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Articles by Jonathan Torrey
Before You Chase AI Leads, Fix Your Google Business Profile
Every few months, the trades get swept up in a new marketing craze. One day it’s TikTok for plumbers, the next it’s “AI lead generation.” ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are buzzing through the industry right now, promising to change how homeowners find local pros. But before we sprint toward the next shiny thing, it’s worth asking a simple question: Where do your best leads actually come from?
Top 20 Most Valuable UFC Cards Ever Sold
pop culture So, you're wondering what the most valuable UFC cards ever sold are? Let's get in to it! Televised mixed martial arts (MMA) matches have been growing in popularity over the last two decades with stars like Conor McGregor becoming household names. The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) has hosted multiple matches with pay-per-view buyers in themillions and its Instagram account has 10 million more followers than the NFL.
Day One Helps Entrepreneurs Build Better Businesses
Andrew and his team bootstrapped the first 18 months of Day One to validate their hypothesis that there was a need for their product and then raised their first institutional round toward the end of 2021. With their first formal fundraising round complete, they began to experiment with their business model and offerings.
25 Gifts For Trading Card Collectors To Fit Any Budget
pop culture Buying gifts for trading card collectors, but don't know exactly where to start? You are aware that they love the hobby, but you might not know the first thing about which cards to buy. Related: 28 Sweet Gifts For Wrestling Fans With that in mind, we put together this gift guide that would be great for all collectors, no matter the budget. Instead of buying actual cards, these accessories would be fantastic additions.
Leveling Up Aspiring Entrepreneurs Through NFTs
He mentioned that he used to sell digital gaming helmets for thousands of dollars in 8th grade. For example, he sold a helmet in Ever Quest for ~$3,500. Gaming backgrounds are a pretty common theme in quickly understanding the NFT space — those with gaming backgrounds tend to grasp digital scarcity when others don’t quite understand it.
Behind the Scenes with Local Weather NFT
“It’s crazy that you’re describing something you drink and it’s not on the market.” — Jon Alagem to Russell Wilson Jon started his career in finance after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, but quickly realized he was an entrepreneur at heart, so he enrolled in the NYU Stern School of Business MBA program.
Sports Card Product Release Calendar: April 2022
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to be played later this year from November 21st through December 18th. While that may seem far away, the World Cup is played just once every four years, and it’s an exciting opportunity to get a card of your favorite player produced during the year the tournament is held. It’s also worth noting that the 2018 World Cup final had , which got as high as 1.1 billion people watching at least some part of the match.
The 10 Most Valuable Women's Sports Cards Ever Sold // ONE37pm
culture The sports card market has been rapidly growing since 2019 and we’ve seen a number of sales make headlines across many different sports and athletes. Since it’s Women’s History Month, we wanted to take a look at the top 10 women’s sports cards ever sold. Not surprisingly, one athlete dominates this list: Serena Williams.
Fortnite Series 1 Trading Cards: Top 10 Sales
culture In March of 2018, Fortnite became the most-viewed video game on the streaming platform Twitch and is still one of the most popular battle royale video games of 2022 with 80.4 million active users and as many as 4 million players per day. Fortnite launched in July 2017 and Battle Royale was released as free to play in September 2017. The game itself has become a pop culture icon and is a recognizable brand around the world.
The World’s First Decentralized Movie Studio
nft Behind the Scenes with Bill Whirity and Matthew Lillard NFTs and their underlying technology offer a new world of potential for those who are prepared to head down the path of innovation. Because NFTs are so new, it can be intimidating for any public creator to stake a claim in a project or idea and push through to see the other side of its potential success.
Behind The Scenes with Gavin Meeler: Getting Unstuck Through Art
nft Adversity has historically led to art movements that define our culture and NFTs are no different. What may be lost in the popularity and explosion of this new medium for delivering, selling, and buying art are the stories behind the artists. These stories can be a powerful medium in the NFT space that helps artists emerge and find a fan base who connects to their work.
Tom Brady Retirement: Analyzing His Card Market
culture Tom Brady has officially retired after 22 seasons in the NFL despite rumors that he may change his mind. At 44 years old, he led the reigning Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a tough divisional-round loss to the eventual Super Bowl Champions after an MVP-like season of 5,316 passing yards, 43 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, and a 13–4 regular season.
Behind the Scenes with Turkish Artist Uzay Çöpü
nft Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are connecting people across the globe over common interests, a love for art, creators, utility, and the opportunity to find a tribe whose interests align. The frenzy of record sales in 2021 and 2022 has many caught up in the euphoria of purchasing a life-changing NFT, but artists who have been grinding their entire lives cherish the opportunity that’s in front of them.
A New Category of Collectibles is Hot! // ONE37pm
culture In 2019, the sports trading card market started to heat up again. A rush of nostalgia and drive to acquire cards of favorite athletes triggered the revival of the sports card market that’s expected to continue growing for years to come. Since 2019, trading card market preferences have evolved — from prospecting on rookie players to buying Pokemon cards to funneling back to vintage cards and accomplished veterans and now . . . to ticket stubs.
Top 10 Cards to Watch Heading into the NFL Playoffs // ONE37pm
culture The NFL playoffs are finally here and it’s time to look at the top 10 football cards to watch heading into the post-season. This year’s post-season offers up a lot of opportunity for quarterbacks both young and old. Joe Burrow makes his first playoff appearance. Mac Jones gets a shot at becoming the first rookie quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl.
The History of Precious Metal Gems // ONE37pm
Precious Metal Gems, “PMGs” for short, was released in 1997 as part of the larger Skybox Metal Universe basketball and football card sets. Since then, PMGs from the 1997–98 basketball set have become some of the most iconic and collectible inserts in the hobby. PMGs are significant because they represent the earliest implementation of what saved the hobby from the junk wax era and helped create the engine for the modern collecting economy we enjoy today: artificial scarcity.
Top 10 Hottest NBA Cards Since the Start of the Season
culture The 2021–22 NBA season kicked off about 3 months ago and we’ve already had plenty of action including a historical New York Knicks win over the Boston Celtics, a surprise team leading the Eastern Conference, a struggling Los Angeles Lakers team, and much more. Now that we’re a few months into the season, it’s time to look at which players and cards have grown the fastest in value.
Highest Population PSA Sports Card Sets of All-Time
culture For the past few years, people in the hobby have been debating whether or not we are in a second junk wax era. The sports card market has been booming for a few years now and there was no shortage of record multi-million dollar card sales in 2021. Despite the record sales, it’s in the back collector’s minds that card companies are producing an outsized supply in the midst of a sports card explosion, reminiscent of the 1987–1994.
NFL MVP Race — Analyzing the Card Prices // ONE37pm
culture As we enter the first-ever week 18 of NFL football, it’s time to revisit the card prices of the top 10 most likely MVPs for the 2021–22 NFL season. Vegas Insider has just 10 players remaining as MVP candidates, but it’s clear that it will come down to Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Nonetheless, this list looks much different than it did when we wrote a too early look at the top MVP candidates in late September. Kyler Murray, the former top MVP candidate has fallen to the 8th spot.
Merging Hip Hop Photography & Collectors Thru NFTs
nft NFTs offer an unprecedented opportunity for artists to directly monetize their work with their collectors and fan base. Similarly, the tech also offers an unprecedented opportunity for collectors to connect with artists and own authentic pieces that are meaningful to them in a much more scalable way. It’s hard to believe, but NFTs have been “mainstream” for less than a year.
The Top 10 Fastest Declining Cards of 2021
culture It’s really fun to look at the top card gainers for the hobby in 2021, but the explosive growth didn’t come without some serious dips. This list looks at the top-10 fastest declining sports cards of 2021 that are in graded condition with a minimum value of $250. Some of the losses on these cards are a good reminder to be thoughtful about your card purchases. This list is dominated by basketball and includes veterans with accomplished careers.
Behind The Scenes with Gilang Bogy, the Man Behind CryptoStrikers
nft Gilang Bogy didn’t think much of it when he was commissioned back in 2018 to create art for CryptoStrikers, the first soccer NFT project. It was a standard commission and he didn’t know what an NFT was at the time. 3 years later, a single piece of artwork he created for the project sold for 39.96 ETH (~$159,000). In total, his limited-edition Iconics artwork has sold for over 300 ETH (~$1.2 million) since CryptoStrikers was rediscovered in August of this year.
The Top 10 Fastest Growing Sports Cards of 2021 // ONE37pm
culture 2021 was an incredible year for sports cards. The market continued to grow and reached new heights throughout the year. Although prices came down and settled, the demand for sports cards is still much larger than it was even a year ago. We’re going to look at the top 10 fastest-growing sports cards of 2021. These 10 cards did not slow down this year and posted some pretty astonishing growth numbers. In order to qualify for this list, cards had to hold a minimum value of $250. 1.
Top 10 Most Expensive Sports Cards Sold in 2021
If there were one card to potentially challenge Wagner’s prominence in the hobby, it would be the Topps 1952, Mickey Mantle. Up until the Wagner sale, a PSA 9 copy of this card held the record for the most expensive sports card ever sold when it was purchased by actor Rob Gough for $5.2 million in January. There are just 6 copies of this card in a PSA 9 grade and only 3 in a PSA 10 grade. A Gem Mint PSA 10 Mickey Mantle is estimated to be worth somewhere between $15 million and $30 million.
12 Days of Christmas , Sports Card Wish List // ONE37pm
culture The holiday season is upon us and I know many collectors who aren’t just window shopping at their local Apple store. They’re window shopping at local hobby shops, eBay, MySlabs and if they’re feeling really good, Goldin Auctions. No holiday wish list would be complete without dreaming up sports cards we’d like to see in our collection. Below is a list of the top 12 sports cards (including a hobby box) that made my wish list at a price point of under $1,000.
Top 20 Most Valuable UFC Cards Ever Sold
culture Televised mixed martial arts (MMA) matches have been growing in popularity over the last two decades with stars like Conor McGregor becoming household names. The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) has hosted multiple matches with pay-per-view buyers in the millions and its Instagram account has 10 million more followers than the NFL. UFC isn’t generally considered amongst the “big four” sports in the US (Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey), but the audience is growing.
Boom or Bust : Analyzing The Modern NBA Card Market // ONE37pm
culture The sports card hobby started to gain serious momentum in 2019 and exploded leading up to many record (and peak) prices in early 2021. Sports cards and collectors have been around for over 100 years, but a crash of the industry in the 1990s due to the overproduction of cards has many cautiously optimistic about the modern boom.
Top 10 Fastest Declining Trading Cards This Week // ONE37pm
culture Over the past few months, we’ve listed out the top 10 fastest growing sports cards on a week-to-week basis. One smart TikTok commenter suggested we look into the 10 fastest-declining cards of this week to get a look at the other side of the market. In order to qualify for this list, cards have to be in graded condition and hold a minimum value of $250. Interestingly enough, we have coverage from football, basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey, and even Pokemon on this list. Let’s dive in. 1.
Behind The Scenes With ZeroG - A Vintage NFT Collector
nft In any collectible industry, passionate collectors will drive sustainability, interest, and value in the marketplace over the long run. Collecting NFTs may be a foreign concept to most people because the space is so new, but collecting habits will have a tremendous influence on how the space evolves. In the long run, if every single person in the NFT space is only in it to acquire an asset, sell for a profit, and move on, value and interest will be lost over time.
The Top 10 Fastest-Growing Sports Cards This Week // ONE37pm
culture This week’s top 10 fastest-growing sports cards feature a mix of modern and vintage cards across football, baseball, and soccer. The sports card market saw a big explosion in prices and activity in early 2021, but many of those valuations have dropped noticeably throughout the year. Despite these dips, there are still cards that grow in value over the short term. This top 10 list looks at graded cards with a minimum value of $250 and how much their value has increased in the past 7 days. 1.
Soccer Influencer to NFTs — A Talk with Daniel Got Hits
nft The term “degen”, short for degenerate, typically has a negative connotation, but in the crypto community, it’s a term that is celebrated. As cryptocurrencies and NFTs become more mainstream, early adopters take pride in their convictions despite years of criticism.
The Top 25 Most Expensive Soccer NFTs Ever Sold
nft A few weeks ago, we published the 25 Most Expensive Soccer Cards Ever Sold, and now, it’s time to turn our attention to the most expensive Soccer NFTs ever sold. NFTs, non-fungible-tokens, have the potential to disrupt the sports world and some of the sales on this list are comparable to the most expensive physical trading cards ever sold.
A Too Early Look at the Top NBA MVP Candidates' Card Prices
culture We are a few weeks into the 2021–22 NBA season and that means it’s time for a too-early look at the top 10 MVP candidates (based on Vegas Odds) and their card prices. In order to normalize the analysis, key rookie cards (Prizm + Topps Chrome Refractors) are analyzed for the players on this list. The list is dominated by veteran players and the top 3 MVP candidates have tight odds to start the season.
The 25 Most Expensive Soccer Cards Ever Sold
culture Soccer (also known as proper football) is the most popular sport in the world with an estimated 3.5 billion fans globally including 250 million who play the sport. To put that in perspective, American Football has an estimated 400 million fans worldwide. For every American Football fan, there are nearly 9 soccer fans. Despite the global popularity of soccer, there’s yet to be a card from the sport that has cracked the 10 most expensive sports cards sold all time.
The Top 25 Most Expensive Hockey Cards Ever Sold
culture We are about one week into the 2021–22 NHL season and there is a lot of excitement about what Turner’s new TV deal to air games can do for the sport. We also witnessed a record sale for a hockey card with the 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky PSA 10 rookie selling for $3.75 million, tied for 7th on the top-10 most expensive sports cards ever sold.
A Career Rescued by NFTs - A Conversation with 12
nft NFTs are changing lives and it’s inspiring to hear all of the stories that have emerged over the past few months. As many new people are learning about cryptocurrencies and NFTs, it’s important to provide education and practical optimism through these stories. I had the chance to sit down and interview 12, better known as 12yr Old w/ Credit Card on Discord (no, he’s not actually 12 years old). Because of the pandemic, 12 found himself down to his last $500.
Top 10 Kaboom! Sales of All-Time
culture Kaboom! inserts from various products ranging from Innovation (‘13-’14) to Absolute (‘18-’20) have become highly collectible in the past year given their aesthetic and hard-to-pull nature. Basketball was the first sport to feature Kabooms back in 2013, Soccer introduced the inserts in 2017 and Football in 2018. Kabooms come in three variations: Base, Gold /10, and Green 1/1. We look at the top 10 record Kaboom! insert sales of all-time.
The Top 10 Fastest Growing Hockey Cards This Month
culture As we kick-off the start of regular season hockey, there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to the sport’s trading cards. Earlier this year, a 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky PSA 10 rookie card sold for $3.75 million, ranking 7th on the top-10 list of most expensive sports cards of all time. There’s also a new TV deal that kicks in effect this season, with ESPN and Turner Sports getting the rights to air games.
The Top 10 Fastest-Growing Sports Cards This Week
culture This week’s top 10 fastest-growing sports cards bring a healthy mix of cards across Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Pokemon with modern and veteran players featured. The majority of cards on this list have seen significant growth within 1–3 days of a previous sale. In order to qualify for this list, a card must be in graded condition and hold a minimum value of $250. 1.
From Part-Time Construction Worker to Full-Time in NFTs
nft A Conversation with Ezrawithacamera Introduction The NFT market is growing at a rapid pace. Even a small amount of time spent on Twitter gives the impression that a lot of people are making life-changing money with NFTs seemingly overnight. However, if you dig deeper into some of these success stories, you’ll often learn that a lot has happened beneath the surface for those people to get where they are.
An Early Look at the Top NFL MVP Candidates and Their Card Prices
culture We’re heading into week 4 of the NFL season and that means way-too-early MVP candidates are emerging and it’s time to look at their card prices. As the NFL season heats up, it’ll be fun to watch how the MVP race plays out and whether or not the players on this list see their card prices rise as we get closer to the end of the season. Using Vegas Insider NFL MVP odds, I’ve compiled a list of the current top 10 MVP players based on their odds, kicking off with... 1.
Christie's Noah Davis Talks NFT Auctions and Blurring Art Worlds
nft This past March, Christie’s auction house set a world record sale for an NFT with a price tag of $69,346.250. It was the first auction of an NFT at Christie’s, and it goes without saying that it was a smashing success. The sale created a lot of buzz and put a spotlight on NFTs. It was validation that digital art could be bought and sold at high valuations from respected auction houses that deal with high-end clientele.
Top 10 Fastest-Growing NFL Rookie Cards This Week
culture Week 1 of the NFL season is officially in the books and it’s time to look at which rookie cards of active players benefitted the most from on-the-field play. To construct this list, I used data from Cardladder. To make this list, a card needed to have a minimum value of $250, and I used just 1 rookie card per player. All positional players were considered for the list, but the fastest-growing cards after week 1 happened to all be quarterbacks. 1.
10 Players Whose Cards To Look Out for Ahead of The MLB Playoffs
culture The MLB Playoffs are a little over 1 month away and as the remaining games of the season shape the final contenders list, we are going to look at 10 players to keep an eye on leading up to the postseason. Because the final playoff picture is still uncertain, this list is based on team projections from FiveThirtyEight and the player price index feature offered Cardladder. Keep in mind, this is not a comprehensive list and there’s no ranking logic here.
The Top 10 Fastest Growing Football Cards This Week
culture We are just weeks away from kick-off for the 2021 NFL season and we are going to take a look at which cards have gained the most value this week. In order to qualify for this list, a card must be in a graded condition and hold a minimum value of $100. Typically, we see a lot of hype and some price increases for football cards right up before the season. Let’s find which players benefitted from the market movement over the past 7 days. 1.
A Conversation With NFT Archeologists -What the Heck Is That?
nft When the iPhone was first released in 2007, there was no such thing as social media, let alone entire social media and mobile-app based companies. Only a few years later, it seemed that every person on the internet under the age of 25 was a social media manager. And now, there’s not a day that goes by where we don’t interact with at least mobile-phone-based applications.
The Top 25 Most Valuable NFL Rookie Cards
culture 2021 has been a year of record-setting football rookie card sales. Out of the top 10 most expensive sports cards ever sold, football now claims 2 spots on that list. Football is traditionally viewed as a smaller market in the hobby, but that’s starting to change. Below is a list of the top 25 most valuable rookie cards that includes data from the most recent record sales.
Has Winning the NBA Championship Affected Giannis' Card Prices?
culture Giannis Antetokounmpo has a very impressive basketball resume at just 26 years old: 1x NBA Champion + Finals MVP 2x NBA MVP 5x NBA All-Star 1x NBA Defensive Player of the Year . . . and more. He also recently hit a milestone that matters significantly in the hobby, winning a championship (and being the headline player to do so). The Bucks won their first championship in 50 years after defeating the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the Suns with Giannis leading scoring, averaging 35.2 points per game.
An NFT Project With Real-World Impact: AlphaBetty Doodles
nft AlphaBetty Doodles on OpenSea NFTs are becoming more than just images on the internet that are selling for shocking sums of money. New NFT projects are pushing the boundary of what is possible with blockchain technology. With the rise in the supply of new projects being minted on the blockchain, competition is heating up for creators who hope to push these boundaries and stand the test of time in an exciting new market.
Top 25 Most Valuable Rookie Baseball Cards
culture Out of the top 10 most expensive trading cards ever sold, baseball has 5 on the list due to its rich history as a sport and strong collector base. The nostalgia for these cards spans the history of the sport, and brings some fascinating stories and the rediscovery of MLB legends. Below is a list of the 25 most valuable baseball rookie cards spanning Babe Ruth and Mike Trout.
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