2019 has been a great year.
Was it perfect? No, there were things that could have gone better, but both personally and professionally, I had a lot of things go right.
From a hobby perspective I couldn’t have asked for much more!
2019 Reflection
I started the year with 4 Goals:
Complete the 1975, 1974, 1972, and 1970 baseball sets. Check
Complete seven 2019 sets. Check
Have card sales cover the cost of card purchases. Check
Grow the WaxPackHero community. Check.
I knew I wanted to put a good bit of effort into the blog and learn how to embrace Twitter last year, but I had no idea it would lead to some of the awesome things I had a chance to experience. Getting invited to participate in multiple episodes of the About the Cards show and John Newman’s Sports Card Nation podcast was an unexpected surprise. Joining a panel of content creators on the main stage at the National was a memory I’ll never forget. My Twitter community grew from 200 to over 1,200, which blew past my initial goal and led to a chance to create many new hobby friends.
I believe 2020 will be even better.
Goals for 2020
Vintage PC: Complete the 1969 Topps Baseball set
I had four vintage sets on my list last year, but this year I’m going to focus it down to one. I have between 100 and 200 cards from 1969 Topps to get started, and this should be a fun one to check off. I already have the Reggie Jackson, so one of the big boys is already taken care of!
Modern PC: Acquire Seven 2020 Base Sets
I don’t have any cases of 2020 product preordered. That’s a pretty big shift for me, as I preordered multiple cases of 2018 and 2019 product. The 2020 goal will have to be accomplished through either buying complete sets on the secondary market, or from buying bulk lots of base and inserts from case breakers. Either way should serve as a low cost path to completing this goal! I’d like to get the 3 Topps flagship sets, Bowman, Bowman Draft, Heritage, and Heritage High.
Financial: Card Income > Card Expenses
Once again, I want my card income to cover my card expenses. However, this year I think there is the possibility for that income to include both card sales and revenue from the website. Over the last few months of the year, the website related revenue grew enough to cover the hosting provider as well as some of the other administrative related costs. I’d love for that piece to continue growing because I see the potential for it to develop into a meaningful source of income as I approach retirement. I’ve got a 10-15 year runway for this to happen, so I’m content to slowly but surely build year after year.
WaxPackHero: Create 150 pieces of content
I want to post at least 150 pieces of content to the website in 2020. This is the goal that I think may be the toughest to complete. So many of life’s distractions have the potential to derail my efforts, but I will without a doubt be doing what I can to achieve it. It may be a challenge, but between blog posts and podcasts, I should be able to make that happen. I have so much fun writing and talking about cards and my collecting journey, and I’m truly blown away that there are other collectors who enjoy reading and hearing what I have to say!
WaxPackHero: Grow followers and Traffic
If I am able to create the 150 pieces of quality content in the goal above, the natural result should be growing the WaxPackHero community! I’d like to see Twitter grow from 1,200 to 2,400 followers, blog traffic to grow from about 3,500 views a month to 6,000, and the podcast to grow from 0 to 1,000 listeners. I also want to stay active on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook. Heck, maybe I’ll even figure out how TikTok can fit into my strategy?
Wrapping it Up
Setting goals always leads to better outcomes for me, and if I hit all the goals above, I fully expect 2020 to be even better than 2019. It’s a great time to be in the hobby, and I’m so appreciative of all the interaction I’ve had with all of you! Thank you for fueling my passion for the hobby and making collecting and writing so much fun!
I’d love to hear what goals you have for yourself in 2020! Leave me a comment below or reach out on Twitter.