Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

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Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 05 Oct 2024 13:38

Desde hace tiempo las webs de Pandrea apenas tienen barajas a la venta. The Blue Crown dejó de vender barajas y se especializó en videos de magia. The House of Playing Cards dejó de producir barajas propias y empezó a vender parte de la colección personal de Pandrea. Actualmente apenas tiene unas NOC y LZY a la venta.

Como el mismo dice en el email, ha vendido mas de 1 millón de barajas, generando 10 millones de dólares en ingresos. Ahora da un cambio en sus negocios y se dedicará a dar consejos económicos y de empresa. Además contratará a personal que lleve The House of Playing Cards y produzcan nuevas barajas, pero sin su intervención directa.

Y para celebrar este cambio de rumbo nada mejor que poner a la venta una baraja impresa en 2022. El coste es de 20.95€ cada baraja, o si la quieres con su firma añade 14€.

https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve

It's Official - I'm Retiring From Playing Cards..(here's my gift to you).

BIG NEWS INCOMING…I’m retiring from the playing card industry and I’m starting a new business. You can sign up to my new company here (it’s free): https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe


My LAST deck of cards (NOC Private Reserve) is available for Pre-Order. This is the last deck I will be involved in and you are invited to secure your decks for a limited time: https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve


But Alex, WHY? Well let me explain…

In March of 2011 I launched The Blue Crown. I was a 23 years old aspiring entrepreneur who wanted to make an impact in the magic industry. This new company aimed to teach magic, sleight of hand, and performance through video tutorials. Through our many downloadable videos and DVDs…(yes, DVDs, remember those?) we released some amazing magic and taught hundreds of thousands of aspiring magicians all around the world.



In 2012, the popularity of custom playing cards was growing at an exponential rate and I decided to launch a brand called House of Playing Cards. This company went on to be incredibly successful - selling more than 1 million decks of cards through 300+ different custom decks and generating over $10 million.



So you might be thinking - great, so what’s the problem? Well over the past 10+ years my whole life revolved around designing, printing, and selling playing cards. In the beginning this was fun and exciting. I was able to be creative with the decks we produced and building the stories around each release - and I think we did it better than just about anyone in the industry.



As the years went on, my goals in business and, well, life evolved. My interest in the playing card industry began to dwindle. I found myself working on projects I had no passion for. Printing a deck…selling the deck…repeat. By this point, the playing card industry had hits its peak and I was ready for the next level.



In 2022, my wife and I had our first baby. I decided to take some time off (as many of you may have noticed) to not only spend time with my family, watch my baby grow up, but to reflect on what was next for me professionally.



I began investing the money I was making through my business - investing in the markets, in businesses, and starting new ventures I was interested in - this not only proved to be a great success for me financially, but it sparked a new flame and ambition to pursue something more.



I decided to begin work on a new company - a new brand - a fresh new idea. A platform that allows me to share everything I’ve learned in business, investing, and growing wealth. It gives me a chance to build something of value and hopefully inspire a lot of people. It’s called Lazy Money Club - You can come along for the journey here: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



Thus came the difficult decision to leave the playing card industry behind. It wasn’t an easy one - in fact, until recently it was very hard to let go of, but I knew it had to be done. My last deck of cards that I will be involved in (my Private Reserves) is now out for pre-order. https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve



So what now?



Well first things first - I plan on giving away ALL the secrets of the playing card industry. How to design, produce, and sell decks of cards. I will teach you everything I’ve learned over the last 13 years in successfully selling playing cards, and I will do it all for free. I initially was going to make a course about this, but f*ck it, I’d rather give it away for free. I will do this in a series of emails. Please subscribe here: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



Secondly - I am releasing my last deck of cards. It is my Private Reserve NOC deck. I printed this deck back in 2022 for personal use and only gave them away to friends. It’s the final deck I will personally be involved in.



Third - is House of Playing Cards dead? Not quite. I plan to put in a team to run the site. Produce some decks, restock old decks, and keep things going - however I will not be personally involved in any playing card projects from here on out.



Lastly, what exactly is Lazy Money Club? Well, I’ll leave that for another day - but for now, if you want to keep up to date with me, my businesses, and want to be part of something very special, please join me. It is free and always will be.

https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



Excited for you to join me for the ride. I’ll see you on the other side.
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 07 Oct 2024 20:57

Este es el primer email de 5 de como ganar dinero con las barajas de cartas:

The Ultimate Free Guide Inside The Business of Playing Cards. Enjoy The Email Series...

Today is part 1 of a 5 part email series. In this series I will teach you how to make money in the magic industry, in particular to how profit from designing, printing, and selling playing cards. Our story begins with…well, my story…



Now, before jumping in - if you have a passion for business and alike, I am starting a NEW company. It’s a simple yet (I think) inspiring newsletter where we talk about ways to make money. It’s free (and always will be), and you can sign up and support here: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



ALSO : My last deck : NOC Private Reserve is now for pre-order ONLY until Monday: https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve



I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Growing up, I saw how hard my parents worked - they immigrated to the U.S. from a communist country and had worked their way up in their respective fields (mom an architect and dad a dentist). Although successful, they were still working (at the time) for someone else. I knew early on that I wanted to do things differently.



My interest in magic began when I was 5 - a clown came to my birthday party and performed some magic. Turns out, the clown was a family friend wearing a red nose. Shocking, to say the least. He would regularly visit and show me some simple tricks which led me to buy a beginner magic kit - not an uncommon story for kids. My fascination with the art really took a turn at the age of 12, when I stumbled upon a small magic shop at the back of a party store in Queens, NY called August Moon. There was a young magician working behind the counter named Jonathan Price. A friendship emerged and Jonathan ended up teaching me sleight-of-hand card magic. I was hooked. I had to learn more. A few years later I walked into Tannens Magic Shop and behind the counter was non other than Magick Balay. I became obsessed with close-up magic - especially after Magick would sneak me into bars in NYC and I’d watch him perform magic for random people. As an introverted young teen, I knew being able to perform magic is what I needed in those early developing years. My passion grew exponentially, and by the time I went to college, I would find myself skipping class to go hang out at the magic shop. It was there were I discovered the underground magic scene of NYC. Guys like Tony Chang would perform the smoothest sleight of hand I’d ever seen - and so I spent my time obsessing over card sleights and mastering every move. It was around this time that the magic industry began to explode - young guys my age were starting businesses in magic - Dan & Dave, theory11, to name a few. This posed a very interesting question - if they could do it, why couldn’t I?



At around 22 years old I started my first job - because well, I had to make some money to start supporting myself. It was at a law firm on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building. My job was very exciting - inserting documents into their perspective folders. What a dream. After a few hours I just couldn’t take it anymore. “What am I doing here?”, I asked myself. “Is this all I got?” I remember feeling pretty disgusted in myself and panic ensued that this would be my life. This turned out to be the spark that lit the flame. I took a late lunch break and never came back. I quit after that first day. That night I started planning out my new magic company, which would launch the following year.



I had a very simple approach - film my friends magic effects, put them on a DVD and sell them on a website. There was only one problem - I had no idea how to film, edit, or build a website - so I spent the next six months learning how to do all that How? I watched a lot of Youtube videos. A lot. I was almost ready to launch. There was only one thing missing…



I knew that to really make a name for myself in the industry I had to …well, make a name for myself. I decided to focus my efforts in building a personal brand. I knew that if I was well known in the industry that would give my company credibility. I started posting video clips of my sleight of hand, in particular, hard sleights like the classic pass, raise rise, and the anti-faro (which at the time about 3 people in the world could execute). This gained traction, as hardly anyone was posting these types of videos, and the word of my card magic spread. I collaborated with Dan and Dave on some card magic downloads for their website, which I knew would get my name out there even more. The twins really helped me out at the beginning and gave me a lot of advice about the industry. I was also able to see the process of filming and editing magic effects, and how they ran their business. I owe a lot to them. I began attending magic conventions and performed my magic. It was there were I met the team at Murphys Magic. I told them about my idea of starting a magic company and struck a deal for them to back me for the launch of my first products. The plan was complete and it was time to launch.



I put a small team together and spent the next months filming, editing, producing DVD’s and finalizing my website. The Blue Crown launched on March 8th, 2011. The website debuted with 3 DVDs, a few digital downloads, and the Erdnase (Expert at the Card Table) T-shirt - an idea I had for many years. Here are some numbers…



I had invested around $10,000 to get the business going. My DSLR camera cost around $2,000 at the time, including lenses, microphones etc. DVD’s cost about 80 cents to produce, and we initially printed about 1,000 of each DVD. That’s around $2500 factoring in shipping. We printed a few hundred T-shirts, which if I remember correctly cost around $5 to produce. I hired someone to help me build the website correctly - costing $1,500. We needed software for our website to run and sell digital downloads (there was no Shopify at the time and software was way more expensive than it is now). All-in-all it came to about $10k of costs, of which I borrowed from my dad. I was confident in doing this as I already had “pre-orders” from Murphys to buy our DVDs, which would put us in the profit immediately.



We launched with a bang and live-streamed the event online - something that nobody had done at the time. The hype spread across the internet on Facebook (the only social media available), and various magic forums. We had thousands of visitors come the website the first day and hundreds of sales. We sold about 100 of each DVD at an average price of $30, which brought in around $9,000. Our best seller by quantity was my Brick Pass download - teaching my version of the Classic Pass. I don’t remember the exact numbers but I do know that it reached 1,000 units in sales pretty quickly. Murphy’s ended up buying 800 of each DVD at a distributor rate (Murphys paid me 60% off the retail price in order for them to sell it further to magic shops at 40% off, profiting 20%). This means that Murphys would pay me an average of $12 per DVD. $12 x 800 (units) x 3 (DVDs) would be the math on that - and after impatiently waiting for 30 days (our terms were Net 30), I finally saw the money hit the company’s bank account - $28,800. In total, The Blue Crown brought in about $50,000 in revenue the first month. Not a bad start!



Things were just getting started, and I couldn’t be more motivated. Little did I know it would be my next idea that would really solidify my companies status in the industry and subsequently make me millions of dollars.



Don’t forget to please sign up to my free business newsletter. I think we are going to do some really interesting things on there: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



To be continued…
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 07 Oct 2024 20:57

Este es el segundo:

oday is part 2 of my 5 part series on the playing card industry. In this email we will explore how the playing card market exploded and the lessons learned from my first decks that I produced - The Crown Decks.


If you like these business stories and are interested in ways you can build a business from something you are interested in, please sign up to my business/investing newsletter. It’s launching soon and it’s absolutely free (and always will be): https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe


REMINDER: Last few days to Pre-Order my NOC Private Reserve - my last deck of cards. https://houseofplayingcards.com/collect ... te-reserve


Many believe Ellusionist were the first to print custom playing cards - however this is not really the case. The first ever custom deck to be printed with USPCC was the green rider back, printed for DiFatta Magic from Italy. It took over 2 years for Vincenzo Difatta to convince the United Playing Card Company to print a custom rider back - a story he personally told me when I visited his headquarters just outside of Rome and confirmed by USPCC. This deal paved the way for custom decks to be produced, and so the playing card industry was born.



Six months prior to the launch of The Blue Crown I sent an email to USPCC. I wanted to print a custom deck of cards for my new website. The idea was to have a company logo deck that I can sell as an add-on to the more prominent products, like our magic DVDs. I heard back from USPCC with some not-so-pleasant news. The minimum run for a deck of cards (at the time) was 15,000 decks at an average cost of $2 to print on their casino press. USPCC prints card for casino’s and the custom market wasn’t really a thing. There were only a handful of companies printing custom playing cards - less than 5. I gave up on the idea since I certainly didn’t have upwards of $30k to spend on a deck - but also, how would I ever sell 15,000 decks of cards?



In the months leading up to my website launch, I got an email from USPCC letting me know about a new press they were experimenting with. This press was able to do a smaller minimum quantity of 5,000 decks. I figured I could scrape together the money to print half that amount. I was able to convince USPCC to let me do a run of 2500 decks after a few months of negotiations. The deck run would in total cost me about $6,000 - and after securing the pre-sales of my magic DVDs with Murphys Magic, I was confident enough to go ahead with this investment. The plan was to launch my website with our magic products and use that money to fund the deck. My launch was still a few months away and I got to work on a deck design. I hired a designer and we worked on the design for about 2 months - and the result - the first Crown Deck. Our signature deck.



The printing was finished and ready to ship about 1 month after the site’s launch. I wanted to create some hype around the upcoming deck release, however I had no decks in my possession for photos. I came up with the idea to take a photo of a Bee deck I had laying around, but cover the design with shadows and threw a blue filter on it. You could see the shape of a deck of cards, but couldn’t see the design. The mysterious teaser really added to the appeal of the release I feel, as nobody was doing that at the time - something I stumbled upon through necessity. When the cards arrived it was finally time to get it up on the site and go live with the release.



At that point, I was still a bit nervous of how I would sell all those decks - but I figured after 6 months or so they should sell out. The cards shipped to my 6th floor apartment in NYC, which was were we would ship all our orders from. The Blue Crown Deck launched on Friday May 13th, 2011. By Monday morning all decks were sold out. I couldn’t believe it - and neither could our customers. By Tuesday I had already put in an order with USPCC for a second edition - a red Crown Deck - this time upping the quantity to 5,000 decks. I figured blue and red were the standard two colors of rider backs so I went with what I knew worked. The red deck took less time to produce, as the artwork was already submitted and approved from the previous run. We just needed to change the color and hit print - a strategy I became very familiar with in the coming years. Ha.



The red Crown Deck launched mid-summer, 2011. It sold out in 2 hours. It was madness. Everyone wanted to get their decks quickly because of the precedent the blue edition created. I then took the money I had made from this release and invested into our 3rd edition deck - the green Crown Deck. We printed 10,000 decks. The decks were launched in September of that year…and sold out in 22 minutes flat. Our site crashed multiple times during the launch and I thought it was a mistake that the decks were gone - but sure enough - all decks had been sold. This set an industry record for the quickest sell out of that amount of decks. We spent day and night packing all 10,000 decks from my small apartment. I actually borrowed (ok, stole) a shopping cart from the supermarket down the street in order to bring the orders down to be picked up by the postal service. The company made over $100,000 that month and my business was about to change forever.



In many cases, you cannot predict the market and what your customers really want - a lot of times they don’t even know what they want. The only way to “get lucky” is to try different things and see what hits. This is why it’s very important in business to be able to try out new ideas and not focus on what YOU think the best route is. Your customers will inevitably guide you on the right path - you just have to listen. It is your responsibility thereafter to be able to adapt accordingly. All great companies have done this - and the ones who don’t become stagnant. You also need to be able to go full force on ideas that you see are working. It was quite clear that this playing card thing could be a bigger market than anyone anticipated - so we took an asymmetric risk and invested into expanding in this space. Six months later House of Playing Cards went live, and the NOC deck was born.



In tomorrow’s email we’ll expand on the different methods you can use to sell playing cards. Understanding not only the design/printing side but also the distribution, wholesale, and retail aspect of the business. Understanding these things is key in order to succeed in the playing card industry. I have seen so many people try to print decks or do kickstarters, only to end up losing money - however in tomorrow’s email I will reveal for the first time a strategy that guarantee’s profit with playing cards.



Remember to please sign up to my new business newsletter for more: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Oh, also - last few days to pre-order my NOC Private Reserve: https://houseofplayingcards.com/collect ... te-reserve

See you tomorrow…
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 07 Oct 2024 20:57

Este es el tercero:

Revealing my secret to profit for the first time...
Selling playing cards may appear simple—design a deck, have it printed, and sell it online—but the reality is much more complex. To create a successful deck and turn a profit, it's crucial to understand the business side of things. Unfortunately, I've seen far too many card enthusiasts and even established companies launch deck projects only to end up losing money. That, I would say, is never the desired outcome.



Before reading, please do me a favor and join my business newsletter. This is a NEW venture I am trying out. Need your (free) support! Thank you: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



In this email we’ll go over the different methods for selling decks, and at the end I’ll give you a very simple (yet seemingly never used) strategy to guarantee profit from your playing card project.


LAST DAY TO PRE-ORDER NOC PRIVATE RESERVE: https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve


METHOD 1: Retail Sales

Let's begin with the most obvious method for selling your deck: your own online shop - which remains the most popular option. While this process was much more challenging back in 2011, today it’s incredibly straightforward—you can set up an online store and have your products ready to sell in just one day. So, with that being said - there is no excuse not to have a sleek, modern, and well-organized website. User experience is key, and ensuring that customers can easily find what they’re looking for and check out smoothly is the first critical step. I would recommend using Shopify to set up your store - this is what we use for HOPC. They have inexpensive (and also free) templates you can install with just a few clicks so practically anyone can do it - and trust me, if I can do it then so can you.



Understanding Cost Per Deck

The first and most important step in selling your playing cards online is understanding your cost per deck. Each deck of cards will cost you a certain amount to produce at the factory - but this dollar amount that you pay will not tell the entire story. To keep the numbers simple, let’s say USPCC charges you $2.00 per deck - well $2.00 is not your entire cost. You need to then factor in other “hidden” costs. Did you hire a designer to design your deck? Do you have a fulfilment center that ships out your orders? How much does your website cost to run? Do you have employees? All these things will have to go into your cost per deck in order for you to fully understand how much money you’re actually making per deck. So let’s look at a scenario - you print 2,500 deck and paid $2/deck to USPCC. Your designer charged you $1,000 to design the deck. This $1,000 adds an additional $0.40 per deck ($1,000 divided by 2500 deck). Your warehouse charges you $1.00 to ship out each order - which, if you sell on average 4 decks per order will add $0.25 to your cost per deck. So a deck that initially cost you $2.00 to print now might cost you upwards of $3.00 - a 50% increase. Understanding what your real cost per deck is is going to be crucial for not only making profit but having a successful company.



Average Order Value

Next we need to dive in deeper into the numbers behind your online store. The key to any successful shop is to obviously sell more products in order to grow your business. This poses a very interesting problem when it comes to the playing card industry. The truth is that there are only so many customers available in this specific niche. At a certain point, you will stop growing in the number of customers you will have. This is where you will you need to focus on a different metric in order to continue to grow - the average order value. Average order value (AOV) is calculated simply by taking your total revenue and dividing it by the number of orders on your website. So if you launch a deck of cards, and you sell $5,000 worth of products throughout 100 orders then your AOV is $50. You need to know this number at all times. Your job is to get this average order amount up. So if your AOV is $50, your goal should be to get it to $75…then to $100…etc.



So how do we do that? Well, there are a few ways. The first idea is to offer bundle deals. You can buy 1 deck of cards for $15, but if you buy 6 decks then the price is $75 (only $12.50/deck). If you buy a brick of cards, or 12 decks, then the price might be $120 (only $10/deck). This will give your customers incentives to buy more decks, which increases your AOV, and this in turn will generate more profit. Remember, the number of orders will pretty much stay the same, however each order is increasing in dollars spent. The next idea is to have free gifts or tier prizes if a customer spends a certain amount on your site. For example - you can give away a limited or sold out deck if someone spends $75 on your site. This, again, will incentivize them to spend that extra amount to get the free deck. So if your AOV is $50, and we want to increase it to $75, then having a $75 tier prize is this is a great way of doing this. Be sure to understand your cost per deck as well as your AOV number to implement this effectively. I would use this strategy during the holidays in particular. My average order amount is around $75, so I would offer free tier prizes at $100, $150, and $200. This on average doubled my AOV. The last way to increase your customers order value would be to provide free shipping on all orders over a certain dollar amount. This one could be tricky - as shipping is very expensive, especially for multiple decks - however it can be a net benefit if done right. On HOPC we offer free shipping above $200. We won’t up-sell too many customers (who on average spend $75), but it definitely helps in increasing that ever-so important AOV number.



METHOD 2: Wholesale

When you wholesale your product, you sell them to other shops at a discount of 40% off the retail price. So if your deck of cards retails at $10.00, then you would sell them to other shops for $6.00. There are hundreds of different online card shops and magic stores all around the world. Your goal is to find the shops that sell playing cards and offer them your product. By broadening your reach, you will not only sell more decks of cards, but more importantly (especially in the beginning), you will get your deck in front of more customers. This is particularly important when trying to build a brand. You want your deck in front of as many eyes as possible. If your product is good, you’ll notice that shops actually contact you to buy your decks. You can expand this by finding more shops yourself. Do a search for playing cards and see what online shops sell decks. Remember, the world is a big place, so make sure you look for shops in different parts of the world. Almost every country in Europe has at least a few shops that sell playing cards. Same goes for Asia. With this network of shops, you can easily double the amount of decks you would normally sell by on your website, if not more.



METHOD 3: Distribution

The last way to sell your playing cards is through distributors. So what are distributors? Simply put, distributors distribute your product to shops. They buy your decks for 60% off and then sell those decks to shops for 40% off - making a profit of 20%. They act as a “middle man” in this regard. So instead of selling your deck to 100 different shops, and dealing with the logistics of all that, a distributor will come in and buy your deck in bulk and take care of the heavy lifting. The math would be as follows: if your deck of cards retails at $10.00, then you would sell it to Murphy’s for $4.00/deck. They would then sell the decks to shops at $6.00/deck. There are of course pro’s and con’s to this. The pro is that you are selling in bulk. Murphy’s might buy a few thousand decks. If your product is really great they might buy more. Also, you only have to deal with 1 company, rather than tens or hundreds. The con is, well, you’re selling it to them for 60% off. Knowing this, you can now see how important your “real” cost per deck actually is. If you are producing a deck of cards and your real cost is $3.00, and you’re selling the deck to a distributor for $4.00, then your profit is a mere $1.00 per deck. Even worse, if your real cost per deck exceeds the distribution dollar amount, then you might not make any profit at all - or even lose money on the deal.



HOW TO PROFIT

This brings me to my final point when navigating all this. How do we actually guarantee a profit when selling a deck of cards? Well the first idea is to pre-sell your deck before it’s produced. This way, you won’t have to worry about printing too many decks and not being able to sell them. If you take pre-orders, then you only print the amount that have been ordered. This, for the most part, will lead to profit. This is why a lot of people turn to Kickstarter to fund their projects. It solves two issues - using the money raised to fund the deck, and printing the correct amount of decks needed to profit. This strategy can work very well in the beginning, however this strategy can only go so far. As you grow and become more established, you’ll find there are more interesting ways to achieve the same results.



This is where “Purchase Order Guarantees” come in. A purchase order (P.O) is a document issued by a buyer to a seller indicating the buyer's intent to purchase specific products or services. Simply put, a P.O is an order placed for your product. So when you want to sell a deck of cards to a distributor, they will send you a P.O for a certain amount of decks. You then delivery the agreed upon amount to the distributor, and in turn invoice them for the product. The distributor will then pay the invoice at an agreed upon date after they receive the products. We can use this to our advantage by using the P.O to fund our deck project. This is essentially like pre-selling a deck without the hassle. So let’s say you want to print 2500 decks and that print run will cost you $6,000. Your goal is to get a P.O from a distributor for the (minimum) amount of $6,000. This will mean that you are selling just enough to the distributor for that money to pay for your print run. Any retail sales will be instant profit. Let’s do some quick math. If your deck will retail for $15, then the distributors price will be $6/deck (60% off $15, or $15 x 0.4 = $6). This means that you would need to sell them 1,000 decks to reach that $6,000 mark. Once you get this P.O, you can focus on your retail strategy to sell as many decks as you can on your website - all of which will be profit.



In tomorrow’s email, we’ll go over methods of getting customers to your website - including a very simple strategy that can be used to calculate and predict how much money you can make with each deck release.

DON'T FORGET to please join my new business newsletter: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe - we launch soon!

Until tomorrow...
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 08 Oct 2024 16:23

Cuarto:

Today's Secret: It's All In The Numbers...

Welcome back! Today’s email will focus on a very simple topic - getting customers to your online shop and selling your deck of playing cards.


I am extending the pre-order for the NOC Private Reserve - my last deck until my birthday. 2 more days https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve

By the way, as I might have mentioned in my previous emails - my new venture is launching soon! It’s a free business and investing newsletter. We launch soon but I need you to sign up! Here is the link - thank you! https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



So I have some good news, but also some bad news. The good news is that the number of decks you can sell (and therefore the amount of money you can make) can easily be calculated, even before producing the deck! The bad news? Well, you might be discouraged by reality of things. Don’t worry though, we’ll go over everything step-by-step so that you can have all the knowledge at your disposal to launch a successful deck.



How do we get customers to our website? Well, we need to tell people about it. Sounds simple enough, right? Ok so how do we do that? Let’s go over 3 main ways…



The first and most obvious platform to leverage is social media. In the past, Facebook was the go-to place to promote your deck, and it worked well. But today, within this niche, Facebook is practically irrelevant. Consider your typical playing card customer—are they still on Facebook? I’d argue not many are. Now, let’s talk about Instagram. Many creators set up IG pages for their deck launches, post a few photos of their cards, and call that their promotion. But the truth is, this rarely gains traction. You're relying on the hope that potential customers will somehow discover your page, which is tough—especially with Instagram's algorithm now prioritizing "viral" content over niche interests. Simply posting photos of your deck isn’t enough. It’s repetitive and fails to differentiate you from countless other creators doing the same thing. You need to think outside the box to make your content stand out and capture attention in a crowded space. This is a topic we will expand on in tomorrow’s email about branding. So, how can we effectively use social media in this space? The key is to engage with the community directly. As a new creator, you should be DM'ing hundreds of potential customers. Go to popular card-related pages, check out their followers, and reach out. At the very least, this gets your product in front of the right people. You also need to actively comment and reply in a meaningful way across different posts to increase your visibility. This isn’t about pitching your deck directly—that can come across as too pushy. Instead, your goal is to engage with enough people that they become curious and visit your page on their own.



You can take the concept of “community” further by actively joining card-related communities like forums and subreddits. The goal is to go where your potential customers already are. There are several dedicated forums and subreddits focused on playing cards, and you should be involved in them. Post, reply, and comment—become an engaged member of the community. One advantage you have is that you're not a faceless “big company,” but an individual, which allows for more personal and effective interactions with potential customers.

I suggest involving the community in your deck’s launch process. Share your ideas and concepts, and invite feedback. Let the community help refine your design, offer suggestions, and provide valuable tips. Being open to what they want will ensure you're creating a deck that resonates with your audience, rather than designing something in isolation without input. Getting the community involved from the ground up will make them much more likely to stick around and support you when you finally launch the deck.



Undoubtedly, the most effective way to not only get people to your website, but to actually sell decks is through your email newsletter. If you only had to use one method of selling decks (or anything for that matter), I would personally recommend email. Not only is it reliable, it is also predictive. There are a few metrics you need to know in order to use email marketing affectively. Let me explain.



The first thing you need to understand is that only a certain percentage of people who receive your email will open it. This is called the open rate. The standard open rate for any type of email newsletter is somewhere around 20%. This means that if you send out a newsletter to 100 people, about 20 people will actually open and view the email.



The next metric is your conversion rate. Conversion rate, as it relates to online sales, is the percentage of website visitors who buy your product. The standard conversion rate for online sales can vary significantly depending on the industry, type of products, user experience. However, across e-commerce as a whole, the average conversion rate typically ranges from 2% to 3%. For the playing card industry, I would put that number a bit higher - somewhere around 5% - in some cases even closer to 10%. This means that if you have 100 people visit your website, between 5-10 of them will make a purchase.



Now that we understand open rate and conversion rate, we can do some simple math to predict how much money we can make with our deck release. Let’s create a scenario. You have 10,000 people on your newsletter. 20% of those people will open your email. That leaves 2,000 people. From those 2,000 people, about 5-10% will convert to customers (let’s say 5% to see what our minimum dollar amount should be). 5% of 2,000 is 100. That’s the amount of customers you should expect if you had 10,000 people on your email list. Taking this one step further - factoring in your average order value- you can easily calculate how much revenue you can make from your launch. Let’s say your average order value is $60, then you would generate about $6,000 of revenue (100 customers spending $60 each = $6,000).



Let’s look at this from a different perspective using the same metrics. Let’s say we want to know how many people we need on our email list in order to sell a certain number of decks. Well we can then work backwards to reach our desired outcome. Let’s say you want to sell 2,500 deck of cards on your website. We can use an average of 4 decks per order for the following example. This is a number you’ll understand better after having done a few decks and know your average order value - but I think it’s a good average to work with. 4 decks per order means you’ll need 625 individual orders in order to sell your run of 2,500 decks (2,500 divided by 4 = 625). Now, again by working backwards, we can then conclude that we need 12,500 people to visit your website at a 5% conversion rate to get 625 orders. (5% conversion rate of 12,500 = 625). Ok, so if we know that we need 12,500 to visit our website - how many people need to be on our email list? Working backwards once again, we can conclude that we need 62,500 people on our newsletter (12,500 is 20% of 62,500, or 12,500 divided by 0.20 = 62,500).



As you can see, it’s all a numbers game. Sure, these metrics are not always perfect - but for the most part are very reliable. Learn these metrics, and use them accordingly for your own individual situation and I promise, you’ll have a much better understanding of what you need to do in order to successfully sell your deck.



Tomorrow’s LAST email will focus on a very simple question - what makes a good deck? Remember to please sign up to my free business newsletter - you won’t be disappointed. https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 09 Oct 2024 16:48

Y al última entrega de como ganar dinero produciendo barajas de cartas:

OUR FREE GUIDE IS COMPLETE!
I’d like to welcome you back to the 5th and final email in this series. If you made it this far, THANK YOU!



In today’s email, I will try to answer a very simple question : what makes a good deck?



There are 3 questions I want you to consider when trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together.

Who is your target audience?

Who is the face behind this deck?

What is the story being told?

Remember, my last NOC deck (my Private Reserves) are available now for my email subscribers - that’s you. Grab a few decks and help me complete my journey. https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve


Over the years, playing card enthusiasts have divided into three distinct categories: magicians, card collectors, and cardists. When producing a deck, it’s crucial to understand which of these groups you're targeting, as each has unique preferences. Magicians, for example, need practical decks for daily performances—minimal customization is key, as too much can raise suspicion that it’s a trick deck. Card collectors, on the other hand, crave customization, with intricate designs and details that make their decks stand out on display. Cardists are drawn to decks that visually pop on camera, enhancing their cardistry performances.

That said, there’s often overlap between these groups. The NOC deck is a perfect example of a deck that transcended these boundaries. Magicians worldwide rely on it as their go-to deck, collectors appreciate its "collect them all" appeal, especially the limited editions, and cardists favor its clean design for performances. However, very few decks successfully hit this trifecta. As a producer, it's important to identify your primary audience and tailor your deck to their needs. If you can appeal to multiple communities, that’s even better.



Next, who is the face behind your deck? A good friend of mine and prominent figure in the magic industry told me something 15 years ago and it still sticks with me to this day. “It’s easier to dismiss a faceless company - it’s harder to dismiss a face” In this industry, you don’t want to be a faceless company. I think a lot of playing card companies and magic companies are doing a disservice by going down this route. I decided early that I needed to be the face of my company and the products offered to my customers - which bring me to my next point - creating a personal brand.



Creating a brand is I think the MOST important factor when it comes to selling playing cards . A brand helps establish a clear identity and differentiates you from competitors. A strong brand builds trust, credibility, and recognition with your target audience, which can lead to greater customer loyalty and long-term success. So my advice would be to build your personal brand - and through this you can promote your playing card projects.



I started building my personal brand by posting videos of difficult sleight of hand moves online, something I am still known for to this day. My personal brand helped launch The Blue Crown, as I was the face behind the company. I pivoted into the playing card industry and again used my personal brand to help build the NOC brand. For those following me on Instagram, you can see how I would incorporate my playing cards within the lifestyle and travel content I would post. Rather than just posting product shots, you're telling a story and showcasing how the cards fit into my real-life experiences. This approach helps potential customers visualize themselves using the product in similar settings, making the cards feel more relatable and aspirational. It also reinforces the brand's personality, elevating it beyond just a product to something that complements a specific lifestyle. Not to mention, almost nobody was doing this - so it was also unique in approach. I expanded on this concept after starting my Youtube channel. I wanted to create value through my magic tutorials, but also wanted to promote my playing cards. The obvious solution was to use my decks within my videos. Big brain idea, I know. Anyway, this proved to be incredibly successful because through Youtube I could widen my reach and get in front of thousands of new customers.



The last question that needs to be answered is : what story is being told? The story behind a product is crucial because it adds depth and emotional connection, transforming it from just an item into something meaningful. In the world of custom playing cards, having a compelling story sets you apart from the competition, making your deck more than just a deck of cards - it becomes a part of an experience. Simply changing the color of each NOC deck with every release could only take the brand so far. To reach the next level, I needed to create a story around my decks—and I believe we did that better than anyone else in the industry. We built entire worlds around many of our releases, most notably the NOC3000 line. This wasn’t just a deck of cards - it was a glimpse into the future, complete with a 3-part story and a mini-movie. I even composed a futuristic song to accompany the release, making it one of our most popular decks. Creating an emotional experience or story around a deck brings you that much closer to success in this industry.



I wish you all the success on your journey. Stay creative, keep pushing boundaries, and most importantly, enjoy the process. Best of luck! As for me - I am signing off.

Remember, my last NOC deck (my Private Reserves) are available now for my email subscribers - that’s you. Grab a few decks and help me complete my journey. https://houseofplayingcards.com/product ... te-reserve



I’ll be waiting for you on LZY MNY CLB : https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/subscribe



See you on the other side.

Pandrea^
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 03 Nov 2024 10:15

En el foro de UC ya están recibiendo las barajas, con una sorpresa. En vez de recibir las NOC private, están recibiendo las NOC bronze.
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por max » 03 Nov 2024 13:52

rave escribió:
03 Nov 2024 10:15
En el foro de UC ya están recibiendo las barajas, con una sorpresa. En vez de recibir las NOC private, están recibiendo las NOC bronze.
Ay madre... Pandrea's style
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Re: Alex Pandrea deja el diseño y producción de barajas.

Mensaje por rave » 03 Feb 2025 15:29

Tenemos una nueva entrega: https://lazymoneyclub.beehiiv.com/p/lzy ... -issue-002

LZY MNY CLB Issue 002:
How To Profit From Mystery...
Author

Alexander Pandrea
February 02, 2025

- 002 Issue -
LZY MNY CLB Issue 002: How To Profit From Mystery

In today’s issue we’ll explore the following: how an ordinary (boring) business model became extraordinary, how I turned mystery into money with a few decks of cards, plus 3 new business ideas you can profit from. Let’s begin…
Today’s Story

Five minutes at Heathrow Airport last month taught me more about business than a decade of MBA classes ever could.

"Gate 27, now boarding," crackled the overhead speaker.

Around 100 people lined up, holding boarding passes marked with 'XXX' where a destination would normally be. No city codes. No flight times. Nothing. Even the gate screens were deliberately obscured.

The woman next to me was grinning like she'd won the lottery.

"Third time doing this," she said, flashing her mysterious boarding pass. "Last month I ended up sipping cocktails on a Zagreb rooftop. Month before that, I was taking a private tour of Prague Castle. Best money I spend each month."

Now although her enthusiasm kind of annoyed me so early in the morning, I was intrigued…

Turns out, this was Wizz Air's Mystery Flight program. Scandinavian Airlines first tested this idea in ‘50s but it was Wizz that perfected it for the Instagram generation.

The concept is simple: Buy a ticket, get on a plane, then fly to an unknown city. The destination would only be revealed two hours after takeoff, by which point there would be no turning back. For the price of a premium ticket, these travelers had handed over their weekend plans to an airline in exchange for a bit of mystery and a lot of fun.

It gets better: Wizz Air didn't just drop you somewhere random – they'd arranged exclusive experiences at each destination: rooftop parties, farm-to-table dinners, VIP tours of places hard to enter attractions etc.

As I headed to my own predictable flight to Paris (Gate 32, boarding pass B17, window seat as always), it hit me: Wizz Air wasn't selling anything new. Same planes. Same routes. Same stale peanuts. But while every other airline was competing on prices and legroom, they'd figured out how to charge a premium for regular flights – just by wrapping them in mystery.

Truth is, life has become painfully predictable. Open Instagram – dance trend. Open TikTok – same dance trend. Turn on Netflix – another lame remake. Even your "For You" page isn't for you anymore – it's for everyone else doing the exact same thing.

I’m by no means an expert, but If I learned anything from 20 years of magic, it’s this: humans crave mystery. It's in our DNA. So you might as well use it to your advantage.
How to Profit

Let’s take a look at 3 business ideas based off this concept of mystery
1. Mystery Dining Reimagined

Forget basic secret restaurants. You gotta think bigger. Why not launch a dining experience where even the menu is a mystery? Each dish is described only through riddles or emotions: "Grandmother's secret that made the whole village jealous" or "A summer sunset in Tuscany." So how do we put this into practice?

Partner with existing restaurants for mystery menu nights

Create themed experiences (blind tastings, era-specific dinners)

Add interactive elements (guests solve culinary riddles to unlock their next course, the bill comes as a special puzzle that offers a discount if solved)

Scale up by hosting pop-ups in unexpected locations - go beyond just dinners and create mystery events around your city.

Pro tip: Begin by renting restaurant space during their off-hours. Their infrastructure, your concept, zero overhead.
2. Mystery Letters from the Past

Here's another banger, particularly if you’ve got a flair for creative writing (or prompt an AI good enough):

Create a subscription service delivering handcrafted letters from "history."

Each month, subscribers receive authentic-looking correspondence that seem to have been lost in time, and end up in your mailbox.

Love letters from the 1800s

Secret messages from WWII spies

Mysterious treasure maps with real coordinates

"Misdelivered" letters from parallel universes

The magic is in the details – aged paper, period-correct postmarks, even coffee stains with a story behind them. Each letter becomes part of a larger narrative that unfolds monthly.
3. Mystery Date Generator

We can all agree that dating apps are boring, right? So be smart and get ahead of the curve with an app that creates mystery dates based on shared preferences and budgets. Check this:

Couples set their parameters (adventure level, budget, travel radius)

Pick a category (romantic, adventurous, luxury, creative)

The app reveals the date only when both people meet

Partner with local venues to create exclusive experiences

The business model is really simple:

Basic app is free - one free mystery date included (to get them hooked)

Premium users get access unlimited dates & exclusive venues

Venues pay to be featured as "mystery destinations"

Upsell special date packages and experiences

Bonus: want proof this works…?

Back in 2013, I made a radical move. Left NYC, ditched my apartment, sold my cars, and trashed everything I owned.

Well, almost everything.

I gave the TV to my mom and kept just one more thing: my massive playing card collection. Hundreds of decks, all different.

That's when it hit me. Instead of selling these cards the usual way, why not add some mystery?

I listed them on my website as "mystery decks." The concept was simple: you pay, but you don't know which deck you're getting. Maybe it's a common deck, maybe it's a rare limited edition worth wayyy more than you paid.

Nobody in the playing card industry had done anything like this before. Now? Every card company does mystery decks. You're welcome…

The lesson here is dead simple: I took the most basic business imaginable - selling playing cards - and made it exciting by adding an element of mystery.
The Ace Segment

In our last issue, we discussed how Ace Victoria - the enigmatic figure who inspired LZY MNY CLB (and who may or may not have existed) - transformed ordinary train travel into a luxury empire by upgrading carriages and charging premium prices.

Despite this, by 1924, ticket sales were plateauing. The novelty was wearing off and competitors were copying his model. So Ace decided it was time to pivot…

Instead of selling premium tickets, he came up with ‘’Victoria’s Mystery Routes’’ - monthly train journeys where passengers knew nothing about the destination or what awaited them once they got there.

Each ticket came in a sealed envelope with a single instruction: ‘‘A gentleman’s attire must suit both chance and circumstance.’’

He would buy spots in local newspapers, and invent these cryptic telegrams: "Victoria's train spotted heading North. Passengers seen drinking champagne with Russian nobility?" or "Mystery train returns. Passengers refuse to reveal what happened in Monte Carlo."

These train rides quickly became a status symbol and the subsequent word-of-mouth was off the charts, basically creating FOMO before that was even a thing.

Victoria's most famous route became known as "The Midnight Express" - a 12-hour journey where passengers might find themselves at a masked ball in Paris, a private art auction in Brussels, or a royal poker game in Monaco. The catch? They never knew which until they arrived.

As he wrote in his newsletter: ‘‘People will pay double for luxury but they’ll pay triple for mystery.’’

The concept was so successful that when Agatha Christie heard about it in the early 1930’s, it inspired her to write a little story called "Murder on the Orient Express" - or so the rumor goes.

Until next time,

Alex

Founder //LZY MNY CLB.
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