Imagine you have nearly $5,000,000 (that's million) at your disposal. With this money you get to select any number of celebrities to hang out with for a few days on 5 separate weekends while they sign autographs for and take pictures with thousands of fans in a convention center. This has been Todd Jones' life for the better part of the last decade and a half.

This week on the show, we dive into the world of talent buying with the man in charge of it, until recently, for the largest producer of fan conventions in the world.

Todd's path was...unique, and we follow down the long and winding road he traversed; from video stores and bagging groceries to private investigation work, he's done a little bit of everything.

Come for the cool stories, stay for the hot takes. You don't want to miss this one.

Fan conventions are big business. This week we take a dive into what it takes to execute on these massive events with Content Manager at ReedPop, Chris D'Lando.

Chris and Gabe talk about working in live events, both at the best of times and the worst of times, how they imagine these shows will change, and what it really takes to execute and pull these shows off on-site.

Full Disclosure: Chris and Gabe are great friends, so this one is casual, but opens up a lot of fun tangents that give a look into how the industry works.

Neil Gaiman "Make Good Art" Commencement Speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI

It's Wrestlemania Week - and as such, we celebrate accordingly:

The Lapsed Fan is a podcast that focuses on professional wrestling the way it was meant to be. For 7 years now, Jack Encarnacao and JP Sarro have espoused the fact that "it used to be better" during marathon episodes of their passion project. TLF - for short - does what most podcasts are unable to do - it makes money.

On the show this week, we go back to Jack and JP's chance meeting in college, we talk about pain, post-modernism, and how they've managed to turn a highly engaged audience into a 6-figure paycheck. Spoiler: It isn't easy.

Buckle in, like everything TLF does, this one is long and deep.

Join The Lapsed Fan Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thelapsedfan

Buy a T-Shirt:
www.prowrestlingtees.com/thelapsedfan

The Illustrious Gordon Solie: http://wrestlecrap.com/induction%20files/blackfriday/DVD_VIDEO_RECORDER-87.jpg

It's not every week we have a super hero on the program. This week, "Mighty" Mike Negin joins Gabe on the show to talk about how a kid from Canarsie, Brooklyn that walked into a comic shop one day became a well-respected, well-loved member of the comic community by running the largest and most successful Artist Alley's in the world. We follow along his career pitstops, the defining moments, and his tipping points. We also dig into what makes a good Artist Alley (are you listening, show promoters?) and, because Mike is Mike, we get a gigantic dose of inspiration along the way. This one is a can't miss episode.

To donate to St. Jude's head here: https://www.stjude.org/donate

Dana Massie, Mrs. Matt, CMO of All Elite Wrestling, however you address her, the hard work, dedication, and non-stop grind can not be denied. This week, Dana sits down and chats with Gabe about building a merch monster for The Young Bucks and how they went from Gimmick tables at small indy shows in suburban California to the #1 selling shirts at Hot Topic, and eventually, to running the mega merch machine at AEW.

Wrestling fans, stick around for some fun peeks behind the scenes at All In, the Tokyo Dome, and the Massie household.

To buy cool merch from AEW: www.shopaew.com

Horror Writer, Crowd Funding Expert, Wrestling Fan, and Ice Cream Aficionado Dirk Manning joins the show this week, and we dive deep into the intricacies of writing comics, breaking in to comics, crowdfunding comics, and being your own best advocate. Dirk and Gabe discuss Dirk's career, his successes and failures, his influences, how to create a thriving community of fans, and what inspires him.

As with every episode of Tradecraft, they also dig into how Dirk defines success and what it takes to get there,

To learn more about Dirk head to his website: www.dirkmanning.com

To take part in Dirk's latest Kickstarter "Butts in Seats: The Tony Schiavone Story" head here:
www.buttsinseatscomic.com

From the wilds of Connecticut, my guest this week was born with an entrepreneurial spirit and has been feeding it since a very young age. Eddie Raymond has been choosing his own adventure since he was 15, promoting rock shows in industrial laundry spaces, running huge live events, and finding comics late in life and falling in love with it. We dive deep into how Eddie built his fanzine "Strangers" and what inspired him to jump in with both feet. Then we talk about his next stop on this adventure.

Buy Eddie's Amazing work here:
strangersfanzine.bigcartel.com

Follow Strangers on twitter here:
@strangers_zine

On the debut episode of Tradecraft , Gabe welcomes Conrad Thompson to the show. Conrad owns and operates First Family Mortgage and www.adfreeshows.com. Having grown 2 businesses that couldn't be more different, Conrad offers insight into hiring the right people, doing what you love, sales strategy, and what inspires him.

If you want to hear more of Conrad you can head on over to www.adfreeshows.com and listen to any of his 6 shows:

"Something to Wrestle" with Bruce Prichard
"What Happened When" with Tony Schiavone
"83 Weeks" with Eric Bischoff
"Grillin' JR" with Jim Ross
"Arn" with Arn Anderson
"The Kurt Angle Show" with Kurt Angle

If you want to talk to Conrad about buying a home head over to:
www.savewithconrad.com

The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy:
https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Selling-Increase-Thought-Possible/dp/0785288066

On Monday March 1st, Tradecraft launches with guest Conrad Thompson. Make sure to like and subscribe now. Check us out online at tradecraftpod.com @tradecraftpod on Twitter and Instagram and reach us directly at [email protected]