Card Mensches Ep.2 Beckett:Behind the Deal w/ Dr.James Beckett

I am the only black and I'm John Newman welcome to card matches
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hi welcome to episode 2 of card mentions uh you might notice there's uh three
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boxes on the screen today that makes you an advanced hobbyist and we appreciate you joining us
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um on episode two today we would like to welcome our newest sponsor center stage
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and welcome waxstat.com and SGC grading for their
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support as well um we got a great response from episode one we are really thrilled and that's a
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format we're going to traditionally have but uh we're lucky today to have a special guest and I'm gonna let John
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Newman introduce a hobby icon as you can see Dr Beckett John Dr Beckett welcome
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to the show thank you as I always say he's a man that needs no
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introduction but uh like you said hobby icon hobby Legend and and better yet uh
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just a great person and uh Happy uh Dr Jim's joining us today a little
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different episode like Danny said uh normally we we don't have three people but we will have occasional guests and
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uh but uh you know the the only rules they have to be a mensch and Dr Jim definitely uh checks all those uh boxes
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and uh he's been gracious to come on in episode two not even knowing what the
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where the show may go taking a leap of faith there uh but he's you know something I'm excited to talk you know
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I've talked to Dr Jim Danny's conversator with him but today I want to talk about you know the sale of his
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company back in in 2005 and uh you know and and he's allowed us to ask questions
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and get some of those details I know I I'll find it interesting I know Danny
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will not I got a feeling a lot of you out there as well because that company you know built started by Dr Jim built
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by Dr Jim and uh you know you can't you can't say hobby without saying Becca I
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don't you know regardless of when you got in the hobby uh there's sort of synonymous synonymous uh with each other
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uh absolutely and Dr Beckett uh thank you for coming on thank you for agreeing
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to the terms of this interview and uh further publication rights have been
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negotiated um and I think the important thing that a lot of people don't know is we're actually coming up on an anniversary so
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uh it gives us an opportunity to I think delve into something that has never really been talked about just because
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the Hobbies moved in so many different ways we don't often take a chance to step back and look but uh we are coming
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up on January 26th depending on when you list this will be the 18th anniversary of you actually selling Beckett
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um do I have that date correct yes okay so you started Beckett in 1984
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um and I guess that we really want to understand what happened in 84 to get
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you to start it but more importantly what happened you know five or o4 I guess when the process would start and
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how that transition works so um I'm gonna let John lead off here and
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uh let him take it for a minute well I mean obviously the sale was was
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2005 but I guess my first question Dr Jim is is almost a two-prong question
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like when when did maybe the thought of selling the company you built when did
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that you know really first enter the equation for you and and that being said
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how long of a process once you determined you know that was something you were going to do how long you know
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we here you know in today's news cycle just kind of announcements made but how
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long behind the scenes did the process actually take well a couple of key dates one the
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Parsippany National that was in 84. or probably early August Late July
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is when kind of the company got launched I mean I I had some thought and I really
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decided at that to go forward I talked to a lot of people and I I actually
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printed up some some forms at the show you know at a at a printing
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place near the show passed them out so that was really launched there the
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next date when I started thinking about selling the company was October 6th
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1996 when I was in the hospital with a heart attack and you know all bets are off guys when
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you're you know you just think up to that point I'm sure I thought I was bulletproof like everybody else and I
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was going to live forever happily ever after but uh life is more
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complicated than that and so I'm in the hospital for about a week recuperating from the very I'm very
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fortunate to be alive very blessed to be alive uh and so you're thinking what do you
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want to do with the rest of your life and I I was working really hard and uh you know guys that just
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nine years later approximately or eight and a half years later I guess the company was sold it
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was put up for sale probably probably about a year before it sold
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we kind of engaged an investment banker that would that handled a lot of publishing things I had known the guy
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from some other things so good reputation it was out of New York City uh you know a sharp guy that had a lot
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of contacts and uh you know so that the process took
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a while I was really pleased that that the leadership of my company kind of
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kept it under wraps because yes you guys know again for
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people in the industry you know if there would have been a buzz for a year that we were for sale or that I was going to
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entertain offers even it would have been a lot of confusion so it was kind of on
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a need to know basis for the keep people in the company and they they just were awesome
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was there a precipitous in o4 that you said this is finally the right time
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no I mean I worked backwards Danny I don't think is this the right time I think as soon as I thought I'm not going
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to go to my grave owning this company not not figuratively here literally but
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I thought you know eventually I'm not good it's it's going to be eventually time for somebody to uh to uh take me
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out and give me my life back that I was really pretty much a slave to my work
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for many of those years and uh so when as soon as soon as I came up with the thought that I'm not gonna
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I'm I'm I am eventually gonna sell it because I never thought I would ever sell it then the question was when and then I
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think well wait why don't I wait till I'm 80 years old I thought well gee that's I'll do a lot of traveling after
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I'm 80. well you know that doesn't work either so well how about 75
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oh yeah Kevin I've seen some guys traveling in the 75 but that's there's no sure things there either how about
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70. so I started backing up backing up and until finally in 2004 I said how
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about now uh I I had well I just it just
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as soon as you kind of make an emotional break that you're eventually going to sell it then you're I felt like I was
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probably not doing a very good job as a CEO because I wasn't
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I wasn't excited about the future I was thinking about what the future would be like with me not being there
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and the company and my teammates deserve somebody that was Full Speed Ahead you
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know rainmaking for the for our company and for the industry and
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when I wasn't I didn't have that same uh drive for that
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uh it's time to pick is trying to time to find somebody else and and that was going to free up some of the people in
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the company to be the best they can be too because if I wasn't there they they
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really Rose to the occasion I would have been a good absentee boss I
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couldn't say hey I'm gonna just I'm gonna bring in uh somebody to run the company and I'm going to go to go to
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some you know vacation for six months a year that's not my style I've either got
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to be all in or not and when I decided it wasn't going to be all in forever it was just a matter of time
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and I suppose if we did a failed process that no no bidders came up that that
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wanted to pay a good price I would have I mean I wasn't going to sell it
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cheaply I mean I got a decent price but I uh it would have been more if I'd have
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sold earlier uh maybe it would have been less if I sold five years later because things
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weren't uh weren't so great you know in the late 2000s
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so I I'm I don't lose any sleep over it uh it was time again it was a pleasant
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transaction with guys that I kind of enjoyed I enjoyed the the successor CEO
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he was a a friend of a friend at first and then became a good friend of mine so
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so it worked out well guys did you find it hard to run the company in 2004 at
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the same time you're trying you know going through the sale did it it put pressure financially you know on the
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books differently did it affect you differently in your focus well
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when you're a CEO it means you're the chief executive officer and frequently in a larger
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company there can be other presidents underneath the CEO or other operating
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managing partners and I was probably in my Peak I was very Hands-On and toward
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the end there I wasn't and so but I was there and so
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the president's I had some presidents in my company that were in charge of certain things they're really sharp and
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I think they I was just a long shadow and so for me to step out and say you
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know what I'm I you're going to be working for the new entity and it it
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kind of took the the breaks off I mean I I was a driver but I was also the brakes
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on some of the when we had these crazy ideas I was the one that selected which crazy idea we're
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gonna do and which crazy idea we weren't going to do but some of the people they thought no ideas were crazy
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and some of them were so I needed to step aside guys
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so in 96 you know you had the heart attack that uh definitely uh shook you
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um and obviously is a serious uh thing it almost cost your life uh so you
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worked in a sense eight eight more years um eight eight plus years did you change
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after after the heart attack and knowing you were you know think maybe you know
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there's going to be life after your company what kind of changes did you make personally to you know to to be out
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there to be you know that that balance between work and and life
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let's see I took the fund out of my job after my heart attack because I no
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longer and this was in the works but I no longer did pricing so I was never handling the cards I I did almost no
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show travel after that because I wasn't doing the monthly magazines and even the annual books and so that was all
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delegated to other people who stepped up but uh that was the fun that I really enjoyed and it kept me close to the
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action and so I felt like I was an executive and I don't like being executive you know I don't mind being a
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team leader but I don't really want to be isolated and I felt like I was
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getting increasingly isolated and so one is tuned into the industry I'm more tuned in now than I was in 2004
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I think and that's bad because if you're the and that that's why and you guys have said
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this any CEO of a hobby entity that's not really tuned into the Hobby and
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doesn't really have a passion and understand collecting there that that's a problem waiting to happen unless they
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get up to speed pretty quick or have very very trusted lieutenants that that really help them
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did you feel you needed to recharge your hobby batteries was there almost a stepping away I mean I I knew you took a
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title with the new company and how active were you you know if if if I'd
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had my druthers I would have delegated the executive stuff and kept the pricing
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but it just it didn't make sense it didn't I mean that's just no nobody would say hey that's the right thing to
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do because the pricing those were the all-nighters you know those were the
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the the long hours when when you're under deadline pressure so I made the right decision and uh even
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the right decision I don't lose sleep over over uh overselling when I did or
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if I did it was it was the right thing to do well I was going to ask you Dr Jim you
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sort of answered it there with your response when you know so now the sales in the process I mean did you play was
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there any tug of war in your own mind like am I really doing this you know or even you don't have to mention these
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were there people uh in the company that were maybe you know hey Dr Jim you sure
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you want to do this you know you're that you're this important to this this company we don't want to see
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you you know you do this did you did you have those sort of internal uh those
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conversations happen even what you're with your own self well two things one
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is that you know my leadership team had been
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there for a long time so almost all of them had been there since since before my heart attack
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one of whom one of the presidents was my sister my little sister okay and and and uh and the others were
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very very close friends who really really knew me and cared for me and all
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that stuff and so they weren't trying to talk me out of it however fast forward a
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few years and I've had several people say we want you back why don't you buy the
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company back and I said well guys I I just I'd like to help the new owners but it's it's
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deja vu I've you know I've been there I've done that and I I don't want to do it again because you know the new owners
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well you could I think you could get it cheaper than what you know you could make money on it when it was at a low
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point and now it's now it's back up but uh no it's I had my my my uh my day in
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the Sun and now I can I can experience the hobby with more flexibility do the
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way do it the way I can hobby the way I want a hobby it's the way I have to do it I think back in 2005 closings were still
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done in person were you in person for the actual closing of the sale
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actually no we were up in a big High floor of a big law firm with one of
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one of my close friends is a is a outstanding attorney that does deals way
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bigger than than ours but he really walked me through it predicted everything that would happen
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uh and it it uh you know had a little hiccup at the end but nothing that uh
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that we we couldn't push through and uh so it was relatively uneventful
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so it was supposed to close on the 25th and I think it closed on the 26th which
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is not bad do you remember that day yeah yeah
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it didn't do anything crazy I mean were you waiting for a call was
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that was there a moment where you know like you know you got the call it's done or well it's it's it's it's it's the
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call of it the money has landed yes yes
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oh but it wasn't but even then you know I had uh it was
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uh complicated I had I had a bonus structure for you know when the money came in there you know my last Act was
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going to be given bonuses to you know out of the out of the uh price to the
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the every employee not just the key employee's got a lot more but uh and it was my going away present and
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then I I still had plenty I I I'm a very blessed financially I worked hard but
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I've I've really been blessed I know you you know I know you said you
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were sort of you know you know you you were at that spot where
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you know you knew this was what you wanted to do would any trepidation though again this is your baby this is
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your company you built from the ground up uh in 21 you know 21 years worth of
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work was there I guess two-pronged question was there any trepidation for that like where's where's this new
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company going to take my old company after I I sell and was there any
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stipulations that you can talk about I understand if you can't but stuff like you you wanted to make sure happened if
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you were going to sell I had some great ideas of things like that John and my attorney
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who has known me for a really long time since College basically who's outstanding really top-notch he
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said you're just gonna muck it up so you can't you can't add all these
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conditions we've narrowed it down to this they really want it uh there they
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have a publishing background which turned out not to be an advantage because they were from New York and they
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thought we'll just do it the New York way and uh they they didn't they they really
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didn't do very well because they because publishing was changing and they were they were too old school
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then and the other thing my friends told me my my other guys who were running companies that had sold companies for
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they said you may be able to control who you sell it to but you can't control who they sell it to and sure enough after
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four or five years the first Group sold the second group which was completely different and very much digital uh
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publishing oriented and database oriented and so they they immediately offshored everything that they could and
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drove down the costs and moved as much as possible toward digital and away from print and they that increased the
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profitability but it wound up eliminating a lot of employees that were my friends
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but again that wasn't the people I sold to it was the people that they sold to
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well you mentioned you sold to what was a prize media and they were a publishing company and you know I one of the things
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I found fascinating was you were basically selling a Publishing Company you know it was was that the idea of the
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transaction how much was was the online or the grading even considered in the
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sale um because of publishing company bought you
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I think they didn't understand it but they could see that it was a revenue it was producing uh earnings you know was
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it was profitable uh we had I think I've mentioned this before is that we had
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interest from eBay and Yahoo and Amazon to buy not our company but to buy the
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digital aspects they did not want print uh but they wanted anything that would
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be you know virtual and I wasn't willing to consider it I thought that would be really tricky to
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kind of split the company in half and all that so I didn't I didn't do that in fact they may have paid more for that
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aspect than for the whole company uh so I'd already been through that exercise
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and then when this came company came up this a prize came up they offered more than the other guys did and they had the
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publishing background but I think they stuck too close to the doing publishing the way people do it in New York which
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they thought what are these guys in Dallas know you know New York is the capital of
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publishing and there it will bring our expertise to it and we'll we'll improve
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whatever and they they did increase they increased costs and they they didn't understand the
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hobby we our main accounts were the local card shops
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those were our most profitable accounts well wasn't their business model to buy uh Publications in different Niche
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markets so they weren't an expert in any one specifically well no they they and they actually kind of built on our
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reputation to add other what they called Enthusiast Publications where people
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were passionate and if they would the Twist on it what they didn't realize is
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they were on the right track except it didn't need to be Enthusiast Publications it needed to be Enthusiast
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communities that can be digital virtual or trade
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shows or you know getting together in person whatever but it's it's the people
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somebody said that the hobby is the people and the businesses for people and
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so I think they thought the business where it was the pages you know where the was were the magazines
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and the magazines you know were you know our Peak years were but were the junk
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wax era and before the baseball strike the early 90s were our best years
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you mentioned you know the the a prize wound up selling uh themselves to
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another company in 2008 uh you mentioned that you know people did come to you and
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said hey you know you should buy them uh Dr Jim and and get back
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um I mean were you were there any thought that the you know did the light bulb go on at all or were you pretty
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much like no that's that you know I've turned that page did you did you
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consider it at all I did not consider and I kind of shot it
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down pretty quick I mean I I didn't need to be uh I wouldn't be upsetting the employees
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but I I didn't want to give my false hope I didn't want to get in a bidding war I didn't want to buy it for cheap I
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didn't want to buy it for expensive I just thought you know I've moved on and
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uh you know I like I said I'm happy to be a pro bono consultant that's really
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what I enjoy doing my skin in the game is that this company has my name on it and I want them to do well but I'm not
24:02
willing to burn Midnight Oil anymore and so when I I just I just have a high
24:07
responsibility quotient and if I say I'm going to do something I'm going to do it
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and I don't need to be saying I'm going to do it at what point did you realize your name
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was going to be a part of the deal and was that hard to accept uh
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I realize now that I I think I understood it but that was one
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of the things that John mentioned is that I should have gotten some kind of a I don't know but additional price or
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considerations the fact that they one of the biggest things they wanted was the
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name and so I'm not allowed to use my I'm not allowed to use my name unmodified you know I can be my personal
24:50
name that's why I can't be back at sports card insights hmm
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because that would be an infringement because then it'd be unclear whether it came from the company or came from me
25:01
that's why I'm Dr James Beckett sports card insights so I only have certain ways that I can
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use the my own name and if I would have I could have renegotiated that to say look if you're
25:14
going to use my name I'm going to want to like a royalty you know and I've I've floated that in
25:21
my my attorney friend said there it's just you're just gonna muck up the deal they're they're just gonna freak out if
25:28
you say that I said but it's true if there if and he said well they'll just change the name I said actually they
25:35
probably will not change the name going back to 2008 again I like you said
25:43
you were pretty much new you know you weren't uh you know gonna come back or
25:49
but had you wanted to Let's uh hypothetically if you said you know what I missed it it's been three four years
25:56
you know what have you had an advantage let's say you wanted to buy your company
26:02
back being the or you know the originator would you think that would have given you any kind of Advantage if
26:09
if that was actually the case well I could have been part of a team you
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know I could have been a consultant to the new owners which you know I didn't really know the new owners but and they
26:22
got it at a at a lower point but I I wasn't willing to to it needed fixing and and frankly guys
26:30
remember the economy was messed up then the economy needed fixing things were things were bad the hobby wasn't doing
26:37
great the economy wasn't doing great and so for me to
26:43
jump back in there it it just I I was I was moving toward greater simplification
26:49
of my life and that would be in a diametrically opposed to that because I
26:56
cared and I cared too much so once I got in there and if I invested you know take
27:03
the money that I got put it back in uh I could have done that but I I wanted to
27:09
shoot that down so that the people didn't have false hope and yet I want to tell them hey if you
27:14
got a problem I'll help you think through it and I'll just I give you free advice and I'll come down there every
27:21
once in a while and stuff like that but I don't I I don't want to be on the hot seat anymore
27:28
I always wondered do you have days where you're like I cannot believe my name is on that
27:35
comment or that statement I mean even to this day do they do things and
27:41
you wish your name wasn't tied to it or are there days where you're glad your name's tied to it or has it just become
27:47
separate but let me answer that in a more General way because number one I don't I'm not scanning all their statements to see if
27:54
they've you know misstated something but I will say this I I think I really had a strong
28:02
desire to have to be a market leader to be a Pacesetter
28:08
to be a thought leader for our industry and I think there over the last 18 years
28:14
almost now coming up uh I I think we've that our companies lost some of that
28:21
um and and other people have it's just I I just don't think we were hit we weren't hitting on all cylinders
28:28
now I'm hopeful that there's you know new leadership now and then it's going to get back on track so that's my
28:34
frustration Danny I see that it's not what it could be or even what it was and
28:39
I'm hoping now it's going to be even better you know it doesn't have to be what I think it but it there they they
28:46
have not and they had a they were right up there with PSA
28:52
if you look you know 15 years ago or probably when I was there we were we
28:58
were winning the awards for you know for best grading SGC was was was an
29:04
afterthought was just mainly doing vintage and then now over the last few years it's it's it's it's it's it's
29:12
not been that great and I I think the other thing gosh I guess I could say
29:18
this I think some of it are self-inflicted wounds not me inflicting the wounds not you guys inflicting the
29:24
wounds but but and I think what happens in any company when you're having a mixed
29:31
market like we've had is that it's hard for the owner for the manager for the
29:38
money person to think I need to double down I need to put I need to reinvest in the category because
29:45
it's getting ready to take off and sometimes ownership is more conservative now we're making good money
29:52
let's just keep it coming instead of reinvesting in the category that's
29:58
something I did because I was 100 owner so if the company needed money I could
30:04
just put money in and so if we say well that's not in our budget well it's
30:09
it's not about the budget if this is something that's good for the Hobby and it's eventually going to be good for everybody
30:14
and so we did a bunch of new things that were were not in the budget because I
30:19
thought this is a great idea we need to do it well we we the money's the the budget calls for it next year I said
30:26
wait a minute the windows wide open right now let's do it so we did it and capitalized
30:32
on that and I think that's so not that I'm a big Wildcat or anything so I'm pretty reason guy but
30:39
I think it got more corporate with budgets for some of those years and they were
30:46
managing it Like An established company and I always wanted us to think small
30:52
and very entrepreneurial and disruptive to do things that hadn't been done
30:58
and so I don't want to be a follower I wanted to be a leader and now BPS that was a real leader I
31:06
don't know we ever had more more cards being greater than PSA but we were
31:12
and and now we're just you know we're not we're not considered right up there with PSA and that makes me sad and I'm
31:19
hopeful I've thrown some ideas to Jeremy and the other guys if here's some ideas I have for how we could re recapture our
31:27
uh you know in in a lot of these areas I I'm I'm an idea guy
31:35
the going back to the sale you know a prize media uh purchases uh your company
31:41
what was your role in in the three or four years with them if you know after
31:47
that sale were you still involved did they pick your brain did they you know
31:53
coming into your company new you know and I mean it's it's their company now but it's your company Bill
31:59
did they ask you for some help or for some consultation but what was your role
32:05
there uh they didn't but uh Peter did the the new CEO but he had to be Sly
32:12
about it it couldn't look like I was the shadow CEO or that you know I would he
32:17
would come up to my I still officed in the building for for the first couple of years and I was getting paid I had a
32:23
non-compete where I was there and I was getting paid not full salary but I was getting enough that you know that kind
32:30
of helps the enforcement of a of an of a of
32:36
yeah yeah so I couldn't I couldn't uh
32:42
I couldn't I wasn't going to compete anyway but uh so Peter would come up to my
32:47
office after hours when nobody was looking you know he wasn't going to bring me in on some meetings he was the boss
32:53
and I respected that I wasn't going to trot down his office say hey I got a problem with this no he needed to run
32:59
the company and he did it he did a really good job the people liked him out in no way was I going to undermine him
33:05
and every once in a while he he kind of just asked me some hey why is this happening or I'm thinking about doing
33:11
this what do you think but he didn't want people to see that he was not the authority it would have
33:17
undermined his authority so and I respected that and like I said we had we I had some mutual friends he
33:24
was highly regarded and it wasn't his fault I think his bosses that had the
33:29
money were were you know did did not see the the long-term vision
33:37
how about with the with this the next sale to the the next uh Enterprise did
33:42
you know did it change then uh even more so for you you could change more yeah
33:48
yeah because that that was uh that was uh like I said a different kind of
33:54
ownership uh somebody that was very acquisitive that that had a lot of companies and it would love the
34:01
transactions loved that and uh and then would bring in management
34:07
uh uh you know that didn't necessarily have a hobby background they'd bring in
34:12
outside management and I I would you know guys I was almost always a promote from within guy I just thought if I
34:19
could find somebody who really understands you know you can you can train them for say if they there's something they don't know you could
34:25
train them but you already know it's a good person they're sharp and they they know the people and so as much as
34:31
possible I tried to hire from or promote from within but the new guy didn't you know he just
34:37
and then they bolted on some other things that were these other like like Danny was saying some other enthusiasts
34:44
Publications and things and and then they titled them back at something even though they weren't anything I'd ever
34:50
touched and that's again they're prerogative but uh kind of dilutes it a little bit I
34:55
think I've got a couple of questions touching on that first of all
35:01
you had was it 9 11 20 how many Publications when you sold the first
35:07
time something like that yeah my question my question was gonna be if you I'm not
35:13
going to ask you Joe how many of those I mean could you name today
35:18
um well I mean the problem was I was I was never it's not that I wasn't a fan of of uh Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh and
35:26
Digimon and Neopets and and all those kind of things I just it just wasn't my
35:32
thing so I was baseball football hockey uh NASCAR Future Stars which we had
35:38
vintage which we had uh and then we had you know the larger versions of them all
35:44
so we had a lot of periodicals a lot of books uh the Beckett sports Heroes the
35:50
different things we did so that's why I was curious did you look at
35:55
yourself as a technology company at a certain point or a Grading Company and said you know the publisher we never
36:01
looked at ourselves as a Grading Company but I think we looked ours at ourselves as an Innovative company and so grading
36:09
was one of those Innovations some of these other sports biographies that we did were were very interesting and
36:16
nobody thought we could do that um we had online we had we had Online
36:21
Auctions I think because maybe before eBay it's just we like I said I was the
36:28
holdup I didn't say hey we're going to bet the farm that there's something eBay eBay
36:34
just doubled down on on that and I just thought you know we the auctions that we
36:39
had were kind of specialty uh and then we did our Marketplace and
36:45
all that stuff so we were ahead of our time but I never fully
36:50
promoted it to be all in to where I would take the profits from the print
36:56
and pour it over into this other thing that was not making money yet but would
37:01
have been would have would have done great perhaps
37:07
so when you were the CEO Dr Jim like how many hours a day were you involved with
37:13
the company at like your Peak when you were you know which was probably right till the up
37:19
until the sale I'm guessing no I mean you know before my heart attack I'd I had lots of weeks I worked
37:26
100 hours that just was ridiculous when I was on Deadline when I was doing books and magazines and I was
37:34
the guy doing all you know all those books it just I I was the one doing it so uh that that's why I had a heart
37:41
attack what a big reason and so after my heart attack I probably got I worked 50 hours a week probably
37:48
and then probably 40 in the 2000s yeah so I wasn't and again I hated it
37:56
because I like to work a lot I like to work hard and I just but again if I'd
38:02
worked more it would have been undermining the leadership who were in charge of those things just like the
38:07
price guide guys if I'd looked over their shoulder that would not have been helpful because after I withdrew kind of
38:15
and and and kicked myself upstairs those guys were really sharp
38:21
and so for me to be sharp shooting them say hey what about that you know did you do the research on that or something or
38:27
if that would have been not helpful and and it would have been they've been hurtful
38:33
it's hurtful what I I gotta ask this it's kind of a
38:39
weird question but just how my mind works so the first day after the the sale is as transacted uh you know the
38:47
first work what would have been a work day uh on under you know with you CEO
38:52
what what was that like like waking up that day and you know the difference you
38:58
know now you it's not your company well I remember I did wake up and I went to
39:04
the office I mean I didn't play hooky I mean I was getting paid in my
39:10
non-compete and I wasn't necessarily getting paid to show up but I I thought you know they're
39:15
paying me I should show up and I'm available and that first day first week first month whatever people are coming
39:22
in and wanting to check in on me and stuff like that because I had my same office my same big office in the corner
39:28
and uh and so everybody knew where I was and I was still doing um
39:34
you know we you know we had a reasonably social company where we had a lot of we had a big lunch room and we had a
39:40
basketball court and you know so people congregated around other things so so I
39:47
was there but um you know I tried to make sure everybody knew I was you know I'm not
39:52
the owner anymore and I'm not the boss anymore but I'm I want to be helpful to my
39:58
friends I want to be helpful to the brand but that does I can't insert myself into
40:03
it John or that would have been yeah it wouldn't have been right now I'm sure they weren't going to kick me out
40:09
and then after almost two years we were in the same building and then the building got sold and they moved to the
40:15
other office and I made the decision even though they said you want to get it you want to get an office in our new
40:20
place that we're going to I said no it's time for me to so I uh a buddy in me we
40:26
and and we got an office suite with some other other guy so we had our own office
40:31
and my secretary Carol went with us and so I had a I created a board room and
40:37
some offices and you know had some had a nice office and then then 10 years ago I
40:43
moved home and I had my man cave here so pretty retired
40:50
looking back would you have done anything differently on the timeline of the sale or how how you prioritized the
40:58
parts of the sale no I think the main thing I would have done is I I and in the 11th hour I when
41:06
they tried to lower the price I said
41:12
if you lower the price 10 percent that's fine with me
41:17
I'll just keep 10 of the company if you lower the price 20 that's fine with me I'll just keep twenty percent I
41:24
said wait wait that's not going to work we want to pay you less I said yeah you pay less you're going to get less
41:29
and so they they didn't want to go that way but now looking back you know if I'd
41:35
kept some interest in it or kept some royalty interest in the fact that they were using my name for these other
41:41
things uh that would have been I don't but again like I said I I have I
41:49
had absolutely a top-notch advisor you know in the sale of this guy's just
41:54
brilliant one of my close friends totally trust him and he said don't don't don't mess it up
42:02
you know that's you know you're it's going to make you it's not gonna it's gonna make you look
42:08
bad they said hey I'm going to sell the company but I want to keep the rights to my name and every time you use my name
42:13
you got to give me a nickel it sounds right guys I would not be a
42:19
mensch if I'd if I do yeah there goes my follow-up question Newman back to you
42:26
well I was gonna you know you mentioned how Peter was still you know uh you know
42:31
behind the scenes kind of picking your brain or very rarely John I don't want to over represent okay really but I saw
42:38
him socially we were we were in some of the same business organizations and so I
42:44
would see him and we'd talk about stuff and I just say if there's any way I can help I'm happy to but I I never went to
42:50
his office and you know and shut the door and said what are you doing I I never did that so it was it was he was a
42:58
class guy and like you said you're in the boat but did you see a lot of like your former
43:04
employees and friends and like you call them teammates where you get a lot of sports we were playing basketball
43:11
did you get a lot of like you know I'm sure you did we miss shoes or were they
43:16
concerned with you know new leadership or where the company was going after the
43:22
sale was there from from them themselves did they sort of you know posture that
43:28
way to you that they were concerned well I I would have nipped that in the bud if I don't even think that really happened
43:34
I mean basically that's that's just not good this was the new reality and the
43:41
best way they could honor me would be to work hard for the new entity I mean it's
43:46
that's the brand that they so I mean again like I say guys I could have died
43:51
in 96 and then there would have been new ownership in that sense whether it had
43:57
been my family estate or something but there would have been new leadership new
44:02
uh you know a new CEO and a new new ownership structure and so that
44:09
that was weird talk about coming back to work after I came back to work after being out for my heart attack
44:15
that was that was surreal how much time were you out
44:21
I think I took a month off I mean I just really was I'd been out so I know that I
44:27
lost blood but I just was I was in the hospital for a week and so you have a lot of atrophy of just you know you're
44:33
not they get you moving around but you're like walking around the hall for 10 minutes well that's enough exercise
44:39
for today yeah so I mean it's just uh so I I was I
44:45
didn't lose that much weight because I I weighed the same as I weigh now when I have a heart attack so I wasn't overweight but I just uh but you spend a
44:53
week in the hospital hospital is not a good place to stay it's not like a hotel it's it's not it's not a miles not
45:00
healthy so so I stayed home for a while and and um you know and then again I had
45:06
three presidents so I I just they just did what they did and they they they're they were really
45:13
sharp um how difficult was it like knowing you
45:19
had to cut back your schedule stress and and you know for your health-wise and Longevity wise how difficult was that to
45:27
do being you know I'll say to workaholic it sounds like how difficult having that
45:32
mindset like I'm a doer and now I have to do less I have to like no I don't
45:37
myself no no I don't have to I I didn't feel compelled to do that I thought it's
45:42
the right thing to do and so uh but I I um so I go on the treadmill every day now
45:49
so that's maybe an hour when you add it all up with you know with the treadmill and stretching and stuff like that I
45:56
probably spent an hour a day that before my heart attack it would have been working for that hour I wouldn't want to lose the hour if I talk about sharpening
46:03
the saw you know so I sleep I sleep an extra hour or I did so I mean I made choices
46:10
John and I think it's like people need to make choices say this is this is going to be my new reality but if if the
46:18
doctor made me do it then it's not me doing it it's me kind of being somebody's forcing me dude I
46:25
saw the wisdom in what I was doing was not good for me and what I was moving
46:31
toward was greater health and that's emotional health physical health
46:37
psychological Health you know getting more sleep exercising more aerobically I
46:43
was playing basketball but I could have been Pete Maravich in the parts where he died on the court
46:49
I was about to say that was very humble on your ball handling the leading the nation in scoring but uh
46:57
well uh Dr Beckett uh we're glad number one that you're still with us uh number
47:03
two uh Happy Anniversary uh you know coming up uh from the time we're
47:08
recording this and uh we we made you a deal to get you out on time so I'm gonna
47:13
step in and say thank you so much for coming on and sharing with us uh Mr Newman anything uh you want to add I
47:21
just you know Jim's great with dates better than even I am like you you know you mentioned
47:27
January 26th uh the anniversary to sail and and this year like you said it'll be
47:32
18 years do you do anything a weird question do you do anything on that day particularly or you just
47:39
know it's hey it's the anniversary of the sale
47:45
celebrator you know basically I don't know what I would do I mean I just wake up and do
47:51
the same thing and it's not not uh you know no no glass of wine with breakfast
47:56
or lunch even yes so I I don't think I I'm sure uh we I
48:05
had a you know celebration we had a big party after the closing you know after
48:11
the smoke had cleared and maybe the first year there was some commemoration
48:16
but you can you can't you can commemorate with your family but I can't commemorate with my my business family
48:23
because they're working for the new the new the new dude you know they've got a
48:29
new new structure and so I'm I'm past tense for them and so if it looks like I'm having a lot
48:36
of influence that so I needed to just let it happen but again after 18 years
48:43
um you know like I said I'm happy to help but um you know they they need to make
48:48
the call make a call yeah well well you mentioned being past
48:54
tense to them uh your present tense uh to the Hobby uh thankfully and like like
49:00
Danny said uh you know we're glad you're obviously still here and uh just uh so
49:06
important to to the Hobby then and still now with with your own show and sports
49:12
card insights and sharing a lot of those those stories from uh from those days
49:18
and and since then uh as well so I just want to add dad I want to thank you for
49:24
sharing some of this stuff I know you know some people maybe not as open with
49:29
certain things like that yet you know you you came on in and I even asked you
49:34
anything off limits you said nope ask ask what you want so uh I appreciate
49:41
that let me say one thing publicly that I just perform this and that is that uh
49:47
over the last few years especially since I've been doing the podcast but even before that I I've had I think some
49:53
fabulous ideas I've had a bunch of ideas and a lot of them I put on the podcast
49:59
but my best ideas I am not put on the podcast
50:04
I go to Jeremy or Bill or one of the hobby leadership guys at the company and
50:12
I said and and my other friends my confidants say well you should just do that yourself you don't have any statute
50:18
of limitations you could just do it I said no this is something my old company ought to do I'd really like to
50:24
see him do it and I kind of give them the structure of how it would work and think oh that's terrific ah we love that
50:32
idea but then they don't do it necessarily on the other hand it's the kind of idea
50:38
that if if I were doing it they would and and proving the concept then they would want to buy it from me but still I
50:46
want them to do it and if they don't do it I'm not going to sell it to the highest bidder because I
50:51
think I've had some fabulous ideas and they're they're taking them under advisement and that's
50:57
their prerogative because they they'll have to invest their money in it although if they said well would you be
51:03
willing to invest your money in this I'd say yeah this is the kind of stuff that I think this is
51:09
so you're coming back Dr Jim
51:14
this is how rumors get started I just I got the the scene from Godfather Three you're saying there's a
51:20
champion just when I thought I was out I pulled
51:25
me see that Pacino scene and Godfather Three so but uh
51:32
thank you Dr Beckett it is always a pleasure um we have your blue M M's in the green room and you're truly a mensch yeah all
51:40
right next time very honored to be on with you guys well thank you we'll play it out and uh
51:46
once again for everybody else for for our supporters from Center Stage waxstat.com SGC thank you and for
51:54
everybody episode number two thank you