Alright. Welcome back to another episode of Passion to Profession brought to you by my good friends at eBay. We are revisiting conversations that I've had with brands previously previously this year.

This time, we are talking with a, we're unlocking a new character, if you will. So I'm, like, I'm I'm excited to be doing that. We're talking with Mike, on the four sharp corners team.

I spoke with Roger and Stan earlier this year, learned a little bit about the business, wanted to dig into kind of focus as a topic and what's happening in the crazy industry we work in and buy, sell, trade in, and a whole lot more.

But without further ado, Mike, welcome. How are you? Hey. I'm doing great. Excited to be here today. You know, Stan and Roch had such a good experience last time, so I was so excited to hop on with you.

This should be fun. It should be fun. Let's let's dig in maybe from the jump. You your role at four sharp corners, like, what do you do, and and how long have you you've been there?

Yeah. So, I'm our operations manager. So I, hit a lot of the operations and day to day tasks that that happen here. So, get to work hand in hand with Santa Roger a lot, which is fantastic.

So get to learn a lot from them and from the business side. And I've been with four Sharp Corners. July was five years, so a little over five years. So it's been a really good experience.

It's been the best. Best job ever. I'll be here for I'll be here for life. I love it. So you jumped into the business right as the first kinda boom was happening, it sounds like from a timeline perspective.

What how how did you get, like, how did you get sucked into, working in the hobby? And what was it during that time? Yeah. So good question.

So I worked in finance, for over a decade. So, I'm fortunate. I've known, Stan as a personal friend outside of work for a while. So, we were speaking around just, a role they were looking to fill as an operations manager.

And, so he said, yeah. Why not? You know, it's better than talking about loans. I get to talk about sports and cards and enjoy that, which is really cool.

And then I guess that you don't know what you don't know. So that was the environment I came into. So I didn't know about the craziness at that height because that's just kinda what I came into.

So, it was a lot of fun, a lot lot of moving parts. But, yeah, that's kinda how I got my foot in the door. And then, maybe I'm I'm also curious just like operations manager and working in operations can mean a lot of different things.

Like, primarily, on a day to day perspective, like, how like, what are the your primary chunks of responsibility? Like, what are you what are you focusing on? Yeah. Good question.

So it changes a little bit by by day, but, some of the departments I oversee directly, like our our software developers, I spend time a lot with them and how we're refining process and enhancing things and just improving our day to day experience for, our our people that work here.

I oversee our marketing department too, and we talk about strategy and what we're trying to do.

And that bleeds into the consignment division as well. I was really blessed and fortunate to help build that from the ground level since I've been here.

So to me, that's like my baby. I love it. So I get to get my hands dirty with that as well. Those are three years. And then, you know, human resources and some of those things too that I'm, heavily involved with.

And then I have a counterpart, John, as well that John oversees some of our shipping and some of our service and a few of those things as well.

But, for the most part, that's kinda what my my day looks like. And some days are busier than others in certain departments, and some days are a little quieter.

I I think one of my observations in just the earlier conversation, and then I told you ahead of this that, you know, I've been following four sharp corners on social.

And I I always look at things from, like, the lens of, like, the cards and what I'm seeing.

And I think one of the things that I find interesting that about four sharp corners is just, like, the the focus around, like, specific cards that are typically being sold through, your store or are being graded.

Like, there's a certain look, feel, era, vibe to those cards. And whenever I'm trying to learn more about those specific sets that predate me, I usually, you know, go to the four sharp corner store and dig in.

So I'm curious, like, what made that sort of focus the a priority for four sharp corners, and then maybe how has that led to growth for you all? You're talking about, like, specifically what type of cards we buy or sell.

So I mean, it it really go it's a reflection, especially in the past reflection of what Stan and Roger were passionate about. Right? So as you remember before, they grew up together, they traded cards together. They sold cards.

So a lot of those vintage cards, you're looking at the vintage baseball, basketball, football. A lot of that is what we're notoriously known for is because that's what we're buying. So that's the stuff we would buy and get graded.

And then because of that, you know, we built a really good brand reputation on eBay. And that's helped us, you know, four four or five years ago to say, hey. I think we can now take this to the next level.

Our brand and notoriety is really strong. How do we start to consign other people's cards now too in accept of let people, you know, benefit from our exposure on eBay to help sell some of theirs?

And you said you mentioned earlier that that that was, like, part of, like, it's, your your baby, and something you were prob you were involved with, like, maybe from the beginning.

I think a lot of us see consignment shops and think we know, like, how they work and what it takes, and they're just like, oh, yeah. Like, why are they taking that many margins?

All I'm doing is sending the card, and it's being, you know, promoted to their store and sold to their store. But I think anyone who's really into it understands, like, the complexity, around starting something like that.

Maybe talk to us about just, like, those those early days and decisions you you were making when you were trying to get consignment off the ground.

Oh, man. The the glory days. No. It was fun. It was it was pretty wild. I remember, you know, we made the decision that we wanted to do this. And we decided I think in the beginning, we did 5% on every card across the board.

So we were just influx with a lot of cards. I remember having a phone in my back pocket, walking around and calling taking phone calls and hit too many emails and doing all that because we're growing.

And, you know, when we started when I started here, we were just around 20 employees. Now we're north of 50.

So we've grown a lot. But because of that, you know, we had we had and had a really good infrastructure, but things grow. And when you're in expansion mode, you're constantly growing, but at those times, there's some growing pains.

But, you know, we were taking phone calls, fielding questions, answering, unique questions that people had, went over business.

You know, we have now my consultant manager, Britney, but Britney was one of our key listeners at the time. So she's preparing these cards for auction, titles, and images, doing it all, not necessarily a one man show, but close to it.

And then as we grew, you know, we realized, wow, this is gonna continue to grow and it's, you know, in the beginning, and it was just taking off. So we added more and more people to that.

Now, you know, we have a whole division just for consignment. And now we have a a marketing team that's almost primarily focused on social posts and emailing and all the stuff that you see there.

And then we built out our service team as well. So, you know, one of the key points we hear from other from other consignors is, jeez, I it's hard to get in touch with people sometimes, but with us, it's easy.

So whether you call us or email us, we wanna make it easy. But in the beginning, I was doing the emails. I'm answering the phones.

We used to say it used to have a slogan that said ask for Mike, and people would call in and say, hey. I'm asking for Mike. That was just our way of trying to get, you know, a one to one contact with the consignor and myself, you know.

And that's kinda how we just grew it. And we try to do it the right way, which was market it well, list the cards well, try and do what's best for the consignor, and, and let, you know, let the market dictate what the price will be.

We know that, like, Mike, you're probably very hard to scale and and replicate.

And so maybe part of that journey in growing the consignment business while you were taking calls and you're trying to, like, make as much contact as possible.

I'm sure it was, like, an element of trying to figure out, like, how do you get good at saying no or what not to do.

Maybe, like, talk about that from a from a a growth perspective. Like, what how do you how do you decide what to say no say no to based on, like, where you specialize your time back then or even currently today?

That's so it's funny you say that. Like, if you if you could see my dry erase road over there, I put our pillars of success of, like, who our identity is.

Because if you don't have that, it is it's hard to say no to things. Like, everybody wants to try the new trend of the shiny new object.

So ways that we keep ourselves focused is it always goes back to the why. Whether it's the core business of buying cards and getting upgraded by PSA or consigning. When we look at things, we look at it through that lens.

Like, is this gonna help grow our core business or grow consignment? And can we do it sustainably? Can we, you know, can we can we grow this and really make it a a real revenue source?

So, you know, myself and Roger and John, you know, we have meetings two, three times a week, where we're talking about ideas and making sure, you know, we're we're asking those questions.

Hey. Is this gonna help us long term? Can we scale this? Can we not? Does it does it fit into the core identities of who we are?

If it doesn't, is it not? Should it be? So, you know, we kick around a lot of different ideas, but ultimately, you know, we're trying to be really, really good at a couple things and not just be average across the board.

So knowing that, you know, we the the more we're in these meetings together, we start to all kinda feel like, yeah, that doesn't feel right.

Or, man, this feels like a really good opportunity. So kinda as we get to know I get to know the Stan and Raj more. Those two, I think, mind read each other.

They've been doing business for so long together that they just naturally think the same that we kinda understand, you know, what is good for business, what's not good for business, what do we think we wanna put our attention to, or what are some things that we think, you know, good idea, but maybe not right now.

So you mentioned, like, that core group and decision making and trying to decide what to do and what not to do.

As, like, the business grows and is more successful, I would imagine that means you there's more people at four sharp corners.

Like, you're hiring. There's more roles. Like, how do you think about keeping those that, like, that that culture or that spirit of decision making?

How do you think about that that, like, not just sticking within that core group, but, like, transferring to the rest of the members on the team? Yeah. That's a really good question. So at 20 and 50 are two different things.

Moving everybody in the same direction is a it's a lot harder with 50 than it was with 20. You know? But but with that being said, if we really wanna grow, we gotta make sure the people around us are growing as well.

So with that being said, we have managers and team leads in different departments. We got, you know, marketing departments, listing departments, sales departments, service departments.

So we got all these different teams. We have a, like, a standing operating procedures that we we write up in it's a living and breathing document. So it usually gets us to the five yard line.

You know, it keeps us close to what we're trying to do. But with that being said, you know, my you know, I'm talking to my team and John Sock and his team, like, hey. Like, how do we make sure we're staying on point?

You know? How do we make sure we're not going too far off? So how we do that is, you know, we spend a lot of time with our team, helping them understand the why again or reflecting back on what's important. Right?

When we're buying cards, we're trying to buy them and sell them in the same condition we got them at. So, you know, how we, you know, how we submit the card, to how we list the card, to how we ship the card, all those things matter.

And if everybody's on the same page, then we're doing a really good job at that. And when it comes to consignment, you know, how are we taking that, you know, those cards in or those orders?

How are we marketing it a certain way? How we are articulating it on eBay, and how are we following that process? And when every department's kind of on the same page, things move as well.

But I'll tell you, it's a day to day thing. We have a great team here, but just like with anything, you know, you kinda you have to, you know, refine it and and stay focused on on the why.

The the I think in the last chat, I learned that, like, there's been a partnership with four sharp corners and eBay for, like, twenty years.

I'm curious. Like, you've been there for five years. What's the dynamic like? Just it could be day to day. It can be quarterly cadence. It can be how you set up things annually. Would love to dig into that.

Yeah. It's it's grown and it's better than ever. Our relationship with them is fantastic. So we have great communication with them on a weekly basis. Like, everything you just said is spot on. So we got weekly communication with them.

If there's everything going on that we need to connect with them on, if, you know, something's caught up somewhere and we need to understand what's going on with the process, we can connect with some of their team members, weekly.

We have monthly meetings with some of their key figures in in collectibles that kinda tell us what's going on in their departments and what we need to be aware of, and they ask for our feedback, which is great.

Then I have I know I talked to some of their executives on eBay, about yearly strategies, you know, specifically about our select showcases. Hey. How do we wanna market this?

What do we think the best way to get it out there? What are things that we can do more, better, different in the future? And then we also sit down with all the key figures, and executives there, at the national too.

And we sit there with Stan and my Stan, Roger, myself, and John, and we chat about what's going well and what we're working on and what they we need their support with.

So it has grown tremendously. I've always really enjoyed my experience with eBay, but even over the past couple of years, it's just been fantastic. Their leadership team over there and their response to what we need is is is fantastic.

I do a lot of eBay tracking and data just in card ladder and understanding, like, from an industry perspective what's happening and just some of the numbers on from a monthly basis in online sales, what's happening, like, higher transaction volume, higher higher just sales volume in general.

I'm sure just in being a top seller on eBay, that has a dramatic impact on four sharp corners in your business. How like, what are ways that, especially in 2025, that has, like, materialized for you?

Like, what are you seeing on a regular basis? Yeah. That's a good question. EBay is on fire right now. The transaction size is phenomenally. So in April, we decided, hey.

Let's go to a monthly select showcase. We we thought we had a zone. A lot of reasons to do it. And since then, virtually, every single showcase, our transaction size has gone up. Like, the the dollar amounts.

It keeps going. Like, and it doesn't have to be some, you know, crazy card. Like, I don't know if you had meant you'd seen in August, we had a 2020, 2021 Panini, you know, kaboom Tom Brady card that sold for a $123,000.

Like, fantastic. Awesome. But then we had the '64 Topps Giants Maze nine that sold for 20,000 just recently.

Last sale was 6,600. We had the, top actually, I have one of these written down. I wanted to mention it. We had the 2018 Topps Chrome update, the, the gold refractor Ohtani. We sold for 20,000.

The last one was 10. I know he's on fire right now. Then we have the '33 sports king, the Jim Thorpe that sold for just over 48,000 or right around there. So we are just seeing, like, strong prices, like, month over month.

We send out marketing on, like, prices realized or record breakers. I could do that probably four or five times a week if I wanted to, but, you know, it then be white noise to some people.

But it's showing that, like, eBay right now is on fire. People sellers are ultra confident in the experience, and they're really happy with the prices that that they're getting.

Well, it's been interesting, and I know this is obviously an eBay sponsored podcast, but it's been interesting as a spectator to watch the dynamics between big cards and sales and marketplaces.

And the it wasn't long ago where it seemed like if there was a big card sold five figures, six figures, it had to be in one of these other marketplaces.

But now, like, it's very routine, and it's very regular that that these monster cards and grails are selling through eBay.

So I don't know. Like, it's it's not just a place to go buy, you know, $50,100 dollar cards. But if you're wanna compete in these big auctions and land these grails, it's becoming one of the, you know, best places to do that.

And I'm sure, like, especially with these select showcases that you're all running, you're seeing that on a on a monthly basis.

Yeah. And I couldn't agree more. And, obviously, our our consignors feel the same way because we keep getting better stuff.

So they're really happy with, how we're marketing and how and then ultimately, like, results matter. So getting the result you need matters and getting strong results. So, as I mentioned earlier, eBay is doing a fantastic job with it.

We've been really happy across the board. Our unpaid items percentages, like, super, super low. Like, we we get our items paid for. People are really happy with it. So it's been great. 2025 has been awesome.

I was just talking to one of their executives last week just saying, man, like, you guys are on fire right now. So let you know, let's just keep momentum going into 2026. Let's talk about, like, the select showcase.

I've always thought that what will make sales volume and sales volumes go up and all everything go up is that if there's more of a focus from a monster marketplace like eBay around these curated auctions, and it it's a trend that I'm seeing.

And, obviously, four sharp corners is hosting these on a monthly basis.

Like, help us understand, like, how how you think about those, select showcases, what's different, like, promotional strategies, like, things that you're doing to make sure that those cards that are up for those up for auction in those showcases are are being seen by as many people as possible?

Yeah. So April was when we decided to go monthly. We actually started off the year with two quarterly ones. And when we realized, like, we have the items for it, the market is telling us, it's demanding that we do these monthly.

Like, we're getting better items. Consignors are saying, you know, I don't wanna have to wait three months. I have some really good stuff right now that I wanna sell now.

So the the change to monthly was great. And and by doing so, like, a couple things or there's more than just a couple, but what we're seeing because people really like is, you know, we market well.

We do extended marketing on our select showcase. So so it gets more exposure. You know, our rates are super low. So we're as low as 5% on cards of a thousand dollars or greater. So people are super happy about that.

Our service is fantastic. They can look in the portal and see all that, and that's all good. And then we have eBay coming over the top and say, hey. Can I do preview pages for you? Can I do event pages for you?

I'm gonna do social posting for you. I'm gonna have my homepage, have some, you know, top items on there for you guys. So when we go to our consignors and go, you know, we can expose and get you a lot of marketing.

But then when eBay's shining their light on this on top, like, however the item performs, it's not gonna be for lack of exposure. And and and and most of the time, you know, a lot of times, they're performing really well.

So our consignors can seem to say, I trust you with these items. And some of the ones I referenced before, here's some more items that I'm trusting you with as well.

Because, you know, you're you're giving it the right exposure. A ten day auction ending on a Sunday night, we found is a really good time to end some of our, you know, curated auctions.

And, and those things are a recipe for success. So so far, you know, our consignors have given us tremendous feedback.

And it's, you know, it's our job to try and get the most exposure out there on these select showcases so we can keep, you know, hopefully, giving them the best performance it needs.

Part of the dialogue over the last few months here on this show has been just what the top sellers have been doing or opportunities that they've been finding in light of Probstin leaving eBay.

And it's been fun. It's been very interesting to understand, like, mindset shift and to understand also that, like, when there's this many people running auctions with Probesync on a regular basis.

Yeah. Sure. A group of them will go and and onto his new platform and and sell their cards. But then there's a lot of people who just love eBay, and they'll try to figure out, alright, who do we wanna work with next?

So may like, how has, Rick and his team leaving eBay? How has that impacted four Sharp Corners? Or how are you all thinking about that? Yeah. Really good question because it has impacted us, and and we've been busy.

So I I liked what you first said there. Like, there are people that are choosing eBay first. So what I have said to people recently, whether before you choose Rick or you choose four sharp corners or whomever, you gotta choose eBay.

You gotta decide that's the right platform to sell your cards. So because of this shakeup, you know, we've had a lot of people reach out to us. And for us, eBay is a force.

And just recently, I was talking to Roger, and Roger had mentioned, you know, each week right now, we're gaining over 500 new buyers each week for us, week over week. So eBay is continuously being the right platform.

So the opportunity there is incredible. So just over the last thirty to forty five days, kinda when the news broke about what Rick was doing, you know, we've had we've been fielding a lot of calls and a lot of emails about, hey.

I I wanna stay on eBay. I know it's the right platform. I've heard of you guys, whether I bought from you or consigned with you.

I've seen a lot of our cards there, and I wanna try it. And we have had a lot of brand new people come in. And what we've been really excited about too, Brett, is earlier in the year, I did some reporting around our retention rates.

And our retention rates are, you know, close to a 100% when we when we have consignors that, you know, stick with us here.

It's great. And we're starting to see these people come over from Rick, and they're giving Us product, and they're really happy with the experience, the service, you know, what we're delivering, the transparency.

And there's there's some of this more stuff. So we're really excited about the end of this year and into next year. I think as you mentioned, there will be people that are naturally gonna try what he has, and we'll see.

But I think we're getting a lot of people right now that are that are still interested in staying on eBay, know who we are, know our brand, our integrity, and they're gonna try us.

And I'm confident they're gonna have a good experience. And then, you know, I think into next year too, we're gonna have more people, continue to choose eBay and choose Four Sharp Corners.

I love it. Let's move into maybe some, like, what's happened in 2025 and just how you and four sharp corners view how things are going.

Like, I think it it's it's easy to say, look at all of these transactions on eBay, look at these sales prices, and say that the hobby's in a great spot.

It's really healthy. But I think there's so many different layers. And especially if you're if you're working in a business like four sharp corners, you're probably looking at the health of the hobby and several different, components.

Like, if you think about just what you've seen in 2025, like, how do you monitor and view, like, the overall position and the current state of where we're at as an industry?

Yeah. So, the word choice Roger was using with me before, I liked it, was called appropriately hot. So, what he means by that is the trends we're seeing make sense.

Right? The trends we're seeing with, you know, autonomy autonomy being on fire or TCG or some of those things are it makes sense where, you know, before during COVID, it was you know, everything was on fire.

And so that should give investors or buyers a little bit of sense of, like, where they're putting their money makes sense now.

And then things for me that helped me to give kind of a good feel is, like, going to the national in in Chicago. It was crazy. There's lines out the door. You know? So the the buzz is incredible.

You wouldn't believe it, Brett, like, trade night. I don't know if you've seen a trade night before, but, you know, we're a hotel across the street, and there's hundreds and hundreds of kids and young adults, like, all trading.

So those are the type of things, like, when we think about diversity in in the in the hobby right now.

It's not just, you know, middle aged guys now. It's young adults. It's kids. It's men. It's females. It's all those things that give us a really good sense of, like, where, you know, where the hobby's going.

You know, we're we're seeing some really good trends around, like, people collecting their, you know, PSA separating, putting stuff on PSA separate fees and and completing sets.

Like, all these are things that are really, really good for the overall health.

So appropriately hot would be the word we'd use to to describe 2025. I love that, phrase. And I was in there with, up in the the trade night that eBay was hosting. And I was like, this is absolute madness.

Like, I can't believe like, I'm exhausted after a full day of work and talking to people, and everyone was just so supercharged up and amazing. Like, you you were talking about the set registry component.

And, like, that's, like, that's kind of what I wanna focus in on. It's, like, the opportunity at four sharp corners or what I see a lot is I see these great PSA graded vintage cards and, like, from a set perspective.

And I just think about, like, as someone who collects some projects and sets, like, that one missing piece that you haven't been able to find in a PSA nine or a PSA 10, that's, like, what people are spending every waking hour trying to figure out and get to get that missing piece of the puzzle.

And so I feel like that's something that four sharp corners, like, helps collectors find based on the way you do business.

Maybe, like, for anyone who doesn't quite understand, like, the like, what I'm talking about and how I'm describing it. I'm sure, like, you have a have a perspective based on, like, how I think about you guys.

Like, maybe talk about that further and, like, who you help service, just in terms of, like, your operation. Yeah. It's so funny you say that because I this has been, like, an ongoing conversation we've been having.

Like, we have this really cool life cycle here where we've spent twenty plus years helping people complete their sets and build their collections.

And since we started consignment now, we're starting to see this these people that have enjoyed the cards, enjoyed the hobby, and now they're saying, hey.

I'd like to consign some of these cards with you and and and infuse them back into a younger generation or to other people.

So we get a really cool experience being able to see, you know, pull the thread through, so to speak, of someone who's becoming a collector, now becoming a consignor.

But to kinda answer your question a little bit too is, like, you know, our as you had mentioned, the stuff that we're notoriously known for buying, you know, a lot of that stuff people were collecting and building their sets for.

So we've had this experience of buying and then selling cards on eBay and our website for over twenty years.

So, we've heard more times than I can count, Brett, at different shows, whether it's in Philly or we're down in Chantilly or Toronto or the National.

Jeez, guys. You helped me complete my set. I'm always on your side. I'm always looking for that one or two cards and that high grade that you have. And I'm you know, please let me know when the next one comes up at auction.

So we're really excited to hear that because that tells us people are excited still. They're excited to complete their collections and, and are are always on the hunt for that for that next one.

Is there any, like, trends or shifts that you've noticed in 2025? And it can be either, like, this is super positive or, man, this is tough. This is challenging.

But maybe what are some of those trends or shifts that you're observing that you're trying to think about how that you take that on as a business and, you know, ultimately, how, you know, that, you know, helps the experience of the people you're working with?

Yeah. Trends, like, positive, like, the diversity I spoke about earlier. Yeah. We're seeing a ton of that. So I I wouldn't even call this a challenge, but what it's made us do is, like, do things like this.

Like, stand on Raj hanging out with you. Or, you know, as I mentioned, I don't know when this will will break, but, you know, Jeff Wilson just came here, yesterday, and that that'll come out on the November 23.

So we're because of this, we're being, we're opening the curtain, so to speak, a little bit more. And we're letting people see a little bit behind what we're doing here.

And, you know, it's not only important, but it's been a lot of fun, actually. So with some of these different changes, you know, it's it's, you know, it's challenged us to say, hey.

How can we be a little, you know, around the times right now and do the things that, you know, give us more exposure and more marketing and do podcasts and things like this?

So it's been fun, but that's definitely, I would say, a shift or a trend that we're seeing more of, you know, this year, especially saying, well, a lot of these younger people may not know us as well as some of those who have bought from us for twenty years.

So how do we engage with them and interact with them? You know?

So we got, you know, get a marketing team led by, Amanda, one of our great marketing managers here that helps us to to try and do those things and stay relevant and communicate with a maybe a different group or younger group that we not we haven't done in the past.

How do you think about, running the business in light of the uncertainty of what's what's going to happen next year with the market? What's gonna happen a year from that?

Like, obviously, right now, if you have a business in this hobby, like, I'm always saying, like, I'm a cheerleader for it all because if if everybody's doing well, like, it typically means good things for what I'm trying to build.

So but but, again, like, I have no idea next year if the same momentum will be here or not.

I I wanna hope that it is. But, like, inside four sharp corners, like, how do you think about that and the uncertainty? And how do you prepare for either it going up or it leveling off? Like, what's your mindset? That's yeah.

So so what I would tell you is we stay really focused on efficiencies a lot. So we can't control what we can't control. Right? If the market's gonna shift, you know, we can make changes once that happens or we can try to see trending.

But, you know, we have a, a software development team here that we you know, past few years, we've just been doing some sensational job refining processes.

So our capacity to do more when necessary to pull that lever, so to speak, is is really good. So, you know, our ability to refine processes so we can increase volume when needed to or pivot is is a is at an all time high right now.

You know, an example is even with Rick leaving recently, you know, we've seen an influx of more product. We've seen an influx of more, you know, sealed bought cases and boxes and things like that, wax boxes.

And just recently, you know, I worked with my my consignment manager, Britney, just refining processes through the technology and our way of saying, great. Like, we don't know what's to come necessarily, but can we pivot correctly?

Do we have a good foundation so we can pivot and make the necessary changes and still still produce a really good product? So can't I wish I had a magic eight ball and I could decide what 2026 is gonna look like.

I don't know. But I think what we do is, you know, our core foundation of what we do and how we do it is really good or we're always trying to refine it to be better.

And those are the types of things that if the market makes a change or if we see an increase in the volume, you know, we're prepared for it because we're we're always trying to refine that a little bit every day.

What are some of those important lessons you've learned from working alongside Stan and Roger?

Oh, yeah. I, one of the ones that I they were quick to, you know, keep me focused on when I first got here was, you know, just know your identity. You know? Know what you are good at.

Be good at those things and block out some of the noise. You know? And so when I think about, spending time with them, it's just been, you know, know your identity, block out the distractions, and be process driven.

Like, results are the sexy shiny thing to talk about, you know, but ultimately having a really good process is really important.

So I'm not saying we're this, but, you know, I think about really good sports organizations too that produce championships or win.

A lot of these people see the wins, and I you know, and but it's really what you're doing each and every day.

The little things that get you there, like, we work consigned this this November showcase, we're gonna have fifty two Nano, an SGC two fifty two Nano.

You know, we didn't first start off by getting 52 Nattos, You know? And the and the the the the Jim spoke earlier.

Like, we didn't start with that. It's the staying focused on what you're good at, being process driven, doing the right thing each day, or trying to do the right thing each day, and then bring your team along for it.

Those are the things that, I've learned from them or they've enhanced because both of them are so analytical and they're so driven, and they have such a good process in place that they're we're always trying to point them back to, like, what's what's the process?

How do we do this?

And the end result will speak for itself. And if we don't like the end result, well, how do we tweak the process to to improve that? So process driven, you'll probably hear me a lot say is is is one of, if not the most important thing.

I think, like, whether you're a collector listening to this and you're trying to build out your collection or you're a business owner listening to this and you're trying to grow your business, it's it's really hard not to think about things from a, I want this to happen now, and I want this to happen quicker.

It's ultimately, like, the results are a culmination of all the small activities, and it sounds like that's kind of what you're thinking about a lot.

Like, how do you if as a company that's ambitious, wants to grow, like, you're leading the operational front, how do you continue to find ways to remind yourself that the ultimate success or whatever your ultimate KPIs or goals are with inside the business is probably not something that's going to happen with one option or one marketing campaign, but likely will be a bunch of decisions that are made over a long period of time that you're not gonna be able to really attribute the success to all of those things.

Yeah. That's how it goes. Like, how do you how do you, like, stay grounded in that? So we we don't believe there's a silver bullet, Brett.

We don't believe that there's one thing out there that we haven't done that, like, you know, is gonna you know, the floodgates. It really is, like it's the little things, and I think that's what you gotta be excited to do every day.

So it's whether it's as I kinda mentioned before, whether it's our marketing department marketing the right things the right way or our service team being attentive and answering the phones and emails and and in in getting our customers the information they need.

Or, you know, we've recently hired, consignment director, Gene. He's flying all over the place now and meeting new people and building relationships.

Like, those little things, like, those are the little things that add up over time. And to stay grounded, I guess it's it's realizing, you know, it's a really ultra competitive environment. There's a lot of different choices out there.

You know, there isn't just this one major thing that we're gonna do differently, but it's how we do this the the little things well every day that gain trust and confidence in people that choose us.

And that's whether, you know, they wanna consign with us or, you know, trust in selling us their collections and how easy we make it and honest and fair we make it, or, you know, just integrity and honesty across the board.

Like, you probably they probably said this in the last one, but we like to say when we're right, we're right, and when we're wrong, we're wrong.

And it's like, you know, how do we convey that to our sellers and consignors that we wanna do the the right thing, and do the best thing by you.

And I when we add those little wins or those little things up over and over again, hopefully, we have a brand or a recognition that we're a good company, an honest company to work with, and and, and that's the direction we wanna go.

So, yes, don't get me wrong. You know, you you see something fun or exciting, you're like, oh, I that's great.

But it's like we gotta attribute you gotta attribute back to that to our teams and back to the people that are here every day working hard to to accomplish that goal.

So, you know, I think for anybody that wants to grow really, really fast.

This is from my previous life. One of my bosses once told me hope is not a plan, and it is so true. So if you don't have a real plan in place that you can point yourself to, then it's you might have success, but can you replicate it?

Can you scale it? And that's the big part we talk about in our leadership meetings with Stan and Roger is like, how do we scale something? How do we make it sustainable?

Is it a is it a is it a one hit wonder, or is this something we can really grow our business and need to and need to ship more resources to? And if we don't think we can do that, many times we say, you know, not for us.

That's great. Great perspective. What as we're kinda rounding this one out, I'm curious right now, what excites you most about what's happening with the market? I'll go back to, diversity.

Like, for me, seeing that youth coming back into the coming into the hobby, that gets me excited. Like, you know, a long day at the national, and you're coming back to your hotel room and the place is buzzing.

You're like, this is phenomenal. This is so great. And to see these kids being savvy and knowing, you know, it's not just about we saw some guys and some young kids, you know, buying, you know, Jordans, like, buying 86 clear Jordans.

Like, he understood, like, the blue chip stock here. He understands this. And to see those kids like that, that's that's that's exciting to me.

So I feel like that's a great example of what's to come. You know, when we have more diversity and young people interested in the hobby and interested in in players both vintage and modern, like, those are some really cool things.

So to be able to to to to engage with these people and to talk to them and to see what interests them is really exciting.

And to me, it's like, well well, how do we continue to, you know, connect with these people? How do we how do I learn more about what's so important to them?

How do we evolve our business over time to meet their needs? So to me, that's really exciting. That's a challenge. I think that's gonna come up in the in the coming years, but how do we continue to evolve to to meet their expectations?

Maybe take us into one of those leadership team meetings, and I'm sure you're talking numbers and talking about, you know, goals.

For you for you all as a team, like, what what are those main drivers? Like, what what is what is success for you?

Like, if you're hitting x, it's successful, or is it a combination of a lot of different things? So you'd be surprised. Like, we don't necessarily be like, this is our goal. Like, x dollar. This is our goal. It is really process driven.

It is like, okay. What's the process look like? How can we refine this? Or how do we make this the best process possible? As you can imagine, we got a lot of cards here. So process for that is really important.

How do we how does the card how does it get open, to how it's sorted, to how it's screened, to how it's sent to PSA, to how we list it, to how we ship it, and to follow that process over and over again.

And within there, there's little processes there. So, you know, for a lot of for us, what I appreciate too from top down with Santa Roger, it is a lot of trending.

It's hey. It's not like today, tomorrow, or this last thirty days. It's, hey. What am I seeing over the last six to nine to twelve months?

What are we seeing here? What's business changes do we need to make, you know, slightly? Because as you can imagine for them and for myself and for John, like, we make big changes.

That changes 50 other people. So it's it's a little bit of, like, what do we see for trends? How do we how do we move things a little bit, you know, agile and and allow those things to happen without making major shifts, you know.

So for us, it's more of getting in those meetings, talking about our process, talking about things that we need to work on, how it's being you know, I spent a lot of time with our our technology team, our software developers, and how are we improving our technology to support all the things that we need to do.

So, you know, we love hiring people. We love our team. I think we have a really good team, a lot of tenured employees here, but I don't always want it to be the answer. I need to hire five more people.

If I could refine our process and the and the technology helps there, how do we make it a better experience for our people internally and then we can grow that way as well? So that's a little bit behind the scenes.

Yeah. I'd something that came to my mind as we're we were talking. I'm I'm just curious. And I typically, when you're I'm talking to somebody who's in the business of buying collections, typically, I'll ask like, hey.

What kind of stories do you have? Is there anything it can be from this year or all time, like, crazy collection buying stories that come top of mind for you? Oh, one more for, like and I'm grateful I didn't have to participate in this.

But, so when I first came to four sharp corners, Stan and Roger and and, like, five or six of our, team members flew out to, like, middle of the country and bought a, I bought a collection. And, again, I don't know what I don't know.

I'm kinda new to this. They came back with, like, 210 pallets worth of cards, which was just incredible. I was just looking at it coming in by with with these trucks, and I'm like, this is unbelievable.

You know? But, those are just really cool times or this cool experience is when you're like, wow. Like, the hobby's huge. There's so many people that are interested in this.

You know, and, you know, I I wanna get Santa Rogers shirt that just says always be buying because they're always looking at the next deal in front of them that's there, which is great because it keeps us keeps us busy here.

But that was just an example of I was, you know, really green, didn't know much that's going on, and to to see a massive collection come in like that.

And in the process though of how we break down pallets and how we organize it and how that fits back into the, you know, so to speak, the funnel, is really impressive to see.

So, you know, they've again, they've been at it for over twenty years, just here and obviously been doing it most of their lives that, you know, they have it.

Stan and Roger have built, you know, a mouse trap or or so to speak, which is really good way to process this in this these cards and get them to the next steps, quickly. So it's pretty cool.

That's awesome. Alright. Before we close this out, maybe let's leave the audience with I'd love love for you to share maybe one thing you'd like collectors to understand about the way you and four sharp corners approach, your work.

Yeah. I guess I would tell you, you know, we're our goal always is to do things the right way, and I'll speak more specifically around consignment.

You know? For us, we wanna do the right thing for the consignor, the right thing for us, and And ultimately, when we do those things, it's the right thing for the hobby.

So, you know, when we get big collections and some people, like, I wanna list this right away.

And and we can we we give advice. Sometimes it's accepted. Sometimes it's not. But a lot of times people understand, but we wanna make it known. Like, you know, we wanna market the right cards. We wanna do things the right way.

So, you know, it's good for them, it's good for us, and it's good for the hobby. So, you know, when when you work with us here, you know, our goal every time, one of our wives is do things the right way.

Like, how do we wanna do it the right way? So, you know, when you if you if you sell to us or you buy from us or you can sign with us, it's like we wanna do things the right way.

And sometimes speed isn't always the answer. You know, with such a volatile market back in 2020 and 2021, we knew things need to be listed, like, instantaneously.

Well, it's not as crazy as that now, you know, unless you're trying to sell, you know, sell a Otani card on game three or something like that. But, but for us, it's really, like, how do we how do we do things the right way?

And when we message that out to people, nine out of 10 times people are like, that makes complete sense. But, you know, our goal is to really do it the right way so the experience the consignor has, is great across the board.

So that would be something I'd want people to know. Like, that's our goal. When you work with us here, you know, that's that's one of our north stars.

That was that's awesome. Great conversation. It was awesome, learning a bit more about four sharp corners. Mike, really appreciate the time. Looking forward to doing this again down the road. Yeah. Let me know. Talk to you soon.