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Welcome to the Stacking Slabs, a podcast for sports cards collectors. There's been a tremendous amount of change to our Hobby over the last few years and the one constant has been the passion from the collecting community. Stacking Slabs is built by the collector and lives to tell stories for the collector.
What's going on, everybody?
Flagship episode, Stacking Slabs. I'm Brett. I host this podcast. I'm building this network. I'm doing all of the things that I wanna be doing right now, working at the intersection of collecting and sports cards.
And just wanna say from the top, appreciate all of you telling a damn friend, showing up, showing out each and every week.
I can feel it. All the engagement, all the shares, all the comments, feedback, it makes it really easy to do what I'm doing. And part of my week or not part, all of my week is content chaos.
Constantly, it's this cycle. Right? I'm formatting. I'm coming up with ideas. I'm talking with brands. I'm talking with collectors. I'm creating new shows. I'm building new content.
And I get down each and every week where I think about this episode, the flagship, the OG, the goat. And I always want to find a topic that I believe is going to resonate with you, the member of the stacking slabs audience.
I think we're gonna do that today. Today, we're gonna talk about reconnecting with your North North star, collecting for keeps before the national.
Part of this is the time. It's topical. We've got a big show where not everyone, but a lot of people will be going. And even if you're not going, there's gonna be ripple effects from that show.
So it's timely, but also, I'm coming off the heels of, almost or probably 99. 5% complete with, the book I've been working on. And that book is Collecting for Keeps, Finding Meaning in a Hobby Built on Hype.
And so that, I guess, since I've already mentioned it, we are planning on sharing that with everybody post national. Stay tuned for more. It'll be really easy to get access.
So more details on that. But, you know, when you you invest a lot of time and energy into a publication around collecting and collecting for keeps, it has me thinking about my collecting in a whole new light.
When I was entering the process of writing, formatting, writing, pulling information, all of the things that go into creating a monster, publication or not monster.
It's a mini publication, but it was a monster effort on my my part. I don't know what I'm doing. I've never done it before.
But it it wasn't like collecting for keeps isn't just like a book title for me. It's it's a statement of purpose. And I've spent years buying, trading, selling, consolidating, and chasing and chasing in this hobby.
And I've learned a lot. And I hope if you're a longtime listener of Stacking Slabs, you've heard a lot of those lessons here on the podcast.
But what I've learned is the cards that matter most and the ones that last and stay in my collection don't usually come easy.
They don't always show up when you expect them. You don't always have the cash ready when they are available, and you may have to let go of other cards.
You may have to say no to things that seem exciting in the moment. But when you finally land that card, that one that feels like it's always belonged in your collection, you feel something deeper than hype. You feel connection.
And the truth is most of us want to build a collection that we keep. A collection that reflects something about us as human beings, a collection we'd be proud to share with our kids, a collection that has staying power.
So as a note in the national approaches, one week away and counting, and whether you're going or just watching from the distance, I think this is a really good time to take a step back and ask yourself.
Why do you why do I collect? Why do I actually care? What cards mean something to me beyond what they're worth?
Because the FOMO is always gonna hit when that 10 k card walks up, walks by in a showcase, when you see someone post a pickup that gets a million likes in ten minutes, your North Star is what brings you back down to Earth.
That's what I wanna talk about today.
So why don't we start by defining what a collecting north star is or at minimum, how I think about collecting north stars. For me, the collecting north star is plays the role somewhat of an internal compass in the hobby.
It's your personal definition of what matters most. It gives your collecting activity direction even when the market gets noisy. I've been knocked off my path more times than I can count.
I've left I I've kind of tried to I've I've followed my North Star. I've gone on vacation from my North Star, and it always comes back to the North Star. And I'm I'm I feel really good, and I'm gonna talk about my North Star.
Just I'm sure you all kinda have some frame of reference if you're a listener of the show, but I'm gonna talk about kind of how I see what I collect, and how I collect, and why I collect, and what why it matters.
But I think it's it's necessary to have a North Star because this hobby, this industry we're in is designed to distract you. It's designed to get you to jump when the new things come out.
I I, like I don't know why I always bring this analogy in my in my head, but I am a nineties kid. I think a lot about those moments when I was little and, you you know, my parents said, you know, yeah.
Let's go to let's go to Blockbuster. I know you've been asking about it. Let's roll over to Blockbuster and get you a game and a movie for the weekend. I mean, how awesome was that?
And you you could all visualize what a Blockbuster store looks like. You can see the aisles. You can smell it right now. Right? Walking in, and it's just this sea of VHS tapes and Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo games and thinness.
There's aisles upon aisles. But when I was a kid, the first move wasn't just to go walk around aimlessly. It was to go to the new releases. I wanted to see what was new.
I wanted to try what had just came out. And while there was a sea of video games and VHS tapes that likely had something in there that I knew was gonna resonate with me, I decided to get distracted and run to what was brand new.
Also, probably because after maybe the eighth time of renting Royal Rumble 1992, they probably just said, you know what? We're not gonna let you get this anymore.
But, anyways, I I think about that connection or that memory and moment with Blockbuster and running to the new releases, and I think about the way our hobby is designed, and it's all built on new releases.
It's built on big auctions. It's built on social hype. There is nothing inherently negative about it.
I think what is what I'm talking about is just the fact that while it's cool to explore and to see the new shiny object that's coming out and seeing if it's for you or not, I don't think finding meaning in collecting for keeps happens when you just hang out in the new release section or get mesmerized by the big shiny object.
I think without a North Star, your collecting becomes reactive instead of intentional.
A North Star gives your decisions consistency and purpose even when others zig and zag. Connect consistency and purpose are very important to collecting.
It's not necessarily consistently buying cards every day, but I think it's consistently asking yourself where there is connection and when do you go all in on those things.
Think there are a lot of common signs when you might not have a north star or you're missing your north star.
And one of those is you're always pivoting. And it can be pivoting to what's hot. It can be, collecting someone new and then collecting someone new a month later and then collecting someone new a month later after that.
But it's just cons and I'm a I'm pro change. I'm pro evolution. I've talked about it. But when you're constantly pivoting, that means you're probably not focused on what matters most to you.
It's this, endless cycle of impulse buys that we always end up later regretting, and I think the easiest the easiest way to or easiest place to impulse buy will be in Rosemont, Illinois at the national.
Endless aisles of showcases of incredible cards that are right in front of your face. I've been there. I've done it.
It's really easy to make those impulse buys. And I'm not here to say an impulse buy might not lead to a card that's in your collection forever. That certainly can happen, But I think that's probably the exception to the rule.
I think also if you feel disconnected from your current collection, like, if you're not going and opening up your cases or looking at your cards and smiling and they're not making you happy, That and and also too, I'll say this.
Even if, like, that collection you have, if you open it up and it might look impressive to someone else, but it doesn't mean anything to you, it's probably a sign that you might be missing your north star.
So maybe a good place to go next is my north star.
And my north star is always tied to my city. You know, I was really fortunate to, a few weeks ago now, have a conversation with Ryan card collector two in Grove City, Ohio for Cards and Content, his podcast.
And I've always appreciated Ryan. I've always appreciated the way he went about his business. Very diligent, operator, very focused on collecting, has an incredible collection.
Got some time to see a lot of Ryan's cards before we did the content, and it's just unreal. But what I appreciated most about that conversation was Ryan's observations about my collecting and its tie to my city.
And I had never really gotten a chance to have someone ask me questions about that. And if you haven't already, I'd say go run over to cards and content.
I listen to it week, but, you know, there's an episode where I get to go Broadway on this topic, with Ryan, and it was awesome. And it was a great moment of reflection.
I love my city. I've lived here my entire life. I decided to invest in this city. My roots are in this city. My family is in this city. It has grown. It has changed so much over the course of my lifetime, has so much to offer.
It is just my kind of place. I love it here. I love everything about it. It is my home. And part of the reason why Indianapolis is my home and why I feel so invested in Tide is because of the sports.
I love my teams. It's not just that, oh, when they suck, I'm not gonna watch them. No. It is like a relationship, and relationships are really tough.
I mean, I've been through this QB carousel cycle with the Indianapolis Colts ever since Andrew Luck retired, still a season ticket holder because I love my Colts. I got to the mountain top moment as a fan this, last NBA season.
Not quite got kicked off at the end, but that magical run was just a reminder of how much I love the Pacers. Goes on and on and on. Fever, just I love my teams. My North Star, when I collect, has always come back to my city.
I'm a season ticket holder. I root for these guys. And so if I'm investing in living here, watching all the games, listening to all the podcasts, why wouldn't I collect cards that represent that?
And that is the connection, and that that is connected to my collector identity and my identity in general.
Like, I'm telling you, when I'm walking, when I'm taking my kids to school, when I'm walking around the city, like, every day, if I'm not wearing a band tee, maybe, like, two days a week, I'll be wearing a goose shirt or a a band tee in some way.
But all the other days, I'm wearing I'm wear all year round, I'm wearing the gear.
I'm tied to these teams. I want my collection to reflect my life as a fan, and I think this matters because it keeps my collection rooted in a personal meaning.
I don't need outside validation for these cards. They mean something to me regardless of what's happening in the market. If a rare Colts or Pacers card pops up that fits within the the lanes that I collect, I don't hesitate.
In that moment where you don't hesitate, that's when you know you're buying the right stuff. When you have to pause and, like, consider and think, then there's probably it's probably an opportunity where you don't need that stuff.
And I'll tell you, this just happened to me this past week with a big card. I collect a little bit outside, and a good example is maybe my WNBA collecting.
I don't just collect fever. I collect a lot of different players because I like a lot of different players. So that's a unique side of my collecting. But, like, a card popped up this past week, and it didn't have ties to my city.
And it was really expensive. And I went through these cycles. And I finally just said, this is too much for me, and it's not quite aligned with my North Star, so I'm gonna walk away.
I think my North Star helps me say no to hype and yes to connection. Collecting? What does it mean? I think it means when a card is speaking something emotional to you, and it can be tied to a specific memory.
A memory I always think about is the Colts Patriots game, even though this era hasn't been great, this was the win's year, so it was 2021 playing the Patriots at home, and Jonathan Taylor just, like, sealing the game with just an insane run.
And it's like it to touchdown, locked it, sealed the deal. And just think about that moment being in the stadium and just the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
I watch that on YouTube all the time. But it it it it it makes me because that memory is so strong, it makes me want to continue to collect Jonathan Taylor because he's been my favorite player of this era.
I think it's personal. No one else needs to understand why I'm collecting, how I'm collecting because it's me in my collection, in my North Star.
It's not transactional. It's transformational. So when you look at hype, hype is driven by the crowd, market trends, social media, investor cycles. It's fleeting, and it gets old really fast, and it often leads to regret.
So it's this in a way we like it's like, how do you spot the difference? I think it the way I think about it is if I feel peace when I buy a card, no matter what the cost is, that's a connection.
If you feel pressure to act fast to beat others to get clout, that's hype. Collecting becomes sustainable when it's driven by internal meaning rather than external approval. You gotta go with your gut.
Collect with your head. Collect with your heart. Do whatever you gotta do. Check. It's gotta check all the boxes for you. I think the happiest collectors I know are the ones that buy what they love, not what they're told to love.
Now I mentioned, episode one eighteen, which was in 2021, maybe right around the time that Jonathan Taylor play happened. But that was a long time ago. One eighteen, man. We're we're, we're all we've gone way past that.
I think in 2021, I said all my sacrifices point to my North Star. At the time, I was really focused on Peyton Manning and, believe it or not, Carson Wentz. But a lot has changed since then.
Carson Wentz didn't make it long on the colds, but my belief system was the same, right, on why I collect the Colts. The North Star wasn't wins. It was when he represented in that moment the hope I had for my team, although fleeting.
The city pride element to the way I collect, and team legacy. When I think about what's remained the same since then, I think about my commitment to buying cards with connection and my conviction to say no to cards that don't fit.
A North Star can evolve, but the purpose behind it stays consistent. The longer you collect, the clearer it gets. I wanna make sure because I'm gonna be there.
You a lot of you are gonna be here maybe just frame it up from a national perspective. The national's crazy. It's a whirlwind. I'm I'm trying to and I'll they'll probably be I'll put another message out.
I put one last week, but I'm trying to line up as many deals in advance as possible. I'm gonna be working, which is kind of a new way to approach the national, but this is my job.
So, I've got work to do at the national, and I hope to see many of you, but I will be bouncing around with some obligations, that I'm really looking forward to.
Don't get me wrong. This this is work, but it's it's a lot of fun for me. So I'm trying to line up the deals in advance, which might help me avoid, any of these, traps that I'm I'm would have fallen into.
But when I think about the national, it's a whirlwind. Right? It's a Super Bowl of collecting. There's nothing wrong with being excited, but remember this.
Impulse is the enemy of intention. So before you go ask, what are you trying to accomplish? What cards are you looking for? What will it still matter in your collection for six months?
And I've been there. I bought cards at the National just to buy something and then flipped it later down the road. And I think those cards didn't stick because they didn't mean anything.
And so what I think what I'd want for you is to walk into that monster room with all those showcase and people with a purpose and let your North Star fill filter out all the noise.
And if nothing aligns, that's okay. The best collectors pass on, pass on a 100 or thousands of cards to land the right one.
Collecting for keeps means building a collection that reflects who you are, not just what the hobby says is hot. I think it means chasing with patience, but buying with intention and letting your North Star guide the way.
Whether you're headed to the national or not, use this week to reconnect with your purpose in the hobby. Appreciate you following Stacking Slabs. Do that if you're not already, Telling a damn friend. Joining that Patreon group.
All those things mean so much. Appreciate the support. When you find clear purpose with your collecting, it's always better. Appreciate everyone showing their support for stacking slabs. More content always. Talk to you soon.