TRAINER'S EYE #162 - "The Battle Bond Between Shuriken and Flame" ft. Johto Jems

What if your childhood hobby could become your future? For Cameron and Noah, two high school friends turned business partners, that “what if” became Johto Jems, a heartfelt blend of Pokémon nostalgia, late-night ambition, and vending table hustle.

In this episode, we follow the duo’s journey from a 3AM business plan to their very first card show. They share what it means to grow a brand from scratch, why Pokemon X and Y will always be their favorite era, and how meaningful moments like giving a free pack to a wide-eyed kid make the vendor grind worth it. Along the way, you’ll hear stories of Ash Greninja, Shiny Charizard, and the growing bond between two friends building something they can finally call their own.

Listen now and experience the kind of connection that can only happen between Trainers and Pokemon cards.

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Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Transcript

Cameron: 0:00

We are Johto Jems,

Noah: 0:01

and this is our Pokemon story.

David Hernandez: 0:42

Welcome to as the Pokeball Turns, where every voice, every journey, and every memory brings us closer to the world of Pokemon. I'm David Hernandez and I'm joined by a duo behind Johto Jems, A team bringing heart, hustle, and humor to the Pokemon community. One show at a time. Johto Jems. Welcome to as the Pokemon Ball Turns.

Cameron: 1:01

Thank you so much for having us on.

David Hernandez: 1:03

Absolutely. And thank y'all for coming on. I have a soft spot for vendors'cause I started doing vendor events myself and it's such a unique world where you kind of are like a small business in a sense, but you're also with other small businesses in a one closed area. And I kind of just wanna start with this question. You know, a lot of great journeys, they start with a simple, what if. What was the conversation y'all two had or the moment where Johto Jems took shape.

Cameron: 1:27

So it was actually a, a pretty funny story. it wasn't really a conversation. We kind of had, it just kind of sparked. So basically, I met him at my, around freshman year of high school and we weren't very close, but recently we came back together. It was really good friends. And at like three in the morning, I sent him a giant business plan that I created out of nowhere. And I was like, we should create a business. And he was like. He was like, nah, man, not right now. And then that's where, kind of where it died down. But then we went to collect Con Houston and after we left, he looked at me and he was just like, I wanna do this. I want this to happen and I want this to be something that we do for the rest of our life. And I was like, let's do it. And that's kind of where it kinds kinda, where it all started, honestly.

Noah: 2:05

Yeah, I Collect-a-con like just seeing everybody like. the way the social interaction, the way the business was turning through what I loved as well, something I was interested in. It was, it was just inspirational to see that, and it was something I wanted to pursue. I.

David Hernandez: 2:20

What was the bit about specifically collect I guess maybe changed your mind from, ah, this is not a good idea to, oh, let's do this. Like do you remember? Anything significant that stuck out?

Noah: 2:29

I think it was the seeing people our age,'cause me and Cameron are still in high school, right? And seeing people around like, you know, 1918 going out there and really, you know, trying to do something rather than just, you know, staying at home, playing video games, going out. But they're trying to, you know, make something out of something that they love and it's a brand and something that they can carry around. And that's something that inspired me to want to do this as well because I want something that I can say is me and having Johto Jems is, it's honestly amazing.

David Hernandez: 3:02

Now, Cam, back to you real quick.'cause you sent this guy a message at 3:00 AM in the morning, a business plan, and I gotta ask like, why did you feel the urge to send it right then and there?

Cameron: 3:11

so we worked together at the same job at retirement Center and basically we got back from a shift and we were just both super tired, but like I. I like was up one night because I had Johto Jems originally, it was a little TikTok shop thing. I was running by myself before Noah, but it wasn't the same Johto Jems. It was spelled differently. It had a whole different like, demeanor to it. It really wasn't the same. but like I take business classes in high school and things like that. So I've still taught myself business. I ran a, uh, a, like a catering cookie business I used to sell things online, like I've been very much into entrepreneurship and sales, my whole, my whole life. So I kind of already have like a whole, the whole thing behind business plans and, all teams like business. So like in the middle of the night I was like, watching this video. It, this is where this struck for me to go back in the Pokemon was Coop's collection on TikTok. I saw him and I was I wanna do this. So again, at like two 30 in the morning, I created a business plan. Took me about an hour and a half, two hours. I sent it to him and I was like, bro. Read this and tell me this doesn't sound fire. And then that's where, that's kind of like where it sparked.

David Hernandez: 4:09

Now on that note, because you said you basically kind of grew up with business, like it's in your blood basically. And you know, you mentioned taking classes and all that. What was some of the earliest lessons about running something of your own and how does that show up now and how you operate? Joe, do gyms.

Cameron: 4:25

So obviously everybody wants to not have a boss. Everybody wants to do things under their own, like impression and everything. You know, That's kind of where it first happened. That's just kind of everybody's perspective in entrepreneurship and things like that. But I found like a passion in sales. Like, it's funny, it's, it's just gonna sound stupid, but like, as a kid, I used to, like, during like the hot summer days, I'd go around my neighborhood and sell water bottles for obnoxiously high prices. I was six. Didn't know the best, but you can say it was doing sales and sophomore year, freshman year of high school, I was baking cookies at home with, uh, recipes that I created and I would go around like, the local neighborhood and sell them to people for pretty good prices, honestly.'cause I was using high tier ingredients to create like, really good product. And it worked for a while. I was, I was bringing in a really good flow. But the thing was, is that I actually, um. Things happened in life and, you know, I, I had to step away from that. But then I came back. Whenever I saw how big Pokemon was getting, I was already collecting it. I had got back into it before the big craze, but then I saw vending and I was like, this is my chance to, to bring business, my, like, my business passion back into a really good way. Because I've always wanted to do something in business. I've always wanted to have my own business. If it, at first it was a kitchen, I wanted to own my own restaurant. other things like that. And then this is where it's kind of ended as now I wanna have like a card shop for my own.

David Hernandez: 5:39

Now, you mentioned how you were getting back into Pokemon. What was your early experience with Pokemon and how did that, come into you doing Johto Jems at some point?

Cameron: 5:48

I started collecting Pokemon at the age of four. So my mom was getting me very late, black and white sets from the toys Rush. She'd go wait in lines for them because about that time, Pokemon was pretty big, or the trading party game was pretty big. And my time period where I collected the most was the Pokemon XY era, which was, I Will Stand, is the best era in Pokemon. argue with the Wall, don't care. Anyways. collecting, that's like where my big collecting was. All I remember is that I would like reach in my pockets and I would have Mega Charizard X cards in there and they would get run through the, the washing machine and dryer machine because you know, as a kid you didn't care about condition or worth or none of that.'cause at the time they really didn't have much worth, like the big investment and all that didn't happen until 2020. But as a kid, collecting Pokemon was the coolest thing I could have done. I used to trade them in school. I definitely get scammed a lot, but, Trading cars in class was always super fun and I would wait in lines to toys us at very late nights or very early mornings for the newest sets. So yeah, I've always been around Pokemon my whole life. Literally one of the first shows I've ever watched was the anime, I think it was the Diamond and Pearl Anime. so I've always been around Pokemon my entire life, and I grew out of it for a while, and then I came back into it.

David Hernandez: 6:58

You know what's interesting is that no matter when we started playing Pokemon, there's always that story where somebody leaves the Charizard card in their pocket and the laundry. I don't know what is about Charizard, but it just goes through so much abuse. Maybe that's why it's so valuable. I don't know, but I. Noah, what about you? What's your experience with Pokemon? Let's start there. What's your early experience?

Noah: 7:18

Honestly, as far back as I can remember, I've always been collecting Pokemon, whether it be on the Ds, on the trading card game. I've loved Pokemon. I don't actually remember when it started, but I do remember collecting the cards and I have to agree with my business partner on this. One XY will always be the best era. I remember buying flash fire for five bucks. Seeing the prices nowadays makes me insane. Like absolutely crazy. But as far back as I can remember, I remember playing Omega Ruby. I remember playing Ruby Pearl. All those Collecting at Toys R Us. I remember waiting in line for those. I remember the huge boxes that you could get for super like cheap nowadays, but they're super expensive now.

David Hernandez: 8:07

You said you played the video games. What did you enjoy about playing the video games at that time? Do you remember any of them?

Noah: 8:12

Honestly, the one thing that stuck out to me about Pokemon was there was so many hidden secrets that you would just stumble onto instead of wanting to find, or, you know, looking up a YouTube video about how to find something.'cause maybe back then we didn't, you know, know to look it up or want to find it in that way. We would just stumble across it and, you know. Finding a secret path or cutting a tree. You weren't supposed to. Finding a secret path and it leading on to something amazing that you tell your friends about the next day. There was just something so magical about that in Pokemon for me.

David Hernandez: 8:46

I can see that. I always enjoy. That's why I always try to. Click everything whenever I would go to town, because I always never knew what would lead to something. Like if I click, if I talked to this lady or this guy, like where they gave me on adventure, where they gave me a Pokemon, then that's what always kind of I enjoyed the most about the games.'cause you never knew where that conversation could lead to something else, you know?

Noah: 9:06

As somebody who hated reading, growing up, ever since I started playing Pokemon and like Dark Souls, you gotta pay attention now. And very important to check every corner, every nook and cranny. There could always be something I.

David Hernandez: 9:20

Now, y'all both said something the same. Y'all both agreed on this one point that Pokemon X and Y was the best out of anything, and I want to get y'all's opinions on from both of y'all. What is it about that set that MBS makes it stand out compared to some of the others?

Noah: 9:35

Honestly, I would have to say the gimmick for X and y like it. It's the greatest for what we have right now. Like between VMAXs, Gigantamaxing, Terrastilization. it doesn't get any better than Megas like Mega Charizard, Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Aggron,. Mega rayquaza. Don't forget about Primal Kyogre, Primal Groudon these new forms. They were, they were crazy. And seeing them in the card variance with, with the Japanese text, it was just, it was something so new and magical. It was captivating.

Cameron: 10:10

So I have to agree with them is that it's got the best gimmick. Uh, I understand. Maybe competitive wise. Competitive wise, it wasn't the best gimmick, the newest gimmick, Tara, is actually VBAs gimmick, I guess, or it's the most balanced one, but nobody. Cares as someone who mainly watched the anime more than competitively playing the games, because when I play the games or I don't put do like that, but when I was a kid and I would play the games, it's over level your starter and then go and see how far you go. That's how it goes. But, mega evolution was the coolest thing for me. Specifically, my favorite mega evolution wasn't mega, it was the Ash Greninja. I am the craziest Ash fan or like Greninja fan ever. So seeing the anime, like watching him hit battle bond for the first time was probably the coolest thing ever. I have a Greninja pop figure signed by that Ashes voice actor. I collect all the cards. I'm on the mission to collect every printed greninja card that's ever released. I have the Ash Greninja card, all of these super cool cards, and I'm sad that they're rec conning ash greninja completely, but. Hopefully they do him justice, what his mega evolution. I understand the game is super, super easy and you can pretty much just fly by with like Greninja and Charizard and you know,'cause it basically, and Lucario'cause it hands you a free Lucario. But it was probably the easiest game that had put people into the game and the hobby and all that because a lot of people grew up like. Me, Noah's age, demographic X and Y was their first introduction, or black and white too, and x and y. Making it the easiest game was probably the smartest decision because then it kept people for the long run, you know? And I started personally with black and white too. That was my first game. I'm a Tepig lover, by the way. Emboar is my goat. But yeah, like X and Y would definitely be my favorite. And I still rewatch X and Y when I get the chance.'cause that anime was the most mature version of Ash and was just the most well-written anime.

David Hernandez: 11:57

I had a follow up question'cause you mentioned how you love Ash Greninja, that that's your, it sounds like that's your favorite Pokemon potentially.

Cameron: 12:03

definitely.

David Hernandez: 12:04

Oh it is. Okay. What is it about, I guess, Ash Greninja that you enjoy? compared to maybe some of his other Pokemon or other Pokemon that are out there?

Cameron: 12:12

See, if it wasn't for the XY anime, Greninja wouldn't be as popular. To me, it's the anime that really ride like rose the. Pokemon up for me because having Froakie's backstory, being that he chose the starter, that starter didn't choose him, is the coolest thing ever. His first screen time was, blocking an attack for Ash after not even being Ash's Pokemon. And every evolution that he had was so cool. When he first involved into Frogadier, it was the coolest thing ever. He was stuck under the rubble and he went crazy. and I think it was the eighth Gym battle. It was a seventh. It was a seventh gen battle. they redid the father son Kami haw thing, but with ash and Frogadier, and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. When he finally evolved in the Greninja'cause in the animate, Frogadier or like Greninja rival was another greninja from like Ash's Greninja, greninja type of thing. I don't know how to explain it, but that greninja became fodder so fast the second that Frogadier evolved because he went battle bond instantly and just wiped every single evil Pokemon that was there within like five seconds. And he should have won the Kalos finals. I'll stand on that. That was, that was robbed. He got robbed Charizard was fodder. I don't care, But the whole point is that the anime is what made Greninja be my favorite Pokemon. And without the anime, it would definitely, it probably would've been Infernape because of his backstory.

David Hernandez: 13:27

Since we're on favorite Pokemon Noah, what's your favorite Pokemon?

Noah: 13:30

I am amazed that you brought this up. Right now my favorite Pokemon is Charizard, actually, and specifically Mega Charziard X, actually, so that is even more hilarious. Is, and that

David Hernandez: 13:44

Charizard X like that's your favorite.

Noah: 13:47

I would have to say specifically Shiny Charziard.

David Hernandez: 13:50

Fair

Noah: 13:50

have a thing for like, you know, black dragons, like shiny rayquaza, shiny Charizard, Mega Charizard X. Those have to be top three.

David Hernandez: 13:59

Wow. How did it feel when he was saying like, oh, uh, Greninja should have won against

Noah: 14:04

was

David Hernandez: 14:04

feel a little Yeah.

Noah: 14:05

amazing. Oh my gosh. The euphoria I feel right now. But that one kick that Ash Greninja did to Bro's Dome that one time that was tough. I can't lie.

David Hernandez: 14:17

Do you have like a Charizard collection? I assume, like since you're a card collector, do you try to dive into that or you kind

Noah: 14:22

I actually, I actually did, I had the ones from Champions Path. I had the Aldean Fates one. I had pretty much every shiny Charizard card, the char, the shiny VM Max one. But I put my binder on top of Cameron's car and I forgot to grab it. I'm pretty I we sped off and it might have fallen off, but. To New beginnings and we're gonna rebuild it, and it's just gonna be a part of the journey now.

David Hernandez: 14:50

Now Cam, I wanna go back to you'cause you mentioned how you had collectibles of your favorite Pokemon. I want to ask like what's one I guess that means the most to you, and what's the story behind it?

Cameron: 14:59

The Greninja SIR CK illustration layer from Twilight Masquerade. That one specifically has a lot of. Sentimental value behind it because of what I had to go through. the set that it's from, Twilight Masquerade has ridiculous pull rates, meaning it's stupid, hard to pull it. And I maybe invested 700 plus dollars for the card. By the way, the card's like three 50 raw. and I never pulled it, so I had to swallow my pride and buy the card because.

David Hernandez: 15:24

You never pulled it. You just bought it individually.

Cameron: 15:27

I wanted to pull it, like I, I made it my mission. Every time I went to our favorite card shop, we'd, I would always buy like a three pack blister or a ETB and try to open it, but I just never could pull it. So I had to swallow my pride and buy it. But, my second, like most valuable, or like the card that means the most to me is probably my Ash Greninja's card, because I was at Collect Con, the one where we decided that Johto Jems should become a thing. I went to like 40 plus vendor tables asking for the card. after like the 50th table, I found it and it was, it was such a euphoric feeling.

David Hernandez: 15:57

Now going back to the first one, you know, it's a tough decision to be able to buy the card individually. A lot of people who collect the TCG, they prefer to pull it. They love that feeling to finally get what they're chasing. What was the conversation you had with yourself to where it went from? I'd rather try to pull it to where I'd rather just go ahead and close this chapter and go ahead and just buy the car individually. Was it difficult for you to kind of do that?

Cameron: 16:19

Yeah, it took me a really long time because I was saying that to Noah for a couple months that I was just gonna out ride by. The card and then I would keep buying the packs. But it was the fact that I bought a whole booster box and countless ETBs three pack blisters, and I never even pulled a top 10 card from the set it was my time that I was like, I can't do this anymore. Like I financially cannot invest this into the set anymore. So it was time to just outright buy the card and just move on and see what else I can get.'cause I had a whole, I had no time to just be chasing for one card when there's 80 4K Ninja cards that I need to go after.

David Hernandez: 16:51

Uh, I mean, it could be worse. Could be chasing after Eevee. There's like 500 of those.

Cameron: 16:57

Are like, bro, over

David Hernandez: 16:58

he, he's got the expensive property between all of us.

Noah: 17:00

And I gotta restart them

David Hernandez: 17:02

yeah, you gotta restart them all. Oh my gosh, dude. poor guy. My last question just in regards to that, because even after you decided to make the decision to buy it individually, you still had to go to 50 vendor tables just to find the card. Like was it difficult just to go and ask like over and over the same question and kind of feel the feel like, how'd you stay motivated through that?

Cameron: 17:19

It was just, I knew somebody there had to have it. It was the biggest, it's one of the biggest events in the states and no, somebody had to have had it. And the amount of people that brought out the wrong card, I was like, do y'all have the Ash Greninja promo card? And they would think, I'm talking about another promo card. And I'd be like, I already have this one man. And that would keep, I would've to like speed, walk through people and move and basically haul ass to get there. And. When I finally found it, it was a great feeling because he had actually like two copies of them, which I was shocked. I was like, everybody here has zero copies and you had two.

David Hernandez: 17:51

Noah, for you, you know, you're starting a collection from scratch and for Charizard no less. I don't even know what to say about that, but I guess, what's the first card you wanna start your collection? What's a Charizard card that you enjoy? Out of all the ones that are available, I.

Noah: 18:06

I think honestly, I'm just gonna start off with a wham and just purchase a PS A 10 SIR ARD from Paldean Fates, just to reward myself because you know, I lost the binder and. I guess I deserve it in a way. I feel like I do. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna splurge a little and I think I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna restart it with, with a PSA 10, just, but it'll be my first ever slab. So it'll be, it'll be a real set piece and I'll get one of those cases that I've seen, it's card shows. I've seen a lot of people with really cool, like 3D printed ones and a lot of the cool like gradient cases. So I, I might go a little crazy with that. Maybe even get a necklace and wear it around like see.

David Hernandez: 18:48

Okay. So eventually, you know, y'all come together, y'all start Johto Jems, which is what y'all are now, and my first question would be like, what is Johto Jems and how did that name come about?

Cameron: 20:28

So Johto Gems was first a thing before Noah. It was just me. It was a TikTok shop I was running where I was selling packs and things I had, and it was spelled completely different. we kind of want it to be different and more unique compared to other vendors.'cause when you look in other Pokemon content creators, they always have the same thing in their names. Pokey, insert name, something TCG something collects, you know, everything always has to have something Poke in it. So we were like. Let's put in one of the regions from the game and let's, let's try to rhyme it with something. So our three options before we had it fully, it was Kanto collectibles, I think it was Kalos Collectibles, I think it was one of the two. And then Johto Jems. But we asked around and Johto Jems. Slid off the tongue perfectly. We all, we still ask for people's opinions to this day, even though we're basically fully committed to the name, everybody loves the name. When they look at our table, they love the name and they're like, this name is so cool. It, it just fits so perfect and we, it feels super, it's super nice to know

David Hernandez: 21:24

I feel called out'cause I'm As The Pokeball Turns, so it's like I'm fit a stereotypical.

Cameron: 21:29

No, I guess it's kind of different whenever you're like podcasting, like obviously you need to put Pokemon in the name, but like all vendors that kind of have the same names, and I'm not judging, I'm not hating. I'm just

David Hernandez: 21:39

No, let's judge, let's hate, let's do a rating of all the pokey stuff out there. I would love to do stuff like that. All y'all mean poke, Mars, pokey collectibles, pokey cards. Y'all gotta be more creative out there. Okay.

Noah: 21:51

Called out Pokey Rev. Jeez.

Cameron: 21:53

Yeah, one of the top Pokemon YouTubers voters got called out.

David Hernandez: 21:57

my podcast. Come on. So, Oh, anyway, on that note, so you know you got Johto Jems, and you know, y'all are finally coming together. Y'all decide, you know, to come back after collect account, I believe is when your business partner comes in. Y'all's first vendor experience was actually called Houston Cards and Collectibles, and I wanna know, what was your first experience as vendors like

Noah: 22:15

Honestly, the the first experience. that show probably had to be, maybe not financially, but just experience wise, like our best show yet, like being there in person behind the table rather than in front of it, trying to buy something. It was just an amazing feeling, being able to talk to so many people, especially for. People like me and Cameron, you know, our, our generation, whenever we went through COVID, we were out of school for a while. We didn't, you know, have a lot of social interactions. So to be able to like constantly just be talking and talking and talking and talking, I I had a really big social battery saved up and it was, it's really nice to be able to just talk and talk and talk and talk and meet new people and just, constantly be in a cycle of over and over and over again with people and just seeing how everybody can be a new person and everybody can be in a different mood, same mood. And it was just super unique and I, I just, I loved the experience.

Cameron: 23:13

I'd probably say it was our second best card show. fin or like, experience wise, our second one takes it for me, So yeah, eTown car show was, was exactly what I wanted vening to be. Sunday was definitely a slower day, mainly because it rained, so it had a good reason to be slow. But day one, Saturday was truly remarkable. Like. The people we met was, was awesome. like our first couple deals, the people were super cool and they were, they were loving our table'cause we got two tables'cause they was on deal. It was like on, on sale or something. So we had, not much product, but we had a lot of space to be able to move around and just honestly the vendors were the best thing about it. all our neighbor was super cool. Everybody around us was just super awesome. And at that show I met. One of, now one of my best like vendor buddies, uh, the pokey twin shop. Those guys are like the goats and they were super helpful for our vendor journey, have been helping us throughout the way and they're always, going talking to them at shows'cause they're always at every show that we're at and just always chopping it up with them and they're super cool.

David Hernandez: 24:16

So you said like the vendors were the best experience about your first show, you know, what advice did they give to y'all when y'all were attending your first show that left an impression on y'all? I.

Cameron: 24:25

So the difference between all of us, or between me and Noah and the vendors are our age gap. Most of these people have started vending after they've made their money. I. So they've worked full-time jobs, full-time careers and have made money so they'd be able to splurge and invest in high tier cards. Unlike me and Noah, where we work part-time jobs, for not much an hour type of type of thing. so we have less to work with. So when we go to these events, we make sure that networking and making people's day is our best, like work because I know that we can do that. Better than anybody else at these shows. Maybe we can't sell the highest cards, but we damn well could make someone's day and make someone's whole week, actually. So I'd say that the advice the vendors gave us is to just don't get jealous. Don't get unmotivated because we have higher tier cards than you. It'll come in time. Just keep working at it and with how y'all are going. If y'all just keep promoting yourselves, eventually it'll go big and it'll be so worth it.

David Hernandez: 25:23

Now you said you, you enjoyed the second vending show y'all attended. Tell me about it and what was it about that you preferred The second one over? The first one.

Cameron: 25:29

So when we went into the show, we were a little bit concerned because these guys run shows at the W. So like every weekend they run shows. Our second car show again, they, they run shows like every weekend. They had like 14 K followers, so we were a little bit concerned'cause they weren't really marketing the show. the game changer behind the show was that it was free entry, no cost all weekend. It was$0. and it was also in a smaller venue, a really nice hotel that me and Noah were contemplating staying in. But, we got there and man, Saturday was, the greatest thing because the game changer for us was changing our gimmick. So the thing is about vendors is that you gotta have a gimmick to succeed. And our gimmick was to spin the wheel, which our H Town card show we, we went about it wrong. So instead of what we do now, we were charging people five bucks to spin the wheel and it was very okay. Prizes. But our second card show, we changed it to you. Give us a follow on Instagram and you can spin the wheel and oh my goodness. That was a game changer. We jumped like two to 300 followers that weekend and people were having so much fun at our table. the word got passed around that we were giving out free packs'cause that's what one of the rewards was on the wheel. And people were coming line up to spin this. We had one guy follow us on five different alt accounts to spin our wheel. We were all ripping packs and having packed battles at the table. It was, it was truly the greatest event, and I think the best thing about it was. say actually for Noah, I kind of like walked in on this was a little kid came by our table, his name's Trevor and he's like a big Charizard fan. And him and Noah were talking about Charizards and the little kid asked us for a picture and it was like the most wholesome thing ever.'cause we have like a really like high quality picture of all three of us together. And it was just a great, it was a great experience. Really good, really good. it, it almost had me tearing up because like. He ended up being like, now he's like one of our biggest supporters ever and we're so grateful for that guy and his dad is also super, super cool to us. But now the cards and Mor tour event was really good. Financially and experience wise it was, it was the best event.

Noah: 27:29

From the second card show, honestly, whenever Trevor came to our, table with his father and he met us and he asked us for a picture, it was something that, like, growing up, I've always watched, you know, YouTubers like Unlisted Leaf was one of my favorite YouTubers ever growing up. Like his videos. Inspire me to do the pack trick and the way I open my cards today. Like he's the one who set the stones for me. So whenever somebody comes up to me and they're asking me for a picture, like it honestly made me take a step back and it, it made me appreciate everything like so much more. And honestly, I have to agree with Cameron on, on the, the whole networking side, talking to everybody and you know, getting, getting point of views. But the question you asked him, where you said what was the best piece of advice, I honestly think it would, it would have to be, Honestly a, a rude remark what somebody made whenever they said everybody starts somewhere and it goes back to Cameron's point where it's just gonna come in time and naturally it'll build up. And looking back at our Instagram and seeing our first card show compared to our second one, compared to our third one, and seeing how it is all coming in time and it is all building up. It, it's pushing me forward to continue.

David Hernandez: 28:40

you know, y'all talked about how you're just not selling cards, you're also building moments, you know, what kind of, experience do you want people to have when they go to your tables at any vending event?

Noah: 28:49

Honestly, we want it to be like, you're coming up to some old people that you've known for like a while. Like, Hey, these guys are people that we've known, like these are our friends, right? Like. Whenever people come up to us, we want it to be like an experience where like it's not always all about money. Like whenever we want just a follow on Instagram or something. It's not, I don't wanna say we're not asking a lot, but it's less of a exchange, more of a social interaction. And in the meantime, whenever they're typing in the username, that's the time where we're asking'em how their day is going. If they're enjoying the show, we're catching up and we're building the. friendship level, I guess you would say, and whenever you get them to a certain point where they're comfortable and just the social interaction between people, that's the moments I'm personally looking for is just having the bond between humans, I guess, and experiencing friendly social interaction, I guess, and just truly connecting with people.

Cameron: 29:44

Since we're, again, obviously we're just behind financially when it comes to cards, and that's okay. There's no, there's nothing wrong with that, you know, but it's definitely just like we want people to leave knowing who we are because with the spin the wheel thing, people can just follow us on Instagram and then instantly unfollow us directly after spin the wheel. But if you talk to them, you, you build connection with them. You figure out like what their favorite Pokemon is. Maybe they're looking for a card. You can guide them to another table that might have that card. They'll wanna stay followed and keep updated in case that you get those cards that they want, because. you wanna earn their follow. you're not begging for it. You want to earn it basically. Right. And I want people to be able to like, come up to our table and be like, what's going on guys? Like, they know us already. Like, that's starting to happen. Like every time we, like, whenever we, we tell people about the spin the wheel thing about giving us a follow, they're like, we already have you follow. And it's like, it's becoming a big thing locally where a lot of people here already have a follow up, but so. We end up just giving'em a free pack.'cause if you come to our table, you know, it's to get a free pack. That's kind of how it works with us. and we wanna see people pull the best things. Like if people pull like from these free packs, sirs and things like that, we want them to keep it like people, the amount of times people have pulled really good cards and they'll like, y'all want to back? No. You know, we, you, it's your pack, open get keep it, you know?

David Hernandez: 30:53

It sounds like they might be used to somebody saying like, oh, you gotta rear car. Let me have it back, kind of thing. Otherwise they wouldn't ask for it, you know?

Cameron: 30:59

yeah, that looks terrible on you, you know?

Noah: 31:02

Exactly.

Cameron: 31:03

But like, it's, it's just building a memories for these people and like building memories for us that we wanna keep and, and guide along for our journey. Because I don't wanna forget about any of the locals in case things happen and we go big or things like that. But like the, the people around us are the reason why, where we're at. You know? Like we wouldn't be at 800 followers nearly without these people. Like, we wouldn't be consistently posting without them. We wouldn't be on this podcast without them. Things like that, you know?

Noah: 31:26

The smile on people's faces whenever you see them for the second time and you immediately recognize each other, like that feeling is just irreplaceable.

David Hernandez: 31:36

Well, very cool guys. I want to finish this interview on this last question and I want an answer from both of you, obviously. At the end of the day, y'all's origin story was because of friendship. You know, it was, it started with 3:00 AM message about, Hey, let's do this. What's something y'all learned about each other through building Johto Gems that y'all didn't expect?

Noah: 31:53

I'll let

Cameron: 31:54

can start with,

Noah: 31:54

first on one. No, no, no, no. You go first.

Cameron: 31:58

okay. So while building it, I've learned that I can't pressure him to do things that he doesn't wanna do necessarily. Like if I need him to do something it. It'll make him feel like he's unmotivated. It'll make him feel like he's unmotivated, kind of. And I don't want him to have that feeling. So, for the most part is I learned is that he's really good with sales and whenever we're at these shows, he can really talk to people about getting really good deals. So we ha we each, we each have our own strong parts. And I would say that his strong suit when it comes to vending and doing Johto Jems is his, his ability to sell cards and sell packs to people.'cause he does it better than

David Hernandez: 32:35

Ooh. That's a lot. That's a huge compliment coming from the salesman

Noah: 32:38

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's, that's almost crazier than the Min

David Hernandez: 32:42

Noah, you've got some big shoes to fill. I'm gonna have to, you have to start doing some sales. What about you, Noah? It's your turn. I.

Noah: 32:49

Honestly, I'm gonna have to say I've learned that Cameron is a, is a drill sergeant and whenever he, he wants something done and he needs it done and it, he's, he's very big on, if it's not here now, it's never gonna be there. So it's weird trying to cope and like help somebody like realize like, yo, it's not that deep. Like we could get this done a little later or. Something like that. Trying to like manage communication among business partners, especially at a young age. We're still trying to figure everything out, but the biggest thing that I've learned from Cameron is that I need to like, put stuff in gear a lot faster than what it is. Like if there's a deadline that we need to meet by Friday. There's no way that I should be doing it on Thursday if I have time to do it on Wednesday, Tuesday, or Monday. Right? Like, if, if there's time, like do it, there's no point in pushing things off. And if there's time, just make it happen. I.

David Hernandez: 33:42

on that note, if people want to check out what you guys are selling or if they wanna find out where you're heading to, where can they find you guys? Please, by all means, plug away.

Cameron: 33:50

On Instagram, you can find us posting pretty commonly every single day. TikTok and YouTube are very slow on at this moment because we're trying to build consistency with YouTube videos and um, TikTok videos specifically, we're working on that at the moment. I. But Instagram, we usually post what card shows we're going to pretty commonly on our stories. And then we'll post a, about a week before the show happens, or like two weeks before the show happens, I'll post a graphic saying, Hey, we're gonna be at the show. And then post, Hey, this is what table we're gonna be at. Come see us, type of thing. And then we'll be posting like pretty commonly about what cards we have at the moment. like card spotlights to teach you what they're called. So like right now our newest post is like a char I have posted, I have a pack opening coming soon, things like that. So.

David Hernandez: 34:33

Thank you for listening to As the Poke Ball Turns, if this story resonated with you, share the podcast with a fellow trainer and don't forget to follow us. For more voices, more journeys, and more memories. I'm David Hernandez, and remember, I. Your next Pokemon adventure begins here.