What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Stacking Slabs.

This is your hobby content alternative. This is the flagship, and I'm your host, Brett. Sports cards. You ready to talk about them? Today, we are going to be talking about a topic that I'm not sure we've done a dedicated episode on.

And whenever I am having conversations with other collectors, over the course of a week, I tend to take a moment each week and try to peel back from those conversations and try to pick up topics that might be interesting to explore on the flagship episode.

And I think this one was, like, a culmination of a lot of conversations I've had, my own personal collecting and just the way I approach what I'm doing. And so I think it's really fun, and it'll be interesting to explore.

And that's what I wanna do here on Stacking Slabs. I wanna bring interesting topics and explore them with all of you, you, the collector, to, try to see if this resonates.

Hopefully, this is helpful, but we're gonna be talking about collection management today and the managing the madness of all of it.

It's a pretty dense topic. I always have pages of notes before I'm getting into this, but there's a lot of pages of notes. So we'll see all what we cover, but I think this will be a fun, topic in a conversation.

Let's hit some housekeeping right out of the gates. Wanna, first of all, thank you for being here. Thank you for, smashing that follow button, telling a damn friend, being in the Patreon group if you are there, if you wanna be there.

Link is in the show notes. But it is it is a period where I can't say thank you enough to all of you out there.

It might seem trivial, but everybody who comes and listens to an episode and and shares stacking slabs, whether it's on your Instagram feed in a story or telling someone, it it helps me continue to do what I'm doing.

And there's a lot there. But as creators, we rely on you, you, the audience member, to be engaged and to help us continue to elevate what we're doing. And I'm very thankful that you're all here.

You've been here for a while, and it continues to grow. That helps me, explore new opportunities for, stacking slabs, and you're seeing some of that in real time. I wanna thank everyone for supporting Smashing Ben.

Great conversation last week with John at Pack Nicholson. That show will continue to run on Thursdays for the foreseeable future. I spent time booking out couple months worth of guests for that, so I'm very excited about that show.

I'm also excited about the WNBA card podcast with Caitlin at cold lunch cards. That is a new concept, and we spun that out this weekend.

So make sure you go back and check that out. This is kind of how we're gonna be doing it for a while. We're gonna continue to have the staples, the tried and trues on the main feed, and we're going to be spinning up new shows.

We're gonna be testing them with the audience, and they will eventually spin off into their own format. There are categories on top of categories on top of categories.

And I know this from my experience. When I find content on a category that I'm interested in and it's just about that category, it lights the freaking flame inside of me, and it makes me more excited.

And content can make people excited. And that's the role I wanna play here is I wanna create and design content that fires you up, whatever you collect.

A lot of people over the years have said, you know, I enjoy stacking slabs even though I don't collect football or wrestling.

I enjoy the content because it helps me think about how I'm approaching my collection. And out of the gates, this has never been about a specific category at all.

I'm just sharing my experience. And there are a lot of you out there that are super passionate, that are dialed into categories, and I want to activate that with this audience.

So this is the platform. I want more collectors who are passionate about categories to come up and share.

Content is a beautiful thing in this hobby, and it gets tossed around a lot, and people do content this, people do content that. But I'm telling you what, content has literally paid my bills for the last, you know, decade.

And now I'm getting the opportunity to focus in and do content in a space that I deeply love, deeply admire, deeply appreciate that, and I am never gonna lose sight of that opportunity.

So appreciate all the feedback. You all listening, there's a lot of change, and it's exciting change happening on stacking slabs, new stuff, and I love it.

And if you're a hobby brand out there that is interested in elevating your message with the stacking slabs audience, hit me up.

Easy to find, Instagram at stacking slabs. I'm always looking for new and exciting partners that I believe in to collaborate with, so make sure you hit me up.

But let's get into the topic at hand. We're talking about collection management and managing the madness. I have said this a lot, but I love to keep my collection in constant motion.

If I break down my entire collection today, it would be comprised of Peyton Manning cards, Andrew Luck cards, Colts one of one cards, Colts prism cards, some Tyrese Halliburton, some wrestling, some d b WNBA slash women's basketball.

That is a lot, but I'm interested in a lot of stuff, and I wanna express my interest in my collection.

That's where the rubber meets the road for me, that I like something enough to want to collect it. It sounds simple, but it's very important.

There are so many things to collect in this hobby. But when we put our money out there to start buying cards because the it aligns, beautifully with a specific category that we are we love. I think that is that is a beautiful thing.

I I think that there is seasonality with collecting. I think we as collectors monitor the different price points. Our interest shifts. Our attention changes, and we kind of shift where we put our attention when it comes to buying.

And sometimes when we buy, we have to sell. And just because we collected something and we haven't bought a new card for that wing of our collection for the last six months to a year doesn't mean we're stopping collecting.

There's just other variables and other factors that have caused us to maybe put our attention towards something else.

I think collection management is an overlooked but essential part of long term collecting. We are all here, and we all wanna be here for the long haul.

And I think sustainability is a, a really good thing. And I think as collectors, we sit here, and if you're listening to this show, I would say you're probably in it like I'm in it.

You're very advanced. You are very motivated. You're very interested. You can't see a time where you're not collecting sports cards.

That is my audience member. That is you. And I think what's really important, though, is to think about how we protect that future, how we protect us from a long term future in the hobby.

And to me, there's not a better way to do it than to think about the ways that we manage our collection.

I will never be here to give financial advice. What I'm here to do is explore a mindset and and decision making frameworks that help collectors stay engaged and in control.

So I think the best place to start out of the gates is just to define it. Right? What is collection management? What it what is this thing?

How should we think about it? Maybe your definition is different than mine, and that's fine. Right? There's no, rule book on how we think about these things, but we all have various perspectives. And I this is a great thing.

This is a great thing, and maybe this, you know, this an observation that I I really appreciate about the hobby is that everyone's got opinions, everyone's got different knowledge, everyone knows different sets, everyone knows different eras, different products.

And if we come into this arena and we understand and have the self awareness for our activity and where our knowledge and skill sets are based on sports cards and where other people's are, and and come in it with an open mind.

And that open mind starts with, like, having curiosity.

And we look at any activity or collector pages on Instagram or things people are doing, and we we start from a place of I'm curious about this topic or this collector and what they're doing, and not from a the way I do it is the right way, and so whatever else people are doing is the wrong way.

Like, so much of the world is that way. It's black and white. Oh, I believe this. I support that. So that means I can't, support this or I can't support that.

Like, that's not sports cards to me. Sports cards to me is openness. Sports cards to me is like a opportunity to come in and learn from others while also sharing our passion and connecting with cards and athletes.

Like, that's why this rules. So I say all that to say, my definition for collection management might be different than yours.

But when I think about collection management, I think about it being an intentional process for how we allocate our money, manage our focus, and make collecting decisions that keep us engaged long term.

Keyword, long term. This is not a knock on short term activity. Short term activity can be defined as the flipper crowd, someone who's operating in margins, someone who's trying to, turn inventory fast.

Like, that that activity, it happens in the hobby, and, typically, there's not a lot of management going on because it's like, I got a piece.

I'm trying to move this piece. It's just like it's a hamster wheel. I'm coming at this from from the long term perspective.

I think it's it's not about necessarily maximizing value or building a perfect portfolio. It's about building a collection that reflects who you are as a collector right now while leaving space for it to evolve.

So I like to break things down into buckets. And so when I think about what I'm exploring and the topics that I'm exploring in frameworks, and and and in those frameworks, there are different buckets.

And so when I think about collection management, there are three specific, things that come right to my mind. I think about allocation, I think about focus, and I think about engagement.

So if I wanna hit on allocation, I think it's you only have so much hobby budget to work with, and collection management is about deciding where that money goes, which players, sets, parallels, eras deserve your attention in cash for this week, the month, or the next year.

That's allocation.

You got focus. Focus is about creating clarity within your collecting world. Whether you're deep in on one lane or dabbling across several, collection management is the tool that helps you avoid getting distracted or overwhelmed.

Just get it. Focus. Lastly is engagement. Engagement is not just what's in your collection.

It's how it makes you feel. What's in our cases is seasonal. It changes. Right? What can fire us up, one day might lose its luster in another day. And for me, that's okay, and accepting and recognizing that is is growth.

I think we all aspire to have cards in our collection forever, but that's just not how it works. Right? There's so many cars. There's so much maturity we we go through.

There's a evolution. But I think what's really freaking cool is when you open up your case and you look at the cards that have been there the longest and you have no plans to meet them, like, think move them.

Think about those cards. What are the qualities? What are the reasons why you think that way about that card and why you wouldn't move it?

That's what we're that is what I am aspiring to get to with all the buying. But in order to be that card that withstands the test of time, you're not gonna know that until time time years later.

And I think that's based on engagement. And collection management helps you stay excited, inspired, and connected to your cards.

When done right, it helps you helps fuel the fun of collecting instead of draining it. I think to me, managing your collection isn't rigid. It's fluid. It's built on self awareness.

It's understanding what lights you up and and gives yourself the freedom to chase what you want without guilt, pressure, or comparison. I come into collecting with a general understanding of what I can and what I can afford.

That is not necessarily based on the money in my bank account. I I factor in my collection and my willingness to move pieces of my collection to get a specific card that hits all the attributes for me.

My the biggest shift in the way I think about cards moved when I started to think about that, when I started not to be so intimidated by certain prices because I knew I had the equity buildup in my collection.

I think I wanna, like, go back, and I said this up up top, but I wanna, like, double down and emphatically say that this is not portfolio management, and that gets thrown around.

And to me, collection management is way more personal. I think a lot of people throw around terms like portfolio management.

And while I understand where you're coming from, especially as card values rise and more people track comps, I think the term misses the point for collection for collectors.

And things always get twisted when we move too far into thinking about our sports cards like stocks for me.

Portfolio management is a financial term. You know, you you you're all about maximizing return, minimizing risk, and making sure data driven investment decisions.

You know? Many of us might have a, money guy or gal that helps us think through these things. That language treats your cards like assets, your spending like a stock strategy, and your collection like a balance sheet.

For me, collection management, on the other hand, is way more personal because it's about you, what you like, what keeps you engaged, and how your interest change over time.

It's less about what's the return on investment, and does this fit within my collecting goals? It's not how to beat the market, or it's how how do I build a collection that makes me wanna stay in the hobby.

It's not that. It's more personal. Your collecting's more personal. The more valuable collection management becomes, it helps you set boundaries and make decisions and stay focused, not necessarily for profit, but for purchase.

I think when I think about my collection and collection management, there's the financial side of it, but there's also the what I alluded to at the top, there's different lanes.

Right? You can have a narrow focus versus a multilane collecting approach, and there's not one right way or the other.

You know, when you you collect one thing or one type of thing, you've got, you know, the narrow focus whether it's one player, one team, one set.

I think the the benefits of that is you become the subject matter expert, right, because you're only focused on one things thing, and you understand them where the cards are at that you want or you're hunting for them, and you understand where your funds are allocated.

Less buying opportunities, perhaps, which might lead to less engagement, but then you find other ways to stay involved.

Right? So think about it from the perspective of, you know, I here's an example because it's part of what I collect, but it's not the only thing.

If I were to say, I only collect Colt Prism one of one cards, that would be super narrow, super focused.

I can assure you if that's all that I collected, then I would buy every one because, you know, they might pop up every one new one every month or so.

And I would probably know where they're at, the the ones that I needed, where they're at in the collections.

But it would it would give me more ammo to my arsenal because it's that's all that I'm I'm spending money on. Now I think for me, I like to buy, so that would be a challenge. Right?

I'd be in it'd be a a lot of waiting around, and I would need to figure out other ways to stay engaged in the hobby, whether that's through conversations, content, or something else, or creating, which is something that I'm doing, more now than ever before.

So I don't think that I would be necessarily bored because there's so much to do, but being that narrow to me isn't exciting from a collecting collection management perspective as a multilane approach that can provide variety and balance.

Right? I I love learning. I am a very curious person. I hope you already understand that by all the content and topics that we've explored together over the course of the the life cycle of of this show.

But that's a part of the hobby that I need. I need newness. I need to learn. I need to feel that spark. I I like connecting with new communities.

I enjoy that. I have a lot of interests, and I wanna connect with those interests. I think just because you sell a card in a category that you've been collecting for a long time doesn't necessarily mean you didn't like it.

Right? You've got utility value. You've spent time with that. But that that card that you sold can help fund that new interest, and that's part of the collective collection management process.

I think every time I've wanted to collect something new, I've always had to sacrifice in order to make that happen.

I think the more time I spend knowing exactly the more time you spend, the more more time you know exactly what you like.

I think about Peyton Manning, who's somebody that I've collected ever since I've been in the hobby. I have gone through hundreds of Manning cards.

My Manning collection has changed dramatically. One thing that I know about my Peyton Manning collecting is in in my collecting in general, as I mature, the more I mature in a category, the less cards I need.

I don't know if that resonates with you or not, but that's me. Because I mature to a level where I start to understand exactly the type of cards that I want in that collection.

And over the years in collecting Manning, there are different attributes, different eras, different profiles of cards that I wanna be focused on because I think about the financial component of I only have so much money, and I can't have a hundred Peyton Manning cards in my collection.

Especially, I can't have 75 Peyton Manning's cards in my collection that I kinda like. It just doesn't work like that with the way I'm thinking about the collection that I'm managing.

Probably the newest category, you know, a year ago that I opened up was WNBA collecting. That's more broad today because I'm I'm experimenting. I'm trying to understand what I like.

I'm trying to understand what I don't like. It's a more broad category. Now if I'm staying in that category, it's likely to evolve and shift and will move into less cards but more specific cards in the future.

I think budget management is a key piece of collection management, and it drives all the activity, and it's probably the foundation for collecting management.

If collection management is the framework, then budget management has gotta be the foundation. It's I we all have limits.

You know? Whether it's $50 a a monthly budget we spend on cards or 5,000, we're all making decisions based on a a finite finite amount of resources that we have. Think budget management isn't about restricting yourself.

It's about creating clarity and control. Gives us freedom to be passive in the hobby if we want to. So, we can make impulse buys if they come our way. We can be patient for the right card.

We can make bigger plays, but and that helps throw everything out of balance. Then when you start to understand your budget, you start seeing your collection as a new series of intentional choices, not just a pile of random pickups.

Some people plan it out, others go by feel. Either way, it's about awareness. It's like asking yourself questions like, what am I spending each month? What collecting lanes deserve a bigger slice of it right now?

Am I buildings towards something or just reacting? And I found that budget management becomes even more important when your collection starts to grow in value because that's when temptation ramps up.

That's when fear of missing out creeps in, and that's when a solid system keeps you grounded. I think we all look at our own situation in a a way that's unique and it changes and it evolves in the way you manage your collection.

Probably two years ago, it looks a lot different than it does now because you have information. You have experience. That's natural.

I think one thing I see a lot of, and it's part of the hobby that, like, I don't necessarily love, is when I see other collectors start to project on other collectors or a audience of collectors about what they're saying and what they don't like about it.

Whether it's, you know, cards, you know, a lot the easiest targets like flipping and selling cards.

Right? A lot of people speak out on that topic and what they like and what they don't like, but no one understands the the collection management of the individuals who are selling cards.

If you're, like, doing regular story sales, whenever I see that, I don't think, oh, they're trying to flip cards. My mindset is, oh, what card did they buy? That's how I think about it.

And so I think from a a overall hobby experience, collecting management experience, the less time we focus in on other people or other collectors in what they're doing or what we perceive they're doing, I think the better.

I think the more we're speaking out on things we don't like collectors doing, and it's taking time away from our own management.

And I don't know. That just doesn't seem like a good thing. I think it's kinda like an it it becomes an, a blanket of insecurity a little bit. I don't know.

That's just me. But I think everyone has different styles. Everyone has different approaches. Everyone manages their collection in a unique way, and I think that's cool. And I think we can learn from other people's experiences.

At least that's what I'm trying to do here on Stacking Slabs. How do you manage your collection? Do you have advice for other people? If you do, share it. Tag me. I'd love to share it out.

I appreciate all of you showing up and showing out each and every week, supporting stacking slabs, telling your damn friend, doing all the things. We'll be back always with more stacking slabs on the other side. Take care.