Behind the LEGO Investment - An Insider's Analysis of One of BrickPicker's More Vocal Members...

"Ed"itor's Note:  Over the past three plus years, I have encountered many types of people on our site and other LEGO sites.  One common thread that connects many LEGO fans is that many are highly educated.  There are many programmers, stock brokers, doctors, accountants, chemists, engineers and business owners that inhabit the various LEGO forums.  DoNotInsertInMouth is one such person...or character.  To make a long story short, I almost banned him for his name and wacko avatar he originally used, but he changed his avatar, so I relented.  Love him or hate him, you know who he is.  So without further adieu...well, you know the rest...Ed Mack

I think it would be an understatement to say that I post a lot on this site. Obviously I have written a very large number of blogs between the contests and have a ton more on the way (I am competitive). I also post a considerable amount on the site's forums and participate as much as I can. This is something everyone here probably knows - so what's the point of this blog.

Well a short while ago I really realized that when you post a lot and write a lot on a popular website, you are listened to. You automatically become somewhat of a role model, and people take your advice whether it is smart to or not. In reality, I wrote a lot for fun and didn't really think about what I wrote (not that it wasn't thought out, just didn't always think of the ramifications of my posts) and some of that has come back to bite me when I have seemingly contradicted myself in forum posts or come off in a different way than I meant to in a blog post.

So the point of this was to give you a view into who I am, my credentials in the fields, and what I do so that you can make an informed decision on whether you should or shouldn't take my advice, if I am experienced enough to be credible in your mind, and to help some people understand why I post the way I do and my general writing style. None of this is meant to "toot my own horn" or try to go back on things I have said (I have said before there are many people on this site with much more experience and who are much better at this than me); I just want to offer up a little bit of perspective because I can not expect to write and post as much as I do and not be considered a "credible member" whether I want to be or not (I do want to be). And I have never really ever given an introduction on this site anyway.

So, a short bit about me and my writing style: I used to be a very descriptive and imaginative writer. The problem was, a lot of my writing was jumbled run-on sentences and full of worthless sentences and ideas (no comment on it still being). I had a teacher in High school that wanted to "unlock my potential" which were her words as I just assumed I would always be a less-than-stellar writer. She managed to mold my writing style to be as simple as possible - nothing extra at all. It became very deliberate and to the point and it really helped me as a writer in high school and college. On the writing level, I have never been passed "proficient" on the writing scale, but I can hit proficient every time without a problem which was really what I wanted.

Fast forward to college; I have a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering, both from the University of Louisville. Naturally, I wrote a lot of technical papers which even more made me a very blunt and simple writer (simple meaning I did not add imagery or "extras"). Funny enough, I got a job outside of my field when I graduated, one in Networking. I work for a very large Networking company in the Enterprise Division that serves medium to large businesses with networking equipment. I work in the support department as a support engineer doing things such as supporting customer problems, bug identifying and reporting, and generally playing a giant political role in wiping customer's butts because we want them to continue to purchase our equipment.

That last thought really finishes molding my writing style. On a daily basis, I deal with people who know much less about Networking and our equipment than I do (any one who has EVER worked a support role knows how this feels) yet makes 5X more money than I do. A certain part of my day is spent catering to these egos, but another part of a support role in this situation is being deliberate, blunt, and having a general control of a conversation whether by text or by voice. If you have ever read a blog I have submitted, you will understand where that comes from. I write like I am telling everyone what to do because in general that is what I do every day. I am generally blunt and un-apologizing. I definitely write in a very "preachy" way.

So I want to put out there that this is definitely not my intent and I try to write around these tendency's as much as possible. But I definitely do not want people to think I am preaching or telling people what to do - most of the time I am merely offering what I think and am absolutely fine of people disagreeing with me. I LOVE debate. I change my opinions about things constantly. Does this mean I am a "flip-flopper"? Maybe - but I like to think I just mold and change my opinions until they settle into the place I want them. If someone makes a compelling argument, I will switch. As much as I sound sometimes, with my writing style, that I want to be right, that is really only the small "ego" portion of me. I want to be right, but I want what I am doing to be right not just want what I say to turn out to be correct.

Past my writing style, I want to offer up a little bit more about me and a little about my background in Lego so people can make their own decisions as to my credibility. I am absolutely being honest with you all in this - I am not a fan of "boosting" myself up.

Who am I outside of Lego?

First off, my real name is Evan. I have a few nicknames: DNIIM here, "the Birdman" when I play basketball (anyone who is familiar with Chris Anderson will understand), and "sticks" when I used to play drums in a band. I am 26, married, and live in Huntsville, Alabama.

I am a workaholic first and foremost - I think most people here can attest to that. I really feel that I was born with one real talent: I work harder than any normal person can. I am into a ton of stuff and I do it all mediocre to ok. A lot of people look at me and say "Man that guy is multi-talented" (more on this in a minute), but in reality I just bust my butt on a daily basis (and yes I do not sleep much).

Some of my interests:

• Sports: Playing them (poorly) as well as watching. I love Soccer, Basketball, tennis, and Football especially.
• Music: I can sing (poorly) and play the Saxophone (I have a CD if you are interested), Drums, piano, and Guitar (all in the mediocre range)
• Video Games: Mostly into Sports video games and what I would call "Party games". Also I freaking love Pokemon.
• Code Writing and developing: Totally an outside of work hobby.
• Electronics: Only place I actually use my degrees - I like to fix and take apart/build electronics.

How did I get into Lego?

About a year ago I saw a few Lego Star Wars sets. I had never been into Lego before: I liked it but my Dad was very anti-toy when I grew up. My wife and I went on a Honeymoon to Disney World and I went to the Lego store and became hooked. After some messing around I stumbled upon this site and my addiction was born.

Lego Investing Credentials

I started investing about 8 months or so ago. I found about 12 sets in a small damaged-retail store and that with this site kicked it off. A couple of my best picks have been the Dino series and the B-wing (hopefully it continues).

I now invest fairly heavily. I also own an Ebay store in which I part out sets, sell sets I have invested in, flip used and new sets, and sell anything else that I can make money on. My Ebay store averages about 250 items now and I get, in a non-Christmas month, about 600 visitors a day. I have had this store for 4 months, although I do not expect it to grow much more than this. I sold 600 items during December at an average of 35$ (a couple of big items skewed that as the median is around $14).

I am NOT what I would consider an "Experienced investor". However, I work hard and research constantly. I study past sets before I make decisions, I remember what people say about certain sets and I spend most of my day on Ebay monitoring prices. Speaking of Ebay, I consider myself an Ebay expert in terms of navigation and purchasing/searching (not necessarily in terms of rules yet).

Outside Lego Credentials

I am only 26, so I don't have a giant Investing portfolio. I have, however, managed a business with two locations for about a year, including making purchasing, inventory, and personnel decisions. I have experience in retail as well. I am actually, at heart, a salesman - the place I managed set monthly records for sales 10 out of the 13 months I was there as well as me setting personal sales records (no clue who worked there before so they could have just been incompetent) - but I lack the final killer instinct to sell things for a living as I let my morals sometimes get in the way (doesn't mean they are right or wrong).

Anyway, I will get back to writing Lego blogs, but I wanted to give people a bit of insight into my life before I did. I do not encourage anyone to just listen to me because I write - if you do this in general, you set yourself up for failure. I do not blindly take anyone's advice. I encourage you to take what I have said here and read my blogs and make your own informed decisions based on it. You alone will be responsible for your successes and failures in the Lego investing world (just like you ultimately are in life) so make sure you aren't letting others make decisions for you. That includes not just "taking my word for it" because I am not afraid to put myself out there.

I do know, however, that I owe any credibility I have at all to this site and the people that read my work - so a big thanks to all that contribute. I encourage everyone else to not be afraid to put themselves out there either. As you write and contribute, you will only learn more and boost your own success.