Collector Nation - UnKommon take on Collectibles, Community & the Future of Trading Cards | Kyle Kravitz "King of the Kards" Interview | Hosted by Ryan Alford

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

SUMMARY In this episode of the "Trading Cards and Collectibles Podcast," host Ryan Alford interviews Kyle Kravitz, the "King of Kards." Kyle shares his journey from passionate collector to influential content creator and entrepreneur. They discuss the challenges of balancing business, personal connections, and brand-building in the sports card hobby. Kyle reflects on the emotional rewards of community impact, the importance of authenticity, and the excitement of card shows. He also offers insights into upcoming events, his brand "Hobbyist," and the evolving landscape of card collecting across generations. TAKEAWAYS Kyle Kravitz's journey from sports card collector to content creator and entrepreneur. The challenges of sharing personal experiences on social media and the initial discomfort of content creation. The balance between collecting for personal enjoyment and running a business in the card collecting space. The generational appeal of card collecting and its resurgence due to nostalgia and technology. The tension between genuine collecting and the trend of flipping cards for profit among younger collectors. The importance of taking calculated risks in the hobby and business. Personal stories about favorite cards and the emotional connections they represent. The significance of community and relationships in the card collecting hobby. The impact of authenticity and transparency in business practices within the collecting community. Future plans for expanding the Hobbyist brand and its initiatives in the card collecting space.

Very few people go, I wish I hadn't taken quite as large a swing. It's usually the other way around. The card ends up on eBay again. It got listed for auction. I said, whatever it takes. When I tell you my bid on this card, my bid on this card was so much higher than what I went for. It would scare some people. Welcome to the trading cards and collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network.

From chasing grails to Colin Bluffs and going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford. Hello and welcome to episode number two. It might be number two, but it's number one in the hearts and the ratings of the Alford TV box. It is the King of Cards. He is Kyle Kravitz.

He is the janitor, the CEO. He's out of all things, the hobbyist. What's up, brother? What's up? Look, I got to have you do that intro so I could record it. I don't know if I could click that, legal or not, but that's all. awesome so appreciate you having me and happy to represent the tv box at the house dude you know they say the old the old school way it was tv ratings it's like streaming stuff now but let's just

say the offered house call call and king of cards is uh the number one rated show in the all for television i think you're being burned into the screen uh much not to the alfred boris because you know i'm sure you contribute a little bit but uh i know absolutely you I think they're the main core of pushing that ball down the hill. So appreciate the boys. And yeah, hope they're watching this one too. Oh, they will be, man. They, uh, no one, they don't light up any faster than me saying,

Kyle's coming on the show today. And so, uh, I heard a couple of them are going, my throat hurts a little, you know, trying to fake a, you know, injury or, uh, something to, to get over here. But, uh, we kept them in the school. Yeah, get out of school. They come see it, man. But I'll say this.

I do enjoy your stuff. I think there's a real character and, I don't know, realness to the way you deliver content that's engaging. And it's not flashy. It's just, I think, raw and real. And I think that's a unique characteristic in the YouTube and content universe. And I think that's what's resonated with us. And I know it's why you've had a lot of success.

So I do appreciate how. I don't know, open you are, how kind you've been to my kids when we've talked. And so, you know, I just want to send that heartfelt as we get started. I appreciate that. I mean, it's my pleasure. And what we're building or have built even up to this point is beyond my wildest dreams of trying to just turn my passion for collecting some cards into my business as well. So to be on this kind of platform to have the effects we're having, put smiles on faces,

enjoy some experiences and share them with the world around. us is special and it means just as much to me to have kids like yours and families and people that are getting into this come up and share a moment, share their story. And for whatever reason, find a way to connect to us and myself. So it is really a humbling experience. And I'm happy to take the time wherever we can with those people supporting it. What was the moment, Kyle, when you said, I'm going to turn the camera on? Like, what? When did that, when did that, when did that like trigger to go okay there's some point that you go okay i'm going to you're collecting you're doing these things but but you decided to flip the camera on what was that moment and how hard was

it i'll answer the second question first it's very hard at first it's a whole other world you're entering it makes you vulnerable makes you think about things you never thought you would have had to think about so it's very difficult and so anybody dealing with that or figuring that out or who's been there can attest to it it is a different level of openness to the world around you. When did that happen? It all happened by mistake. I was not a content creator. I still tell people I'm not a content creator. We document what I do. We turn a camera on and that is what you see. That is really, you know, I'm not going out of my way much to create content, at least not as a right now. So it really is just documentation of what we do.

I think the first instance of that was me going, well, I'm starting this business. I hadn't travel to shows at this point. I was side hustling and the side hustle was supposed to pay for the cards in my collection. That was the idea at first. I was going to finish my MBA. I was going to go get a job, but at least this thing that I love would pay for itself, right? Get to work on that. How do we market in today's world? We're talking about like 2019 was kind of when I really dug into this finishing college, about to start my MBA. I was going to local shows. I was going online. and I was figuring out if I could do this legitimately, how do you market yourself? How do you put yourself in front of people?

How do you connect, network, find deals, create opportunity? And that's when I realized that if I was going to have a chance to do something that so few are lucky enough to do, I had to do what they weren't doing. So I turned the camera on myself. And it started as pictures of just the cards. Then it started as just pictures of me. Then I turned on the video. Then I put on the video and realized, like,

put that same video on multiple platforms and connect for the same work with more people. I figured out how I could get better at it, started exploring YouTube after TikTok and Instagram, can I do long form, tried that, put it on the shelf for a while, came back to it. But it all started about five to six years ago at the beginning of chasing a dream with doing this and realizing I was going to have to make some sacrifices and make myself vulnerable to do it. That's good insight. And I think the biggest thing I'd want people to take away, and we're going to get into the collecting stuff guys, I promise.

But I like to dig into the business and the mindset and all that. That comes from my business show inside. And Kyle's Uber smart at this stuff, even if he won't act like he is, like or whatever. He's doing something and he's pieced together, whether learned or observed or otherwise for how to market himself and do what he's doing. and what he just crystallizes, this is hard. It's not easy. It's the repetitive. It's fun the first time maybe.

You know, it's nerve-wracking, but it's fun. It's not fun the 457th time. And you have to stack it. And that's the only way you get success. And that's why Kyle's been successful is because he's stacking the wins and doing these things. And I mean, I don't mean to summarize Kyle, but I think that's what you're saying. I mean, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work, but I more speak to you.

You were asking when that first time was. And I remember, for example, the first time sitting down, I'd never done a TikTok before, knew nothing about the platform, but saw the direction things were going. It's when the platform was starting to gain some traction. Saw it as another way in opportunity. I had some friends on Instagram already. You know, I had built that up to a few thousand followers, nothing that is significant, really past a certain point.

But it was something. and I remember sitting down and do that first video. And at the time, all that's going through my head, I remember almost sweating. I'm sitting there putting this video together. Who's going to see this? What are they going to think? Or like my ex-girlfriend's going to see this? What are they going to think?

You know, it was what am I doing here? Am I doing it properly? What's everyone going to think? Now, we're far away away from that. But I know that so many people struggle with that. And I identify with them and I completely empathize with that. It is a big deal to do that and get over that hump. And that's what I was sitting there thinking.

And then you talk about time number 457. It takes a while to go away. But you do those reps and you get to practice and you get better at it while you're doing it too. And just for anybody watching that's thinking about putting themselves out there, it does go away. Just got to get through the process and trust it. And set up the systems and the way a cadence. I'm sure you have process procedures at this. point on some level and a team the guy that's you know filming and doing all that I mean yeah right I mean

I'm assuming it doesn't just you guys got to have some systems in place at this point yeah it will everyone always says you know you guys and the whole team but my whole operation is myself Kevin who is my videographer and editor behind the cam and occasionally his girlfriend rachel who he works with so there's two and then occasionally three of us in on the operation that's it That's all I've had in getting it to this point. I think, granted, there are big steps that I'm trying to take here in the next six months to a year that that picture is going to change as we're growing. But we've done it very lean operation. But yeah, it takes a village to get to where I want to go.

And we're far from there yet. Before we transition into the collecting side, like what's the one thing if you could go back and tell yourself in this process that you'd go, Kyle do this or think that, you know, like early on? I wish that I realized just how good of a position I was in to take bigger chances earlier. And that's what I always tell people when they ask that question or something similar. That's my only regret is as much of a chance as I was taking on myself. I had the opportunity to completely fail, go back down to zero and wake up 20-something with experience and enough money in the bank to get by and cover my expenses.

Why not swing even bigger? So, you know, I don't regret too much because I took a big chance on myself and I know that. But I guess my only regret would be not going bigger sooner. And of course, when it comes to cards, right, the timeline I'm talking about if in 2019, 2020, I took on to some of that advice. We're talking about monumental dollar figures on some of the cards I was buying investments I made and choices I was making. But there's plenty I can do hindsight that especially in cards and any collector, would relate to this, that would have had me doing a little better on my value of my collection.

Couldn't know some of that at the time, but I just wish I took a little more of a swing on what I did know. I asked that question in different ways, like on my business show. And it's like, very few people go, I wish I hadn't taken quite as large a swing. You know, I think I've ever heard it. You know, it's usually the other way around. It's like, and you're right. There's some wisdom to hearing you talk, Kyle, like, especially knowing, look, I lost a million dollars on a venture when I was 45. You know, I'm 48 now, like three or four years ago.

Million dollars up in smoke. And you recover, man. I mean, you know, I don't, but much less than your 20s. So, yeah, man, swing for the fences, baby. Every one of those million dollar losses, though, you know, I'm sure there's been. And those successes at a level like that are higher, you know, and they come or they are coming from that and what you learn from them. So that's what I've taken away.

And even just this past weekend at a show, perfect example of it, where went through the first day of the show and I was in that mindset and being relatively conservative. And that night I got back from the show. I was like, what's the big swing I didn't take? What was the card I left there thinking about? The market is as hot as it's been high-end stuff. You put yourself in a position to be able to afford that, maybe make mistakes, but you know what you're doing. Trust your gut.

And when made a play that the next day, I went back and I got that card I was thinking about and it has already turned out really well. So it just speaks to that. It's a mindset you got to carry with you. And it doesn't go away that you got to be ready for the big moment and keep taking those big swings. And over a portfolio, you'll make some mistakes and slide back down a little bit, but you'll be a lot further ahead than you otherwise would have been. Good insight. Talking with Kyle, the King of Cards. What is it about your generation and the community around you that's so drawn to collecting?

And is it nostalgia, status, creativity? What is it? Well, I mean, look, it's dads like you, right? You know, that are bringing their kids out to the car show and sitting there popping online and finding something to bond over. I don't know that it's just this generation, the newer generation. I think it's actually attached to the initial nostalgia that was the main. course of the history of this whole thing connected to those once kids now adults who have kids of their own. And I think there's become a huge connectivity there bringing that gap together of

this was the thing that was amazingly cool and special back in my day. Here's your day. We can share this together now. I love it. I want to show you why I loved it. There's been evolution and business, the technologies behind it. Now there's all these opportunities within it, even as an alternative investment, all the ways to enjoy it differently, that I think that sticks with people of all ages, really, and that's what I've seen. So why would this new generation be any different? They're online. They're seeing it marketed more than it's ever been marketed by who knows how much.

The companies at the top are doing a good job of really, like, putting this as a mainstream item. And what better way than now to, for something like, we're doing right now. A podcast shows social media like I'm doing. There's so much access to this, so much visibility that was never there. So it doesn't surprise me at all that a generation on the younger side is finding it quicker. Do you think it's a fine balance for me, even with like living this through by with my kids,

the collecting versus business is a fine balance of those two things. and for you, I want, it's kind of two-part question, like how you balance those things for yourself. I mean, I don't know if you can anymore. It's like,

is there anything not for sale in the King of Cards deck? Of course. And it's easily separated. I'm a collector first. Like I said, my business happened by, not by accident. I like to think it was always supposed to happen,

but it certainly wasn't the intention. I wanted to make that money using what I knew about cards. to afford and keep the cards I want to keep. And I'm still on that mission, right? Like, now I have an opportunity to do that with grail cards and some of the biggest cards out there. I'm far from cash in my chips, but I keep the cards that I can't come across again

that I need to have. And for me, that's my guys who I grew up watching, I had that connection with, and everyone associates me with Johnny Mansell now because I grew up watching that era of him and A&M, and I was a kid in high school, in the middle of class. I was a little pain for my teachers and I got up on top of the table and I'm going like this. I remember that era.

There's a picture of me doing it, by the way. I'll have to sign that too. I want to see that. I want that for the episode. You need to text that to me. I'll have to get that over to you. But those were, so I connected to those moments and then you get to collecting. And, you know, people say what they want about Johnny's career.

But he was the greatest in a moment of what he was doing at that time. And that's what I remember and connected with. And so there are cards of his that won't leave my collection or my favorite. And I bought one. There's a video of me buying one. And it went viral. And it was as one of one exquisite patch auto from A&M. I got ripped apart in the comments.

Oh, you're spending that kind of money on this and that. He's not even playing, whatever, a bunch of Noah dolls. And little do they know the same night I posted the video right after buying it. I got an offer for four times what I paid for the card. and I turned it down without even a hesitation. That's being a collector. So are there cards I keep absolutely? That's one that always will stick out for me.

That was this year, actually. Derek Jeter, I grew up in New York, huge Yankees fan. Derek Jeter was everything to me growing up and fortunate to connect with him a couple of times and get to meet him and talk to him. And so I have some pieces of his that I hold on to that I want to keep forever. And not even just cards, but on the collecting side, I had him sign my ticket to his final home game where he hit that walkoff and that magic night and moment.

And I was there and I had my ticket and I had him sign it. There's plenty of my collection from those couple guys, my favorite teams, guys that stood out to me, cards I come across. It shows that I just think are the coolest thing. I take them and I tuck them away. I'm a collector first. And that's how I ended up here. How do you think, though, people watching you and the younger generation, You know, kids, my kids, my kids, 8, 12 to 16.

Everybody's walking around, and I feel like I'm writing a piece for SI around this notion of like, who's the real dealer? Kids are walking around. They're almost like the dealer. You know what I mean? Like, everybody thinks they're the dealer because they're at all in business in a way. And I'm just a little worried and not necessarily my kids. And I don't know if I need to be worried, but I'm like, are we raising a generation that's truly collecting or just trying to figure out how to turn 10 into 12 every time?

I share that concern and I see exactly what you're referring to within it. I think some of that's gotten lost in translation. I think that people have forgotten why there's an end consumer. And, you know, there's plenty of collectors. So for all we see and that we're exposed to going to these shows, 99% of the hobby is not even at shows. They're at home collecting online. Like, we forget that.

We're so entrenched in that the people that you see. at these national size shows or online. That makes up a percentage of a percentage. So I wouldn't get too lost on that in the big picture. There's plenty of people going on there buying with no intention to ever resell. And everyone gets so caught up on the people they're seeing to it that they're forgetting. Well, those are people that are somewhat in business where you have someone like myself where I do that. So one day I can afford those massive cards that I never would have thought I have a right to making a playoff.

Right. It's like I keep rolling that snowball down the hill and building on it. But here and there, when there's a card you can't replace, you keep it. I like to think that more people are like that than not. And the people that are in it just on business, then they'll keep turning it over. And they're missing out on the front of the collecting side. But that's for them. I think that every kid has a favorite player, has their favorite teams.

And that'll always connect for them. And they'll realize that as they go. One thing I do see that I always have a question about is the kids that say that's PC as in my personal collection that's staying with me. And it's always these guys that haven't proven anything or just hot in the market. I think that gets lost a lot. The guys that they now care about are the guys that are seen as valuable or in demand or hot, not who they've had an affliction for cared about watching. So that part concerns me is that everyone wants to just prove it to the guy next to them, their buddy, especially at that age, teenagers and whatever, like, hey, you know, look at this.

I got this of the new hot guy that's in there when they don't care about him or that team or anything. It's just so they could show them. They got the valuable cards. That part of it, I think, is concerning. But I also think they'll learn from that and figure out what they really care about at the end of the day. And it takes some time. But it's there. I don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be.

I think you've really well-spoken, Kyle. what really good point. And like literally, when I think about it, I think it is a vacuum like at these shows, a lot of them. And even the content you see, I think because I think eBay would be proof of that, how many millions and millions of cards are sold every month that never see the floor that probably never come out again, you know, maybe 10 or 20 years later if they're changing out part of the PC.

I do think I'm probably getting a little victim to the vacuum that I've been in, kind of absorbing this industry the last six months and seeing that and going, man, you know what I mean? Like this guy, this 12 year old is trying to hustle me. Like, but I think it's a good point that, you know, the, the large card shows is sort of its own vacuum of things that's not reflective of the entire scope. Good point. What's your, what's the best card like your favorite in your collection now?

Is it that Johnny Manzo? It's one of them. I have a handful that I am attached to, but for me, I think the one that takes the cake because it's just pretty to look at and has a great backstory for me. I have his gold PMG. So, you know, I have some of his brown stuff too, but like really just the cards that are key cards. I have a couple of these black prism fine nights and national treasures one of once. So like the collector side and the card side of me has attachment to those, I guess. But the A&M stuff, The best looking card of his is his PMG. And so he has a precious metal gem. I have the gold. And it's jersey number two of 10 in a Beckett, 9-5. I think that is my favorite. And the image of that card, you know, it's him throwing across.

It's a horizontal image. But the aesthetic and the foil and the significance of PMG and that it was a rookie and the jersey number is essentially a one of one. my favorite part about the story is that the card popped up on eBay and I don't remember exactly what I was doing when it happened, but what I do remember is that I lost that card once before. The card popped up on eBay and I was like, I will do whatever it takes to have it and I never put my max bid in and I got busy for like an hour and a half as we all do. And the oxen ended and I sat there like this and I thought about that card for months.

I was like kicking myself. How do I even continue this collection knowing that would be a grail in it? And I'm never going to see it again. Sure enough, months later, the card ends up on eBay again. It got listed for auction. I said, whatever it takes, when I tell you my bid on this card, thank God nobody else bid on this card was so much higher than what I went for. It would scare some people.

But I won it. And so just to have that next opportunity to get it back after that makes it that more special to me. So yeah, there's a good story behind it. That is one that stands out for sure. I love that. That's a great story. What's up guys here on Lake Kiwi? We're doing little rad rips on the boat. Beautiful house boat that we have here on Lake Kiwi at Kiwi Marina. You're watching this. You can actually see multi-cam here, the beautiful view scanning and getting into some 2025 football. Open some of our favorites of 2024 last week. This week, it's 2025 football.

Got a mega box from Don Russ Elite and a blaster box from score. Got the signature rookies green. And we're looking for autographs, memorabilia cards, and all the hottest players. The most generic thing you could ever say is, let's have the goat, one of the goats, my home's on the box. So what we're looking for in these parallels including lime green, teal matrix, and of course, the megabox exclusive. Lavender parallels and spellbound, fill vision, and more. Got a megabox here from Donorist Elite and Score. We've opened up some hobby boxes of this score product that were pretty good.

I have not opened a retail blaster box of either one of these. So first for both. Here's what we're looking for. We'll see how it goes. We will be on eBay Live, the Rad Collective. Look for all the cards that we break here on the show. Rad Collective on eBay Live and our eBay store or on Instagram, breakingrad.com. It's actually our handle on Instagram and the website for Rad Collective.

At least our hobby stuff is at Breaking Rad. Yes, you get to play on words there. It's not breaking bad. We're breaking rad, baby. Let's see what we got. Oh, yeah. There we have it. Gold packs, green packs here on your rad rip of the week.

So we get brought to you by our partners, Lodex, best scanning app in the game, and the best apps for actually loading to eBay. Hundreds of cards in minutes. These things scan it in. It makes it so easy. Great partner. Took them out.

Mason Taylor played at LSU, great player. Another parallels well enough to know if that's something special, but what you used to start? The old backwards. Trey McBride, celebration. Sack attack. Yeah, it is. First ballot, Barry Sanders from my hall of fame. Another celebration, Mike Evans.

Give on. Mike Evans. Frank Ford. Jordan Love. Cooper, Dijeen. It's not my safe. And there you have it. The look of Domra's Elite, the gold packs.

Look at there. What are the chances we started with, you see the difference in cards immediately, right? We have Mason Taylor and Jason Taylor, James Connor, Tayson Hill, and even Brown's rookie. We've got numbered out of 299. numbered to 399. What is it with these linemen that we're getting numbered or linebacker? Robert Brazil. CDLAM on the throwbacks.

Kyle Van Neuil. Sack attack. That's hard to say. Ooh, that looks cool. Ashson. Gentry. Good running back. Great running back.

Going to be a stud. The NFL. Travis E.N. Clemson Guy. Madison, the Ford. Bunker. New Co. Collins.

Stefan Gilmore played itself of Carolina. Great. player. Take on Sanders. Interesting how his second year goes. So there we have it. Little Sims. Caleb.

I think it's going to be a big year for my guy. I think it's going to be a big year for my dude. Ryan Burns. Dallas Turner, solid. Look at this. This is cool. Hey now. Athlete.

I trip my homes. Fractor. It's like a case hit or something. Erlacker. Got his autograph a couple of weeks ago. Justin Herbert and Cuba. He played a Clemson. went to Texas. Probably Cooper Duke.

Might be good. Don't know yet. On the green league leaders. 65-yard or that 70 was kicked by Little, Jacksonville. Mayvers throwback. Cool. Last pack magic here on the score. Yours. Interesting how he plays.

Oh, it looks cool. I don't know what it is. Ooh, Jaden, Daniels, Baker-Mefield throwback. There's your Cam Ward rookie card right there, has. First one. Chrissy Gandala. All right.

All right. A few packs left here. This Donorous Elite. Jerry Gradsha and Johnson Taylor. Also orange 849. Very cool. Let's see. Let's see what we got.

I hate flipping the guards. There's on boy. Trevor Lawrence Clemson bounce back. We hope. Spellbound. Derek Henry. Three packs left here. Bucca.

Judy. Oh my God. Very cool looking green out of 99, though. Quinchan Jenkins. Loving the look. So what do you guys think of these? Liking them, not liking them. Drake May.

Rookies of last year. Michael Parsons, who knows what's going to happen with him. Michael Pennix, Jr. and Drake May in the same pack. Last pack magic. Overall, fun rips. Both of these are fun products. I'll give them that. We're going for the fun award.

Fun is affordable. There's football goes. This is them. Ed Reed, Chase Brown, Martin Harrison Jr. Another big rookie from last year. And to finish it out, we've got Nick Bolton on the 99. All right, guys, there you have it. Score and Donrest Elite from 2025.

Fun rips. A lot of fun. I've requested this is fun. Value, so-so, give these solid six or seven out of ten, given what they cost and what they are availability. I like the Dunriss Elite look. I don't know. Much better looking than Donriss-based.

To me, it's just you don't have the downtown. So he's had a downtown in this, it'd be a runaway. But nonetheless, fun rip, 2025, that's your rad rips on the boat. Final view for everyone. Kiwi, Lake Kiwi, beautiful. That's it for the rad rips of the week. You see something you like in our pack rips on the show? Check out the rad collective eBay store and eBay Live shows at ebaylivesore.com.

or at breakingrad.com. All the cards we rip on the show will be available on both platforms. Kyle, we're Clemson guys. So if you come across any Clemson cards, United texts me, send me a picture. I got a gold vinyl T. Higgins just the other week that's in the PC. So the boys and I are all Clemson. Any old, new, doesn't matter.

Trevor Lawrence, actually having a little bit of a couple down seasons, has been good for the offered house because the values, went down. So we single-handedly been buying a little bit of everything of T. Lawrence. I feel you on that. It's what I just said about Johnny. It's like I love them to death, but like part of me is, is glad the NFL thing didn't pan out to the same level of college because now it lets me enjoy my guy and not break the bank on every single purchase. Like I'm able to get cards of that nature, the cards I'd always want and not be paying the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands we're seeing on these modern guys. So I hear it. Josh Allen's my favorite.

favorite player. I have a lot of him. I, you know, I lived in New York for six years and it was hard to get behind the Giants. You know, it's kind of like, uh, yeah, yeah, that's, that's even more hard. Yeah, you know, I didn't want to be the guy from South Carolina moving to Manhattan for, you know, and living there for six years and being a, I do root for the Yankees, but I wasn't like the Yankee fan. So I became a Buffalo fan. I was in the state, you know, and it happened to be, and I was watching Josh Allen in college. It's like, why, you know, you know, This was back, right, when he was freshman at Wyoming. I was like 2014.

2017. Something like that time period. Yeah. For at Wyoming, I was like, he had a cannon arm. I was like, this kid's awesome. Fun to watch, but you didn't know where it was going. I don't know if you remember that. So got on his bandwagon early, and he's been fun to collect.

And he's got to get a Super Bowl, though, man. I'm a Jeff fan. I like the guy, and I know we're supposed to be rivals with the bills. I have an affinity for Bill's Mafia. Yes. I think they're awesome. I love the passion. They're good people.

I have a lot of good friends in Buffalo. It's a tricky one for me. And Josh is such a likable guy, too. So when we're head-to-head, I root against them in the division, of course. But when it gets past that, I found myself even rooting for them in some of these playoff runs. I know. Just happen to be, you know, one of the freaking Mahomes had to come along at the same time. Andy Reid.

And it's like, oh, you know, it's kind of like, of course, that whole thing. How's your approach to buying and selling and doing what you do at these shows? How's it have been evolving? I mean, you know, you're out there. You're showing the way you do it. Has it evolved? Is it, has being, you know, on camera? I don't think it's changed it because, I mean, I see, we've watched enough.

I've watched enough tape, Kyle. I'm like, if I'm watching film, it's not a Clemson film. It's Kyle King of Cards at the Trade Show film, you know, did he just did there? See how you work that angle? But has it had to change being a personality in the space as well as the traitor? I mean, talk about that little bit. I like to think not. I like to think not because I pride myself so much on the authenticity factor,

which is, you know, feedback that people have given us. It means a lot to me to keep to that too. And I feel people pick that up through the screen that I'm not changing anything because the camera's on. My energy is the same. you're going to get the same guy on and off camera. And when it comes to the deals, I think it's important to keep the same with that. So I take care of people on off camera.

I try to do the best I can on and off. I'm not perfect. There's no, there's no perfect system to be able to buy, sell and trade these things. At the end of the day, some of it's arbitrary, right? Like it's the value we want to put on it, the systems we choose. I do the best I can to be fair with everyone, feel like I can make some money, explain why, and get deals done and keep people happy. And I think that's what's gotten me here.

When the cameras weren't on yet, it's how I got the start of the business. And then as the cameras have been on, you try to keep to it. If anything, maybe here and there, I pay a little extra so I don't have to hear about it in the comments, you know?

I think I do pretty much the same exact thing I was doing. And yeah, you know, you still have your people that love, hate, or in between how you're doing things, but we've been fortunate to have more, I'd say 99% love on how we're doing it.

And yeah, I try to just keep to it same way I would do it with or without a camera. But the camera, I mean, I told my boys, I was like, you would think that what he's doing has made everything easier. But that's not necessarily the case. Like it's definitely probably open doors and I'm sure, you know, created connections to make. I have no doubt you wouldn't be doing it if you didn't enjoy it. and it didn't create opportunity. But like you said, I mean, when there's that much camera on you all the time, everybody thinks, oh, Kyle's, you know, he's in it for business, he's making money.

Like, some people just get offended by that immediately. I'm like, the dude's running a company. I mean, this is his business. This is livelihood. Like, get over. People have different opinions of these things. It's not for me to say who's right or wrong about them, but the way I've always approached it, this is a trade.

It's an art. There's an arbitrage to it. There's things that I understand why I think I can. can get more value on certain cards or what I'm comfortable paying. And I see it from all angles. You know, there's times where someone might be looking for the cash so they can go buy another cart and it makes sense for them to move it based on what they're into it. What's the review of that? Someone might see it and say, well, based on what they're doing, why are you only paying them that? You're a low ball and you're ripping them off. And it's like, well, two sides just agree to

it. We're both happy about it. He's comfortable for his reasons. I'm comfortable for mine. That's a done deal and we do it again. So, you know, I'll say this. anything that's not positive in terms of the feedback has not been from someone I've dealt with before or has actually worked with me or built a relationship with me. And that for me is telling while on the other side, I think we're only in this position because the feedback is positive. But yeah, there's going to be people that say something about everything no matter how you do it. And I think I've gotten far past that point where it's like fully coming to peace with that and just doing my best to do right by the person across for me.

and build those relationships and show people how they can do the same. Well said. And I think it's like, why do you care? Like if, because again, to your point, if someone buys something, like they, like their friend or someone gave them something or said, man, just take it for $10. And it's a $40 card. And Kyle gets it from him from 20 and he just doubled his money. And then Kyle sells it for $20. everybody won, right?

That mattered in that transaction. And it's like, but some people just want to get their panties in a lot over, you know, like, I appreciate them watching. But whatever angle they want to take, whatever they want to say, it's, there's some negativity out there. We try to be a positive light in this, try to do it the right way. And I try to be transparent. Like, we really do show pretty much everything. Not much of anything gets cut.

and so you can go see it all and some deals are better than others. And I'm in a split second. I'm in those moments and I challenge people to say, hey, if a camera was on you, if you're thinking any negatively about it, what would you do in those moments? And if you had a camera on all the time, how perfect would you be?

I like to think we get pretty close to taking care of everybody. And I've never gotten a deal done that two sides didn't agree to. So that's how it works. Hobbiist, you sort of turned a mindset into a visible badge. What values do you feel like you've talked about them here, but it feels like the embodiment of what you're trying to do. You're being transparent in the deals. This is a business. But there's that collector and nostalgia and I don't know.

I think there's a warmth to what you're trying to do. But talk about hobbyist. So hobbyist, I wanted to start a brand that was going to represent a lot of what we're doing here in those exact sentiments, right? There's a lot of incorporation that goes on here. There's a lot of opportunity for businesses to make money. We were talking about it earlier. How many of them are collectors? How many of them actually care about something outside the bottom line?

Now, do I have a business in it? Yeah. Am I looking to make money? Sure. I want to make my millions like everybody else. But I tell people, I feel you can do both. I feel like I can run that all the way up and crush it on the business side and make those crazy dollar figures. But I can do it at the same time.

time while having a positive impact on the community, I'm in caring for it, giving back to it, showing people how they can be a part of it. And I think that's what I want hobbyists to be. So I acquired the trademarks for the word within that realm and wanted to give people an opportunity to rep something that has to do with what they're doing. I feel like it was a gap in the space that was lacking. I feel like we built a brand. Of course, King of the Cards is now just associated with me that's almost become like a title. So I want to. to create a brand right next to me that can relate to everybody and give people a way to represent what they're doing, their passion, and then find ways to give back within it.

So, yeah, people have only seen the hats roll out and see me wearing the hats and all the videos and everything. There's a ton on the way with it. It's taking time, but I'm building it out slowly but surely behind the scenes and something that I think people will appreciate as it grows. All right. You brought that up. So, you know, is any good person interviewing or talking?

someone. Is there anything you can share here as a first release with the King of Cards and the hobbyist brand? So, well, I'll give you this much. You know, we had one simple model of hat. It was similar to this one in the Navy blue. This one's black. Nothing crazy on that front there. A couple more designs coming down the line, a couple more. And mainly where they will begin to be available. Distribution. It will be interesting to see in the upcoming. So I'll give you that much that we're working on ways to to have this be a main staple in the space and, you know, make it the, the Yankee had of the industry, you know, but it's not just the hats.

There will be, there's plenty of more merchandise of different kinds. There will be, this name will be associated with a lot of good things and it won't just be hats. We can piece that one together. We'll connect the dots for you. When you see a million-dollar sub-brand of merchandise coming out with the hobbyist, we'll have that at the headline the moment you greenlight it. I expect the text messages here. I need to be the greenlight.

We're becoming the media channel for the hobby here. So this is symbiotic here, you know, like feed it to me. I can break some news on here. This could be the Pat McAfee to my Aaron Rogers, you know. Exactly. See? Yeah, hey, I did. I modeled my business show after Pat.

And, you know, I'm the number one show in market. I mean, it's a niche, but it. it was kind of after that. I knew marketing could be interesting, you know, it didn't have to be. And today, we're going to learn about direct mail and SEO. Who will stay with that? You've got to have some energy behind it, right? We've got to give the people something they want to hear and have some fun with it.

So that's awesome. What's the future hold? We talked about hobbyists. There's obviously you've got your hands with that, like card shows, collabs, anything you can talk about like to the rest of this year, where you're going to be all that kind of stuff yeah i mean i'll be we pop around pretty regularly last year we were at 26 shows this year will be at 21 um tried to roll it back just to have some kind of life in between believe it or not i do things outside of have a girlfriend have friends

you know people don't believe it but i do and there's a travel get it's a travel a grind i mean i know the i did used to do that when i was your age and it it grinded on me or every time. It's pretty rare that I'd say it builds up to the point of burning out on it. It happens here and there, but it takes quite a few shows in a short period to get me there. And even so, it's hard to be having this much fun doing what we're doing and say that it feels like a grind or that I'm exhausted. I am physically exhausted. Even right now, we're coming off another show. We've been at how many big shows in the past couple months, especially in the summer run. So now it's been one of those times where fatigue said in a little bit. But I mean, I don't get tired of it. I love

of these new cities. I'm meeting a ton of people. This thing I'm so passionate about and been trying to work to build is growing every single week day over day. So it's tough in those moments to feel tired outside of maybe, all right, I need a nap. You know, that's your whole life to nap, you know? In terms of the mental and emotional, I'm not tired. You know, I love this. I want to get right to work. I just need the physical energy to do it. So got to take care of Kyle, too, sometimes in between and make sure I'm getting rested. But we're going to, we were just at the West Coast card show. Before that, we went to Ship Shawana Card Fest for the first time, which was a cool experience

as well. We were at the National before that. We were at Fanatics Fest before that in Dallas. So there's been a huge run of shows leading up till now, and we will be back in Dallas next week. And then we'll hit the Philly show for its 50th anniversary. will be October is pretty wide open. I think Chantilly shows sometime in October and then the Expo in Toronto.

So there's still a slate shows left. I'd say the bigger shows outside of the Expo have come and gone. Dallas is pretty much every six weeks. But we're on all of them, all the big shows. And we even went international a couple times in the past year. I wonder how you balance as you've gotten bigger, the personality, the brand, king of cards and hobbyist balancing. All right, guys, I'm here to sell some cards and buy some cards versus go, go, go,

call, call, call. You know, like, I mean, you do a good job in the show. You couldn't be more gracious, but like, there's got to be a balance there, right? Yeah, we've talked a lot about that recently, too. It's, what, how can I not be humbled by all of that, right? Like, I got people jumping to me, me. I'm just a card dealer at the end of the day, right? Like we've put ourselves out there.

We've built a brand and a channel. But like I was speaking about being on camera. I'm still the same guy doing the same things. There's just a camera on. And there's people in the space that have cards, individual pieces of cardboard, worth more than my business. And so, you know, you got to humble yourself in those moments where, yeah, like, is it a bit overwhelming, of course, but I've worked for this to be in this position.

And it shows me the impact we're making. So I try to take time with every single person that cares to have a moment with us. That being said, like, we've talked in recent times. It has gotten very overwhelming in certain scenarios where we do struggle in a day's time and certain hours of a show because of how many people were meeting and talking to to get to our regularly scheduled programming of getting up to tables and getting deals done. So, of course, it's, I keep telling people, I've had that discussion a lot lately. What an amazing problem to have, right? Yeah. But I want to be able to give the people the reason they were there in the first place you know i want to be able to show the big deals

on how things go down there and just do our things so finding that balance has been very tricky uh rewarding and it's humbling but it's tough it's tough right now i'll never be the guy that says no to anybody right like i'm almost in some situations rushing around doing things i felt it a lot at the national where i needed someone to say no for me because i'm not going to say no to anybody that wants, who supports what I'm doing that help me get here. But sometimes for my own good, I say, yeah, and it takes up the time and we pick our heads up and we've done a handful of deals and we're through the show. And it's like, man, like, if this is what I'm meant to do, that's amazing, that I mean

enough to the people out there and the collectors and the hobby that they want to spend their time with me. So maybe that's what I'm just meant to do more so than even some of the deals. There's no right answer. And I say all this to say, I don't know how to handle it. There's no textbook. We're doing our best. And as we speak, it's something I'm trying to figure out how to take care of everybody.

I think you do a good job, man. I think there shouldn't be any pressure. It's all a good problem, like you said. And I think you handle it with class and grace and integrity. And that's what, you know, why I even want to talk to you. There's several people that are popping off in this industry. I'm not going to name names. I could care less to talk to, you know, because I just see through a little bit of what they're doing.

But there's a character here. that I don't know, it's apparent. So I just want you to know that. You're putting out what you're preaching. Yeah. No, we're, look, I, you know, I never make it about anybody else. I understand the sentiments beyond other things. It's all love for me with anybody that's trying to grow the space the right way.

And, you know, I'd just leave it at that. Last question, Kyle, before we tell everybody where to keep up with everything that you're doing. You know, for you, like when you think about collecting and the chase of collecting, you've got the searching, you've got the negotiation. You've got the negotiating. You've got the selling. What's your favorite part of all of that? And you can't say all of it. I'd say as a right now, it's really just those moments in between.

Those moments that people are seeing, those are very real and special. And same way as the deals, there just happens to be a camera on. And I'm used to it at this point. It doesn't change anything for me. Hearing people's stories, the impact that whatever this is that we're doing, has on them, how it's connected with them, giving them something in a tough time to distract themselves, inspire them to start that business, connected them with their parents or their sons or daughters. It is those things that make it all worthwhile and make me want to grow with that much more

because what deal, what dollar figure am I going to hit in a deal or the bank account that's going to make it worthwhile? I don't think it exists. I've done a lot of big deals. You could change the $100,000 at a show to a million at a show to $1,000.000. 10 million and what what's the line what is enough so for me what makes it more than enough and wants has me wanting to keep going and building on it and enjoying it is those things because we had people coming up there was a video with a gentleman older gentleman bill he comes up to us at the ship show we never met before and i never had such you know incredible words spoken to me about anything i was doing before and this is coming from a gentleman that's respectfully probably seen

a lot more than I've seen and knows a lot more than I know about the world. And he came up to me and said those things. And then we get to share it with the world. Moments like that to sit back to rewatch it. I teared up there. I cried after. You know, it's like what else is there, really? So, yeah, I could talk about the buys and the sales and the trades, how the amazing

the cards are. But what stands out to me is the impact we're having. And it is wild to me. And people come up and they say it's so incredible. you're doing, I think I may be more surprised than anybody else out there on the way that this is it's reaching people and changing lives. And to say that out loud, changing lives from what we're doing, what this started from, how it started. And it's just, it's wild. So that is what stands out to me. I think we'll always stand out. And yeah, I want to make millions of dollars. I sure do.

There's no shine away from that. But it won't mean anything unless I do it the right way and have an impact on the space that leaves something special in it. Don't ever change, Blue. Like there's a line from a movie there, you know. Keep it all, always keep it about that. Kyle, where can everybody keep up with what you're doing? Everybody's list is probably already watching you on YouTube, but let's give them all those deeds.

So we got it. It's King of the Cards. Cards is with a K. And we're on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Got short form content on all three platforms and our full videos on YouTube. Where can I get what? one of those hats so I can have it on the table here where we get those at. So we still have the OG that's been seen in most of the videos with the Navy Blue.

It's the same hat as this, but in Navy Blue, that's up on hobbyistbrand.org and the new drops are coming soon. So hobbyistbrand.org, and that's where everything's going to be funneling through. There we go. Brother, appreciate what you're doing from the Alford family and the show. I will, man. We can't wait to see you at the next show. So I expect my phone to blow up when we've got news to drop.

And I'm here to support your brother. I got you locked. And I appreciate that. Thanks for having me. And good luck with all this. I hope everybody keeps listening. Hey, guys, you're to find us collectibles. Dot show.

You'll see the whole video here of King of the Cards on episode two. I'm at Ryan Offer. Give me a shot on the DMs. Let us know what you think. What do you want to see? What do you want to hear? And send us in those PCs. What's the PC of the week?

What did you nail? Do you have that story like Kyle did? Getting old Texas A&M. You know, I didn't know if we talked about Texas A&M so much here. It's a Clemson guy. But we did. Johnny Mansell, he was one of the greatest college quarterbacks all time. And I mean that.

Dude, nobody runs up and down on Alabama like that. I remember, Kyle. I watched it. But we appreciate Kyle from coming on. And we appreciate you. We'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform.

and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.comlectables. Or follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Olford. Now get out there and collect yours.