How I Built A Live Stream Shopping Business For Sports Card Collectors [944K TikTok Followers]
I’m Matthew McGuckin and I founded Dappz Sports, the largest cross platform sports and entertainment media company in the trading card and signed memorabilia hobby with a 24/7 live-stream shopping experience.
I founded the company from the confines of my bedroom back in 2020. Originally, I was doing the Dappz stream as a personal passion project and I never thought it’d grow into anything more than a side hustle. My only goal was to make engaging content for those who wanted a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a committed card connoisseur.
I’d buy ungraded sports cards by the box full and combine the raw parts and slabs with the hopes of flipping them for a profit. At first, I would only make anywhere from $50 to $100 a night. However, business took off quickly, and before long, my nightly earnings rose to $500 and then astonishingly increased to $1,000 per night.
Once I hit $70,000 in a single night, I knew I hit a vital turning point and I never looked back. I recruited a few siblings and close friends to expand the business and help me open up my store, but before the store even opened, we built a studio for the live-stream and that’s what truly took off. We now have dynamic live streams across TikTok, eBay, and various other social media channels with a multifaceted presence in the world of card collecting.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
My backstory traces all the way back to my childhood. My grandfather was a scout for the New York Jets and growing up, I frequently went to Giants stadium in the Meadowlands and fell in love with football. I became a huge fan of all kinds of memorabilia, from sign jerseys, to merchandise, and sports cards. This was also the era where Pokémon cards were huge amongst kids and I remember collecting was a big thing in my generation for a period of time. However, as the trading cards market got saturated, people fell out of love with the hobby and I wouldn’t revisit it for years to come.
Fast-forward to my adult years, I was working in the sober living space but it wasn’t fulfilling me in the way I had hoped for. I wanted to find something different and I started hearing whispers of a sports card’s resurgence. Gary Vee was one of my biggest influences at the time and he was making a lot of content where he spotlighted how sports cards are making a comeback and it’s time to strike while the iron is hot.
Then, when COVID-19 hit, the industry skyrocketed. For months, people were stuck at home with live sports canceled and that’s when people fell back in love with their old hobbies— and sports/trading cards took off as a result of this.
As I started collecting, I was simply creating content to capture my journey and document the process of buying, selling, and trading cards to make a profit. I became obsessed and eventually found myself reselling cards for five times their original amount. At the same time, people became fascinated by the process and wanted to learn how they could do the same.
I was streaming for just a small audience at first but the following kept growing and growing. Eventually, it went from investing and flipping these cards to building an actual business that went live from my bedroom every single night. I was no longer just opening boxes for me but for others as well. People were sending anywhere from $20 to $100 so I could open packs for them and I documented the entire process on YouTube.
I realized that in this process, I was able to experience the same joy and thrill for the discovery of a high-value card as if it were for me. Soon enough, I was making tens of thousands of dollars in a single night and that’s when I knew I had something special. I began our live shopping journey, which has led to the creation of Dappz Sports as a sports and entertainment media company with a 24/7 live-streaming experience.
The journey of building a business can be quite unpredictable, often leading you from point A to Q and Z, before circling back to revisit F and G.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
In the beginning, I was simply turning on Instagram, and through a single click, I was going live from my bedroom. As long as I had five to ten people watching me every single night who might spend $20, 50, or $100 on a pack or a box of sports cards, that was all I needed to enjoy what I was doing. The service that I offered people was simple: if you are on your couch, stuck at home, and you don't want to go to a card shop to be able to partake in collecting and buying cards, I offered you the ability to rip cards at night from the convenience of your home. This was particularly important during the early days of COVID-19 when our society was still very much on lockdown.
But it didn’t stop at that. The stream took off because I provided entertainment value in the process of opening people’s packs live. I was constantly engaging with the people I wanted to reach in real-time. It’s not just live shopping on its own, but it's entertainment and commentary in the same way that anchors on ESPN, CBS, FOX Sports, or any type of sports broadcast provide their analysis of what’s happening in the NBA, NFL, or MLB. But at Dappz Sports, we engage back-and-forth with our community in a live setting as opposed to it being just a one-way street.
I'm giving my news, commentary, and opinion about what I’m showcasing, and the fans were able to interact with me and give their feedback. Our audience felt heard and they knew I genuinely cared about what I was doing and wasn’t just reading off of a teleprompter. That was the model I initiated in the beginning and our audience resonated with that.
Describe the process of launching the business.
Once I saw that the business was growing, I recruited the help of my sister and brother to join the team, which freed up more resources for me to truly focus on growing the Dappz brand to the next level. Soon enough, our small team would outgrow Dappz's home office space and I knew I needed a dedicated venue to meet the demand and scale the company.
However, I quickly learned that in business, it’s never as simple as going from point A to point B to point C. In reality, there are twists and turns that unfold like a complex web. The journey of building a business can be quite unpredictable, often leading you from point A to Q and Z, before circling back to revisit F and G.
Originally, my team and I had plans to expand the Dappz Brand into a physical storefront and create a place that would serve as the ultimate destination for card collectors, which would also be the setting for our live stream. We acquired the lease for the very same card shop I would visit to pick up new cards and products for the stream. We wanted to make the store akin to the Apple store for trading cards.
Even though we still hold to this vision, we quickly learned that it would take much longer to gather the resources necessary to bring this idea to fruition. But we didn’t let this setback deter us from our goal of expanding. We quickly pivoted to find a studio and warehouse that would serve as our base of operations for the stream. We expanded to three different streams, running 24/7 to provide our audience with endless entertainment.
I learned that just because the path doesn't go the way you originally outlined it to go, it doesn't mean you won’t get to a place where you're happy and content with how your business has flourished.
For Dappz, it's never been solely about the cards and that’s why we were able to adapt even when our vision for a trading card hub took longer than expected. Our vision is to entertain other passionate sports fans and bring people together on the shared thrill of chasing that next big find.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
It starts with understanding who our audience is in the first place. At our core, our customers are mostly guys who are avid sports fans and regularly active on streaming and social media platforms.
From the beginning, we’ve been adamant about using our brand to transcend generations, appealing to both the old-school card enthusiast who collected and traded cards back in the ‘70s and to the teenager who is just getting into the game today.
For the most part repeat customers are divided into three categories:
- The collectors- those who buy cards for the love of expanding their collection.
- The flippers- those who are looking to make a profit by purchasing cards for a lower price and selling them for a higher value. This can be done by searching for underpriced cards or buying ungraded cards. This is what we refer to as “flipping” cards.
- The investors- similar to flipping cards but for those with patience, investors are willing to purchase an entire box of cards and keep it sealed in storage for one year, two years, or however long it takes to reap the value of the cards inside. This approach is all about waiting for the right moment to strike. For example, if the case contains a card for a certain player who eventually makes it to the Super Bowl or earns MVP honors, the value of that unopened box goes up.
Growth comes from genuinely engaging with our customers while giving them the best experience possible 24/7. What truly makes the Dappz Brand memorable is our ability to provide entertainment value on our live stream, because our customers see how passionate and enthusiastic our live streamers are about sports, collectibles, cards, and everything in the hobby.
When we explain the deeper meaning behind an item we’re showcasing it may be, the more our customers genuinely resonate with every card and collectible on the other end of that screen. When we connect on this level, we build trust.
This is the key driver that motivates people to spend their hard-earned money because we emphasize the details of why these things we spotlight have value. This level of trust doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a consistent display of authenticity to earn that trust.
We've had viewers tell us that they have been watching our stream for three months every night and are just now going to buy into their first break. So, while some people buy on the first day, many folks wait three months to six months before they make their first purchase, and the entertainment value and the trust we build is the root of what keeps them around.
By understanding the motivations and goals of why our customers keep coming back to us, we can provide them with the experience they are looking for.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
We are thriving and working nonstop. We are the number one livestream shopping company, producing multiple 24/7 online live streams available across all social and streaming platforms. We have the largest social media following in the hobby with over a million active followers across the globe on all platforms.
We’re making both long and short-form content surrounding everything from trading cards, to general sports, and genuinely entertaining content. We're growing our online store and expanding our offering of sports cards and signed memorabilia through our website.
We also produce a podcast that includes interviews/interactions with celebrities who are also card enthusiasts. We’ve been making the rounds at some of the most prestigious card shows in the country and are continuing to partner and collaborate with more celebrities, influencers, and athletes who are excited to be involved in the hobby.
As for the future, we plan to triple our revenue year over year from 2023 to 2024, and then double that number at the end of 2025. We also have plans to broaden the audience demographics and attract viewership beyond the sports world. We want to add streams to the Dappz Sports brand to appeal to different fans and encompass the company’s full scope of interests, fandom, and offerings.
While we might not be experts on non-sports-related genres, we will seek to collaborate and hire different influencers, personalities, and experts within those fields to bring more people in and diversify the Dappz audience as a whole. We’ve already made a splash in non-sports card markets by becoming one of the leaders in sales for Star Wars memorabilia.
We’re not looking to do the same with trading card games such as Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Lord of the Rings, or anything else that fits our brand and appeals to a wider audience. There are many other spaces outside of sports we will transcend across those markets.
At the end of the day, content is king. The more content that gets put out under the Dappz Sports brand, the more we'll be able to leverage partnerships and collaborate with other brands to further the company’s growth. Over tOverr or so, we are confident that we will build out more key partnerships to feature during our streams. In the end, our ultimate vision is to establish Dappz Sports as a globally recognized brand name.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I would say the most helpful thing that I’ve learned is the importance of consistency. What has kept me going despite the ebbs and flows of business is the consistency of getting up, going to work, and staying true to that routine.
As a business owner and leader, you won’t be able to have the same high energy levels every single day. Some days, I feel doubt and get discouraged, but even when I have those days where I’m not feeling my best, I’m still consistent and get the things done need to be done.
Just like a ballplayer, I have to show up for every at-bat and swing for the fences. Sometimes you go three for three, and sometimes you go zero for three, but the important part is that each aeveryyou still get out of bed and set up the plate again.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
We use a diverse array of tools to manage our business but we don’t rely on anyone to run the entire thing. But there are a couple of platforms worth pointing out.
One of the most useful platforms for us right now is TikTok Shop. This is TikTok’s e-commerce platform integrated into the TikTok app. It features a unique Shopify-like interface and it’s one of the major tools we use to distribute or sell their available products. This realls us to accelerate the live-shopping experience for our customers by cutting out the middleman and allowing viewers to buy directly through the stream.
When it comes to getting our order ordersstomers, we use ShipStation, a shipping software that processes all our ecommee-commerces efficiently. This serves as a cornerstone to enable the smooth delivery of tens of thousands of packages each month.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
For me, Tim Ferris’ The Four-Hour Workweek has been a huge influence on my life and career. The book came out over 15 years ago, but it’s as relevant today as it was back then. It heavily focuses on utilizing automation processes to be more efficient and maximize your output with the least amount of effort.
He introduced the concept of the 80/20 principle, which was originally coined by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. 80% of results are driven by 20% of effort. If you have 100 energy points in a given day, do you want to use 80 points to get 20% of the results, or is there a way to use 20 energy points to get 80% of the results? The book taught me how to manage my time by automating certain parts of my business so I can use my energy points for maximum efficiency.
Another influential book was The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, which talks about just how habits form, how long it takes to break a bad habit, and how to create a new one. Of course, it varies betwefromon to person, but overall, the main point is that it takes time to create and reform our habits. The book taught me that the mind is like the body in that regard.
If you want results in the gym, you don't just go to the gym once and expect your body to make drastic changes overnight. It takes three to four weeks of going consistently five days a week, to even see the slightest change— and about six months for the differences to really It's the same process with your brain when it comes to mental and spiritual exercises. If you want to train your mind to perform at its peak, you have to exercise it three, four, or five times a week. Over six months, your brain is going to start functioning at a higher level. This concept reallated with me and changed the way I approach my life.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
As an entrepreneur, I believe in abiding by three principles: acceptance, discipline, and consistency.
Acceptance means accepting where you're at—doing what you can, where you are, with what you have. Accept that it’s okay if your business is not yet super successful. That’s a part of the journey. Once you accept who you are and where you're at, it allows you to get out of your own h
If you don’t see the reality for what it is, it’ll hinder your thinking and emotional state, which affects the way you operate throughout the day. Acceptance allows you the clarity to do what needs to be done today to get to where you need to be, without being overwhelmed by the clutter of your worries and insecurities. It allows you to tackle the task at hand without disruption.
Discipline and consistency go hand in hand. This basic down to getting up every single day and doing the things that need to be done regardless of how you feel physically or emotionally. Whether it’s a side hustle or if you’re running a full-time business, you have to show up physically and mentally.
Sometimes, people claim they’re dedicated to a project, but then they spend their nights hanging out with their friends at a bar for three hours. There’s nothing wrong with that, but just know that those three hours are precious and it’s up to you as to what you do with the limited time you have each day. You can spend your extra time goofing off or you can work on growing your business. To be disciplined, you have to set those parameters for yourself from the onset.
If this is what you want in life, you have to put in the work even on the days you’re not feeling up to it. Even when you’re tired. Instead of going out to the bar to hang out with friends, you can use those three hours to figure out how to turn your side hustle into your full-time thing. Three hours a day can become 20 hours a week, which turns into 80 hours a month.
At the end of the year, that’s 1000 hours dedicated to building your business. If you want to replace your day job with a passion project, you have to put in those hours to see progress and have it come to fruition.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We’re currently looking for content creators who can join the Dappz team to provide creative new ideas to expand to new audiences and help us produce more amazing content.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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