believer that sometimes it's okay to overpay for that card. That means the world to you. I always do it. I I do it all the time. Price becomes a detail, not a deal breaker.

And I'll gladly break the budget once in a blue moon for a card that sends the chills up and down my spine because it's the intrinsic value to my collection collecting collection story, and that's what's priceless.

But being strategic doesn't mean being a robot or a pure investor. It means allocating your resources to what truly matters to you. So, yes, pay market or even above market for your holy grails, but balance it out by saving elsewhere.

What I try to avoid is overpaying for hype out of FOMO. But I have no problem for paying a premium for personal grails. And the difference is one is driven by external noise, and the other is driven by internal passion.

Mind your budgets and logistics. I think lastly, a smart executor minds the boring stuff, finances and fees. In a bull market, it's easy to justify overspending until things cool off, and you'll regret it.

Stick to your budget that makes sense for real life. Track your spending, including all the little sneaky costs like shipping, grading, selling fees.

Those things add up, especially if you're making a lot of deals. Helps you plan your bigger buys down the road, which I think is really, really important.

Alright. I wanna talk about adapting hobby shifts. If there's one constant in the hobby, it's change. Players get hurt, traded, products fall in and out of favor, and the market itself can swing in the matter of moments.

And strategic collectors treat their plan as a compass, not a strict map map. When that train changes, you adapt and recalibrate your route.

Adaptation is the secret sauce and keeps a long term collector from becoming an obstacle or burnout when things inevitably evolve. Stay flexible with your goals. I've always found it's I being rigid is always a bad move for me.

Asking questions like, is this path still making me happy is really important, and resisting pressure is really important, and resisting the shiny object is really important.

Using the community's knowledge is very valuable, and I think one advantage of today's hobby is the wealth of information and communities.

Absorbing that, being a student, synthesizing opinions. I'm constantly doing that through the flywheel content flywheel I'm building here at Stacking Slabs.

Planning for big moments, but don't overplan. Like, make sure you know if and when a card became available, the things that you'd have to do in order to obtain it. The most important, I think, is the focusing in on the long game.

We're here for the long haul, so let's treat it as such. Short term wins are fun, but long term thinking is how you really enjoy the hobby. When the market is bullish, it's easy to forget downturns and plateaus will come.

But by adopting a long term mindset, you naturally make better moves. You become less tempted to flip something for a quick buck if it's a piece you truly cherish.

You start evaluating cards not just if I can make profit off of this, but will I want this in five to ten years? A long term approach also means embracing the hobby cycles instead of fearing them.

In a bull market, you're in going to enjoy the rising tide, but stay prudent. In a bear market or low, you see it as a buying opportunity or a time to reflect rather than just a reason to give up.

Your strategy accounts for both ups and downs, and practically, you might keep some funds in reserve waiting on the dip, or you might just use booming times to trade up.

Letting go of cards that have exploded in value to acquire items that will hold longer longer term value.

That is the key. That's what I'm thinking about right now. And I think at the heart, adaptation is about staying true to your why even as the what and how evolve.

Making moves in this hobby isn't about just doing more. It's about doing what matters, and it will forever be tempting to chase in a bull market and to feel like you should be buying, selling, wheeling, and dealing twenty four seven.

But true happiness and success comes from purposeful action, not frenetic motion. When you plan ahead, buy and sell smart, understand the people you're dealing with and focus your energy on what truly matters to you.

You start building smarter. You're not just collecting for today's hype. You're collecting with tomorrow in mind. Think above all, remember why you're here.

Strategic thinking doesn't need a dampen passion. It channels it. It can be turning left when others are going right. It can be zigging when others are zagging or zagging when others are zigging.

Just don't be that lemon following the person in front of you getting ready to fall off the cliff because that sucks. Sucks. I'm Brett. I love sports cards. Thanks for listening to Stacking Slabs.