This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
I wasn't sure what to do, so I started selling sports cards. That's what you're gonna hear about in today's episode. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host. Thanks for tuning in.
This is in fact our segment known as First $1,000. We're gonna hear from a Los Angeles consultant who begins buying and reselling sports cards during the pandemic. He did it because it was fun, but it also ended up being highly profitable. In fact, I believe he is still doing it. He built this little business, which is not just a little business, it's actually a pretty big business now.
His name is Brad. He's known as the Comeback Card Investor. In this segment, we get to hear how somebody makes their first $1,000. They often go on to earn a lot more than that, but I want you to understand the origin point because you too can make your first $1,000 in a new side hustle, and then hopefully go on to earn much more from that as well. That's the whole point.
We're teaching through stories, case studies, and models. This one comes to us from Brad in Los Angeles. Gonna pass the mic to him. I'll be back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
Hey guys, I'm Brad.
And in the sports card world, I'm known as the Comeback Card Investor. Basically my journey to my first $1,000 in this very unique and seemingly random income stream was highly unexpected, but just like a lot of wonderful things in life, that's just how it goes. So long story short, it was early March of 2020, and I was building my financial coaching business. I was essentially helping people here in Los Angeles make better decisions with their money and get out of debt and start building wealth. And then all of a sudden COVID hit and the world just completely stopped.
And from a career standpoint, I thought that this would lead to more clients, but the problem was that I was struggling. Not with my money, but I was struggling emotionally and mentally since pretty much everything enjoyable was taken away from me and everyone close to me was now far away. And I had my closest friends isolating themselves from me and the rest of the world. My girlfriend at the time was tending to her daughter in New York, and I was just having zero fun. Everything was just so serious that I felt completely drained and I could barely do any work.
And there wasn't even an incentive to do work because pretty much everything I wanted to do and everything that I was enjoying had now evaporated. And so the big turning point for me was the late in March, 2020, when the business coach I hired to help me get my coaching business off the ground recognized how drained I was. And he just flat out asked me, what is bringing you joy right now? And I told him, I said, the only thing that is bringing a little bit of a smile to my face is learning about sports cards. And I told him, his name is James, I said that I heard Gary V talk about sports cards and how they're coming back.
And I've just been fascinated learning how you can invest in cards in a really similar way to artwork and stocks and these other investment vehicles. And so he reminded me that the goal of all of this is to find the overlap of my strengths and my passions and then also something that can produce income and that he saw this niche as something that had a lot of potential for me. So back then, April, 2020, James flat out challenged me to only invest in sports cards and then also create content around what I'm doing. Just for 30 days straight as an experiment. And so that was April, 2020, and I have not looked back and it started with flipping a few $2 sports cards to $6 and then $6 sports cards to $25 and then just getting smarter and taking more calculated risks.
And then after a few months, I realized I'd made my first $1,000 just by remotely flipping cards from the comfort of my bed while most other people were just waiting for this storm to pass. And as of right now, not only have I made five figures from sports card flipping, but I've also made five figures from creating content around it. I've gotten featured in an upcoming documentary about the return of sports cards. And I'm also working with some high level people in the industry. And it all just started by committing to following my journey and sharing my journey with others.
So a couple of things to leave you with. Number one, I decided to go all in and drop everything I could that was slowing my progress or draining my mental or emotional energy. And I kind of look at it like X-ing out of all the different programs on your computer. So the one screen you want is the only one there. And then the computer can operate at its highest level if that's the only program running.
So just eliminating distractions in my life was far more beneficial than adding new things. Second of all, the compound effect is real. It is like so real. And it's not just in money, but also in effort and skills and relationships. So every handshake you make, every skill you learn and sharpen, every good seed that you plant is actually leading to a massive tipping point.
So if you're thinking that success is based on this linear model, the good news is that it's not. Every step you're taking is just another swing of an ax at this massive tree. And while most swings look like they're not doing anything, they're actually getting you closer and closer to that final swing that will knock down your own tree of breakthrough. [Music]
All right, big thanks to Brad for telling us about his first $1,000. Hope you found it interesting and encouraging.
Check out Brad's YouTube channel, The Comeback Card Investor, youtube.com/thecomebackcardinvestor. He's got a lot of teaching points, educational points, really helping people understand this particular niche. And in the world of collectibles, this is a key lesson. The whole point about how do you figure out the minority of profitable cards or could be some other product or item. A lot of those items and products are not profitable, but a small minority are.
How do you figure it out? And Brad tells you exactly that. So there's always room for a teaching business for somebody to kind of unlock mysteries, make things easier for somebody else. Anyway, Brad, thank you again. Listeners, thank you.
What's bringing you joy right now? Doesn't have to connect to something money-making, but maybe it does. And that's always nice if it does. sidehustleschool.com. You can access the archives, the complete library, the complete legacy library of archival episodes, more than 3,400 plus so far in the catalog.
Always completely free, download or stream, wherever you like. New episodes out every single day. Also free. That's it for now. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
