"Roar With Confidence Using Arcanine Energy" ft. Joey Lopez from Rockets Markets | TRAINER'S EYE #136

Joey Lopez, co-owner of Rockets Markets, takes us through his unique journey from Pokémon card collecting to creating unforgettable Pokémon events in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. From his early days of watching from the sidelines due to his parents' opposition to finally playing Pokémon SoulSilver, his passion for the franchise grew into organizing major events like Trainer Con. Joey shares the lessons learned in entrepreneurship, how he connected with his business partner, Caleb Hatfield, and how Pokémon communities thrive through events that bring fans together.

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

Transcript

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Joey Lopez 0:00

Hey guys, this is Joey from TrainerCon, and this is my Pokemon story.

David Hernandez 0:43

welcome to, as the pokeball turns, Where people share their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. I'm joined by Joey from Rockets Market. Joey, welcome to As the Pokeball Turns. Thank you for coming on.

Joey Lopez 0:55

Hey, hey David, I'm a super excited to be here. And yeah, I appreciate you having me on the other half of Rockets market so super excited

David Hernandez 1:04

Now, for those who may not know, and I've actually had your partner in crime, Caleb on the podcast, definitely go check out his episode, but I was told by him that you're kind of the brains behind the operation. Is that kind of true?

Joey Lopez 1:16

That's so funny. In the, uh, episode that I was listening to, he had me as the loosey goosey one. In the episode, and he was the brains one. Did he come back and tell you that I was the brains one?

David Hernandez 1:28

Well, he said, like, the idea came from your head that, like, he's the one who does the background type of stuff and you're kind of the face, if that makes sense. Maybe I'm saying the wrong word.

Joey Lopez 1:37

That's so funny. No, I, uh, I'll take the brains. Yeah. I, um, I, I'm the guy I feel like with, with the ideas. Caleb's the, uh, Caleb's kind of the workhorse for us. and you know, we both have a really good ideas, but, I feel like my ideas are, uh, it kind of what we end up playing out a little bit more.

David Hernandez 1:56

I mean, let's give some insight to people who are listening. Can you tell people what is Rocket Market? What is the business y'all have built up together? Like, what is it about?

Joey Lopez 2:04

Yeah, yeah, so, Caleb and I have known each other for a couple years now, we started a business that was kind of, it was all based on Pokemon. We started with these diorama type cubes that we made into Pokemon cards and dioramas aren't an original concept, but, We decided to make them into, like, Pokemon cards and sell them at markets. And while we were going to markets and selling them, we were like, why don't we create our own markets? And so, yeah, Rockets Market started and we created Trainer Con from it. So Yeah, it's been kind of all based on Pokemon from the start, Rockets Relics being the, the ones that created the cubes and then Rockets Markets kind of doing the trainer con and stuff. So yeah,

David Hernandez 2:48

Now, it's crazy to, for you to just make an entire convention around just Pokemon. It's a lot of work to host these events. What made you kind of want to spearhead and dive into this? Ha ha ha!

Joey Lopez 3:01

started, like I said, with the diorama cubes. our very first event was with Indigo Plateau. they've become great business friends of ours. And, um, we brought our diorama cubes to, one of their outdoor markets that they host these little mini markets. And on our first event, we like made a killing, like selling these diorama cubes and we were super worried, like nobody was going to buy them. And, uh, we, we kind of felt like millionaires selling like a ton of cubes that weekend, based on something that we were super passionate about. And so. I'm kind of like the entrepreneur, I feel like between the both of us. And so with one of my other. Businesses that I had on the side. I had worked with, Bear Cave Coffee in Mesquite, and they have like an event center in the back of their coffee shop, and I had done an event with them before, and I was like, Hey, I want to create a Pokemon event. of our own. And they were super gracious to let us use the space. Um, the owners there are super sweet. And, uh, yeah, it was kind of just off to the races. just, you know, created TrainerCon. I feel like almost out of nothing and on a shoestring budget. Um, in a closet is what it felt like too. So, sure.

David Hernandez 4:15

you know, it doesn't, I mean, unless you're blessed with money, and of course you weren't, but a lot of times it just starts with an idea and you just kind of pursue it and you kind of let it evolve and grow. You don't have all the answers, but you kind of figure out along the way, I think.

Joey Lopez 4:26

Yeah, absolutely. And it, it did evolve, uh, for sure. And it, and it continues to evolve. like I said, we started with 12 vendors. And I want to say most people who came to the first TrainerCon probably just people that were coming through the coffee shop. So our first people to actually check out the event were like, I had no idea this was going on. And we were like, yeah, cause, you know, we use like 50 on ads, so there was probably no way you were going to know anyways. So we did the first event and then the second event we had a little bit more under our belt on what to expect. And then by the second event we were like, let's, let's really bite this and let's go big. So we went from 12 vendors to like 70 plus. on the next one. and yeah, it's just been growing and growing ever since we're up to 120 vendors at a, now a third space. yeah, it just keeps, it keeps going and we're super excited and, uh, happy about the community that we're growing together.

David Hernandez 5:22

One thing that Caleb said is that he's kind of a logics kind of guy, but you're one who says it's going to kind of work out. What gives you, I guess, that confidence to kind of. Go with and say like, Hey, we're just going to host this event and go to these different places. And it's going to kind of work out in the end. Like, is it true that you have that kind of confidence or is it just more of that's his perception?

Joey Lopez 5:41

Yeah, I guess that does, um, play a role in, in kind of our partnership. He's a little bit more cautious, than I, I kind of look at it in a way like. When we started TrainerCon and Rockets Relics and we were going to events, we literally, we built it on Pokemon, about Pokemon, but then our seed money for starting all of this was selling Pokemon cards in order to have money to start doing events and stuff. So You know, from the start, you know, he was really cautious about that. And in my head with like training cards and stuff like that, um, with Pokemon cards, I was always like, you know, their stocks, they go up and down in value and, uh, we're going to cash in some stocks and we're going to make this stream happen. But, you know, from the start, he was kind of cashing in, like some of his childhood Pokemon cards. And so he's always kind of been, I feel like from the start, a little bit more cautious on things, but, think our relationship works really well with that where. You know, every week I can come to him and say, Hey, I've got this idea. And, and he's like, Oh no, what's the idea. And then I run through the idea and, uh, you know, we decide if, you know, it's a good one or maybe it's a bad one or it needs, you know, a little bit of, um, tweaking and working. And so, yeah, it, it just works really good with, uh, people.

David Hernandez 6:54

for those who don't know my story, I started this podcast with the idea of, I wanted to build people up, you know, originally I started Pokemon go and I wanted to get the leaders. Cause I feel like there was no place to kind of bring people on to, to share their story and what they do for the community. And I had no idea what I was doing. I'd never done recording a podcast. I barely knew how to edit audio, but. Like what you said, like you just started building up slowly and slowly. And it's nerve wracking, especially for me, because I think I relate more to Caleb than you honestly, to where I got to see the analytics, but you also had to kind of have your spirit to where sometimes you just got to go with the wind, you won't have all the answers right away,

Joey Lopez 7:28

Yeah, yeah. And, and, you know, I, I go with the wind, but, you know, I, we're both analytics in our own way. Full time, I'm a marketing director. And so a lot of my job is the analytic side of things. Um, how things are performing, posts are performing, ads are performing. You know, that has carried us a really long way with, how we do things. And so it always comes down to the numbers at the end of the day, if something's not working or it didn't work a couple of times, we're not going to keep doing it. So,

David Hernandez 7:57

right?

Joey Lopez 7:58

but, but I think having that entrepreneurial spirit and a little bit of good luck and, uh, it's really carried us.

David Hernandez 8:05

Well, I was going to say, you kind of touch on a very important part because, you know, everybody talks about how they want to be their own boss, right? They want to be independent. They don't want to have to answer to anybody. And, you know, here you are, you said it's, you have to both be analytical. You have to look at the analytics of, are you getting, I guess, the output of what you put into it? You know, is it worth it? And two, you've got to be disciplined. I imagine.

Joey Lopez 8:25

oh yeah, there's, uh, there's definitely a lot of discipline that goes into it. We're at a point where, like, TrainerCon, I almost told people, or I have told people in the past that, like, TrainerCon, up until this TrainerCon that's coming up March 23rd, has been pretty much a philanthropal, that the right word? Philanthropy?

David Hernandez 8:46

Fill in.

Joey Lopez 8:50

to the community. we really haven't, we've broken even on almost all things that we've done. So, you know, there is a lot of hesitation in things where it's like, Oh man, if, if we overspend in this, then we're going to be really in the red. and so, I guess, yeah. So there is a lot of like hesitation in that and, uh, we want to be our own boss. That would be cool one day to just say, Hey, we, we do trainer con. That's our thing. Uh, we also sell cards on the side. with DFW Pokemon and so yeah, it is, is an idea to be our own boss, but you know, you have to, I always tell Caleb, you gotta find a way to fly kites and make money. So it's, it, it, it's fun to, uh, to fly kites, but you know, at the end of the day, it's got to make some money.

David Hernandez 9:32

Have, I guess, have you always had this entrepreneur spirit or did it kind of like come from some inspiration?

Joey Lopez 9:38

I feel like I've always had it, ever since I was like a kid, I would play like shopkeep or something that was like my favorite game as a kid would be like, you know, play shopkeep. I was the one running the shop and. I've had countless businesses over time and Caleb's had a couple too. So, you know, it's coupled both of us, into doing this, but, uh, you know, entrepreneurship is really, I think where my heart is at and, what I love to do,

David Hernandez 9:58

And it's kind of cool because now you get to kind of bring people with you with rockets markets to where people can kind of join because all those vendors, they're also entrepreneurs in a way. So it's like I want to say a club of entrepreneurs, but it kind of is because you all kind of do business together. I

Joey Lopez 10:15

our trader con event, but then we're vendors as well. So if it's not a rockets relics, um, stuff that we do. With our cubes and our, our 3d prints and our diet, you know, our dioramas and, uh, arcade machines and stuff. We're also selling Pokemon cards, you know, at different events. And so a lot of us kind of travel, you know, we, we all know each other. we all know struggles that we go through when it comes to like a good event. and so, yes, from the start, we were like, let's make this as great as we can for our vendors as well. and it may not always, I mean, in the beginning, it probably didn't come down to. I want to say not every vendor at the first event was maybe profitable. but we tried to make, you know, the best experience as we could for those vendors. And I want to say many of those vendors that we started with, those first 12 are still with us to this day. So we just try to make, the event great for the attendees, of course. But, um, then I feel like we do the same for our vendors as well.

David Hernandez 11:08

know this can be blasphemy, but it's like there, you're like 12 disciples and y'all are like leading the way. You're the shepherds.

Joey Lopez 11:15

I agree. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

David Hernandez 11:17

Oh,

Joey Lopez 11:19

really are 12 disciples. I want to say they've probably all, you know, stayed with us. We've had a Judas along the way, but, uh,

David Hernandez 11:26

no, I'm not. Hopefully I'm not the Judas. Okay.

Joey Lopez 11:29

No,

David Hernandez 11:29

I'm just a podcaster

Joey Lopez 11:31

That's right. Just the media.

David Hernandez 11:33

exactly, but I want to ask. So, you know, you've mentioned a lot about Pokemon cards and being TCG. What is it about that aspect of Pokemon that got you interested into that section before you became a vendor?

Joey Lopez 11:43

Yeah. So, uh, with TCG specifically, Like I started like, um, like SoulSilver was one of my favorite games growing up. That was the first game I played. Um, then like along the way I had some Pokemon cards and, I really haven't been as like into Pokemon cards until like, you know, like the 2020 boom when I think everybody was into it. Um, and Yeah, so, you know, we, we sell cards now. We buy and sell cards. it's just kind of an extra, an extra thing that we're doing where it's still adding like a revenue stream to our business. It is still a way where at the end of the day, if we were to look at all of the pieces, it is still a net positive thing that we're doing for us as a business. where, you Pokemon cards, then maybe we can use some of that to continue to grow trainer con or now that, you know, trainer con is having a little bit of profit in it. We can use that to grow our Pokemon card stuff. So it all feeds into each other. helps us put it on an experience for trading on, but then helps us with our, you know, extra additional side businesses as well.

David Hernandez 12:45

So do you look to Pokemon cards as a way to kind of see which ones are going to go up in price over time? Or do you collect like certain favorites? What's your approach to the Pokemon TCG?

Joey Lopez 12:59

you know, we both have our own personal collection where it's like we could never sell these, but from the start, like I said, we both, you know, put money into the business by selling Pokemon cards.

David Hernandez 13:10

Mm hmm.

Joey Lopez 13:10

you so much TP collectibles for, uh, that seed money. That you gave us

David Hernandez 13:14

Oh wow, shout out TV collectibles. Yeah

Joey Lopez 13:17

Yeah. Shout out Tom, the patron saint of Pokemon. but yeah, he, he bought up, you know, some of our first Pokemon cards. So, and then we look at it in a way where it's like they're stocks to us where, Cards will go up in value and, you know, we'll, we'll sell high, but, you know, we can also buy back some of those favorites as well. When the market's down, So yeah, it, just a fun thing that we do and it's, it's kind of a new thing for us, but we're already like signed up for like a couple of collecticons and stuff. So we're taking it on the road,

David Hernandez 13:46

On that road y'all hitting the hit y'all hitting the streets now.

Joey Lopez 13:48

we really are. I mean, we're, we're hitting it hard this year and one of those things where Caleb's a little bit hesitant on it and I'm like, let's go, let's roll, let's roll those dice, you know?

13:58

Hey you! Yes, you with the ears! Don't go anywhere, just taking a quick ad break. We'll be right back. Pokemon Trainers, listen up. TrainerCon Dallas is back and leveling up in a big way. And here's the best part, general admission is pay what you want. So that means you get to grab your tickets for this event for as little as a dollar online through March 22nd, or just pay 5 at the door when you get there. Kids under 12 are free. This one day event is packed with 120 tables featuring top Pokemon TCG vendors, collectors, and creators. So if you're looking for rare cards, must have merch, or a perfect spot to make trades, this is where you want to be. It's all happening Sunday, March 23rd at the Dallas Event Center in Farmer's Branch, from 10am to 5pm. TrainerCon Dallas is always a packed crowd, so don't miss out. Get your tickets at RocketsMarkets. com slash TrainerCon Dallas. A special thank you to Matt Monkeybread, Gus Ulrich, and all other patrons for your continued support. Now let's get back to the episode.

David Hernandez 15:01

so you said your first game was SoulSilver with Pokemon. So you never played any of the games beforehand or like, what was your experience with Pokemon up to that point?

Joey Lopez 15:10

Yeah, so, my earliest memory of, like, Pokemon was like, I remember my older cousins, and I was, I was small, I was maybe like five. My older cousins had, like, Pokemon cards, and they were kind of, like, all throughout their rooms and stuff. Just scattered everywhere, and I look back and I'm like, Oh man, all those Pokemon cards on the ground. Um,

David Hernandez 15:30

Yeah, it makes you cringe a little bit. It's like, I don't know the value and the conditions of them. Yeah.

Joey Lopez 15:39

So, to be honest, I wasn't allowed to play Pokemon growing up. It wasn't until like when I was in sixth grade that I was finally, like, allowed by my parents to play Pokemon. They believed that Pokemon was, like, actual like demonic type stuff.

David Hernandez 15:54

Hmm.

Joey Lopez 15:54

Like I, I'm pretty sure that I'm pretty sure it was like church fed stuff where it was like pocket monsters

David Hernandez 16:01

Yeah. They thought it was witchcraft and y'all were summoning demons and evolution. Yeah. Yeah.

Joey Lopez 16:06

yes. It was around the same time, like Obama was also the antichrist and stuff like that. So, I mean, it was just the craziest stuff the church could say they were saying at the

David Hernandez 16:14

Right. So,

Joey Lopez 16:16

so I wasn't allowed to play Pokemon growing up. you know, I was like, In the 6th grade and like my best friend, he had a uh, a DS Lite and he was playing of the Pokemon games and I remember watching like his DS and being like so, captivated by just like all the things you could do in SoulSilver at the time and the DS was already like a super cool, game system for me. There was like a time where I just like begged my parents like please like I just want to do this yeah, I want to be able to like play and battle my friends and stuff like that

David Hernandez 16:48

um, Hey,

Joey Lopez 16:53

I got the upper hand over the church, but they did cave

David Hernandez 16:58

it's not, it's not easy overcoming Jesus. That's pretty good.

Joey Lopez 17:00

not you know, you know, it's not

David Hernandez 17:03

You know, that's what, that's what helps you with entrepreneur skills. That's part of the negotiation. You're already working on it. God was working on you for that anyway.

Joey Lopez 17:09

Yeah, yeah, I, somebody was in my corner for me, uh, higher power or otherwise, um, and, and my negotiation skills did, did play through and I got to get SoulSilver and it was like the, the set with the PokeWalker.

David Hernandez 17:23

Oh yes. Yeah.

Joey Lopez 17:24

I mean, it's such a classic and I was, I was hooked, like I logged hundreds of hours into SoulSilver and then my excitement of like being able to play through, the Kanto region, at the end of SoulSilver is Kanto region,

David Hernandez 17:38

Yes. You got it right. Yeah. Yep.

Joey Lopez 17:43

all of like the legends that you could catch in the game. there was the casino in the game. There was the, the athletic competitions. It was just like so much to do yeah, that's kind of like how I started. And then on the DS, you could play like the, the Game Boy, advanced games. And so. playing, like, SoulSilver, I could play, uh, still on the DS, I could play, like, Platinum, and, uh, I think I played Diamond, and then I switched over to the Game Boy Advance, and I could play, Emerald, which was super fun, everybody loves Emerald, of course, and then, you know, Ruby Sapphire, stuff like that, and I played all the way up till, like, Sun and Moon came out, and I don't think I played Sun and Moon, so I've played, I've played for a good while, So there was only like a little bit of a gap between getting out of Pokemon. I think that was probably like 2015 and I got back in 2020.

David Hernandez 18:29

I've always had the belief and it's gonna be a bit of a hot take. I actually think the Nintendo DS is the second ever best game system from Nintendo. I think

Joey Lopez 18:38

the original Nintendo.

David Hernandez 18:40

no, just altogether. Like if you Yeah, because you know, people usually usually people in 64 and the switch is kind of up there. I think it's at least number two that the Nintendo DS by itself is the best console Nintendo's ever released.

Joey Lopez 18:54

Okay.

David Hernandez 18:55

you have, you said you can also go back and play the Game Boy Man's games. The games are pretty solid. You know, you have the gen four games all the way up to black and white. You also have the Mario Kart games. You had a lot of the wireless. I think, like I said, you know, you started with SoulSilver and I can't imagine what better game to start your journey than with Pokemon SoulSilver. Cause that's the considered, I guess, the golden era of Pokemon. And so you will. Yeah, I feel like I got really, really lucky. Oh, man. I, uh, you know, it's Yeah, okay, so, like Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think there's a lot of people who win for better or worse.

Joey Lopez 19:44

so much camaraderie went into that game and with Pokemon and, uh, yeah, it was just such a great time. Oh man, I I don't know if I would even go 6. I really, I, I remember like the first couple times playing through like, even in 5th grade I feel like I was young. Um, but like just like mainlining Feraligatr all the way through. Um, you know, he's like level 100 by the time you get to the elite 4. Um, but Feraligatr and then, uh, Arcanine's always been one of my favorites. I can't remember if you can get him in Yeah, okay, so like Arcanine, and then, if I had to pick one more, um, Gyarados is always great. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think just, I really think three is kind of all I would roll with, for better or worse.

David Hernandez 20:41

Yeah.

Joey Lopez 20:41

it was really like, these guys are the coolest, I wanna, you know, I wanna do this.

David Hernandez 20:44

Is one of those your favorite by chance?

Joey Lopez 20:46

Arcanine has always been my favorite, I really, really love Arcanine.

David Hernandez 20:50

Oh, why Arcanine?

Joey Lopez 20:51

big Arcanine fan.

David Hernandez 20:53

Oh, why Arcanine? Just because it's a dog or?

Joey Lopez 20:55

Um, just fire dog, you know,

David Hernandez 20:59

Hey, can't go wrong with that, yeah.

Joey Lopez 21:00

Yeah, yeah, I, I really can't say why. I think maybe, I'm sure it has to do with, like, um, seeing those Pokemon cards kind of scattered in, in, um, older cousins bedrooms. I, I think I probably latched onto the Arcanine illustration the most, thinking like, Oh, he's so cool. Charizard's got like a weird gooseneck. Uh, but Arcanine, he looks great! Like, the, you know, Both him and Lieutenant Surge's Arcanine, or not Surge, I'm sorry, uh,

David Hernandez 21:27

Blaine, yep.

Joey Lopez 21:28

Arcanine. Yeah,

David Hernandez 21:29

Oh, such,

Joey Lopez 21:30

best

David Hernandez 21:30

such a pretty card too, yeah.

Joey Lopez 21:33

yeah, I mean, they're beautiful, so I think that's really what it is.

David Hernandez 21:35

So one thing I wanted to share, so this is a long time ago back when I first started playing, um, I had, you know, cards on the floor, just like you said, I gave my cousin, he was like maybe one or two years old at the time, uh, it wasn't a rare card, thankfully, but it was a base set peak, or I'm sorry, uh, jungle set Pikachu

Joey Lopez 21:53

mm,

David Hernandez 21:54

his mom said, Oh, uh, that's going to be messed up if you leave it alone. I said, nah, it's fine. It'll be okay. So I leave. I don't remember what I go do, but then I come back and all of a sudden he just patted in his mouth and it's like, uh, like the slimy and warped because he put the, he put the Pikachu card in his mouth trying to eat it. So couldn't keep that obviously, but I always loved the base, the, I'm sorry, the jungle Pikachu. And I was like, Oh no, it really is. And that was my only one, but

Joey Lopez 22:20

yeah, I think that's the, the, the Chunkachu one. He's a,

David Hernandez 22:23

yes. Yep. Yes. Yep.

Joey Lopez 22:25

what a bummer. Kids are the worst,

David Hernandez 22:27

Hey, I mean, at least it was, I mean, he was, he was a little kid. He's a two month old. So, I mean, I'm not going to,

Joey Lopez 22:32

Oh, man.

David Hernandez 22:33

but I mean, imagine had, I'm glad it wasn't like a holographic or anything rare, like a base set charge, right? Otherwise, Ooh, there'd be a different story.

Joey Lopez 22:41

Sure, no, no, I get that. In, in, during my time playing, like, SoulSilver and stuff like that, um, in the DS era, I was given, like, a bunch of, that's what got me into the Pokemon cards, I was given, like, a bunch of, Pokemon cards from, like, a guy my grandmother was dating at the time. He was just like, Here, have these Pokemon cards. And I had all these Pokemon cards, and my friend and I would, like, buy cards, and we all had our favorites and stuff. And then somewhere in between, like, 2015, when I got out of it, and 2020, that binder just kind of disappeared,

David Hernandez 23:11

Oh, no.

Joey Lopez 23:12

and it's gone. And so many people have, like, that same story of, like, their parents their binder, or giving it away in a garage sale, or a kid eating it, a two month old eating. All the cards and stuff, but

David Hernandez 23:23

Yeah, yeah, my gosh. You said, you said Pokemon, I'm sorry, you said Arcanine was your favorite. So do you, what is your like prized Arcanine card? Or is there a chase card you're trying to get of that Pokemon?

Joey Lopez 23:37

like the, I really like the Blaine's Arcanine, but and I know I don't have it either. It's the Japanese Blades Arcanine that I think looks the coolest over the English. I don't know why it is, but um, I don't have that one. and it's kind of one of my like, the one of the ones I'm like, uh, if I had that, it would go in personal collection and nobody would look at it. It would never see the light of day. It would just get put away and it's gone. So.

David Hernandez 24:01

I mean, you work with a lot of vendors. I'm sure you've had to seen this card at some point. Have you ever been tempted to like see it in public and be like, I kind of want to buy it?

Joey Lopez 24:10

You know, there's a lot of cards that, like, come through our table. with our, like, card vending, we have a big ass sign that's, like, behind us that's, like, always buying. It's what it says. It's just, like, always buying. And so we have so many people come to us to sell us their cards. And I never see that one, like, cross our table.

David Hernandez 24:27

Wow

Joey Lopez 24:28

where I see things and I'm like, Oh, man. want to pick this up for, for personal collection. like Lugia is one of my favorites too. That's like my favorite legend. And every time that comes through, I like have to take a minute to like, just look at it. And it seems like a lot more people have that one, but no, I never see like a Blaine's, Arcanine. Japanese coming through. So I don't know, maybe I just, maybe that's for the best,

David Hernandez 24:50

That potential I get

Joey Lopez 24:51

like it's an expensive card. It's just, I don't know.

David Hernandez 24:54

Yeah, it's just it's it's something you want to chase for and eventually you'll have a good reason to finally buy it

Joey Lopez 24:59

Yeah. Now that we are buying cards and we have a big, you know, neon sign behind us that says we're buying cards. it would be cool for it to come across the table and then I could snatch it up that way. Uh, that's the closest way I'm going to get to chasing it rather than, uh, opening packs

David Hernandez 25:13

Gosh

Joey Lopez 25:14

get it. So,

David Hernandez 25:15

Now, going back to you know building up the rocket market, in the process of trying to build this business up together. How did y'all first meet each other? What's the story behind that?

Joey Lopez 25:23

yeah. So, Caleb and I, we, we both worked at a sign company together where we built signs for, buildings and, and wall murals and stuff like that. And I went on vacation for a week, And when I came back, there was Caleb and we very quickly became friends over Pokemon, but also we were the only two that worked in the company besides the two owners. So. almost like we were going to become friends anyways, I feel like. but yeah, we, we both met at the sign company I think listening to the way he recalled it, I had like a Pokemon cup and I think we just kind of bonded over like the, the Pokemon on the, uh, on the cup. It was like a bunch of TCG stuff on the cup. And yeah, that's kind of how just, we, we became friends and, um, He had the idea to do the dioramas. I was like, let's do them in the card form. And yeah, the rest is of history, but it was just kind of chance that we

David Hernandez 26:14

Um, I

Joey Lopez 26:15

I don't think either of us would be kind of where we're at with, uh, with Rocket's Markets and TrainerCon, without meeting each other. we probably would have been just doing our own thing. not even Pokemon related maybe.

David Hernandez 26:27

mean, when you think about how big this has gotten since you first started and how fast it's grown to where you're now going to a third location, did you ever expect to get these kind of results? Or are you kind of like shocked to see, you know, how much it's progressed over time? not.

Joey Lopez 26:44

I really feel like event one, I'm, I'm such a dreamer. I really am like, deep down, I'm like, when I see something and I can, I can see it really big. I'm, I really chase after it. And I really saw Trainer Con, even with the low attendees that we had, I saw people put faith in us and I think that's really what. What has been my drive from the start is just people have put faith in us. They keep putting faith in us at this new venue. They, they almost, they, they double down their faith. They, they put all their money on, uh, the red chips and, uh, we're all going to figure it out together. But I, I really feel like from the start, I was like, we could make this big. And so that's been like my drive. Caleb will tell you that too. I'm the dreamer when it comes to things, and so, uh, if I can see something big, I'm, I'm gonna go after it.

David Hernandez 27:36

Well, let's expand on that a bit because you say it's a vision, something big. What do you see TrainerCon becoming? And where, where do you lack? And you think that you want to see improved from where you're at now to in the future.

Joey Lopez 27:48

Sure. Yeah, I love that question because, uh, it lets me talk about kind of the vision. And, and so my, where I see TrainerCon now, so TrainerCon was in Fort Worth. It's moved to Dallas. It's kind of like our homecoming back into the Dallas area. I really see now TrainerCon Dallas being, you know, maybe TrainerCon Houston, maybe TrainerCon San Antonio. a trainer called Austin. I see it growing from Dallas and I see those vendors going with us. we have vendors that we go, out of state and out of town with already. for like our, our card stuff. And so I really see those vendors, going with us out of town and starting those roots there. So what we're building is, you know, a really awesome network of, vendors that are putting trust in us. And I hope when the time comes, you know, they'll, they'll continue putting the trust in us to, uh, to move, you know, even out of state, would be really awesome. So that's kind of the big vision. I feel like is, you know, take it, take it Mr. Worldwide on it.

David Hernandez 28:47

And I think it's kind of important to have that vision because some people will say like, Oh, if it happens, it happens. But if you don't actually believe it, if you don't actually see it, it's never going to come true. In my opinion. for those who don't know, I used to play basketball could never, you know, I'm a big guy and I'm not very agile, but I can get around the court. And I was more of a shooter. Right. And the one thing anybody who is a jump shooter knows, you've got to envision the basketball going to the net otherwise, you're not gonna have the confidence and I love what you say because you envision it and you don't know how you're going to get there. You don't know the steps, but you envision what you want to see and you're going after it. And I think that's it's so necessary, especially whether you do content creation or even doing your own business. I'm going to have to listen over and over again.

Joey Lopez 29:51

but yeah, you really have to have a vision for it. and not only on top of like, you know, the vendor events, but then we'll go to other people's events as well. So like, A couple of our vendors started doing their own events. And so we'll go and support them not only as vendors, but then we'll go as attendees as well, just to attend those events and continuing that network and that community. So having the eye on the prize, being able to put in the, uh, the work and the sweat into it is really what I think is going to make this, um, a big for everyone. So we'll all, like we'll all benefit from it.

David Hernandez 30:42

Heavy lifting, you know, it's not for everybody. That's why not everybody's meant to be a business owner. And I raised meant to be an entrepreneur. They liked the idea, but when it comes to the regard down to it, a lot of people can't put it together in my opinion.

Joey Lopez 30:54

That's really the truth and, and we've, we've both really put in a lot of work to it. this crazy story when we started Rockets Markets and we were building these diorama cubes, there was like a big event, I want to say it was Indigo's, um, big event in the Dallas Market Hall. I don't,

David Hernandez 31:08

Yeah.

Joey Lopez 31:09

that

David Hernandez 31:09

Yeah. Indigo Plateau. Uh, well, the only one I went to was last year.

Joey Lopez 31:12

Okay, gotcha. In the summer, in the big, in the inside, right?

David Hernandez 31:15

Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Joey Lopez 31:18

that event that we were like, okay, we've got to pump out a ton of our diorama cubes. at the time, we only had, like, I want to say we only had like five Pokemon that we were selling and we were like, let's, we need like six more different, type of Pokemon in our diorama cubes. Caleb came over one night and uh, we were just cranking through stuff, um, with these, these new concepts that we had for these cubes. were assembling them. They take a very, very long time to assemble, before you even put them in the diorama, the, the little acrylic case. And we put them in the acrylic case and out of like these 50 that we made, they were all too big.

David Hernandez 31:56

Really? Oh no.

Joey Lopez 31:57

way in production where we printed something too big, or we assembled it too big or something. And so like, it was like two in the morning. We had work the next day.

David Hernandez 32:07

Oh no.

Joey Lopez 32:09

So we, we ended up like having to trash like so much stuff, and restart regroup. I want to say we were awake till like 7 a. m. We had work at like 9 a. m. the next morning.

David Hernandez 32:20

Oh, that's awful. Yeah. Yeah.

Joey Lopez 32:21

was horrible. It was so bad. but you really have to, you got to put in the work if you want to see it. Um, if you want to see it happen, just long story short, but

David Hernandez 32:30

No, that makes sense.

Joey Lopez 32:31

sucks. There's a, the trials and, and tribulations along the way.

David Hernandez 32:35

Well, Joey, that's going to be an interview for, uh, as a pokeball turns before you go. If people want to check out, what y'all sell, if you want to connect with you, if they want to actually attend the event, where can they go by all means, please plug away.

Joey Lopez 32:46

sure. if you want to connect with us, you can find us across a couple of social media channels. So, um, you can find us on our trainer con page. Uh, you can also find us on our TCG page. Um, there's not a lot going on there just yet cause we are so new, but it's a DFW PokeMart, you can find us there or just Rockets Relics on Instagram. And that's probably the best ways to, uh, connect with us, but you can sign kind of see everything that's going on. We have a lot of moving pieces and, uh, across, multiple platforms. So

David Hernandez 33:14

Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns. Follow all my socials and join our Discord community to stay connected by clicking any of the links in the description of this episode. Tune in next time for more episodes featuring more people, more stories, and more Pokemon. Until next time.