Darrell Tissot’s Rent to Own Legacy and the Future of Customer First Leadership

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What does it take to build a rent to own business that lasts for 40 years and impacts generations of customers, employees, and industry leaders?

In this special Legends Series episode of The RTO Show, Pete Shau sits down with Mike Tissot to reflect on the life, leadership, and legacy of Darrell Tissot, founder of Countryside Rentals DBA Rent 2 Own. 

This conversation explores the evolution of the rent to own industry, customer access, leadership development, small town retail strategy, same store sales growth, mentorship, and the power of relationship driven business. Mike shares how Darrell Tissot helped pioneer modern RTO operations through innovation, employee empowerment, customer service, and community impact while shaping future generations of rent to own operators across the country. 

What You’ll Learn:

• Why customer trust and employee empowerment became the foundation of Countryside Rentals’ long term growth
• How Darrell Tissot helped shape modern rent to own leadership through mentorship, advocacy, and collaboration
• The importance of same store sales growth, operational discipline, and strategic expansion in the RTO business
• How small town retail markets created long lasting customer relationships and multi generational loyalty
• Why innovation, testing new products, and adapting to customer needs helped Countryside Rentals stay ahead for decades

Episode Highlights:

• 03:58 – How Darrell Tissot started his first rent to own business from a small service station
• 05:33 – The financing struggles and business risks of launching an RTO company in the 1980s
• 07:06 – Why empowering store level employees became a core leadership philosophy
• 13:17 – The customer story that reminded Darrell why rent to own matters
• 18:31 – How trust and relationships built long term success in small town communities
• 22:22 – The “focus on strengths” philosophy that helped drive product growth and innovation
• 25:15 – Why same store sales growth mattered more than rapid expansion
• 34:17 – Darrell Tissot’s leadership role in APRO, TRIB, and rent to own advocacy
• 47:25 – The leadership lesson behind “building a bigger table, not a bigger fence”
• 53:35 – The story behind Countryside Rentals’ 40 Days of Kindness initiative

Meet the Guest:

Mike Tissot is the leader of Countryside Rentals DBA Rent 2 Own and the son of industry pioneer Darrell Tissot. Under Mike’s leadership, the company has continued expanding its customer focused approach while maintaining a culture built on mentorship, innovation, community involvement, and employee development.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Months to recover cost tracking
• Same store sales growth strategy
• Store level leadership empowerment
• Small town retail expansion strategy
• Relationship driven customer service
• Community partnership and charitable giving initiatives
• Product innovation and testing systems
• Leadership through mentorship and operational standards

Closing Insight:

“Success in rent to own is built through trust, consistency, mentorship, and a willingness to keep growing alongside your customers and your team.”

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:18):
Hi, I'm Pete Chaff.
You may know me from the RTO Joepodcast, but today I'm doing
something a little bitdifferent.
April and Wow Brents havelaunched a special project to
bring the story of our industryto life like never before.
They've asked me to sit downwith some of the true legends of
Rent's own capture stories,their impact, and the original
features.
And now I get to share thoseconversations with you.

(00:56):
I've got it together to find thefuture that we're building
together.
Here's where you come.
We're giving away free copiesonce to book the website.
Just head over toRTORevolution.com and sign up
for a chance to receive a copyin early 2026.
Don't miss the chance to beamong the first to hold this
piece of RTO history.
That's rtoorevolution.com.

(01:17):
Check it out and become a partof RTO History.
Hello and welcome to the RTOshow.
I'm your host, Pete Shao.
And today, something I kind ofwant to do, we kind of start
from the go back to thebeginning and then come back
here in a couple of differentways.
Uh Mike Tissett on the showagain.

SPEAKER_02 (01:35):
Second time.
How about that?
That must have done okay thefirst time, Pete.

SPEAKER_01 (01:39):
Yeah, yeah.
So this time it's a little bitdifferent capacity, right?
Because we're talking about theLegends series.
And the Legends series, youcannot have a Legends series if
you're not talking about DarylTissett.
Like he comes up in everyconversation in every way.
I think he mentored the mentorsalmost.
You know what I mean?

(02:00):
Um, and there's one of thosethings that he helped pioneer.
He helped lead, he helpedmentor, he helped grow
businesses that weren't his own.
He got you in it.
I remember I still remember thatconversation when he told you it
was time.
Hey, you got to make thatdecision.

SPEAKER_02 (02:17):
It was a hard sell, Pete.

SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
And uh, you know, and then going along with that,
you've done a great job, Mike.
You have killed it on your own.
Um, and what you do and how youdo it.

SPEAKER_02 (02:30):
Listen, it's not on my own.
There's 504 people and anamazing team of leaders and my
VPs, you know, Mark, and I meanuh Judy and Ben and Rachel, and
it's it's far from on my own.
I I feel like I'm I'm just theconductor most of the time.
You know, I I don't that the theteam I have, the managers we
have are just they're nextlevel.

(02:52):
The amount of care they have isjust it's insane.

SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
I would never say uh that that you don't have a great
team because listen, every timethat we go with it, man, they
are just killing it.

SPEAKER_02 (03:02):
Yeah, they're killing it.

SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
But uh you're right though, you're a good conductor.

SPEAKER_02 (03:06):
What do they say about the conductor?
They say the key to theconductor is being willing to
turn your back on the crowd, youknow.
So maybe make better decisionsif you're willing to turn your
back on the crowd, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 (03:16):
Well, I think keeping your eye on the ball has
been an amazing thing.
And one thing that we wanted todo is we we get a two for one on
this one.
We get to talk about DarylTissuck, who left an amazing
legacy here, and to be able tobe on the Legends series with
Mike, and then Mike gets to passit along to us, and we kind of
get both sides of that story.
You know, going back a littlebit, and I didn't know this.

(03:38):
Uh you guys started out in asmall service station somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 (03:43):
Yeah, you know, you know, it'll be hard for me to go
through this without crying.
But I my dad was a crier and I'ma crier, my daughter's a crier,
so you might get the bonus tier.
Um yeah, you know, my dadstarted his business um on a
baseball field, Pete.
You know, he was uh he was mylittle league baseball coach
when I was 14 or 15, 1984-ish.

(04:05):
And uh the other guy coachingwas um was selling the big
honkin satellites, and he wasgetting stuff in the mail about
rent to own, and he asked my dadwhat he thought of it, and my
dad was an entrepreneur.
Like he just wanted, he was a hewas a builder, you know.
So, which means he literally wasa builder.
Like when I was a kid, littlekid, we moved from house to

(04:28):
house.
He built a house, we moved tothe next house.
We'd live in that house that hebuilt while he was building the
house next door, and then oncehe built that house, we moved
from this house to that house.
And then he'd sell the house, wemoved out of, and then we'd
literally move seven houses downa street because he built the
next house.
So that building was somethinghe did and you know, helped my
mother, who still runs hercarpet business.

(04:50):
It was always her business.
He just helped her.
She still runs it today at age81, six days a week.
Like one of where I got my workethic, it's there.
Um, but uh he was a builder, andso he built, he built that this
company, um, you know, and askind of a lifelong entrepreneur,
too.
You know, he just always wantedto build something new and
different.
So when his this other coachcame to him and said, Hey, what

(05:12):
do you think about the strengthown thing?
He did some research.
He said, I don't know, why nottry it?
And he was always willing to trynew things.
So 85, he and his partner atthat time, and they weren't
partners long.
Um they just gave it a whirl.

SPEAKER_01 (05:25):
What were some of the challenges starting that?
Because if he knows business asfar as like building the
buildings next or building thehouse next to him, that's where
he's in.
This is a whole differentsituation.
He gets into a small, you know,station, he opens up rent to
own.
Like, how does that how doesthat translate as far as the
funding and growing that?

SPEAKER_02 (05:42):
Well, I mean, listen, the challenge for every
new business owner is funding.
And he had the 18% loans fromBorg Warner and he borrowed from
everybody he could, or was toldno from every bank in the town
he lived in, and except for onewho's still our bank today.
Um and you know, he went to seebankers and they'd say, Well, so
let me get this straight.
Are collateral is going to bespread all across the county?

(06:03):
So how's that work?
Um, and so that was a hugechallenge and forced him to be
very good at collections becauseyou know, the nature of this
business, you know, we want totry to make money on the stuff
we buy, and you know, decidinghow long to wait and how not to
wait is is easier when you don'thave money to go buy another
VCR.
And like so many that started in80 in the 80s, it was it was

(06:25):
VCRs.
And and and dad dad did a fewthings early on.
He he had bigger stores, biggersquare footage stores.
And and it was bigger than thenorm because he really believed
in the furniture business.
He believed that the furniturebusiness would be a big part of
our business, and it wasn't inthe early 80s.
It was a it was electronics andappliances, it was TVs, console

(06:45):
TVs, and appliances.
So that that really helped kindof take the business take off
was his commitment to furniture.
He went to the Tupelo furnituremarket, would buy big truckloads
of stuff, even though heprobably couldn't afford it,
didn't know what he was going todo with it.
But he kind of believed in stackit high and watching by, you
know, like let's just bring inloads of stuff, kind of a Sam
Walton theory.
Let's just bring in loads ofstuff and I bet people will buy

(07:07):
it.
And so that was that was some ofthe things he started early on.
And, you know, I'd say the otherthing was hard is just people
understanding his leadershipstyle, which was which was so
much about giving people freedomto make choices and make
decisions and a lot of rope.
Um, he was always like that.
And we still have that today.
All the so many decisions in ourcompany are made at the store
level, and that's all him.

(07:28):
You know, we don't want nobodycan make the decision from the
home office.
They need to make it at thestore level close to the
customer.
The best decisions get madeclose to the customer.
And so he always believed inthat.
And so finding people that likeDiane Smalley, who still works
with us today, who are willingto do that, that was hard
because a lot of times folkswant, like if you if A happens
and B happens to do C, and andwe operate in so much gray area

(07:51):
in this business, as you know,we just want to take care of
customers and we want them tocome back and we want them to be
customers for life, and we wantthem to tell their friends.
And gosh, we've been around for40 years.
We got like three and fourgeneration customers, and that's
that's huge.
And that's probably because of alot of the things that he
allowed employees to do earlyon, just taking care of
customers.

SPEAKER_01 (08:11):
So, what did the first store look like?
Because I've seen some of yourstores, I've seen some of the
videos, I've seen some of thepictures.
I remember at one point in timewe were doing that challenge
where you took, and I loved it.
You had a great idea.
You wanted to show your storeand what it looked like, and we
did that challenge.
Uh, and it was great.
So, what describe to me what thefirst store looked like.

SPEAKER_02 (08:31):
Uh, the first store was in a service station south
of Hillsborough, Ohio, and itwas it was concrete floors and
four or five couches and threeor four living room suits and a
stack of ECRs.
I mean, there wasn't a lot ofmoney spent on the frills.
I mean, the first store I openedin 1997, like I physically built

(08:51):
the countertops, did thedrywall, painted the store.
Like, that's the store was allwe just put it together our own
ourselves.
You know, the drywall in the inthe Servable store, which is the
first store I opened in '97, ispretty bad.
You know, I'm I'm not a verygood drywaller.
I'm not bad at renting TVs, butyou don't want me doing your
drywall, let me tell you.

(09:12):
But we did all that stuff.
That we did it all.
And and that's what the storelooked like.
It looked like we built thecounters, it looked like we laid
the carpet, it looked like wepainted the paint job, and we
put as much stuff in there asdad put as much stuff in there
as he could afford to buy.
And and when people rented it,we if he had enough money left
on the credit line, we boughtmore stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (09:31):
You know, I was reading something that your dad
tracked, Beryl Tissett was theone to track months to recover
costs, and that's something thatyou still do today.

SPEAKER_02 (09:39):
Old numbers, not a lot of people do that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (09:42):
But but you carry it through now?

SPEAKER_02 (09:45):
I still do it, yes, absolutely.
We track so many, we track, Itrack too many numbers.
Data, data is is my obsession.
And uh yeah, he would trackmonths to recovery to how quick
he would get his money backbecause that's when he would
have enough money to go buysomething else.
And um he is always a big lotusone, two, three on those like
five and a quarter floppy inchdiscs that he'd put into that

(10:05):
PC, you know, and uh yeah, westill track, we still track that
today.
We don't recover our moneynearly as fast as he used to.

SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
Well, that's true.
But I mean everything costs arethe costs are changing every
day.
You know, it's crazy.
But you know, going back likethose months to recover,
something that you pulled withyou.
I see some principles here thathe kind of had the foundation of
what he did is how he grewthings.
One of the pr one of theprinciples were if you take care

(10:32):
of the people who take care ofthe customers, the customers get
the best care.
Describe that to me and how youfeel like that is today.

SPEAKER_02 (10:41):
As the as the owner of my company, I know I have two
jobs.
You know, the first job is tomake it a great place to work.
And and I would say 90% of theeverything I do, I try to figure
out how to make it a betterplace to work.
You know, how do we make thebenefits a little bit better?
How do we make um thecompensation better?
How do we make the empowermentthat we provide for employees

(11:02):
better?
How do we make the training alittle bit better?
Always trying to find ways tomake it a better place to work.
Um, and then also trying to findplaces, ways to make it a better
place to shop.
And and I probably stole thatfrom my mentor, Gary Fairman.
He always talked about making ita great place to shop.
And um, and and I think that'severy owner's job.
If you if we can make it agreat, I mean, our folks are

(11:24):
only going to treat ourcustomers.
I don't, I don't, I don't get tointeract with customers very
much.
I have customers I love.
I have customers like Anna Fentfrom Hillsboro, Ohio, that came
in every Friday between 4 and4:30 to make her payment.
And she'd rent about three orfour things until Christmas
time, and then she'd use us tohave access to three or four
more things that she'd buy forpresents for her kids, and then

(11:45):
she'd pay them off the first ofthe year.
And and I have relationshipswith with Brenda Shook in
Lancaster, who every year says,Hey, can you buy me some
Halloween decorations?
And we say, Sure, Brenda,because you've been around a
long time.
And then she'll bring me cookiesand and a flannel shirt.
And I've met her 20 years ago.
You know, so I have arelationship with some folks,
but I don't as much anymore.

(12:06):
Um, and so making sure our folksat the front lines have the
authority, uh, the willingness,the security to take care of
customers makes the difference.
It makes all the difference.
And and you know, and we don'thave a regional manager team,
which is amazing.
You know, Rachel and Ben lead anamazing team of regional

(12:26):
managers, and some of them havebeen doing that a long, long
time.
Um, I would be remiss to saythat Jeff Borders is not a
dinosaur, he's just the oldestregional manager.
He reminds me of that.
Um, and and their job is not tolog in and do stuff, their job
is to direct and coach and helppeople make good decisions in
stores.
So if if there's one philosophy,if there's two philosophies that

(12:48):
have flown through my dad to me,it's hey, keep trying new
products because it wasfurniture before furniture was
cool, and then it was laptopsbefore laptops was cool, and
then it was all in on gamingbefore gaming was a big deal,
and then our entire business isnext level, and people have
started and stopped and not eventried it.
Um, and then you know, and thenallowing folks to make decisions

(13:09):
for our customers, those are twothings that that drive the
success of our business 40 yearslater.
I got 40 years on the side of myapp.
40 years.
We've been in a business 40years, so and that tells a tale.

SPEAKER_01 (13:18):
That tells a tale.

SPEAKER_02 (13:20):
You know, I think that it tells the tale it tells
is our business is a valuabletransaction for a lot of people.
If if a small town entrepreneurthat was laying carpet and
building houses could get withanother guy that he was coaching
a baseball team with and open abusiness, and it's still here 40

(13:43):
years later, that means we'redoing something pretty
incredible for customers, right?
We're providing access toproducts that they didn't have
access to.
My dad told this story and itbrought tears to his eyes when
he told it.
He told about the story fromLynchburg, this guy from
Lynchburg, Ohio, that he thinkswas one of the first people that
paid out a washer and dryer.
And they said, Mr.
Tissett, thank you so much foropening this door.

(14:03):
We would have never had a chanceto own our own washer and dryer.
We've been going to laundry mapfor 20 years.
We would have never had a chanceto own our washer and dryer, and
it saved us so much time, itsaved us so much money.
We thank you so much for openingthis store.
Like that's what we do here, andit's super cool.

SPEAKER_01 (14:18):
Looking at some of the things that he brought
forth, the way he was able to doit, the people he was able to
touch on both sides of the coin.
Because, you know, it's not justthe customers.
He's touched a lot of employers,a lot of employees, a lot of
owners, a lot of entrepreneurs,uh, in a ways that they just
they're thankful for, you know,over the years, they're really
and he became very um, very Imean though he was a very jolly

(14:43):
man, you know, he was probablyrealized Santa Claus, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
Um, but he uh he became very loyal to the
industry very quickly because hebelieved that that the people he
met in the industry helped himuh thrive, survive, um, and his
became confidants, you know.
Um, and he was he was so willingto give back.
And I had a full circle momentabout a month ago, and you had

(15:06):
Ben Leach on here, and uh Bencame out to visit me for a
couple days, and it was like, ohwow, this business, it's not
fourth generation, but like mydad was kind of a mentor to
Ben's dad, and Ben's dad, Lynn,was absolutely a huge mentor to
me, and now I have a chance tobe a mentor to Ben, and like,
whoa, like that's that's cool.

(15:27):
Like, I literally was like, Ithink my dad would be proud of
me for helping Ben out, youknow?
I think so.
Because is there anything elsewe want in life than our dads to
be proud of us?
Really?

SPEAKER_01 (15:36):
I mean honestly, you know, we were talking about that
uh not that long ago, about thebasic necessities of what we
need.
And I and that was one of thetop three.
We want approval from ourparents.
You're you know, you're a guy,you want approval from your dads
because you just want to doright.
Which leads me to the secondprinciple.
Small towns and small countiesseat, or well, small towns and

(15:56):
counties seat strategy.
Can you explain that to me?

SPEAKER_02 (16:00):
I grew up in a small town, Hillsboro, Ohio.
It was about 40 minutes um eastof Cincinnati, and we're lucky
Ohio is pretty denselypopulated.
Um, so these small towns arethey're Walmart towns, they're
you know, that there's 6,000square 6,000 people living in
the town and about 35 or 30 inthe county, and the county's
probably the shopping area.
And he believed that like thesesmall towns needed access, these

(16:25):
customers needed access tofurniture and appliances than
anything else we could provide.
And he was right.
You know, he was right.
There, there was, you know,there probably weren't Walmarts
back then, and uh theredefinitely isn't Best Buys, or
there isn't, you know, a ton ofyou know mom and pop furniture
stores.
And and so when we opened inHillsborough and Washington
Courthouse and Maysville,Kentucky, and Waverly, Ohio, and

(16:48):
Jackson, they're all 6,000,7,000 uh population towns with
30 to 40,000 in the county, andand we were well received.
And we could we could reallyprovide an amazing service to
folks in those counties that didthey didn't want to drive an
hour and a half to work withsomebody they didn't know.
I mean, in those communities,people are most more likely

(17:11):
willing to do business withsomebody they know, and you also
word of mouth travels faster andprobably more richly.
That when we provided the levelof service, the the I mean the
level of service that we provideare rent to own, like I think it
gets lip service because we allin in this business know about
it.
But we deliver for free, likefor free, like uh like some of

(17:35):
the sectionals we're deliveringfor free now, Pete, like we
shouldn't be like it's like 18pieces, and there's so much
trash that goes back in thetruck, and we set that washer
and dryer up for free.
We provide those hoses for free.
Like Lowe's doesn't do that.
Like, no, there are so manycustomers because we do it for
free.

(17:55):
And and I think the other thingtoday, as we evolve into 2025,
it's like that the relationshipswe have are so strong because
we've we have done so much forour customers and their their
mothers and their fathers andtheir grandfathers that that
we're okay in today's virtualtransaction because there's they

(18:15):
trust us enough to say, hey,what's the best washer and dryer
you have?
And we say, Oh, we got this newSamsung 8000 series.
Okay, bring that to me tomorrow.
Okay.
Like we have built that level oftrust that that just tends to
flow in a small town.
And so it's definitely ourpeople that our people connect
with people in small towns, andmost of our people are from

(18:36):
small towns, and a lot of our alot of our employees were once
customers, or I looked up oncebefore and shoot 20.14 percent
of our employees were related tosomebody else that worked for
us, you know.
So it's a rich, thick culturewe've created.
Um, but the small towns, it'sjust who we are.
Um and and it's it's our our ourstory plays better there.

(19:00):
Um I think because the level ofservice is more appreciated,
maybe.

SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
You know, I was thinking the same thing.
I think that in the smallertowns it's more appreciated
because not only the the varietyof what we carry, it's almost
like a one-stop shop where youcan go and get you know all
kinds of things.
It's the fact that you're in asmall town, people appreciate it
more.
I don't have to go all the wayout to this big city to get this
service.

SPEAKER_02 (19:22):
And we're lucky that that we have a lot of managers
that have been managing theirstores for a long time.
You know, I have a you know,manager in Maysville, Kentucky
that's been a manager there for28 years, Mike Highfield.
And and so they just call Mike.
It's not you know, I you know, Igot an idea from from Richard
Rose, God rest his soul, and Ronand John.

(19:44):
And uh he had, I feel like Icould make a list of uh one or
two ideas from I've gotten fromevery rent zone dealer in
America.
Um, but they had their theirmanager's name on the front
door, you know, like managerMike Highfield and the store
hours is part of that.
And and we did that.
And then we had had each managergive us their quote.
So I don't remember whether theydid that or not, but we do that.

(20:06):
So they have to come up withtheir quote, their like personal
mantra.
Oh, I love it.
Um, but having managers havebeen there for 10 years or 12
years or four, we don't have alot of manager turnover at all.
Um, and that really helps withcustomers just trusting us.
And you don't get that at retailstores.
And that level of trust um Ithink magnifies the rent-owned

(20:29):
transaction, the free delivery,the the no no credit check.
It it mat you know, that we areso willing to give customers
chances after chances and andand access to products that they
just don't typically get becausein those small towns with
managers have been around a longtime, it's literally business on
a handshake.
And it's just not possible in alot of places.

SPEAKER_01 (20:52):
We're talking about you know, some of the products
that we don't have access to inthe Samsung 8,000s, principle
three.

SPEAKER_02 (20:58):
I just for the record, I made that model number
up.
I learned a long time ago.
If you say things withconviction, I have no idea
whether they have an 8,000model.

SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
Well, I'll tell you what, uh, I don't either, but I
will tell you that I knowSamsung's has some great
products out there.
And you know, sometimes it is alittle bit out of reach, and we
do bridge that gap very well,especially if you really want to
take care of your community.
So, you know, dad was talkingabout thinking bigger.
He said principle number threewas think bigger.
Products area, what we do, howwe do it.

(21:31):
Can you describe that a littlebit?

SPEAKER_02 (21:33):
Yeah, I I think it's uh I everything I give you,
Pete, has been stolen fromsomebody.
I I I read a lot.
Uh I think started reading a lotmore a decade or so ago, and and
I listen to a lot of podcasts,you know.
But uh I think it comes back to,you know, maybe I'll give Cam
Kiger and one of our regionalssome credit for for really

(21:53):
pushing this.
It's the people in the processand the products and figuring
out ways to continue to drivethose three Ps.
Um, if we can continue toeducate, keep our people curious
and keep them teachable and keepyou know training them on
leadership skills as well as onproduct knowledge, we're gonna
get better.
Um, if we can keep testing andtrying new products.

(22:16):
And then one of the things Italk about a lot, Pete, is is we
again, it's stolen fromsomebody.
So I apologize to whoever I gotthis from.
That focus on your strength andaddress your weaknesses.
And I think it's easy to look atyour weaknesses.
And we look at weaknesses instore X is not renting enough of
this.
Um but I think what we what wedo a better job of now in our

(22:37):
company is is focusing on ourstrengths, which is, you know,
the Salem, Ohio store rentsdesktop gaming really well.
How do you pour gas on that?
Like, how do you take a productthat's doing really well and
pour gas on it?
And that means more product,that means better merchandising,
that means better marketing,that means better education,
that means, you know, you know,get maybe an incentive program

(23:00):
to sell more, whatever it is.
But um, those are the envelopesthat we tend to push is uh with
with really trying to pour gason some things.
And then the processes would betechnology.
I mean, I'm so lucky to have ato have a partner in WoW brands
that can help me push technologyin so many different directions,

(23:20):
whether it's the CRM we worktogether to create, whether it's
online leads that we get a highlevel of, whether it's paid
leads or non-paid leads, um,whether it's a new special order
platform that they built for me,like that's a how we're gonna
use AI this year and next yearto not just help us Google
better, but also be our thoughtpartner.
Um, so those are, I mean, that'sdefinitely technology is a huge

(23:44):
place for us to accelerate ourbusiness.

SPEAKER_01 (23:46):
Well, you know, you said something that really stood
out to me that, you know, yousaid your ideas are unoriginal,
you read a lot, you do a lot ofpodcasts.
Listen, it takes somebodyimportant and and it's a
difficult thing to do, but to beable to do it.
I was doing an interview withWill Jackson, and he said the
same thing.
You know, he's like, hey, I, youknow, we read a lot, we kind of
regurgitate in a different way,but it's all done.

(24:06):
And uh he was told, and I lovethis, I will use this to this
day, it makes you an informationbroker.
There are people that haven'theard it, they haven't read it,
and they don't know what you'reabout to say.
And when you sit with your spinand how you do it, that was the
first time they heard it, andthat makes it special to them.

SPEAKER_02 (24:23):
And I feel like the I feel like a book, you know, or
podcast, your podcast, uh, myfriend Ryan Hawk has an amazing
podcast I listen to all thetime.
And I told him the other day, Isaid, I feel like you just
introduced me to people.
You know, you would introduce meto ideas and books, and it's my
it's my job to pursue those andto try to dig deeper.

SPEAKER_01 (24:41):
Well, you know, I have this rule, and I've said it
before, and I'll say it a coupleof times now is that every time
somebody recommends a book, Iwill try to pick one book out of
their recommendation and readit.
So every time you go down yourbook list, you have like eight
books.
So I'm gonna have to figure outone from you to just get down.
I literally just uh emailedMichael Bennett a couple days
ago and I was like, hey, listen,we we talked, you had mentioned

(25:03):
a lot of good books, and I thinkthat I want to read one, and he
kind of nailed it down to acouple of you know, like four or
five.
Um, and I'm really gonna readinto it and go into it, and I
really appreciate him doingthat.
Um but getting back to it,getting back to it.
You know, dad had a famous quotenot growing, same store sales,
and you're not doing businessadding, do you have no business
adding stores?

(25:23):
And I've heard you say thatbefore.

SPEAKER_02 (25:25):
Yeah, I I I've been around this business for a long
time now, you know, and I'veseen a lot of companies come and
go and thrive and then notthrive.
Um, and I think it's you know,store counts something.
You know, it's absolutely athing, and it's one way to
maximize your your your revenue.
Um, but if you're not growingyour stores you have, then

(25:47):
there's a there's a there's aproblem inside the stores that
you have to address before youmake more of them.
And and I, you know, we'reblessed to have grown same store
sales every year.
Um, and we keep opening stores.
We have a we have a new onewe're gonna open in the first
quarter.
And um very, very slow, verystrategic.
You know, we gotta have a goodlease, we gotta have somebody to

(26:09):
run it.
It's gotta be geographicallyconnected to our one of our
other stores.
Um, you know, our you know,you're not gonna you're not
gonna find any of our storesthat are in an outlying area way
too far away from another store.
It just doesn't work for me thatway.
Um, but uh, but we're if we arenot growing same stuff, you
know, dad had a lot of quotes,right?
He had, if you're not growingsame store sales, you had no

(26:30):
business opening stores.
Um, you know, one of the thingsI tend to reference a lot is,
you know, talking about, youknow, team members that may be
underperforming, where we havehigh expectations.
And and he would say either theydon't know or they don't care,
either of which I have a littleproblem with.
You know, if they don't know, wecan help teach them.
If they don't care, that's awhole nother deal.
And so, you know, we we knowthat the success of countryside

(26:55):
rentals rents own has everythingto do with the massive amount of
people that care an awful lot.

SPEAKER_01 (26:59):
You know, talking about the growth in the same
store sales, usually thosequotes and sayings came from
something that happened that yougo, I learned my lesson.
Is there something that happenedback in the, you know, back in
the beginnings where you knowyou and Daryl were like, hey,
this this is something that kindof came back and bit us, and I
need to make sure I work thisout before I move on.

SPEAKER_02 (27:19):
No, I don't we've not had any major business
snafuos.
Um, you know, I he I made a fewmistakes when I came.
I worked for dad when I was incollege in the summers, and then
was able to just go back toschool.
And uh, you know, we opened astore to get ready to used
merchandise, and that was all itwas gonna do, and that was
stupid.
But he let me make that mistake.

(27:39):
He was really good at lettingpeople make their mistakes and
learning from them, you know,maybe a lot better than I am.
Um, but not nothing nothingmajor.
I think it was always he wasvery frugal, you know, and the
cost of money uh when he startedwas was high, and it was a
struggle, right?
I mean, the the founder of everyrental boat owned business in

(28:02):
that you talk to, it was astruggle.
And and I wasn't a part of thestruggle.
I was a kid, but I'm aware ofthe struggle, and um, and so I
think that ultimately was whatit is.
Like don't overextend yourselfbecause it could get hard again,
you know, and we were lucky thatwe grew same store sales and we,

(28:23):
you know, got out of debt andand were able to kind of move
forward, but you know, I don'tthink he ever wanted to be
beholden to Borg Warner againbecause it was hard.

SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
I there is something that I noticed when we're going
through all this.
He didn't like goal numbers onthe war on the walls of the
store, right?
There was no reminders in thatin that type of way.
And I remember that a lot ofpeople do that.
They have like, you want 30deliveries and they'll post it
in the bathroom and they post itin the employer room and stuff
like that.
What made his decision to not gothat way?

SPEAKER_02 (28:54):
Um there were goals.
There were they were maybe theywere silent, maybe they were
secret, maybe they're written ona napkin somewhere.
Right, right.
Um there were there were goals.
I I think there's a differencebetween goals and standards,
though.
And I think that the 40 yearslater, I think we've we've
remembered we have been remindedof that at our company.
You know, you can set a goal,but but there's a big difference

(29:16):
between setting a goal andestablishing standards.
Like we have we have standardsat rent to own, you know, that
we're always gonna deliver thismuch and we're always gonna
close here and we're alwaysgonna, you know, collect this
way, and we're always gonna haveour inventory in this shape.
And and we know when we do thosethings, we run great stores.
And so I I think that he wasalso of the belief if you had if

(29:37):
you maintain good standards, uh,whatever your standards happen
to be, that you know, peoplewant to work there and people
want to shop there.
And again, uh, you know, that'swhat we're trying to do.
That's you know, uh to stealSimon Sinek, I mean, who Chris
Kale, thank you, Chris, accusesme of just quoting Simon all the
time.
You know, the infinite game isreal.

(29:57):
Like there's no finish line.
Like we have a we have hit somany goals in our business.
And every time I hit one, it'slike, wow, that wasn't nearly as
exciting as I thought it wouldbe, right?
It's the journey, you know, andit's the journey you get to have
with your friends that work foryou, and that's the journey you
get to have in this businesswith all your mentors and all
your colleagues and with Angieand her family at Mike's Rent to

(30:20):
Own and Lynn and Gary, and likewe get to bounce everything off
everybody, you know.
And I've been lucky to beinvolved in all that stuff, um,
as I've been a part of theindustry.
Um, but we have we have goals,we have we have big goals, and
there's usually a bonus time toit too, Pete.

SPEAKER_01 (30:36):
Well, you know, uh the goals are great, goals are
always helped push you to thenext level.
I would imagine that as soon asthe first rent-to-one store
opened, the goal was open twoand three and four.
And I know now it's probably alittle bit different than
opening those first few becauseI mean when you have
40-something stores, you have abasis, you have people already
in place.

(30:57):
You only want to grow when youcan.
But when you only have one ortwo stores, you have to grow
because you have needs, you havewants, you you want to get out
there more.
How hard was it to grow thenversus now?

SPEAKER_02 (31:08):
Yeah, I mean, I obviously I'm aware of the
struggle and I've heard thestories.
When I came in, we had 10stores, and dad was trying this
hocus pocus idea of like, I'mgonna give a manager 49%
ownership of a store, and I'llown 51, kind of his
pseudo-franchising.
I don't even know what it was,but it was a mess.
Um, and we abandoned that prettyquickly.
Um, I I again I think it's it'sit's it's absolutely surrounding

(31:33):
access to cash early on.
You know, early on, it's how doI buy more VCRs?
And and if you you know, in allof your conversations with all
the legends, like there's talkof debt everywhere.
And and debt is debt can bepowerful to to lift a business
up and it can be a powerfulweight to pull a business down.
And and so I think everybusiness's goal early on is to

(31:56):
is to get out of debt.
And so and I think once oncethat happens, and you can be
more um you know, not beholdento a banker or not beholden to
other other stockholders thatwant a dividend, and you can now
behold be only be beholden toyour customers and your
employees, then it's powerful.

(32:19):
If you're if you're if yourshareholders are literally just
your employees and yourcustomers, you you've eliminated
a third of what every businesshas to deal with.
And and and my goodness, you canmake better decisions.
So I think that's whatinevitably happens over time for
successful businesses, or canhappen.

SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
Hey everyone, it's Pete Chow here from the Arts Go
Show Podcast, and I want to tellyou about a company that's
making a real difference in therent-owned space.
WoW Brands.
I've seen the first hand howthey approach marketing.
Let me tell you, it's not justabout ads.
WoW brands build completedigital ecosystems designed
specifically for the rent-ownedmarket.
Their e-commerce and generationcompanies are built to bring

(33:00):
qualified people.
And I mentioned they areactively working with the rent
owner while also being membersof April and Crip.
These folks are actually aproblem topic.
They don't just slap somethingtogether.
They design, build, and scalethe kind of digital retail tools
your business needs.
Your customers actually want.
So if you're serious aboutgrowing, reach out to Wild

(33:21):
Brands at WildBrands.com.
I trust it, and I think you willtoo.
Well, as uh as Mrs.
Windsor would call it OPM orother people's money.
She did not want to owe it, andneither did her husband.
It was a great conversation.
Talking about some of the thingsthat he's done in the past, your
dad had a lot, an accolade ofall kinds of things, all kinds

(33:41):
of accolades.
So he was the April boarddirectors from 1991 to 1999, uh,
with eight years of service,which was you were around for
that.
Yeah, yeah.
I was around for that.

SPEAKER_02 (33:52):
Um, I like I said earlier, he was so he was such a
giver.
Um, and he knew that that theindustry gave him so much that
he all and even if they didn't,he would give back because it
was just the human he was.
Um, and so he was president ofboth April and Trib.
Um and and loved every minute ofit.

(34:14):
Uh, you know, he was presidentof Trib for two years.
I think he was around the Ape, Imean president of April for a
couple years, and uh and on theboard.
There's some great pictures ofhim and Tiger and and Shannon
and Ernie and all those guysthat year, and had some great
friends, him and Kevin Quinn andand uh and and Ted Wilson and
used to play golf and DickEichlin would play golf together

(34:35):
and they would share ideas, andit was it was a fantastic, I
think, friendship andcamaraderie he had.
Um but let me tell you, hebelieved in the trim buying
group like nothing else.
And uh he believed in what wecan do to get together and have
strength through unity and buyfrom the same vendors because it

(34:58):
was hard to get vendors to wantto buy from us in the early 80s.
And if we all get together andwe all buy from the same
vendors, then we'll mean more tothem and it'll be better for all
of us.
And so, I mean, he pushed a lotwhen he was involved in the
board and on the on the as thepresident to like really, really
wanting to force people to buyfrom trib.
And people didn't like thatbecause they run their own

(35:19):
company.
But like he and slats and andJohn Blair was the president,
was the EC executive director atthe time, were like they wanted
people to report what percentageof your purchases came from the
trib dealer.
Like, you need to be honest andtell us what you're not buying
from Trip, because you need tobuy from TRIP.
And he so he and he waved thattrib flag probably until the day
he couldn't wave a flag anymore.

SPEAKER_01 (35:41):
Well, I I mean he's done a lot more.
President's award of excellencein 2000.
He had the Ernie Tally LifetimeAchievement Award in 2004.
I mean, what did these awardsmean to him?
You know, kind of through yourlens, what did it mean that for
him to be able to re-recognizeBrawley's peers and all this?

SPEAKER_02 (35:58):
Um this is the part you're gonna make me cry, Pete.
Um, they didn't mean anything tohim.
That's not why he did it.
You know, they didn't meananything to him.
And they they didn't until theday he died on June 26th, they
didn't mean anything to him.
You know, it what meantsomething to him was the lives
he was able to touch of thepeople who worked at Rent to

(36:20):
Own, of the people he was ableto touch that worked in the rent
to own business, of thefriendships he made.
My goodness.
Like, I mean, he he called hisbuddy Ted Wilson and asked Ted
to come work for us, work withus for a week and figure out if
he needed to keep working atRent to Own or he could retire,
if I was okay to run it.
Like it just that's what meantsomething to him.

(36:42):
Like it was just that.
It was sitting at the picnictable with young Lynn Leach and
telling him what he knew aboutrent to own.
Like the words didn't meananything to him.
And that may not be what youwant to hear, but that's the
truth.

SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
Everybody's different, you know.
It's one of those things that Ithink he sounds like somebody
who would have just been humbleenough to be around the people
that he helped get to where theywere and helped him get to where
he was, and that was enough.
It was the accolades along theway, dude.
It does mean a thing, though.
I would mean something to me,you know.
Hey, this guy's really doing agood job.
He couldn't tell you where thetrophies are.

(37:19):
So talk to me about the OhioRental Dealers Association
because we've talked aboutApril, we talked about Tribb, we
talked about his accolades inthere.
Was that something that he wasin as much as you are?
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (37:31):
You know, we're we are lucky in the state of Ohio.
We've always had like a goodnucleus of rent-owned dealers
who would do whatever needed tobe done, you know, to to fight
if we needed to fight, or or gosomewhere if we needed to go
somewhere.
And it was it was dad and Ernieand Gary for years.
I mean, they they those threeguys, whatever needed to happen,

(37:52):
getting the bill passed or goingto DC, that was dad and Gary and
Ernie, and it was like the threeamigos, you know.
They they they had a nicefrenemyship for a long time, you
know, and and they got alonggreat and did what we needed to
do in Ohio.
And then and today it's it's notthat different, you know.
Ernie's, you know, still gotstores in Ohio, and and Keith

(38:12):
Fairman is running that company,and Joe Fisher uh and and Randy
have Eagle Rent to Own.
And we just had a good littlenucleus of four or five
rent-to-own guys and and andgals that that run good
businesses in Ohio.
And so we've done our dead levelbest to make sure we're
protected and and make sure wehave uh good friends in DC and
in Columbus.

(38:33):
Um, you know, I'm lucky thatI've been able to establish
relationships with some folks inDC and in Columbus.
And my dad encouraged me to dothat.
You know, we would go to DC whenhe was involved.
Um and maybe the maybe thenine-hour car drives to DC were
the best part, you know, inhindsight.
Maybe it was the drive, maybe itwas the ride, not the visits.

(38:53):
Um, I remember going toMonticello for an event, you
know, probably 898 or so, whichwas fan, which was really super
cool.
Um, but he taught me, he had arelationship with with Mike,
with uh Mike DeWine, who's thenow governor, who was a senator
at the time, that how havingthose relationships are
important.
And so I have continued to forgethose.

(39:16):
Uh a senator from Ohio um it youknow is a is a good friend and
has been into our rent-to-ownstores and knows exactly what we
do for customers.
Um, there was a gentleman, ZachSpace, who was a Democrat from
uh middle of Ohio, and we wecollectively, about 10 of us,
went and helped do calls for himback, I don't know, set 10 years

(39:38):
ago probably.
Um he was a great friend.
Uh Steve Stivers um fromColumbus came and spoke at an
APRO event in DC.
He was a great friend.
And I think it's just it's Ithink it's important for people
to understand what we do forcustomers and and how our
transaction really works.
And so I've always been becausemy dad taught me, let's invite

(39:59):
congressmen, senators, state,local into our stores and let
them meet some customers and seeexactly what we do.
And we've done that forever.

SPEAKER_01 (40:08):
What was one of the things that stood out?
He he he did so much.
He did a lot in April, he did alot in Trip.
But when you're talking aboutthe RDA, that's the legal stuff.
That's the stuff that can reallyshut us down.
What's something that you couldremember that dad was a part of
that you can be like, I'm I'm soglad that I had a part in that,
or I saw it, or I heard aboutit.

SPEAKER_02 (40:27):
Well, I you know, he was he was around during the
Henry Begonzales days.
You've heard about that.
And so, you know, beingclassified as uh, you know, as a
lease of Federal Credit Sale isis bigger than anybody in this
industry really realizes it'snot been around a long time.
So he was part of that groupwith Wayne Chambers and and Ted
Wilson, whoever else was therein the in the late 90s, early,

(40:49):
mid-90s, um, to make sure thatwe were protected in that way.
And and while, you know, it itstill gets talked about at
times, it's it's important totalk about.
And I think the way that, youknow, our our our state law in
Ohio, it was part of that beingbuilt where we have price
controls, we have certain thingsthat we you know are regulated

(41:10):
to do and to not do, and and andwe do everything by the book.
And so putting that in place,him and Gary and Ernie, getting
that in place in the early 80s,you know, provided this ability
for us all to do businesspeacefully, you know.
And every lease you sign,there's a clause that says quiet
enjoyment, and that's what weall want, is just quiet

(41:32):
enjoyment, where you know we canprovide great products to our
customers that don't typicallyhave access to them and in a in
a way that keeps them comingback and wants them to tell
their friends, and uh and wekeep doing it and try to do it
for 40 years, right?
Just keep going.
That's the goal of business, isto stay in business.

SPEAKER_01 (41:51):
The infinite game, Pete.
Talking about going, talkingabout all these people that were
involved, where did the MidwestExpo come from?

SPEAKER_02 (42:00):
That's already Lwelling, too, man.
I mean, he decided we should doit.
And so uh again, there's there'sthis faction of Ohio dealers
with UHR and Showplace and I,and now Eagle that, you know, if
we all decide we're gonna dosomething, we can pull it off.
Because everybody, everybody wemay disagree and commit, but we
commit.
And so the expo over the last, Idon't know, 15 years has become

(42:23):
like the third largestrent-to-owned event in the
country.
And there's there's 200 peoplethat show up every year.
Showed up again last year.
Keith took over as the presidentof Ohio Rental Dealers and did
an amazing job, uh, found a newvenue and has great training.
And our vendors, my gosh, Peter,vendors step up to show up and
do training.

(42:43):
You know, we have a there's awork um distribution center in
Columbus and they show up allthe time.
Almo distribution shows up allthe time, Ashley shows up, um,
Simple Mattress used to show up,and now, you know, now the other
group shows up.
So it's you know, we're so luckywe have vendors that are willing
to support that.
But it was always abouttraining, and I think because it

(43:05):
was designed like that, that wewe want to we do it in October,
September.
Um, and it was always aboutlet's train our folks, our
people that sell the stuff, howto sell more stuff.
And uh, and it it had a goodpurpose, and we had enough
people committed to it that itjust it just it survived and it
continues to it continues to tojust do it does well.

(43:26):
People show up and and everytime they leave their vendors or
dealers are like, wow, that wascool.
And I guess if you get that,you're doing a good job.

SPEAKER_01 (43:34):
Well, your dad's part of a very uh select few
that I mean it's just the legacyis amazing.
What do you what do you thinkmakes him the best mentor?
Made him a great mentor, madehim somebody that everybody went
to.

SPEAKER_02 (43:46):
Uh I think he cared.
I I think he cared, you know.
Um I you know, my dad, my dadpassed away from Alzheimer's
this year, and you know, beforehe got sick, you know, the last
Last four to five years beforehe got sick.
Um every time I would go see mydad, he would uh he would I'd

(44:07):
get ready to leave and he'd belike, You should ready to leave?
You should leave.
Like he my dad loved me, youknow, and uh he would literally
put his hands on my shouldersand he'd get about six inches
from my face, and he would say,You know how proud I am of you,
don't you?
Wow.
Yeah, like every time, Pete.

(44:28):
And so I I just I think thatthat you know to be a mentor, to
be a you know, uh legend in thisindustry or any other, I mean,
you have to be selfless and youhave to be humble, and and
that's that's just who he was,man.
You know, and he was he wasalways willing to give credit,

(44:48):
you know.
It wasn't he didn't need anycredit, he didn't want those
awards.
He, you know, one of the reasonshe wanted to be in the
rent-to-own business, Pete, isbecause so other people could be
the front man, so other peoplecould get the credit, you know?
He didn't want to be the, youknow, he wanted you to come rent
from the circle belt rent to ownto rent from Amy, not from Daryl
Tissett.
He was just the owner.
He he wasn't gonna be the faceof anything, you know.

(45:11):
Whereas my my poor mother whoruns Tissett's home center is
the face of everything.

SPEAKER_01 (45:16):
Did he have a specific tactic that he used as
a mentor?
Was there something differentthan the way he approached it
versus other people thateverybody seems to mention his
name?
And I know you said caring, butwas there was there a certain
way that he did it?
Was he like blatantlystraightforward?
Was he nurturing?

SPEAKER_02 (45:32):
Like what I would say, I would absolutely say very
nurturing and and but alsoextremely objective.
I mean, he was, you know, goback to like the month to
recover cost.
Like, you know, he was verynurturing.
Uh, he was very, he was a greatlistener, which we could all of
us can do a better job of.
And he was also very objective.
So it would be like, okay,here's where you are now.

(45:55):
And if you deliver this much andyou pick up this much and you
pay out this much, you can growthis much.
And if your APA goes from hereto here, you can do this.
And like, it wasn't just pie inthe sky.
It was, it was back and math.
And so I think the combinationof like caring and love and
appreciation and likeobjectively, this is what's
possible.
Let me show you how to getthere.

(46:17):
Um, was the magical combination,really?

SPEAKER_01 (46:20):
How do you see his legacy and his mentorship living
on past his years today?

SPEAKER_02 (46:26):
It's a lot of pressure.
I think it's you know, it's Ithink it's my responsibility,
right?
And I'm blessed that you allowme to do this and talk about my
dad a lot, but um uh it it justwill.
It just will because you know, II've listened to the podcast and
I've heard, you know, himmentioned by Lynn and you know,

(46:46):
and and and John Blair, and youknow, just uh it's just he used
rent to own as his platform.
You know, you hear people thissounds this is gonna sound
crazy.
I've never said that they saidthis piece, Pete, but you hear
some of our some of our athletesthat we covet and look at and uh
you know put on these pedestalsand we talk to them.

(47:06):
And but some of the ones thatare humble, the Tim T bows of
the world, you know, like him orhate him.
I mean, he's a prettyinteresting guy, right?
You know, he says footballfootball was his platform, you
know, and so I I think Rentonewas ended up being part of my
dad's platform.
You know, it was the journey hewas meant to go on, and it
became part of his platform.
And so, you know, he leveragedthat platform to help as many

(47:28):
people as he could come incontact with.
I, you know, one of my favoritequotes ever, and I have a
bracelet that I wear, it saystable, you know, and it it's and
the quote is if you're morefortunate than others, you
should build a bigger table, nota bigger fence.
And and that's my dad.
You know, he just kept buildinga bigger table.

(47:50):
That's the thing.
He just like he carried aroundleaves.
He's like, let me put anotherleaf on the table, then sit
down.
Let me put another leaf on thetable, you know.
Tiger, sit down.
Let me put another leaf on thetable.
Like, that's just what he did.

SPEAKER_01 (48:02):
If you were to ask everybody in your mind, this is
a mental question, and you thinkyou took a tally of everybody,
what do you think everyone,including yourself, would say
his biggest uh impact on theindustry was?
What do you think his greatestimpact on the industry would be?

SPEAKER_02 (48:18):
I think his greatest impact on the industry is he
showed a lot of people what waspossible.
I think that he he forged a paththat said, look at what you
could do.
Like he he it's possible to havestores of this volume, it's
possible to give more away andbonus.
It's possible to be successfulrenting these types of products.

(48:40):
Like it's it's possible.
You know, I I heard I heard Bensay it, you know, he was a big
what if it works, you know, typeof guy too.
Like we were always supposed totry new stuff.
And and I think that's maybe oneof the legacies that he'll have
and like lives in me is like wecan do better, we can do more,

(49:01):
we can do better.
We're always becoming, we'venever arrived.
And I think he always believedthat we could always continue to
grow.
Not just grow B O R potential orwhatever, but grow.

SPEAKER_01 (49:11):
Yeah, right.
I mean well, you have one ofthese unique views.
What was it like workingalongside your father all these
years?
I mean, this is a uniqueindividual, he's a pioneer, he's
a mentor, he gets the accolades.
Does it does it even meananything?
Because he is so about theindustry, he's about family,
he's about showing others.
What was it like workingalongside of him?
I didn't get to do it very long,Pete.

SPEAKER_02 (49:33):
Um, so I I got to do it when I was a kid.
And I when I came back in 1997,we really only worked together
for two years um because hewanted to retire.
He was there's a lot of folks Ithink to struggle with retire,
and he did not, he was excitedto do it.
He had a long honeydo list thatnever shrunk, and he was wanting
to take up his golf habit anddid an amazing job.

(49:54):
He was a great retiree.
Um, so interestingly, um itwasn't all Ben Rose was working
with him because what he thoughtwas important and what I thought
important was different attimes.
We had we got in the biggestargument over a fire safe, a
fire safe file cabinet.
Like that was the largest.
Why would you buy a file cabinetthat's not fire safe?

(50:15):
Like it was like a big deal,Pete.
And so I I think that Angie andMichael are so lucky they get to
work with their dad.
And I think Gary and Keith arelucky they get to work with each
other, and Lynn and and Ben areso lucky they get to work with
each other, and and and John wasso lucky he got to work with his
dad.
And so I got to work with my dada couple years, but it it that

(50:38):
was the way it worked for us.
You know, it was it is he he wasdone and he wanted me to work,
and he gave me a couple years toto work out some kinks, and then
he rode off into the sunset, andthen he forgot how many he
didn't even know how many storeswe had, Pete.
That was before he hadAlzheimer's.
He'd be like, How many got now?
Like he just didn't care afterthat.
He was done.
I told you he was a builder, sohe built it, and then he was

(51:00):
like, I'll let somebody else runit.
I don't I don't want to reallyrun it, I just want to build it.

SPEAKER_01 (51:05):
How did you manage continuing his legacy and
blazing your own path in thatsituation in that time frame
where you're coming off and kindof starting off on your own?
How did you manage that?

SPEAKER_02 (51:16):
You know, managed it through a bunch of people that
care an awful lot.
I managed it through, you know,Ben Davis and a management
through Diane Smalley, and Imanaged it through my
relationships with my mentors,and that's that's how we all did
it.
That's how any business ownerdoes it.
I don't think it's uh is itrent-to-owned specific?
Sure, because guess what?
There's not a lot of industriesthat everybody talks about

(51:38):
everything.
Like there's not I I could havea text group of seven or eight
rent-to-owned operators that youknow it gets hit once a week.
I got great friends that work atRena Center and great friends
that work at Errands and greatfriends that like, you know,
it's fantastic to have all thesecolleagues that we can share
ideas with.
Um, but I I think I was taughtby my dad to just be willing to

(52:00):
try new things.
And so uh we were lucky enoughto be on the forefront of of of
computer rentals, and it reallytook off for us.
We were lucky enough to be onthe forefront of the gaming
business, just console business,really all in on the console
business.
Um, you know, so we we've alwaysbeen a pioneer on trying new
things, and and I got that frommy dad for sure.

(52:22):
He because he would he wouldalways be willing to try it.
And I think that a lot of timesthe new things are home runs,
and a lot of times they'resingles or doubles or triples,
and they all add up, you know,and they add up as either a home
run sometimes, like doing tiresin a rent-to-home store or
renting laptops in '99 or 2000,or they add up as a single, or

(52:43):
they add up as an experiencethat we learn from because we've
made our share of mistakes forsure.
And it's not just products.
It's, you know, I don't I've notmade a mistake, you know, like
you asked if you made a majorstaff.
Like, well, no, we're luckyenough we haven't.
We closed one store that wedidn't love, that we ended up
buying a couple Renaissancestores, and you know, they
bought that store.
And so we didn't didn't hurt us,but um, we've not made any major

(53:06):
mistakes, but we just keeptrying trying other things.
I read somewhere once, Pete,that they somebody said if you
had more than three or fourstores, one of them should be a
laboratory.
And and I I think that wecontinue to try to put stuff in
the laboratory all the time.

SPEAKER_01 (53:20):
Yeah, I like that idea.
I love that idea.
You know, coming to the end ofthis amazing story that you've
had about your dad andeverything, something that's
unique to you and something thatyou've done was the 40th
anniversary you did the 40 daysof kindness.
Talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_02 (53:35):
Well, I mean, that's my dad.
Um, and uh, you know, my dadwould would say that uh his
rent-to-owned business took offwhen he started giving 10% to
the church.
Um and and I think therent-to-owned stores in small
towns um can become uh acommunity, a great community

(54:00):
partner.
And and we either choose to orwe don't.
I've been lucky enough to getinvolved with a lot of schools.
Um somehow, some way we ended upgetting some football uniforms
for our local school, butthere's not a lot of business
around it.
And then three or four otherfootball teams heard we did it,
and so they all wanted us to getthem football uniforms, so we
did it.
But like, I don't know.
40 years to me is a is a longtime.

(54:24):
And I know a lot of the legendsyou've interviewed have been
around for 40 years.
Um, but a lot of things have togo right to make it 40 years,
and so it just felt like areally good way to give back and
celebrate that by identifying uha charity in each of our 40
stores that we could give backto.
Uh, and whether it was, youknow, a food pantry that we

(54:46):
support in Bainbridge, Ohiocalled J216 Ministries, which is
an amazing organization thatJudy May, who works for me, is
now on their board.
Or whether it's Camp Dovetailthat my dad had supported for
decades, um, it's a camp fordevelopmentally disabled people,
um, adults, uh, humans,superstars.
Um, but we wanted to we wantedto take that further into all of

(55:07):
our markets.
And some stores didn't do it aswell as we want, but um we're
trying harder to be a bettercorporate citizen.
Um and as we get bigger, it'sharder to do because you don't
hear.
You know, I know inHillsborough, Ohio, or in or in
Loveland, Ohio, or Bainbridge,Ohio, where we can help people.
And and I want, I think withthat, we've done a better job of

(55:30):
being able to hear, you know,where we can help people a
little bit more.
You know, an interesting story,and I think we should bring it
back, Pete.
We used to do an employee of theyear at April.
And in 2008, um, one of ourcustomers won the Employee of
the Year.
And her name is Kim Royal.
Uh Ken Royal uh works for a umkind of a rehabilitation center

(55:54):
in Lawrence County, Ohio.
And she came to us as acustomer.
She's a great customer, she'sbeen a customer for a long time.
Ask us, hey, can you help meprovide some of these basic
needs for some of these folks inthis halfway house?
And so we would support them atChristmas time and all
throughout the year, really, forlike toiletries and towels and
things like socks and underwear,stuff like that.

(56:15):
Um, but she was named AprilCustomer of the Year in 2008.
And it was super cool to seethat happen, to see how we um A,
can transform lives by providingproducts that customers don't
have access to.
Um, but B, that transformsitself into being a better
community, you know, bettermember of the community.

(56:37):
So I I guess I would challengeevery uh rent-to-owned operator
to you know find ways to listento our customers a little bit
more and find ways where wecould do 40 days of giving or
three days of giving or maybemaybe a couple times a year.
So we were looking for moreopportunities to do it and
celebrating the 40 years ofoperation, it just seemed very
logical to do that.

(56:57):
And I think dad would have puthis arms on my shoulder and said
he was proud of me for doingthat.

SPEAKER_01 (57:01):
I agree.
I gotta say, Mike, it's been apleasure having you on.
I I love the idea of the 40days, I love seeing your
success.
I love seeing your passion forthe business.
It seems like your father hadhelped you gain that, pass that
along to you.
You guys have a love for thisbusiness that I haven't seen
ever.
You know, I gotta say, I wantedto uh tell you I was talking to

(57:22):
the strong, Mike Strong and thefamily, and said, I gotta thank
you.
You were one of the very firstpeople that came on the podcast
when I didn't know whatdirection I was gonna go in.

SPEAKER_02 (57:30):
I remember you really helped Apro, and you were
like speaking for the firsttime.

SPEAKER_01 (57:34):
You're like, Yeah, I was I was I was out of my mind,
I was scared, I was out of mymind.
But you know what?
You did you did exactly whatyour father did, and you kind of
helped me through that.
You kind of give me somepointers and you embraced me a
little bit with that with thedirection.
And I really appreciate that.
I wanted you to know that, and Iwant you guys to know that we
appreciate you listening andbeing a part of the Legends

(57:56):
series with us.
If you want to hear more storieslike Mike Tissett, Daryl
Tissett, and their family onwhat's going on, you've got to
dial in.
Make sure you subscribe.
You can go on to uh the podcastat www.thertoshopodcast.com.
You can hit me up directly atpete at the rshopodcast.com.
Email, let me know what's goingon.
You can also go on there and getsome swag.
Uh you know, it helps out theshow.

(58:17):
And then we're on Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube
where you can subscribe, whereyou're gonna see this.
Mike, it's always a pleasure.
Hopefully, we see you very, verysoon.
You guys are doing wonderfulthings out there in Ohio, and I
really, really want to tell you,I wish for your successes.
I I love it.
I appreciate all you do with thebusiness.
Thanks, Pete.
Appreciate you having me backon.
Absolutely.
And I'm gonna tell you guys, asalways, make sure you get your

(58:39):
collections low, get your saleshigh.
Have a great one.