As many of these guys said, there is no room for you to profit at all in the short term getting paid autographs from these these guys at shows. However, you can have the invaluable experience of making memories by meeting them. That is what I do. At the National this week - as I have done for a few years now, going to shows and participating in the paid signings - I have had a wonderful time getting rookie cards (and a few other items) signed by a variety of guys from Emmitt Smith to Ozzie Smith to Bill Walton to Johnny Bench. I took care to pay for them to do cool inscriptions. Completely worth the money for me.
The actual profit and money making in this hobby - as far as I’m concerned - is for the guys who invest more time and emotion into flipping a high volume of low dollar, low profit margin items or for the guys who trade in the insanely expensive items. My actual professional endeavors do not afford me the time or energy to mess around with flipping high volume/low dollar stuff, which I find not to be fun and kind of low brow anyway. And I simply won’t gamble/play the market on the six figure stuff, such as LeBron James and Mike Trout. So, it all keeps me focused on enjoying the hobby for the hobby’s sake. And whoever gets my collection when I die can worry about making money off of it. I hope they are able to do something they love with whatever they sell it for - or better yet, maybe it will even spark a love of their own for the stuff.
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