Latest / The Sports Card CEO Podcast / Episode 46, S2: Building & Managing Multiple Businesses | Special Guest Adam Myara

Transcript

Episode 46, S2: Building & Managing Multiple Businesses | Special Guest Adam Myara · The Sports Card CEO Podcast

0:00
[SPEAKER_01]: What is happening in SportsCart CEO community?
0:02
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Big Matt.
0:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Handbone, ham, whatever you want to call me today.
0:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm fine with it, and I am joined by Adam Myara, Adam, what's up, brother?
0:25
[SPEAKER_02]: a 47-D season and a season of life in the other and naturely baseball history from one of the Cognitive Junior.
0:36
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a drag right on the Man of Evan Connor and one of the things that he is having.
0:42
[SPEAKER_02]: He hits the strong hard, he hits the man of the left, like Trump, that's ripped them all around.
0:48
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, so guys, my truck and listen to Sports Park CEO, it's current Buffland hand.
0:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, it's pleasure to be on the show.
0:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Long time, yes, sir.
0:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, thank you, but you've been around a long time listening to the pod and Adam is, you know, kind of, for those of you who follow us on Instagram, Adam loves to dab a little bit in the creative arts.
1:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he, he put together the image of Bubba with the corn cob and all of that for the Bowman Farmer back in the day that we had shared.
1:17
[SPEAKER_01]: and had a chance to connect with Adam at the national.
1:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And we were just talking, man, just about entrepreneurialism and life and all that kind of stuff.
1:23
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, man, I'd love to join on the pod.
1:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, absolutely, man.
1:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So for those of you to listen to the pod last week, we had Janice and Long on who was a local card shop owner here and Wilmington North Carolina, good friends of ours.
1:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Hope you guys enjoyed that episode.
1:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Adam is an entrepreneur and card shop owner up in the North Eastern region of the United States of America.
1:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're in Jersey, right?
1:45
[SPEAKER_01]: No, in the city, are you in New York, I mean, sunny Florida, you're in Florida.
1:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought you were the northeast guy.
1:52
[SPEAKER_00]: No, just south of just south of Tampa, like Sarasota area, Bradenton.
1:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Over here.
1:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Give me brother the the other end of the world.
1:59
[SPEAKER_01]: You're in a much you're in a much better climate.
2:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's
2:02
[SPEAKER_01]: That's good to know, man.
2:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, so Adam is the owner of Card Collector Club.
2:07
[SPEAKER_01]: They have both the card shop and a breaking company.
2:09
[SPEAKER_01]: The Instagram handle is Card Collector Club HQ.
2:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But we kind of kick off the show every week, Adam, with a little bit of like, what's been going on?
2:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We call it the CEO roundtable.
2:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll lead off, give you a minute to kind of get your thoughts together.
2:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I'll let you close it up and then we'll dive into our little bit more about you.
2:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And all the things we're gonna get into,
2:27
[SPEAKER_01]: today.
2:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's been an interesting week for Hamhouse.
2:31
[SPEAKER_01]: A little mat is back in school, which means that the the influx of card purchases is slowed a little bit, which I am grateful for.
2:40
[SPEAKER_01]: He went on a spree right before he went back to school.
2:43
[SPEAKER_01]: He went on a buying bender and a ball like 50 k plus in cards, but we've got a lot of auctions ending right now.
2:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm
2:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly man, just kind of trying to figure out where to next.
2:52
[SPEAKER_01]: With the boys and such, we dabbled a little bit and whatnot on the single side of things.
2:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just not in, well, different streams.
3:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, and how sports on whatnot.
3:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen it.
3:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So I've got the twins, right?
3:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Who are 14 and they get super excited.
3:08
[SPEAKER_01]: They love whatnot.
3:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've been kind of like encouraging them and letting them kind of spread their wings and fly.
3:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think I have officially clipped their wings.
3:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we have.
3:18
[SPEAKER_01]: or clipping the wings.
3:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a, it's just a grind, man.
3:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And with our stage of life with all the kids and the multiple business endeavors, I don't know that that's gonna be our thing.
3:27
[SPEAKER_01]: However, pretty big announcement to make on that front.
3:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So I have a younger brother, his name's Mark and Mark is like five and a half years younger than me.
3:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's been sitting in the background watching us with the card thing over the past couple years.
3:40
[SPEAKER_01]: He's dabbled, gotten into some breaks and stuff like that.
3:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But,
3:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark worked at Disney when he was out of college out of their college internship program.
3:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And literally as a Disney guy through and through, man, he just got that bubbly, you know, over the top big personality, super happy go lucky.
3:56
[SPEAKER_01]: He worked in tomorrow land in the magic kingdom for like a year.
4:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's really been getting into the Disney side of the hobby, the Disney card specifically.
4:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we are partnering with my brother to get into that side of the hobby.
4:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to call it Hamhouse Sports Kingdom cards as in the Magic Kingdom.
4:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, um,
4:17
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to actually launch his first little live stream show selling some Disney singles.
4:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We picked up a couple of boxes that will offer for Percy's and maybe do a break here in there.
4:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be really small and low key.
4:30
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a dad to three.
4:31
[SPEAKER_01]: He is an insurance as well up in Durham, North Carolina, but I'm pumped for him because he's like super excited.
4:38
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like a kid on Christmas.
4:40
[SPEAKER_01]: it's crazy hot yeah and so it was one of those things where it was like man you know what we've done super well if my brother could get a leg up and and maybe get rollin with something here we'd love to support that so uh... beyond the lookout for those of you who are into the non-sports side of the hobby uh... hamhouse sports kingdom cards will be doing some you know maybe get into some marvel stuff or whatever but right now it's gonna be disney my brother's just really the passion project for him so that's kind of the big news at hamhouse we'll see how it goes
5:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I almost, in my mind, from an entrepreneurial perspective, I love the idea of different verticals and different income streams.
5:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we talked about this on the show a number of times.
5:17
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have the flipping vertical, if you have the grading vertical, if you have the consignment vertical, all these different ways to generate revenue.
5:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is an area we've never focused on.
5:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of the big news at Hamhouse.
5:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Other than that, man, kids back in school trying to get rhythm and really,
5:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, like, look at the dust that's settled after the national and fanatics fest in the summer and go, okay, where are we going to go now?
5:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's like a post-apocalyptic hobby right now.
5:45
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you know, the dust is settled and all that stuff is coming down.
5:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's where we are, brother.
5:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But what about yourself, talk to me?
5:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a funny thing about the Disney before I forget.
5:55
[SPEAKER_00]: We opened the shop two months ago and
5:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like two and a half months ago, so we had tons of Disney, Sapphire, all the stuff.
6:02
[SPEAKER_00]: We put it all out in the cases, and it just sat there, and we're like, man, I thought the people were going to be loving this Disney, so we took it all out of the cases.
6:09
[SPEAKER_00]: We left a couple of cases, a card's in there, and one of them was a Mickey Mouse refactor.
6:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we had a price at $50.
6:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And someone was looking at it the other day.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, this seems really cheap, and so we looked it up.
6:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We end up selling it for $500.
6:24
[SPEAKER_00]: We priced it through two and a half months ago at $50.
6:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And the price had gone up so much in those months, then it ended up selling for $500.
6:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It was, it Disney's on a rocket ship right now.
6:36
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a hat, that's a hat tip to the customer.
6:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I've been like 50, 50 bucks.
6:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Here I can't count it fast enough.
6:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's $50.
6:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're talking about that all the time on this show.
6:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like hey, the sticker says 50 50.
6:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we'll get some pretty cool people in here.
6:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no definitely.
6:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So awesome because it up, you know It's all you guys talk about business.
6:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You talk about life all that different stuff and I just relate to it You know being a seal kind of actually more like a CFO in our restaurant business, but you know I serial entrepreneur whenever I see something I end up, you know wanting to
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: figure out how I can be involved in that if I'm passionate about it, you know.
7:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So from my life right now yet, kids are back in school.
7:18
[SPEAKER_00]: It's how many kids do you have?
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I have two.
7:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I have an 11 and a 13 year old.
7:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So now all in middle school, we have a six in an eighth grader.
7:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It's nice that I'm both back in the same school, one drop off, you know, my wife's a teacher, so she always took one to the elementary school and I took one to the middle school or whatever it was, but
7:38
[SPEAKER_00]: now they're both in the same school and they're getting big and and time is flying really it's just it's just going way too fast for my for my liking I have a boat I can about a boat I have a boat I haven't been on the boat in two years you know oh come on come on shame on you and now I'm moving up in one of those high injuries like you talk about and it's the guy calls me something as you ever come get your boat take it out I'm like hey do you mind bringing it down and watching it for me to put it back up
8:04
[SPEAKER_00]: What kind of boat do you have?
8:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have an 18 foot flat spoke.
8:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like an inch or fishing so the thing can go, you know, 40, 50 miles an hour and eight inches of water.
8:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, it skims the surface there.
8:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
8:18
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's just I grew up in a small town south to here called Inglewood and all there was to do was go fishing and go to the card shop so that's kind of like how in the cards like live after school let me just walk over to the card shop the guy there would let me sweep and help customers for free packs and that's kind of what started the hobby for me a long time ago
8:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I love it.
8:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it because I don't want to cut you off.
8:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't supposed to say like a relative point to our listener base.
8:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's so cool about our listener base and those that listen to the show now.
8:50
[SPEAKER_01]: We're all in the same season of life for the most part.
8:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, we like we definitely, I kind of think appeal to the hobby at large.
8:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But like a lot of our listener base are these CEO type entrepreneurial type dads, fathers grew up, you know, in the hobby late 80, 90s, whatever.
9:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's just super relatable, you know what I mean?
9:10
[SPEAKER_01]: it's this little like you know kind of fight club ish kind of thing almost with the hobby where we're all like you know jumping in having the combo so anyway it's just cool man to kind of know there's other folks in that season stage of life and different parts of the country yeah listening to bother talk about son is business or you starting your real estate company up or you know insurance company yeah it's just i love hearing that stuff because then i'm like i get excited to go do what i'm doing you know
9:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, motivation.
9:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, man.
9:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So give me a little bit of background in yourself.
9:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like I say we learn a little bit of a family or whatnot Let's talk entrepreneurly first and then let's kind of segue at the kind of how you got into cards So I went to school for finance.
9:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I went to law school just cuz I always had him ahead I'm gonna be in a turning I'm gonna be in a turning and the longer I was in law school the less I wanted to be in a turning It was like
9:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really don't want you to turn this as awful.
9:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I should have went from my NBA or something like that, you know, and I was like this isn't going to work.
10:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So I left, I left law school after two years.
10:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I had one year left, I went, really didn't have a plan.
10:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, all right, let me go back to what I've always done was restaurants.
10:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I was dating my wife at the time.
10:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, kudos to her for him and with a guy that, you know, no real, like, vision of what he wanted to do.
10:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And he and I just,
10:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I weren't got a job as a breakfast server at a hotel, and I was like, I'm leaving Moscow.
10:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to go be a breakfast server.
10:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a lot of experience already in management, things like that within.
10:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, a couple of weeks I was the bartender at the hotel, you know, and then another couple of weeks I, you know, was managing the food beverage operations in the front and back.
10:45
[SPEAKER_00]: They had a Tiki bar as well.
10:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And then like a couple of months later, I was the front desk manager and then, you know, it's then they gave me my hotel was the GM of a hotel within, I think it was like a two years.
10:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, all right, this is fun, but this isn't, this isn't going to give me where I need to go.
10:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And I got lucky with a,
11:00
[SPEAKER_00]: A really nice real estate deal because I've always had my real estate license and I got involved in the land deal and it gave me the money to be able to afford my first restaurant and And now we're at six restaurants moving forward just kind of building, you know, onto that and we have a chain of sports bars with four locations and I have a big seafood restaurant.
11:19
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the name of the sports bar?
11:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome restaurant.
11:51
[SPEAKER_00]: We buy from local fishermen comes in fresh, you know, big grouper and snapper goes in the fillet room.
11:57
[SPEAKER_00]: They fillet goes into the market, you know, some of the orders in the kitchen goes to the kitchen and gets cooked.
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You're getting fish that sometimes has been out of the water like a day, a day and a half.
12:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks.
12:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's awesome man.
12:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So the restaurant industry's interesting man because it is it's a hustle I mean, it is a it is a grind and an operational you know from what I gather I know a lot of folks who are in the restaurant business In a variety of degrees like every from guys that own like jersey mics and pizza shops to guys that do like full, you know on stake houses or whatever
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: What would you say it's like the most challenging piece of that business model when you think entrepreneurly, like what's the most challenging side of that model?
12:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely the labor.
12:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say you get people that they come and go very quickly, luckily we've had some people that have been with us since we opened and those are kind of your cornerstone of your business.
12:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You rely on those people a lot, the ones that have been there a long time.
12:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you run a restaurant, well, you retain good people.
12:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And then as long as you're busy, you know, you'll keep those people because they're making good money.
13:00
[SPEAKER_00]: You're making good money, you know, everybody's happy, struggling your restaurants always have our time with labor.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if they're not making any money, the good ones leave and the ones that you really don't want stick around and in a good server or a good bartender makes your business and our industry.
13:15
[SPEAKER_00]: you have a bad experience at a restaurant.
13:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It's almost always, you know, bad service, you know, so I had this theory and I talk about it all the time when I go speak or whatever.
13:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like every single business in the world boils down to people.
13:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You're only as good as your people, and people are like, oh,
13:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, the technology, this and this and this and I was like, well, somebody's got to build the technology.
13:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of there's a person behind it who is great at what they're great at and allowing people, I think Jim Collins, you know, with the kind of business speaker guys, talks about like having people on the bus, the right seat on the bus and all that kind of stuff positionally and that's always challenging.
13:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, you think about that in the car space too, like having a guy who's like super extroverted and like little math, for example.
13:59
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to be on camera.
14:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to be out there making deals like making him do money is like dude It's Kryptonite, you know what I mean?
14:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But you on the backside man, you sound like the finance gas or you kind of like the nerdy like number guy like back there with pushing the glasses up
14:14
[SPEAKER_00]: you know full cost labor costs you know all the billing I do all the you know invoicing and and and when we do new buildouts I get the financing together and things like that to for you know package together so we can keep expanding yeah monitor all that so that's kind of like my role in the restaurants and so the boy I got into the card space back into the card space I should say
14:36
[SPEAKER_00]: was I had an office and it was way too big for what I needed so I had extra empty office spaces and I had a ton of cards and I've been you know getting in breaks and buying boxes and casers and opening and all of a sudden my wife was like I can't see the dining or table you need to get this stuff out of here.
14:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I pulled all of my office and I just put it on a big room and I was like yeah tell my brother I'm like hey you need to help me.
15:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start a whatnot channel where you just get rid of this stuff.
15:03
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, so I, we started just doing one day a week, like, let's do two days.
15:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I have some time, then it grew the two days a week, then it was three days a week.
15:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And then people started sending us consignments from all over, you know, hey, can you run my stuff?
15:17
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys do a great show and we were grading a lot and we were lucky enough.
15:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I had some bad experiences of grading early on.
15:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I was sending thousands of cards in and I was getting six to seven dates.
15:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, why am I wasting so much money?
15:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm supposed to be paying for prep and evil.
15:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So like we could do better than that.
15:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start our own grading service.
15:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're gonna reject 75% of the cards that people send us because we're gonna go for high-geam rates.
15:42
[SPEAKER_00]: If it doesn't have a clear shot at a 10, we're gonna save these people some money.
15:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want new people in the hobby to be discouraged by spending all that money waiting all that time for cards and then the card work less than when they sent it cause you could've sold a raw, you know, for more money.
15:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So especially with the modern stuff, that's the way you have to look at grading.
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So, we started this company at Delta Web sites.
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: They could track their PSA submissions for every step of the way.
16:07
[SPEAKER_00]: They'd go online to pay.
16:08
[SPEAKER_00]: We do the evaluation online, everything like that.
16:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was lucky enough to get in with PSA and to their authorized dealer program when I showed them, you know, I built all that first.
16:16
[SPEAKER_00]: First, they said, you know, we're not taking anybody.
16:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, all right, let me see what I can do.
16:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So I built out the website.
16:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We did it all.
16:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Then we showed them again what we had done.
16:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And they said, okay.
16:26
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we'll we'll take you on and it's been a interesting, you know, ride with all the ups and downs of grading, you know, throughout this time.
16:35
[SPEAKER_00]: How long ago was that Adam?
16:36
[SPEAKER_01]: That was probably two years ago.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: a couple years ago.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So you kind of post-pandemic, you know, kind of maybe starting to get into breaks yourself, like during a pandemic early early days, you know, 22-ish, whatever.
16:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, great thing this two years ago.
16:51
[SPEAKER_00]: The one-not-shannel was a little more than that.
16:53
[SPEAKER_00]: That was probably four years ago.
16:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So what was the original what-not-channel name?
16:58
[SPEAKER_01]: The card-collector club.
16:59
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just down the card-collector club the whole time.
17:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So no other thing is I are the channel is called what is my one that name Adam Yara and we were selling Adam Yara Just this world Adam Yara's live and so people come to me like hey, what's up Adam and then once we started tweaking everybody's consignance in and things we were like we needed
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: to get a little more professional with this.
17:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Starting up, you know, do the whole business side of things, you know, create a payout structure, you know, keep accurate records.
17:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Because before I was on my stuff, I didn't care what it's sold for.
17:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I just needed to get it out.
17:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And we had thousands of cards, so.
17:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
17:32
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's a lot, man.
17:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So, so talk to me a little bit about like, I have two questions.
17:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one is margin.
17:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I would imagine that you have a lot of operational firepower in these different areas of your life because you can't be the one who's responsible for everything with six restaurants and everything with a whatnot channel.
17:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Like do you?
17:52
[SPEAKER_01]: How have you gone about like organizational structure setting up people to help run those different entities?
17:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a great question.
17:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So when my started, the first restaurant I was there, seven a.m. to three a.m. Like when I start these new things, I throw myself in and I want it to be successful.
18:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So my wife has become accustomed to when I start something.
18:13
[SPEAKER_00]: She's probably not going to see me for a couple of months.
18:16
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, bless her heart.
18:17
[SPEAKER_00]: She takes care of everything at home.
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the way you run it.
18:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And then eventually as you get bigger and you can afford it, you start hiring more managers.
18:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, each of the restaurants have three managers, a general manager and some assistant managers.
18:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So I can drive around, I go, you know, go to those restaurant, go to that restaurant, check on things, make sure, you know,
18:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything's clinging, you know, the condition of every, you know, the properties and good shape staff seems happy talk about any issues, you know, I try to direct everything in individual stores to the general manager.
18:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So if the bus boy has an issue or the, you know, so they, I don't, I'm no longer giving my phone number out to every, you know, employee when you have hundreds.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, they funnel it up to the general manager and then I sit with the general manager.
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Talk about how, you know, how the store is doing, you know, any goals and things like that that we're going to try to achieve and that's it's definitely Created a better lifestyle for me than when I was in the restaurant all day every day, you know, so I then but then I opened the shop and then I now my wife doesn't see me again Because it's seven days a week.
19:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here, you know
19:23
[SPEAKER_00]: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. you know, some back at that, but it will be temporary, like, you know, until I hire the staff that I could do.
19:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So are you?
19:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a question.
19:34
[SPEAKER_01]: This is, and you don't have to answer this.
19:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just curious.
19:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I like I talked a lot of entrepreneurial guys and there's kind of two schools of thought, right.
19:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I talked to guys who are high leverage guys and they'll get an operational business up, you know, let's say that they're.
19:47
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, bringing in a million hours of revenue and they're operating at a 15-20 percent margin.
19:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're at 20 percent, you know, 200k revenue a year, whatever, they'll go out and, you know, take equity or capital against that flow and go start like number two, right?
20:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got a buddy of mine who's a developer builder.
20:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And dude, he told me in the days, like, yeah, I got this like open 50 million hour equity line or whatever and we're building that
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sitting here, freaking out.
20:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, shut up right now, like you're kidding me.
20:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's these entrepreneurial guys, and it's just like, oh yeah, I was gonna go open the equity line and like, and I'm like, dude, can't even, cause I'm the opposite.
20:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I am the opposite old school Dave Ramsey, like, hey, here's cash, you know what I mean?
20:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's paid for.
20:34
[SPEAKER_01]: you know what I mean?
20:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm just curious you don't have to get into the nitty gritty but like with operating these different businesses and keeping them in their buckets like I think about this as it relates to cards too like how do you navigate having this much transactional movement with money with cards with what like that would my brain would it's already melted?
20:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah so you know with the restaurants we developed a good formula for expansion so we'd open a store we run it get it open for a year and then
21:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we, you know, cash flow.
21:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Luckily, we, you know, we've been very fortunate that they're successful cash flow it.
21:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when we look to a new store, what we've found is the best for us is, you know, we paid mostly cash, but we finance the equipment.
21:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm sort of willing to, you know, finance assets more than they would say.
21:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to, you know, finance your build out or whatever, like they don't want the wood.
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, on the floors or the walls or the bricks, you know, or the TV, they'll they'll finance equipment.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So we get equipment package put together and we finance that portion of it.
21:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And we we took on partners as well that, you know,
21:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So we found a good group of partners, so it's myself, my father, our operating partner, a bob, and then we have a couple of guys that have nothing to do with the restaurant business at all.
21:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And they just wanted a little piece of, you know, the sports bar side thing.
22:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we get that money together and then we just go right in and build out.
22:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And the only debt we have is for the equipment.
22:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's, you know, it's not bad.
22:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we've also evolved.
22:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The second one we did was a land lease.
22:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, cheap rent, because you're just paying for land, but you had to do the old build out.
22:18
[SPEAKER_00]: That one was a little more expensive, you know, on the debt site, because we had to do, you know, a big build out.
22:24
[SPEAKER_00]: We had to build the building, we had to put the parking lot in, we had to have the infrastructure, the sewer, the lights, you know, everything.
22:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So that one, we've stayed away from that now after that.
22:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're just going into two spaces that we can lease.
22:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, super interesting.
22:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So one of the things that the theory that I have about like business the way I look at it is, is businesses to me are like, is a machine.
22:45
[SPEAKER_01]: A business is a machine.
22:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you have a machine that you put a dollar into and every time you put a dollar into it,
22:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that is not a good machine.
22:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to play it that machine.
22:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But if I have a machine that I put a dollar into, and it gives me five cents, well, that's great.
23:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
23:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Every dollar I put in, it gives me five cents.
23:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That's fine.
23:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But then if you find a machine that you can put a dollar into and it gives you 50 cent back or a dollar back or whatever.
23:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the way I look at the card hobby.
23:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've always done this.
23:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when Bubba always talks about, you know, Ham, you kind of changed the way that I look at,
23:22
[SPEAKER_01]: a card almost as an individual business and I'm saying I'm putting this money in with this expected return on this money and again I don't care if it's a day I don't care if it's a week or whatever my timeline is but I'm understanding okay money and money out money and money out money and money out and I just like to stay quick with it like that what's harder for me is hey you're going to put money in this right and it's going to compile you know the mean
23:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you're going to take a loan against that money to go put it into another machine.
23:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, my brain is so nuts and I can't, I can't leverage one side of my life for the others.
23:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Like when we started this Disney breaking company, I wasn't like, I didn't want to use hamhouse like resources.
24:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's almost like I had to go create like a separate bank account with the separate thing.
24:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's just, it's just weird.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just the way my brain works.
24:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate you sharing that.
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But like so talking to them about like, go ahead.
24:15
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to keep it all separate to you like I don't mix I don't even mix individual restaurants funds and things Yeah, yeah means got their own bacon count everything stands on its own.
24:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
24:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and that the card business is totally off to the side in another realm.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah
24:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's the thing, as I think a lot of people entrepreneur really get in trouble when they start bleeding lines, right?
24:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And they start, you know, and I think about like card guys, you know, I talked this all the time.
24:39
[SPEAKER_01]: If you've got card guys that are like trying to do this thing, you know what I'm saying?
24:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, let's say that they're operating with 20 grand of capital.
24:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're buying 20 grand and they're trying to turn that 20 grand into
24:51
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, call it 20%, right?
24:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're trying to make 4 grand a month on their 20 grand.
24:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're trying to use that 4 grand for like living expenses or whatever.
25:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And you just scale that to whatever number you need to do.
25:03
[SPEAKER_01]: It's super dangerous, man, because like, you know, I'm saying when you have all this capital tied up and you can't.
25:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's super interesting to me about how this was, they're talking to Jamison last week.
25:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he had a huge, huge, huge
25:18
[SPEAKER_01]: you know what he call it, not national treasure stuff, but like the exquisite stuff, right?
25:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I listened to that this morning.
25:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was a good show.
25:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he'd killed it on exquisite.
25:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So he had this lump sum of capital that he could kind of leverage and start to move with, you know?
25:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it's like, oh, okay.
25:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, this is a self-sustaining entity.
25:34
[SPEAKER_01]: This makes, you know, sense to me.
25:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So when did you say, all right, we're going all in.
25:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to start a physical brick and mortar shop.
25:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I we were building out of a restaurant one of the sports bars and they had a space they had they had twenty hundred square feet actually they had they had two fourteen fourteen hundred square foot units next door and I was like all right.
25:58
[SPEAKER_00]: That'd be cool if I could move my offices out of Main Street.
26:03
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where my offices were and put them in the back and then I'd have be able to take walk in, you know, PSA.
26:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I could put a few of my cards up front, have a small little retail section.
26:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we had the idea to connect it to the sports bar.
26:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it was like, well, 1400 square feet stocking to be enough.
26:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to take 2800 square feet.
26:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to add in a sports simulator suite into the middle of the card shop that can have food and beverage served into it.
26:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So now it's just kind of, this is kind of building and building.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So now we open the shop, 2800 square feet.
26:38
[SPEAKER_00]: My offices are in the back that I can run the restaurants and my real estate stuff out of.
26:42
[SPEAKER_00]: We have two streaming rooms.
26:43
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a sports simulator suite where you could play.
26:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It's in holes at Pebble Beach or you could play.
26:49
[SPEAKER_00]: First, be your cornhole or, you know,
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: They have like football, baseball.
26:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can see into the restaurant, the restaurant can see into the card shop.
26:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's two glass windows where you can watch the brakes and the single shows as they go on as well.
27:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can project any of the brakes on any of those 60 TVs that we have in the restaurant as well.
27:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So if we have an athlete come in or whatever, we have a couple like minor league ball players we'll come in and hang out with us.
27:15
[SPEAKER_00]: We could put that on any of the TVs in the bar side, the restaurant side or in the card shop side.
27:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just kind of evolved.
27:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Well now I know why you don't use your boat.
27:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you, and we've met, we met once in person, Chad had briefly in a course chat on the show today.
27:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I get the picture that you're just a guy who you have a ton of ideas and energy and you just love to execute on those ideas and energy.
27:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And like, you really are fueled by staying busy and staying active and keeping things moving all that kind of stuff.
27:54
[SPEAKER_01]: So, when you talk about like wearing these multiple hats,
27:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I always joke with people, I played three sports, three varsity sports, my sophomore year high school, baseball, basketball football, I played varsity, some varsity and all of those more varsity time and football and in basketball during those seasons and less time and baseball.
28:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, I did not my junior and senior year, but in my personal life now, I've got handheld sports that's operating, I've got Air League of Insurance Group, I've got Reed of Fine, which is my nonprofit work,
28:22
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, all these different things, it's exhausting.
28:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It really is exhausting.
28:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I have, as I've gotten older, I think 40 was the number for me.
28:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Like when I hit started to hit 40, I'm like, all right, I have to limit my capacity because the juice is not worth the squeeze.
28:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the other day a little Matt asked me, he's like, Dad, why are we not doing this?
28:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, because I don't want to because, but we can make money.
28:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And I go, I don't care.
28:45
[SPEAKER_00]: matter at that point exactly.
28:47
[SPEAKER_01]: At some point in time, if there's a machine that's printing out money, like, okay, that's fine.
28:53
[SPEAKER_01]: But I just don't want the outcome of more money is not the driver's show.
28:57
[SPEAKER_01]: My point to you is, how do you stay motivated, man?
28:58
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:00
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:00
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:01
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:02
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:03
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:03
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:04
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:05
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:06
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:06
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:07
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:08
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you stay motivated, man?
29:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So I really just, I just have this vision of building something that people recognize, people appreciate, you know, it's just a good feeling.
29:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been in Nashville before sitting at a breakfast bar and we were talking about one of our restaurants in Venice.
29:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just a, our one of our sports bars, our original sports bar, bogies and the lady next to us is like,
29:28
[SPEAKER_00]: oh my god i love bogeys in Nashville and this is in Venice Florida a little small town you know on the water so that's my favorite restaurant in Venice you're like you know that that stuff motivates me the card side of it um i just really want to build something that that is lasting that that
29:45
[SPEAKER_00]: that is welcoming to new people that, you know, is I just feel like they're in the card business.
29:51
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of unsaved spaces, especially on the breaking side, on the single side, just buying cards that are cooked, you know, on what, what not like the wild west, right?
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It is.
30:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, grading, I boosted thousands of dollars on grading because this company wanted to be the biggest group submission company.
30:07
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't care about results, you know, they were just sending everything, you know,
30:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just, you know, I don't know, like they just, I have these ideas and then I just want to be the best.
30:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So like when I started the breaking side just recently, I went and I was like, who is the best breaker that I can find?
30:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And I found a guy that had just left his other company and to me, he's like one of the best baseball breakers on whatnot.
30:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted the best, like, you know, he's, he's amazing.
30:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So he gets the people are the first show that we went live without any ad.
30:44
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, really just putting on our favorite Instagram, like, hey, we're going live.
30:48
[SPEAKER_00]: We were over 100 people in the room on the very first show and, you know, we were doing full case breaks at a dollar, you know, and making money.
30:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And that just goes to show you that, you know, certain people have good followings that they're trusted, reliable, we ship next day, you know, all that, everything that you, you would want.
31:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, you know what, it's tough to say what motivates me.
31:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to have these ideas, and I like to see them actually be successful.
31:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I think success is a big driver, just be a pressure or something.
31:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's interesting.
31:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, some of the things above and I've talked about it certainly on the show, but off the show is well.
31:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, I mean, you know, there's certainly levels in layers of this and all that kind of stuff.
31:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But like...
31:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, at some point in time, it's like, man, what is that thing that kind of keeps you coming back to the well?
31:34
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and even like with the podcast, I mean, you know, what's the thing that keeps you kind of going and I, for me, I just generally love conversations.
31:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love being able to create content that is helpful for people.
31:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that piece of it makes this vertical.
31:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll be honest, this podcast makes me no money.
31:51
[SPEAKER_01]: at all.
31:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And all of my, this is a machine that, you know, I put time into it.
31:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, ancillary, yes, it does give benefits.
31:59
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
32:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we get, you know, some media stuff or, you know, opportunities on connections and car, whatever.
32:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Like so it is opened up massive doors of connectivity, but from a dollar standpoint, like it's not.
32:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And so my point I think is that there's a benefit to doing things that don't always generate monetary return.
32:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that have a deeper sense of value or what not, and that's kind of, you know, for me, what keeps me, you know, rocking and rolling.
32:25
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's kind of jump into the cart world, man, like what, what type of carger you into, like, what are you personally buying, what kind of inventory you're sourcing for the shop, what are you seeing from like the standpoint of like, you know, new product.
32:37
[SPEAKER_00]: It's funny that that we're recording today because yesterday we had something that like you kind of dream of right like so going back real quick the cards it almost doesn't seem like work to me just because I enjoy it so much yeah you get like all this is tiring or whatever but that's how I know I'm doing something that could potentially be something great because I don't feel like it's worth I'm having fun like when someone brings in stuff and they're like hey we want to sell this collection and I get to look I get to look through all these people
33:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, you know, I got to let these cards, but I don't know if you can see this.
33:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Jordan, Kobe, yep.
33:10
[SPEAKER_00]: This just walked in the door issue.
33:12
[SPEAKER_00]: This the shack is numbered seven of one fifty.
33:15
[SPEAKER_00]: This leh, I mean, I always was like, I got how did these people on YouTube?
33:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, people are just walking the door with Jordan and Kobe collections.
33:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that never happens.
33:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And you just say, dude.
33:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yesterday, a lady comes in.
33:27
[SPEAKER_00]: She's like, my brother's been collecting these.
33:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they've had orange nasty top loaders with $5 stickers on them and some of these cards are $1,000 plus, right?
33:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it is like, this is what I love.
33:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this hobby.
33:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, these cards are beautiful.
33:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Like these 90s inserts and stuff.
33:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they're so good.
33:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just, I'm like, I feel honored to be able to look through these cards, you know, pick out the one, I mean, which we bought everything she had, I mean, it was all Kobe and Jordan, it was all Kobe rookies and Jordan, so it's
33:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's, but on my personal side, I always say collect what you love because that, for some reason, just seems like what ends up becoming more valuable.
34:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I started bottom years ago, I was buying, you know, Otani stuff.
34:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I was buying, you know, Akunia, like I had braided stuff.
34:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I got tired of what it was.
34:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and then a lot of the Kobe rookies and things like that, like I was just like I like these are my players that I like and I'm going to find a group of them and I mean you start to wonder like do I need to sell this stuff like I was having this conversation with my brother yesterday
34:43
[SPEAKER_00]: is it?
34:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It makes you a little nervous, right?
34:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, yeah, I know these are conversations that I have all the time with Lil Matt because you know, and again, a lot of ours is unique because as I've said it before, we've not used capital from anything else other than cards.
34:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So like every card we own is net free to us because the revenue or the capital that was used to buy that came from inside of the business.
35:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?
35:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And so,
35:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we own, you know, right now, I mean, probably about $150,000 PC or something like that.
35:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, I just don't have the stones or the stomach to go out and buy, you know, a $40,000 card, even if we have the cash to do it, you know, and little Matt's brain functions very differently.
35:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Our star Jordan right now, you know, we have this, this star 101, it's by far our biggest card.
35:33
[SPEAKER_01]: That card just continues to go up and go up and go up and when you look at the population and you look at what it is, like, I mean, I see a lot of stability, you know what I mean, in that market and in that card.
35:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, we're sitting here staring at it and I mean, it went from, you know, 30k to 35 to 40 and then a gold label just sold for 72.
35:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sitting here going like, dude,
35:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we could probably easily sell the card for sixty sixty five little match like nope.
35:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Nope.
35:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Nope.
35:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that card's going to a hundred get Yeah, but he's trying to buy my store.
36:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's my star Jordan.
36:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
36:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I believe me.
36:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he's looking at multiples.
36:08
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one he's going.
36:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's got one of these things I can go kind of get
36:12
[SPEAKER_01]: because he's that convicted in it, you know, but it's funny for me.
36:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I always struggle to I go through waves.
36:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll go through waves were like last night.
36:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I was looking at 90s inserts of Cal Ripkin and I'm like, oh, I don't have that letter.
36:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have that intimidation nation or, you know, I want to go pick this one up or whatever.
36:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll get it.
36:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But then I get so bored of it.
36:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you know, the mean after about like three or six months, you know.
36:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, time to move this perfect example.
36:38
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a I have a bow Jackson 93 finest refractor that I bought And it was like this has got to be the best bow Jackson card, you know whatever and then now I'm like One just sold for 1500.
36:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in demand for 800 like probably time to move it and then I'll move it And I'll be like ah, yeah, that was a cool card and so I hate that wrestling that I live in
36:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, I can say to you, there's probably only two cards right now that I own, you know, maybe even one that I would never ever, ever sell.
37:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's the Michael Jordan Flair rookie that walked into our house from a friend across town that really, like, catapulted the the Hamhouse brand.
37:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
37:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a card that's unselable for you?
37:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a card that you would never park with?
37:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I do actually.
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I have I have three that are unselvable for me.
37:27
[SPEAKER_00]: They're regards that.
37:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's shop that I used to go into when I was a kid in Inglewood.
37:33
[SPEAKER_00]: That man ended up becoming my stepfather.
37:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, yeah.
37:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and he had a, you know, a collection and unfortunately he passed away this April.
37:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He got a brain tumor like at the end of last year and it was just very sudden.
37:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So he unfortunately didn't get the CME open my card shop up.
37:52
[SPEAKER_00]: He had closed his a while back but, you know, he was always a big supporter of me opening a card shop because he knows how much I love it.
37:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So he didn't unfortunately didn't get the CME, but I have three cards
38:04
[SPEAKER_00]: on card autos and one of them is a Hank Garen really maze duel on card autos and they're from they're they're from the the I think they're from the yeah 66 65 and a 64 and uh I great he had him just sitting in a in a box and I sent him the grading for and they came back and unfortunately he was you know too sick to you know to you know to
38:28
[SPEAKER_00]: appreciate them so they're up in the case there and they're they're not going anywhere ever.
38:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That's cool man.
38:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in those those vintage on-card autos have just been so wildly, you know, popular as of late because, you know, when you start to look at population and the rarity and scarcity of heaven,
38:45
[SPEAKER_01]: an auto on card there's the purest to go i wanted how it came out of the pack and then there's going up you know he signed this like he held it whatever like so there's that that classic argument but but that's awesome you know i think i think one of the things is super challenging from like a card perspective is inventory management you know i think a lot of our listeners struggle with that i think a lot of our listeners kind of wrestle with that what are your thoughts there
39:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was unprepared.
39:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm out of the shame to admit that we were in the shop and we're like, all right, this is what we're going to do.
39:14
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to buy at 75 to 80 and we're going to sell everything at 100% cops.
39:19
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the way we do it, you know, nothing.
39:21
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not, we're not negotiating.
39:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like we're going to put everything at 120% and negotiate down so people feel like they got a good deal.
39:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So we just, that, unfortunately, that was the only parameter I put in place for, for my guys when we opened and fast forward a couple weeks later.
39:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We had mountains of cards in the back of the shop that we had purchased faster than we could price repricing get back out on the shelves.
39:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So what we do now is we're a little more selective and, and, and being a new shop, we wanted to get a well-rounded inventory, right?
39:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So they were buying Pokemon, which,
39:56
[SPEAKER_00]: has now like 50% of the business.
39:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say that we do in the shop.
39:59
[SPEAKER_00]: One piece, Lorcana, Disney.
40:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we didn't have a lot.
40:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It was all mostly just my stuff.
40:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So I had a lot of baseball and basketball and a little bit of football.
40:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So we had to buy kind of everything.
40:11
[SPEAKER_00]: at the beginning.
40:12
[SPEAKER_00]: But what we do now is we buy a card.
40:15
[SPEAKER_00]: If it's less than $10, it just gets stickered and put in the case.
40:18
[SPEAKER_00]: If it's more than that, then it gets scanned.
40:22
[SPEAKER_00]: It gets put into we use a system called haystack, which is like a AI identifier.
40:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Like so it takes an image of the front back like high def or whatever.
40:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And it puts in the title and then it gets put into our inventory system.
40:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it gets the sticker with a barcode and the price and all that.
40:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So
40:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's not good.
40:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so then when at the register, they could just pull the card up and scan it and it comes up in the inventory system.
40:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So we had to adapt.
40:49
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't have that inventory system in place when we opened, but I'm happy to say as of last week, we are officially caught up with all the cards that we had been buying in mass quantity.
41:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We were spending, you know,
41:01
[SPEAKER_00]: 20,000 dollars a week on cards just walking in the door and there was just getting set in the back not not being put back out So like guys, you like this is you can't sell stuff out of an empty wagon You know our cases are getting empty and everything's just sitting in the back We had it so like closed.
41:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I closed the shop for a couple days just to get that caught back up
41:21
[SPEAKER_01]: caught up.
41:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
41:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important, man.
41:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And that thing on going, like, that's one of the things a little man I talk about all the time.
41:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, like, I think right now, you know, on the business side of things, we probably own 45 cards and then on the personal side, we probably own, I don't know, 25 cards.
41:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So we are dealing in a limited number of cards, but there's this healthy cycle of
41:45
[SPEAKER_01]: you know to me yeah I mean we probably got 15 cards on auction right now going to auction and it was funny there there's a little james and mention there's a little card show at the card shop he actually had a couple of guys that put out cases and they just had people come in and I'm just ran like a card show in the card shop.
42:01
[SPEAKER_01]: and little man had a guy who had gotten into a bunch of breaks and just bought a ton of stuff and we were going to run it on what not and you know we went up buying I don't know probably like five six seven grand of inventory and we ran a whatnot stream and I was like number one I don't know that we're guaranteed to get our number out of these you know as if we would if we ran them on you know auction or whatever so we ended up cutting the whatnot stream off after like I don't know probably about six seven hundred dollars in sales it was like I'm just going to send these to
42:27
[SPEAKER_01]: because I just have to know that they got the most eyes, instead of the 30 people that are in our stream or whatnot, you know.
42:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not, I guess it is the wild list.
42:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You never know, like, you could be running a product, like even us with a single side.
42:41
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't have the right guys in the room for a particular show, then you could get, you could end up getting 60% cops on some decent cards.
42:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But then all of a sudden, you get three guys that are usually there and they show up and all of a sudden, you're getting 110%.
42:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's always a crapshoot when you're running there.
43:01
[SPEAKER_01]: For me, for me, like I said, I like managed calculated risk, and I know what I can buy, and then what I can sell, and kind of hit in that number.
43:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's just where I don't know.
43:11
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a game that I don't have the stomach to play.
43:13
[SPEAKER_01]: and it's so funny man because there's guys that do it and you know more power to them they're doing well you know I just that's not you know kind of my of a vertical if you will that I don't want to to explore I kind of told some other day I think what not is like Las Vegas and the sixties
43:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And 70s.
43:29
[SPEAKER_01]: If you ever saw like the movie Casino, when the, yeah, if you ever saw Casino, when, when the mob went to Las Vegas for some reason, that's what I feel like what not kind of is.
43:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like there's this Mafioso like inner circle of guys that are just like running things and it dude, if you jump in bro, you, you, you can get cooked, but if you understand how to play the game,
43:54
[SPEAKER_01]: You can make it happen.
43:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, the breaking side is is is add a control like I I don't mean I don't I wasn't prepared for the volume of wax that I was going to have to purchase Got you and not doing an allocated account.
44:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not allocated for the shop either that which is which is challenging to keep wax on the shelves Wow
44:17
[SPEAKER_00]: When we when we were we started construction on the shop tops had us a little thing on their side that said like once you're you know Open sentence pictures of the sign of the register of this fill out this paperwork and you know We'll review your account.
44:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Well by the time the shop was ready to be open they had taken that down and they're like we're not accepting any more anymore
44:37
[SPEAKER_00]: account.
44:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So I tried to buy for the top's website.
44:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I tried to buy from whoever would sell us.
44:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people walk in off the street with wax and things.
44:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But for the breaking side, I need large quantities.
44:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, why say large quantities?
44:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we can break 8 to 10 cases a night of classroom jumbo.
44:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So we went through, I think, 80 cases or 90 cases
45:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's, I, I, I, some of the Sunday they spend all day sitting at the computer looking for wax for wax.
45:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
45:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's crazy.
45:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
45:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's good 200,000 dollars worth of, you know, top's chrome or like, like,
45:28
[SPEAKER_00]: of wax, just to get up through the first week or two, it's crazy man.
45:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's when people start thinking about the hobby and the market.
45:36
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many people in the hobby.
45:39
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many local car shops.
45:40
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many people buying into these, like it is wild right now.
45:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It is wild right now.
45:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, more power to you guys that are swimming in that water.
45:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm on my boat and I am going, hey buddy, how are you doing?
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm up on the water here.
45:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Go, I'm coming big, yeah.
46:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that is so funny.
46:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, a couple of things that kind of wrap up today, man, and I appreciate your time and just your candor and, you know, authenticity or whatnot, would love to come to the shop there, man, and have a good meal on one side and go over and hang these some cards and watch some, for I would not be watching NC State Athletics because I have forbid myself to enter into being a fan of any sports team ever again in my life.
46:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I am a former sports fan in every sense of the word.
46:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I hate cheering for teams officially.
46:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but anyway, got approved for the race.
46:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So growing up here, I was a brave fan before the race existed.
46:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when the race came around, I've been a Tampa Bay race fan.
46:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And they just got approved for a new stadium.
46:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So next my next dream, right, is the somehow get card collector club in Ed's tavern over in that little stadium area.
46:54
[SPEAKER_00]: That's that's the next dream.
46:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see.
46:57
[SPEAKER_01]: That's huge, dude.
46:58
[SPEAKER_01]: That is awesome.
46:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, one little kind of final piece of card stuff.
47:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you're a PSA author as dealer.
47:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, certainly want to respect that, but there was big news that dropped today as we're recording.
47:08
[SPEAKER_01]: SGC just up to their base level pricing to $50 a card on a 40-day turnaround.
47:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
47:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And dude, we've talked about this on the podcast so like ad nauseam about the situation with grading right now, getting into this Disney side of things and looking at lower-in cards that are, you know, 50, 100, 200-our cards, like I'm not spending 50 bucks to grade those.
47:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not spending 75 regular level to grade those.
47:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I've never even gotten into, you know,
47:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that there is such an opportune moment in time right now for somebody to introduce a reputable grading resource with reasonable price structure that can handle volume at that $20 or $25 a card kind of rate and I just don't understand like I guess the demand is just that high that companies can just say
48:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, here it is coming get it if you want, but like dude, it has to change the game when it comes to buying cards in a slab like finally because if the card in a slab has value you can't replicate that now without paying through the nose to get it and so anyway that was just fascinating to me.
48:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure we'll talk about that later on the show, but any kind of immediate thoughts with the grading side of things and kind of your perspective on that.
48:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I think everybody's hope for a cheaper respected grading company was Beckett, right?
48:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought everybody was kind of hoping that someone was going to buy Beckett and turn it around.
48:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe adjust the grading scale a little bit and bring it back to its greatness and then, you know, Pia's say.
48:52
[SPEAKER_02]: It was like the one company that you probably didn't want to acquire back it, you know, if you're up there.
48:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And the same thing with S.G. Steak, this is a thing, you know, they don't particularly want people to sink in my opinion.
49:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
49:06
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't want them.
49:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they would rather take their graders and just put them over a PSA.
49:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Take that building over there and Boca and just turn it into a PSA building.
49:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And just say, let's get rid of this as she sees things.
49:20
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of art, you know, every once in all, you'll get a submission back.
49:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And it gets shipped from Boca.
49:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So you know, they're grading over there already.
49:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Interesting.
49:27
[SPEAKER_00]: we send all our cards to California, but sometimes we'll get a package back from New Jersey with our great cards, sometimes we get them from Boca, you know, so they're going to California, and then they're getting shipped off, and I'm sure that now that they have the facility in Texas, which I think happens to be the be the beck of this...
49:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think I noticed that they said that they now they have that up and running that cards will be coming from Texas as well and I think you know I don't we I was just talking about this yesterday with the grading side like you know They're gonna reopen the value tier and it's kind of like why would they and it because they're getting more cards than they can handle
50:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And people are paying a lot more than number four.
50:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and so we thought we were just kind of spitting ideas like well, maybe if they only reopened the values here is the bulk tier to like authorize dealers or something, you know, because winning and now they were going to close value they get they give everybody like a week descending cards and people sent in like 5 million cars or something.
50:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, in that one loop time, just to get under the gun and then during the national instead of their level going down, they went back up like 2 million cards, you know?
50:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, if it does drop to 5 million again and they do open it up, you know they're going to get another 5 to 8 million cards, like almost immediately.
50:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So they're just going to be back in the same position.
50:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are either going to open value up and then it's just going to be more expensive.
50:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, I don't know what, I don't know how you can avoid the, because it's just such a massive demand, right?
50:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's crazy.
51:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the only frame value on your, on your cards.
51:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we have CGC locally.
51:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I could drive the CGC their headquarters here in Sarasota.
51:10
[SPEAKER_00]: My off my old office was right across the street from their, their headquarters there.
51:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just if you could get the resell on those, that would be a very good option.
51:19
[SPEAKER_01]: you know.
51:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, it's, I mean, it's a fascinating concept and again, we have to know how much product has been created or printed, right?
51:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you'd know that every card's not getting graded, but if you assumed 20% of printed cards are getting graded, then you have to have enough demand
51:36
[SPEAKER_01]: if you have that demand, you have to have enough production to meet that demand.
51:40
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?
51:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So like it's to me, it's numbers.
51:42
[SPEAKER_01]: If a million, you know, if a hundred million cards are printed a year, then we know we have to have the capacity to grade 30 million cards a year, you know, on new product in order to keep up with that demand.
51:54
[SPEAKER_01]: you know what I mean but there's also this backlog of regrating and all these other cards like there's just this such a bottleneck right now and it's just an absolute it's a nightmare I don't know I don't know how it's going to work out it'll be interesting to see I think it'll definitely create opportunities in the hobby when you have cards that are slabbed
52:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially like Disney cards like I'm noticing this on some Disney cards is Disney is getting a super premium on PSA 10s right now just because nobody's resimitting those you know so you've got cards that do 50 bucks raw that are selling like for 500 almost in a PSA 10 because you can't get it in a slab you know a you're not guaranteed so if you already have it in the slab people will want to pay for it
52:33
[SPEAKER_01]: because they're then pleating like PSA 10 sets.
52:35
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's super interesting, man.
52:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, let's close up Adam and kind of give, you know, just any, any plugs or details regarding the shop, the stream, whatever it is that you guys are doing and appreciate your time, the Debra.
52:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so if you're, if you're sitting breaks, we have two breakers, uh, one cause he does the PYT's usually in the afternoons.
52:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You can, you know, choose your own team.
52:56
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're not willing to do the wheel at a dollar with Griff at night.
52:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Right now, we're just doing mostly baseball.
53:01
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start adding football basketball in, but we've been primarily focused on baseball, so that's a hard-collecture club breaks on whatnot.
53:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And our singles channel, you know, we're always taking consignments.
53:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the card-collecture club on whatnot.
53:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, PSA authorized dealer's card-collecture club.com.
53:17
[SPEAKER_00]: You can check out our website for submissions there, so yeah, that's pretty much it.
53:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Awesome man.
53:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, Adam, I appreciate it man.
53:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It was great chatting with you today much success to you with all these different endeavors you have going on.
53:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I get the feeling that you'll figure out a way to make it happen, man.
53:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like you you'll you'll get it done, but I appreciate you, man.
53:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for joining us on sports cards CEO, but to our listeners appreciate you guys tuning in each and every week.
53:38
[SPEAKER_01]: We're continuing to kind of
53:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, unpack this with Baba and Kurnum myself.
53:42
[SPEAKER_01]: We actually got a meeting coming up here soon, just about the next season of the sports card CEO.
53:47
[SPEAKER_01]: What we're looking into, kind of mixing it up with little Matt and I mixing up with, you know, some interviews and stuff.
53:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So you guys keep us in tune with what it is that you guys want to hear again, 888 pod CEOs, leave us a voice message to sportscards.co.com, or you can hit us up on Instagram as well at the sports card CEO.
54:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Let us know what you think and how we can continue.
54:06
[SPEAKER_01]: to be a resource for you guys as you grow your own Hortscard business.
54:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Appreciate you guys.
54:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, and we'll see you next week.