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Collector Nation
UnKommon take on Collectibles, Community & the Future of Trading Cards | Kyle Kravitz "King of the Kards" Interview | Hosted by Ryan Alford
00:54:20
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- [00:00]
Ryan Alford
Very few people go, I wish I hadn't taken quite as large a swing. It's usually the other way around.
- [00:06]
Kyle Kravitz
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, I bid on this card, was so much higher than what I went for. It would, it would scare some people.
- [00:18]
Podcast Host
Welcome to the trading cards and collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From Chasing Grails to Call in bluffs and Going inside the hobby, are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford.
- [00:36]
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 all things, the hobbyist. What's up, brother?
- [00:54]
Kyle Kravitz
What's up? Look, I gotta have you do that intro so I could record it. I don't know if I can click that legally or not, but that's awesome. So appreciate you having me and happy to represent the TV box at the house.
- [01:05]
Ryan Alford
Dude, you know, they, they say old, the old school way of TV ratings, it's like streaming stuff now, but let's just say the Alford house. Kyle, Kyle and King of Cards is the number one rated show in the offer television. I think you're being burned into the screen.
- [01:23]
Kyle Kravitz
Well, shout out to the Alford boys because, you know, I'm sure you contribute a little bit, but. I know, absolutely, yeah, 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.
- [01:38]
Ryan Alford
Oh, they will be, man. They. No one, they don't light up any faster than me saying Kyle's coming on the show today. And so I heard a couple of them are going, my throat hurts a little, you know, trying to fake a, you know, injury or something to get over here. But we kept them in the school. Yeah, get out of school to 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 like with us. And I know it's why you've had a lot of success. So I. I do appreciate how, I don't know, open you are, how. 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.
- [02:39]
Kyle Kravitz
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 humbling experience. And I'm happy to take the time, wherever we can, with those people supporting it.
- [03:22]
Ryan Alford
What was the moment, Kyle, when you.
- [03:24]
Rad Rips Host
Said, I'm gonna turn the camera on?
- [03:27]
Ryan Alford
Like, what.
- [03:29]
Rad Rips Host
When did that.
- [03:30]
Ryan Alford
When did that, like, trigger to go, okay, there's some point that you go, okay, I'm gonna. 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?
- [03:43]
Kyle Kravitz
I'll answer the second question first. It's very hard at first. That's a whole nother 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 of 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 traveled 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. 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 I can put that same video on multiple platforms and connect from the same, work with more people. 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.
- [05:54]
Ryan Alford
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 with, I promise. But I like, 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 crystallized is this is hard. It's not easy. It's. It's the repetitive. It, it's fun the first time maybe you know, it's. 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 and 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.
- [06:55]
Kyle Kravitz
It's a lot of work. But I, I More speak to. You were asking when that first time was and yeah, I remember, for example, the first time sitting down. I'd never done a tick tock 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 lane of 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 to 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. 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 the 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.
- [08:13]
Ryan Alford
And trust it and set up the systems and the. I don't know the way. Cadence, I'm sure you have process procedures at this point on some level. And a team of guys, a 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.
- [08:33]
Kyle Kravitz
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 and. But yeah, it takes. It takes a village to get to where I want to go. And we're far from there yet.
- [09:10]
Ryan Alford
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.
- [09:22]
Kyle Kravitz
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 20, 19, 20, 20, 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 could 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.
- [10:28]
Ryan Alford
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, I'm. There's some wisdom to hearing you talk, Kyle, like, especially knowing, look, I. I lost a million dollars on a venture when I was 45. Yeah. 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 in your 20s. So yeah, man, swing for the fences, baby.
- [11:11]
Kyle Kravitz
Every one of those million dollar losses though, you know, I'm sure there's been those successes at a level like that or 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, probably 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 I went and 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, it 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 make some mistakes and slide back down a little bit, but you'll be a lot further ahead than you otherwise would have been.
- [12:11]
Ryan Alford
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 I mean, is it nostalgia? Status, creativity? What is it?
- [12:25]
Kyle Kravitz
Well, I mean, look, it's dads like you, right, you know, that are bringing their kids out to the card 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 bit Wayfarers.
- [13:06]
Rad Rips Host
Labor day clearance is here right now.
- [13:08]
Kyle Kravitz
Score up to 70% off everything home.
- [13:11]
Rad Rips Host
Plus fast shipping on everything right to your door Shop now through September 2nd.
- [13:16]
Kyle Kravitz
At Wayfair.com Wayfair Every style, every home 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, 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.
- [14:09]
Ryan Alford
Do you think it's. There's a fine balance for me, even with like living this through my, 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? Yeah, of course.
- [14:38]
Kyle Kravitz
Easily separated. I'm a collector first. Like I said, my business happened by, not by accident. It was, 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 wanted 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 into my chips, but I keep the cards that I can't come across again that I, 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 Manziel now because I grew up watching that era of him and A and 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. Like I remember that era. There's a picture of me doing it, by the way. I'll have to send that to you.
- [15:34]
Ryan Alford
I want to see that. I want that for the episode. You need to text that to me.
- [15:37]
Kyle Kravitz
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 are my favorite. And I bought one. There's a video of me buying one and it went viral. And it was this one of one exquisite patch auto from A and 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 know it alls. 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 car, and I turned it down without even 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 Jeters was everything to me growing up, and fortunate to connect with him a couple 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 walk off and that magic night and moment, and I was there and I had my ticket and I had him sign it. There's plenty in my collection from those couple guys, my favorite teams, guys that stood out to me. Cards I come across at 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.
- [17:13]
Ryan Alford
How do you think, though, people watching you and the younger generation, you know, kids, my. My kids age 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 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?
- [17:52]
Kyle Kravitz
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. Is not even at shows. They're at home collecting online. Like, we forget that we're so entrenched into the people that you see at these national size shows or online. Like, 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 people they're seeing do it that they're forgetting. Well, those are people that are somewhat in business or 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'd have a right to make in 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, I like to think that more people are like that than not. And the people that are in it just on business, then, you know, they'll, they'll keep turning it over and that's. They're missing out on the fun 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 like my personal collection that's staying with me. And it's always these guys that haven't proven anything are 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, 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 him 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.
- [20:08]
Ryan Alford
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, I mean like this guy, this 12 year old is trying to hustle me. But I think it's a good point that, you know, the, the, the large card shows is. Is sort of its own vacuum of things that 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?
- [21:10]
Kyle Kravitz
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. Like I have a couple of his Black Prism, Finites and National Treasures 101s. 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 2 of 10 in a beckon 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 auction 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. Oh, I said whatever it takes. When I tell you my bid on this card. Thank God nobody else bid. I bid on this card was so much higher than what it went for. It would. 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 much more special to me. So, yeah, there's a good story behind it. That is one that stands out for sure.
- [23:11]
Ryan Alford
I love that. That's a great story. What's up, guys?
- [23:20]
Rad Rips Host
Here on Lake Kiwi? We're doing a little rad rips on the boat. Beautiful houseboat 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. Opened 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.
- [24:01]
Ryan Alford
And all the hottest players. Is that kind of like the most.
- [24:03]
Rad Rips Host
Generic thing you could ever see, say, is just 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 mega box exclusives, Lavender parallels and spellbind filled, spellbound filled, vision and more. Got a mega box here from Don Russell Elite and Score. We've opened up some hobby boxes of this Score product that were pretty good. I don't. I have not open a retail blaster box of either one of these. So first for both, here's what we're looking for. Let's 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. Breaking rad.com it's actually our handle on Instagram and the website for Rad Collective. At least our hobby stuff is@breakingrad.com yes, you get to play on words there. I'm 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, LudX. Best scanning app in the game and the best app for actually loading to ebay. Hundreds of cards in minutes, these things. Scan it in, makes it so easy.
- [25:37]
Ryan Alford
Great partner.
- [25:38]
Rad Rips Host
Check them out. Mason Taylor, played at lsu. Great player. I don't know their parallels well enough. To know if that's something special. But what you used to start the old backwards Trey McBride celebration.
- [25:53]
Ryan Alford
Sack attack.
- [25:54]
Rad Rips Host
Yeah, it is. First ballot. Barry Sanders, the hall of Fame. Another celebration. Mike Evans, Yvonne Mike Evans, Ford Jordan Love, Cooper De Jean. It's not my safety. And there you have it, the look.
- [26:13]
Ryan Alford
Of Don Russ Elite.
- [26:15]
Rad Rips Host
The gold packs right off the get. Look at there. What are the chances we started with? You see the differences in cards immediately right we have Mason Taylor and Jason Taylor, James Connor, Tayson Hill and even Brown's rookie. We've got oh, numbered out of 299, numbered to 3.99. What is it with these linemen that were getting numbered or line Decker, Robert Brazil, CD Lamb on the throwbacks. Kyle Van Noyle, sack attack. I don't know why that's hard to say. Oh, that looks cool. Ashton Gentry, good running back. Great running back. Gonna be a stud in the NFL. Travis Etienne, Clemson guy. Madison Forrest Bunker, Nico Collins. Stefan Gilmore, played at South Carolina. Great player. Tayvion Sanders here seeing how his second year goes. So there we have it. Little sums Caleb. I think it's gonna be a big year for my guy. I think it's gonna be a big year for my dude. Ryan Burns, Dallas Turner, solid. Oh, look at this. This is cool. Hey now athlete Patrick Mahomes fracture. It's like a case hit or something. Erlacher got his autograph a couple weeks ago. Dustin Herbert and Cuba. He played at Clemson, then went to Texas. Bradley Cooper, Duke. Might be good. Don't know yet. On the green league leaders not 65 yarder to that 70 was kicked by little by Jacksonville neighbors throwback. Cool Last pack Magic here on the score viewers. Interesting how he plays. Oh, it looks cool. I don't know what it is. Ooh, Jaden Daniels, Baker Mayfield, throwback. There's your Cam Ward. Rookie card right there as first one person. Gonalo Smith, Debo. All right, few packs left here this bonus Elite. Terry Grand Shaw and Jonathan Taylor. Also orange 849. Very cool. Let's see. Let's see what we got. I hate flipping the guards. There's no boy. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson bounce back we hope spellbound. Derrick Henry. Three packs left here. Hookah Judy. Oh my God. Very cool looking green out of 9.99 though. Quinton Junkins loving the look. So what do you guys think of these? Liking them, not liking them. Drag maybe 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 an affordable. There's football goes. This is them. Ed Reed, Chase Brown, Marlon Harrison Jr. Another big rookie from last year. And to finish it out we've got Nick bolton on the 999. All right guys, there you have it. Score. And Don Russ Elite from 2025. Fun rips a lot of fun. I would class this as fun value. So so give these solid 6 or 7 out of 10 given what they cost and what they are availability. I like the Donruss Elite look. I don't know. Much better looking than Donruss base. To me it's just you don't have the downtown. So he's had a downtown in this. They'd be 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.
- [30:02]
Podcast Host
You see something you like in our pack rips on the show? Check out the Rad Collective eBay store and eBay live shows at ebaylivestore.com or@breakingrad.com all the cars we rip on the show will be available on both platforms.
- [30:25]
Ryan Alford
Kyle, we're Clemson guys so if you come across any Clemson cards you need to text 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.
- [30:53]
Kyle Kravitz
I feel you on that's what I just said about Johnny. It's like I love him 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 lets me enjoy my guide 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.
- [31:14]
Ryan Alford
So yeah, I hear Josh Allen's my favorite player. I have a lot of 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 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 Wyoming, you know, this is back right when he was freshman at Wyoming. I was like 2014, something like that time period. Yeah. For at Wyoming, I was like, he had a canon 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.
- [32:09]
Kyle Kravitz
I'm a Jets fan. I. I like the guy and I know we're supposed to be rivals with, with the Bills. I have an like an affinity for Bill's Mafia.
- [32:19]
Ryan Alford
Yes.
- [32:19]
Kyle Kravitz
I think they're awesome. I love the passion. They're good people. I have a lot of good friends in Buffalo. Like, 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 playoffs runs.
- [32:37]
Ryan Alford
I know just happened to be, you know, one of the freaking Mahomes. Had to come along at the same time and it's like, ah, you know, it's kind of like of course that. That whole thing. How's your approach to buying and selling and doing what you do at these shows? How's it 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 I've. 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 cities did there see.
- [33:15]
Kyle Kravitz
How he worked that angle?
- [33:17]
Ryan Alford
But has it had to change being a personality in the space as well as the trader? I mean talk about that.
- [33:26]
Kyle Kravitz
Not. I like to think not because I pride myself so much on the authenticity factor which is know feedback that people have given us. It means a lot to me to keep to that too. And I. 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. To keep the same with that. So I take care of people on, off camera. I. 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' 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, but it's. I think, I think I do pretty much the same exact thing I was doing. And yeah, you know, you still, 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.
- [34:51]
Ryan Alford
But the camera, I mean, I told, 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. It's definitely, probably open doors and I'm sure, you know, created connections to make this. 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. And I'm like, the dude's running a company. I mean, this is his business, his livelihood. Like, get over it.
- [35:27]
Kyle Kravitz
People have different opinions of these things. It's not 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 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 card, 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 lowballing, 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 from me and build those relationships and show people how they can do the same.
- [36:44]
Ryan Alford
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. It's like. But some people just want to get their panties in a wad over, you know, like the other deal.
- [37:20]
Kyle Kravitz
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. We really do show pretty much everything. Not much of anything gets cut. And so you can go see it all. And. 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 the 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. That's how it works.
- [38:01]
Ryan Alford
Hobbyist, 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 hobbyists.
- [38:28]
Kyle Kravitz
So hobbyists. 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 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 wanted 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 into something that I think people will appreciate as it grows.
- [40:00]
Ryan Alford
All right, you brought that up. So, you know, as any good person interviewing or talking to someone, is there anything you can share here as a first release with the King of Cards and the Hobbyist brand?
- [40:13]
Kyle Kravitz
So. Well, I'll give you this much. You know, we. We had one simple model of hat. It was similar to this one in the navy blue. This one's black. Nothing. Nothing crazy on that front. There are a couple more designs coming down the line. A couple more. And mainly where they will begin to be available. Distribution 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 hat 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.
- [40:56]
Ryan Alford
We can piece that one together. We'll connect the dots for you. When you see Million Dollar Sub brand of merchandise coming out with the Hobbyist. We'll. We'll have that as a headline. The moment you green light it. I expect the text messages here. I need to be the green light this. We're becoming the media channel for the hobby here. So this is symbiotic here. You know, like, feed it to me.
- [41:18]
Kyle Kravitz
I. I can break some news on here. This could be the. The Pat McAfee to my Aaron Rodgers, you know.
- [41:23]
Ryan Alford
Exactly. See?
- [41:24]
Rad Rips Host
Yeah.
- [41:25]
Ryan Alford
Hey, I did. I modeled my business show after Pat. And, you know, I'm gonna. I'm the number one show in marketing. I mean, it's a. It's a niche, but was kind of after that, I knew marketing could be interesting, you know, it didn't have to be. And today we're gonna learn about direct mail and SEO. Like, who wants to hear that?
- [41:46]
Kyle Kravitz
You gotta have some energy behind it. Right. We gotta give the people something they wanna hear and have some fun with it. So that's awesome.
- [41:52]
Ryan Alford
What's the future hold? We talked about hobbyists. There's obviously, you got your hands with that, like card shows, collabs, anything you can talk about, like through the rest of this year where you're going to be all that kind of stuff.
- [42:05]
Kyle Kravitz
Yeah, I mean, I'll be. We pop around pretty regularly. Last year we were at 26 shows. This year we'll be at 21. Tried to roll it back just to have some kind of life in between believe it or not, I do things outside of card shows. Have a girlfriend, have friends. You know, people don't believe it, but I do.
- [42:25]
Ryan Alford
And does it travel? It's a travel, a grind. I mean, I know the. I did used to do that when I was your age and it grinded on me over time.
- [42:34]
Kyle Kravitz
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 has been one of those times where fatigue set in a little bit. But I mean, I don't get tired of it. I love going to 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, and.
- [43:20]
Ryan Alford
Get your whole life to nap.
- [43:21]
Kyle Kravitz
You know, in terms of the mental and emotional, I'm. I'm not tired. You know, I. 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 show 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 in 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 or so.
- [44:22]
Ryan Alford
I wonder how you balance as. 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 come, come, come, come, come. 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?
- [44:43]
Kyle Kravitz
Yeah, we've talked a lot about that recently, too. It's. What. How can I not be humbled by all that? Right? Like, I got people jumping to meet me. I'm. I'm just the car 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 gotta humble yourself in those moments where. Yeah. Like, is it a bit overwhelming? Of course. But I've worked for. 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, in certain hours of a show because of how many people we're meeting and talking to to get to our regularly scheduled program, 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?
- [45:51]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [45:52]
Kyle Kravitz
But I want to be able to give the people the reason they were there in the first place. Know, I want to be able to show the big deals and how things go down there and just do our thing. So finding that balance has been very tricky, 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 helped me get here. But sometimes, for my own good, I. 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. That I mean enough to the people out there and the collectors in 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.
- [46:57]
Ryan Alford
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. You handle it with class and grace and integrity. And that's what, you know, why I 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. It's a parent. So I just want you to know that you're putting out what you're preaching.
- [47:28]
Kyle Kravitz
Yeah. Now we're like, 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 just leave it at that.
- [47:41]
Ryan Alford
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 negotiating, you've got the selling. What's your favorite part of all of that? And you can't say all of it.
- [47:59]
Kyle Kravitz
I. I'd say as of 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, inspired 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 it that much more. Because what deal, what dollar figure am I Going to hit in a deal or a 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 hundred thousand at a show to a million at a show to 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 Shawana 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 re watch it. I teared up there. I cried after. You know it's like what, what else is there really? So yeah, I could talk about the buys and the cells and the trades, how amazing the cards are. But what stands out to me is the, the impact we're having. And it is, it's wild to me. And people come up and they say it's so incredible what 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 the started from how it started and it's just, it's wild. So that is what stands out to me, I think will 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.
- [50:22]
Ryan Alford
Don't ever change blue. Like there's a line from a movie there, you know, keep it all, always keep it about that. Go 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 deets. So we got it.
- [50:37]
Kyle Kravitz
It's king of the cards. Cards is with a K and we're on tick tock. Instagram and YouTube got short form content on all three platforms and our full videos on YouTube.
- [50:47]
Ryan Alford
Where can I get one of those hats so I can have it on the table here where we get those at.
- [50:51]
Kyle Kravitz
So we still have the. 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.
- [51:07]
Ryan Alford
There we go, brother. Appreciate what you're doing from the Alford family and the show. I will, man. Can't wait to see you at the next show. I expect my phone to blow up when we've got news to drop and. And I'm here to support you, brother.
- [51:24]
Kyle Kravitz
I got you locked. And I appreciate that. Thanks for having me and good luck with all this. I hope everybody keeps listening.
- [51:29]
Ryan Alford
Hey, guys, you're gonna find us Collectibles show. You'll see the whole video here of King of the Cards on episode two of 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 you nail. Do you have that story like Kyle did? Getting old. Texas A and M. You know, I didn't know if we talked about Texas A and M so much here as a Clemson guy, but we did. Johnny Manziel, he was one of the greatest college quarterbacks of 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.
- [52:11]
Rad Rips Host
We'll see you next time.
- [52:12]
Podcast Host
Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform form and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www. Collectibles show or follow Ryan on Instagram at ryanolford. Now get out there and collect your.