Ep.278 w/ Steve Sousa of Slab Museum

SPEAKER 1: What is up everybody? Episode 278 of Sports Car Nation. One more time. Closer to 300. Hope everybody's Easter was good, ate some good food, spent some time with family and, or friends and, you know, for those of faith, it's a special time of year. So I hope, hope you enjoyed some, seeing some people, maybe you don't see all the time and, and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER 1: So, first time guest on this week's episode and I've gotten to know him a little bit before having him on and he's got a product that, I'm using now that I love and this thing's gonna be, it's doing well already, but it's gonna be an even bigger hit and it's, called the Slam Museum.

SPEAKER 1: And it is what it sounds like a acrylic, museum grade acrylic that holds slabs, magnetic top that comes off accommodates, cards of all different grading companies and they've got a Tallboy, case coming out very shortly as well. But it, it's built by a collector and that collector's name is Steve Sousa and, gonna talk to Steve today and, you know, it's kind of funny how this company, started almost sort of by accident.

SPEAKER 1: I'Ll just tease you with that sort of made these for personal use and, caught some, lightning in the bottle and, the product is blown up. So we're gonna learn all about kind of the back story there how this all came to be and a little bit about what Steve collects and some Hobby discussion as well. So with that being said, we're gonna take a quick 32nd break and then talk to Steve Sousa.

SPEAKER 2: For nearly 50 years. Sports collectors Digest has been the voice of the Hobby. Bringing you comprehensive coverage of the sports collectible industry from industry news, auction results, market analysis and in depth stories about collectors and their collections. Sports collectors digest has everything you need to know about.

SPEAKER 2: The Hobby. S CD is also your leading source for listings of sports collectible dealers, card shops, card shows and the latest from the industry's top companies to check out all the latest news or to subscribe to the Hobby's oldest magazine. Visit sports collectors, digest.com or call 1 808 29, 5561.

SPEAKER 1: All right. Real excited to talk to my next guest on his sports card shop guest line. I've gotten to know this gentleman a little bit before he's coming on the air.

SPEAKER 1: Today he's got a product we're definitely gonna talk about cause I am a huge fan but we're gonna learn a little bit about. He's a collector like most of us probably listening and we're gonna learn about that as well. So without further ado Steve Sousa from Slave Museum, welcome.

SPEAKER 3: Thank you, John. I've been a big fan of what you do podcast. Why and a Hobby for many years. So this is really exciting for me to be on your show. So, thank you.

SPEAKER 1: Well, I appreciate it. I know you're busy. Do you know, you, you're doing lots of things? One of them, we're, we're definitely gonna talk about, we're gonna save the, the best for last, as they say, and, you know, it's the kind of the first time someone's on the, the program.

SPEAKER 1: I always kind of have them start out with kind of how they got their start in their Hobby. What they come like, kind of that, that timeline, that crow a lot, you know, chronology if you will. So, you know, how, where did it all begin? For? Sure.

SPEAKER 3: Sure. Well, I was born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania and grew up a big, of course, Philadelphia sports fans of all four major teams.

SPEAKER 3: I was very lucky. I'm 57 years old. So I consider myself like a very great age to be a collector when you're a young kid because in the mid seventies collecting, I, for me was much more fun than it is today. I bet for young kids because number one cards are, were much more affordable.

SPEAKER 3: You could find cards everywhere. You could go to the local 7-Eleven, the local grocery store. You could always find trading cards. And I was always a lover of all four major sports. So I went from the baseball to the football, to the basketball, to the hockey for many years and I bought a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER 3: My father was not a collector, but he was actually a really big supporter. So we would go to flea markets together and we would go through the bins and pick out our favorite Phillies and Red Sox cards.

SPEAKER 3: So that's how I kind of started collected and then, for good or bad, I probably tell a story like many other people on your channel. You know, I went off to college later in life and got away from cards really for many, many years and just focused really on my professional and family life.

SPEAKER 3: And then I want to say about 2015, I went on ebay randomly and started looking at cards again. Now, the sad part of the story I have to tell you is my childhood collection somehow evaporated from when I left college to when I went back to my childhood home later as an adult.

SPEAKER 3: So when I got back really into the Hobby, around 2015, I was starting from scratch, and, and of course, over the years I would look at the different cards and there were so many new manufacturers at that time, it just wasn't tops or flare Dun RST like that I knew from a kid. So it, it was a little bit of a confusing time when I first got back in.

SPEAKER 3: So I didn't buy a lot at that time. I just, I, I went back, I found some cards from the seventies and eighties of things I liked. I wasn't opening wax and I was just kind of buying really slowly of things that I liked.

SPEAKER 3: And then of course, around the pandemic time I think, you know, once I start to really realize what greater cards were in a Hobby that kind of like, really piqued my interest too. Not necessarily John, because of what the dollar value would represent in having a greater card. But I thought, boy, you're really kind of preserving sports card history here today are obviously in Great Slack.

SPEAKER 3: You know, it is nice that, ok, you're, you're basically qualifying a dollar amount in, in some ways to these cards, but you're also preserving them. And that's kind of what I, I kind of got into just collecting great at cards. I also have tons of raw cards.

SPEAKER 3: Right around the pandemic time, you know, four years ago. So that I have a very kind of common story, I think for a lot of people, you know, our age in the Hobby today. Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: And you make a great point too with, with the preservation. Right. It's something I even talk about. Like, you know, we know sunlight and, and other variables will, will deteriorate a car just naturally. So that lay, just adds a layer. You know, it doesn't, like you said, it doesn't all have to be about the dollar sign.

SPEAKER 1: But listen, I've even heard people like, you know, oh, I don't care what my collection's worth and then they, they open a pack and pull something and they, you hear them say, hey, what's this go for? So I think it's human nature to wonder what, hey, what's this going for if I ever decide to, you know, sell it or, or monetize it?

SPEAKER 1: I don't think you have to apologize. I don't think anyone has to apologize for it. It may not be the reason we're doing it, but it's just natural that like wonder, hey, what's this worth? Right? It's, it's, it's just, I think it's human nature. So, for sure.

SPEAKER 1: I, so, you know, and we, we're great at cards, the provenance, right? We know there's people out there making fake cards, unfortunately, they get better at that every year. So this it's up to the graded card companies themselves that it's like a chess match. They gotta stay ahead of those folks.

SPEAKER 1: And so it gives Providence and, and authenticity. To, to your collectibles preservation. As you mentioned, all those, together it's, it's an important. So, do you, do you still collect, you know, Philadelphia stuff? Have you, have you changed, as an older collector from, from your younger collector days?

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. Actually that's a good question because it kind of fits in exactly what kind of started this business of me creating the slab displays. And, about a year ago, I kind of like a lot of collectors. I said, OK, I gotta get focused in my collection because I'm, I'm buying a lot of miscellaneous stuff and a lot of it wasn't necessarily meaningful.

SPEAKER 3: So I decided what I was gonna to do was I was going to kind of do the PS A Hall Of Fame Registry from 1967 to 1980 of baseball players. And I was going to identify, really say the 40 best cards within those years. So you would have 14 years, times 40 cards. So 560 cards, I was going to try to focus on getting and either PS A or SGC slabs really?

SPEAKER 3: And what I did was I, I had 14 cardboard boxes that I was using basically to put these 14 years in. And I had them labeled 1967 all the way up to 1980. And I had them on a display wall which is in my office. And one day last fall, John, I looked up on the wall and I said to myself, this is not very appealing.

SPEAKER 3: I could, I was not finding joy actually in my new defined focus on collecting because visually, I just couldn't see the cards.

SPEAKER 3: You know, and, and I had a friend come by the house around the same time and he wasn't a collector and he said, hey, I want to see your collection. I brought him in down to my office where my cards are displayed and he's like, ok, like I see a bunch of shoe boxes on the wall.

SPEAKER 3: And at that time, I really decided, ok, I'm gonna figure out a better way to display my collection. And from there, I was in my professional life in a footwear business, I travel back and forth to Asia quite a bit and, and my specialty really is in Asia sourcing. And I, I had a design that I came up with that is, is what really stem to making these slab museums today.

SPEAKER 3: And I went to a factory, a high end acrylic factory and we were able to make a product where you can visually see your graded cards in a case. And it would be a, they would be made in a way that they would fit the five or six major grain companies all in one case.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And that, you know, I wanna speak to that too. That's not easy to do a lot of times you see with some of these cases, they're only, hey, it holds this company's card or holds this company's cards. And so if you have three or four different companies, now you're, you have to buy three or four different cases, obviously, financially that gets to be a, a bigger bill, a bigger burden, it might take up even more, more space.

SPEAKER 1: And now you have four cases, says maybe they're half full instead of two cases that are, are completely full. And so while we're talking about it, I got one, I was nice nice enough to be able to get one of these. And I mean, the, you know, the video is not even gonna do this justice unless you see this in person.

SPEAKER 1: For those watching that video, I'm holding up. This is the one that holds 20. This sits on my desk, it's got a magnet to at this top. And what I love about the top Steve is it, you, you, you know, you gotta really take it off, it doesn't fall off, it doesn't, you know, you look at it funny, it doesn't slide off, you gotta like want to take it off to get it off.

SPEAKER 1: I like that because you know, a lot of like other cases, you know, you just touch it, it, it's, it slides right off or it comes off.

SPEAKER 1: And just aesthetically right. It's just clean. It's, it's just nice. I, I was kind of spin it around. You can see, you can see the cards in, in mine. I have SGC and, and PS A graded cards and this is the 20 you also, currently have a 40.

SPEAKER 1: I, I actually have one of those. It's, it's over there on my shelf. But it's basically the same as this but, but, another side and, I love these. I'm not saying that, anyone that knows me, I don't just chill for things.

SPEAKER 1: I, if I use it and I like it, I'Ll say I use it and I like it if I don't like it and I don't use it. You either won't know about it or I just won't speak of it. So that's, you know, and, you know, it is, you know, when you think about cardboard or corrugated boxes, right?

SPEAKER 1: When you think about the Hobby, right? I have, even besides the, that museum, I've just individual cards on little stands all, all around me and you want to see your cards, right? You're pro, you're proud of your collection.

SPEAKER 1: You built it, you wanna show it off, not even necessarily anyone else for protection but you, but yourself, right? You wanna, you wanna look at it, pick it up, hold it, the cards, out of the Slab Museum, come in and out very easy. You don't have to wrestle with them. Or, or anything like that.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, they just slide in. Now, you can put them in whatever order you want to by great a company. If you have a certain player, you, you know, you wanna keep them together, very easily done, you can move them around. These things are great, you know.

SPEAKER 1: And, again, you know, when they have, they're, they're, they're sturdy a lot of times with, with cases, you know, sometimes one of the knocks I'Ll have on them is like, that's not, you know, that falls or you, or hits or bumps up against something else, it's gonna get cracked or, you know, scratched up these things.

SPEAKER 1: When you say heavy acrylic, you're not kidding these things, the older this is gonna get heavier, the older I get, this will be heavier to lift, each, each year.

SPEAKER 1: And so, well, well done, you know, you, you asked my opinion, he said, give me this, give me the straight scoop. Don't, don't, you know, don't be shy. I did and, and I really, even the base, it's, it's, it doesn't rock, it's gonna, it's gonna be level.

SPEAKER 1: So your stuff's not gonna be rattling around unless you're throwing the things around if that happens.

SPEAKER 1: Well, it's well done, I guess one of my questions, you know, you always ask like, how, like, how many times did you rip up a, a design and like redo it, you kind of that.

SPEAKER 3: That's a good question question John. And the truth is the, this was like the original design was a first time prototype. The only thing I had to do was adjust a little bit the size of the slots to be able to figure out how to get all the different grading card slabs because as you know, they're different to fit in one, but this was one where we kind of nailed it, believe it or not first try.

SPEAKER 3: And when I first got into this John, I did not make these slab museums cases to be sold.

SPEAKER 3: My original intention was I, I was gonna make 15 of them for myself, for my own personal collection.

SPEAKER 3: This was not supposed to be some type of little business endeavor. And what happened was after I got my prototypes and you see the little wall that I built behind me, I went out and I put it in some of the Facebook groups that I am.

SPEAKER 3: You know, part of especially in the vintage world and just to display my collection of, hey, this is what I did and I got a lot of feedback of, oh my gosh, what are those display pieces? We've never seen those before? And I said, well, I kind of built these for myself over in China and I brought them back and then of course, that opened up.

SPEAKER 3: Can you, can you make me one and I had about 100 people from just one Facebook page saying I'd like to buy these and I didn't even have them priced or anything. So, what I did was I, I made the two different sizes, the smaller case and the larger case and I had them shipped from China to my garage here in Saint Louis and I was selling them in my garage for the first month just through Facebook pages.

SPEAKER 3: And at that time too, there was a couple of things that I think that really confirmed to me that, wow, I might be on to something.

SPEAKER 3: One of them was, very early on. I had a collector who bought some cases from me. And this gentleman lives down in the Florida area, but he is really one of the holders I would say of the many grail cards in our Hobby.

SPEAKER 3: And he had sent me an email saying, hey, can I speak with you? And I, you know, I reached out to him and we spoke and then I found out that he has an absolutely amazing, amazing collection and he's right now displaying everything in my cases.

SPEAKER 3: So that, that was pretty exciting to start also. I was able to, really get, a promotional lift through the show, The Card Life, which, was shot in Saint Louis here and, and aired in February.

SPEAKER 3: And the timing was really right and probably that show alone gave me, like, my 1st 500 sales just from that.

SPEAKER 3: And, and it goes, you know, it's a National show. It goes across the country. So that was like, perfect timing for it to really, like, kick off to what I was doing. And then at the same time I had sent some cases early on to a couple of people in the Hobby, like, you know, my baseball card collector and, and a couple other people because I, I didn't know them at all.

SPEAKER 3: They didn't know me, but I sent them some cases just saying, hey, can you please just look this over and tell me if you like this or don't like it because I, I respected their opinion.

SPEAKER 3: And, Victor who was one of the great guys in this Hobby too. Victor was kind enough to actually put me on, on his show. Victor Ricky Card, Rookie card specialist. And again, that just kind of had like some, Reconfirmation to me that, like I'm on the right track of what I'm doing.

SPEAKER 3: I'm a big believer in, you know, how do you make your own collection look more beautiful? You said it earlier on? And a lot of my early sales, John, I'm selling actually to, hobbyists who are putting these on their desk. Right?

SPEAKER 3: I was a guy before I even had these, like, even at my, my office right here. Like, I got cards on my desk with my other work stuff. I just like to look at cards while I'm working all day and I found out I wasn't the only one. So this idea of actually, like, always buying more cards to, you know, make your, your collection better.

SPEAKER 3: You know, maybe we should all just take a step back and say, hey, let's just work with the cards we got and how do we figure out how to display them better, how to appreciate them better? And that's kind of like really the message of, of what we're doing.

SPEAKER 3: You had asked me earlier if, you know, we had plans on developing more and more new products.

SPEAKER 3: And that answer is 100%. Yes. So, I'Ll go back a step. So when I first created these sales kind of really via Facebook before we even had a website, one of the things I didn't anticipate was that most of the people who actually purchased cases from me, they all sent me emails after they got the cases and they sent me pictures of their slabs fully loaded in their cases.

SPEAKER 3: And I would go back and forth in many emails and they were just so excited to show me their collection now because visually it just, it looks so neat to them.

SPEAKER 3: And the other thing, you know, I gotta tell you from a product design standpoint when I was building this, I wanted to build a product that actually would fit into everybody's room. And what I meant by that is, you know, certain people, their Hobby room or their desk, you know, it might be a mahogany desk.

SPEAKER 3: It may be a clear white desk, their shelves might be black and another person's is white. So with that being said, is like, if you're gonna make a fixture, it has to blend in with everybody's room.

SPEAKER 3: And I think we've kind of nailed it by making something crystal clear like this that can really fit in the Absolutely, everybody's Hobby room. It, it doesn't matter if it's a modern or traditional or, or anything like that.

SPEAKER 1: Or like me, you could have a glass desk and this definitely check checks all the boxes with, with a glass desk. So, it's a great point, right? You, you think even a little bit outside the box, like the, even in a great case, what, what materials is this thing gonna be setting on where this will, will, will, will color match not cause a clash or, or, or look odd.

SPEAKER 1: I think you, you nailed it and it's interesting to hear you say like, hey, I, I built, I designed these for me first. So like, if you know, if you're gonna design something for yourself, right? You're gonna design it the best like some and I don't mean this and I don't wanna paint everyone with a broad brush but sometimes when something's mass produced corners are cut or it just becomes about, you know, dollar signs only.

SPEAKER 1: This was, this was a project for, for you. Like, what do I want? I want this to look nice. I want this, you know, to be my backdrop and it just, it was so nice of a product. People like I want that, I want that too. Like you, you hit a home run. I want, I want a part of that, that home run.

SPEAKER 1: So I think the fact that it's sort of an, or an organic business, it didn't start out like that and went that way. There's something to be said about that. Then someone had just woke up one day and said, hey, how can I sell a million of these? And you know, you know, there's, there's a difference there when someone may, may disagree.

SPEAKER 1: But I, I don't, I think, you know, if I, if I was, I'm not a, I'm not mechanically inclined and I can't draw my dad's an artist. My son is very good. It skipped me. That gene skipped me. But, you know, if, if I was gonna do something for myself, I'd want to do it the best way. That's what you did. And then people loved it and it just the Groundswell, right? You mentioned, you know, being on Victor Show the Card Life.

SPEAKER 1: You know, having other people kind of critique it, you know, number one, it also shows that you care about others opinion, even though you, you know, sometimes we love stuff ourselves and someone else might point out, hey, did you think about this or? Hey, I'm not a big fan of this part of it, right? It shows that you care about the product you're producing.

SPEAKER 1: And, and that's refreshing as well. So there's probably a few companies that could take a page out of your, your book there like this. And, and I tell you the design on these with the acrylic and, and the crystal clear. I mean, this is great. Like if, if I had a store in the nineties, but if I had a store today, I would try to incorporate these somehow in the store.

SPEAKER 1: Obviously, they even sell them to collectors who want to put their cards in them, but even put my store inventory in some way, you know, whether I, I make one, let's say these all would be Jackson holidays and I label it like, hey, you want, this is our Jackson holiday graded card inventory.

SPEAKER 1: Put it, you know, maybe not have it where people can necessarily just peruse it, but then put it on the counter and let people look through if they're looking for Jack Jackson, how they used to because he's a very popular, you know, candidate at the moment. So player at the moment.

SPEAKER 1: So, you know, there's many ways. I, you know, I'm a, as many know that listen to this program, you know, I'm a show dealer. I, I do a couple of shows a month. I got rid of all my, my cardboard shoe boxes and monster boxes. I, I know we talked to you before we record and I went to the BC W plastics.

SPEAKER 1: I would love to see these kind of a, a show version of these and even upgrade and, and, you know, get rid of my not, and I love the BC W products, but I mean, these, they wouldn't hold a candle to clear acrylic. I, in my opinion. So, you know, there's always, you can always upgrade and, and I'm a believer in, you know, I, I have this debate with a, a show friend of mine.

SPEAKER 1: He's like, you know, he just put stuff out there. He's got cardboard boxes and, you know, he made a wood case, it looks, it looks fine. I'm like, and he's like, man, you really do it up and that, you know, is it worth, is it worth it to do that? I'm like, I, I think it is.

SPEAKER 1: I'm, I'm doing pretty good but I'm, I just for my, I've always been like that, like a presentation guy. Like I wanted to look if, if I was a consumer, you know, I, I wanted to look clean and, and nice and, and so I tried to you know, do that from the other side of the table as well.

SPEAKER 1: He's like, you know, his argument, he said, John, it really don't matter what it's in, it's what your price is selling but, and he's not wrong, he's not wrong Steve. But I think it's not as simple as that. I mean, that's probably, you know, number one is price, you can, you can over price a car, put it in a really nice Slab Museum and it may not sell.

SPEAKER 1: But, but if it's still price right, I think the Slab Museum's gonna grab the attention first more than and then it comes down to price second. So I guess it's too, it's a two way, it's a two way street. So we sometimes when we're set up at a show, we'll have a little mini debate behind in a friendly sort of way behind the table.

SPEAKER 1: But that's just, you know, to, to the quality of this. I mean, I would love to, you know, incorporate them. Even I show up and it's, it's one of those products like you're finding out Steve, but when someone sees them up, like, even though they're showing it on video, like I did earlier during the interview to see them in person is a lot different than to see them in a photo.

SPEAKER 1: Like I saw the photos first and they look great and then when you, when you open them and get them out of the boxes and they're in your hand and you see the quality and the build quality and how durable without cards in them.

SPEAKER 1: It's a, it's all the more impressive. So, you know, the old, the old line pictures, pictures don't do it justice. I think that applies on the Slab Museum.

SPEAKER 3: So thank you. So, one of the quick things John, where people would ask a lot about because the the the acrylic that we use, they actually call this museum grade acrylic, which is part of how we came up with the Slab Museum name.

SPEAKER 3: But acrylic grade museum, it, you can only call it that, that type of spec if it's 96% UV protection. So from day one, when I was making this, because I want this to be a display that's out in the open, I wanted to find an acrylic that's, you know, acrylic is actually stronger and clearer than glass.

SPEAKER 3: But the UV protection I think is a big story of this. One of the other questions I got a lot online early on was if my cards are in sleeves, my my slabs, if they're in type of some type of protective sleeves, will they still work in your case? And the answer is yes. So there's enough room built into each slot that you do not have to take off.

SPEAKER 1: I can not to cut you off. I can I can attest to that because they're actually every one of these, in their SCC and PS A both. They all, they're all in sleeves, you know, the cases in the sleeve itself and then in slot. So you're exactly right.

SPEAKER 1: And, and they're not even like, it's not like I have to force them in, they go in nice and smooth and, and, and very, and, you know, for people who think that's not as easy as you make it sound you, you, you know, you've got to test it out. Obviously, a PS, a slab and an SGC slab are different sizes, regardless of whether they're owned by the same parent company.

SPEAKER 1: Now, they're not, are, are different sizes and, and, as well as the other grading companies. Right. I don't, I don't have any in this particular one but back at CDC and, and there's 200 grading, companies. Some, some I've never even heard of quite frankly. So that's not as easy as you make it sound. So, again, I, you know, I, I'Ll pet, I'Ll pet you on the.

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SPEAKER 1: Here's the other thing you talk about UV, protection, right? Sunlight, we all know sunlight overtime breaks down the color of the card. I've, I've seen it.

SPEAKER 1: I've had it even happen with a card. I've left out luckily nothing of, of great value. But, you know, now once you get them in the slab, right? That, that offers some initial additional U reproduction, but it's all. But as you mentioned with, with the, with the you know, museum grade acrylic that even offers on top of that.

SPEAKER 1: So you're almost in a sense, you're doubly protected the, the slab itself and then the Slab Museum case on top of that and, and that's a, you know, Dylan Davis double D vintage. He's got a room with, with great cards. He talks about how he, yeah, he, he has acrylic museum grade glass or acrylic that this card.

SPEAKER 1: And so you've, you've taken that and incorporated it right into to your product and people say, ah big deal, you know, it is a big deal. You may not think so, but, you know, unless you're moving cards at a very fast rate, if these are PC cards or cards, you're plan on keeping.

SPEAKER 1: You, you listen, all you gotta do is go to a card show, you can see plenty of cards where the color is faded. That's, that's not, that doesn't happen by accident, that's just from natural light and sunlight, sort of breaking down the color processes. So anything you, anything that can be done to slow that is just beneficial.

SPEAKER 3: I mean, it's no, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. And to go back to touch on something you mentioned earlier, John, in terms of like selling at the the shows, you know, we're working on many new products right now. We're just, we have two main products.

SPEAKER 3: The third product actually we're going to release about it'll be available probably around May 1st is actually we're gonna make a tall boy slab case that will be able to hold 20 slabs of the Tallboy car, whether they are like the old Supers or the Perez steels or even like vintage basketball from like the early seventies.

SPEAKER 3: So where this idea really came from is when I again, when I first started to sell these online in the Facebook groups, people reached out to me, they're like, will you please make one for tall boys?

SPEAKER 3: And I said, well, I'm actually, I have supers and I have press deals and I have vintage early basketball cards and at that point, well, and I still am I was keeping them in Tupperware cases here at the house. So I've upgraded my collection from Tupperware to the new Slab Museum. So the third, the third product we're gonna introduce is gonna be a Tallboy case.

SPEAKER 3: We also have actually a smaller be desktop version of This Slab Museum that's actually gonna hold 12 cards. So it'll have four cards front facing, four in the middle and four in the back. So again, just a little bit of another option that's gonna be a little bit smaller and then also building a case for one touch.

SPEAKER 3: So it's not necessarily slabs, but, you know, one touches I think are just as popular and just important as the Hobby for our cards, right, as slabs. And I've had a lot of people reach out saying, can you please build cases for one touches? So we have one touch cases also into work.

SPEAKER 3: So we have quite a bit. When you're a small company like myself, you can actually move really fast because I only have to appease myself and, and, and basically place an order and, and get product in here and sell it and place another order.

SPEAKER 3: One of the things I did just from a business perspective early on when I was doing this was I realized I couldn't do it by myself. I knew that I needed some help within the Hobby and I went out, and I found a partner, who was working with me pretty much behind the scenes, but he is a true Hobby, veteran.

SPEAKER 3: A lot of people know him. And again, what I did was I, I knew I didn't know everything. So I knew I had to go out and find a consultant who could come and help me and teach me all the things in a Hobby that I didn't know.

SPEAKER 3: So that was like a, again that goes like to one of the things that just fell in place for me was finding the right partner and the right sounding board to kind of, you know, keep launching this business to the next level from where we are today.

SPEAKER 1: To talk about, hey, we, you know, we're, I'm making them for tall boys for one touches, right? So you're expanding the line to encompass everyone's collection, right? It's real easy to sit on your hands.

SPEAKER 1: It's nice, like you said, it's a great point too by you that, hey, as a smaller business that we can implement stuff faster, I don't have to pitch it at a board meeting to 12 people where seven like it and five argue against funding it and, and that sort of thing, right?

SPEAKER 1: We've all seen, whether we've seen it live in a person or on, on TV shows, we know how that process can, can hit snags and, and things can take years even to get sort of from, from I ID on a page to, to market, right? You, you don't have to worry about that. That's one of the perks of being a, a smaller company.

SPEAKER 1: If you can, you can move quicker, get it to, to the light of day a lot faster and, and the quicker it gets the light of day. Right. The more happy Hobby is, and as a result and the, you know, the show that you're thinking about, hey, it's not, doesn't just have to be slack like that's the name of the company.

SPEAKER 1: That's kind of what the main product that, that launched us. But we're expanding our line. We've seen that in fast food, right? Burger places that now they're selling other types of food, right? Not the greatest analogy but it, it, it, it works close enough, right?

SPEAKER 1: But it shows that you're like trying to, you know, you know, make the, there's many people now be happy. And would, you know anyone that sees it, you know, aesthetically in person? You, you'll know exactly what we're talking about.

SPEAKER 1: It's easy to, to rave about it here. We, we obviously both seeing the product up close and personal but, and I think that's a testament to what you're doing so well. Once people really see, you know, it's like anything Hobby is, you know, the, the Hobby, probably 90 days.

SPEAKER 3: Sorry, John, I was gonna say our, our, sorry, I, our, our plan is to actually roll this out to the Hobby. L CS S, probably in the next 90 to 100 and 20 days.

SPEAKER 3: Right now, you know, we just sell direct online through at our website. But we, we know that the L CS, that this is a perfect product for them. Our product right now needs some work to sell at L CS.

SPEAKER 3: And what I mean by that is like we right now our, our product just comes in a, a brown box and a lot of our competitors, that's what they deliver this type of accessories in brown boxes. But we don't want brown boxes. We wanna have full color boxes. We wanna give a great description, what's on it? We want to link back to Social Media, like who we are.

SPEAKER 3: One of the things I really wanna do is like, if you buy one of our cases that when you go home and you load it up, that you go to the website, you show pictures of it.

SPEAKER 3: We kinda really wanna make that connection, you know, to the hobbyist.

SPEAKER 3: Because showing off your cards is really cool. The cards themselves. I find actually showing, seeing how people display their cards actually cooler.

SPEAKER 3: And I'm sure you've looked at many websites when you see people put their collections out there on plays, it gets a whole lot of attention.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Ii, I agree. I mean, we, I think we, you know, we kind of compare like, you know, I've seen many other people do things. I'm like, I wanna I wanna incorporate that. Even, even when my, my show set up, you know, he would just like stand up displays that take up very little space like one role.

SPEAKER 1: I've seen others do it and I've kind of incorporated that myself. I put led lights to convey a message in the showcases themselves. And it's funny because I have other show dealers come about and like that is cool. J like, where did you get those? And I tell them it's not a, not a scene I see.

SPEAKER 1: You know, I didn't design, I'm not like you where I designed them, but like I expect the next time I set up in that, that area, I expect to see some more, some more led lights in, in other people's cases. So, but that's the thing, right? We, we want to, to, to showcase our cards in the best possible fashion.

SPEAKER 1: Nothing wrong. We don't have to apologize for that. That's just the way it should be. And, and so, you know, it's nice that you're, you're thinking about and not everyone necessarily has slaves. They have one D and other type things.

SPEAKER 1: And so we're gonna develop and, and evolve the line to encompass everyone's collection being smaller, it makes it easier, you know, L CS is, again, that's gonna be a great thing for you because when people come in and see those in person, you know, if I had a store you better believe I, I would have my, some of my inventory in them and people will say, where did you get that?

SPEAKER 1: How do I get one of those? I don't have a store but I want that in my house. And so, you know, I guess my next, my next que real, real quick. Are you prepared for that sort of volume? You know, it's a good problem to have.

SPEAKER 3: The answer is today. No, we were trying to sell them today. Answers. No, we're not prepared for that volume today.

SPEAKER 3: We kind of went from the walking to running really fast stage quicker than anticipated it.

SPEAKER 3: And so yeah, it's gonna take some time to really scale up, not necessarily from having the product. That's actually kind of like the easiest thing. John is like building a product and, and shipping it to the warehouse. It's having the logistics right of being able to handle the orders from the stores and that type of thing. That's what we need to work on to get going next.

SPEAKER 1: But I guess it's a fun problem to have and it is this see this product grow and I'm excited as, as a collector and a dealer to see what's next, what you got coming down the pike, like you said, you got the tall boys coming out very soon. Then the one touches and, and who knows? Right.

SPEAKER 1: You, you, you know exactly. You know, if I, you know, when you started this thing, this is a project that was a pro personal project that now has become a Hobby, wide, thing. And, and, you know, that's the, that's the beauty of the Hobby. The Hobby is, you know, all across the world.

SPEAKER 1: Right. And all, in other continents. Right. But it's with Social Media and communications, it's actually a smaller place too. Is you post, you know, I, I, when I posted, the Slab Museum on my social medias, I got messages like, where did you get those? How do I get them?

SPEAKER 1: And obviously I, I forwarded, that information for you, but that's, that word travels fast, right? In, in, in the Hobby. And, and so once they're in L CS S, when you see a more on even AAA card show table, that, that's, you know, be prepared, you're gonna be, you're gonna be very busy.

SPEAKER 3: My, my, my goal is to be able to get a table at next year's National. That's my goal.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. No doubt that will be, that will be huge. I, I don't think I need to tell you that. It just goes, goes without saying and, it's, it's, you know, and, and I, I get that, you know, the, the, the labeling in the boxes and, and the color in the box, I, I fully get that and I, I agree with you, but the product itself.

SPEAKER 1: Once people say, I, you know, like I got them, they came in the brown boxes when I, the, the, you know, you cut the box is down to going to recycling and that product just speaks, speaks for itself, right? So at the end of the day, it's what's inside the box that, that counts the most.

SPEAKER 1: But I, I get it, I just told you how even at a show is, is, is important. So I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be hypocritical about it. But again, the, the, the, the slab museums themselves are just tremendous. So whatever they come in, you know, once people see the actual product, they think that, that, that's the selling point at the end of the day.

SPEAKER 1: So, you know, continued success, it's gonna be exciting to see, you know, what you come up with with next. You know, I can imagine you got a a giant notebook like a five star and you're just drawing stuff up and, and that's the fun and probably people giving you suggestions as well. Hey, do this.

SPEAKER 3: Actually, like every, every new product John has come from a suggestion.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's, and that's important that your doors open, right? You see a lot of companies they, they don't want, they're, they're a little bit closed minded and, and that sort of thing, but, but you're not, and I think that that says a lot about you and, and the products that you're you're producing.

SPEAKER 1: So as as always, I give the the guest, you know, give out the website where people can get these great cases, see what's coming next as well as website, Social Media, anything you want to get out there too.

SPEAKER 3: Thanks John. So you can buy these cases at Slab Museum.com and we are found on All The Socials Under Slab Museum Or Seven Collectibles, which is our parent company name right now.

SPEAKER 3: I have to tell you my favorite show with you though, John, I'm not, I'm not on right now. Is, is Card Manches with you and Danny. So maybe next Friday night, if you guys can have on another guy that can drink beer with the two of you, I'd, I'd appreciate you.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Listen, we have fun with that show, Danny as you know, is great. That's a different show. I, I know I'm biased, you know, but we we, when we, when we launched that, which is man, you know, he, he told me like, hey, we're in our third calendar year. I didn't even realize that until he said it like that was crazy.

SPEAKER 1: When we launched that show, Steve, we just, I just said to him like I don't wanna be just another show with two guys. Like I know we are two guys, but I just wanna have fun and talk about like personal stuff. Like you never, you know, one of my things with the, with that show is like, you don't know what's gonna be said or what's gonna happen next.

SPEAKER 1: Sure. We have a topic but we can go off on a, on a tangent. I think we've gotten some great feedback that shows really gain some momentum. I'm a little, I, I thought it would be good. You know, you always think it would be good, but like some of the feedback I've gotten has been, has been tremendous and, and you know, you need that cause it kind of validates what you're doing.

SPEAKER 1: Like you, it's one thing to like your own stuff. But I think it's, I think it's more when you have other people tell you just even with same thing with Slab Museum like, hey man, this, that stuff's awesome.

SPEAKER 1: I love it when you hear that from someone else, it's that 100% unfiltered thumbs up and, and, you know, really validates kind of what you're doing. And you know, we got a great chat room with a great group of folks and I think I have as much fun, you know, I said, man, if I have as, you know, if you're having half as much fun as me and Danny are on the show, you, we, we're doing all right.

SPEAKER 1: So, yeah, we definitely, we, yeah, yeah, we'll definitely have to have you, have, you on at some point. I think the next one, we, we've already kind of have something going on, but we'll get, we'll, we'll definitely, we'll definitely have you on. And so, we'll, we'll, we'll cut it up and, let her hair down a little bit, so to speak.

SPEAKER 1: It's, I call that like the informal show. That's like the, the, you know, ho, Hobby after dark kind of thing. We still don't swear but we're a little bit, you know, a little more loosey goosey and, and that sort of thing. But, yeah, for sure. And, we'll, we'll, we'll have some fun, as well.

SPEAKER 3: Well, I, I look forward to meeting you, of course, at the National this summer. Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt for sure. And, who knows by then what, what, what you might have. I mean, are you planning, let me ask you this before we go too. Do you? I, I know you may not be set up, like, do you plan that maybe have inventory with you for those who, who maybe want to come to the National and, and you there and pick up, you know, some of the products, you know what?

SPEAKER 3: I'm actually reached out to a few dealers. Number one who I think can maybe, you know, they can sell on my behalf there. Right. They have a little show space on their table, because of what we're doing, you know, the cases are kind of big and heavy. I don't think many people want to lug them around for a couple of days.

SPEAKER 3: I'm gonna, of course, carry samples with me just to have it at all times.

SPEAKER 3: But, yeah, if there's any dealers out there that are interested in carrying the product and selling it to National, I'd be more than happy to work with them.

SPEAKER 1: Well, there you go. And, like you said, you'll be there, you'll have some samples so people at least can get a hands on of them. You know, like I said, pictures are great and they took great pictures, but two of these things that you have them in your hand or you put cards in them, w you know, words can't, don't do enough justice.

SPEAKER 1: So I think having that the product there, you're gonna get some, a lot of reactions positive, obviously. So, like I said, you're gonna have some good problems fulfilling, fulfilling orders, which is always a, a good problem to have.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: All right. Well, listen, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll get you, we'll see you on card matches at some point and, we'll make it a three man show that week, which we've done, we've done it here and there, once or twice. And, so I don't want to give it away next week. The next card matches there is going to be a special guest, but we'll have you on after that, so great, but Steve a continued success.

SPEAKER 1: You know, again, this is not using these. I'm, I'm sure I'Ll, I'Ll as new products come out, I'Ll add that to the Arsenal, you know, and as even with a show line, eventually, even, even in that element as well. So, look forward to seeing what's, what's around the corner. Thanks. Thanks for your time, Steve and, and continued success real easy to root for nice guys.

SPEAKER 1: Steve's a great guy and, gonna those things, if you haven't seen them, Sled museum.com, I'm not shilling. They are not a sponsor. They sent me a couple of models to review and I'm sure I'Ll be acquiring more, down the line. They're not, they're nice folks. Take it from me. I'm looking at one on my desk and one's on my shelf over there. So if we can get some sort of show ones, you'll see them that shows that I set up at.

SPEAKER 1: So, check those out, something for everybody, really high quality, you know, I know, I know cases are not new and, and, and that, but these are really, really nice. So, happy to have mine learn a little bit more about how this all came to be and, it's gonna be a successful product, down the line right now. It is and, and I think it's gonna pick up a lot of momentum.

SPEAKER 8: Time for our Hobby is the people announcer of the week.

SPEAKER 9: Hello, Collectors. This is Ed Green from Sacred Home sports cards. Remember the Hobby is the people.

SPEAKER 8: If you'd like to be the Hobby is the people announcer of the week. Do a WAV or MP3 file and send it to Sports Card Nation PC at gmail.com.

SPEAKER 10: That's a wrap for this week. Huge thanks to you, the listeners out there because without you, there is no ice.

SPEAKER 10: If you like the show, we truly appreciate positive reviews. Big ups to our great guests who drive the show and our awesome sponsors who make it all possible. Sports Card Nation will be back next week but don't forget to catch either Hobby quick hits or cod mens coming up on Monday.

SPEAKER 10: I'Ll leave you with this.

SPEAKER 10: How do we change the world?

SPEAKER 10: One random act of kindness at a time.

SPEAKER 10: Remember the Hobby is the People.

SPEAKER 10: Hobby News Daily is your home page of the Hobby. Providing original writing, exclusive gem rate data. A daily morning minute podcast and some of the best content creators in the Hobby. Remember Hobby news, daily.com and at Hobby News Daily on social Happy collecting iron. Sports cards is your number one source for all your PS A and other grading submissions.

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