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

This is your hobby content alternative. I'm your host, Brett. Flagship episode time coming at you. Today, we are going to be exploring the topic, the signal and the noise, making sense of the hobby in real time.

We're just hitting collecting for keeps all the way through. I decided it where we've done back to back weeks digging into the book that I put together and released.

And I'm going back and reflecting on it now, and I'm doing it because when I released the book, the market, the hobby, the excitement was at a certain level.

And now after the fact, it's at another level, and I felt like, you know, it would be good to try to squeeze as much juice out of this orange as possible and revisit kind of some of those words that I put down and see how they relate to what is going on in our current space.

And I'll tell you this right now, there is a lot of noise, and trying to find the signal that resonates with you can be a little challenging.

So we're gonna dig into that, dig into collector psychology, all of the topics in between. Hopefully, you're enjoying your collecting, your collection, building out a collection that means something to you, that's what it's all about.

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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. This is a topic that I think I'm the most excited to dig into and explore.

And there's preparation for each of these episodes, and this is one that I wanted to get very organized because I think there's a lot of different ways that we can do it.

And I will preface all of this by saying, I am pro, excitement. I'm pro, big sales. I am pro new content creators coming in and trying to carve out their own niche. I'm all about that.

I believe there are a lot of different ways we can do this hobby. I believe there's a lot of different segments in this hobby. The hobby has neighborhoods. In each of those pockets, we need great content. We need, excitement.

We need community. And I think a lot of that is transpiring, and we're evolving into a place where there's better infrastructure in place than ever before, and there's probably better conversations and content in place than ever before.

But that does not eliminate the fact that there's also a lot of noise when you grow and you add to the pile.

You get a lot of noise. And I think even for me as a participant in this hobby who I spend every moment of my day outside of my time with my my family.

I spend it working in this space or collecting in this space. So I psychoanalyze every little piece of news updates, what companies are doing, what collectors are doing.

I I I psychoanalyze all this stuff, and I try to disseminate it all down into different observations, and those observations become topics, and those topics become episodes.

I think this week, there was a moment where I would scroll I was scroll going through my routine, scroll doing the scrolling, going through, you know, Instagram, checking card ladder, checking safe searches, doing all the things we all do.

And you're seeing a constant mix. And this isn't just, like, on a Tuesday. This is becoming, like, every day. It's, like, you've got record sales.

You've got opinions and, like, list here are the best cards. You've got the hobby drama on full blast. It's it's literally everywhere. You've got multimillion dollar cards being sold, and this is the benchmark.

Whenever there's million dollar cards sold, man, that once that hits mainstream news and people are coming out, You've got people saying the market is back. You've got others saying, be careful.

It's going to crash soon. You've got group chats that are buzzing about certain prospects. There's new podcasts popping up, countless new YouTube thumbnails with someone grinning ear to ear next to a dollar sign.

It's exciting. It's also overwhelming. I'm paying attention. The I'm asking myself, am I paying attention to the right things? Am I collecting the right way?

In a bull market, especially when everything is turned up to eleven, it's easy to feel lost in the noise and feel very confident about what I'm collecting and how I'm collecting because it's they're items that are deeply personal to me.

But I think what I'm unsure of is timing and prices.

I can't forecast where we're going next, and I let my heart drive a lot of my purchases, and it's there's some opportunities where I'm trying to consider, should I get my head more involved in this?

I know I'm not alone because I know I'm having a lot of these conversations one on one with many of you, and so we're all kinda asking ourselves some similar questions.

What should we really be paying attention to? What actually matters for my collection? And what is just hype? I wanted to dig back into collecting for keeps, and I kinda went back and reread what I put down.

And I wanna unpack the dilemma. I am confident that right now in 2025, the hobby is louder than it's ever been. There's whenever there's more money and more cards involved, there's more content involved, more opinions involved.

I think some of that's great and helpful. A lot of it is not. And I wanna try to figure out how we can tell the difference, especially when the market is booming every day and brings in new frenzy.

This episode's really about finding the signal or the meaningful information amidst all the noise that's distant to us. I I think it's about trusting our instincts as a collector when everyone else seems to be shouting.

And it really starts with under understanding why the hobby feels so deafening now. And I think the easiest benchmark to look at on why the hobby is louder than ever is going back to the August industry number in card ladder.

Now we've talked about this on a lot of different, episodes throughout stacking slabs. There was an all time high, and it was not only just an all time high. It was it blew past any all time high by, I think, like, a 100,000,000.

That was $422,000,000 recorded in August by Card Ladder. Now that signals big sales. That signals more volume than ever before. This does not even include what's happening in person. This is just according to what's happening online.

And when I see a figure that dramatic, one of the one of the, signals that I see is, especially when it comes to volume and drilling it down volume on eBay, it signals to me that we're getting a lot of new people in this space than ever before.

And I could, like, sidetrack and go on a tangent about the management of new individuals and how I don't believe this industry right now in 2025 is built and structured in a way to have those individuals be retained as long term participants, like the whole collector life cycle.

We're we're obsessed right now with with just bringing as many into the funnel as possible through, clever marketing and through things like, win winning big in a break, which is fine.

Like, I'm not anti those things, but I don't think those can be the only things. I do believe we need to be more focused as a community around content and around education.

I'm very adamant about that. I'm very passionate about that. I think there is always more ways that in the collector life cycle from, hey. I saw a story of a million dollar card selling. The hobby was fun to me when I was a kid.

Let me get back into it. I just don't think this industry is built or structured in a way where we're giving new people a chance. And in order for us to continue to grow and elevate, we need to give new collectors a chance.

And when I mean a chance, I'm like, all of you out there all of you out there who are listening likely aren't the type of participant who is, you know, not building a collection for keeps.

But I think if we're evolving from I'm interested in the hobby, I'm gonna buy into breaks to I'm gonna collect cards and be here for the long haul.

There's a lot of different things that need to happen, and I'm by no means here to try to save anybody.

I'm just here to share my opinion, and I don't think we are structured in a manner that's going to that's going to, that is built for retention of new hobby participants, but I'm veering off track a little bit.

Getting back into the raging, roaring hot market where everyone's an expert. When whenever this is happening, everyone starts talking.

You see this on Instagram. You see this in stories. Like, everyone's got an opinion. Talked about it, I think, in card letter confidential where it was like, everyone's Charlie Munger.

Everyone's the expert investor because everything is going right. You've got media outlets in the hobby and outside of the hobby that are latching onto those big sales.

I mean, I'm sick of talking about it at this point, but, like, I can't because it's going to be the mascot for 2025, the, Kobe, Michael Jordan, 12,900,000.

0 exquisite dual, logoman autograph. That is the mascot for this era. And I I I'm and I I don't say that disparagingly. Like, that card is incredible, and that price is astounding.

But it is the easiest place to point that point to based on the individuals who are behind that purchase and then the promotion afterward, then taking the attention and the promotion and turning it into a business, and then the the content and marketing we're seeing after that.

Like, it's just that's a a perfect illustration of what happens when the market is ripping and how the hobby is or why the hobby is louder than ever.

I think at the same time, social media gets flooded with constant post of comparison and rising prices and big flips and can't miss investments.

There is an oversupply of content around money and results, and I I'm not here to say that shouldn't happen. Honestly, like, that makes sense to me. I get it. Success and stories and dollar sounds draw clicks.

Influencers and even may major hobby businesses often lean into the excitement. We see CEOs talking about the the market, and there's nothing inherently wrong with market or investment talk.

Like, I'd I'd be I'd be lying to you if I said that the cards that I buy, I am buying to not only have them store value, but go up in value.

Like, especially when you're spending thousands of dollars on cards, it becomes it has to become a part of the way that we think about purchasing. But that's not driving for for for me.

That's not driving it because I can't predict the future. What's driving it is my own research knowledge on specific products and sets and a connection with that product and set or player and my belief system in that over time.

Ultimately, I want to hold on to the cards because I really, really love them.

Profit is a part of the hobby and it always has been, but all the content tilt towards tilts towards prices in the collector's perspectives really get drowned out.

We start to feel like the only thing that matters is the latest big sale or the next hot pick, and I think this is a dangerous mindset if you care about the longevity and the personal enjoyment with collecting.

A lot of those sensational narratives turn to be misleading and are short lived. In a bull market, especially, what we're experiencing right now, what we're living in, it's nearly impossible at times to find balance.

And I think the challenge for us as collectors is figuring out what we listen to and what we ignore. Hype will always be there, and I'm okay with that.

This hobby is built on hype, and I I I I mentioned that in the title of my book, A Hobby Build on Hype, and I'm not against hype. I'm a marketer. I'm I'm I'm here to hype things up in a way that's, going to get people excited.

That's what I've been doing my entire career. And I understand, like, the hobby is driven off of potential and hype and the way it's organized and the way, Cooper flags on the box at, you know, tops bet flagship basketball.

And it's like, that just makes sense. I get it. It'll always be here. But it's the key is to not let it ruin your collect or run your collecting and also be able to look past and collect for yourself.

And that's why I think we really need to, as collectors, especially during this pivotal moment, consider how do we separate the signal versus the noise in real time.

I think the signal versus the the noise is a topic that I'm constantly exploring. These terms signal and the noise, when I was in b to b marketing, I talked about them from a content perspective.

The there's so much junk content, and everyone was, distributing junk content constantly on LinkedIn, all their feeds, and none of it was helpful.

Everyone was just trying to get seen. And I I would use signal in the noise because there was great content in that mix.

There was, but it was just that pain in the ass to find. And these terms, I think these terms are borrowed from science and finance, but they apply perfectly to the hobby.

And here's how I think about them and define them. I think about the signal being the useful information, the meaningful movement, and the subtle shifts that actually indicate something is real in the hobby.

This comes in the way of intelligent collectors sharing information on platforms like Instagram.

This comes in the way of passionate content creators curating and organizing their content around topics that are going to be helpful and inform.

The opposite of this is the noise or the distractions, the hype, the drama, the chatter that grabs attention but doesn't help you as a collector.

I'm 40 years old. I love this hobby. The one thing I don't have time for is the way the hobby feels like a high school at times. The pointing the fingers, the rumor and innuendo, all that stuff. I don't care.

I don't. I try to be, like, be I think it's because I am out there, and I put myself out there regularly, and I create content that I'm super passionate about, and I'm fortunate enough for a lot of you to that listen to this regularly.

I have regularly, I have people who are sharing information to me about drama and stuff and wanting my opinion. And in most cases, I I'd legitimately and I don't know how to say it.

I just don't care. I I don't care. I I could care less. I really could. But I know that drama is what and controversy is what gets clicks at what's what creates conversation.

And I think that's part of the problem because I believe and this is back to the way we're organized as an industry. Like, aren't we here to talk about cards?

And if there was more great information and content around specific product sets, players, parallels over time, I think our discussions would be better centered or better focused around the things that actually inspire us as a collector.

And I think in today's hobby landscape, we have, a lot of both, but the problem is the noise often comes dressed as a signal, and it can fool even experienced collectors.

And I think there are some examples in ways that we should consider these as they're coming at us full steam ahead. To me, stuff that matters and maybe some examples of, like, the signals are scarcity patterns.

And I think you notice that the same parallel or insert from a set hasn't surfaced for sale in months or years. Time in between sales, data you can dig up in the card ladder, that likely means collectors are holding those cards tight.

When a card essentially disappears from public eye or shows, it's a signal that is deeply valued by those who own it, and the supply has effectively dried up. We I think about this a lot.

And, also, I think about it from the perspective of if there is a card in my collection that I don't absolutely love or I'm not married to and it hasn't sold in a long, long time, that's an opportunity for me to take that signal and say, maybe it's time for me to move this so I can get into something new, something that I care about more.

I think about something else from a signal perspective. Post event rushes. Sometimes a real world event causes a lasting hobby impact. You've got the the perfect example of this is like last dance documentary.

It sparked a tidal wave of demand for Michael Jordan cards, and prices skyrocketed higher than previously before. And we're not just talking about rare and scarce Jordans. We're talking about common Jordan stuff.

And this wasn't just temporary hype. It really brought a whole new wave of people into the hobby who stayed, and Jordan's cards really have continued on this trajectory that's been quite amazing, and I think it's justified.

I think Michael Jordan is the guy. He is the guy, and I think a lot of it is obviously, like, I don't even need to talk about Jordan as a player, and his accolades, credentials, all that.

I'm I'm, like, leaving the basketball stuff aside. I'm I'm I wanna focus on, like, the imagination and the what it like, in your in your in your heart. Michael Jordan the timing of Michael Jordan was perfect.

The hobby in full steam, you've got Jordan. You've got many of us who were kids. And he Michael Jordan really shaped the imagination of us as sports fans, especially in that adolescent. Be like Mike, Air Jordan.

All of these campaigns along with the on the court career he had, the little things like the tongue out, they they they really shaped our our our mind and made us believe that this guy, because what he was doing was supernatural.

So you've got many decades later, a lot of us who grew up watching this supernatural figure play basketball now have money. And now when we say, oh, who are we gonna spend our money on?

Well, Michael Jordan. It makes sense. And I think, like, understanding that is a signal and understanding the behavior of demographic of collectors and starting to reason and reason why cards are selling for what they're selling for.

I think that's important. I think there's always going to be grassroots buzz, and grassroots buzz can produce signals and paying attention to what passionate collectors are quietly talking about.

These are conversations in group chats, forums, buzzing about under the radar sets.

These conversation, the grassroots nature of it happens before influencers really start to understand what we're talking about and grab a hold of that and blast it on their channel.

The mainstream hobby news tends to lag when the diehard collectors are into it. We're driving the conversations. We're driving what's happening because we're keeping these cards and we believe in them.

We have had enough time. We have enough tribal knowledge to say this is what I'm collecting and this is why. What's your opinion on it? And that builds some grassroots momentum.

And when you hear the same name or sets coming up in trusted circles, there might be something there. I think another one and one that mostly I get from other people, but it's collector behavior at at shows.

And I got a chance to understand a little bit of this, and I did at the national where I'd go up to certain, dealers who I know, who I'd consider a friend, and say what's up, hang out.

But I would stand and just listen to the conversations.

And I think one of my favorite ways to gauge signal versus noise is to simply observe what conversations are happening in real life, which display cases have crowds gathered around them, and which cases have collectors walked past.

Often, you'll find the tables featuring truly rare high appeal cards, the ones that have stories.

Those are those are the ones where people are attracted to. Wow. Cases full of kind of the new shiny object or hot rookie prospect or what's trending on Twitter might be very quiet.

If everyone is moving towards nineties inserts or vintage pieces as a at a show that tells you that cards have enduring desirability.

Meanwhile, if a dealer has piles of the latest base PSA 10 rookies, no one's biting. That should tell you something too.

And the quiet corners of the hobby can speak loud. If you listen, you'll often find real demand lives where there's less flashy hype. Alright. We gotta talk about the noise. Distractions that maybe be better if we tuned out.

An easy one is sensational headlines and records, headline shouting about the highest, the biggest, the best, the classic noise. Yes. They might have happened or they're true events, but they don't improve our own collecting.

And I think the fact that a rare card sold for a fortune at auction doesn't mean your cards are suddenly worth more or that you need to chase the next one.

I think the headlines generate the buzz and in the moment attract people looking for lottery tickets, but they can easily distract you from your own personal collecting goals.

Remember, headlines are designed for clicks and eyeballs. Let's talk about influencer pumps and dumps.

I'm not gonna talk about anyone specifically. We don't do that here on stacking slabs. We focus on ourselves. But I think, unfortunately, the hobby has its share of personalities who hype up a card or product to flip it for profit.

And they might be touting it as a must buy prospect or a new release on their platform, which they'll create artificial demand and then quietly selling it into excitement that they created themselves.

Have you ever seen that happen before? It's the classic pump and dump. This isn't just a conspiracy theories.

It happens. In some cases, small groups of speculators have coordinated to artificially inflate prices to target a card, snap up a bunch of copies, she'll bid loudly, promote the next big thing, and do whatever they do.

It sucks. It happens. And if you're doing this stuff, come on, man. But if you sense a sudden frenzy around something that wasn't organically building up before, always be skeptical. We gotta be vigilant as collectors in this hobby.

Always the endless hot picks and prospect type. We all know that. Everyone's a scout. I think this might have died down a little bit because we're in this era where we're actually focused on cool cards.

And those cool cards going up in value, as as opposed to the 2021 boom where it was more prospect driven and it was more focused on base cards in a PSA 10, but it still happens.

I think the content drama and the clout chasing, that's I can't take it. The the mute, this is when I get out the mute button, especially on the clout chasing.

It's disgusting. This is insidious noise, but it's out there. The drama between individuals, creators, influencers that chase clout within hobbies the social scene.

And sometimes you'll see YouTubers, Instagram participants start feuds. It's like, let's grow up. This is the high school element I was talking about earlier.

People one upping each other. It's toxic. As someone who creates content, I can tell you I actively avoid it. It's the worst kind of reality television we have in our hobby. Don't let it suck you in. The beef man at sports cards.

I think the bottom line is the noise is designed to trigger you to make you react. Signal, on the other hand, is more subtle. It requires patience and a bit of digging to recognize in a hobby filled with flashy distractions.

The collectors who thrive long term are the ones who learn to filter out the junk. So how do we build the filter? Experience? There's no shortcut. The longer you're in the hobby, the more your witness witness cycles come and go.

You've seen once hot cards cool off and forgotten sets become popular again, I think that the historical perspective is gold. Experience collectors tend to not panic during the dips or go all in during the manias because of prior booms.

Experience collectors know that the hobby evolves, things change. And I think experience teaches us that the hype doesn't last, but truly meaningful cards and connections do.

Instinct, gut feeling. Trust it. It's very important. It comes from knowing yourself, your taste, your objects, what feels right for your collection.

It develops over time. Trust it. It's easy to have your instincts drowned out by what others are saying, but the times I've ignored my gut, I've always regretted it.

Your instincts will help you pump the brakes when a move doesn't align with your personal goals. Data. We've got platforms like Card Ladder.

I spend so much time in Card Ladder digging through and creating content. We didn't have access to data at this level even five years ago. Use the data. It's really important. Don't be lazy. Go sign up for card letters.

Spend the money. Dig in. It will make you it will I've never thought about it like this, but card letter can be a a preventative tool to make sure you're not buying the wrong stuff if you just dig into the data.

I I've been become a way more intelligent buyer and seller because of my act because of access to data and access to tools like card letter.

Community. This might be the most underrated filter. The company you keep in the hobby. Surround yourself virtually and in person with other collectors who value who you value their insight.

Tap into the trusted voices. In practice, this can mean group chats on Instagram. It could be one to one conversations. I think it's really important.

So it's experience, it's instinct, it's data, and it's community. In my own collecting, I've actually distilled my filtering process into a simple three question sniff test, and that's around connection, curiosity, and sacrifice.

Connection. Does this card have a real connection to me as a collector, and does it have a story?

Curiosity. Am I genuinely curious and excited to learn more about this beyond just the hype? It's a true true signal tends to spark curiosity whereas noise sparks anxiety.

And then sacrifice. Am I willing to give something up to pursue this? This is the final gut check, and then a hobby filled with finite budgets chasing something new often means forgetting something else.

And I think putting it through that sacrifice filter is really important. That framework, connection, curiosity, sacrifices, saved me so many regretful buys, and I think it's also get it's also and I think that's the goal. Right?

Don't react to the noise, reflect, and respond to the signal. One thing that I wanna point to as I was preparing this episode because I've heard, buddy Kevin to captain Randall talk about it a lot of he shares his opinion about cards.

He he he thinks are good buys, but he's also backing it up by buying those cards himself. And I think in the hobby, talk is cheap. We all love to talk, obviously, myself included.

We share our mail days, latest buys, hype up, kind of favorite sets. But if you really want to know what's going on, watch people's actions over the words. This applies both to individual collectors in the market at large.

I I struggle, I struggle to hear this is my thing. It doesn't need to be your thing, but my thing. In order for me to in order for me to say or filter out trusted voices, there is, like, one rule I have.

And if if you're sharing information about cards, you have a show, you're doing it on Instagram, for me to take you seriously, you you have to have a collection.

And that sounds crazy, but there are a lot of people who talk a lot and and don't even display any cards that they own.

Think about this. As a content creator might say they are in love with the hobby, but what you observe, they're not showing any cards or they're selling cards that they quickly get.

And, again, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm just saying, like, I can't take you seriously unless you you've got some skin in the game, and there's some some skin in the game is building a collection.

I think, conversely, someone might not be active on social media at all, but you see them at every show quietly digging for cards that they love, never letting go of certain pieces. And I think actions really tell the true story.

At a macro level, here's some actions that speak louder than words. What's not for sale? The cards that never or rarely appear for sale are a strong indicator of where real enduring demand is.

If you notice that certain cards only trade hands privately once or in a blue moon, that's because they reside in strong collections. Like, what's con conversely, what's consistently selling?

On the flip side, what's transactional? What's a commodity card? What are people using to gain cash? Where are the crowds it shows? What are people doing? Where are they going? What's changing hands?

Long term vision, what collectors are doing. If you're fortunate to have friends or acquaintances in this hobby who will talk candidly and learn what cards they will never sell, learn what cards they'll never sell.

I think often I find it enlightening to ask a few collectors, what's the one card you would hold on to forever? It's really telling. You learn a lot. Pay more attention to behaviors than chatter.

Social media will tell you what people want you to think is valuable, but actions, what they're buying, what they're quietly keeping, what they're selling or not selling will tell you what is actual value.

Had to take a swig of water there. This one is a lot longer than I anticipated.

There's a a couple more big topics that I wanna hit before we get out of here. Hopefully, you're enjoying this. But patience and discipline. And I think sometimes the hardest thing to do in the booming hobby is nothing at all.

When everything is exciting and there's cards changing hands, there's always a pressure to do something, to buy, sell, trade, post, whatever. It's intense. But an alternative approach is strategic patient patience.

It can be a superpower. I wish during the 2021 frenzy, I wasn't buying some of the cards that I bought. And undeniably, I bought some of the cards that I bought because I saw what was happening around me.

And did I learn something and were there lessons from that? For sure. But I could have also just waited and be patient and then ended up buying the cards that I'm buying with now.

But there's no regrets. I think discipline means being okay with missing out in the short term because you're playing the long game.

If the market is too frothy, step aside. You don't have to bid in a high on a high profile auction just because you think you want it. You don't have to chase a car that the same week had a record sale.

In fact, those are usually the worst times to buy. The best time is when the noise is quiet, and I get it. So maybe it's not the most exciting time, but maybe it's the most smart time.

There's also discipline in not constantly trading or making moves. In a bull market, you might feel unproductive if you're not willing or dealing all the time.

But remember, collection building is not a competition or race. Some weeks, the best move is to do absolutely nothing at all. One more thing about discipline is knowing when to sell or not to sell.

In a bull run, it can be tempting to unload stuff because who knows if the prices will ever be this high again. And sometimes, yes, it's prudent to sell and to strength, especially if a card doesn't mean much to you.

But for your core collection, the cards that define your hobby happiness, don't let noise convince you to cash out if you'll regret it later.

It's hard. I think discipline is about control, controlling your impulses, your timing, your strategy despite the market's ups and downs and deafening noise.

It's not easy. I still struggle with it. I'm no expert. I'm going through the same stuff you are. But every time I practice patience, it tends to pay off, either saving money, avoiding regret, gaining clarity.

Let's bring it home. Alright? The hobby isn't going to suddenly get quieter slower. If anything, it will continue to grow and evolve with the new waves of high platforms, content, more money.

It's going to continue to go. We can't change that, but we can change how we react to it. It's a bit like having a volume knob in your own hands.

You can decide to turn the volume on all of the external chatter, practically, that might mean spending less time on the hype driven forums, unfollowing social accounts that stress you out, and enjoying your damn cards.

Every hour you spend doom scrolling through the hot takes could be an hour spent organizing your collection, chatting with true collector friends, or reading about the history of the set you love.

Those later activities are fulfilling. The former often just raise your anxiety.

I always I always think it's important to just ask yourself why you're here. You get to decide what matters in your hobby experience. Remember, you're the CEO. Trusting your instincts goes hand in hand with this.

That inner voice that draws you to certain cards and tells you something's fishy about hype wave, that voice is your personal hobby compass. It's informed by your experience and your values.

When in doubt, listen to it. If your gut says this content is just trying to sell me something, it probably is. If your gut says I don't actually enjoy chasing the card, I'm just doing it because others are, then maybe let the chase go.

If something genuinely excites you in your gut, even if it's not popular or profitable, that might be a signal to explore.

One thing I've learned from talking to hundreds of collectors, those who are the happiest stick around the longest have a way of staying true to themselves amid all the noise.

They zig when others zag, not for the sake of being contrarian, but because their internal signal tells them what's right for them.

That's the type who might skip a huge product release everyone's opening and instead spend the weekend finishing certain sets, putting cards in a binder. They might pass on the latest trend and instead save up for one meaningful card.

In a bull market frenzy, trusting yourself can feel like swimming upstream. The collective noise almost forms a consensus that you should be doing x, y, or z to keep up, but the truth is you don't have to keep up with anyone.

Collecting isn't a contest. There's immense freedom in realizing that. You'll you're allowed to take it slow. Be patient. You're allowed to focus on weird stuff that makes you happy.

You're allowed to sit out trends entirely. In fact, doing so often is how you find the real signal in your own hobby life, the joy and the meaning that you get into in the first place.

So as the hobby continues to move at a breakneck speed, remember that you can step off the treadmill at any time. Recenter yourself on what matters to you.

Use the tools you have. We have so many tools, so much access to info, so much data, so much content. We discussed that will help inform your decisions. But at the end of the day, let your own freaking passion be the guide.

You're not in this if you're not passionate about it. The noise will always be there, but it doesn't have to drive you. Trust your instincts. Trust your process, and trust that signal, your signal. It's worth following.

Well, when you do that, you'll find it's much easier to make sense of the hobby in real time. Bull market or bear, it doesn't matter. And, ultimately, you'll be building a collection that you absolutely love for many years to come.

Thank you so much for following along. Appreciate all the follows, telling a damn friend about stacking slabs, and really motivating me to get up here and talk about sports cards and how I think about them each and every week.

Appreciate all of you. We'll be back. More stacking slabs coming to you soon.