For The Love Of The Hobby - Junk Wax Vintage Season 6 EP 20

Foreign. Welcome to the Ball Card show, the sports podcast for the esports collector. I'm Jason otero. I'm Gary Lemaster. This is season six, episode 20. It is hot. You could fry an egg on the sidewalk. And it was nothing like 40 a week ago. Midwesterners talking about the weather to start a baseball card podcast. Listen, two weeks ago we talked about mowing the grass. Now we're talking about the weather. You know, we really needed this rain. I gotta. We have a mutual buddy, Todd. Yeah, yeah. That hates small talk. Like, hates. Like nothing upsets him more than somebody asking him if he's keeping busy. He thinks that's the worst question anyone has ever asked. He also hates saying goodbye to people he just did. Oh, he likes to do like the old Batman movies where he throws down a smoke bomb and just disappears. Yeah, the old Irish goodbye. Uhhuh. He's an expert at that. Anyway, shout out to Todd. Shout out to Todd. Hey, big show today we one of the most fun interviews. Uplifting, encouraging, enjoyable, dynamic. Any other descriptors to throw in there, Gary? Come on, what do you got? You got big words. Stephen A. Smith word. Come on. I don't even need to do that. I'm just going to say what I said to our guest, which is that might be in six years, my favorite conversation that we have had on the podcast. So I hope you guys feel the same way when we get there. Yep. Dalen with Junk Wax Vintage joined us, which is just so cool as, as, as the audience has grown, as our reach has grown, reaching out to people that we really respect in the space for the way that they conduct themselves in this industry and asking for the opportunity to have the conversation with all of you and them saying yes is new to us. Yeah, this is a new thing this year and so it, we're humbled by it. I think you're going to really enjoy the conversation. If you're going to fast forward now, let me just let you know the subjects here. As, as you're going to head in. We're going to talk about building community that's unique. We're going to talk about the environment that you're creating. We're talking about that community piece and what education is needed as people are coming into the hobby. But honestly, it's going to be a challenge to all of us just to enjoy the space again. Yeah, just a reminder to enjoy the space space. So that conversation is coming up in a little bit. Also remind you, we figured out how to do chapters. They call them chapters now. Right. Yes. So you can skip over this part. You'll be able to find the interview, whatever, just down there on the bar. I'm sure you already noticed that you probably aren't even listening to this, but let's do something we don't do too often and let's just do a little bit of a recap. Last week we interviewed Jeff Wilson also. One of those doesn't seem very real moments that that happened. Just even seeing the clips, it was kind of just like, oh, wow, that's. I really never expected that convers conversation to happen. Right. First off, I'll be the first to admit it, the conversation went a little differently than what we were preparing for. But we wanted to make a point of being thoughtful in our approach. And what we didn't want is to interrogate, yell, disrespect, interrupt all of those things and miss out on the opportunity to talk about relevant issues in the space, which we do believe. There were many of us there, and to have a respectful conversation. I think that one of the things that gets missed and not just in our space across the board, is the fact that you are going to get further and have more enlightening conversation, better outcomes if the goal isn't to dunk and belittle somebody. Like, obviously, we've made it very clear over the years there are things that we disagree on wholeheartedly with Jeff on and that, that the way he does things sometimes are different than how we would do them. But I came away from that conversation having a little bit better understanding of Jeff. And to be. To be perfectly frank, seeing Jeff without him being in that collated like, this is the, this is the script for today situation where it felt like it was a little bit more of just who he is dayto day. Right. We finished that interview, Jeff left the interview room and we both looked at each other and went, I, I kind of didn't hate that guy. I kind of. I kind of like that guy a little bit. Yeah. So, yeah, Jeff, again, thanks. You didn't have to do that. It was a good opportunity. One thing I noticed is people that have been extremely critical of him. And that's kind of been something that they've clung to. And they unified with us over that were commenting that they felt like they saw some new respect there. And, and just that transparency meant a lot to them. And some of the topics, there was a lot that was said without us having to shove around. Yep. And it's amazing what can happen when you just provide a space and ask the type of questions where people can offer perspective, knowing that they're going to be respected. Yep. So I'll just kind of leave it at that. Ah. You ready to do some show and tell? Yes, please. Because if you didn't get a chance to watch it, go back and check that out. For sure. Up first. I did it again. I've done this once before. Yeah, it took you six months. It took me six months to sell it. I anticipate it again. Maybe longer if this fall doesn't turn out well, But I bought another. Joe burrow, Ohio State RPA to 15. My favorite part of you buying this card was you saying, hey, you got a second? I want to ask your opinion. And I said, I reminded you of the last time you did this. I think I brought it up to you. Yeah. And then I. And then I said, I don't think that I would pay a dime more than X for this. And you went, ask gruit. I'm paying 30% more than that. Let's go. Let's go. Now, the last comp on this card was like 1200 bucks. Yeah, it was like 20, 22. Yeah, yeah. Peak Covid. I don't think it's worth half. Might. Might be. Might get half of that. But I'm waiting for an Ohio State fan that still believes Joe's the one that got away. So I don't know why I bought this card is what I'm trying to say. But it's a really cool one. Show me something. I know you picked up a couple really neat ones. I'm gonna show the. The one that I'm torn whether I even want to sell. I'm going to, because this is what I do for a living. But it's so cool. You don't see things like this walk up to the table very often. That is a 2014 Strata one of one Ted Williams cut auto in a BGS8. I did a little video on the card that we dropped on Instagram, and it was just too cool. And Ted has had several one of one cut autos recently do big numbers. Yeah, I don't think this card is to that level. I mean, we're talking 7, 8, $9,000. I don't think this card is to that level. But what was crazy is this card hasn't sold for two and a half years. But we were. You and I were doing a little research on it on the way home, and we realized that for about two years before that, this card got around. Around, man. It got. It got passed around. Now, every sale Was higher than the last, but it got passed around for about two years. So that was a really fun one to buy. So it's in the ebay store. It's a cool card. It's a very cool card. I love that it's signed theodore. Yep. I love that. I bought a sketch card and I don't know if I'm proud of it. I don't know if I'm proud of either one of these. Show and tells. I do know the market is demanding more of these. I do know that they are one of ones. I do know. Now, the range of comps on these is somewhere between almost nothing and way too much. Yeah. So I'm guessing I'll end up losing money on this. But it's a 20, 24, 101 sketch of Ellie de la cruz full color. And it looks like somebody that has some understanding of symmetry drew it. Some of those out there are terrible. Yeah. Some of them look like the spongebob artists itself for 1500 bucks. It's so bad. Yeah. You know, but that's a rookie one of one, ellie. It's a cool card. Yeah, it's a. It's a rookie 101, Ellie. So we'll see how that does. But they do have a crazy range. The most recent was a black and white from the same year that sold for a thousand bucks. I don't think that. I think this is probably going to do maybe just north of half of that. Yeah, I think. And if it's there for too long, hey, two for one. Two for the price of one, baby. Come get it. So definitely some weird purchases. Eastgate was a great show. Let me show my second. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry, buddy. Yeah. This. Give us one of these. I can't see the reflection. You got it. There it is. That a little better? Yeah. So 1996 Stadium Club. Okay. Now, they had redemptions in those that were extreme winners. And then there was a redemption called extreme winners gold. This is what this card is. This is the Ken Griffey Jr. Extreme winners gold. This is a metal card with a poured glass face. And it's wicked awesome. They're larger than a standard size card. It's heavy. It probably weighs 2 ounces. What's the range on the value on that card? 3 to $500. Too often they take that to a jeweler and make a necklace. What are we doing here? That's the perfect card chain. So heavy that my neck don't like me. That's a quote. Well, you have no idea. I. I Don't. No, that's okay though. I believe you that it's a quote and I believe that there chain hang low. You ever heard that one? No. Well, I'll leave that. I'm. I'm just. I almost started singing it but I know that we have an interview coming up and I don't want to take up too much time. Thank you. That was a couple. Let me give you a rundown on the next few shows this weekend as the episode is dropping. We have probably just landed in ship Shana, Indiana. We will be there for the whole weekend. Coming back Sunday following week. I'm in Antigua for a week celebrating my 20th anniversary. Gary is in the Antigua of Ohio. As I said last week, Chilla Coffee, first capital of the state. First capital. Yeah. First capital of the state of Ohio. Famous for many things. Midwest monster will be June, the first weekend in June. Indianapolis. I fly back Thursday, Friday morning probably, probably 4 or 5am Gary and I will be driving out to Indie two weeks after that. We'll be in the Nashville show. Huge show, 1200 tables. And then we're going to wrap up June with Columbus Card Fest at the convention center. Really big show there too. So what are you thinking about Gary? For us, we have a high concentration of bigger shows on the scale of small to larger shows. Way larger. Gary and I both pay our bills with this. So we don't ever have like the capital just completely doubling up or whatever's happening. Like we're scraping off the top every time we got to do a paycheck. So we have to churn. What is going to be your strategy over the next couple of weeks so that when you get to the end of June you got some cards to sell. Hope and pray. I mean, thoughts and prayers for me. No, it's gonna be just the amplified grind of buying. One of the things that. And again, I don't want to get too sidetracked here because we have a nice long interview here, but one of the things that you and I have talked about recently and I'm gonna have to find a balance on is I've gotten. I've been getting pickier and pickier on the things that I buy which results in a faster sell through rate but lower volume. So I'm gonna. For the next six weeks I'm probably gonna have to buy just about everything that I can that's even remotely relevant and. And go. You know, I mean there's like fan bases. I. I'll give you my pro tip for Nashville. I don't know if you remember what I said, every single, like forty to eighty dollar Braves auto gone sold. I could have sold twenty John Smoltz autos. Yeah. Like the ones that signed them over and over. And there's 50 different versions of that tribute parallel. Yeah, those things were flying. So it was kind of nice seeing that Chicago stuff's gonna move a little better at ship. Right? Detroit. Detroit. Some of that. Although JT bought like all my Detroit stuff at Eastgate, so you have it up at ship. I saw him eyeballing your showcases. I did. Hold on. I did get. I did get. Go see JT if you want to buy Jason's Detroit stuff. Yeah. There we. I did pick up an Amon raw to 25 RPM. Nice. So. But I. It's, it's, you know, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes. But anyway, I. That's one of the things I'm thinking through is when I look at these shows I've been at before, what performed differently than the rest of my inventory, what teams or price points and all that, I have had a lot more of the 30 to $75 stuff. And I'm noticing that the market is still really responding strong to that price point. Yep. So. But we're both in that together. Before we get into our interview with Junk Wax Vintage, I want to head up to Delaware, Ohio. Keith at Newhart Cars now. He has a really interesting thought for us. I'm not going to set this up too much because I really like the way that he presented this. Let's go to Newhart Cards in Delaware, Ohio. Hi, this is Keith at Newhart Cards. And this is Shop Talk. I'm going to talk a little bit about a couple interviews that I heard last week that were really good, that not only has a lot to do with our business, but just business in general. Right. Rob at Burbank Sports Cars have been talking a lot. And then the ball card boys, obviously. Great interview with Jeff Wilson last week. So let's talk about, like fanatics and their product line. If you're letting one specific company or one product line determine, you know, the validity of your business or the success of your business, you're probably not doing it the right way. Right. We've been around for almost 16 years now and we started from the beginning. We're going to do singles. We're really going to focus on singles and live selling and ebay and wax is part of the game. Right. So, yes. Do we bellyache about fanatics too? Sure. But we're not letting them determine. Determine our business, determine our value. Another thing I also wanted to talk about, and I know, you know, we're supposedly sports guys and the name of this is Ball Card Show. Right. But we have to lean into tcg, you know, eventually. If you're not taking advantage of TCG as a shop, you're really, really missing out. I think our space in our shop is probably less than 10%. Our whole, you know, but it's growing exponentially. The, the velocity of sales in the TCG market far, far, far, far grows over sports. You know, if we put on 50 cards on TCGplayer, which basically, if you don't know what that is, it's just the ebay of trading card games. We sell probably 60 to 70% of what we list overnight. Same with the product. A new product drops this week. It's an exciting product. We'll sell through that a lot faster than we will on a lot of sports products. So as a shop owner, if you're not leaning into certain products, I suggest, you know, you start doing that. As I talked last week, you know, if you're not moving, if you're not moving forward, you're moving back. So this has been Keith at Newhart Cards, and this is Shop Talk. I think Keith said, like, don't depend on any one platform or product to carry your entire business. You have to diversify. You have to do all the things. It is the work of owning a business. I think that's a really good reminder that you and I would love to depend on one lane in our showcases. Right, sure. But the reality is everything else, the whatnot, the value, the bulk, the all that stuff that we work through, it all matters. Yep. And we have to do all of it. We sure do. How it's going to work. All right, let's get this started. So excited to have Dalen here with us from John Quack Vintage. Stumbled onto him years back on Tick Tock. Very unique personality, very fun environment, and I think you're going to be reminded to love the hobby again today in this interview. Ladies and gentlemen, we're very excited for this interview today with Dylan from Junk Wax Vintage. Now, I will say this, very happy to have you, first of all. Secondly, I'm known for doing too long of an introductory line, so I'm not going to let you off the hook here. I stumbled on to you on TikTok years back and I noticed the audio quality was better than anyone else on there. This is somebody that pays attention to details and then following you, I've been entertained. You know, random. Random hours, scrolling, watching breaks. And I think you bring joy to this space in a way that is unique. So we are so privileged to have you on the show today. Can't wait to talk with you. Hey. I feel equally as privileged. Thank you very much, gentlemen, and I sincerely appreciate the kind words. Amazing. Thank you. Well, and what. And what I'm taking from everything that's happening right now. We're two weeks in a row. Is I need to up my backdrop game. Yes. I'm lagging behind the whole world. I just got my Willie Mays autograph frame thing up. Hey. Hey. That was. That was a humble brag. That was a humble brag. That's what that was. Sometimes less is more, my brother. And you're doing great. I'm working on it. We, too, started in a basement, so we're already steps and steps ahead. Right. Well, I appreciate the empathy, gentlemen. Thank you. Do you mind sharing with us a little of your story? How did you get into the space that you're in? What are you doing now? I really want people to understand that today we want to really focus on this thought of community building, engagement, educating people in the hobby. And I think you do all these things really well. So I'd love for people to hear a little bit of your journey, how you got to where you are now in the space, man. Absolutely. My pleasure. So I started this thing back in 2021. I got back in. So I've been a card collector my entire life. Little short story. So my dad passed away when I was very young. I was looked up to the guides on the cars, on the cards. Right. You know, those guys were larger than life to me. And that was kind of like my positive male role model, you know? And it was all the guys on the cards. And I'm originally from Seattle, so I was a huge Ken Griffey Jr fan, huge Randy Johnson fan back in the day with Barry bonds and Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa and the Home Run Race and all that stuff. I remember all of that like it was yesterday. Right. So I took kind of a break. You know, I was in the military, did a whole lot of other things, made some poor decisions in there in the middle, but luckily it ended well. But I came back to the hobby in, like, 2017, 2018. I had met my wife and went over and met her parents for the first time. And her dad was a collector of all things. I mean, he's got, like, suits of armor and dragon heads. And marbles and all kinds of crazy stuff. Well, I'm out there looking at this amazing shop, and I kid you not, I find a corner of that shop, and there's, like, three 35,000 count card boxes. And I had taken a break for a little while, but obviously I saw that and got a huge rush of dopamine. I was like, oh, my Lanta. This is going to be awesome. So for the next seven days that I was up there in Illinois, every morning I would wake up with my coffee, and I would go out and I would take one of those boxes, and I would just go through it, and the memories just flooded back. You know, you guys can empathize. Yes. I called these little pieces of cardboard, I call them tiny time machines, because there is very few things in this life that have the capacity to instantly take you back to a moment in time in your life. Yeah. You know, and every single one of those cards, I mean, I'm talking 1991 Fleer baseball. I call it the banana set. Like, one of the ugliest baseball sets in my humble opinion. But it had those 1991 provisions cards, which were incredible. So I found a few of those, and I was off to the races. Well, it wasn't a child. What's wild is. And if you went through those stacks, you know this every era, there's a smell that's. With that. Absolutely. 86 to 89 tops has a scent that's. Yeah, it's got a special kind of funk. Yes. That's completely different from 90 to 94. Like, you open the box, you're like, I kind of know what's in here. That's right. That's right. 89. Don Rush, specifically. Oh, yeah. Donrus has a very, very recognizable fragrance. Put that way. So. So, yeah, I was off to the races. I. When I came back to. I live in Austin, Texas. So when we came back to Austin, I was immediately on ebay, buying cards and buying boxes. And obviously, this is back then where things were significantly cheaper. Yeah, right. I think our. Our hobby has done, like, a 4 or 5x since then, but that's how I got back into it. And my son. There was a chain of serendipitous things that happened, and that's kind of what led me back to this. So my son, at the time, he's now 18. He was 11, and he says, dad, I found this new app, and it's really cool. You got to check it out. And I must be honest, I kind of was like, okay, son. Real cool, right? But we download TikTok together, this brand new app, and he's showing me dances, and he's showing me people doing silly things. And I was just like, okay, son, that was cool. Right? Well, at that point, if you think about it, now I have the app on my phone, and now the app is sending me notifications, and we all know that our cell phones listen to us. So all of a sudden, I start getting baseball card videos on TikTok. It sounds silly. I didn't even put those two things together. I had cards over here, Internet over here. I mean, obviously, I was buying cards on ebay, but I had no thought of content or anything like that. So I start seeing content being showed to me, and I saw all kinds of crazy things. I saw people lighting cards on fire. I saw people rip in packs, and if they didn't find a big hit, they were literally chucking the cards across the room. I saw my friends that were getting into breaks and not getting their cards. I saw people getting into breaks and sometimes getting some of their cards and then not getting the big one. All kinds of crazy stuff. Right. So I thought in that moment, I never want to be conceited or think that I'm any better than anybody else, but I thought in that moment, I think I can do it a little bit better and a little bit different because I have a reverence for this entire hobby. I have a reverence for sports cards. I know it sounds super dorky, but I'm so grateful that you guys understand. I love these things. Yeah. They mean more to me than a lot of other things in life, you know? And even sometimes base cards that are worth less than a penny, I still treat them with respect because I care about them. And so when I saw the tomfoolery, for lack of a better term, I said, you know, we got to do something about this. So I want to bring some positivity and some love back to this hobby and try to exude how I feel about this to other people. Yeah. And it was actually kind of a funny story, if I may. Yeah. My wife allowed me. So I'm also a huge, lifelong mixed martial artist, and when I found out in 2021 that Donruss Panini was going to put out the inaugural UFC set, I was very excited. So I talked my wife into the very first time allowing me to spend about $1,000 on a couple of boxes. And at that time, that was a lot of money. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm out at, like, Walmart and Barnes and Noble buying 20 or $30 boxes. So to spend a thousand bucks on two boxes was a big deal. Yeah. And I said, you know, I think at worst case scenario, we'll be able to recop some of our money from it. But, you know, we're just going to do this, and it's going to be fun. Well, about a week later, I get the boxes in the mail, and just for shiggles, I decide that I'm going to look them up on ebay and find out what they're going for. Just. Just because, right, I go on ebay and those boxes are selling for half of what I bought them for. And I will be very honest, gentlemen. I had a little bit of a panic moment. I was like, oh, my Lanta. What am I going to do here? Should I just sell these boxes sealed and, like, try to get as much money back as possible? Because I don't want to end up divorced. This is not going to go well. And serendipitously, again, that next morning, when I had that question bouncing around inside my head, I had been making TikTok videos for probably about a year. At that point, I think I had made like, maybe 100 or 200 videos. Ish. But I'd never gone live. I didn't even know that live was an ability. I didn't even know it was a thing, right? So I get this notification that morning when I was just going to make my normal daily TikTok video. I get a notification that says, hey, you have 4,500 followers. Did you know that you could go live and you only needed a thousand? And I was like, oh, I'm a silly goose. I did not know that. So I said, you know what? And I know this sounds a little dramatic, but I looked at the sky, literally, and I was like, you know what? Help me out, card gods. We're just. We're just going to do this and hope for the best. So I hit that Go Live button, and I ripped both of those UFC boxes live. And we got very, very lucky. I got a Zhang Weili autograph number to five. So I sold that one card. It paid for both boxes. There you go. Luckily, it ended well. But during that stream, I started seeing all kinds of things that I'd never seen before, right? I start seeing these really cool animations pop up on the screen, and I was like, hey, guys, those are beautiful. That's really neat. A gentleman literally had to spell it out for me that that was money. He's like, hey, do you know that's money? Right. And I was like, no, what? Like, like tick tock money. He's like, no, bro, that's real money, man. That's awesome. Yeah. And I was astonished, like, mind blown. People are just sending me money for just watching, like, what? I'm old school, man. That's still super weird to me. Obviously not, you know, six years later, but back then that was astonishing. Yeah. So in that one stream, we got up to about three or four hundred people in there. My very first stream ever. And. And I started receiving all these extremely thoughtful messages from people, like heartfelt. And I'm talking. They're writing me like letters. Yeah. And they're like, man, you need to do this full time. You need to quit your job. You know, and that's really heartwarming to hear, but these people don't know my kids and my bills and all that stuff. So I'm going to run to Mrs. Junk Wax and be like, hey, babe, I'm going to quit my job because people on the Internet told me I should. Right. So as. As heartwarming as that was, that was the first time in the back of my mind it kind of set off some fireworks to go, hey, maybe there's something more than you think that could be here. Because at that point I was just making videos, right. There was no community at that point. I was just making videos and trying to put some love into the hobby. And so those people that came to that show, they said, hey, come back again tomorrow. I was like, yeah, sounds good. I came back again the next day, and then I came back again the next day, and after that, and so on and so on. For the next two years, I went live every single morning at 6am I did not miss a day, no matter what, come hell or high water, because I told myself, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. Right. And I think that if you're going to create content, the number one key is consistency. Find a time and keep it. Especially if you're going to go live. I get a lot of questions from people and we'll get more into this a little bit later, but I get a lot of questions from people that reach out. They're like, hey, you've inspired me to start my own thing, which is, again, insanely heartwarming. Never in a billion years thought I would receive messages like that. But people ask me, you know, what is one thing that you think is super helpful? Consistency. That's it. Pick a time, keep it. No matter what, I'll be Very transparent, gentlemen. There was days that I woke up with massive migraine headaches that it felt like my head was going to pop. I went live anyway. Yeah. You know, even though this is something that I love with all of my heart, to say that it's not work sometimes is an out and out lie. Absolutely, it is. I tell people all the time. We made. Jason and I both made the jump to doing this full time. Jason a little sooner than me just because of some situations that occurred in life that he needed to be more present for. And a regular 9 to 5 job wasn't going to cut it. I work way harder, way longer hours now than I ever did working for somebody else. Preach, brother. But. But I get paid less. Well, but. But the reality is I'm. I'm playing with toys for a living. Right. And there's something magical about that. Like, there's something magical about that, that I. When. When my wife. My wife is a relatively high. Jason and his wife both are in positions where if we go to a. An event for their work and people ask what we do, we have that moment of, should I say this out out loud? Because our people at us weird. And. And so when I tell people what I did, like, what do you do for a living? Oh, I sell sports cards. Most of the time they think I say cars and they're like, oh, like Lamborghinis. No, like Victor Wembanyama. They're like, Victor who? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, this is. This is a little out of order, but we're talking about it, so I figured let's dive right into it. Yeah. You talked about this, the idea of community and growing it and. Yeah, and all of that. When you started, you told us the story of starting on TikTok, but I also know as we were prepping for the episode, you at one point were streaming to five platforms simultaneously. When you saw that this was turning into something that could grow and not just financially, but community wise, did you just kind of let that organically happen or did you go, hey, I need a strategy around this so that I can implement and kind of have some benchmarks in place to know when the next steps come into play. What did that look like for you? Yeah, I know this is very contrary to a lot of other people that do what we do. I must be completely honest, even to my detriment. Zero plan. Okay, fair. Yeah. My plan was flying by the seat of my pants, showing up the same time every single day, our community back then. So, yes, I went live on TikTok. Twitch, Facebook, Kik, and YouTube simultaneously every morning and almost every evening. And then eventually, I did end up getting laid off from my job, which was like, the best thing that could have happened in my entire life. Obviously, it didn't seem like that when it happened, but hindsight's 20 20, right? So about, you know, every day we would pick up, like, one new person. And for like, the first year and a half to two years, I was streaming for 10 to 15 to 20 people, maybe at the most. And that is sometimes discouraging, right. When you're going live every single day, and I'm talking hundreds of days, and we're still streaming to 20 people. Yeah. You know, but the way I looked at it is I tried to think about the people that were there. Right. Even if it was just five or ten, I want to put on the best show that I possibly can, whether there is three people there or 3,000 people there. So I actually. I make it a practice to never look at my viewer count. I don't want to know. You know what I mean? So there has been zero plan whatsoever. It's just show up the next day and try to bring it the best that I can and try to put on a good show. And the way that it kind of comes back to community is when those people would come in. I try to look at everything kind of glass half full. Right. In every problem, there's also an opportunity. Sure. And when we were streaming for just 10 to 15 people, the opportunity there is, it allowed me to get to know those 10 to 15 people. So I learned their names, I learned their children's names. I learned what they do for a living. I Learned who their PCs are. Right. And that, in my humble opinion, is what creates a community. And another thing that I think has really helped. And again, I know this sounds a little crazy for some people, they might refile. From this comment, I apologize in advance. I do not put money first. I put people first. And I think that if you do it the right way, if you put on a really good show that is consistent with the best pricing possible, money is a positive byproduct of that. You know what I mean? So I put all those other things first, and I worry about those things. And I think if I nail those things, it is inevitable that money will come. Yeah. Right. So I think you're a little bit of a unicorn with this. And by that, I mean it takes a tremendous amount of intentionality for that to happen. And so I completely believe and understand what you're saying. There was no strategy. But I would argue with what you're saying that must have taken place in your mindset before you ever landed on cards. Just the way you engage with people. So maybe it wasn't like a ten step plan of like, I'm going to do X, Y and Z. But if you began to notice with your audience something's happening in the community, what were the things you began to see that you weren't doing, that your community was doing, that began to indicate something is kind of developing organically here? These values I've implemented, whether they've been written down and announced, are starting to emerge within my community. What were the things you saw and what are the things you see now that indicate something's developing in the community? Absolutely. You know, one of the things that I've always thought my entire life is there. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of a book called the Secret. A lot of us have. Right. And I don't think that book has anything to do with the Secret, but I do think there is a secret in our universe, in our existence, and that is to get what we want. It's very simple. All you have to do is help as many other human beings get what they want. Yeah. And through that process, and it's not even like a goal, it is the process itself that turns you into who you are and it carves you out into who you're going to be. Right. And so ever since I was a little kid, I've always thought about that. I've always thought about trying to help people get what they want. And I've also thought about just trying to turn every situation into an opportunity rather than a problem. Right. So I think the key word about my entire community is positivity. And I put those values out there to people because it's just what I live by. Right. It's just naturally what I talk about because I live it. And what I started seeing was incredible. I started seeing people that were in my community, I call it the family. And I started seeing them gift break spots to each other. And then when I first started my community, it was obviously really, really small. We didn't do breaks. I didn't even sell anything for the whole first year that I went live. It was just a hang and we would open. The reason my channel is called Junk Wax Vintage is because we started opening Junk Wax because it was affordable. Right. I could buy a box of 1986 or 1987 tops, and I could sit there for two hours and talk to people and just rip through those packs and talk about nostalgia, talk about where I was the last time I saw that card. You know, talk about a moment in my life that maybe that card was impactful. And so eventually I got laid off from my job and I had actually made it kind of famous. I had talked to the people in my community many, many times about I did not want to be breaker. 999,999 because there's tons of breakers out there, right? So I'd actually joked that I'd never wanted to be a breaker. Well, funny how life, you know, we plan and God laughs. And so the community, after I got laid off from my job, I told people that for the very. Remember I went live at 6am every morning back then. So I told the community that if I got laid off from my job, I would go live at 10am for the first time ever. Because I've been going live for like a year and a half at that point. Yeah. So sure enough, I got laid off that day. Smiling from ear to earth, you know, first time I've ever had that situation. So that morning, sure enough, I go live at 10am and my community comes out in force and they're like, hey bud, we know that you don't want to do breaks. We get it and we understand why and that's real noble of you. Awesome, pal. But at the end of the day, you got bills to pay, buddy. And we want you to do breaks so politely and lovingly. Buck up. Figure it out. Right? And so I did. So I went up to my local hobby shop, got a couple of hobby boxes. My wife is also a graphic designer so she was able to make me like a nice break sheet that we're able to print out. And I started doing breaks. I knew nothing. Zero. My very first break was laughable. By the way, those break sheets are gorgeous. Oh, thank you my friend. It like Gary, I understand but like it's designed like it's here's the spots who's take it like it is thoughtful. I think that's a word that really in a world, in a space that is so much we I, I, I, I. It's like the intention is the value is the community. And because of that, I think that's why it's such a different response from your community than maybe what some others in the space experience. Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. And on that note, I must give all credit to Mrs. Junk Wax. There you go. Much better half. She is unbelievable. And we would not be able to do anything that we do without my wife. So she is not sitting here next to me right now. But I need to let you know that I AM Nothing without Mrs. Junk Wax. Because she does so much of this business, from our shipping to our graphics, to making those break sheets, to making the stickers. You know, it's been really incredible to see her transition as well. From going from somebody who has never even contemplated collecting sports cards to now she PCs, you know, Travis Swift, which is incredible. And she's got her own personal collection. Yeah. You know, so that's. So that's another thing that I did not plan on, but has been unbelievably cool to see is that progression because I've watched her go from knowing nothing to now. I gotta be straight with you, man. There's some boxes that I get into in some of our breaks. She knows more about them than I do. Yep. She knows how many autographs are in there and the sps and the numbered cards and stuff. And I'm like, damn, babe. Yeah. I am impressed. That's awesome. In talking about that transition from just hanging out with people and into breaking, I got introduced to your platform and your channel and your community after you made that transition. Right. And there were a few things that stood out to me as I watched you do things. One was something that you said earlier that I didn't know how to take because it was so different to me from what I was used to seeing, which was it didn't matter who the card was of. You treated each card as if it was a hit for the person that was getting it, Whether it was a Carlos Carrasco, third year, whatever, or a case hit that came out, you treated it the same. Yeah, that was so different to me. And at first I'm. I'm older and I'm a little jaded and cynical. And at first. At first I was like, come on. Right? This is for real. This is pretty cheesy what is happening. But the more I watched, the more I realized that you really felt that way. You love this. And in that, as we look at the world of breaking there, I think we can all agree that there are a lot of bad actors out there. And it's unfortunate because it impacts the base of the hobby. We need people who get introduced to the hobby to want to stay here for a long time, for the health of the entire ecosystem. So when. When you look at the breaking world and not just your place in it, but in general, as much as there are bad actors out there, what. What do you feel are the positives of the breaking world? What are those things that in the breaking world do help contribute to the growth of that ecosystem long term? Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. So when we go to a local hobby shop, some of those boxes are in excess of a thousand dollars. Sure. Right. And a lot of that stuff is just not attainable to your average collector. Right. Your average collector is not going to be able to go up to a hobby shop and drop $1,000 to $5,000 on boxes. So one of the goals of our channel is to be able to allow people entry into those bigger products for a fraction of the price. Right. And so there's so many new people coming into our hobby right now. It is an unbelievable opportunity. And, you know, I don't want to touch too much on the bad actors, but you're absolutely right, there is. And what I see, the common denominator between all those bad actors. I'm so sorry, excuse me. Is it's all about money, right? That's it. There is literally no other concern. It is how many cards can I push across this screen as fast as possible? How many breaks can I do within four hours? You know what I mean? And they're just opening and chucking, opening and chucking. They don't even show the base cards most of the time. Exactly. Oh yeah, exactly. Right. Preacher of the choir, my brother. So that's another thing that I don't. And again, this is just my two cents, which is sometimes worth a wooden nickel. But for somebody that is brand new coming into this hobby, I try to put myself in their shoes, right? And try to think about what it was like when I first got into this hobby when I was a little kid. And I didn't really know a whole lot about parallels and one of ones and autographs and patch cards and all this stuff. So there is a humongous learning curve in our hobby, you know, and again, we'll touch on that new content a little bit later. But that was one of the reasons for making that as well, is because I just. I think education is something that is missing in our hobby. And it's because sometimes the loudest voices are those ones that have the most money that can pay for ads, that can do that kind of stuff. So a lot of these brand new people to the hobby are coming in and they're being inundated with that kind of content. And they're seeing people yelling and screaming and throwing cards. And again, just trying to put as many cards through as humanly Possible. You know what I mean? If they can do six breaks in three hours, they're gonna try to do it. Yeah, yeah. And the only way you can do that is by not going through the cards. Right. And in my humble opinion, you are missing the greatest part of our hobby. Yeah. This is what it's about, my friends. It is the cards. It's the. I look at these as pieces of art. You know, some of these photographers that are out there taking these pictures. These are extremely gifted people. Right. You know, you were breaking Stadium Club this morning, and the biography in that product is gorgeous. Amazing. It's amazing. Every card looks like an sport that. Absolutely right. If. I don't know if you noticed, but when I'm going through that break, if you ever see me like pause on a card for a second, it's because I'm looking at the back to see if it's an sp. Yeah, right. Because so many of them look like they could be an image variation. Right. So, yeah, Stadium Club is a ideal example of that. Perfect example. So I think that, again, it all comes back to them. I don't think about what I want. I don't think about money at all. I will share with you. My wife does not love that. Not her favorite thing. But that is. That is who I am. Unapologetically. Right. You know, and. And I want people to have an amazing experience. And just like you said, I truly believe that every card is special. Yeah, I know that sounds a little bit silly because there's millions and billions and trillions of cards out there. I get it. But I do think that every card is special in its own way, because us, as human beings, if you think about it, we're all so vastly different. Right. And we might look at a card and think that that card is worthless, but I guarantee you that there is somebody out there that would love that card. They will not like that card. They would love that card because they PC that team or that player is related to a relative of theirs or they got to meet that person one time or they sign an autograph for them. They. You just never know who's going to be in your room at any one given time. Right? Yeah. So I act as if every card is special because it is to me. And I try to think about the person receiving that card that spent their hard earned money. On my break, they could go anywhere. There are hundreds of sellers on ebay live. There's hundreds of sellers on all the other breaking platforms. To have them with me, I think, number one, I'M extremely humbled. Number two, I'm extremely fortunate. So I want to try to provide the best experience that I possibly can. And that means we're going to go through every single card because I want them to feel like the experience that they just bought into was special. Yeah. And you make a point of creating special moments in the space with cards like that. Yeah, I've seen you go through and I remember you were opening a product, it would have been like Donrus Baseball or something to that effect. It was not licensed, it was not a very expensive product. And you had nicknames for half of the base checklists and you had sound bites for the other half. It was literally, hey, let's have fun enjoying this box together. And I know, I know everyone says they're doing that, but are people willing to slow down the pace, potentially slow down the pace of revenue to develop a community that enjoys the product? Now, I'll say this, you were not approaching this selfishly, but if you were, it's probably a pretty good business model to have people genuinely engaged in the hobby. I would think long term that's probably a bigger win. And if I can make the shift to education, I think this is where this kind of lines up is the big, you know, the pressure cooker conversation in the hobby is sustainability and wax prices versus attainability and single prices versus the volatility that repacks has entered into the space. So it's a time where everyone is saying, something must be done, something must be done. And the word that's become really popular is education. This year we're hearing it with a lot of large influencers. It seems like something that Topps is encouraging and Fanax is encouraging people with a platform to talk about. But, but recently I saw you doing some very, like one of one 30 seconds to one minute bites of just very practical advice for the beginning consumer, the new person in the hobby or the person coming back. Why do you feel it important for a breaker to be a part of that education process? Yeah, I think first and foremost, you know, I think of myself as a hobbyist, you know, and like I said, I love these cards so dang much. And I want to try to further this hobby the best that I can. I want to try to pay it forward to this hobby that's done so much for me and been so impactful in my life. And I think truly that a rising tide raises all ships. So I think, and I've heard you guys talk about this before, unfortunately there's a little bit of competition Sometimes. Right. Because there it almost feels sometimes like people believe that we're all fighting over the same thing. Yeah. But what people realize, and when your life gets a lot easier is when you realize that no other person's success or lack of success has any impact on you whatsoever. Facts, right? Yeah. So I think that we should all be helping each other. And that's the approach that I took when I started making that content. I'll share with you the exact reason why we did it is because, like you mentioned, that I switched from TikTok, Twitch, Facebook Kick and YouTube about five months ago. I got the amazing opportunity to take the entire show over to ebay live. Congrats. And it has been incredible. Our channel was growing on those five platforms. Sure. Nothing like it's growing on ebay live. It has been absolutely incredible to see during those shows. I get a lot of rapid fire questions coming at me. And what I was able to deduce is there is a heroic amount of human beings that are flooding into this hobby right now that they just, you know, they're kind of novices. Right. They're just coming into the hobby and that's totally okay. You gotta start somewhere. Right. So I started taking some of those questions that were shot at me during my ebay live shows and I started just writing them down and I started just making short form pieces of content like you touched on. Because I think that's another thing. There are some people that have great intentions and they want to put out that content, but they make a 30 minute video. People are checked out after the first four minutes, unfortunately, most of the time. Yep. So I realized that they've got to be quick and I want them to be very, very helpful and to the point. And so like I said, this sounds a little silly, but I truly believe we are only as intelligent as the least intelligent person in my entire community. So I want. I want to raise that level of education of everyone, you know. And the other thing that I've seen, and I'll touch on this just a little bit, is I've seen a lot of. Because there's a lot of money flowing into our hobby right now. Right. So I've seen a lot of creators and other collectors that are putting out courses. Hey, give me 19.99amonth and I'll teach you how to do sports cards. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on now. That was. We. We had a similar kind of revelation last summer. We launched for your. Your target obviously is new collectors. We talk to the dealer space a lot. That's what we spend a lot of our time doing. And very similar. We saw a few people selling courses and especially when we found out what was in those courses, we were like, come on. And we, we launched a segment called Value Box and it was just, you want to be a dealer in this space? We're going to tell you how to do it. Love it. From some guys that do it every single week. Not saying we're the greatest in the world because I know guys that have showcases with 50x the value that ours are, but we're out there grinding it. We pay the bills with it. Come get it for free. I love that. The same thought process, like this is not rocket science and there shouldn't be these gate kept barriers. Yeah. That keep people from feeling like they can participate at whichever level they want to. And sometimes it feels like especially with some. Some communities that are out there, it feels like they want there to be a barrier. They want there to be, hey, the only place that you're gonna get this hit, the only place that you're gonna get this information. Usually what that means is the only place you're going to get told the things you want to hear. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I just think it's so important with all these new people coming in to erase that barrier. Yeah. You know, this should be something that is fun. It should be something that brings you joy and anything that brings you joy, like our hobby does, I think any information that goes along with that should be free. Yeah. So I try to put out as much information as I possibly can. And we've been very fortunate that that's done pretty well. You know, I gotta be honest, for somebody that started this first thing, I never thought I would have one follower. I never thought I would have one subscriber. And when I look at some of those videos and I see thousands of views, I am astonished. And it is so cool to see. So I'm so appreciative of people that have taken a moment and engaged on that content and taken a moment to write a cool comment on that post. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. If you're watching this show, you are amazing. Yeah, I. I really like the way that you approach it too, because you start with what people are wondering. I remember seeing one recently of just because a card is numbered does not mean anybody wants it. Well, that's a great approach because you're going after things that people are running with as soon as they get into the space. Often because someone with a Camera said wow, when the reality should have been okay. You know what I mean? Like there's a difference there. And so you inviting people into that conversation. I hope we see more people do that. I think Gary and I really wrestle with this when we consider live selling in our approach. Our platform right now is on whatnot. And what we've learned of that platform is pace is super important. Volume, speed, attention span. And it has been such attention for us because why we. While we do it, there are times where it's like, man, are we robbing ourselves the joy of 70 of these cards. Jason used to get upset with me when I run solo shows. It's a. I'm a big nerd about this stuff. Like Jason, Jason will look at me and go, shut up and just put the card up and hit start. At least let him see it because I will, I will tell the his I like this set came out. This was the first year. Like I, I love that stuff. Yeah. About it. And there's a small group in our community that loves that too. Yes. But there's a lot of people that get really bored because they're used to flashing lights. They're used to yelling and screaming. They're used to five seconds as fast as you can go. And it. Do you ever feel like there is a balance you have to strike there or have you. Did you just make the decision early on, hey, we're going to do things the way we do it and our community will find us. Yeah. Another great question, my brother. So if I may, our situation and our experience. We were on whatnot also. And I'm not throwing any shade at whatnot. I think it's a great platform for some people. It did not fit well with how we do things because you are so correct. It is rapid fire. Those five second auctions. They want to feel that urgency in the adrenaline and hear you screaming and like I think what it is. And obviously I could be wrong again, my two cents, which is sometimes worth a wooden nickel, to be fair. I think the age demographic by and large is a little lower. We just had that conversation after our whatnot show on Sunday where it was just like, are we too old for this? Are we too old for this approach? Yeah. So when we made the jump to ebay live, what I have noticed is that age demographic has significantly increased and it's people that are a little more like us. Right. People that do want to see all those cards because they remember that stuff too. Because a lot of these guys have been collecting longer than I Have, you know, there is 70 and 80 year old human beings that come into my stream on ebay live. Awesome. And these guys are a wealth of knowledge. You know, one of the cool things about this hobby, and I compare it to martial arts, there no matter how long you are in this hobby and no matter how long you practice martial arts, you are never done. There's never an end point. There's always more to learn. Whether you're a black belt in cards or whether you're a blue belt in cards, there's always something to learn, you know what I mean? So I love that. I love things that there is no end. You know, some people I know, that stresses them out. Personally, I love things like that because I have a heroic case of adhd and for me it's perfect for how my brain works, you know, to never have an endpoint. So I love that. And so what I've noticed is the ebay live platform just happens to fit a little bit better with our process and how we do things. And just like you said, I had to make a kind of a choice in the beginning because I did. I, of course, just like anybody else, I watched other content creators and I saw what they did and I thought, you know what, either I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this my way and what I think is the right way, or I'm not going to do it at all. Yeah. Because I'm not going to compromise my morals for money. I'm not going to compromise my morals for, you know, because somebody bought a whole bunch of break spots. You know, we have seen that a few times. You know, there's some people that come in, I don't like the term whale, but sometimes there's people that come in that have a whole lot of money and they're like, hey man, if I buy the last half of these spots, will you do this? No. Yeah, I don't care how much money you have. I really don't. Actually, I treat people with more respect. The ones that don't have a lot of money. Right. Because generally they're a little bit nicer and they don't come in waving their money around. So, yeah, I made the choice a long time ago that I was going to be unapologetically me and if I was going to fail, I was going to fail as me. And if I was going to succeed, I would succeed as me as well, you know, And I'm just extremely fortunate. I say this all the time on the show. I'm a Total dork. And I am very, very fortunate that I found my tribe, basically. I have found a whole lot of other people that is. That are the same kind of dorks. And I am so, so immensely, indescribably grateful. Yeah. As you're thinking about the viability of developing collectors through this platform, people that it may be being been in for a year or two. Right. So they're in this learning phase. They're beyond opening a couple boxes. They're actually getting into this. What. You know, and there's no, like, exact number in response. But what would be a few things you hope they could unlearn, and what would be a few things you hope they could learn, both for them and for the longevity of the hobby? Like, what are a few that are just kind of stirring in your gut because it's clear you're passionate about this? What would be a couple things? Maybe relearning is the right word here. What would be some of those things? Yeah. You know, obviously, I understand that money will always be a part of our hobby. I get it. Okay. In my humble opinion, I never think it should be all of the hobby. And I could get on my soapbox about it. I think what this hobby should be about is the people that you meet and the experiences that you have and the memories that you make and what you take away from all of those situations and circumstances that help you to be a better human as you move forward. That's what I think this hobby should be about. And when I see people that get into this hobby and maybe, you know, everybody's entry into the hobby is a little bit different. So maybe they found one of those breakers that's just all about money. And then they come to my show, and it's such a radical departure from that that it's hard to accept. They're like, whoa. You know? And I do understand. Just like you were saying, my brother, for somebody that just comes into my show, especially because of the landscape that we have, I completely understand how. Especially in the first minute or so, it might seem slightly disingenuous. I get it. Because it is a radical departure from what you see. But then I appreciate you staying long enough to understand that it's not. You know what I mean? Because I treat all of them like that. It forces you to stay for a minute. Your brain vapor locks. And if you're. I'm telling you if that's a compliment, if you are watching this and you have not checked out one of junk wax vintage streams, go check it out. And I'm telling you right now, he's not gonna be mad if you go in and don't buy anything. Just come and hang out and watch. Because that's exactly what my brain did. It vapor locked. I was like, if this is an act, it's so over the top that I don't know how real it could be. Right. And then I stay a little bit longer and I'm like. And then it becomes really apparent that I think that to an extent, there's a little bit of character there, but it's driven from a place of you. This is what you care about. You love it. You're turning into 11 on your show. You know, in real Life, it's an 8 or a 9, and on your show, it's a show, you turn it to 11. Yeah. But it's. It's obviously not fake. Once you get past that, it's so different. I don't know how else to say it. I think it's because people come in so guarded, like it has become so jaded, and so it's not fun anymore for so many because it is an exchange. It's a transaction and not an experience. Yeah. I could not agree more. I think that that is what. To people that have enjoyed this back in the day that got burned out. I really would encourage you to check out this platform. I really would encourage you to just hang out and realize we're trying to focus on what is. What can be redeemable within this space that's been demonized over the last year or two. And we've certainly been known for at times being too critical or too negative. And then the next week, people will say, we were way too nice to somebody. Right. We're right. We live kind of in that. In between. That's our space. But I. I really applaud that effort, and I. I do hope people will see that it can be enjoyed again. You know, I appreciate that. I think that there's. I. I'm hopeful for that. But I think the reason that people are hesitant to it is that it's just become so transactional, you know, and a lot of other platforms, and we get so nostalgic for just pre Covid Facebook breaks. Like, Jason and I talk about that a lot. We've even talked about on the pod, there were two or three Facebook rooms where that type of community was real. Yeah. And it was. It was. Here's five blasters that somebody found at Walmart, and it's going to cost a hundred bucks to ship it all. So we're going to mark it up 130 bucks. Yep. And, you know, let's have fun for an hour. Yeah. And that's all it was. And then it's turned into something else. And to. To see something that you've built that feels like that just at a much bigger. Yeah, yeah. Place is really cool. Well, I appreciate that, brother. And you could not be more correct, because that's exactly what it is. We started small, and when I first started, we were breaking blaster boxes, you know, because that's all I could afford. I would go out to Barnes and Noble or Walmart or Target or something. You know what? I'd buy a whole bunch of boxes, and slowly but surely, I'm talking one week to the next, I would buy one hobby box because I could afford it. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then we slowly but surely over the last six years, have gotten to the point we still don't have allocations yet. Shout out to tops. We're waiting. We're ready. Kidding. Kind of. But we don't have allocations. So everything that we buy we just get from our local card shop. At this point, we pay retail for it. But something else that you touched on, I wanted to go back to just a little bit. You are absolutely right. There is something that I tell people. Every single show that we have. There is never any obligation or pressure to buy anything on my channel, ever. There are people that have been coming to, literally, I am not exaggerating. Every single show for six years, and they have never spent a dime, and that is totally okay. Yeah. You know, and they've even reached out, and they're very thoughtful, like, hey, I'm on SSI or I'm on disability or something like that. And I just want you to know, I just really love your show. And I want you to know that is why I'm not purchasing. And I appreciate that. But those have to be some of the most meaningful messages. Like, one of the things that we've. We've struggled with is as our platform has grown, too, in a lot of our live settings, we have people that just want to hang out, and that's such a cool thing. And to your point earlier about really trying to get into the mindset of it not being about the money, even when you're paying the bills with it. That's a right. That's a dichotomy. So, because as Jason and I are both very analytical and we'll go, we. We break it down to, okay, sales volume versus number of people in the room. How do, like, all that type of stuff and hearing you just unapologetically be like, I turn off the viewer count. Like, I'll put, like, people put the little piece of tape over the camera on their iPhone and just be unapologetically you and your brand and how you do things, regardless of who's there. That's. That's really cool. Well, I sincerely appreciate that, gentlemen. That's. That's how we do it. And, you know, we will continue to do it that way. And like I said, we have been unbelievably fortunate that the crew has grown immensely and we've gotten some just unbelievably kind, altruistic, positive people. And our channel is just like a magnet for great. I call them gem mint 10 human beings. You have T shirts. You have T shirts for this? I've seen this. We do. We do. My man, Shameless Plug Junk Wax vintage dot com. Have you seen these, Gary? I have not, but it's cool. This human being, Jim Mint 10, right? That's awesome. Yep, yep. So we make those. And fun fact, we also make those for every member of the family. So we have gem mint 10 daughter, gem mint 10 son, gem mint 10 uncle, aunt, wife, grandma, grandpa. That is all Mrs. Junk wax again, give all her the credit. But. But yeah, man, you know, the bottom line is our. The tagline of our entire business is preserving the love of the hobby. Because I have loved this hobby since I was six years old. My very first pack was 1986 Donruss. Looking for Jose Canseco rookie cards. Jose Canseco was my very first PC card ever. And I still collect him to this day, for better or worse. But, you know, so I just try to exude that and I try to get people excited. And you are absolutely right. Some of the messages that I get from people, they make me want to cry, man. Like these messages that I get from people that are going through tough times in their life, you know, the world's a scary place right now for a lot of people, and some people are really hurting and to be able to provide a place that can take their mind off of that for a few minutes, that's awesome. And then to be able to have the ability and the capacity to possibly get new people into this hobby, because I've received many messages from people like, hey, Dalen, I found your show because it's just entertaining. And then I watched for about six months, and then I went to my local card shop and I bought my first pack. And now this Is what I do. And we also have a pack for magic thing that you've seen on my channel. So they'll go to their local heart shop, their local card shop, and they'll find like an open hobby box, and they'll pull pack number four. And we had one guy that I'll never forget his very first pack ever. He had watched my show for about six months. He didn't buy anything on my show, which is again, 1000% okay, totally cool. He went to his local card shop, he gets pack number four. It was when the brand new unlicensed topps basketball had released pulls himself a Victor Wembanyama rookie autograph. His very first pack ever. And it was pack number four. That's. That's a way to get into the hobby. That's right. That's right. So, you know, at the end of the day, gentlemen, I just try to give back what has been given to me. Right. It's the same thing through I'm in recovery also. I try to, you know, I try to give back, and that's what keeps us clean and sober, is giving away what was freely given to us. And I look at the hobby in a very, very similar light, you know, and I've just, you know, to reiterate again, I put money last. I put experience, positivity and community and education first. Yeah. And I think that if I do that the right way, money comes, you know, and again, my wife doesn't love that too much, but we've been pretty lucky. Dale, I think you're going to have a list of vendors that are like, hey, do you take any therapy sessions? Because I think you'll help me get out of a rut here. But I know it has been refreshing for us to think about the genuinely positive things. That's a word that just gets thrown out. But to hear something substantiative. Is that the right word? Substantive. Substantive. That's what you were shooting for. I was trying to add in a syllable on the wrong pass. Hey, I like it, brother. We'll go with it. But to add something like the stories behind it, the messages that come in, the people that just hang out in the community that have never spent a dollar, that are a vital piece of that for you and for them, I think it's a good reminder for a lot of us, especially those of us that are generating an income in this space, I think it's even more pressure on us not to lose sight of that. And I think you've done a tremendous job of it. Well, I appreciate that and I think that it's always important. And for me, too. Right. I've had to think about this as well. Hobby burnout is a real thing. And if you're doing this full time, 24 7, 365 like we are, it gets easy to just become a business. Right. So how I personally do that is I make sure at least once a week. This closet actually behind me right here is full of my personal collection. And I'm an old school guy, just like you guys are. A lot of my collection is still in binders. And I just go and I. And I just go through my cards. And sometimes I'm extremely fortunate and members of our community will send me gifts. To be very clear, I tell people there is never any obligation, there is never any pressure to send me anything. I've never asked for it. But I'm very lucky that some people are very kind and they've sent me these incredible cards. And so I get to take that time and put those into my PC, into my binders. I use that as, like my personal time to get centered within the hobby so I don't burn out. Luckily, I've never been in that situation, and I owe it to taking time out specifically and mindfully to make sure that I go back to my hobby roots and do things that I genuinely find joy in. Because like we said, you know, obviously I'm very lucky. But still, when you're doing this twice a day, almost every day for six years, you know, we're all human, you know, and getting burned out doesn't mean you don't love the hobby. It just means you're a human being, you know, and doing anything repetitive like that is going to burn you out sometimes. Yeah. So. So, yeah. And boys, I have to tell you, while we're, while we're here, I am so genuinely appreciative of what you do for the hobby because I've seen you have some great gifts or great guests. Excuse me, great guests. And you're very thoughtful in how you ask those questions. I watched the interview with my buddy Jeff Wilson last week, and you were very thoughtful in how you asked the questions to him. I think that because there are so few people that are as big as Jeff Wilson in this hobby, he gets a lot of undue hate sent his way. Right. Because he's a figurehead. It's just easy, you know, it makes him a big old target, basically. And I think that people like that get criticism that is a little undue. So I appreciate, and I saw that you were very, very thoughtful and intentional on how you asked those questions. And it wasn't an interrogation and it wasn't a witch hunt. It was just, you know, but you asked the pertinent questions, which I appreciate, and you had a very, very professional, kind way of doing that. And we need as much of that in this hobby as we can get. So nicely done. We try really hard to make sure that we have conversations. We don't yelling and screaming. And to your point, like, the bigger the. The platform, the bigger the target. And the reality of it is, is not just in our space, but in life in general. There's always going to be a group of people that see somebody else have success, and their first reaction is to try to tear it down and pick apart why they shouldn't have that success rather than trying to create their own. And I think a lot of times, and we've been guilty of it, people try to appease those people and try to build bridges, and sometimes they're just on an island too far out to build a bridge, too, and you got to hope they're willing to swim into shore and you just keep going. That's right. That's right. You know, and thing that I would like to put out there as well. Hate. Never. There are very few absolutes in our life. There's a lot of gray area, right? Sure. This is an absolute. Hate will never, ever, for any reason, come from above. It always comes from below. Yep. Nobody that is ever doing better than you or doing more is going to criticize you. Right. It's always people that are doing less. So that is something, you know, because of I am who I am. I do get a lot of people that throw shade, too. You know what I mean? And I've just learned to have very, very thick skin. I'm a veteran. I'm lucky. I've got thick skin. I've been screamed at by the best of them. So I tell people, if you're trying to throw rocks in my pond, you better pack a lunch and a flashlight because it's going to take a while. Yeah. You know, it's a deep pod. That's right. That's right. It's a deep pod, my friend. So you know that that is my advice to those other content creators out there, and especially people that are, like, just starting and wanting to get into this. You're going to catch some hate. And one of the things that you have to have is you have to be okay with people not liking you. Yeah. Unfortunately. Because no matter what you do, no matter how I could get on my stream and I could give out cards for free every single day, morning and night for a year and there would still be haters. Yeah. No matter what. So no matter what you do, no matter how good, how bad, how in between, you're always going to have those. So you just have to be okay with that and believe in what you're doing and have some thick skin and drive on because things come. That's right. Hate is easy. And unfortunately we, we tend to live in a, in a world where that generates the fastest return on clicks. So people dive into it and hopefully your type of content. We strive to, to at least be a middle ground and you know, if there are things that need pointed out, we try to point it out, but we also try to point out the positives as well and we don't get it right. This idea out there that like you're going to grow. There's content, there's stuff I, there's things I've said in the last six months on the podcast where I'm like, I really wish I could deliver a different tone in what I was saying. I really. Because some things do land more harshly, almost like a text message compared to a face to face. Right. Sometimes it's tough to decipher. Right. But I do think that's such a good point. And one thing that's evident is people are able to see that you're just, this is what you're doing, not what you're aspiring to. And I think that builds more credibility in this space than anything else is our actions, not our intentions. And so kudos to you on that. Before we wrap up today, which by the way, this will not be the last time you're on the ball card show unless you're looking forward to otherwise. Yes, we'll definitely have you back on. It's been a great conversation. How can we best connect people with your community? Yeah. So we go live on ebay, live almost every single morning at 10am and almost every single evening at 8pm the easiest way to find us is our Instagram. So it is Junk Wax vintage, all one word, no punctuation, no spaces. And it's very easy to find us because we have the same username on every single platform. It does not deviate in any way. So there is only one Junk Wax vintage, for better or worse. So Instagram is the best way. You can also go check out junkwax vintage.com really the only thing we sell over there nowadays is our merchandise. And then we actually make our own supplies as well. We do supply top loaders, so you can find those over there@junkwax vintage.com. personally, I think they're the best top loaders in the whole hobby. Obviously, I'm slightly partial. Fair enough. Awesome. So, yeah, that would be, that would be the best places to find us and come find us on ebay. Live Junk Wax, Vintage. Same username. Yeah. We would encourage all of you to do that and we really appreciate you giving us an hour of your time. I know how busy this industry can get and sparing an hour for us. We appreciate. Hey, absolutely. My pleasure, gentlemen. And I'm already looking forward to the next one. Thank you for doing what you do. Thanks again, Dalen, so much for the time that you gave us. And like Jason said, before the interview started, if you walked away from that interview feeling anything other than a reminder of what this hobby should be about, I don't know what to say. I know for me, as that conversation was happening, there were a couple times I even felt myself getting a little bit emotional. It just those, those reminders of it, the idea that we've become so jaded, that when you see somebody that so genuinely loves. Yeah. What they're doing, that your first reaction is that's got to be cheesy. That's, that's gotta be. It's just a reminder that this hobby is supposed to be about joy and the, and the relationships and the, and the fun that comes with collecting these pieces of cardboard. Yeah. I agree. The, the reminder to me too is you'll begin to reflect what you're constantly taking in. Yeah. You know, and it's a space where there's always drama in the content and the story in the, and a scam and, you know, something that's being talked about. But when you see someone that's genuine, that really loves cards, especially those of you in the business of this as well, like, it's a great reminder. It's a great reminder. So very appreciative the time that was taken. I'm probably going to be kind of marinating on a lot of that this week. Yep. And even heading into vacation, I'm excited about that as well. Quick reminder to you as we wrap up a few things. What we got, Gary? Whatnot. All of the things. Whatnot. Sundays at 6:30 throughout the summer, Wednesdays at 7pm most Fridays. Although with Jason going on vacation, they'll probably be one missed, uh, here, uh, in the next couple weeks. But Jason runs his, uh, lot, uh, show on Sundays. If you're a low end ebay seller. Fridays, Fridays, great sports spot to pick that stuff up. That's at 1pm Eastern on Fridays. Other than that, make sure you hit that, like, button, that subscribe button if you haven't yet. That little QR code right there, you can get there. It'll take you to all of our places. Come join the discord. Hang out. The community is growing there. Nobody's going to try to sell you anything. Nobody's going to try to do anything other than show you cool stuff and talk about sports and the hobby and life. All right. This has been the ball Card show, the sports podcast for the esports collector. Bye now. Peace.