TAG CON: 1st Edition

This was it. This was the beginning of our deep dive into the hobby. My brother and I had dabbled in the space for about 5 years. I had bought large collections of football cards and pieced them out on eBay and done fairly well. We had spent time together as a family opening Pokémon cards and having a great time. We had amassed enough product to set up and vend at a large show here in the Atlanta area. We ended up doing well there and set up a few other times here and there and really enjoyed it. The hobby was very welcoming to us. It was fun and very family oriented, which is great for a man with kids, like me. But we did see an issue. An issue we became obsessed in fixing.

Every show we set up at as a vendor went the same way. We bought our tables; we got a vendor badge... and that was it. No seriously. There was no help from the show workers, nobody coming around to talk to vendors to see if they need anything, nobody asking how the vendors were doing, nobody asking how they could improve or asking for any opinions on the show. You were on your own. It seemed like the vendors got zero customer service and the customer service for show-goers ended when the patrons got sold their ticket, and that didn't sit well with us. So, the idea to do our own convention was born. A show that could be done multiple times a year, that respects the hobby, vendors and collectors and put service first, period. Boy we were excited. Then came the fun part, going from idea to action. 

Before going into the process, you should know a little background about my brother and me. We have been through a ton of adversity, starting from very young, so no task ever seems too tall for us. We never see obstacles. Only chances to learn. We pride ourselves in being self-made. I own a construction company and my brother, Kenny, owns a mechanic shop. On top of my home job of being a father of 5. We already had a ton on our plate before this idea came about. So, I just wanted to give a shout out to my wife Julie for always standing by me while we dive into these new paths of business. Ok, that's enough background, now onto making the show happen.

The first task was finding a location. We called countless places before finally landing on City Station in west Georgia. It was right outside the University of West Georgia campus, close to the heart of Carrollton. Even though it took a lot of legwork to find the location, this turned out to be the easiest portion of the show logistics. To save you some reading I will let know the next steps. Buy tables, design the advertising and logos for the show, secure trusted vendors that do good business, sell tickets, figure out how to advertise, keep close correspondence with vendors and show-goers, the list goes on. While balancing all of this tough, we were determined to make it work.

Everything was set. The show went off without a hitch! We had 50 vendors tables and we had a total of, drumroll please......... 100 people come. That's right, 100 total. Some people would consider this a loss. But you have to remember our overall goal. To create a show based on service. And let me tell you, every person who came, as well as every vendor, was happy and delighted at the show. They all requested for us to do another show. We asked everyone that attended what their opinion was and how we could improve. We were also sure to ask all the vendors how we could improve on their side. We took all that in and started planning the next one! TAG CON 2 would be even better!