#8: Passion and Hobby Diversity FTW
👋 Hello, I’m Brett from the Stacking Slabs Podcast and welcome you each week to my newsletter the Weekly Rip. The goal of this newsletter is to elevate the people who make the Hobby better.
How’s it going?
I hope you have had a productive week in your professional life and have enjoyed your escape in the moments that you’ve been able to enjoy the Hobby.
Whenever outsiders ask me about the Hobby I tend to explain it like this:
Some people watch Netflix or play video games to escape from the madness of life. I find my escape in sports cards.
There are two primary topics that I want to lead #8 this week with:
Lead with passion over profit
Be mindful of diversity in our Hobby
Leading with passion is a funny thing. The best way that I can describe it is that it’s the super force that exists within anyone reading this newsletter that makes us obsess over the Hobby.
It’s what fills your mind when you are trying to unwind.
It’s the relentless pursuit of the chase.
It’s the friendships that you make along the way.
When we lead with passion we end up with collections that make us happy. Ironically, the more I have led with passion in my collecting the more my PC has gone up in value.
Funny how things work out, huh?
Finally, diversity is a topic that needs to be discussed at a higher level in the Hobby.
We all come from different backgrounds and we all have different reasons for being here.
We are coming off the heels of one of the greatest years of conflict in the history of the United States. The biggest thing that I have learned is that I always need to keep an open mind and be accepting.
Accept new participants in the Hobby.
Accept different backgrounds.
Accept different cultures.
Accept different genders.
The more we can be mindful of diversity and use our platforms to raise people up the stronger this Hobby will be.
Now on with the damn newsletter.
💁♀️WOTH HITTING THE SCENE
I announced this week on the Wednesday episode of SSP that I am going to not only be a Dad, but a Girl Dad. My wife and I are through the moon excited. It’s been a long road to get to this point, but can’t wait to add another member to SSP HQ.
It’s been a girl filled week over here. I dropped an episode with Kristina from the Card Ladder team today.
We talked about her role on the Card Ladder team, card art, and of course Luka, but most importantly we talked about women in the Hobby. I loved hearing how passionate Kristina was about the role of women in the Hobby. I was filled with so much energy after our conversation and love sharing my platform with women.
I’ve got to shout out what’s happening with one of my new favorite accounts Women of the Hobby. You can go to this account and watch @sams_stuff25 curate amazing conversations with you guess it...WOMEN OF THE HOBBY!
This is a platform that I full endorse and would recommend everyone reading this to hit follow on IG and subscribe on YouTube.
I’ve learned a ton from the guests on WOTH and Sam does a great job each episode.
The more platforms like this to help spotlight specific groups in the Hobby the better!
📈Nat Turner Acquires a New Piece to Streamline PSA Intake
My message to consumers of this newsletter or listeners of the podcast has been take a deep breath, trust in the process, and let Nat Turner get to work. The acquisition process is tedious and cumbersome, but Nat is already making moves.
The latest headline came to members of the Hobby this week when we all saw the presser, Professional Sports Authenticator Acquires Genamint to Introduce Next-Generation Technology to Grading Process.
I had never heard of Genamint and my mind started racing on what this could possibly mean before I clicked the link. Are we getting those robot graders that we’ve been hearing about?
Not really, but what PSA is adding to their process is significant. They are adding a piece of technology that is going to compliment their current intake process and allow things to move quicker. They are trying to get in on the front end of altered cards or resubs.
Think about how many steps from you sending in your sub to PSA receiving it and putting it through their process that have to take place.
I can’t even begin to think what this process chart looks like, but I can assure you that this acquisition is going to make things more efficient for PSA.
When things are more efficient for PSA we can hope that this leads to better turnaround times for us.
This is a move I think that we need to celebrate. I know not everyone reading this newsletter shares in my optimism, but moves are happening and Nat Turner is the catalyst.
New operators walk into companies and do current state assessments. They identify what is working, what is not, and evaluate their options. There is a TON of thought put into alignment.
The alignment of strategy, process, people, and technology. I’m a business and technology geek and respect the moves that are happening in a short time.
Undeniably this is the first of many acquisitions by PSA. There will continue to be more in our Hobby.
It’s always good practice to educate yourself on the purchases and how they might potentially impact you.
That’s what I’m doing and right now. I’m very bullish on the results to follow from PSA.
✈️International deals, Indianapolis, Private Jets, and Pokémon
This video series had me at Indianapolis. Yep, my home turf.
I’m not going to say much other than this deal involved the most rare and valuable Pokémon collectible ever seen.
Shout out to Jameel aka @shopmeelypops, Jacob aka @cardkahuna and @shyne150 for giving us all access to this deal.
We need more content like this in the Hobby. I could watch stuff like this forever. It’s good because it’s authentic and gives plenty for the Hobby to think about.
Watch both parts:
🔥CardCollector2 with the Pull of the Month
If you didn’t already know I am a massive fan of Ryan aka @CardCollector2. He is the perfect mix of knowledge, hustle, and content creation that the Hobby needs.
His podcast Card Talk comes out every Wednesday (same as SSP) and I listen to it every release day. It’s different and it provides me with an excellent flavor of Hobby content that I need.
I leave you with his pull of Justin Herbert NT True RPA /99 for one of his customers. The excitement in pandemonium of this pull is the passion that fuels this Hobby.
I ask you two things in closing:
Do whatever you can to use your skills to give back to the Hobby - we need it more than ever
Please share this newsletter with whoever you think can benefit
Happy collecting,
Brett (@stackingslabs)