What It's About
A hobbyist hits a home run buying and reselling sports cards.
Words of Wisdom
Brad drops some important advice for those seeking to start a similar hustle, "Have a deep passion and sense of urgency for learning about the niche. Have immense will power and patience when it comes to investing. There are a ton of shiny distractions that are horrible investments. Don't get trigger happy. Get excited to dive into the research."
Fun Fact
The most expensive sports trading card ever solid is a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card. It sold for $5.2 million dollars in January 2021.
Notes from Chris
Episode 1606
Brad de Comarmond describes his life as one big side hustle. While he makes his living mainly as a finance coach, he also dabbles in modeling and speaking—two activities that both took a big hit in 2020. While looking for ways to pass the time in lockdown, he fell back into one of his childhood hobbies: trading collectible sports cards. Brad had never lost his interest in sports, but the trading cards had sat on the bench since his teenage years. While he knew there were a few rare, vintage cards that were valued in the millions, he thought the hobby for the most part was child's play—not a way to make a serious income. Yet, a chance discussion with a childhood friend would soon prove him wrong… That friend told Brad about COMC.com—the site stands for “check out my collectibles.” It’s a card trading platform that allowed remote sales and storage of trading cards. In other words, you could purchase, store and resell a card with them without it ever leaving their warehouse. Instantly intrigued by this concept, Brad set himself a thirty day window to learn all there was to know about the world of trading cards. If, after that time was up he felt like it was a home run idea he’d throw himself in. If not, he’d forfeit his free agent rights and move on. By the time his thirty day limit was up, he had the confidence to give card trading a shot, starting at the budget price of one hundred dollars. Although it wasn’t quite the big leagues, for Brad it was still game on. Luckily for Brad, he is a sports fanatic and follows the industry closely. That helped him develop a sixth sense for what cards would do well and increase in value. This keen eye for value helped Brad sell over twenty thousand dollars worth of cards over the last twelve months. That’s been enough money to cover his living costs while his other work has been quiet. But the best part is Brad feels like a kid again, and is actually making money while following his favorite sports teams.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Learn more about Brad and his card investing business at his website, TheComebackCardInvestor.com and checkout his YouTube page if you're interested in sports card trading.
- Brad uses COMC.com, Alt Trading, SlabStox, and Ebay to buy and sell cards.
- High School Junior Earns $10,000 Selling Autographed Baseballs: A Maryland high-school student parlays his love of baseball into a lucrative sports memorabilia side hustle.
- High School Teacher Starts Baseball Pitching Academy: An Ohio high-school teacher pitches a perfect game with his six-figure side business.
- Fan Scores Big with Marketplace for Football Shirts: A football (soccer) shirt enthusiast turns his fashion passion into profits, overcoming a crippling field penalty given by Facebook.
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Resources
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Quote of the Day
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