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08-05-2013 I've already put a partial night's sleep in between me and The National, but I'm still rather tired. However, that's a good thing. I gave that show my all; if I had come back with plenty of energy, that would likely mean I didn't give it enough effort. It's always been that way. Back when I did a string of Nationals in the late 90s and early 2000s with Joe, if we didn't come back dragging ass (usually to the point of actually being sick), we didn't do it right. So after I write this, it will probably be nap time. And to anyone who thinks or says, "It must be nice (to nap in the middle of the day)," you can take that thought and cram it straight up an orifice. After returning from the show last night, I was up until midnight packaging up eBay wins from the five days I was out of town...and that didn't get me near halfway through the mountain of packages I finally brought to the post office around noon today. OK, I'm sorry. I'll reign in the saltiness. This is going to get happy...I promise. Pre-National The last National I set up at was 2011, in the same location (Donald E Stephens Center on River Rd, Rosemont). Read all about it here. This time, the cast of character was all the same - other Tony, Dave, and Scott/Jim. Good group of guys, and many thanks to them for watching over my inventory while I ran near-constant search and destroy sorties looking for buys. Also, read other Tony's show blog here if you like. Anyway, before this National, I had plenty of time to gameplan. A strategy is good for most shows, but necessary for a show like this one. This may sound a bit dramatic, but you can sit back and let a show like this not come to you - because it won't - or you can attack it and make it your bitch. Before this show, I sharpened my claws. Now that I'm kicking my sales into another gear (a higher gear, just to be thorough) at shows and especially on eBay (im-a-monster), I needed to focus on buying at The National - preferably star cards. So that was the plan. I'm not in the position I want to be yet to push marketing and trying to get my name out there more, but I think that is a good goal for next year in Cleveland. (Yes, I'll be there.) The National I was on the road at 5:30 Wednesday morning and arrived just a smidge after 8AM, when dealers could start loading in. (Dealers could also load in Tuesday, but that was just a bit too long to be away.) After a load-in process that was much easier and quicker than expected, the other dudes who would be my tablemates for the weekend showed up, so I left the table to scout for deals. A couple brief notes: a) This is a difficult show to tackle by yourself. "Loading in" includes some lengthy trips and trusting that no one is going to steal your inventory, and then also moving your vehicle and checking in to your hotel. 2) Since there are fewer 'big' shows around the country, there is a lot of catching up among dealers when they have the opportunity. This is quite enjoyable, but at the same time, there is a voice in the back of my head - even at the beginning of the show - saying "Let's get moving, bro. This is a big room and you probably aren't going to be able to see the whole show as it is." Sidenote to my sidenoete: There are a handful of guys I spoke to who I had no clue that they are now behind certain company names or eBay IDs. It's funny how you know certain people by a chatroom handle or eBay ID and have no face to attach with that. Anyway, back to the show. Fueled by some donuts Tony brought ("Tony Donuts" is a killer nickname, by the way) and a sandwich from Dave ("Dave Sandwich" is decidedly not a good nickname... or image), I hit the floor and found a nice '61 Fleer basketball deal. I did have to kick out the West rookie and main Russell (non-In Action) to make the deal work, but that's cool stuff that I don't see too often. I was happy to pick it up, and also to get on the board from a buying perspective. I also worked out deals on two lots of mid/late-50s big stars with a dealer I'd never met before, along with one really sloppy deal of prewar cards that'll be nice and cheap for people to dig through. Polishing off the buys for the day was a big lot of graded from someone I'd sold to before - bunch of Mantles, some Musials, and just big stars in general. Another buying highlight was a really high-end PSA 8 Jordan rookie - sharp and centered! I posted pictures of most of those deals to Facebook (and a couple to Twitter) Wednesday night from the hotel. The prevalence of technology at this show was a difference from shows past. And for jeeper's sake, would you please follow me on Facebook already?!?! If not, you're missing out. Just go to the bottom of this page already and click the link. Only two sales on Wednesday, which was just fine with me. Wednesday night, after I got monsoon-ed on making a quick trip to McDonald's, I realized that gameplan or not, this show was going to be over with before I knew it. So I sat down and made a list of dealers I wanted to visit with and buy from. Getting organized was so key for me, and I'm glad I took some time to do just that. On Thursday, I sprung out of bed and was really to hit it again. After a quick breakfast of a banana and granola bar (who says you can't eat healthy on the road?), I was ready to start knocking dealers off my checklist. Only...I couldn't. I was stuck at my table because of these strange people who actually wanted to buy cards from me. Imagine that! I sold (5) 1887 Old Judge cards to a cool gentleman from California and a few '52 Topps stars to another customer. A few more cards sold, and toward the end of the day, I was able to roam again. I scratched two dealers off my checklist after making buys at their tables and also met a few more, including one team who had brought with them a loveseat to relax on during the day. Brilliant! I will say that walking on concrete for only a couple days - even if you do like I recommend and wear two pairs of socks - makes your feet pulse by the end of the day. But hey, at the end of the day, other Tony was courteous enough to show me some of Chicago that I'd never seen before. We went to the Old Warsaw Buffett in Harwood Heights. After that, we drove down Lake St in Oak Park - a place that looked completely out of a movie set. Little shops and a cinema lined the street and tons of people were milling about at a leisurely pace, many with ice cream. And it was just a regular old Thursday evening. That was fun. After returning to the hotel, I did some work on eBay - again technology accompanies you everywhere - and tried to get to sleep at a reasonable time. Despite sizeable crowds on Thurs/Fri, Friday was my lightest selling day. That allowed me time to walk around and buy. Or maybe it was because I was gone from the table so often that I didn't sell much. Chicken? Egg? Who cares? Let's just have some fried chicken and omelets! In any case, I continued to track down just what I was looking for - stars and also Hi#s from 61, 66, and 67. 66 and 67 Hi#s have continually been some of the more desirable cards in the hobby for years now. The average collection I see rarely yields these gems, so shows are where I have to sniff them out. Other buys included near-sets of '57 Topps and '61 Fleer basketball in just horrible condition...some writing, paper loss, tape. Also, on my of my adventures, I bought out a guy's case of late 60s and early 70s stars and flipped it to Tony Gordon when I got back to the table. It literally was put in a shoebox. I love the phrase "shoebox deals." Going through my notes, I see some buys I have listed that I don't remember. This is why I try to keep my buys separated and use sticky notes to record how much I paid. For instance, I'll be interested to see what I bought for $600 from "Big Mike - NY." Dang, I'm gonna be pricing cards like crazy over the next couple weeks trying to get ready for upcoming shows. After thinking about it for days, I dialed up Giordano's for a pizza Friday night after the show. Oh, it was freakin tremendous. Excuse the blasphemy, but I do prefer the regular crust to stuffed - the ratio of grease to dough is so much better. I managed to save some for lunch on Saturday too. I had to leave early from the show on Saturday, which meant I needed to revamp my set-up slightly so the other guys could use my table space while I was away. Elsewhere in the 'burbs, I had a cousin getting married. I compromised by skipping the wedding and hitting the reception. It ended up being a parallel to the show in that a bunch of family I don't see too often came in from all over the country. And much like the show, there was plenty of alcohol flowing! But I had an unexpectedly great day on the selling side. Only 14 cards sold, but (9) of them were Old Judges and another was a T206 Mathewson PSA 6. Not bad! This is another place where technology played a part. For the Old Judge lot, the gentleman paid for them with funds out of his PayPal account. So we stood a couple feet from each other, both with cell phones in hand. He typed in my e-mail address, sent the funds, and when the confirmation showed up on my side, I gave him the cards and the deal was complete. Very interesting. And different. I'll admit, Saturday was a late night. I can probably count on one hand the times over the past 15 years when I've stayed out too late or drank a bit too much the night before a show. But this was the last day of The National and the Monster is no punk. I had to pack up my everything in the hotel room, check out, bring my clothes out to the van, and find a better parking space in the lot in preparation for loading out later in the day. And guess what - I did all that and still made it to the show on time. Beast mode. As I've said before, The National is a marathon. (For all you fans of The League out there: A what? A marathon. A what? ...A marathon! A What?) If you wanna be serious about this business, you'd better take opportunities to attack when you can. It's easy to get into a funk or get caught up being tired, physically or mentally. Your feet hurt, you're away from home, you're not eating well or exercising (much), you're constantly using your noodle to calculate deals...it's tiring. And it shows with a lot of dealers on Sunday. To steal a poker/pinball expression, many get 'on tilt.' That could be good if they're blowing out cards on the cheap, but usually the opposite happens. They're tight, stubborn, and just focused on the ride home. Between that knowledge and the strong selling day I had on Saturday before I had to cut out, I changed up my strategy on Sunday and thought I might sit behind the table a bit to see if many more sales would roll in. After that didn't really happen and I saw the crowd was light, I flew a few more missions around the room. At this point, even after 3.5 days there, I would estimate that there was a good 25% of the room that I hadn't even visited yet. (Yes, it's that big.) (And yes, that's what she said!) As the familiar sounds of packing tape and luggage carts/dollies echoed, I roamed and found a few more deals. I finally visited with a dealer on my original checklist from Wednesday night and bought around 10-12 Mantles from him. I met a couple dealers from Vancouver. Heck, I even sold some cards too. But then it was time to load up and go. I was legitimately sad to leave. Good thing I have more shows coming up later this month. Random Notes:
Aftermath: This was a much stronger show for me than I expected. Although I didn't focus on marketing, the buys and sales totals each exceeded my predictions. As many of you know, this is what I do full-time now. Today marks exactly two months since I left my position at the bank and I'm very pleased with how Monster Cards has grown even in that short amount of time. Driving around today to the post office and other errands, the realization hit me that this is actually working. I've built a business that is viable, and kind of a mini-powerhouse. Having that feeling soak in was really satisfying. So thank you to everyone who has helped me get to where I am today. Have fun! -T You can now find me all over the web:  Like Monster Cards on Facebook (Frequent updates and scans of new inventory - graded and ungraded!)
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Inside My Brain