David David’s Leadership Lessons for Rent To Own Operators and Entrepreneurs

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What does it take to build a lasting legacy in the rent to own industry?

In this episode of The RTO Show Podcast, Pete Shau sits down with David P. David of American Rental and Full-O-Pep to explore more than four decades of entrepreneurship, leadership, industry advocacy, and customer focused growth in the RTO business. 

From building rental stores across multiple states to helping shape APRO, TRIB Group, state rental dealer associations, and rent to own legislation, David shares the stories, strategies, and leadership lessons that helped define modern RTO operations.

What You’ll Learn:

• How David David helped grow American Rental and Full-O-Pep through organic growth, acquisitions, and strong company culture
• Why APRO, TRIB Group, and state rental dealer associations were critical in protecting the future of the rent to own industry
• The importance of customer relationships, payment flexibility, and ownership focused service in RTO
• How leadership development and employee culture create long term retention and business growth
• Why online rent to own strategies, digital retail, and website optimization are shaping the future of the industry

Episode Highlights:

• 03:47 – How childhood work ethic and entrepreneurship shaped David David’s business mindset
• 11:03 – The early days of opening Full-O-Pep rental stores and learning the rent to own business
• 17:07 – What makes a successful rental store acquisition and how to integrate company culture
• 22:10 – How Indiana rental legislation was built through advocacy and state association leadership
• 26:12 – Why employee culture, vendor relationships, and company events matter in RTO operations
• 38:57 – How APRO helped protect the rent to own industry during major legislative battles
• 46:58 – Why the future of rent to own depends on customer service, online business, and industry advocacy
• 55:02 – David David’s best advice for new rent to own store owners and operators

Meet the Guest:

David P. David is the longtime leader behind American Rental and Full-O-Pep, two respected names in the rent to own industry. Over the past four decades, he has served in leadership roles with APRO, TRIB Group, the Indiana Rental Dealers Association, and multiple industry advocacy efforts that helped shape the future of rent to own operations and legislation across the United States. 

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• APRO industry advocacy and legislative strategy
 • TRIB Group buying power and vendor negotiations
 • State rental dealer association development
 • Customer retention and ownership focused RTO service
 • Rental store acquisition and integration strategies
 • Employee culture and long term leadership development
 • Customer flexibility and payment recovery practices
 • Community outreach and charitable giving programs

Closing Insight:

Long term success in the rent to own industry comes from relationships, consistency, and understanding the people you serve. David David’s story is a reminder that leadership is built over decades through advocacy, mentorship, customer care, and creating opportunities for both employees and communities. 

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Pete Chao.

(00:02):
You may know me from the Arts GoShow podcast, but today I'm
doing something a little bitdifferent.
Apro and Wow Brands 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 to Home, capture theirstories, their impact, and their
vision for the future.
And now I get to share thoseconversations with you right
from the legends themselves.

(00:23):
All of this leads to somethinggroundbreaking though.
A new book.
The Rental Revolution, adefinitive history, advocacy of
the store outset, written byApril CEO Charles Witterman, and
Wildbrand CEO, Brian Kraft.
The book explores the grassrootsof RTO, the advocacy that is
defined, and the future thatwe're building together.
Here's where you cover.
We're giving away free copiesonce the book is released.

(00:46):
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.
Check it out and become a partof RTO History.

(01:10):
Hello, and welcome to the RTOshow.
I'm your host, Pete Chow, andtoday we have another one on the
Legend series.
Listen, guys, I've been tryingto nail this one down for a
while.
Mr.
David David is a hard man to geta hold of.
He is busy.
He's got Fulla Pep going on inIndiana.
Actually, America Reynolds isprobably what you would know it
better as, right?
So David David, part of theApril.

(01:31):
Listen, he's part of thebackbone of April.
He is part of the backbone ofFulapep.
He has got the family of legend.
I mean, every time I see theseguys, they are just all enjoying
it and having a good time.
But we're going to go back.
We're going to go back a littlebit and kind of discuss with Mr.
David David how it all started,where it went, the things that
he was able to accomplish, someof the things that he had to get
through to get thoseaccomplishments, and find out

(01:51):
where we're going a little bitin the future.
Mr.
David David, how are you doingtoday?
How's everything going?
You're down in sunny Florida,right?
Sunny Florida.
Excited about the game.
Cold Florida.
Yeah.
Cold Florida, yeah.
So how much do you think uhIndiana's gonna win by?
Um ten.

(02:12):
Ten.
All right.
So by the time this comes out,we're gonna be able to look back
at that game and say who won.
So, Mr.
David David, how are you doing?
Like right now, I see 1981,Bloomington, Indiana.
How did this all go down?
But do I want to know first off,like like and this is a trick
question for some people, whatdid you do as a child?
What did you did you have ahobby?

(02:33):
Uh working.

SPEAKER_00 (02:35):
I think I started you know we had a uh restaurant,
we had a 200-acre truck farmraised produce, we had about a
million Christmas trees plantedthat my that my father took care
of.
Okay.
And then we had a feed andtackle store and a shell
station.
So wow.

(02:55):
I in the spring had to plow whenI was of age.
I think I learned to drive atruck when I was six.
I didn't know the gears.
It was, you know, it's whatevertook you forward, you know.
Um I used to ride with mygrandfather to uh Bloomington,
it's about 20 miles, and he'dalways bring a pillow with him
when I was coming back.
He said, I'm tired, you drivehome.

(03:17):
And I drove home every time.
And one night we stopped at thisuh Rootbeer stand right in
Nashville, and some of mycallers coming out, he told me
to go ahead and drive home.
And right at the top of thisreal steep hill, I got a red
light come on, and the guy comesup and he said, Let me see your
driver's license.
And I said, Don't have.
So I got the experience in inthat.

(03:39):
And fast forward, uh, I think Iwas 14 when I met Jim Hammond,
who owned bought Fullip.
And uh he ended up dating mysister for years.
He his family moved to Arizona,and he wanted to graduate from
Brown County High School, so hecame back and we were actually
roommates for about a year, ayear and a half.

(04:01):
So we've known each otherprobably 60, 60 some years, and
uh wow have been great friendsand and working companions for
all that time.
And so I was living in I uh didthe Christmas trees.
We shipped 150,000 Christmastrees every year.

(04:21):
And uh Wowty,000 trees.
You know, you're in a timerestraint.
So uh, you know, when we getdone, we'd load up everything,
drive to Florida.
We had 35 locations in Florida,and I would set up the lots on
the western Tampa, Bradenton,Sarasota, all those towns that

(04:42):
Montgomery Wards were in at thattime.
I would set up the lots.
And then uh after Christmas, Iwould stay in Florida.
I my dad's either go back toIndiana.
Well, a few years I went backbecause I was in uh flight
school at Vincent University,learning to be a commercial
pilot.
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 (05:01):
So David, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Did you even have a youth?
You I mean, you were workingsince like you were years old.
I mean, you're like six yearsold.
He's he's driving the truck,he's putting up like did you I
mean you were so usually thereason I ask that question is
because the entrepreneurs that Isee at your level, they have
started early in the game.
So usually it's either they hada paper route, they were selling

(05:22):
bubblegum.
I mean, I know if if you youknow, if you look at some of the
guys in in the big leagues,right?
You got Charlie Munger, you gotall the rest of the guys.
Um, you know, Warren Buffettstarted selling candy when he
was younger, and then he put thepinball machine into candy.
Like it was it was somethinginert in them that they started
early.
Like I was gonna be anentrepreneur early.
I don't know if any of themdrove or sold as many trees as

(05:43):
you did in that age.
I can see why you are doing sucha good job right now.
But um it's the it's that spiritthat starts off early.
I mean, it just really kind ofyou know, it gets instilled
early, and then before you knowit, you take that and you keep
on going.
So that that's an amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (05:57):
You know, my my grandfather had a little gift
shop.
I worked out there and I had tomake change and come back money
and stuff probably at six orseven.
So uh seemed like, yeah, most ofmy life, even during the sports,
I'd go out for basketball, butI'd have to quit the team
because I had to do Christmastrees.
Oh wow.
And in the spring, I'd I wouldrun track and things, but then

(06:17):
I'd have to not go to practicebecause I had to go out and
plow.

SPEAKER_01 (06:21):
Wow.
And uh what so then whathappens?
1981 rolls around, Bloomington,Indiana.
Where was the start?
Is that was that the start ofFullip?

SPEAKER_00 (06:31):
1980s, when Jim bought um Fullip was in 1980, it
was an appliance store, failingappliance store.
And in Indianapolis, there was adistributor called ADI, and they
distributed RCA, Whirlpool, andLinton microwaves.
And uh they were looking forsomebody to uh take over the
store to sell it to.

(06:52):
And he would work he had workedfor Airway, who was bought out
by Target, and he didn't want tomove to Minneapolis, so he
started looking around, and afriend of his that worked with
him at Airway worked at ADI andsaid they're looking for
somebody to buy this appliancestore.
So he ended up buying it, andLou Randall had collected a lot
of information on rental storestoo.

(07:12):
He opened rental stores back inthe 80s, late 80s and 90s, and
uh had articles from that.
So uh he talked to Jim and heloaned him the money to open it.
And I was staying spending thewinter in Florida and in 1978 I
was going to buy a new car, andmy sister was in a lot in

(07:33):
Melbourne, and there was aDotson dealership at the time,
Nissan now, and I bought a 280Z.
I had a 240Z, I was buying a new280 Z.
Oh, I love those things.
And I went over the next weekafter New Year's to see if the
financer went through and topick it up, and a cat got in the
car and killed an animal andthere's fur all over it.

(07:55):
So I was not very happy, and Idrove back, I was staying in
Kissimmee, and I drove back towhere I was staying, and I went
by this Ford dealership, andthey had the exact car on the
lot.
I made a U-turn and went back,the car was unlocked.
It was owned by a pilot, and soI ended up getting a car uh
buying the car and getting a jobthere.
The guy asked me if I wasinterested in working, and I

(08:18):
said, nope, never consideredselling cars, but I went back to
the room and thought about it.
And my grandfather owned a Forddealership from 1914 to 1939.
And I thought, with thathistory, maybe I'd go to work at
a Ford dealership.
So I went there.
So I worked there from 78, 79,and then I left my roommate open

(08:44):
a fat boys barbecue in Sebring,Florida, and he came home on
weekend.
I stayed in his house inOrlando, and he stayed in my
motor home in in uh Sebring.
Which well I was actually afifth-wheel, and uh came home
and said, David's coming tomanage it for me, and I am.
So I ended up going magic, youknow, every year when I have the
pig roast, that's where thatcame from, was was uh working in

(09:07):
the barbecue restaurant forabout six months.

SPEAKER_01 (09:09):
Well, I I definitely have some questions about that
because I did see that you had asignature sauce that I wanted to
talk to you about.

SPEAKER_00 (09:16):
So so after that, I I left and I uh went back to
Indiana, worked for went back towork for my dad, and I went back
to Florida that went over to theChristmas tree, and after
Christmas I stopped by this uhNissan dealership, and the sales
manager that was at that had runthe other sales manager off to
elected that dealership.
Now it was fired and he wasworking here and he needed help.

(09:37):
And I told him I would help himout if the the owners let him
know that I was only going to bethere until May.
And he called me, I was in KeyWest and said, You're good to
go.
I went, and I started making somuch money, I wasn't sure I
wanted to leave.
I was making like$6,000 a monthback in the early 80s.
But then they promoted me assales manager, and my pay went

(09:59):
because they wouldn't let mehire anybody, worked at a
different dealership.
So I went to Indiana that summerand I talked to Jim and I said,
uh, you need a partner.
And he said, No, I've got about50 people who want to be a
partner, but if you want to comeback, we'll open a store
together.
And that time it was just aretail store.
So I went back and thought aboutit and I said, I don't want to
be in the car business, and it'san opportunity to do something

(10:21):
that I'm never not familiarwith.
You know, Christmas trees, farm,restaurant stuff, but never
appliances.
But uh so I went to work andback before computers, you know,
we had the cards, we had to posteverything, and I learned to
sell.
I went on delivery.
I remember a guy I went out ondelivery, and a guy says, Where
are you from?
I haven't seen you before.

(10:41):
And I said, Well, I moved fromOrlando back here.
And he said, You moved toBloomington from Orlando?
So I learned that business.
So that following, I came backin October of '81, and I forgot
how bad the winters were.
It was drizzling rain and 53degrees.
And I went, oh no, I forgotabout that because I'd spent all
the winters in Florida.

(11:02):
So in November, Jim and DennisAdams and I, Jim Halen, Dennis
Adams and I drove up toKalamazoo, Michigan, and Bud
Green was going around thecountry giving seminars on the
rent owned business.
And we spent the whole day thereand we left, gave him a$100
bill, and he gave us a littlepacket with an agreement and a
pickup order and a where youkept track of your inventory in

(11:24):
and out and that type of thing.
And went back in the retailstore and opened a little
department.
It was about probably 500 squarefeet of that.
Washer dryer, refrigerator,console TV, portable TV, a C D
player, and that was it.
And then the salespeople at thesales store didn't like that, so
we eventually moved it first ofthe year and moved it out into a

(11:47):
little A-frame building north oftown.
And um Jim asked me if I stillwant to do a retail store, and I
said, nope, want to do a rentalstore.
So every every week I drove toColumbus to look for a location,
uh, week after week.
And finally, I think it was inMay.
The shopping center I want to goto had an empty spot, an
appliance dealer, and he thoughtI was competition, which I

(12:10):
wouldn't have been.
So I uh noticed one day somebodywas moving in there, so and and
asked him where they'd movedfrom, and they told me that's
where I ended up finding astore.
And uh so Dennis had theA-frame, I had the store in
Columbus, and every year fromthat time we each opened two
stores a year, uh, rental storesin different communities.

SPEAKER_01 (12:31):
We're talking about the Dennis Adams that I see
around in every single one.
He's been doing this for thatlong.

SPEAKER_00 (12:38):
Yeah, he was he was in high school when he worked at
the store before Jim bought it,uh working in service.
And when Jim took it over, hemade the parts manager for the
appliance store.

unknown (12:49):
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (12:50):
So he's been there 40, 40 something some five years
or something.

SPEAKER_01 (12:54):
Dennis, you are longevity in form, in physical
form.
I will salute you, sir.
Wow.
He's been doing it since thebeginning.
That is amazing.
I see him everywhere, and I'mlike, man, he as long as I've
been doing it, he has been asolid staple around in every
single convention there is.

SPEAKER_00 (13:10):
Yeah, I got him involved in April, I got him
involved in April and got him onthe board and get elected.

SPEAKER_01 (13:16):
I mean, well, I mean, now I see now from the
beginnings to four states.
We have the Dennis Adams workingfor for David David here.
You guys have done an amazingrole.
Can you talk to me a little bit?
Um, because I did see some otherstuff in here.
What uh there was some growthwith uh is it and I'm I'm trying
to say this right.
Is it Rapers Rent to Own and PDQrentals?

SPEAKER_00 (13:37):
PDQ, Rapers, Giant, um uh Alice, um I can't think of
her name now in Evansville area.
We bought three stores from her.
She had pawn chops and rentalstores.
And then later we bought uhGary, Gary McDougal.
Um he had stores in Tennessee.

(13:58):
He called me and said, I want tosell my stores, and we bought
those stores.
He actually, when he had me govisiting the stores, and he told
him I was an insurance salesman.
And uh somebody saw me in one ofthe April magazines, sent
pictures around all the otherstores so they knew I was stuff.
But uh that's how yeah, we grewprobably 14, 16 stores, just

(14:19):
opening stores.
And at that time we we wentcomputerized and we went on
mainframes, those great bigmonster units.

SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
When was that?
What year what year was thatthat you guys got the 85 when
you got the big computers?
So let me ask you a question.
It's 85, you got the bigcomputers.
When did you get away from thebig computers and actually get
to the smaller desktops?
How long was it?

SPEAKER_00 (14:41):
About five years.
About five years?
That's how Ralph came, you know,Ralph Boshe, that's how he came
to work for us.
He was looking for a job.
We need to somebody do thebackup on the big reel to reels.
So he came in at night and hewas a chain smoker at the time,
and you'd come in, there'd bethis heaping ashtray full of
ashtray at butts, cigarettebutts, that he ran the backup

(15:03):
every night for us out of those.

SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
I've got to ask, because I've always been
curious, what happened to thosebig computers after you
transitioned into the smallcomputers?
It's not like you know, likenowadays you have a laptop, you
get rid of it, you can recycleit.
Those things were like the sizeof people.
Like, what did you do with thosethings?

SPEAKER_00 (15:18):
It was uh two of them were as big as a house
almost.
Yeah, you had to keep an airconditioned too, you had to keep
it like 70 degrees and all that.
We had a in Texas, there was aguy that's still running
mainframes, and once we got offof them, he wanted to buy them
and we packed them up andshipped them to we actually got
really money out of them insteadof an anchor.

SPEAKER_01 (15:39):
You guys got lucky, they got fancy, they got rid of
them.
Like, I don't know what I woulddo with something like that.
I mean, that's that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 (15:45):
So But Les Felcher was you know who we went with.
RSS, that's kind of the start ofthat.
And we also had video rental.
The reason we went with RSS waswe had videos, we still had the
sales store, and we had rental.
And high touch at the time wasjust a rental system, which I
liked, but it didn't handlemovies, didn't handle the

(16:05):
retail, so that's how we end up,and we've stuck with them ever
since.

SPEAKER_01 (16:10):
Hey everyone, it's Pete Chao here from the RTO Show
Podcast, and I want to tell youabout a company that's making a
real difference in therent-to-owned space, WoW brands.
I've seen firsthand how theyapproach marketing.
Let me tell you, it's not justabout ads.
WoW brands build completedigital ecosystems designed
specifically for therent-to-owned industry.
Their e-commerce and leadgeneration strategies are built

(16:32):
to bring qualified leads.
And did I mention that they areactively working with the
rent-town industry while alsobeing members of April and Crib?
Listen, these folks arepassionate problem solvers.
They don't just slap somethingtogether, they design, build,
and scale the kind of digitalretail tools your business
needs.
Your customers actually want.
So if you're serious aboutgrowing, reach out to WoWBrands

(16:54):
at WoWBrands.com.
I trust them, and I think youwill too.
We're going through to the 80s.
How did you, I mean, you you'reyou grow 14 to 16 stores
organically.
How are you able to decide,okay, I'm going to buy these
stores and I'm going to, youknow, get an acquisition of
these other locations?
What makes it, what makes a goodacquisition?

(17:15):
How do you know when you'relooking at somebody else's
business and going, you know,I'm going to debt three stores
here, two stores here, whateverthe case is, how do you know
that it's going to transition tothe culture that you have, to
the way that you do things?
What makes it a good buy?

SPEAKER_00 (17:28):
Back up a little bit.
We, you know, Jim retired whenhe was 40.
He never had anybody in hisfamily live to be over 57.
His mom's side was his familyside.
So he asked me to come over toColumbus.
Dennis had a Phillip Ep rentalsand I had American rentals.
So we were basically had twodifferent companies running.

SPEAKER_01 (17:45):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
And uh he asked me to come over.
I had no idea what he wanted totalk to me about.
And he said, I want you to takeover the company, told me the
story about his family, said Iwant to travel and have a good
time.
And uh I think he played golfevery day for a year in that in
that time period.
And um so I he stayed with metwo weeks and he took off for a

(18:08):
year.
And so I was a little frightenedabout the situation, but you
know, we we had twelve stores atthat time and uh then continue
growing and I think the firstacquisition we did was at
Casey's and in uh Evansville andHenderson and Owensboro.

(18:28):
She just wanted to get rid ofthe stores.
You know, they they were kind ofgetting in trouble, they were
pawning guns in Evansville andthey were sending them to
Kentucky and grinding the serialnumber off and selling.
So, you know, they werestarting, I think, to get into
some trouble.
So we bought those stores.
And then I think the nextacquisition we had was Giant.

(18:49):
They were in the northern partof the state, Mike Doty, and uh
his dad and two sons, uh twosons, then his dad ran the
stores.
And he also worked at ADI whenJim bought the the sales store.
So they knew each other prettywell.
So those were all, you know,they didn't know anything about
selling, they didn't knowanything about buying, they just

(19:11):
they the dad refused to loan anymore money to operate, and they
wanted to get rid of the samething with Casey's, you know,
she just really wanted toliquidate those, and they were
staying they stayed in the pawnshot business.
As we went on with uh, I thinkafter that was probably Gary
McDougal.
And, you know, I was on theboard with Gary uh for a couple

(19:32):
years and uh we had a reallygood working relationship and we
just talked back and forth ofsomething that was good for him,
it was good for me, and feltlike we'd both end up on a good
end of it.
And then his I think it was hisbrother in law owned a a store
also in Athens, and we boughtthat also.
Then down the road we bought umPDQ, which he used to work for

(19:58):
us, his gym.
And uh Dana's dad's and Jimworked together at Airway.
So that's how they knew eachother, and he came to work for
us, left us and opened his ownrental stores.

SPEAKER_01 (20:11):
How do you stretch the leadership?
How do you how do you when youwhen you're acquiring all these
different companies from a lotof different areas?
You know, it's not just you knowa lot from one spot, you're
getting a few here and a fewthere from different reasons and
different acquisitions forwhatever the case, whether I'm
trying to liquidate, whether I'mgetting out of the business,
whether I want to travel theworld.
Like once you receive thosestores in and their employees

(20:32):
and stuff, how do you acclimatethem to the way you did things?
How do you acclimate them to theway, to the success-driven way
that you have been?

SPEAKER_00 (20:40):
We would usually send a team of people in there.
We had our auditors who go tothe store to go through the
accounts and things.
And we would always sendsomebody to work with those
stores that came that work forus.
And they seemed to really match,you know, it we we were lucky
enough to pick out personalitiesthat really mashed up really
well.

(21:00):
And if they need anything, theydidn't call me, they called
them.
If they had a problem.
So it seemed to always work outpretty well if if trying to get
um a team down there, you know,if you had three stores, you'd
send three people, uh, plus theauditors and myself and a
district manager.
And then uh they would keep intouch with that person and if

(21:23):
they got any questions, theywould stay there with them for a
few weeks with them and helpthem learn the computer system
if it was different, kind ofwhat our culture was.
And um, I think that's the toughpart, you know.
I I think we built a pretty goodculture uh in our company.
We have a lot of long-termemployees.
Uh it's tough to do, but it's uhsomething that's made a very

(21:47):
workable force by having thoseconnections with people.
I can only imagine.

SPEAKER_01 (21:52):
So starting out in Indiana, are you a part of the
Indiana Rental Association?

SPEAKER_00 (21:57):
I was president of the Indiana Renters for 15
years.
And uh Dennis and I there was uhSam Cho used to travel around
the country opening states,he'll get the laws passed, and
Lauren F would work with him.
And we Dennis and I both went toIndianapolis on several

(22:18):
occasions to testify in front ofthe the House and the Senate to
get the bill passed.
And um, once we got it passed, Iwas just thinking about we had
Harriet Krause when we weretrying to get that done, work
for option three, he said, Iwant to be president of the
Indiana Rental Dealers.
I said, Fine with me.
So, you know, everybody okayedit and kind of had a president,

(22:40):
and we got the law passed, andhe called me up and said, I
don't want to be presidentanymore, I'm done.
So that was a nice.
I'm good, I did it.
I'm good.
I was good, I was good.
He didn't even come testify oranything, he just wanted to be
president.
Oh, really?
So a couple years went by andDick Growell, you know, had
stores in Indiana, Mr.
Steve's, and uh he became theApril president.

(23:02):
And that's how I got involved,and and he talked me into
joining the April board.
So that's the first year I goton the April board.

SPEAKER_01 (23:12):
If you could look back and see, what do you think
was uh one of the hardestobstacles you had to overcome in
getting the laws passed inIndiana?

SPEAKER_00 (23:19):
Um it wasn't that difficult, just trying to get
people to understand what we didand that that um you know the
key part where the customerscould return at any time without
any penalties.
Um and the DFI oversees us.
So you know you had an agency,unlike a lot of states that are
out there that actually overseesus.

(23:41):
And I think Ed always kept trackof it.
I think we had 16 changes in ourlaws over the years.
But they were usually somethingthat we negotiated back and
forth with them and were able towork it out.
So, you know, when I would gofrom state to state, different
state, we would follow the samelaws as Indiana, because it was
pretty strict in Kentucky,Tennessee, North Carolina,

(24:02):
wherever we went.

SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
Yeah.
I mean, I just think back andyou know, all the RDAs that were
formed during those, you know,mid 80s, late 80s, early 90s
times that everybody was tryingto get those laws passed in
their states, and there were somany people going around from
different states, whether it befrom April and Arena Center had
a group going around.
I know the Indiana people youyou guys were involved in, and I
know that um there was a lot ofother legends that were very

(24:26):
present in the forming of youknow the laws in their state.
So it's not shocking to knowthat you guys were able to do
the same.
I do have a question though.
Were you one of the reasons whywe ended up in Indiana at RTO
World a few couple years ago?
Was it was it because you guyswere there?
You kind of twice it's a noPete's not.
Yeah, twice.

(24:46):
Twice.
All right.
Well, I loved it.
I actually loved going outthere.
I really did enjoy that.
Um I will say that I had areally good time in Indiana.

SPEAKER_00 (24:53):
Lots of people made comments about we never realized
Indianapolis Indiana andIndianapolis was that nice and
we loved it, and then we movedto the couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
I mean, yeah, well, the history too.
I actually that's really whatcaught me because we ended up
walking around to see a lot ofthe history and stuff, uh, some
of the stuff that was in thestate.
But uh, you know, I reallyenjoyed it.
Uh you know, I I gotta say, oneof the most beautiful places
that I have been to so far yet.
But there's some other goodplaces.
I don't know.
They went to Tampa one time andI enjoyed that one too, so I'm
not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_00 (25:22):
But we had uh, you know, after after I joined
April, there really wasn't anyassociation, other than we
called it Indian rental dealers.
And uh after I joined April, Isaw the need to do something to
teach people in the state.
You know, there was Mr.
Steve's Rarex, there was a lotof color times, there was some

(25:43):
Renaissance, uh PDQ, differentpeople.
So we'd have usually trying tothink what date it was, July,
August.
We'd have a show inIndianapolis.
And the last time, I think thesecond and last time we did it,
there was over a hundred vendorsthere.
But all the dealers and thestore managers come in, and to

(26:04):
them it was like going to April,you know, they got to party,
they got to learn stuff, theyget to see product and all that.
So I did that for 15 years, andTammy Gregory was the uh helped
out doing those shows for me.
And the last year that we, nextto the last year we did it, we
went in to sign the agreementand we were going to be indebted
for about$30,000 and signed thepaperwork.

(26:27):
And two weeks later she said, Icouldn't tell you, but we sold
out to Rental Center.
I said, You could have told meto wait before we signed the
paperwork.

SPEAKER_02 (26:35):
Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
The next year uh we had the show, and the only
people showed up was us, becausethere wasn't anybody less left
in the state other than us andone other small dealer.
And and the vendors liked it sowell that they get to spend time
with our managers.
We moved the show to BrownCounty, and that's how that show
continued going for the last 15years also.

(26:58):
Was uh they come.
And we set up everything.
We just divide them, they we setup everything on our own.
We buy the product, bring it in.
Uh, they all have to tear itdown, we tear it down.
All they have to do is show upand talk to our store managers
and tell them why they shouldcarry that product.
So it's been very successful.

SPEAKER_01 (27:17):
This so is that the same expo that you have during
the, you know, you you have thatand then we also do a company
you do you do a company-widepicnic, right?
Is that the kind of hand inhand?
Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 (27:29):
Yes.
So we have a vendor show in themorning till the afternoon, and
we play golf on Friday, thenSaturday we have have the vendor
show, and the afternoon we havethe pig roast and uh all the
games and stuff.
Family uh all bring their kidsand things like that.

SPEAKER_01 (27:46):
Uh I'm I'm I'm seeing here like 400 is
approximately 400 employees andfamily members that show up to
this.

SPEAKER_00 (27:54):
Well, we've got 300 and some employees, so when they
bring their family and theirkids and everything, it's almost
double that then.

SPEAKER_01 (28:01):
I mean wow, that's amazing.
Yeah.
So and and is it recently it'sbeen about almost 20 years since
that that you've done this now?
Is it is it the 20th anniversarythat you've had?

SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
Yes.
So yeah, like I said, we did itin Indianapolis for us first for
15 years and then and went onwith this.
So wow, that's amazing.
I always always like doingpromoting.
I when I lived in Florida, myroommate and I'd put on a
concert at the TempuareAuditorium.
And when I was growing up, myevery year after the before the

(28:34):
Christmas tree season started,when you start cutting and
bailing, I'd be gone.
I'd always have a party.
And first year we had about 150people, second year we had 300
people, and next year we had1,500 people, next year we had
5,000 people.
Wow for a three-day for Fridaynight, Saturday night, and
they'd leave on Sunday.
I was just started out to saygoodbye to my friends that I

(28:56):
wouldn't see them until the nextspring because I, you know,
would do the Christmas trees 18hours a day and then go to
Florida and in the winter.

SPEAKER_01 (29:04):
Wow, that's amazing.
So in in making all that, whatwhat's your goal when you do
something like that?
I mean, what do you want to takeout of it?
What do you want your employeesto take out of it?
When you have these big exposand you and you have all these
people come in, whether it beGMC product or to be their
family to let go a little bitand just have fun, what's your
ultimate goal, your takeawayfrom that when you're doing
things like that for youremployees and for your company?

SPEAKER_00 (29:26):
Just show them our appreciation of the hard work
they do and educate them at thesame time.
You know, the the store managerscome in and district managers
and then they learn about theproducts.
And every year we go to thefurniture markets and we pick
out new products and we try tobring it uh to the show so they
got a chance to see it, and thenthey rate it.

(29:47):
We've got a little app on aphone and they rate it good,
bad, and different.
If they don't like it, we don'tbuy it.
Oh wow.
So is this like high point?
Yeah, we go to high point.
Do we go to high point?
Well, I'm going you know, goingto the Vegas market here next
week.

SPEAKER_01 (30:02):
I was just gonna say, do you do Vegas and North
Carolina?
Yes.
Yes.
You do both?
Okay.
All right.
I do see that actually.
I like that idea.

SPEAKER_00 (30:09):
Yeah, uh I do Trib Show, Meeting the Minds, I do a
pro, I do nationwide twice, I doVegas once and the High Point
twice.
And I love it.

SPEAKER_01 (30:20):
I might see you at I might see you at a nationwide
too, because I know that there'sgonna be one down here.
Um oh god, I can't remember whatmonth it is, but it's gonna be
in Florida, I think FortLauderdale.
Uh so I want to go down thereand check it out.
So I might see you there.
That'll that's gonna be awesome.
I see David, David over there atthe furniture thing.
So as you're doing this, you'vegot you're you're building this

(30:41):
culture.
You have the expo, you startedthe RDAs, uh, or you're you're a
part of the RDAs, you've gotkind of full of pep in full full
swing.
Where did you have time to havethe the the bar, the the bourbon
bar?
What is this mike?
Dave and Mike's bourbon bar?
It's not mine.
Where'd that come from?

SPEAKER_00 (30:59):
David David Powell.
David Powell and Mike Gooden.
Oh, okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (31:03):
So so I was I was curious about that because I did
see I did see the David David D2barbecue sauce.
That's a that's a pri is that aprivate label?

SPEAKER_00 (31:12):
Yes, yes.
I just make it, I make it andgive it away.
Some of my son wanted me tostart making it and selling it,
but he wanted me to make it.
And I said, you make it, and youcan sell it, but I'm not gonna
make it for you.
I'll give you the recipes.
But besides besides that,besides that party in the
summertime, we have a Christmasparty also, and same thing that

(31:33):
they bring their uh we usuallyhave it the third week of
November, just the week inbefore Thanksgiving, and we give
the kids presents and sometimesit may be the only presents they
got.
And uh Santa's there, and wehave a band and feed them and
give gifts out and have uh acasino uh where they can win

(31:54):
tickets to for drawings for wegive about 150 prizes away, and
uh we draw the tickets andstuff.
So just that kind of culture youwant to have that's friendly, uh
you appreciate your employeesand um hopefully they'll stay
for a long time working for youand enjoy working for you, most
importantly.

SPEAKER_01 (32:14):
Dennis, we're talking to you directly.
This is this is that we'retalking to Dennis.
Dennis, we're talking to youdirectly.
This is about you.
So talk to me about David andMike's bourbon par.
Like, yeah, like what how didthat well I I I apologize
because the name David, it justI just assumed that it was you,
but then now that I'm reading mynotes, yes, it does say David
Powell to Mike Goodwin.
What what um where did that comefrom?

SPEAKER_00 (32:36):
Um Dennis Shields and Marty Awell and some other
people.
I've got this uh I think it's an18-passenger bus.
And first I had a motorhome, wewere talking about it going on
the bourbon trail.
So I sold it and then boughtthis bus, and we take the bus
down.
Uh there's about eight of us,and spend two or three days

(32:58):
going around visiting differentum bourbon manufacturers,
distilleries.
And I just started collectingbottles, and then David Powell,
as he'd be out auditing thestores, he'd go to the liquor
stores and find some bourbonthat was reasonably priced.
And so I think last year we had30-some bottles of bourbon.
The year before we had 30-some.

(33:20):
Started out with about 10bottles, I think.
I've had people donate bottlesto it also.

SPEAKER_01 (33:26):
So I gotta ask because I am actually from
Highlands County.
So when you said Seabring, we'reyou're talking about home
territory.
So do you still have thatrestaurant there?

SPEAKER_00 (33:37):
No, my my roommate, I stayed with him about six
months, and um it's a funnystory about that I can't tell
you on here, but um that's we'reoff the room.
I decided it was time to get outof town.
Uh we roamed together forseveral years.
He worked at the same dealershipthat I did and decided to go
down to Seabring in the what isit, Blackman Ford, Lincoln

(33:59):
Mercury?
I don't know if it's stillthere.

SPEAKER_01 (34:01):
That's who he went to work for.
No, it I it changed names too.
I can't think of the name thatit changed to.
It's the the dealer's ship isstill there, but the name has
changed.

SPEAKER_00 (34:09):
Yeah.
But anyway, he went to work forthem, and that's why he decided
he uh somehow wanted this FatBoys Barbecue.
And I had no intention of goingdown there, but that's kind of
how the barbecue started too,was from that that experience I
had.
You know, also, you know,selling cars.
It comes in handy buying cars,not just selling cars too.
You know, I buy cars, I get theblack books, and I know what the

(34:32):
cost the dealers buy it for andall that.
So um just try to keep up onthat kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (34:38):
Yeah, I think right now Alan Jay kind of owns the
entire Florida market as far asHighlands County concerned.
He has everything.
But so as you're doing all ofthis, as you're running Fulapep,
as you're as you're kind ofyou're still the president,
right?
You're the current sittingpresident in Fulap.
So you're doing all this.
Let's talk about the thecharitable involvement that you
have that that you guys haveright now.

(35:00):
We have is it I don't know ifit's C ASA or if it's Casa for
Children.
I would imagine it's Casa forChildren.
So how how did how did thatwork?
Uh you you looks like you havesome support going on right now
in in Moreau County uh insponsorship for the Casablanca
Gala.
Like what what to me about that?

SPEAKER_00 (35:16):
How is that going?
Okay, well, there's theChildren's America Network.
I started back uh sendingdonations to them because we had
a lot of employees and a lot ofuh people that rang from us, had
their kids that had somephysical problem that they
needed to go to Riley, it'sspecialized in children's
health.
And so I'd start donating that.

(35:37):
And then um, and we still dothat since back in the mid-80s.
And then CASA is uh childservices where they take kids
out of homes that where they'renot being treated well or beaten
or whatever, and uh the CASAhandles them and they find a
home to place them in.
Ralph Boshea, his wife, was uhthe director of that, and that's

(36:02):
how we got involved in that.
Uh donating money every year.
We give them somewhere aroundfive to seven thousand dollars.
This year we're trying to workchildren's micro work uh raise
about ten thousand dollars.
And then also I've been involvedin the uh boys and girls plant
donate to them also.

SPEAKER_01 (36:23):
So how many, if you were to guess, how many
situations or how many clubs orhow many affiliations do you uh
charitably give to every year?

SPEAKER_00 (36:31):
Those three primarily.

unknown (36:34):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (36:34):
Yeah, one year we took uh I don't know if you've
been to our store, seen ourstore in Lomante, that's two
story, it's got a mezzanineupstairs, and we emptied the
furniture, we emptied thefurniture out, and for three
years in a row I had what theycalled a beach bash, and we had
bands, we had a stage set up andhad bar and food and all that
for the boys and girls club.

(36:55):
And uh Wow.

SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
And then we Anthony, what are we doing?
We need to go to Indiana, man.
We need to get we need to go seewhat's going on up there, man.

SPEAKER_00 (37:03):
Then one year I danced, I danced uh they had a
local dancing with celebrities,and um I danced for the boys and
girls club and managed to raise$49,000 for them and won the
dance won the dance contest.
There was I think eight eightdifferent charity organizations
that they had dancing.

(37:24):
Um and uh so I've got my bigGlobe trophy there.

SPEAKER_01 (37:28):
You gotta check this out.
He he sells trees, he's drivingat six, he's got a 50-store UH,
and he wins dancing contests.
What I feel like I'm not doingenough, Anthony Red.
I feel like I'm not doing enoughwith my life right now.

SPEAKER_00 (37:42):
Is there a video of that?

SPEAKER_01 (37:44):
That's why I'm down here right now.
Oh, okay.
Oh, well, I'm just telling you,man, that's that's amazing.
So on top of all of those wins,right?
Right now we're talking aboutDavid David being on top of all
these wins.
You're an active April boardmember.
You were a second vicepresident, or are you still the
second vice president?

SPEAKER_00 (38:01):
No, I'm I'm not on the board anymore.
I would trib now.
Um but I was on there.
I totaled up all the presidentsthat I served under.

SPEAKER_01 (38:10):
There was 18.
Under 18.
And they usually have like atwo-year run, right?
Don't they on average have atwo-year run?

SPEAKER_00 (38:15):
They were uh holy two years.
Ernie was Ernie was one year,uh, I think Lynn Leach was one
year, somebody else was oneyear, must have two years.
And then I I ran in 14 for twoyears.
I we had a convention in um NewOrleans, and then that's when we
went to Indianapolis.
And then when Chris Cale waspresident into his second was

(38:38):
two years, he was going thesecond, he said, I've got things
going, I don't want to go.
So I took over for him then.
So I was president the secondtime and we went back to
Indiana.

SPEAKER_01 (38:48):
So let me ask you a question.
How APRO is very important to meon what they do and what they
mean for the industry and andhow everything is going.
What does April mean to you andhow have they been able to help
with your situation as far aswhat you've gone through, and
how have you been able to helpApril as far as the laws and
being the watchdog of kind ofwhat's going on in the legal

(39:10):
systems and DC and all that?
How important is April to you?

SPEAKER_00 (39:14):
Well, that's why, you know, back in 91 I decided
to do the rental show inIndianapolis, and it wasn't just
to have training was wasimportant and have product, but
it was also raise enough money.
We've had a lobbyist since 1987that we've kept on on payroll,
and paying for that wasimportant to me, and keeping

(39:36):
there to protect us and andanything else that should come
up.
And uh building a a fund that ifthere was any other states we're
in, we could fund that also,like Kentucky or Tennessee.
But uh you know, starting on theboard with Nick Growl, that was
uh you know, I had still prettygreen in the business.
I go to the show, you have togive a 15 minute presentation

(39:58):
about why you're there.
Why do you want to be on theboard?
All this.
Talk about being scary.
And um I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 (40:07):
I don't know if I believe that.
The guy, the guy who's winningthe dance contest is worried
about the 15.
I don't know about that, David.

SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
But anyway, uh they didn't have any pins for anybody
to fill out their application.
So I didn't know how to getelected or anything.
It was my first time runninganything.
So I went around handingbusiness cards and giving them a
pencil.

SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
I'm that that's probably the best way to get it
done.
If you don't know anybody else'sname, just remember mine.
I gave you away the chances tofill this out.
So can you name a time where youknow April was really able to
help you and you help April getthrough a uh difficult legal
legislation situation?

SPEAKER_00 (40:43):
Yeah.
You know, when I was presidentat rental dealers, and that was
in '94, I believe, uh TerryMullins at Rarex had an auditor
come in and they uh he called meup and he said, they've come out
of my store, they say we're aretail sale, not rental, and
they're pretty adamant they wantto put us out of business.

(41:03):
And um so I drove up to FortWayne, their stores in Fort
Wayne.
He had he had agreements allover furniture in the back room
that they were looking at.
I mean, just laying on top, theseats of sofas, the backs of the
sofas, washers and dryers,anything he could lay out,
because I don't think he was ona on um he said it had to be
computer, but they wanted to seeall the agreements.

(41:25):
And their decision was that itwas a retail sale.
There was nothing rental, therewas nothing rent to own about
it.
And being involved in in April,I called uh Bill Kees and I
said, I think this is prettyimportant.
And um, you know, when I got onboard, there was uh Dick Grow
and he was a year, and then TedWilson was on there, and they

(41:47):
hired Kevin Quinn, or got KevinQuinn to run for the board.
I think he was the first boardmember not to be he got elected
and got elected to be president,and he did a fantastic job
maneuvering through that, goingto Washington and working to get
that overturned, and uh thatthat was history, but that that

(42:10):
was a long, hard fight.
Bill was out there quite a bit,Ed was out there a lot, and
Kevin was out there a lot.
But you know, every year thatI've been on the board of
whoever the president was, Ifelt like they were the right
person for the right time.

SPEAKER_01 (42:23):
I can tell you I'm a big, big Kevin Quinn fan.
I when I finally got a chance totalk to him, because it was the
first time that I talked to himbeing the Legend series, and I
was able to actually sit downand have a conversation with
him.
Huge, huge Kevin Quinn fan.
I I he just like you know, he hejust got me.
He got me.
The way, the way he kind ofembodied what he did, and you
know, he was very, very humbleperson, very straightforward,

(42:47):
like just tells you how hefeels.
You can see the emotion come outof him.
He really loved what he did.
I I really enjoyed talking withKevin.

SPEAKER_00 (42:52):
You know, when I first got on the board, yeah,
the first year it was just youknow, Dick Growl, and we went to
Washington, D.C.
and I got on.
Second year, we went to a boardmeeting and it was Ted Wilson.
And I've never had so muchscreaming and yelling and
pounding on the desk andeverything.
And I'm like, man, what did Iget myself into?
You know, Kevin was kind of thesame way.
They were passionate people.
They were passionate people.

SPEAKER_01 (43:12):
Very passionate people.

SPEAKER_00 (43:13):
Well, you know, they drank till three in the morning
and then they came in at theboard meeting at eight o'clock,
too.
Sometimes I see it now and I'mlike, I have no idea how they do
that.

SPEAKER_01 (43:21):
That is that is pretty wild.

SPEAKER_00 (43:23):
And it was kind of the same way with Kevin, but he,
like I said, he was really vocaland really maneuvered himself
well.
And the you know, the April ofBill Keys, the whole April
staff, you know, really workedwith that goal of getting that
done.
And uh that was a huge time inthe history of this industry
that it paid off.

(43:44):
And you know, I did everything Icould at that time to make sure
that that happened.
And you know, I th when Terrycalled me up, I just thought,
well, maybe it's somethingthat's gonna pass as it went
along.
I saw something that was gonnabe not just a local issue.
It was turning into a nationalissue.
They were going out to otherstates and trying to convince
them that it was a retail sale.

SPEAKER_01 (44:05):
Well, then I've got to say thank you for bringing
that subject up and and andputting a stop to it, because
Lord knows I wouldn't be here.
That was before I started, so Iwouldn't even be here in the
industry if that wasn't thecase.

SPEAKER_00 (44:14):
So, like I said, all the all the presidents I worked
for had seemed to be the righttime, you know, after I think uh
after Kevin.
No, I think it was before Kevin,it was Wayne Chambers, and he
was probably the one of the beststructured person in running an
association and having meetings.
And I liked what he did becausehe he would have all your

(44:36):
committees go out, decide on abudget what they want to do and
come up with a budget, and thenwe go back together and say,
nope, we only got half thatamount of money, no, we only
have a quarter of that money,and distribute the money that we
had to spend rather than just umdeciding we're gonna spend this
amount here or here or wherever,you know.

SPEAKER_01 (44:55):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 (44:56):
So that's what he did, and then Kevin came in, and
then it was um I think it was ohBill White.
I have a funny story about BillWhite.
Bill White was uh president andand a couple years into his
presidency he was going to sellthis company action, I think it
was to Wayne Azzinga.

(45:17):
So he came to a board meetingand he said, I can get Wayne
Zinga to come to our show fornothing and speak.
And everybody, yes, go for it.
So we went for it.
And he spoke, and it was greatto get Bill a dynamic dolphin
helmet, and Bill had a paradearound the thing, you know, the

(45:40):
room we were in.
And uh about a month later, BillKees called and said, uh, we've
had a problem.
Wayne Zenga was free, but hispilot and his airplane and his
hotel room was fifty-threethousand dollars.

SPEAKER_01 (45:55):
Oh that's how that's how you get him, Anthony.
I'm free.
I'm free.
These guys ain't free, but I'mfree.
Oh my god, it's funny.

SPEAKER_00 (46:06):
Yeah, um so that was almost a crisis in itself at the
time.
Luckily we have to be.

SPEAKER_01 (46:11):
I believe it.
I believe it.
I believe it because 53,000 thenis not that's not cheap.
But let me ask you a question.
I mean, you've you've been doingthis a long time.
You've had some pretty stoutbeginnings.
I mean, you've been workingsince the day that you've been
out.
You know, you just you just putalways put a lot of hard work
into it.
Now that you're here, and nowthat you've you know you've
created all these great things,you give to these charities, you

(46:32):
know, you show your employeeshow much you care.
I mean, Dennis, I'm telling you,Dennis, you are the one.
He's been around since thebeginning.
I mean, you have to say that youhave somebody working for you
over 40 plus years is amazing.
Where do you think rent to ownis going now?
How do you think it's going andwhere do you think it's going?
Like what do you what do youwhat state do you think it is in
right now?
And what do you see in thefuture of rent to own?

SPEAKER_00 (46:53):
I see the need, there being probably more need
than there is now.
You know, it I don't like thefact that people aren't coming
in the store as as much as theyused to.
But you know, we're doing a lotmore online business, so I think
that business, but I reallyencourage the people, and it's
not mandatory, but to get thecustomer come in the store and

(47:14):
actually f touch it, feel itbefore we take it out.
But we still got some customerspretty adamant to just bring it
out.
So I think a lot of it is goingin that direction.
And but we still work prettyhard to try to get people to
come in to the store.
Um you know, whether it's acookouts or special occasion, we
have a race contest and theycome in and we feed them and

(47:38):
give away some prizes and thingslike that.
Um but I think the uh RTObusiness is pretty bright as
long as legislative andeverybody uh doesn't do
something stupid to to get us introuble.
And you know, it's it's been along time.
A lot of people don't realizeall of the issues we went

(47:58):
through over the you know theeighties, late eighties and
nineties.
You know, getting states signedup and and the tax issue and
there's been several otherissues come up that uh they've
been able to fight off.
And I don't think a lot ofpeople in the business now
understand what everybody had togo through.
It wasn't just me, it was thethe board, Bill Keys, this whole

(48:22):
staff.
He probably had the best staffyou could have um working in
those time periods, you know,Shelley Martinique and Cindy and
Talitha's still there.
Um, you know, she was ready toleave uh a couple years ago and
finally decided to stay, and Ithink that was the best thing
that could happen to to uhCharles for her staying.

(48:44):
I agree.

SPEAKER_01 (48:45):
I agree.
But so you have a positiveoutlook.
I mean, as long as as long as wekind of hold steadfast, do you
think that we have a positiveoutlook?
What do you think about what'sgoing on with the legislation in
in New York right now and acouple of things that they're
fighting over there?
Do you think that that'ssomething that we're gonna be
able to kind of make waythrough, or you think there's
still a fight to be had?

SPEAKER_00 (49:04):
You know, I haven't I haven't kept up that much on
what's going on in that state.
I'm you know not on the Aprilvoid now, but uh, you know, it's
usually somebody we had thissimilar situation years ago.
There was an attorney, assistantattorney general moved to
Kentucky and became the attorneygeneral who's gonna put the rent

(49:25):
owner out of business, anddealers got together and pulled
some money and and got it allturned around.
I think it's getting the rightpeople down there to talk to
them and understanding ourbusiness that we're not ripping
people off.
They don't have to keep it, theydon't have to I mean they can uh
since the very beginning of usstarting when we went to visit

(49:45):
Bud Green, he told us at thattime every customer's gonna have
le three crisis periods of youknow, family sick, cars broke
down, something's going on intheir life, and we've pretty
well studied fast.
And I think there's some dealersout there that don't quite give
him the leniency as they should.
Because uh, you know, a lot ofthese people weren't able to

(50:06):
have credit or they had creditand run their credit.
And our pump company policy, wewant people to own the product,
not just rent it and give itback to us.
We want them to have a goodproduct.
I remember to get Dick Growelltold me one time he said, I want
to have the the least expensivestuff I can, and I want the 25%

(50:29):
nobody else wants rentalcustomers, and when their sofa's
broke, they'll need another one.
And I went, that's not how Iwant our own business.
So I want my business to be thisbig circle.
You know, they rent a sofa, theypay that off, and get a TV, and
they get a washer and dryer, andthey get a refrigerator, and
they get all these things, andthey get back, you know, maybe
five years down the road, theymay need another sofa now, and

(50:50):
they can start over again.
And we've got generations ofpeople that have come back to
us.
So I think that kind of servicethat we've offered, and and most
of the dealers that I know offeris going to bring people in the
store that that continue thosegenerational things, bringing
customers back.

(51:10):
And even whether they're doingit online, there's probably
sometime where they need to cometo the store or they want to
come to the store just to, youknow, they're in town.
Yeah, we work awfully hardtrying to get the customer to to
uh if they want to keep it, haveit.
You know, we've we've had somecustomers that'll pay all the
way off and give it back to usto say, you know, we can't own
it, we can just rent it and giveit back to you and things.

(51:33):
But uh most of the time.
You know, I've I've had storieslike I was in a store in
Madison, the girl came in withher stack of quarters, she was a
waitress, and the uh she said,This is my last payment.
I own a new console TV.
And my fellow workers gave me ahard time about renting it.
But now I own the TV and theydon't.

SPEAKER_01 (51:54):
Hey, she made the right decision.
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (51:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (51:56):
So what you know, looking at this, I mean, you've
you've done it a long time.
You you've been a part of Aprilfor a long time.
Now you're saying that you're apart of TRI.
What made you decide to go fromone leadership uh, you know,
experience to another?
What made you decide to go fromthe board of April to the board
of TRIP?

SPEAKER_00 (52:11):
Well, when I hit my 20 years on April, people were
talking about term limits, so Idropped off and then the next
day Bill called me back andwanted me to come back.
So I was gonna be done at 20years, and I stayed there for
another twelve.
And uh started getting a lot ofgrief when Jill was there about
being on two boards that it's aconflict of interns.

(52:36):
And I I wrote a letter to uhApril and the board saying, you
know, if I'm on another boardand there's an issue that's
gonna affect, you know, it wasalways about the split between
APRO and and Trim.
If there's an issue, I'll justrecuse myself from that.
That was my basically what myletter said.
We went through these weeks andweeks and talks and board

(52:58):
meetings about getting done, andthat was the final conclusion
after that time.
So once I, you know, I told Edat the time when that issue was
brought up, I said, I'll I'llleave right now if that's what
you want me to.
And I stayed on there a few moreyears and just decided that I uh
want to get involved.

(53:19):
There wasn't much thing going onlegislative with with April that
I wanted to uh join the thebuying group and make sure that
people uh are getting best priceon product.
You know, I'm I've been withMarty I don't know how many
years on the furniturecommittee.
I and I know Kathy Windsor, shewas on it there, and then I'm

(53:39):
chair of the appliancecommittee, and it's just fun
working uh with the vendorstrying to get the best price
possible for products fordealers to buy.

SPEAKER_01 (53:49):
Well, you know, you're not the first person to
say that there was a little bitof friction when Joe was on.
I think that, you know,regardless of the situation, I
always liked Joe McClure,whether she, you know, had an
idea of the way things should beor not.
But I can tell you that I Idefinitely liked when Charles
came on.
He has an air about him.
He does a really good job withApro, and he has a really good
uh cohesive spirit, whether itbe with Tribb or anybody else

(54:12):
who you can you know you can geton.
He's doing a really good jobwith that.
So Charles, we think that we'vechecked you off the box.
I think you're doing a good job.

SPEAKER_00 (54:18):
Yeah, he and Dan, he were Dan were he and Dan were
here this week in uh Naples.
It was a speaker who was therefor two days talking about com
uh organizations and and howthey should operate and things.
And we had dinner two nights ina row, so it was that was quite
Joanna.
Oh, that's nice.
I like Charles well and Dan.

(54:39):
David didn't even send me aninvite.
We didn't get an invite inthat's uh.
It happened so quickly.
They just called me up and theywere staying here in town.
Oh, that's awesome.
Next time I'll be able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 (54:48):
So we're gonna go to a we're gonna go through a yes,
please, please do.
So we're gonna go to a little uhlightning round towards the end
of this.
I'm gonna ask you a couplequestions, and I'm not looking
for like full answers.
I'm just looking first thingthat comes to your mind, and uh
you tell me what you think.
What's one trend in RTO thatoperators should pay attention
to?

SPEAKER_00 (55:05):
Trends that you've got to have a good website and
be ready to uh do a lot ofbusiness over the internet.
Be internet savvy.
All right.
Pricing, you know, for a longtime we didn't have any pricing
on the website.
You know, it's important to haveyour pricing now with the you
know the structure, how that'sthe customer's gotta pay us.

SPEAKER_01 (55:27):
Okay.
Okay.
What is one mistake operatorsstill make too often?

SPEAKER_00 (55:32):
Uh I think not working with the customer
enough.
You know, there's a differencebetween I always tell the store
manager that you know there's adifference between the customer
that lived in town or beenaround there for six months and
somebody's lived there for 20years.
You can give it a little moreleniency to that customer and a
little more variance and let himgo without making a payment or

(55:52):
moving the payment up becauseyou know you're gonna get the
money in the long run.
And I always use it as a scale,you know.
They owe you$40 and there's athousand dollars over here.
Which one do you want?

SPEAKER_01 (56:03):
You want to get them to ownership.
That's what you want to do forsure.
All right.
Question number three bestadvice for a new RTO store
owner?

SPEAKER_00 (56:12):
Building a good culture, um, making it a
friendly place to work, makesure that they're, you know,
know their customers, they'refriendly with their customers,
work with their customers, aswell as their employees, you
know, making their employeesfeel welcome.
You know, one thing that I hadto really work at over the years

(56:32):
was um my dad was a yeller,spring reality, his Christmas
tree business and labor, youknow, labor was seasonal workers
and and I had to go from thatyou know, yelling at people, you
know, he put me in charge ofpeople when I was fifteen, you
know, they were four times myage.
And I had to tone it down andand not be yeller yelling and

(56:56):
you know, just kind of paceyourself and be calm and take
care of the street.
I love to take uh calls that thestores couldn't deal with the
customer and they call me andit's an irate customer.
I like to take those hot calls.
I just let them talk and letthem talk and listen to them and
and just say, what can I helpyou with?
What can I do to fix theproblem?

SPEAKER_01 (57:17):
You know what?
I could see that, right?
Right and he's got that kind oftone, like you can just pull it
right out of you.

SPEAKER_00 (57:22):
You know, so the the same thing, same thing with you
know the dealer starting up.
You just need to understand thecustomer, learn your customer,
know your employees well, uh,what's going on in their life?
Customers are coming in, you youget to know their life whether
you want to or not.

SPEAKER_01 (57:36):
Yeah.
Well, you know, listening ispart of it.
Listening is part of it.

So, last question (57:40):
what excites you the most about the future of
rent to own?

SPEAKER_00 (57:45):
My son is not allowed taking over.

unknown (57:47):
Oh.

SPEAKER_01 (57:51):
Justin, we're looking at you.
I never know if I met your son.
What's your son's name?
James.
James Oh Michael.
I think I did meet your son,actually.
I think I did meet your son nowthat I think about it.
He's been to the last couple ofuh RTO worlds, right?

SPEAKER_00 (58:03):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (58:03):
Yes.
Yeah, I think I did meet him,actually.
You know what?
Very nice young man.
Uh, looking forward to see whathe does when you finally decide
that you're gonna take a stepback.
I can't imagine what that wouldbe.
I mean, you've been working solong.
I couldn't imagine this worldwithout you, David.
I can't.
I really just can't.
You've been doing everythingfrom April to stores to trib to
RDAs, everything in between.

SPEAKER_00 (58:24):
I don't plan on retiring in the near future.
I just as long as I can get awayfor a couple months down here,
you know, but going backThursday and then go to Vegas
Market and then come back andI'll stay here through part of
February.
But uh I think things that thingthe future of this business is,
you know, the the furniture.
I think furniture is stillreally big, appliances is very

(58:47):
big, and you need to concentrateon things.
So, you know, computers arecoming back gaming, but still
the staples are are thefurniture and um appliances we
do.

SPEAKER_01 (58:59):
Well, the core systems are here to stay.
And listen, I would tell youguys, as always, I always
appreciate you guys dialing inand listening to what we have
going on.
As a listener, you have a chanceto listen to David.
David, today, a legend in RTO.
Let me tell you, when I say alegend, nothing happens around
this world without David's namebeing mentioned, including you
know, the Cupid Shuffle.
He can do that too.

(59:19):
He's a great dancer.
And uh, but he's you know, Itell you, David, I really
appreciate you being on the showwith us.
If you guys want to hear aboutwhat's going on, you guys are
welcome to go to the website atthe RTO Showpodcast.com.
When you go on there, you guyscan see the shenanigans we get
into.
You can get onto the news, uh,the newsletter that we're gonna
have going on right now.
We're on Facebook, Instagram,LinkedIn, YouTube where you're
gonna see this, so make sure yousubscribe.

(59:41):
David, David, I reallyappreciate you being on the show
today and talking to us a littlebit about how you guys started
and all the things that you'vebeen a part of.
I'm very taken back by how muchyou've actually done, the time
that you've you've had fromdriving all the way to being on
both boards, Trib and April,because being available to
everybody here.
Having these, you know, when yougive to these foundations, it

(01:00:03):
they really need it.
To know that you do threedifferent foundations is
amazing.
I love that uh you still thinkabout what's going on with our
quick fire questions.
You came with some good answersthere.
I do appreciate that.
And I really appreciate what youdo here in the RTO world.
So thank you so much.
And I'm gonna tell you guys asalways, get your collections low
to get your sales high.
Have a good one.