What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Stacking Slabs. This is your hobby content alternative, and this is the flagship episode.

I'm Brett. I host the flagship episodes. I put together all of the content that you are hearing here on the stacking slabs feed. If you're new, welcome. If you're a longtime listener, you already know that, and you're ready to go.

I am very excited to dig into today's topic. You know, when I think about these episodes each week on the flagship, typically, they are driven from my own personal experience on how I collect.

We talk a lot about the psychology behind collecting, and I like to analyze the entire ecosystem of things that are happening around me.

And the one thing that is constant and is undeniable, and whether it's my collecting putting on my collecting hat or putting on my, you know, business hat, one of the things I'm constantly thinking about is relationships and avoiding being transactional in the hobby.

We are not everybody, but a lot of us are going to be in a couple weeks. We're gonna be at the national. Right? You've probably heard endless content on people's national experiences, tips, all that.

It comes out each year. It's very helpful. I think the way I think about the national and the opportunity at the national is to continue to build, develop, and nurture relationships that I have with other individuals in the hobby.

Because that time spent, those conversations are critical for opportunities that present themselves, whether it's cards or whether it's business opportunities.

So before we get into today's episode, I just wanted to give you a little context because I think this topic on, relationships, relationship capital in the hobby is really important.

It's not just important to me, but it's really the foundation for everything I do.

I've shared my personal background and professional background here, but I for anyone who doesn't know, I spent fifteen years working in marketing where my job every day was to to think about how to build brand, how to connect with audience, how to earn trust, not just one time, not just in a campaign, but over a long period of time.

I think trust is the invisible thread that makes people choose you or your brand when they don't have to.

And this concept and idea and everything that goes into it has stuck with me. And so when I started stacking slabs, I didn't have a product. I didn't have sponsors. There was no business plan.

For the first four years of doing this, I did this as a passion project, and really the goal was simple. It was, I wanna elevate other voices in the hobby. I wanna build relationships, and I wanna contribute something meaningful.

And I think and I truly believe that if I hadn't taken that approach early on and I had gone straight for transaction, sponsorships, sales, I wouldn't be able to do this at the level that I am today.

I think that's why this conversations matters to me, because the hobby isn't just, you know, about the cards. Right? There's so much that goes into it.

It's our escape. It's our free time. It's the connections we make. It's the relationships. It's the people. All those things. And I think the way we show up for others determines the experience that we as collectors create for ourself.

And that's why in this episode, I wanna talk about relationship capital, what relationship capital is, where it comes from, and how thinking about it or prioritizing it can change your hobby life.

Appreciate everyone supporting Stacking Slabs. Make sure if you're not already, you hit follow button.

If you're enjoying these episodes, you tell a damn friend. And we have a Patreon group where we put out a ton of content. If you want more from me, you can go run over there. The, link is in the show notes. I think about my collection.

I think about my cards. And the cards that I love the most and the cards with the best stories, for the most part, never hit the open market or never hit the auction block. They didn't come from me bidding or extending bidding.

They weren't scooped up when I woke up in the middle of the night off of eBay. They came from people. I think someone sent me a message, tagged me in a post, gave me the heads up, or bought me bought me it before, it even got listed.

They just knew it's something that I wanted. And I don't think, like I think about those moments and those experiences and those cards, and I I don't think it happens by accident.

I think it happened because I have focused on spending years doing the work to build something that I think about it from the perspective of relationship capital.

So what I wanna do in this episode is break down kind of what that means and also think about every time we interact with someone, the impact that that can have, maybe not just in the moment, but in the long term for your collecting experience.

So this conversation is really for anyone who wants more out of collecting than just the next card. I've been saying this a lot.

I'm working on finalizing kind of the first version of a book, but we wanna collect for keeps. And that's a main premise of kind of my mindset mentality, and I thought this episode might be a good one to to to dig into that topic.

So relationship capital. Relationship capital is the value that is embedded in trust, goodwill, or the emotional connection that we've built with other collectors over a long period of time.

It's what earns you a DM before a card goes live. It's what makes someone tag you when a card pops up that's in your lane.

It's what separates collectors who connect from collectors who just transact. I think a lot about the DMs, the way I send DMs and DMs that I get. And it's funny, and this has happened several times this week.

It's I'll get I could get the same DM from two different people. And the way I approach that conversation is very different based on the relationship capital that has been built and developed.

If I don't know you and you're just sliding into my DMs and you're just trying to sell a card, like, typically, that doesn't go well.

But if I know you and we've spent a lot of time engaging and you present a card, the likelihood of that card being customized to something that I'm likely to buy goes up.

And so I think that's the point of relationship capital, and it really comes from the the the fact that relationship capital can be more important than financial capital because of what it will do for you down the road, whether it's unlocking access to people, cards, new opportunities, collaboration opportunities, you name it.

And the way we think or the way the hobby is presented is in this on the spectrum where instant gratification is way over indexed.

It's structured that way in almost everything we see and everything we do. It's like, get card now, make money now. But the fact of the matter is is that's not sustainable.

And if you're trying to build a sustainable experience where opportunities continue to come your way on cards you want or need, that's where this idea of reputation, brand, and relationship capital come into play.

I don't know if, any of you read this book growing up, but it was I'll never forget. It was my eighth grade speech class.

My teacher, miss Sheets, had us read Stephen Covey's, seven habits of a highly effective people. And I didn't know that I didn't know this at that time, but that class became was very instrumental, to me.

Right? I don't know without that class if or without that book if I would have the confidence and the ability to get up here on a microphone multiple times a week every week and just put my thoughts and ideas out there.

So part of that, like, education's really powerful, and part of the reason why I'm preaching about the biggest gap right now in this industry is the lack of focus around education.

Because I know what it can do, and I know the impact that it can make when done right.

But it but in that Covey book, he talks about an emotional bank account where every interaction is a deposit or a withdrawal that builds or erodes trust.

And that mindset and mentality about of an emotional bank account was just burned into my brain when I read that book for the first time.

And I think about it often, and I hadn't thought about it up until till my this idea of, man, this would be a fun episode to dig into.

You know? It's backed by social capital theory, which is something I talk about when I'm talking about psychologies psychology of collecting. But it's this idea that humans derive value from networks of trust and reciprocity.

Big fan of reciprocity. I'm a big fan of sharing new ideas, giving stuff away because I believe in reciprocity, and, eventually, things are gonna come back around.

Now the big reason why I'm doing this episode is there was a deal that I made last week that was substantial.

It's still going through all the process and cycles, but the deal was would never have gotten done, or I would have never had the opportunity of this deal without Relationship Capital.

It was a card that I deeply needed, deeply wanted, and this card was presented directly to me. And so that was this catalyst for me sharing some of these thoughts today.

And I think when we're thinking about emotional bank account, I think it matters in collecting because what happened to me, most grails don't show up in search engines or market places.

They flow through the one to one and the the relationships. And I think collectors with high relationship capital build brands brands that others want to support, deal with, and refer.

Think about that. We're all in those moments where we've got these collections that kick ass, and we love our cards, and we've refined it so often.

We build it to this level. But what happens? Another card pops up, and we don't have the cash in our bank account, so we have to go in and take a card out of our collection and sell it.

If we have interacted with another collector over the course of time who we trust, appreciate, and they have made mention, hey. If that card ever comes for sale, like, please come to me first.

The likelihood that we go to them to get a deal done and and and make that transaction is very high, and that happens because of relationship capital. It's your collector reputation.

And I I I I believe in in a lot of instances in doing this for so long and having so many conversations with so many collectors that the collector reputation is oftentimes more valuable than the cash offered.

And I say that from the perspective of if we're getting rid of cards that we love, we don't wanna see that flipped around the auction block. We want those cards to go into a collector that's going to appreciate them like us.

So when I think about the framework of relationship capital, I think the first part is making sure we understand the framework, and that's every interaction is a deposit or withdrawal in someone's collector bank account.

Just like money, if you keep withdrawing and never deposit, you go broke. Strong relation capital equals more access, better opportunities, and richer experiences.

Access is everything. Access to information, access to cards, access to collaborations, access, access, access. We don't get granted access without trust.

We don't get build trust without conversations. We don't have conversations without making sure we're investing in our own relationship capital. So we think about the deposits versus the withdrawals, thinking about the deposits.

It's it's expressing gratitude when someone shares a card even if you already seen it. This happens all the time. Happens to me multiple times a week. I am a maniac when it comes to my safe searches.

I try to look at them as much as possible. I don't wanna miss a card I need. And, inevitably, when a kick ass card pops up, somebody usually sends it to me because they know what I like and I know what I collect.

Now even if I have seen that card, I always thank the individual because what happens the time I don't see the card and that individual and I don't say thank you, the chances of them sending it to me again likely go down.

I think it's responding kindly when someone offers you a first crack at a card. I think that's important. I think helping others, being answering questions, offering resources, that's important.

We're busy. But think about it. You typically you probably got to where you are within your collecting journey because you ask questions, you help other people.

If you can do the same and be a resource, then that's really helpful for your relationship capital down the road.

Also, I think another thing just I'm thinking about is the simple thing of tagging people on post of cards that are for sale. Like, you know it when you see a card. Like, let the person know. That's making a deposit.

Now on the withdrawal side, right, these are probably easier than the deposits, but it's stuff like ghosting or cold responses, bad communication, treating every interaction and message like a transaction, never really giving back, only asking, being dismissive or rude over pricing of cards, card value.

And maybe the most glaring one that I see the most in our hobby is the public criticism of someone or something without any context.

That's not good for relationship capital. That's probably not good for your reputation. Now when I think about my favorite cards in my collection, I think I I've told stories of a lot of them.

But most of them, whether it was the luck twenty fourteen black prism that was at the Nashville card show that Grant at Waldorf stories pointed me to, whether it was the luck lot I bought that came via, introduction that led to a casino parking lot deal, whether it was, me working directly one to one with, my friend Drake at Drake's PC for his finest Mosaic Mannings, and the list goes on and on and on.

But none of those deals would have happened without the fact of building relationships and focusing on relationship capital. The relationship is everything.

It is not it doesn't happen by luck, but it happens because of all of the things that you we have done in order to get to that point where someone's willing to offer a car that's truly great to make your collection better.

I think a lot about Instagram, and I think a lot about Instagram as everyone's collector's website.

It's our it's our website. And I think a lot about just like my previous days in b two b marketing and the importance of websites and working on websites myself and just all you do. You create the copy. You're trying to build trust.

There's content, calls to action over the site. You're using SEO. You're trying to invite people in. SEO content, social media, pull in the right audience. When you're trying to pull in the right audience, you're trying to build trust.

You're trying to convert those eyeballs into interest and get those people to have a conversation with you, request a demo, whatever it is. Now there's not it's not a lot different than the hobby.

And if we think about our Instagram page as our collector website, I think there's interesting things that could present themselves and interesting ideas about how to use it that you might not have thought about before.

I think your Instagram feed is your home base. Every time you post a card, it's like an ad to to your following for what you love in your extended audience if other people start sharing it.

I think you're signaling, here's who you are, here's what I collect, and here's how you show up.

I think just like a good business website, your your Instagram page should have clear positioning, and the positioning can be as simple as in your bio, here's what I collect or post about the cards you collect.

Trust signals, community interaction, and transparency.

So this is transparency story posts. I think about just talking about what you're learning, talking about what you're sharing, engaging with individuals that are commenting on your post.

Like, that stuff is important. People wanna see that you're a human. Also, just like those calls to action or those moments, and people will DM you, And you need to accept the DM to talk with them.

And you can read what they're saying before you accept. But it's like if the a stranger's asking you about your card or asking or might have a card or information that you can benefit from, it's it's it's engaging in those.

And I think great content to me is is never just about flexing cards. Sure. I love seeing awesome cards I never see on Instagram.

It's the big reason why I I'm on it so much. It's so fun. I I enjoy it. But I think great content attracts the right people that eventually, through a relationship, can bring you the right cards.

So I think whether we like it or not, we're all especially with the way we operate online and likely in person at shows, we're all building a collector brand.

We're not just collecting. You're creating a reputation. And the reputation you're building is important in order to get access to cards that you need. I think when we can reflect and we can think about ourselves.

Right? What are we known for? Are we known to be fair? Are we known to be responsive? Are we known to be consistent? Do we, show gratitude? Would someone after a deal with you, would someone say, I want to deal with that person again?

I think those are super important. So when I think about collector brands, I think about it from the perspective of it's really the sum of, like, all your behavior.

It is the vibe you give off, and it's the reason why someone sends you a DM before listing a card. And that is really important in order to continue to build and develop trust.

So I don't know. I'm I I I'm like as I do these, I analyze myself too. I, like, put myself through the ringer. It's weird. Like, I'm really weird with my own content. I I put myself in the shoes of the audience all the time.

And I hope, like, because I do that, I hope that that that makes for better content for you. But, I'm one of you oh, you. I collect cards. I just like to talk about them too. So, and I'm not like a big one.

Although, I do think just as human beings, we should always reflect on where we're at in life, what we're doing. Are we happy? Are we not? What changes could we make? What challenges? Like, those sorts of things.

I'm I do think, like, self assessment is important. I don't think we should be overly obsessed with it because we're not perfect as people, and we that can add a whole another track that we don't wanna dig into.

But I think for the the sake of this, like, some sort of self assessment is good.

Thinking about, like, what kind of interactions are you having lately. Are you investing in relationships or just hunting for deals? The best salespeople in our hobby are people who we all like talking to.

Even if their main motive is to sell cards, they understand relationships and how to build them and get to the point where a card's available. Someone not only sees the card, but they see the individual and say, why wouldn't I buy this?

I really enjoy this person. I wanna support them, and I need this card. Do people trust you to do right by them? That's an important question. Even when there's nothing in it for you.

If everybody in the hobby acted like you, would the hobby feel better or worse? I know that's probably pretty aggressive and a big question to think about, but I think it's important. Relationship capital compounds.

It can be built on one message, one thank you, one moment of generosity. Collectors who prioritize it always get the best cards, always have the best connections, and have a hobby experience that's not negative.

It's fantastic. And I you know, in talking through this and thinking about it, I think there's, like, for me, there's always opportunities to improve.

There is. And I think mindfulness around while this is a solo sport in terms of collect what you like, build your collection for you, it's undeniable that we all need other individuals around us in order to get the cards that we need.

And the best way to to to get those cards is to really think about how we're investing in our own relationship capital.

Hope you enjoy this. Hope this helps, especially as we're all not all all. I say that. I keep saying that. But a lot of us will be at the national. We'll all be thinking about relationships, dinners, events, making deals.

And if you haven't thought about it, maybe that is the best opportunity to start having the right conversation with people you admire that you might wanna do deals with down the road.

Appreciate all your support. I love doing stacking slabs. I love the flagship episodes.

All the time you're spending, consuming what we're doing over here is appreciated. Follow me across all those social channels at stacking slabs. Make sure you hit follow on these episodes to get more. Appreciate you. Talk to you soon.