How Lauren Talicska and APRO’s LedgeCon 2026 Are Shaping the Future of Rent to Own

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What happens when a first time LedgeCon attendee walks into Capitol Hill and discovers the true power of advocacy in the rent to own industry?

In this episode of The RTO Show Podcast, Lauren Talicska shares her experience attending APRO’s LedgeCon 2026 and explains why legislative advocacy, industry relationships, and storytelling matter more than ever in modern rent to own. 

From changing public perception and educating lawmakers to building stronger customer relationships and growing leadership confidence, this conversation explores how the rent to own industry continues evolving through collaboration, community engagement, and proactive advocacy. 

What You’ll Learn:

• Why APRO’s LedgeCon is one of the most important advocacy events in the rent to own industry
•  How Lauren Talicska transitioned from retail marketing into becoming a leading voice in RTO marketing and communications
•  The biggest misconceptions lawmakers and consumers still have about rent to own
•  How customer stories, Google reviews, and community relationships shape the future of RTO advocacy
•  Why confidence, mentorship, and industry collaboration are critical for the next generation of rent to own leaders

Episode Highlights:

• 01:40 – Lauren Talicska shares her first impressions of APRO’s LedgeCon 2026
•  03:19 – Inside Lauren’s role as Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Arona
•  12:20 – Why improv, communication skills, and confidence matter in leadership and marketing
•  15:42 – The fellowship program that introduced Lauren to legislative advocacy on Capitol Hill
•  22:05 – How the RTO industry united around one shared message during meetings with legislators
•  32:43 – The customer stories and Google reviews that changed Lauren’s perspective on rent to own advocacy
•  38:24 – Why rent to own remains a critical solution for customers with limited buying options
•  51:36 – What Lauren learned during the LedgeCon debrief dinner with industry leaders
•  59:10 – The most underrated part of working in rent to own and why relationships matter

Meet the Guest:

Lauren Talicska is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Arona Home Essentials. She has more than 30 years of experience in retail advertising, marketing, and customer engagement, and she currently serves on the TRIB Group Board while actively supporting APRO advocacy initiatives in the rent to own industry. 

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• APRO LedgeCon Fellowship Program
•  Rent Direct marketing initiatives
•  Google Reviews and customer feedback strategy
•  Community driven advocacy storytelling
•  Legislative relationship building for the RTO industry
•  Retail marketing and omnichannel communication strategies
•  Mentorship and leadership development within rent to own
•  Industry collaboration through APRO and TRIB Group

Closing Insight:

“People outside the industry often misunderstand rent to own because they do not see the relationships behind it. They do not see the customers, the families, and the communities being helped every single day.”

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:11):
Hello and welcome to the RTO show.
I'm your host, Pete Chow.
Today, today we've got somebodywho I've been dying to get on
the show.
Lots going on.
But before we get into that,real quick, before we get into
the story and what we're talkingabout, I want you guys to hit
that button.
Make sure you subscribe.
Make sure you hit that bell sothat every time that we have a
podcast, you get notified.

(00:32):
Another thing is we have somesponsorships available.
That means that if you want tosupport this show, please do by
all means go onto the website,theartspecial podcast.com.
Make sure that you go in thereand you subs you subscribe to
the newsletter.
There is things on there that wedon't talk about here on the
show because it is just new foryou.
So today I've got the amazingLauren Taliska on.

(00:54):
Listen, Arona's been hot on theshow lately.
We we actually are gonna havesomething come out very soon.
He's actually gonna come outafter yours, but uh Mark
Connolly was on.
Great interview, absolutelywonderful person, way too much
going on.
Like, wow, he is in everything.

SPEAKER_02 (01:11):
And and he is a party of a personality, too.
Like he knows that.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
If you ever joined, he knows that.

SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
Oh, yeah.
He is one of my favorite peopleto work with, and he's really
the reason that I joined Arona.
It was totally him.
He brought me on board, so muchthanks to Mark.

SPEAKER_01 (01:31):
Well, listen, Mark, we appreciate that.
And one of the reasons that Ihave Lauren on today is because
we just got back from LedgeCon2026.
And honestly, after going and wewere literally, I'm trying to
paint this picture here.
We're at the we're downstairs atthe hotel, getting ready to go,
and then I find out this isLauren's first time.

(01:51):
I mean, all the things, all thethings that you've done.
I'm so surprised that this isit.

SPEAKER_02 (01:55):
You know, it's almost embarrassing that I
hadn't gone before.
And really, after going, I kindof think back and I'm like, what
why have I never like it?
It's shocking that I hadn'tgone, that I hadn't got to have
the experience.
And that's why I want to liketalk as much about it as
possible, because I thinkthere's probably other people

(02:17):
like me who think we'll justleave that for some of the
owners, you know, some of thestate, you know, groups, you
know, they can go.
But it's it's really much morethan that.

SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
So well, there is a lot, there is a lot of talk
about that.
One of the reasons that I loveto talk about Ledge Con is
because a lot of them go, okay,RTO world is about something I
go, I get to buy, I get tolearn, I get to understand
something about it.
When we're talking about meetingof the mind, same thing.
I get to understand and learnfrom some of the people that are
in this industry about realday-to-day operations and what's
going on in the world.
What I don't understand is Ilike to go to DC to visit,

(02:50):
right?
But I'm not really sure what I'mdoing there.
I don't know who I'm gonna talkto.
I don't know what's gonna comeup.
This is not my arena, and so I'mgonna let that be.
And it could be it couldn't beany farther from the truth.
But I'm gonna let you tell thatin your words.
But I just want to go back justa minute.
You have a background that I wasnot aware of.
Now, I did know all about whatyou do at Arona, and right now,

(03:13):
I, you know, I will let youexplain that.
But like there's there's a pasthere.
We're gonna get into that too.
So, first off, what do you do atArona?
What do you do every single day?
And what puts you on this pathto be in the rent-to-owned
industry for as long as youhave?

SPEAKER_02 (03:27):
So at Arona, I serve as the vice president of
marketing and communications.
I've been in the role since2020.
Um, so just after the pandemicis when I joined on with them,
when they were a part of anothergroup and they were a
franchisee.
So I was with them through therebrand, becoming independent,
having to kind of start fromscratch and kind of build the

(03:49):
business up.
So it's been a wild ride doingthat and managing all parts of
their marketing plan, whetherit's starting at ideation from
what we're gonna do, theplanning, the execution, the
design, all of that.
We do have some partners inplace that we use for our
website and for some of ourprint.

(04:11):
But as far as the design forthose print pieces and stuff,
that all comes through me and mydepartment.
It's me and Alicia Hendricks.
Shout out, Alicia.
Uh, so we're a small and mightyteam supporting, you know, 50
plus stores in 13 states plusPuerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01 (04:27):
Yes.

SPEAKER_02 (04:29):
We're doing things in English, we're doing stuff in
Spanish, like everything.

SPEAKER_01 (04:33):
I am so happy to hear that you guys are out
there.
When I found that out, I wasvery excited about that.
But to say that that, you know,this is your introduction, it's
not.
So as you get it, where did youlet's let's go back in time,
Pete.

SPEAKER_02 (04:46):
Let's let's go back.

SPEAKER_01 (04:47):
Let's get that clap.

SPEAKER_02 (04:47):
So let's go back.
Way back in time.
So I've been working inadvertising and marketing.
I always like to give thisnumber because then it people
start doing the math.
Um, and I'll tell you how old Iam.
But um, I've been working inadvertising and marketing for
retailers for 30 years.

(05:09):
Um, so I have been in that.

SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
You don't look like you could do that.
I'm just saying, you have youdon't look like you're old
enough to say that.

SPEAKER_02 (05:17):
You know, well, my my my dad was in marketing and
advertising.
Um, so he worked when I wasgrowing up, he was with a huge
chain.
Um, some of our viewers who arehere in the Midwest, it was
appliances and electronics inthe Cleveland area.
It was called Home Centers.
And then he came down toColumbus, is which is where I

(05:38):
live now, and he worked for acompany called Sun TV.
And uh they were pretty bigregionally, they grew.
They were eventually bought outby H.H.
Greg.
And at that point, he starteddoing advertising for
independent appliance,electronics, and furniture
stores through a group calledNationwide Marketing Group.

(06:00):
So he started working with them.
I did, I worked for my dad likeall through high school.
Like I remember I got my firstspeeding ticket on my way to
work for my dad.
Like it, you know, so I workedfor him after college.
I didn't work for him.
So I went out here in Columbus.
I worked for our local umnewspaper, the Columbus

(06:21):
Dispatch, which at the time wasthe 15th largest publication in
the US.

SPEAKER_00 (06:25):
Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 (06:26):
So I worked there, then I worked at our local
television station.
Um, I worked on TV shows, I wasa TV show producer for a little
bit, um, an academic quiz showfor high schoolers called The
Brain Game.

SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
Oh, I remember that.

SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Like, like, so I thought like a weird history.
And then eventually my dad waslike, hey, you know, I want you
to come back and work for me.
And I was like, Well, I'm alittle expensive now, dad.
But I came back to him in 2008.
In 2010, as part of NationwideMarketing Group, Nationwide had

(07:02):
recently hired this go get themguy who was starting up this
division inside of Nationwide,and it was called Rent Direct,
and that was James McAlpine.
So James McAlpine knew that wealready had this partnership
through the agency I was at, andum, he said that he wanted to

(07:22):
start offering stuff for rent toown.
So this is 2010.
In 2010, I knew like zero aboutrent to own.
And uh James took me under hiswing and we came out with a sign
kit.
So we did these POP sign kits,and at prime time, we launched

(07:43):
it.
It included the vinyl banners,we had hanging ceiling banners,
we had table tents, we had eightand a half by 11.
We had all the pieces for thisPOP sign kit.
And our whole deal with it wasfor the stores who were
independent who had one or twostores.
This was a professionallydesigned and printed sign kit

(08:04):
that was gonna elevate you.
So you wouldn't look like asingle store operation, you
wouldn't look like a mom and popestablishment.
And from there, we started to doeverydoor direct mail.
We started doing circulars, westarted doing door hangers and
postcards.
And I took over and just likelived in the rent of own realm

(08:27):
then.
So I did have a lot ofexperience through Rent Direct.
I actually was able to lead acouple of their rent direct
meetings at prime time over theyears.
This goes back, you know, awhile.
And then eventually I found myway over to the digital side.
Um, and I had some experiencethrough nationwide Site on Time,

(08:49):
their website division, and thenthrough WoW brands, which then
led me to Arona.

SPEAKER_01 (08:54):
Yes, I was doing that.
I was looking at that and I waslike, uh, so 2019, 2020,
representing WoW brands.
And I was like, oh my gosh.
I I mean, they're actually uhwhen I say that, I'm they're a
sponsor for the show.
I thought I knew everything.
I did not.
That's amazing that you you havequite this background.
So what is this that I read onhere that somebody thought they

(09:17):
were gonna be an actress?
Is that is that right?

SPEAKER_02 (09:19):
Uh yes.
So I still still think I'm gonnabe an actress, but I'm waiting
my time now.
So I went to school, I went tocollege um up in Cleveland, a
small liberal arts collegecalled Baldwin Wallace.
Um, and I studied acting andcostume design.
And I had a lot of friends whowent on to either a life in the

(09:44):
theater, they're living in NewYork.
I have one friend that movedover and is in London.
Then I have some friends thatwent kind of TV movie, um, and
they moved out to LA.
Um, that wasn't gonna be thepath for me.
I did do a lot of local theaterhere until my kids were born
just because it takes so muchtime and I didn't have time for

(10:05):
it.
But I still love acting.
And it's my goal that when mychildren are older and I there's
great parts for older people inlocal like community theater.
And I'm gonna become like thatwoman.
Like I'm gonna be that woman,you know, and especially when
you're older, like the olderlady parts are the best.

(10:27):
Like the crazy, you know, thecrazy Karen roles, like those,
like that, that calls to me.
Like I could, I could be a crazyKaren.
I I think I could pull it off.
Not in the middle of life.

SPEAKER_01 (10:40):
I could see like a murder she wrote kind of person.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I could see something.

SPEAKER_02 (10:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (10:47):
You know what?

SPEAKER_02 (10:48):
Someday I'm gonna re I'm gonna revisit that.
But but yeah, this the stagelife, the starving artist life
was not was not for me.

SPEAKER_01 (10:57):
Yeah, you know, uh so I know a couple people who
have done that as well, and youknow, they love it, they
absolutely love being a part ofit, but it is a type of life
that you have to be able to getused to because depending on
where you are, you have to gofrom from show to show,
depending on what that is.
If you get, if you get, youknow, you're always doing it
hoping that you're gonna end upon Broadway and it's like over
and like you just hey, we wantthis, it's gonna happen.

(11:19):
You've got to be here now,you've got to train, it's go,
go, go, go, go.
A lot of people in that thatindustry are very close knit.
So, you know, you're you reallyknow your cast members and stuff
like that, but you're living outof a suitcase most of the time,
unless you hit it big.
I don't know if anybody knowsthis.
I will give you a fun fact 1% ofHollywood actors actually make
it to the big times.
So when you see all thosepeople, that's actually 1% of

(11:40):
the actors out there, and theyall don't get paid like you
think they get paid.
So, you know, it's just one ofthose things.

SPEAKER_02 (11:45):
I will say that that that background though, it
really prepares you for a lot inlife.
So, you know, in what I'm doingin marketing and things that are
thrown at me every day, youknow, you learn a lot of
improvisation, you know, likeimprov.
What, you know, I'm not surewhat's gonna pop up each day.
And you have to have some ofthat kind of flexibility to be

(12:08):
able to work with and like moveoff of it.
And you can use some of thosesame things, like even in the
like my regular, my regular jobrole, I try and not say no,
because no is a definitive end.
And like you learn that inimprov.
Like you don't say no becausethen the scene ends.
There's nowhere for it to go.
So you'll say yes and or yes, oror you know, and I feel like

(12:32):
that's kind of how I try andcommunicate when I'm working
through things, you know,whether it's in the job, whether
it's working with other vendors,whether it's out there, you
know, you don't want to say noand cut something off completely
because that's an end.
That that's you know, you're notleading to anything where you
can grow or you can improve whatyou're working on.

SPEAKER_01 (12:56):
Well, I can definitely sell you I've I've
listened to you speak a coupleof times.
You do an amazing job.
I would imagine this hassomething to do with it.
Also coming up probablysomewhere in your future.
I hear that you're gonna be apart of the women's forum.
Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 (13:08):
I am, I am.
So this will be our third forumthat we are doing coming up at
RTO World.
And each year it has justimproved, and we we're really
finding a fantastic groove wherewe're presenting a topic that's

(13:30):
not exclusive for women, that'snot, you know, it this this
isn't a conversation that's justfor women, but it's being
presented by a group led bywomen.
So it's really empowering to allof us to be able to kind of
raise how many women we havevisibility to and that we're
hearing from on stage at theseevents in strong leadership

(13:55):
positions, talking about thingsthat they have gone through,
things that they have done,things that have helped them to
grow, help them to be bettercommunicators, and all of those
things.
And it's just been such a greatway to really bring up all of
the women in the industry.

SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Yeah, honestly, I love the idea.
Some of my favorite people arethe women in the industry, Jen
Troke, and Riley Maya, twopeople that I I absolutely love.
Uh Cindy Hyduke always uh on thetop of my list.
You're there.
Uh, it's just good, it's good toknow that this is something that
you guys can do and will do forthe industry.
Talking about that, circlingback around to RTO World with

(14:36):
April.
So in April, we got a chance togo to LedgeCon 2026, going back
to the scene where we'redownstairs talking about Lauren
not ever going to and first off,how have you never been there?
Like, this is to me, this is oneof those things you have the
that that personality and thatthat kind of go get attitude.
You've never been to Ledge Con.

(14:57):
And I and I I find that like Idon't know how that how that
was.

SPEAKER_02 (15:01):
I think that in the past couple of years, they've
changed the marketing on it.
And I really think we owe a lotof that to the April team and
their partners because I feellike last year, maybe the year
before, was really the firstyear that it kind of came on my
radar.

(15:21):
I knew that Mark went everyyear.
I knew that we sent people, um,I knew that a lot of my industry
friends went, but I guess I justdidn't feel like there was an
important place for my voice.
And I could not have been morewrong about that.

(15:42):
It is the opposite.
And I think that the way thatthey kind of marketed it just
never hit me that I was needed,I was wanted.
So a couple of years ago, whenthey started doing the
fellowships, so that's how Iwent this year.
It was the fellowship.
So I had one of the fellowships,and I felt like I, you know,

(16:03):
they had opened it up because Iwas like, I'm on the cusp.
And I'm like, if you take awaythe like, you know, month here,
month there that I wasn't inrent to own specifically, then
like I qualify.
But I was I was cutting itreally, really close.
I was, I was a little nervous onit.
And you think you do have towrite not an essay, you just
have to answer some questions.

(16:25):
But the fellowship is an amazingprogram, and they had more
fellows this year than they hadever had previously.
And with the fellowship, theyhave sponsors and some of the
individual state groups thatsponsor the fellows so that we
can have more people who can go.
So they have that experience.

(16:45):
And it was fun to see otherpeople who had been fellows.
Um, you know, I was seeing umJustin from American Reynolds
Full of Pep.
He was a fellow, I think, lastyear, and he was back this year
just as a regular attendee.
And that's how I what I plan todo next year.
But this fellowship programopens it up, and I think it

(17:08):
really helps to to advertise andto market that it's not just for
the people who are maybe theattorneys of their companies or
people who are on Capitol Hill,anyways.
It's it's really important thatwe have representation from
every level.

(17:28):
And hearing store owners thathave one store and store owners
that have multiple, and beingable to go to their actual
representatives and just tellthe rent-to-own story.
Like there's nothing morethere's nothing that makes your
soul feel better about rent toown than being there in that

(17:53):
crowd.
And I've had times when I'll beout and someone asks me what I
do, and I say marketing, andthey said, What do you do
marketing for?
And I go, Oh, it's called arun-on essentials, you know,
it's a chain of rent-to-ownstores.
And like, have you ever had thiswhere you say you work in rent
to own and the person goes, orthey do this, just drains out of
their face, you know?

SPEAKER_01 (18:11):
They're like, Okay, yeah, it just changes
everything.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (18:15):
Oh.
And then they'll say, Oh, youmean like, and they'll say a
brand that we're not, and I'llbe like, Yeah, just like that.
And I say it like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (18:24):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (18:25):
And usually you can kind of, you know, talk them
through, like in politeconversation, but to be able to
be there and have meetings whereyou're not sure if that's gonna
be their reaction.
You're not sure if theselegislators and their staff, if
they're gonna have any idea whowe are, but it's so important to

(18:46):
change it so that when peoplehear that you're in rent to own,
they don't do the because that'sthat's not uh the right
reaction.
That's not, you know, they'redoing that from a preconceived
notion of what it is, which theydon't know, they have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 (19:03):
Right, right.
Well, so uh help me out, talk tome.
You recently got your firstreaction.
What was that experience likefor you as you first come on?
What was the first thing thatreally caught your attention?
Like, okay, this is different.
This is this is not the usualconvention, this is something
that I can be a participant in,which I didn't kind of know at

(19:24):
first I should have been orcould have been.
How did that feel like?
What did you what went throughyour mind?

SPEAKER_02 (19:29):
So the first thing is you could tell that there was
so much pre-organization thatgoes into this.
So when they're getting all thepeople who sign up for it, the
people who were fellows, whenyou're providing, you're
providing your information aboutwhere you live, where your
stores are.
And in a lot of cases, they'rematching you up so that you're

(19:52):
seeing your actual legislatorsbecause they want to hear from
their constituents, people thatactually have votes in their
community.
So you could tell by the amountof background work that Apro put
together on this and Lisascheduling these appointments.
Then we had a call before weeven went out to go over what

(20:13):
some of the conversations weregonna be like, what some of the
information was gonna be, theleave behinds, who the team
captains were going to be.
And Mark Connolly was my teamcaptain.
So and I chose, so Lisa hadreached out to me.
So I live in Columbus, Ohio.
We don't we don't have anystores here.

(20:33):
And so she gave me the option ofgoing with the Ohio group
because there are Ohio rent ownsthat are in the area and
visiting, or going with Iowa.
And I did choose to go with Iowabecause part of the story that I
wanted to tell wasn't just meand my vote, but all of our
employees and all of ouremployees that are in Iowa, and

(20:56):
we were in Iowa, Nebraska group.
All of our employees, all of ourcustomers, like those are
constituents.
My, you know, Rona doesn't havecustomers in Ohio.
You know, we don't have thatdirect effect.
In fact, there's only oneemployee in Ohio and it's me.
So it's it was a little harderfor me to connect that story

(21:17):
this year.
But I do think next year I'llprobably go with my local group
and break away, and then we canspread out the aroma love a
little bit.
But the organization of this wasvery different.
And the fact that we weren'tdoing any presentations.
Usually when we're going to ashow or even to a meeting or to

(21:38):
a regional, I feel like I'meither presenting or I'm being
presented to.
You know, I feel like thevendors, they that's their time
to sell to us, and they are kindof pitching and they're and this
was such a relaxed environmentbecause we had vendors there,
but we had a common goal.
And the common goal wasn't to,you know.

(22:00):
Talk about our product or talkabout, you know, it was to talk
about the industry.
So it was like all these brainshad one goal.
And you never have that kind ofum, you know, synchronized brain
power.
And I'm one of these people whoone of my favorite sayings is no

(22:22):
one is as smart as everyone.
None of us is as smart as all ofus.
And that collaborated big brain,which it was like the most
knowledge on rent to own, themost knowledge on the history of
rent to own, the most knowledgeon the laws of rent to own.

(22:44):
Like all of that putting brainpower into like one hyper
focused message, just there wasno way that you could avoid
feeling the warm rent to own,you know, not this, this.
Because it was just, it'soverwhelming.

SPEAKER_01 (23:02):
So how so going into it, how would you like when
somebody said, Hey, you're goingto DC this year, um, you know,
what do you what are you doingover there versus what how is
that Lauren versus the Laurenthat came back?
Did did you do you sounddifferent?
Did you say things different?
Were there was there like aconfidence when you came back or
something?
You know what I mean?
Like how how is the Lauren thatwent versus the Lauren that came

(23:25):
back?
Let me ask you something.
Are you getting everything outof your rent-to-owned business?
If you're not an APRO member,then the answer is probably no.
Look, advocacy is APR's breadand butter.
This is why they were creativeand what they do best.
But here's the thing APROmembership is about way more
than advocacy.
April connects you to the moversand the shakers of the industry.

(23:46):
People who've been there havedone that, and they could help
you do it even better.
Apro's monthly webinars give youexpert insights and actionable
takeaways.
It's like having a masterclassfor your business every single
month.
Got questions about complexregulations or sticky
situations?
No problem.
APRO's legal hotline gives youdirect access to experts who
have got the answers.
That's a peace of mind that youcan't put a price on.

(24:08):
And let's not forget theresources, news, updates, and
tools that keep you ahead of thecurve.
Scholarships for your team?
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SPEAKER_02 (24:39):
The direction that Rent2Own is taking.
And uh I feel like there's somany changes that are happening
in the world that you knoweverything comes down to our
business then.
And everything is an adapt orkind of die kind of place to be
in.
And the energy that I had wasthat we are adapting, that we

(25:05):
are changing, that we arestaying ahead of a lot of things
on the legislative side andforming these bonds that are
gonna protect us.
And it felt really good to seeas an industry that we aren't
afraid of change.
We aren't afraid of talkingabout how things really are,

(25:27):
making connections.
And I know that some of ourmeetings, they were making
connections with people whoaren't in favor of rent to own.
And really, on that, it's a lotof just a lack of knowledge.
And for them to be there andcontinuing to spread that
message just gave me this greatfeeling that we are going down a

(25:50):
very good path, that we aremaking things safer and better
for the future rather thanwaiting until it's too late to
try and do something.

SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Well, it sounds like when you came back, you had a
whole bunch more to say.
It sounds like you were justlike, it was all there.
So talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 (26:06):
You know, and I I liked meeting with the, you
know, just kind of seeing howthings work in DC.
And we were there during a verybusy time.
Everyone had just come back fromtheir kind of their vacation.
You know, they were at recess,they had come back.
And when we were meeting withsome of the Congress people who

(26:27):
were in the House ofRepresentatives, they had
multiple votes that were goingon.
So you'd see them out in thehalls going to their elevators
to go down to vote.
Um, you know, and then seeingthem complain about the
elevators that the, you know,they're like, these are real
people.
And you see them on TV and yousee that.
So seeing them in person and andunderstanding how this all works

(26:50):
and how many people come and seethem and how many asks they get.
And most of my meetings, youwere with their head of staff or
you know, with somebody elsethat was working for them in the
department.
But those are people who have alot of sway then.
They're the people who aretaking those meetings, and they

(27:10):
were all so young.

SPEAKER_01 (27:12):
Oh god, yes.
Oh god, yes.
They're very young.

SPEAKER_02 (27:16):
Like, wow, like when you think about all the action
in DC and how much of it iscontrolled by like 24,
25-year-old uh law students,like it's it's amazing.
It really is amazing to see howthat works, you know, see how

(27:37):
things can actually go through.
But then when we did talk tosome of the actual people in
charge, it was just so great tohave that FaceTime and know that
in the future they know who weare.

SPEAKER_01 (27:52):
Oh, absolutely.
So walk me through a day.
Walk me through the day.
What happened?
What did you do, and who was inyour group?
Like what exactly happened inthat day that you know, you
started the day, you wentthrough the day, we had an end
of the day.
What happened in Lauren's day?

SPEAKER_02 (28:06):
Well, in my day, okay, so our group was
fantastic.
So we are Iowa, Nebraska.
So from Arona, we had MarkConnolly and Brian Melhouse.
Brian Melhouse is our attorneyfor BCP, which is Arona's
leadership group.
So we were representing Arona.
Then we had Bill French fromO'Rourke, and we had Danelle as

(28:31):
well.
Then we had Chad Fosdick in ourgroup.
So we were a great, you know, wehad Chad, which represents a one
store, but he, you know, isowner, franchisee.
Then we had ours that representsa little bit bigger.
We had a vendor with us thatrepresents, you know, they have
warehouses and have people whoare working out there.

(28:53):
So it was great to have thoseactual people with us.
So the very first meeting thatwe had was with the office of
Chuck Grassley.
Chuck Grassly is like the oldestman in uh the Senate.
Uh Bill made multiple jokesthat, you know, Chuck is

(29:16):
probably the only one that'solder than him.
And um Bill was that's a littleunhinged.
Bill was great.
He he would say some things, andit was it was funny because I
think some of it was very wellreceived by the people we met
with, but he wasn't afraid tokind of challenge um you know

(29:39):
some of some of the opponents ofRent to Own and kind of call
them out.
He it was he got really going.
And one the one congresswomanthat we met with, um, Marionette
Miller Meeks, who is um a she'sin Iowa, a House of
Representatives.
She was in the meeting, and thismeeting like derailed.

(30:01):
She and Bill just played offeach other for like 10 minutes.
They just talked about thingsthat were wrong in the world and
this, and and it was like thefunniest thing to watch.
And she just encouraged him tolike dig in and like pushed him
to say like things.
It was it was really fun towatch.

(30:22):
But our first meeting, ChuckGrassley, I'm like not sure if
what I'm gonna do.
And Mark had told me, he goes,Lauren, uh, well, when we get in
this meeting, like I'll kick itoff, I'll go over some of why
we're here, some of the economicimpact.
And this was another great thingthat April put together.
For each of our meetings, theyhad an economic impact, like

(30:45):
single sheet.
So if at any time in the meetingyou got like a little caught up
on what to talk about, therewere facts on there about the
industry.
One of the facts that I reallyliked was it called out for our
Iowa papers in the state of Iowahow many Walmarts there are and
then how many rent-to-own storesthere are.
And there's more rent-to-ownstores in Iowa than there are

(31:07):
Walmarts.
But it was an interesting figureto kind of show them how many
there are of things.
But so we had that sheet, andMark had said he was gonna kick
it off, and then Chad couldtalk, and Bill and Donnell.
And he was like, and Lauren, youknow, I know you're not gonna be
able to stop yourself fromtalking.

(31:28):
And I'm like, thanks, Mark.
But he's he knows me well.
So he was like, I know, youknow, but you don't have to.
And I was like, really, I willprobably in the first one
because I wasn't sure.
Like, I've never done thisbefore.
I've never met with a legislatorever.
Like I have been at a likefundraising event, or I've had
someone come up to my house andyou know, talk to me and ask for

(31:51):
my vote, you know, things likethat.
But I've never had time to sitdown at a desk.
So I fully wanted him and Chadand Bill and Danelle to to take
the lead on it because I Ididn't want to, you know, just
distract or um, so we get in themeeting, he kind of goes through

(32:13):
it, then he kind of like throwsit to me.
And I'm like, man, oh man.
So what I had prepared to kindof talk about, I had been a
little worried about talkingabout my connection to rent to
own because I kind of felt likegoing into this, and I do have a
kind of changed on this.
I kind of felt like my marketingbackground wasn't as moving of a

(32:38):
story for a representative tosay, oh, well, I do the
marketing for this company.
You know, I'm not dealing withthe customers directly, I'm not
in that role in the store.
However, I do manage all of ourGoogle reviews, all like 4,000
that we get a year from 4,000different people who tell us

(33:01):
what we're doing well and whatwe're not doing well.
I didn't talk about anything weweren't doing well.
But there are so many reviewsand things that I was able to
call out where we get a reviewfrom a customer, and the
customer says, you know, I am soexcited to have gotten, you
know, this living room set.
This is the first sofa and loveseat I've ever owned in my life

(33:27):
that was I was able to get on myown.
Everything in my house is eithera hand-me-down something I have
found off the street orsomething that I have bought off
a marketplace.
This is the first sofa and loveseat I have ever owned.

SPEAKER_01 (33:44):
Well, and listen, that is a story to be told.
I'm glad that you, you know,everybody has their little story
to tell, their little piece ofthat story.
That is a huge part.
I'm glad that you were able tosay that.
Uh, because honestly, you know,when we are talking about that,
there are other people that kindof handle those things.
You know, when you're at thefront counter, you don't get the
review right there, it goessomewhere else, right?
That's an amazing thing.

SPEAKER_02 (34:06):
But that's but that's not a unique, you know,
that one is one that's specificthat I pulled from one of our
iOS stores.
But time and again, we havethese customers who, in their
reviews, in, you know, that's awritten like statement.
They talk about how they didn'thave another choice, they were
denied elsewhere, these realstories about real people that

(34:29):
we have helped.
So I was able to speak on thatfrom the marketing side and then
kind of connect it back to thefact that people who don't know
rent to own don't understandthat part of it and why we were
there, you know, making theconnection.
So we after we ended thatmeeting, we go out and Mark's
like, hey, Lauren, that wasreally good what you said about

(34:51):
the Google.
I didn't even think about that.
And I was like, see, I did good.

SPEAKER_01 (34:54):
I contributed my some of the tips that I think
are good for people to know orto enjoy when they're there.
The first thing is that when youfinally get an idea of who
you're gonna go see, it is agood idea to look up those
people in, you know, whatevergovernment seat they're in,
whether it be the Senate, theHouse, whatever it is, and find

(35:16):
out why they're there.
What did they run on?
What committees are they on?
Find out something about them.
That was something that I gotfrom Paul Mativier in our group,
and he had gone forward and donethat.
I was like, man, that was agreat idea.
If you do that, you have sometalking points to understand
what interests them, what'sgoing to spark their ear when
you're sitting there, and howdoes that relate to what we do
in the rent-owned industry, thecommunities we serve, and the

(35:38):
people that are with us, right?
Another thing, like you said, issaying you you know, you know
the differences between onebusiness and another, you can
recognize Walmart as a nationalbrand.
How about this?
This is how we compare on thatlevel.
Uh something else that is hugethat I think we should do better
at when I'm talking to newpeople, and I need to say this
more often is sometimes in themoment, we get in the moment,

(35:59):
and you would know this becauseI mean you're you're a little
bit more professional at it now,but like when that camera starts
rolling, when you're in front ofsomebody, sometimes we forget,
right?
So we we don't remember, andthen we leave and we're always
go, God, if I would haveremembered this, or if I would
have remembered that, or God, Ididn't think about this.
So as you're at home a littlebit beforehand, and even before
you get this is even before youget schedule, write down some of
the things that you know aboutrent to own, some of the

(36:22):
experiences that you've had inthose areas, right?
So if you were in Iraq, Iowa,and you work for Iowa, listen,
the people in this city, thepeople in this town, I worked
over here.
Ms.
Jones is a story that's goingon.
Let me tell you what happenedwith this.
Let me write down, and itdoesn't have to be like pages
and pages and pages, right?
It could be like two or three,you know, good stories that you
remember that you were a partof, that you were that firsthand

(36:43):
person to say, This is how Iaffected my community, this is
what we do every single day.
This is the you know, the thekickball team or the softball
team or the baseball team thatwe were able to help out.
This is the young lady that Iwas able to get, you know, some
bunk beds for her children, orwhatever the case is.
This is how we helped out.
So having those ahead of time,being able to look into your,
you know, your legislatorbeforehand and kind of say, hey,

(37:05):
listen, I know you're involvedin this.
This is how we help, right?
Uh and some of them, you know,some of them are for veteran
affairs, whatever the case is.
Hey, we have veterans that workfor us.
You know, John over here orNancy over there, they do that
as well.
Let me talk to you about thatbecause they're work hard,
they're well known in ourcommunity, and this is why it
matters, right?
So two things that tips that Iwish that somebody would have

(37:26):
taught me beforehand.
So I'm gonna give that to youguys for free.
So what what would you say?
Because I know you're you'relike halfway through your day,
but as you're going throughthis, uh if somebody was on the
fence, uh what would you say tothem now, knowing what you now
versus them?
And we're and we'll go throughthe rest of your day, but like
what's something that you wouldsay if you're on the fence, this

(37:48):
listen, uh this is what hit meduring my day on the hill that I
think like you know, you shouldknow this.
This this this might change yourview on things.

SPEAKER_02 (37:58):
You know, I think the just just laying out what a
person in your community, and Ifeel like it was very important
to relay it as a real person, areal person in the community,
what their choices are if theyhave bad or no credit and really

(38:19):
what their options are and whatthe consequences are.
And I, you know, we towards theend of the day, and it is
interesting because in each ofyour your meetings, the things
that come out of each of us didchange as we remembered other
stories or we kind of were ableto pull based on where the

(38:40):
conversation was going.
But I feel like people who don'tunderstand rent to own truly
don't understand the limitedoptions that somebody would have
to get something and how thoseoptions suck.
You know, there's there's thingsthat go wrong with it if they
even if they had credit, let'ssay they open a store credit

(39:02):
card to get a washer and dryer,but then they lose their job.
Well, they can't take thatwasher and dryer back and get
their money back, then they'regonna have to pay off the credit
card.
Maybe they can offload thewasher and dryer at a loss and
make a payment, but probably notto cover what they owe.
And it's gonna live on theircredit.
And if they don't pay it,they're gonna get a ding for

(39:23):
like seven years on theircredit, or they're gonna
continue paying the minimum, theminimum, the minimum.
Like that's not a good option.
Then, okay, well, they're gonnago to marketplace and they buy a
washer and dryer.
Okay, I've bought stuff off amarketplace and it's a gamble.
It is a gamble.
You don't know what you'regetting, you don't know whether
it's a deal, whether it's not adeal.

(39:44):
So you buy something off amarketplace, a month later, that
dryer starts making a noise likeit's a jet plane about to take
off because the ball bearingsare completely toasted in it.
What are you gonna do?
You don't get free service onit, you don't get a loaner that
comes and swap it out, and yourkid probably has practice where

(40:04):
they gotta get a clean uniform.
So you gotta put it, you gottago to the laundromat, you're you
still don't have something,you've wasted this money.
And it's like the options forpeople to have suck.
They suck, they're not great,and what we provide is more
beneficial because of all of theprotections that we have in rent

(40:27):
to own to protect theirpurchase.
You know, it makes sense forthem to do that, and it's
something that gives them theability to shop, to get the
things that they want, to getthe things that they need.
And really hammering home thatstory of not having another
choice, I think it it paints aclear picture to a lot of people

(40:49):
how beneficial rent to ownreally is.

SPEAKER_01 (40:53):
So would would you say would it is it safe to say
that your story now for rent toown is really something that you
can go back and say there therewas so much of a deeper
understanding of the story ofrent to own and how we need to
really put that forward becausethere's a lot of
misunderstanding when it comesto our industry that needs to be
told.
Is that safe to say?

SPEAKER_02 (41:11):
It is.
And I feel like I have a betterappreciation now when I'm
looking at my Google reviews andI'm reading them because I
understand that, well, we strivefor five.
We want to get the good Googlereviews because of all the back
end stuff it helps with.
It really helps me to appreciatewhat we're doing and to be able

(41:33):
to paint an actual clear storywith real written ideas of how
we are making things better forpeople.
Like, it's not just about makingus appear better in the
algorithm.
It's about those are people whowe've made a real difference
for.
And I can connect with thembetter.

(41:53):
And as we answer each one, likewe do it more, more joyously.
Like we appreciate so much thatthey have those kind words and
that they've, you know, theirlife is better because of us,
and our life is better becauseof them.

SPEAKER_01 (42:10):
Hey everyone, it's Pete Chow here from the R2 Show
podcast, and I want to tell youabout a company that's making a
real difference in therent-owned space.
WoW Brands.
I've seen firsthand how theyapproach marketing.
Let me tell you, it's not justcut out.
Wow brands.

(42:53):
Reach out to Wild Brands atWildbrand.com.
I trust him, and I think youwill too.
You know, I I gotta say, I gottaI'm a little jealous too of the
people that you are with becausethe stories that probably went
around that room were wereprobably number one, I love Bill
Fry.
He's uh I he's one of myall-time favorites.
I I he is gonna be when heretires, it's gonna be one of

(43:14):
those days like I'm gonna missyou, sir.
Chad Fosic is actually one ofthe again, he's he's on my he's
on the top of my list.
I I love Chad.
Uh we've had many a conversationtoo many a times where we're
just like, you know, he told meone time when I was really in a
in a crazy situation.
He's like, you can call me andask me anything, I will tell you
anything.
And you know, there's gotta bethat one time where I'm gonna

(43:34):
find out.
We have some greatconversations, and he has been
very transparent with a lot ofthings.
He is a just a great operator,he's a great entrepreneur, uh,
and he's a great advocate forthis business.
Seeing how that goes around, howis the handoff game?
So you start getting a littlebit better, you go into the
afternoons.
I always notice that in theafternoons it's always better
for the handoff.
Like somebody's telling thestory, and the the the handoff
is easier, somebody else takesit a little bit easier.

(43:56):
There's another story that comesout that you're like, I didn't
even know that that one.
Was in there.
That's an awesome story.
And it kind of goes around.
Was there more gelling of the uhof this new group as the time
went on?

SPEAKER_02 (44:07):
I think so.
Now at the end, we did have someappointments that were getting
close.
So we did break off.
So we kind of got a smallergroup, but it actually kind of
helped us a little bit for thosemeetings at that point on our
schedule.
We started over in the Senateand then we moved over to the

(44:27):
House.
And in a lot of those, you weremeeting kind of in a hallway.
You were meeting in a smalloffice.
You were meeting in a and sohaving those meetings and the
ability to be flexible with alittle bit of a smaller group
did help.
But we kind of knew at thatpoint what each person's role

(44:48):
was in the meeting.
So we knew that, you know, Markand Bill were able to really
speak to the history of Rent toOwn.
You know, when they're liketalking about Ernie Talley, like
as if Ernie Talley is a person,you know, that they they knew,
like, you know, that is a youknow, a peer, you know, and

(45:10):
they're just their their vasthistory, where to me, Ernie
Talley is a guy in a book.
You know, I to me, he's not areal person.
He's a real, you know,historical person, but not and
not a person I can connect with.
So they could tell that fromtheir long history in it, um,

(45:30):
and really dive into that.
Then when it kind of came overto, and I think Donnell had a
lot of really great things thatshe could just pull up that were
tied in with some of thelegislators we saw were in her
local area.
So she could really tie intocommunity and tie into um the

(45:53):
jobs that were built and all ofthat stuff.
So we all kind of had roles.
Then Brian on our team's a legalguy.
Being on Capitol Hill was notnew to him.
So me, I'm walking around likestarry eyed, like seeing people.
We did see Ted Cruz.

(46:14):
Mark blames my bright suit.
I wore like the world'sbrightest suit.
Um, if you've seen the picturesof the group, I'm on the end,
and uh my suit was amazing.
I looked at getting a suit.
I'm not normally a suit person,I'm more of a dress person, but
I'm like, I'm gonna wear a suiton the hill.

(46:34):
Um, but I was like, you know,everyone wears like black or
gray or you know, navy.
And I was like, I'm gonna get apink suit.
Um so it's kind of like it was aweird, it's I don't even know
how you describe it.
But I wore the brightest suit.
So as we were walking throughthe halls, Bill and I were a
little behind the rest of thegroup.
And as we were walking past someelevators, Ted Cruz and uh one

(46:59):
of his team were coming aroundthe corner.
And first off, I was like this,you know, because he's a yeah,
very recognizable.

SPEAKER_01 (47:06):
Wait, you didn't get a picture?
You didn't you didn't call himfor a picture?

SPEAKER_02 (47:09):
Well, this is I, you know, I'm very respectful.
But so we caught his eye.
He obviously caught our eye.
Mark says it's because I wasdressed like a highlighter and
Ted, you know, couldn't deny it.
I just think he felt like Billand I's great energy.
I think he felt like energy.
So Ted looks, kind of looks overat us, and we're like, you know,

(47:32):
kind of like smiling, likestanding, and he walks to us and
puts his hand out to Bill.
So we didn't like solicit him.
He approached to Bill.
Um and Bill introduced himselfand told him that he's from
Texas, and so that was, youknow, oh yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:53):
You get two Texas together, that's all you gotta
say.
I'm from Texas.

SPEAKER_02 (47:56):
He's like, Are you from Texas too?
And I'm like, No, I'm from Ohio.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I'm from Ohio.
And then his elevator had come.
If his elevator had not comeyet, I would have got a picture
with him.
I had my like, I was ready to doit, but I'm like, he has
somewhere to be.
I'm the respectful gal.

(48:16):
Like, we had this story.
Bill and I shared ourexperience.
But that was that was that wasfun for me.
And it was also kind ofinteresting.
We saw the TMZ film crew wasthere.
So TMZ for some of you, like umthe gossip junkies, not saying I

(48:40):
am, but a little bit.
TMZ has always been a very LA uhyou know establishment and they
kind of cover everything.
Like I think it actually standsfor like 30 mile zone, which was
like the zone that they coveredwith their gossip.

SPEAKER_01 (48:53):
I actually never do that.
I I never knew that.

SPEAKER_02 (48:56):
You know what?
I could have just made that up.
I'm not even sure.
But, anyways, TMZ had people outthere and we saw them a couple
times.
Like as you're walking around,you saw the TMZ film crew.
And that was like a weird, likepseudo-reality show kind of
feeling to see them out there.
But it was it, it was it was anice, it was nice seeing

(49:18):
somebody that and you did see alot of faces as you're walking
that you recognize.
Some of them I didn't know theirnames, you know, but I'm like,
that's that's you know who theysaid that thing, you know.
A lot of that guy is that guy.

SPEAKER_01 (49:35):
You know, we're looking around and I and I see a
lot of people that I know,whether I voted for them or not.
And it's just it's awe-inspiringbecause you know what, it takes
a lot to be up there.
I don't care who you are.
When when you have the entiretyof the American nation staring
at you for everything that youabsolutely do, that is
mind-numbing to say the least.
So I respect them regardless ofwhat side of the aisle they're
on.

(49:55):
That is just something that youknow you take for granted.
Also, they're real people, and Ilove being able to see them
sometimes because you can seethat they're actual human
beings.
Uh you know, when you seesomebody on TV, sometimes you
kind of almost like distanceyourself from them.
Like that, like you know thatthey're human, but you just
don't it's not the same.
We don't live in the same world.

(50:15):
And when you see them directly,it is completely different.
One of the things that stood outfor me, really, and I actually
have a picture where they'rewanting me and everything, and I
don't know why they wanted me,but I I enjoyed it way too much.
So you go in and it's like theydidn't ask me why I was there,
they didn't ask for papers, theydidn't make sure of anything.
All I had to do was make surethat I didn't have any legal,
you know, illegal weapons on me,something that I can go in and

(50:37):
do something bad, and Iliterally was able to walk into
Capitol Hill on both sides andreally just participate and be a
part of that.
And I I think some people arelike, Well, what I what I do
see, I'm not gonna go very far.
You can get in dressed apart, goin, and you can literally wander
the halls to the places wherethey actually work.
I mean, you could go to thedoors and see the staff.

(50:59):
It is something to behold, it'samazing.
I love it.
You know, talking about ourstories, as the as it all winds
down, you you come into thedebrief dinner.
How was that?
How was your first debriefdinner?

SPEAKER_02 (51:10):
You know, I I wasn't sure what the debrief dinner was
going to have kind of in store.
And you get in there off of thekind of high of having these
meetings and being able torepresent um our industry, then
you're kind of thrown back inthe room again with all of these

(51:32):
like absolute titans of rent toown, you know, all of the people
that you know I am so impressedthat I get to work among and you
know, in some cases, you know,consider myself a peer.
So to have them all in the roomand to be able to hear their

(51:52):
stories of how their meetingswent.
And I was particularly impressedwith a couple of the fellows, I
believe, that were participantsthat work in the store level,
that are, I believe there was acouple that were collections
managers and some that weresales managers that were there,

(52:14):
but to hear their experience andto hear from their group how
much their story reallyresonated with the legislators.
And I think that is obviouslyplugging the fellowship again.
If I I have to say to anyone inRentown who has the opportunity

(52:36):
to apply as a fellow or have anyof your employees apply as a
fellow, you know, it's anexperience that I think will is
beyond compare for them becauseof like that dinner and because
of hearing those stories.
And then, you know, it got kindof into a conversation where it

(52:59):
was it was a lot of history ofour rent to own.
Our history, it cracked me upbecause um Shannon, the number
of years that he has been there,um, what they had indicated on
his past and through his things,he does not believe is correct.

(53:21):
And every time someone could sayhow many years then, everybody
just we all knew that his wasincorrect, and we all totally
bow down to how much experienceand how much guidance that you
know, that number when you getanything above 10, 15, 20, 25

(53:41):
years of going to the CapitolHill to speak about rent to own
is just so amazing.
So we got a lot of that historyin that dinner, too, of the
times that they have gone beforeand things that they have seen
and how things have changed.
Um, and then hearing all ofthese well-seasoned rent to own,

(54:06):
uh, just you know, just kind ofgoing, I think mine should
really be this.
I think mine, you know, I'm notsaying it's wrong, but you said
I was here 10 years, and at 10years I got this ring.
Or it was funny to hear some ofthat as well and really
appreciate the history of howoften we've been going.
And in some years, we do havestuff that we need to ask for.

(54:29):
Um, and in some areas we areasking, and we're we're in a
good place right now, but it'snot any less important than to
keep the relationships alive.

SPEAKER_01 (54:41):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You know, I love I love thedebrief dinner just because you
have the ability to say what'son your mind.
You get to you get to seeliterally people talking about
these stories from years andyears of build-up experience.
And I love the idea that inthose pairings, they get to put
people who have been here foryears and years with people who
have just gotten there, and thisis their first time, and you get

(55:02):
to experience what all thatknowledge brings you and how
they react.
And like you said, you know,Bill French, I mean, you know,
I've been there a few years, andI don't think I would say how
this thing's that Bill couldprobably get away with, but he
has that commanding presencebecause not only is he sure of
the industry he's in, he's doneit for so many years, he's
created certain relationships,he's done it over and over and
over and over again.

(55:23):
He feels like he's earned thatspot, and I agree with that.
You know, I definitely agreewith that.
I love the fact that we get todo the deep breathing or I love
the fact that we get to talkabout it and have fun and you
know kind of rile everybody up alittle bit.
I have said that 23, 24 yearjoke for quite a few quite a few
times myself.
I love Shannon to death, so Ithink it's great.
You know, coming into the end, Iwanted to ask you a couple quick

(55:44):
questions if you didn't mind.
But I I do want to signify onething before we go into the
questions.
Congratulations on your boardseat with the trib group.
That's amazing.
So if you guys didn't know that,Lauren is now on the trib group,
not one of many women, one offew, standing out and doing what
she can for this industry.
Love the idea that you're notonly on the board trip, uh trip

(56:07):
board, you are not only in DC,you're making some waves in a
Rona.
Great things.
So, real quick, couple ofquestions for you.
What's one piece of advice youwish someone had given you when
you first entered the RTO world?

SPEAKER_02 (56:21):
One piece of advice I wish.
So when I entered RTO, trulyrent to own is different from
any other any other businesscategory that I'd ever worked
in, any other collaboration andthe communication is is
phenomenal.

(56:42):
But the advice I think I wishsomebody had given me would be
to stand out a little earlier.
You know, I've got some time,I've built some time.
Um, I would say in the lastmaybe six years, I've become a
lot more vocal.
I think a lot of that was theconfidence that I got when I

(57:06):
joined Arona.
And as a woman in business,sometimes that confidence is not
built in.
Um, sometimes it's a lot of fakeit till you make it.
And I feel like in my earlydays, I did a lot of fake it
till you make it.
But I was a little afraid to usemy voice until my confidence had

(57:27):
built.
And I think that the advice Iwould get would be to stand out,
but it would also be to findsomebody that stands out and
utilize that.
Talk to them, find a mentor,find somebody who can who can
bring you along.
I say this a lot about okay, sothere's introverts and there's

(57:47):
extroverts.
Recently they've said there's athird category that's not
introvert or an extrovert.
And I think I might be the thirdcategory.
But as a person who's seen asmore extrovert, I find it very
important to find introverts andadopt them because the knowledge
that they have and how much theycan bring to the table is

(58:11):
phenomenal, but they quietlyhold it.
They quietly hold it.
And not because they don't wantto share it, but because they
don't have that confidence thatI also felt like I didn't have.
And an extrovert brings it outof them.
The extrovert's the one whomakes them go to the party, that
makes them that goes, hey, Iknow you said you wouldn't do a

(58:33):
session, but can you just coverthis for five minutes in my
session?
Could you talk about this?
Could you do this?
And kind of adopt that introvertand get that information out of
them.
But it's all about confidenceand having that ability to speak
out and not be afraid.
And I think that I should havedone it a little bit earlier.

SPEAKER_01 (58:55):
Okay.
Good advice.
What is the most underratedthing about working in
rent-to-own that people outsideof the industry don't
understand?

SPEAKER_02 (59:03):
100% the relationships.
The relationships are totallyunderrated by other people
because they don't understandthem.
Our relationship with ourcustomers, you know, there's no
other industry, and I see this alot in the marketing side when a
non-rent-to-own marketingcompany presents to me.
So they come to me with thisidea of something, and it's like
a their like life cycle, andit's all about targeting someone

(59:26):
to get like one buy, like onebuy.
And then they're like, okay, andthen, you know, they're not
gonna need another refrigeratorfor eight years.
And it's like, yeah, ourcustomer needs something all the
time.
It's weekly, like weekly, andthere's changes, and there's and
we build those relationships,and we know that you know, that

(59:48):
Brian um just lost his job, buthe got a new job, and this is a
better job.
And we know that his son is, youknow, the captain of the
baseball team, and he's doingthis.
And we know that, you know, umAlexa is doing this, and we know
all these different things aboutour customers.
So we have our relationship withour customers, our relationship

(01:00:10):
with our team.
Like, I've never felt like anyother workplace, you know, they
use the word team, but are theyin rent to own?
You truly are a team.
Like it is the most team.
And then just as the industry asa whole, what we share, like I
share marketing stuff withpeople who have stores that are,
you know, 30 miles from me.

(01:00:31):
But I know there's enoughbusiness for all of us, and I
know there's enoughrelationships for all of us.
And I know that if we share thatinformation, we all like benefit
from it.
And so I think people don'tunderstand whether they're
looking at rent to own as justsomeone from outside or who's
never worked in it, howimportant those relationships
are and how strong they are too.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:54):
Agreed.
One final question.
What is Lauren's, what's nextfor Lauren in 2026?
What do you see for the rest ofthis year in 2026?

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:04):
Well, I was so excited um to be voted into the
April board and to have a seatat the table and be able to
represent.
I really want to take a lot oftime to kind of be a sponge to
understand what's going on inthe industry, what are our
needs, what are our wants, whatour what our direction is, so

(01:01:29):
that I can help us to get there,whether it's helping to change
the perception of rent to own onthe legislative and the AI side,
whether it's to help mycustomers, all of that.
I really want to be a sponge,just taking as much knowledge
from everyone as I can.

(01:01:50):
You know, on the Arona side, Ijust want to grow, grow, grow.
Um, I am any day that we aregrowing is a happy day for me.
I like to grow.
I have like more leads.
I want more reviews.
I want more.
I want more, like all the time.
So those are kind of my goalsfor 2026.
And then when we get into nextyear, when I have a little bit

(01:02:13):
more, more time that I've spent,you know, absorbing all of this,
really helping to kind of leadto be the extrovert that takes
the introverts under my wing toreally be a voice for others,
and whether it's helping themspeak up more, whether it's
knowledge or leadership thingsthat we're doing at Trib or at

(01:02:37):
April at the shows, really justsharing everything that I have a
hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:44):
Well, there you go.
Where if you know, you have allthis knowledge, and you're
talking about sharing it.
If somebody wanted to reach outto you, how would they reach out
to you?
What where could they reach at?

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:53):
Well, they can email me directly.
My email address is we canprobably type it out in this,
but it's ltalisca ataronico.net.
They can connect to me throughLinkedIn.
That's a great tool for gettinga hold of me, sending messages.
Plus, I like to see what you'redoing.
So if you post a lot onLinkedIn, I don't post a ton

(01:03:16):
because I like to lurk and readother people's stuff like a
creeper.
So you'll see me like your stuffa lot.
You won't see a lot of updatesfrom me, but I'm lurking, I'm
creeping on your pages, seeingwhat you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:29):
Well, thank you so much for being on the show,
Lauren.
I got I got a sound.
I don't think I saw the creeperthing coming, but I would tell
you guys, listen, we appreciateyou listening to the show today.
This is one of the reasons whyit's so important to be active
in the R2 community.
I would say right now, if youhave somebody that's working for
you and they don't know what todo, if they're just if they just

(01:03:49):
have a job right now, you wantto change that to a career, send
them to LedgeCon.
They will see in one light whythis is the this is the industry
they want to be in with all thepassion, all the experience, all
the knowledge that's beingpassed down, and and we're
showing in one voice, it doesn'tmatter where you're from, it
doesn't matter if it's a Rona,it doesn't matter if it's
Renaissance, it doesn't matterif it's Aaron's or Great Rooms

(01:04:10):
or Rank King or wherever.
We do this in one voice.
We advocate for this businessbecause we care about it.
And you're gonna see people likeShannon Strong, you're gonna see
people like The Roses, you'regonna see people like Bill
French, who's been thereforever, you're gonna see James
McAlpine over there.
These guys have been doing itfor years, and they don't do it
because they have to.
They do it because they want to,and that's the kind of industry

(01:04:31):
I want to be a part of.
Make sure that you guys take thetime, go on the website again.
It's www.theartshowpodcast.com.
You can buy some swag on there.
Make sure that you go on there,put down for the newsletter,
subscribe, and we're everywhereyou want to be.
We're on Facebook and Instagramand LinkedIn where Lauren's
gonna stalk you, and YouTubewhere you're gonna see this, so
make sure you go on that.

(01:04:52):
Lauren again, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
I hey, I'm glad that you'rehere, and I'm glad that we got
to get your story out.
I will tell you guys as always,get your collections low to get
your sales high.
Have a great one.