How Mike Strong Built a 44 Year Rent to Own Legacy in Small Town America

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Pete Chao.
You may know me from the Arch GoShow podcast, but today I'm
doing something a little bitdifferent.
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And now I get to share thoseconversations with you, right

(00:22):
from the legends themselves.
All of this we did somethinggroundbreaking, though.
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Here's where you cover.

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Check it out and become a partof RTO History.

(01:12):
Hello and welcome to the RTOshow.
I'm your host, Pete Chow, andtoday I gotta say, I've got Mike
Strong here with this family.
And this is the first time thatI've had three guests on at one
time.
I've done two.
First time I've had three guestswith a legend and the family.
I gotta say, it's it's awesometo see you guys here.
How are you guys doing today?

(01:32):
Great, doing great.
All right.
So when we talk about Mike'srent to own, I mean, you guys
are one of the longestindependent dealers in rent to
own.
It's 44 years this year, is thatright?
That's correct.
Yeah.
44 years as a standingindependent.
And uh you got the family withyou.

(01:54):
You know, sometimes you you hearone uh somebody's following up,
and sometimes there's family inthe background, but you guys are
like really in it as far astime.
I mean, the whole family's apart of this deal.

SPEAKER_02 (02:06):
Yeah, we've been um we've been real fortunate to be
able to to to work together fora long, long time, and uh it's
worked out really well for us,and it's been a lot of fun too.
And I I think that all startedwhen we were Angie and I were I
don't I don't know what it was Iwhen we moved here, was I six,
seven years old?

SPEAKER_03 (02:26):
Eighteen.

SPEAKER_02 (02:27):
Eighteen.
I think I think yeah, six six orseven years old.
Angie would have been, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (02:32):
I would have been a year old.
Angie wanted so you had to besix.

SPEAKER_02 (02:35):
Yeah.
And um, we've really grown up inthe business.
I mean, I mean, really, eversince we were itty bitty.
So uh, you know, in a way it'swhat it's what we've always
known, but also it's what wereally love doing.

SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
Well, I can tell you rent owned is definitely in the
family, and you guys show it.
Now, to give credit due whereit's due, the idea was to have
Mike on.
And then Mike Tissid said, youknow, there's a lot of people to
be had on there, and I I don'teven know why I didn't think
about that uh having you guys onat the same time was I'm
grateful for the idea.
I love the idea.
But Mike, I want to go to youright now, and I I want to go

(03:10):
back a little bit because thiswas this is the Legends series.
We want to kind of know whereyou started, what what roots you
had that kind of put you whereyou are today.
So going back a little bit, youwere in the military.
Is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 (03:23):
I was in the military for two years, but I
was out of the what branch wereyou in?
Out of the army.
I was a medic in the army.
A medic?
So this was in the Vietnam War?
Well, that's when the VietnamWar was going on.
I was stationed in a TriplerHospital.
Uh and you're probably notfamiliar with that, but it's
located at Pearl Harbor over inHonolulu.

(03:44):
Oh wow.
It was I went in basically whenthey uh when the Tet offensive
was going on, which you m a lotof people have heard of.
But they they needed a lot ofmedics, not in Vietnam, but they
needed at different uh locationswhere they evacuated the uh
injured soldiers so they couldtake care of them.
So that's where I went and and Isaw a lot of things there I'd

(04:05):
like to unsee.

SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
But I can imagine.

SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
It was uh it was it was a lot better than being in
Vietnam itself.
My brother was over there at thetime, so they didn't send me
over there.

SPEAKER_01 (04:15):
Well, I just want to say, I mean, we appreciate your
service.
Thank you for that.
Now, after those two years, youended up in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Is that right?
Uh no, that's not right.
No.
Okay, so we uh what brought youto Hutchinson, Kansas then?

SPEAKER_03 (04:31):
Well, me and uh and a guy named Fred Herman spent
about a year looking into the uhrent-owned business because he
was working for a dealer inSpringfield, Missouri, that that
had gotten into the rent-ownedbusiness, and uh he was a Curtis
Mathis dealer, and so we well atthe time Curtis Mathis was a
real popular franchise.
So uh they had two locationswhere you could open a Curtis

(04:53):
Mathis franchise.
And of course, Curtis Mass waswas in the rent on business too.
And one of those was inMcAllister, Oklahoma, and one
was in uh Hutchinson, Kansas.
And we we went to both placesand we chose uh Hutchinson,
Kansas, and that's that's how Iwound up here.

SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
So I gotta ask, uh, a medic in the army, you're in
probably one of the mostprolific wars that happened in
the last, you know, century.
What how how did you get fromthere, from being a medic in the
military to opening up arent-to-owned store?

SPEAKER_03 (05:22):
Well, uh, you know, when I got back from the
military, I I've I finished myuh college degree, and then I
went to I went to work inmanagement for the Chrysler
Corporation, which was in St.
Louis.
And I went to own up there andworked for about nine years.
Uh that's back when Lee andIacoka was the president of uh
Chrysler.
Anyway, it didn't take me verylong to realize that if if

(05:43):
you're working for somebodyelse, which obviously I was, you
you could determine how muchmoney you were going to be
making 20 years down the road,because you could you kind of
look at how much pay raise yougot every year.
Right.
Well, the job I was in is forthat time is very lucrative, but
I didn't want to keep it, itjust tied me down too much.
And so when when Fred and I gotenough money, we we decided to

(06:05):
get into rental business becausethe guy he was working for was
having pretty good luck at it.
So we we we took what we had,which was a pickup, good credit,
and a little bit of money, andwe we moved to Hutchison, Kansas
and got started.
Well, quite a bit, because theyuh at the time all we the only
thing we offered for for rentalwas Curtis Mathis electronics.

(06:26):
And uh so we had you know we hadTVs, B CRs, and uh that type of
stuff.
We didn't have any appliances orany of that stuff, but but the
Curtis Mathis brand at that timewas really popular.
And they had a they basicallyhad a slogan of uh it's the most
expensive TV in America and darnwell worth it, which is a is a
concept.
Worked real well.

SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
And I remember seeing uh one of those
commercials where the guy wassitting in front of the TV with
the family, and I I think theyhad owned it for like 17 years
or some ridiculous number.
But uh, I mean it was it wasgreat.

SPEAKER_03 (06:57):
So do you start there?
The timing at that time is whenuh you know, a lot of people
today complain about the highinterest rates.
Well, when we s when I startedin Menace back then the interest
rate was eighteen percent.
And that's that's what we that'sto pay for to finance inventory.
So, you know, when peoplecomplain about six percent, I

(07:18):
some done that.
It's kind of a bad timing onthat, um, on that viewpoint.

SPEAKER_01 (07:25):
Totally.
So, you know, there's a lot ofpeople say that in in Kansas at
that time there was a lot goingon in rent to own.
You had spotted this opportunityto decide to go with it.
What was it about rent to ownthat kind of stood out to you
more than any other directionthat you can go in?
I mean, you're you're doingChrysler, you have the ability,
you have a uh a degree, you'vegone to the military.
What made you decide this is thedirection I want to go in?

SPEAKER_03 (07:47):
Well, it was like I said earlier, we spent about a
year looking at the numbers, andso uh it we decided it was gonna
it was it was more lucrativethan than what we were in.
And then we talked to the to theguy in uh Springfield that was
in that business, and and wetalked about a lot of the things
we talked about today.
It was kind of a it's kind of arelationship business with the
uh customers, and it's it'snever two days the same just

(08:10):
back then, just like it is now.
And uh and it's reasonably new.
I mean, it's kind of a newbusiness to get into.
And so we we decided that thatwas the place for us, and uh we
gave it a try.

SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
So then Hutchinson is the is that store number one?
Yes, it is.
And it's still there today,right?
Oh, yeah, that's where we'rethat's where we are.
That's where we're sitting.
Oh, awesome.
So from what I understand, Idon't know how recent the count
is, but it's up to 14 locationsright now.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
Absolutely.
That's that's amazing.
So getting up to this growth,you got 44 years, you're

(08:44):
starting now, you've got onestore, you're going to two and
three.
What were some of the hurdleswhen you're opening up a brand
new location?
You're really in an industrythat's in its infancy at that
point in time.
I mean, you kind of helpedpioneer some of that.
What were some of the challengesgetting into this industry that
really a lot of people didn'tknow that much about?

SPEAKER_03 (09:02):
Well, to be honest with you, there wasn't the
challenges weren't near as muchthen as they are now.
The big challenge was basicallyuh politics and the IRS and
things like that that caused youto lose a little sleep.
But as time went by, thanks toto organizations like April,
that all got worked out and wewe just kept going.
To start out, we you know, therewas me and Fred and a couple of

(09:23):
delivery guys, and we basicallywe we rented all we could.
We we sold a lot of Kurdishnazis too.
And we uh we would close at sixo'clock, and after we closed, we
went and delivered the productand started again the next day.

SPEAKER_01 (09:36):
So guys, now that you're sitting next to dad, how
many late-night deliveries didyou guys do?

unknown (09:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
Well, you know, I think the um ironic thing in the
story that dad's telling youright now is um the first
location that I was able tomanage was our Newton location.
Um gosh, I was probably 20, 21uh years old right in there.
Uh and it started out as a as auh a pretty small rent-to-own uh

(10:08):
location, uh didn't have anyemployees.
And so that same mentality wentbankrupt.
Would you quit?
But at that time I didn't therewere no other employees.
So it was that same mentalitythat it was like, well, you
know, you're gonna work all dayand I lived here in Hutchinson

(10:29):
and you know, driving over, it'sa 45-minute drive over there.
You know, I ran the store overthere during the day, and then
in the evening I would, youknow, find somebody from, you
know, needed a kind of a couplehour gig and would come and help
me do deliveries, or I would godo the deliveries myself until I
could afford having a having anemployee uh work with us.

(10:51):
And that's just kind of the youknow, the I think that you know,
for my brother and I, that'ssomething that my dad has really
instilled in us is you know, thehard work and everything that
that goes into being in a familybusiness.
It's you know, there's you know,obviously the the benefits of
it, but it's it's something thatum you have to work really,

(11:12):
really hard at as well.
And so uh I think the hard workside of it is something that dad
really showed us from from earlyon.

SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
So talking about hard work, how young were each
of you when dad pulled you intothe business?

SPEAKER_02 (11:26):
I thought I don't I don't think I'm not sure he
pulled us into the business.
I I think it was more hetolerated us being down here.
Okay.
Uh but uh I I don't know, youyou were I was pretty little.

SPEAKER_00 (11:42):
I was I was uh I was a year old when uh when dad
opened and um but I can tell youum you know I used to sit on the
the counter and you know I thinkI remember Shannon's talking
about running the cards andeverything was green bar and by
hand and writing it all down.

(12:03):
And um, you know, we rememberthose early days of him doing
that, and obviously we're stillhere, but I don't think it was a
matter of dad pulling us in.
It was just life.
This, you know, where we sitright now was really uh daycare
in a sense for us.
We came down here and um hungout with customers and you know,

(12:24):
squirreled around with dad andMichael did deliveries.

SPEAKER_02 (12:26):
That's I remember you being sat on the counter and
helping post post payments on oncards or uh and oh wow.
I don't I don't know if youremember, Pete, when we you
know, before we were usingcomputers, we we had what I
don't know what the two boxeswere called, but we had a box of
of cards that payments hadn'tbeen made yet, and then we had a

(12:47):
box of cards where they weremade, and then she would help
host the payments and then movethe card to the net, you know,
to the box where they've beenpaid, and then and then of
course you had to alphabetizethose.

SPEAKER_01 (12:56):
And um we used to literally call them cards.

SPEAKER_02 (12:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:00):
Yeah, we we we called them cards.
I mean, I mean, you know, whopaid, you know, how many cards
you have left to to to collector whatever the case was.
And uh we we just called themcards.
We kind of wrote on them any waythat we could.
Uh, we had a couple of guys thatdidn't know how to write very
well, which was terrible.
You didn't know when the nextdue date was.
Dude, like you gotta get thisright.
But uh I mean it was goodbecause as it as it went on, I

(13:21):
mean, we took that information,we took that structure that it
was kind of like no matter howthis is gonna go down, we're
gonna make it work.
And eventually when thecomputers came, it made things
so much easier.
Now, Green Bar was the firstthing that I went to after that,
which was I don't know how muchbetter that was, but you know,
and on that Monday morning wewould get there at 7:30 and just
list everybody that was due fromSaturday and just let it let it

(13:41):
do its thing for a couple hoursor however long it took.
But, you know, I and I think Idon't remember which legend we
were talking to, but I meanthat's literally what we called
it forever, even after the greenbar came, even after nowadays, I
still call it, you know,sometimes cards.
And the guys are like, What areyou talking about?
Cards.
And I'd like to listen, I'll letit fool you, okay?
We still need to get a number.
But uh, you know, it's funnythat you mentioned that.
And as you go along, well, whendid you guys first get digitized

(14:05):
since since you guys were both apart of that?
I mean everybody, when did micsfirst get digitized into a point
where you didn't have to havethe cards anymore?

SPEAKER_02 (14:12):
I don't I don't do you do you remember when we uh I
don't remember when when theyfirst got uh rent-to-owned
software, but I do remember thefirst um do you remember that
the first computer that we hadthat had that hard disk?

SPEAKER_03 (14:29):
So yeah, Fred set that all up on it was it was uh
what day I don't know the nameof that computer now.

SPEAKER_02 (14:36):
Pete this thing, there was there was a hard drive
that was it was just a littlebit smaller than an old VCR.
And it was sitting, the wholecomputer took up a big card
table or a big folding table.
And when you would press enteror or whatever, save, that hard
disk would start spinning andyou could hear it sort of

(14:59):
rotating, and there was a redlight that would flash.
And if if you bumped that tablewhile that thing was spinning,
poof.
You would lose the end of theday.
My gosh, remember that I was oneof the first ones, and there'd
be these, you know, that wasthat was that was one of those
old uh the old original, youknow, real wide dot matrix
printer, and we'd be trying toprint reports and that stuff

(15:22):
would be flying out of there andit'd be all, you know, off a
half-line and you couldn't readanything.

SPEAKER_01 (15:28):
Oh yeah.
Oh God, I used to hate that.
You know, when I first started,and it might not have been as
far back as you, but when Ifirst started, we were still
using we were we were coming outof the cards, getting into the
green bar, and we were using wehad gone to high touch, and they
had those uh floppy disks everynight that you had to throw in
there every night to make surethat whatever it was, you know,
I just found out the other day,I really never paid attention to
it.
They're like five megabytes.

(15:48):
I mean, we have pictures thattake up that much information.
And it's crazy how like you hadan entire store that can close
on one of those floppy disks andyou can, you know, save it to
start your business up the nextday.
It's it's crazy how it isnowadays because I mean our
phones could have probably runthe business better than than
that back then.
So it's it's just crazy how muchit's come along.

(16:09):
So, Mike, I gotta ask you, I Igotta, I got a question for you.
As you're coming through andyou're creating Mike's Rentone
and you start going, um, whatwere some of the biggest changes
that you've seen over the years?
You know, as far as what youcare?
Now, obviously getting digitizedwas a huge difference from where
it was to where it is now.

(16:29):
Uh, you know, nowadays you tooka look at what it whenever you
want to, whether it's uh VersaRent Revo, whatever the case is,
and you see these things inthere, I mean, completely night
and day.
But what were some of theissues, the the stepping stones
that you s first saw going intothe early 80s, the late 80s, the
early 90s that you saw therewere pretty big changes that had
happened?

SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
Well, probably the f the the first big challenge I
really had to face was we we hadbeen in the Curtis Mathis
business for several years.
And then Curtis Mathis himselfwas flying to Cincinnati, Ohio
one year.
Of course, he was flying firstclass, and on that flight, every
every passenger that was infirst class died because of uh

(17:08):
some kind of fire that started,and then the it started up in
the first class area.
I did not know that.

SPEAKER_01 (17:13):
I only know that he died.

SPEAKER_03 (17:14):
Yeah, everybody in first class died.
And wow.
They uh it's a bad deal.
And he so uh anyway, he he died,and they his his wife, which was
about I think she was in hertwenties, a lot a lot younger
than him and and knew nothingabout went home and nothing
about building TMEs.
So she she hired the uh the guythat was president of uh General

(17:37):
Electric and he took over and hemade some really unfortunate
changes.
And so it was not long afterthat Curtis Matthews went
bankrupt, and we had to findanother another brand, so we
went with Xenith.
So that that was just a reallylarge change, and it took took
us a while to get over that.
So, but anyways, it turned outto be a good deal.

(17:58):
When we switched to Xanush, wewe added we added appliances and
furniture and all that, and itturned out turned out to be
really good.

SPEAKER_01 (18:06):
You know, going through some of these Legend
series, I'm starting to find outthat as they were growing,
right, you're finding newproducts to put on the lineup.
Furniture, actually, which Ithought was going to be the
easier one, seemed a lot harderback then.
The lines were a little bitmore, you know, dedicated to the
retail sector.
They wanted to have their fancynames on it and want to make
sure that, you know, they keptthat true to the nature of their

(18:29):
retail sale.
Who was it that came on firstwith with mice rent to own that
you were able to land and say,this is worth me putting in my
locations?
You talking about products?
Furniture product.

SPEAKER_03 (18:40):
Like a vendor.
Oh, we've well, we uh we werefortunate there's a guy named
Dennis Rice, who's not aliveanymore, but he lived here in
Hutchinson, Kansas, and and wewe would go down to the uh
furniture market in uh can'tthink of the name of the town in
uh Tupelo, Mississippi.
And we'd go to that furnituremarket and we you're right, some
of the some of the some of thelines were just not feasible for

(19:02):
rent on, but we'd go down andwe'd find whatever we could and
and uh we'd get it shipped uphere and it worked quite well
for a lot of years.
I think not too long after thatthat that market closed.
But it's uh we had we had reallygood luck with that.
And then of course we sourcedsome furniture.
There was actually a a a littlewell swear Angie opened her that
store up in Newton, there was aa bedding factory there, so we

(19:25):
bought we bought mattresses fromthem, so we had furniture and
mattresses and coffee and endtables and all that stuff, and
that that worked real well forseveral years.
And uh, and then as of course,as time went along, a lot of the
a lot of the vendors realizedthey were kind of missing some
opportunity with rent owned andwe got to where we get a lot
better, a lot better furniture,a lot more furniture, a little
more reasonable price.

(19:46):
And and so here we are.

SPEAKER_01 (19:48):
You know, it's it's a crazy story because there's
always that one, right?
You go in there and everybody'sgot their door shut.
And that one person opens thatdoor just a little bit to rent
to own, and all of a sudden it'slike, wait a minute, we've been
missing the boat for how long?
And and then it's like if you ifyou would have just given me the
trust from ahead of time andjust, you know, this is a
business transaction, I will buyit regardless of the situation.

(20:10):
Money's money, right?
So, you know, you invoice me,I'll take care of it, and let me
sell it on the on my end andoffer great products to our
customers.
I d I never understood that.
That was something that I as Icame in, we really didn't have
those issues.
I think everybody was willing tosell the rent-on depending on
the situation.

SPEAKER_03 (20:25):
I'm glad that we have you go to some of those
shows and and if you told the uhthe vendor represented that you
were you're in the rent-onbusiness, they'd hardly talk to
you.
And they that's gotten a lotthat's gone away now, but that's
kind of what you had to dealwith back then.

SPEAKER_01 (20:41):
Well, nowadays we would just want to make sure
that uh we got the great stylesthat we need nowadays, right?
I mean, we don't want anybody tofall behind.
So as you're going through theyears, what are some of the
product categories?
And the three of you guys canchime in on this, what are some
of the product categories thatyou thought were a little bit
different or kind of createdthat I would say viral.
It wasn't viral back then, butyou know, you brought something

(21:01):
in, you're like, that was a hit.
That was something that reallykind of changed the way vendors
looked at us, that was changedthe way customers kind of walked
in a store.
So you have one of those.
That's what I'm talking about.
I like that.
And and what were some of thosethings that you guys can
remember starting off and untilnow?

SPEAKER_00 (21:17):
I I think and like the very first thing that that
would have been initially whendad was had gone from Curtis
Mathis over to Mike's Rent toOwn.
Uh, he had a movie club.
Um and that came along with VCRsand camcorders.
The camcorders, you know, thegame systems, I think was right

(21:37):
after that with like a Nintendo64.

SPEAKER_02 (21:40):
Well, the original, the original Nintendo, yeah.
Before that.

SPEAKER_00 (21:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (21:44):
Um that was a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 (21:47):
You know, then kind of pushing the envelope forward
a little bit, providing accessto customers for game systems,
um, of course, tires, cellphones, things like that.
That um has been has verybeneficial, not just for us, of
course, but for the customer aswell.

SPEAKER_02 (22:07):
I remember uh the first time that we got laptops
in the store.
And I remember a conversationthat that we had about laptops
and renting them, and somebodysaid, which you've hear you'll
hear other people talk aboutthis too, but somebody said,
Well, gosh, you're gonna rent toown a laptop, they're gonna put
it in their car and drive itaround.

(22:27):
I mean, that's not like a sofa.
Right.
We said, really, Dad, you said,I think, well, gosh, but what
happens if they rent it from usand they don't do that?
What happens if they rent it andthey pay us and it works great?
And I I just now imagine, likewe're so far past uh computers
now.
I mean, that's that's just anormal thing.

(22:48):
But imagine if you didn't havethose kinds of of products in
your rent-to-one store now.
It's it's just a now it's just anormal every of course we have
that.
Of course we have Apple, ofcourse we have, you know,
whatever gaming computer you youwant.
Of course we have thePlayStation.
It that you know, uh I don't Idon't know how many years ago it

(23:09):
it is now, but there was a timewhere that was not normal.
And we we really figured outfairly early on that you know,
it was really more about whatthe customer needed and what the
customer wanted, you know,instead of, well, this brown
sofa, this brown recliner, thisblue recliner, those are

(23:30):
rent-to-owned products andnothing else is.
It's it's a basic washingmachine, it's a basic
refrigerator, for example.
We we figured out early on thatour customers wanted nice
things.
They didn't want the basic, youknow, brown sofa.
That's not what they wanted.
Right.
And and when we started focusingon what they were telling us,

(23:52):
that made a big difference,whether it was a laptop or or
different kinds of furniture orstep-up appliances or what
whatever it was.

SPEAKER_03 (23:59):
I think something helped us a lot back in those
days.
We and I don't know what year itwas, we started running a
running a commercial.
It basically said, Yeah, yourent anything, you know, tell us
what you want, we'll get it foryou.
And uh distinctly rememberrunning this commercial that
said, you know, we'll rentanything if if we don't have it,
we'll get it for you.
And if we can't get it for you,you don't need it.

SPEAKER_01 (24:22):
Well, you know, going off subject a little bit
to stay in staying where you'reat.
I remember seeing a socialmedia, uh, a couple of
commercials on social media withyou and Angela kind of talking
about the Black Friday deals andwhat's going on.
And that was a little bit, I wasa little bit off the cuff, but
it was it was great.
It was like kind of just showingyour personalities and and what
you guys offer.
And I think you said that exactthing.

(24:44):
It's like if we don't have it,you don't need it.
Uh I love, I love the kind of Ilove that tagline, by the way.
Just wanted to just wanted tosay that.
You never know what what Mikegets said.
You know, Michael, talking aboutthings that stood out to me
during that time frame when wewere trying to figure out what
would work and what wouldn'twork, because there was a lot of
things out there that, you know,even as being the entrepreneurs
that that rent to own had, therewere questions like if I put it

(25:05):
out there and it's not somethingthat's nailed down or something
that, you know, two people haveto carry, where is it gonna go?
And I think the first productthat came out that I was really
like into trying to figure outand how would it stick.
And I hope I don't get it wrongbecause I don't remember.
I believe it was an iPod, likean iPod Touch.
It kind of came out with thatthat big wheel and it basically
just had a black and whitescreen that you can put like a
million songs on.
And back then that was justlike, oh my God, I can't believe

(25:26):
that I have this.
But you know, I was, I wasworried.
We carried like the big one, theiPod, and it was like the the
iPod, uh, there was a smallerone and there was like a nano or
something like that.
He's really small.
And so when they came in, I thefirst, I'm not gonna lie, I was
on that boat and I was thinking,oh my God, you know, somebody's
gonna, they're gonna rent thisand I'm never gonna see them
again.
And then actually, the crazypart of that is, like you said,

(25:47):
the other side of that was itsold so fast, which is something
that I I never saw coming.
And at the at that time, Applewasn't the Apple that we know
now.
I mean, Steve Jobs was stillalive, but it was like an iPad
or an iTouch, not the samething.
I mean, we're talking abouttheir infancy and it took off.
And like we were trying to getall the weird colors that they
started carrying and all the,and it was like everybody didn't

(26:09):
know where it was gonna land,but it took off so fast that you
know, eventually we startedgetting into the iPods and then
the iPhones and all, and it waslike, how do we even question
that this was a good idea?
You know, when your customerswant it that bad, it's just a
move that you've got to make.
So, you know, I've got I've gota question because you mentioned
Tupelo.
Did you guys ever go to Tupelowith dad?

SPEAKER_02 (26:29):
No.
We didn't we didn't start starttraveling to shows until I don't
know, it was quite a quite awhile after that.
I don't you know, we were justwe were, you know, for quite a
while, Pete, we were stilltrying to figure out where the
light switches were and justjust how to operate.
We didn't need we didn't need togo anywhere and and and he
probably needed to go somewherejust to you know get away from

(26:51):
us for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
Well was Tupelo like Mike, was Tupelo like going to
like let's say North Carolina,like High Point?
Was it like that?

SPEAKER_03 (27:00):
Well, there's a lot like Las Vegas.
I I never did go to uh uh NorthCarolina, more like Vegas.
Yeah.
Uh not as big as Vegas, but thething about uh Tupelo, you you
you know, we drove down there,it's like a 10-hour drive from
here, and you'd pull in andyou'd see like probably 15 or 20
Curtis Mathis uh tractor trailertrucks lined up out in front of

(27:23):
it.
And and it's it's you justbasically go ahead and walk
around.
I I I bought a lot of mostlyfurniture down there uh a long
time ago.
But then then I I think I thinkit went out of business when Las
Vegas opened.
And so it's just uh it I assumeit's not there anymore.
But mainly the thing that seemeduh, you know, not to change the

(27:43):
subject, the thing that seemedto help me the most was, you
know, I started going to Apriland Trib and and and you almost
every show I went to, I wouldI'd learn I would learn one or
two good ideas.
And and a lot of times it someof the time anyway, it wasn't
necessarily just about what youwould learn.
A lot of times you'd learn aboutyou'd learn what to do, but
sometimes you'd learn what notto do.

SPEAKER_01 (28:04):
And so isn't that just as valuable?

SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
Yeah.
Oh so if it wasn't for it wasn'tfor Tribb and April, and for
sure Trib, I've you know, I'dprobably be here today.
I mean, I've I've learned a lotof those shows.
And and of course, as time wentby, I've I got lazy, so they go
now.
But uh and you know, sooner orlater, you know, I've I remember
the first time I went to LasVegas, it was really exciting,
but after you go there, I don'tknow how many times I've been

(28:28):
there, too many.
And uh so I I don't get thatexcited about it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 (28:31):
But the last time that I went to the Las Vegas
winter market, it was uh it wasan opportunity to see a lot of
things that I hadn't seen inRent to Own.
I don't know if I would bringall of it into Rent to Own, but
you know, then I go back to whatyou said, Michael.
Is that the idea that kept usfrom growing, right?
So I definitely wanted to go andsee a lot of the things that
they had over there.
And let me tell you, I I sawsome amazing things.
I did see some of our oldfriends, you know, Ashley was

(28:54):
there and a lot of the other uhgroups that we have were there,
but I absolutely loved it.
It's crazy to see furniture inthat many.
I mean, there's floors andfloors and floors of furniture.
I I mean it was just the mostmind-boggling thing that I've
ever seen uh as far as furnituregoes.
So I I actually I I absolutelyloved it.

(29:14):
It was a great time.
You know, talking about bigtowns and little towns.
You guys have seemed to reallybeen able to dominate medium to
small towns.
That's that's what I mean, youhave these amazing stores, and
are are are any of them inreally big cities, or have you
just stayed in more rural areaswhere you know how to really
maintain the rent out?

SPEAKER_00 (29:33):
Well, I think um, I mean, I think you're in Florida.
We're in Kansas.
I don't know if you've been toKansas before, but um most
things in Kansas are rural andsmall.
We don't have a lot of bigcities to compete.
But um, you know, the uh themainly, I mean, like we when
when dad opened, he chose a townthat was fairly small.

(29:56):
And we've really made aconscious effort to keep our
footprint where we can havequick, easy access to our
customers as well as our uhco-workers and made it something
where it's you know a 30-minutedrive, a 45-minute drive kind of
max from each one of ourlocations to make it very

(30:17):
simple.
And that just happens to be thefootprint where we follow along,
happen to be small tomedium-sized towns, really.

SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
Is that part of the success, would you say?
Keeping it very close andpersonal to the people that that
you your clients?

SPEAKER_00 (30:34):
Sure.
Absolutely.
I don't think that the the sizeof the town specifically or how
large the town is is, you know,can be correlated with the with
the success of rent to own.
I think the majority of thepeople in our industry, you
know, whether they got into thebusiness via family, we're all
extremely tight knit with ourcustomers.

(30:56):
It's as you know, a relationshipbusiness.
And the majority of ourcustomers are, you know, we see
generation after generation comethrough our stores.
Some of them have watched mybrother and I grow up, and some
of them we're watching them growup as well and have gone through
relationships with them.
And so I think it's more, morethat.
I think it's the personality,how you treat your customers.

(31:18):
I think that's more the successof it and really giving our
customers a place to come,whether they're they're coming
to just kind of hang out andchit-chat, because some of them
still do that, or they're comingto a place that, you know,
you're not gonna tell them no.
You're gonna find a way to rentto them.
Unfortunately, a lot of them areare used to hearing the word no.

(31:40):
Fortunately for us, we get to bethe ones to tell them yes.
So I think that it's more thatas opposed to the size of the
town.

SPEAKER_02 (31:47):
Yeah, you know, another thing about that and
being being told no, no a lotfor a lot of our customers is
that if when they're in a asmaller town, they're they're
already underserved.
A lot of them don't have, youknow, they don't have they don't
some of these tiny towns theydon't have a grocery store to go
to.
What are they gonna do to get arefrigerator?

(32:07):
And we're able to help them geta refrigerator or a TV or a
PlayStation or or what whateverit is they want, or whatever it
is that they they need for theirhouse.
I mean, if you if you live in arural part of the state of
Kansas, you don't you don'tdrive right down the street,
stop at your Starbucks, and thengo to the you know, the big box
store to pick out yourrefrigerator.
You you come and see us.

(32:29):
And uh and the reason why theycome see us is because of the
the relationships that we'veworked over the years to build
and because we treat them rightand because, like Angie Sam, we
we say yes and we find ways toget them what they need.

SPEAKER_01 (32:41):
Well, the reason I bring it up, and I agree with
you 100%, Michael, I I 100%agree with what you're saying,
and Angela.
I think you guys are making agreat point.
Uh I do know that in Florida wehave some big cities that are
suffering.
They're not doing as well asthey could have been uh in and
different or other time framesas they are now.
2025 has has been a little hard,the end of 2024, going to 2025.

(33:03):
Uh, and you know, I'll just sayit out loud, post-COVID years
were not as easy as it wasbefore.
There was a huge increase in insales and customers, and then
afterwards it's ended up alittle hard.
I've actually seen a few storesclose this year, unfortunately.
Well, where I've seen that thelarger areas, the city areas
that have kind of declined alittle bit, they're doing a lot

(33:24):
more consolidation.
So you instead of seeing two orthree stores, you'll see one
larger store.
But then in the rural areas,they've actually managed to grow
through 2025 and maintain verywell.
And I I've I've met a couple ofyoung-minded entrepreneurs that
are like, I don't know if I wantto open in the city right now.
I think finding those niches outthere and being closer to the

(33:46):
customers, like you're saying,if there's a big drive between
where you are and where you needto be to get what you need, and
we can kind of interrupt that,and we can intercept that where
we don't just have one thing.
I mean, there's the applianceside, there's the electronic
side, there's the computer side,there's the furniture side.
There's a huge place to put yourfoothold right in between where

(34:08):
they're going and where theyare.
And not only that, therelationship, like you said,
when you build thatrelationship, what are they
coming back for?
Well, pretty much everything atthat point.
I mean, we have game systems torefrigerators, whatever you
need, like Mike says, if wecan't get it, you don't need it,
right?
Or just one of those situationswhere I I love that statement
because it's exactly true.
So that's why I bring it up.
I mean, I think some of thecities would kind of fare

(34:30):
better.
Maybe we they need to watch thisepisode and find out what's
going on.

SPEAKER_03 (34:34):
But so you mentioned being close to your customers.
You know, when when you businesswhen you've been in business
this long, and you you have youget developed a lot of pretty
close friends.
Well, once in a while,unfortunately, one of them
passes away.
And so if it was somebody I waspretty close to, I'd try to go
to their funeral.
And I'm mentioning that youwould you would be shocked
probably that how many customersI've gotten from just going to

(34:57):
somebody's funeral and they seeme there, and they they come in
and say, Boy, I reallyappreciate you going to my dad's
funeral.
And and that's happened moretimes than I care to remember,
but it's that's the kind ofrelationship we you develop with
some of these customers.

SPEAKER_01 (35:12):
Well, we're hoping that they're gonna respect us.
And in return, you go ahead anddo something like honoring their
family by not going over thereand and and handing out business
cards, but just saying, hey,we're here to to support you in
your time of need.
That speaks volumes, right?
In return, where are they gonnago?
They're gonna want to pay backin kindness, so to speak.

SPEAKER_02 (35:31):
Well, really, really what it what it is, well, what
he's what he's really sayingthere is that it's it's about
how you treat the customer as aperson.
And the better you treat themand show them respect, now
that's just coming back to you.
Exactly.
Absolutely.
In a lot of cases,unfortunately, some of our

(35:51):
customers don't get that.
And I don't like that.
You know, I like that we do agreat job of that, but I don't
like when I hear that customersof ours go somewhere else and
don't don't get the same respectthat they deserve.
One of the things I think thatum I learned a long, long time
ago from my dad was that everyperson that walks you encounter

(36:13):
that walks into your store thatyou deal with wherever you, you
know, their their dollar bill isthe same color as yours.
And they they they have to workvery hard to get it just like
you do.
And if if you remember that, youknow, you're gonna treat them
the right way.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (36:29):
You know, talking about community, talking about
the people in our communities,from what I understand, you guys
are very involved with thecommunities that you serve.
There's something called stuffthe trucks.
How does how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 (36:44):
Trucks is something uh the you know, we have some
fun doing where it's a matter ofparking uh one of our delivery
trucks at the Walmart doors andreally stuffing the trucks with
canned goods and food.
Um wow.
For uh the food banks.
Additionally, I think that youknow, one thing uh I think maybe

(37:07):
you brought up COVID a littlebit ago that I really noticed
during COVID was a lot of thelong, like the long lines that
were around some of the schools,the elementary schools around
here of people that were liningup just to get food.
And that was something thatreally resonated with me.

SPEAKER_01 (37:22):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (37:23):
You know, the the amount of kids that go to school
and they're getting, you know, afree lunch at school.
And then on the weekends, youknow, people are they're sending
food home with them so thatthey're sure to have food for
the weekend.
That's something that um, youknow, we've we've done a lot in
our communities of just tryingto give to to our local food
banks for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (37:43):
That well, I I gotta say, guys, that's amazing.
I mean, just the thought aloneof being able to be out there
and just give back to thecommunities that we serve.
You know, it goes back to whatyou said, Michael.
You respect the customer, yougive them that respect, you show
them that respect.
And it's not always about, youknow, you shop with me, so let
me, you know, then I'll do this.
It's just a respect all the wayaround.
You respect the community, thecommunity will come back and

(38:04):
serve it.
I love that idea.
So as you're doing this, wheredid the ideas come from?
Mike, was it from you that youwanted to serve the communities?
You wanted to give back?
Is there other things that youguys do as well?

SPEAKER_03 (38:15):
Well, we we do a lot of things.
Of course, I I think I mentionedearlier weeks, I don't I was
always I was always getting somekind of an idea from Tribb or
April.
And you see, I used to be adealer out in western Kansas.
He's he's retired now.
The Kenny Spaniards, probably alot of a lot of guys know who he
is.
I'd go out and we'd talk and I'dI'd see him at shows.
We get a lot of good ideas.
Of course, he's he was in a townsmaller than Hutchinson, and so

(38:38):
we'd we just come up withdifferent ideas as and you know,
some of them work, some of themdidn't.
But we, you know, we did a lotof things with us with the
schools, and uh, you know, Ithink each Christmas we'd come
up with a bicycle for differentkids and and uh that type of
thing.
And it's it's just somethingthat pops in your head once in a
while and you you try it out.
You know, some of some of thestuff we did year in and year

(39:00):
out, and and they and theyexpect you to do it.
And of course, you you know, alot of high school kids come in
for donations to their towhatever they're having, and we
always try that.
So it it uh it comes it comesback to to help you out.
And uh and it doesn't cost you alot of money, really.

SPEAKER_01 (39:17):
So you know, I've heard you mention April a couple
of times, and I know that we'regonna kind of get into the back
everybody's background herebecause uh we're kind of I mean,
it's at that point.
You're a 40-plus year member ofAPRO.
I mean, even your membership isa legendary status at this point
in time.
You've mentioned it quite a lotquite a lot over four decades.
You've been involved in TRIP,you're involved in the Ken

(39:40):
Kansas Rental DealerAssociation.
Can we start there?
What how important to you and toyou guys is being a part of the
Kansas Rental DealerAssociation?

SPEAKER_00 (39:50):
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks for asking.
Well, listen, obviously, likeyou mentioned earlier, rent to
own really got its start in thestate of Kansas over in Wichita,
Kansas.
And so I think having theability to kind of carry that
message on and more so at state,uh, state level is pretty darn

(40:10):
cool.
I'm very grateful to uh continuethe to be the president of the
state rental dealersassociation.
But more so, you know, dadmentioned Kenny.
And I think that in speakingabout our state rental dealers
association, um, and reallyregarding the the political side

(40:31):
of it, um, we're really blessedin our state to be very close to
um a lot of our uh uh statesenators, but more so is Jim
Brown.
Jim Brown is somebody, he'sretired probably what, two,
three years ago, not very longago, but Jim Brown was really
somebody who, you know, Inumerous times would call and

(40:54):
make sure that I knew when thelegislative conference was going
to be happening, make sure thatI was calling um, you know, on
our congressmen, um, makingdonations, you know, doing
anything and everything uh thatall of us could to have a
positive relationship with themand make sure that they really
understood um the truth aboutrent to own.

(41:16):
I think that there's a lot ofum, you know, things that are
out there that are mistruthsabout our industry, which is
obviously additional why we'reall kind of here today is to to
kind of lay some groundwork andsome background as to, you know,
what we are and what we canprovide for not just our
communities, but one another aswell.

(41:37):
Uh, but Jim Brown has beensomebody that's been a huge part
of our industry.

SPEAKER_01 (41:43):
Well, you know, kind of talking about April and
talking about the Kansas RentalDealer Association, you play a
lot of roles in that.
But what made you decide that asyou were growing up you wanted
to stay in rental?
Because you you actually wentout to do something else, right?
Are you did you go into nursing?
Is that is that right?

SPEAKER_00 (42:02):
Yeah, I went into nursing, but I, you know, I got
a phone call from my brother.
Um it was a very uh pivotal uhmoment for me.
Um that he really, you know,said verbatim, you need to
really consider coming backunder the family umbrella.

(42:23):
You know, I I tried, we bothtried to not do rent to own, not
because we didn't love it, butmore so because it seemed like
it was the easy way out.
You know, it would be like,okay, we really didn't go out
and try to experience somethingelse.
But um, you know, we came backat a at a a young age, you know.

(42:47):
And um, I mean, honestly, likeit's the best job in the world,
right?
To be able to come to work everyday and be able to work
alongside my dad and my brother.
You know, we're pretty lucky tobe able to do so.
Um it's uh, you know, I continueand so does my brother.
Uh, we continue to learnsomething about rent to own,

(43:10):
about how to handle something,or um, you know, bouncing ideas
off of dad every single day.
Um, and so I think for that inand of itself, it's not work for
us.
It's fun.
We have fun.
Um, and every single day is isdifferent.

SPEAKER_01 (43:29):
All right, Michael.
So what happened?
What was behind the phone callthat you were like, hey, pants
on fire, let's get come, yougotta come back.
No, I'm just kidding.
But what I mean, what what wasbehind the phone call that that
that made such a difference?

SPEAKER_02 (43:41):
Well, I mean, I'm I was ahead of her because I'm I'm
a couple of years old.
Five, five years old.
Five years older.
I gotcha.
And so I first came back, I wentout and tried a a a bunch of
different things and and reallylearned a lot about uh I learned
a lot about business.
It's funny when you said earlierlearning some things what not to

(44:02):
do.
I learned a lot about, you know,from places that I I had worked
about what what doesn't work.
And then I also realized reallyquickly that I didn't want
someone else to be responsiblefor my success.
I so I live I live in Wichitaand uh there's a you know a lot
of aircraft manufacturing there,for example.

(44:24):
A lot of people, you know, goand and and work in those
factories and then they show upto work one day and they're
like, yeah, we're laying all youguys off.
And then, you know, they're on alayoff for, you know, whatever,
three months, and then it's youknow, then they're back again
and everything's great.
I I just knew that I didn't wantto do that.
So I I came back um first andand started started started

(44:46):
working, and we opened up astore.
Uh, and then I don't know howlong I did that before I called,
I I called you, but that's whenI sort of, you know, I figured
out that you know, this can workand we can't there there there
was a lot of opportunity here,but but we needed we needed

(45:07):
help.
You know, really is what it was.
And Angie uh at the time, uh, Idon't know, were you living down
in Oklahoma?

SPEAKER_00 (45:15):
Yeah.
Yeah I mean it was it was prettyuh you know, I think at the time
we wanted to be able to grow ourbusiness um and made it a little
difficult to do so if you didn'treally have the people.
Right.
And so at that time it was itwas Angie's kind of like a last
resort, is that what she is?

SPEAKER_03 (45:37):
I mean, I didn't want to say that.

SPEAKER_00 (45:39):
Wow, and now it's just out there out there on the
RTO podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (45:44):
Okay, so let's find out.
When you called her to comeback, and and Angela, when you
came back, how many stores werethere compared to what there is
now?

SPEAKER_00 (45:53):
There were three.
And so, see, Pete, whathappened?

SPEAKER_01 (45:56):
So, so 11 stores later, here we are, right?
So I don't know.
I think it was a good call.
I think it was a good call,Mike.
You're gonna reach out and phonesomebody and they come back and
help to help the familybusiness.
You know, Dad has got 40 plusyears in April.
He's mentioned it three or fourtimes.
With you, Angela and Michael,how important is April to you
guys as far, I mean, Mike hasseen the importance.

(46:20):
He's seen, you know, thecamaraderie, the ability to go
and see people that, you know,hey, I don't understand her, so
I need help with this, or maybeoffer some kind of, you know,
there was in 40 years, I knowMike, that you know a lot of
things that maybe other peopledidn't know that maybe you were
able to help them.
How is it important to you guysnow to be a part of April?
And have you seen the samebenefits that Mike has?

SPEAKER_00 (46:40):
Yes.
I think that the, I think that,you know, really April and
Tribb, in my opinion, theyshare, I mean, really a lot of
the same membership.
And I think that the, you know,we we talked earlier a little
bit about our customer side ofit and how we have, you know,
generation after generationcoming through our stores.

(47:02):
The people that that Michael andI have been introduced to from
our dad at the April shows, atTrib, at meet like an RTO world
type of an event, they've becomeour family.
It's, you know, I think thatthat's something that more most
people say something about thatin our industry.

(47:23):
We're all very close.
You know, like I we were just onthe phone earlier with Dan
Fisher.
We've we've talked to MikeTissett today, Sean Rush.
Like we're all just very KevinSilvers.

SPEAKER_01 (47:35):
Who doesn't talk to Kevin Silvers, right?

SPEAKER_00 (47:38):
But like it were just a very tight industry.
So a lot of the people that, youknow, dad would come back and
mention, you know, I heard, youknow, Chris Bolin mention this,
Len Leach mentioned that.
Like he would mention thosenames to us.
And then here we are going toshows and we're surrounded with

(47:58):
those people, we're havingconversations with them,
bouncing ideas off of them.
And so I think for me, some ofthose names and some of those
people in our industry arepeople that, you know,
instinctively being, you know, adaughter, my dad mentions a
name.
Therefore, they're on a pedestalin my head, and and rightfully

(48:19):
so.
So I think we're able to learnso many things from from those
primarily men outside of, youknow, Cynthia.

SPEAKER_01 (48:29):
Well, I'm glad you said that because we're gonna
we're gonna talk about you injust a minute being one of the I
wouldn't say few females, butone of the one of the females in
the rent-home industry becauseit is a highly dominated male
industry, and I'm I'm I'm gladto see you here.
You know, talking about family,Mike, be honest.
You can tell me the truth.
What is it like?
What is it like working withyour children?
What is it like working withthem and watching them kind of

(48:51):
go up through the ranks and youknow, making a phone call and
popping out 11 stories later?
Like, what is that like?
How is that feeling?
If it's bad, you can't you can'tmy fault.
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (49:03):
We can edit this by long.
Yeah, somebody had to do it.
No, you know, I I really feellike I'm fortunate because
there's a lot of dealers outthere that uh, you know, not too
far down the road, they're gonnawant to get out of this, out of
the business.
Even Jim Brown, when he got outof the business, there was
nobody to take it over, so he hebasically just sold it.
So I'm fortunate that I havesomebody that, you know, I I let

(49:24):
them run this business now for Idon't know how many years, quite
a while.
But I I just quit going to theshows and let them do so they
know what to do.
And so it's it's it's I'm reallyfortunate I have somebody can
take it over when I decide toretire.
I retire every night, but I getthat question a lot.
But uh it's uh you know, it'sit's like any family.

(49:44):
Sometimes you have somedisagreements and sometimes most
of the time everything runs realslow.
So it's it's been it's beengood.
It's been uh like I say, I'vebeen fortunate.

SPEAKER_01 (49:53):
And uh Well, let's turn that around.
Let's flip that over.
Guys, honestly, what is it likeworking with dad?
Not not in the past, right?
We've all we've all kind ofgrown up, we've kind of got to
where we are now.
What is it really like to work?
And I I I wish I could say this.
I honestly could.
How is it like working withsomebody that has been in the
business for over 40 years, thathas had the ability to start

(50:16):
something and then maintain itover a long period?
I mean, I know Fortune 500companies that haven't lasted
this long.
So it's a it's a testament tothe fact that it's gotten this
long, it's grown to where it'sat.
What is it like working withdad?
Good, bad, or indifferent?
What is it like working withdad?

SPEAKER_02 (50:31):
We always look at each other like I don't it's
it's it's it's it's great.
Uh we have a lot of fun and weare we are terribly fortunate
that we get to do it everysingle day.
It's also, I'll tell you, it's alot of pressure because he
started and built a you know, hesort of he sort of covered up or

(50:53):
or glossed over some of thegetting started stuff here.
When when they when they firstgot got started, not only were
they doing deliveries after weclosed, but for the first few
months, they were sleeping inthe back of the store.
It was like they couldn't afforda a place to stay.
Starting a business from zero,from nothing, very hard, and uh,

(51:14):
and he has built a uh what weconsider to be a great business.
We don't want to uh we don'twant to screw it up for lack of
a better way to put it.
So there's a little pressurethere.
But I you know, over the years,he's taught us really, really,
really well.
And uh maybe in spite of some ofus sometimes not really doing
the best job picking up whathe's saying, but we finally, we

(51:37):
finally figured it outeventually eventually.
But it is it is uh there's a lotto be said for getting to go to
work with your with your withyour family every day.
Um and you know, also I I workwith my sister every day.
You know, that's that's greattoo.
Uh it's it is hard sometimesbecause from time to time, from
time to time, he is wrong.

SPEAKER_00 (51:57):
That does not happen very often.

SPEAKER_01 (51:59):
Well, that was gonna be the third question is what is
it like working with a sibling?
Because it's not the same asworking with dad or or somebody
that, you know, a paternal ormaternal somebody.
This is a this is a siblinghere.

SPEAKER_00 (52:12):
It is a sibling, and thank you for pointing that out.
That I am the younger sibling,Pete.
And uh, but really what dadmeant to say was between the
three of us, and Michael leftout was that I am the humor.
I bring the humor the tinyest ofthe bunch, but I think in all
seriousness, it's it is uh anincredible amount of pressure, I

(52:36):
think.
Like what Michael said to beable to continue on what dad has
built.
Um but at the same time, I let'sredundant, continue on as we
continue.
Thank you.
Uh continue.
Dad was already built, but I Ialso think that you know, if I

(52:58):
was gonna have somebody, thereare there are people that that
do the same thing that we do,um, that that their you know
father has left them thebusiness, if you will.
Um and it can be very lonely tonot have somebody to really
bounce ideas off of.
And it can be very uh anincredible challenge.

(53:20):
Thankfully, you know, thepartner that I get to have is
somebody who I grew up with.
Uh, we know each other's flaws,we know each other's strengths.
And, you know, that can that canbe both positive uh and
negative.
Uh, but I think it the the goodthing about it is that I
wouldn't I wouldn't want tohave, you know, if if if dad

(53:43):
wasn't here, I wouldn't want tohave anybody else be my partner
uh in growing the business.
Um we we work very well off ofone another.
Um and you know, it's we're veryopen and extremely blunt with
one another, with our with ouropinions.

SPEAKER_02 (54:00):
Well I'd say, sorry, Pete, is that is that, and I
think Angie, you mentioned itearlier.
We genuinely love coming to workevery single day.
Like, like, I mean, we are atwork, but this is what we love
to do, and we want to figure outhow to make make this work or
fix this or see what we can dowith that.
And and both of us, I I think, Ithink that comes from being

(54:25):
raised in a in a trueentrepreneur, you know, mindset
from the time we, you know,certainly as far back as as I
can remember, um, which which isreally, really what uh that's
where this business really comesfrom, right?
Is is him or or other rentaldealers deciding, hey, I'm gonna
go off on my own, I'm gonna seeif I can make this work.
And and being an entrepreneur ishard.

(54:47):
Starting a small business ishard, but you know, there's a
reason why we do hard things.
And we both love coming to workand seeing what we can do.
I mean, we just we just love it.
So we are very, very fortunatethat we get to do it, but we
have a we have a really goodtime when we do it.
Well, I got to say half hats offto you guys.

SPEAKER_01 (55:06):
Because I think if me and my brothers were all in a
room and we were the onesleading the company, the only
thing I can say that would comegreat out of that situation is
that working with a sibling,regardless of whether you agree
or disagree, you have the trust.
And if they're saying somethingthat you don't agree with, it's
not because I don't like you.
This is stupid.
It's more like I really believethat there's something here that
either doesn't, it does, youknow, one plus one doesn't equal

(55:28):
two at this moment, or I reallywould need you to see it from
this point of view because it'sit's a real thing.
It's not just an ego thing.
It's not just a, hey, I don'tagree with you because I don't
agree with you.
It's really a, hey, let's getour minds together because I I
really see this in a differentlight.
Let's work on this better.
Mike, you never told me that youspent the nights in the back
room of this thing.
You kind of left that out aswe're thumbing through the

(55:49):
legend series here.
How did that work?
I mean, what what was what washappening at that point that you
were like, hey, I'm uh, youknow, I mean, it it speaks
volumes to say this is not goingto beat me no matter what.
But what was going on then thatyou had this you had that going
on?

SPEAKER_03 (56:04):
Well, we you know, we we moved to Hutchinson and we
left we basically left our ourfamily in St.
Louis and Fred left his familyin Springfield, and and we we
came out here and we we gotstarted a little quicker than
what we planned, and we and wedidn't have a we hadn't rented
an apartment and and then astime went, you know, in the
first probably three months, wefor us we spent a lot of money.

(56:29):
And and then and the thebuilding we rented had had an
upstairs and a uh you knowshower and a washer and dryer,
all that kind of stuff.
And uh that was a decision wemade because we we basically
needed the money.
And then after uh, you know,probably four or five or six
months, uh there was an a apretty nice apartment building,
believe it or not, right next toour store.

(56:51):
And there was a uh there was apretty good suit from right
across the street.
So we rented one of thoseapartments next door and we just
kept going from there.
And then sooner or later, we ofcourse we had more money, and we
bought a house and uh and andjust went from there.

SPEAKER_02 (57:07):
Tell Pete what the mortgage rate was on your house
because we talked about itearlier.

SPEAKER_03 (57:10):
Yeah, the mortgage rate on our house at that time
was 14.7.
I always remember the first veryfirst payment I made on that
house.
I think the payment was$500 andsome dollars.
And I made the payment and fourdollars of that five hundred and
some.

SPEAKER_01 (57:27):
You know, I've got to say that there are a lot of
blessings that have been passeddown through the years.
I can tell you that I somehowlucked out.
I'm out of 3.5% on my house, andeven you know, even that is like
a miracle.
I see some of the guys now thatare getting into like seven
percent, and I'm going, oh myGod, 14%.
But you know what?
It's things like that is youknow, I I was talking to Whalen

(57:52):
Russell and and uh or RussellWhalen, and he said that you
know what's worse than that,having no money at all, not
having the ability to do it,right?
So you take what you you know atthe time, you take what you can.
If you really want to build it,you're gonna take what you can,
you're gonna make the most ofit.
And in the end, 44 years later,14 stores later, two airs later,

(58:16):
you kind of show up when youneed to show up for work later.
I mean, it's that because you'veearned that.
You've worked your way to thatpoint.
That's not something that's, youknow, it's it's not, it's easily
said and very, very hard to do.
And, you know, going throughthat, it's one of those things.
I mean, to say that you've beenable to accomplish so much to
keep it going, to have it in thefamily, to be well known in the

(58:39):
communities, to be a part ofApril and Trib for as long as
you have, to be able toliterally sit here with you
know, and and I'm not sayingthat all the legends can't do
that, but I haven't had anylegends that have their, you
know, their children or siblingssitting together.
It it they don't.
I mean, that is a testament tohow Mike's Rentone has made it

(58:59):
throughout the years.
But I do have to ask a question,and I I don't mean this in any
way, but I do want to ask, wheredid the name Mike's Rentone come
from?
I see Renison or I see I seeyour own eyes.
Mike's just like, hey, this ismy spot, right?
Is that is that how it happened?
This is Mike's Rentone.
That's the way it is.

SPEAKER_03 (59:14):
Well, I think uh I can remember what what happened
is we when Curtis Smath wasfiled bankruptcy, they they uh
they sent us a rather rudeletter and said, Hey, you gotta
take all these signs down.
And uh, because they were theywere selling what was left of it
to uh someplace in China, and uhwe had to come up with a name
real quick.
And uh and I'd been to a coupleof marketing seminars and stuff,

(59:36):
and the concept was you need tokeep it, you don't need to
advertise the name Curtis Mathislike we had been.
You don't need to advertiseZenith, you need to advertise
something that's a little morepersonal to the business.
So that's what I came.
I I put a lot of thought into,and that's that's what I came up
with.

SPEAKER_01 (59:52):
Uh I love it, I love it.
Nobody's gonna forget that.
Nobody's gonna forget that.
You know, talking about youguys, so I gotta know.
When you come together and youguys make decisions as you know
who you are in the business, howdo you settle the disagreements?
When Michael, you say it'sgreen, Angela, you say it's red,

(01:00:13):
how do we settle thosedisagreements?
Do we call dad?
Is it is it like, hey, let's puton the gloves, go in the next
room?
Like, how does it work?

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:19):
I don't remember having a disagreement.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:21):
Yeah, that never happens.
The short answer is uh there um,you know, there a hundred
percent are disagreements.
It's it happens um, you know,every once in a while.
But no, I mean it if Michael andI have a disagreement uh you
know, in dad's office as anexample, um, dad's not really he

(01:00:46):
doesn't really chime in, uh, asmost parents kind of don't.
They just, you know, we figureit out, we talk through it, and
it really kind of boils down tothere are moments that we can
actually both be right.
And we tend to find um thatmiddle ground pretty easily.
Of course, it I mean itobviously it depends on what the

(01:01:09):
discussion is about, but for themost part, we we really are able
to find uh find the middleground for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:16):
No, Michael, she's said several times she's the
younger sibling.
Now, have you ever pulled outthe I'm the older brother, this
is how it's gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:24):
I'm just curious.
I'm just curious.
Well, I I try to not uh remindher of of my she did she does a
good enough job reminding methat I'm older, is I is I guess
what I would say.
But no, we we don't we do havedisagreements and we do uh uh
you know really butt heads on Idon't I don't know what the what

(01:01:45):
the topic would be, but butreally what we're doing there is
figuring it out and trying tofind the best way forward and
and and and the best decision.
And what we have figured outover the years as as we've been
as we've been doing this is thatyou have to have that discussion
and you have to have thosedisagreements to really find the

(01:02:06):
right answer in a lot of in alot of respects.
If it's if it's justcontinually, yeah, we're just
gonna do this and there andthere's no discussion and
there's no real serious thoughtto it, you can get in the weeds
really quickly.
And then I would also say thatevery now and again when we are,
it's not it doesn't happen somuch when we're we're talking
something through and we'retrying to come to the right

(01:02:27):
answer.
A lot of times when we're bothon the same page and we're
really coming up with somethingthat's a really bad decision,
which every now and againhappens, every now and again,
you know, dad will say, Yeah,maybe we ought to think a little
bit more about that.
That's what we'll get.
Uh so so really, you know, he helets us let us, you know, make

(01:02:51):
all the decisions, do what wefeel like we need to do, but
he's certainly there in thebackground when he needs to be
to keep us from doing somethingthat maybe we shouldn't do,
which, you know, has happenedfrom time to time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:02):
Well, Mike, this is something that I gotta know.
You've done it for 44 years.
You have great people, familytaking over the the, you know,
driving the reins now.
But what is the secret saucethat you can you can and it
doesn't have to be one thing,but what is that secret sauce
that you say, you know what,starting this many years ago,

(01:03:23):
kind of going through the ranks,the differences, the Henry B.
Gonzalez's, you know, everythingthat's been going on, the high
interest rates, what is thesecret sauce of making it, the
longevity, getting through it?
Is it bringing family on andmaking this a family affair?
What it what is your go-to tosay, do you know what, this is
what I've held on to for thelast four decades that has

(01:03:46):
helped bring me to this point?

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:48):
Oh, I think it's I don't think I know.
It's mainly you gotta have agood work ethic.
And then the other thing I'vealways gone by, uh I tried to
stick to is basically a phrasethat says, never give up and do
the best you can.
In fact, I have that tattoo onmy shoulder here.
I got in the military, but youknow, do the best job you can
and and go home at nightsatisfied you did the best you

(01:04:10):
could, and then don't don't beafraid to say you're wrong, and
don't for sure don't be afraidto take somebody else's advice.
So don't give up and just justkeep plugging along.
Next thing you know, it's 44years.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:23):
Well, let's talk about some of the
accomplishments that we've beenable to secure as far as being
the patriarch of the family andwho's been following.
Angela, you are the president ofthe the Kansas Rental Dealer
Association, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:35):
That's that is a fact.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:37):
That is that is factual.
What does that mean to you to bethe president?
Like I know we talked a bit alittle bit about it earlier.
What does it mean not only to bein it, but to be president in
the state that dad opened up hisfirst rent to own and now you
have 14 other locations or 13other locations?

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:54):
Well, I I think it's more the people that I get to
surround myself with, you know,on our board.
When I first uh was asked to bepresident, um, you know, Gloria
Holmeyer was over there, dad wasthere, Jim Brown and Sean Rush.
Sean Rush really took me underhis wing and really kind of

(01:05:15):
guided me through all of that.
He's a fellow Kansas UniversityJayhawk.
I'd like to point that out justin case John Cleek Jr.
is watching.
And we beat them just recently.
You don't need to edit that partoff, Pete.
But back to KRDA.

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:31):
John's gonna give you a call on that one.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:33):
Yes, you and I both.
I hope so.
Anyway, it is important.
It's it's nice to be able to bethe president, but also, you
know, once COVID kind ofhappened, we we'd kind of like
what you're describing.
We have some dealers that havehave really kind of disappeared
or they have retired.

(01:05:53):
But we are an incredibly tightknit state.
Uh, all of our dealers, we, youknow, we talk.
quite frequently uh with withthe majority of them, um whether
it's emailing or see them at theshow.
Um and we don't uh we don't havevery many, very many issues in
our state.

(01:06:14):
It's it's pretty nice to be ableto uh be the president, but more
so the fact that I think I'm Ithink it might just be me and uh
Sandy Fry.
I think we might be the only twofemale presidents.
I think that might be be true.
So I I I take pride in thataspect of it.

(01:06:35):
Given the fact that we're in amale dominated industry, that's
something that I I do take a lotof pride in.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:42):
Well I I see also you helped found the LEET
program.
You were mentioned in thewomen's forum as far as APRO
goes extremely doing extremelywell as far as representing the
female leadership in the RTOindustry and absolutely
appreciated.
But Michael is not to be outdonejust so that you know he didn't

(01:07:02):
just say you know Andrew's gonnatake the wheel on this one.
You're currently serving uh onthe APRO board Michael is that
right?
Yes.
So you're currently the is it avice president of this you were
you were the second vicepresident though, correct?
Second vice president this year,yeah.
Absolutely making it happen.
What is serving on the board,you know, dad holds April in

(01:07:23):
high regard I don't know if youknow that, but he has mentioned
that.
You are now serving on the boardof April.
What does it mean to you, toboth of you, to to have your son
on the board of April and alsofor you, Michael, to be on that
board.

SPEAKER_02 (01:07:35):
Well I'll go, I'll go first.
I think it's um first of allApril is very, very, very
important to us as you justmentioned because of everything
that it's it's done to help ourfamily and to help our family's
business.
It's also very important to ourindustry.
So it is is is something that Ijust just really uh wanted
wanted to be a part of if Icould that that's why I I

(01:07:59):
originally got on the board.
The other thing about being onthe board is that it's it's made
up of of a great group of peoplethat really want to do whatever
they can to help the rent to ownindustry.
And those are people that I liketo be around and that I want to
surround myself with.
So so really um it's it's uh I'mreally and and especially now

(01:08:22):
with with with Charles you knowrunning running Aid Pro that's
that's been a a big a bigpositive change and uh he's he's
really doing a lot of a a lot ofreally really great things for
the industry and and uh I'mreally really close with Dan
Fisher for example John CleekJr.'s on the board now uh it's
just a really good group ofpeople and and so I think I

(01:08:45):
think it gives me an opportunityto in some way give back to you
know an industry that hasfrankly given me everything and
so that's something that I'mgonna can continually be
interested in doing.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:58):
Well Michael I think you're doing a great job kudos
to you I will say that everytime I see the April board I
feel like I'm surrounded by theheads of state as I kind of feel
like you like these guys werepeople that I didn't have my dad
to talk to but the my managers,my regionals, my directors, my
VPs, you know, they wouldmention these names in passing I
have no idea who they're talkingabout.
And to actually go and see thesepeople firsthand to be able to

(01:09:21):
talk to them to hear how they'vehandled the industry for so long
their ideas moving forward whatit was that they brought to the
table it I mean it just I leavedumbfounded all the time.
Talking about prestige you wonthe Heritage Award.
You were awarded the HeritageAward, right?
Mike, how does that feel to haveyour son presented with the
Heritage Award?

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:40):
That feels great.
And as far as April is concernedI think it's again I think
that's great too because it it'sI think it gives gives both of
them a better opportunity tokeep the business running after
I move on.
So that's just a good thing.
And uh I I wish I'd have donemore of that but I I I convinced
myself I didn't have time.
But uh yeah I think that's uhthat's really commendable.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:03):
Well Mike I wouldn't sell yourself short you you have
a legacy sitting right next toyou so I think you've done a
really really good job.
I just want to say that you knowyou guys have done an amazing
thing.
What you have is bold.
It's unique to the fact that youhave your business that started
from literally nothing withouttelling everybody that you slept

(01:10:26):
in the back room to, you know,you have somebody on the board
of April you have your daughterwho's the president of KRDA you
yourself are a legend in thisbusiness.
You guys are doing amazing work.
I mean I want to tell you inclosing like you guys have are
really the superstars that aretaking this forward and and Mike
I'm glad that you're able tokind of head that and be able to

(01:10:46):
pass the reins off.
It's been amazing to really kindof say I get you guys on one
podcast altogether.
I love that I I think it'samazing you know if you have
because you're because you'rethere usually I ask this and
nobody's nobody's sitting nextto them what is the one bit of
advice Mike that you would wantus if you had that wall up and

(01:11:06):
you couldn't see them right now,what is something that you would
say to each one of them this issomething you know they're gonna
get the business.
They're obviously doing a greatjob taking care of that right
now.
But as you do what you want todo whether it's play golf every
day whether it's you knowwhatever it is you want to do
moving on to their success,what's something that you're
gonna say to them this is what Ibelieve you do this and it's

(01:11:30):
gonna be golden.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:32):
Well I I would probably not probably I would
basically say look you know whatto do you know what you know
what what's got us where we arewhich is treating customers like
they should be treated a goodwork ethic and uh you know this
is not going to sound realexciting but uh continue to do
what you're doing and you'll bejust fine.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:50):
Well sometimes you know that's not necessarily
simple advice because I thinksometimes we as human beings
want to perfect something and wetry to change it.
We try to make it better.
But sometimes that core isreally what makes you
successful.
Stick with it.
Work hard learn to do what youdo very well hone that blade
make sure that you're doing whatyou did that got you here.

(01:12:12):
Now you always want to bethinking in the forefront you
know maybe there's a better waymaybe this is a new way to do
it.
But you don't want to stop thework ethic and what got you to
exactly where you are guys soasking kind of everybody on this
one where do we see Mike's rentto own in five years 10 years 20
years?
I I think I'm gonna you knowwhat I think I'm gonna go along

(01:12:33):
the line Mike where do you seeMike's rent to own in five
years?
Five years I would say insteadof 14 stores we'd probably have
20.
Wow that's that's nice okayAngela 10 years from now where
are we at?
Where's Mike's rent to own in 10years?

SPEAKER_00 (01:12:49):
Well apparently we are going to be at 20 stores.
I think that that uh you know wehave a tendency to really we
it's not only our dream to tocontinue to grow the business.
We want to be able to not onlygrow the business but we want to
be able to be in the markets andthe places where we currently

(01:13:10):
aren't and to be able to providefor customers.
Additionally we want to be ableto provide jobs for more people.
Those those kinds of things arereally important to us but I
think to kind of make it verysimplistic um has to continue to
be fun for us.
Right now we are having a blastdoing what we're doing.

(01:13:30):
So if we can make it very simpleof just to continue to grow and
provide not only for ourcoworkers but also for the
communities that we're in, Ithink that that would be all we
could really ask for.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:46):
All right Michael you're the one in the hot seat
now 20 10 you know five 10 20years I see is the, you know,
you're the visionary here what'sgoing on where are we at in 20
years?
Where is is there going to be apoint where you and Angela are
kind of having this you knowthis sit down again with
somebody else with with maybeyour children or or somebody

(01:14:07):
else and and and kind of doingwhat dad's doing right now?
I mean what what do you see in20 years?

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:13):
In 20 years I would say uh we are still we're still
right here plugging away yeahI'm gonna be a couple of years
older 20 20 years older to beexact right if it's 20 years
from now.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:27):
That would be true.

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:27):
That'd be 20 years.
I would be really excited to seePete um how much we've grown
there will certainly be growthbetween between now and then but
I would be really excited to seehow many employees we have at
that point and how many peoplewe're working with.
That would be really what Iwould be thinking about looking

(01:14:48):
20 years out.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:49):
Very har very hard to even even comprehend that but
but 20 years from now I wouldsay we have a whole bunch more
uh people that we're workingwith and that would that we we'd
be that 20 years from now I'd beuh yeah it's that's a long time
nothing about how about howabout I throw you guys something

(01:15:11):
a little bit easier and I knowthat we've been kind of going
back and forth Mike I I you'rethe legend here so I don't want
you to think I'm leaving you outbut there are there is it's it's
never you know I never get theopportunity to speak to a family
uh the way I have and I knowthat your legacy is sitting
right next to you what would youguys Michael and Angela say to
some of the up and coming secondgeneration owners that are out

(01:15:33):
there you guys are already inthe spot.
You're kind of doing it now.
What would you say to some ofthose people that are starting
to come up for instance I hadBen Leach on a Friday uh the
Black Friday special he's nowcoming into it.
He doesn't have the uh the sametime frame in the business as
you do he's had a younger andhe's you know he's starting to
see oh now but what are some ofthe things that you would say to

(01:15:55):
these second generation possibleowners in the future that you
kind of know right now?

SPEAKER_02 (01:16:00):
Well I would say first first of all I would say
Ben Leach has uh you knowsomebody to rely on specifically
that's uh one of the best toever do it and uh he's doing
great things now and he's gonnacontinue to do so.
For for other people that arethat are just just coming into
this business I I would say thatyou have to remember the most

(01:16:22):
important things are taking careof your customer and taking care
of your employee.
And as long as you focus onthose things and then use what
our dad has been talking about,which is just simply to never
give up and have good work ethicand just come in every day and
try to make it a little bitbetter and you're gonna make it.
But it's called work for areason and uh it's gonna be

(01:16:42):
hard.
But doing hard things, you know,are what we should be doing.
Uh so I would I that's that'swhat I would say about it is is
uh just you know jump in withboth feet and uh and give her a
whirl and it'll come out okay.

SPEAKER_01 (01:16:57):
Travel road less travel take care take care of
your family take care of yourfriends take care of your
customers take care of yourpeople.
Angela what would you add tothat?

SPEAKER_00 (01:17:06):
I think that I obviously would echo that we're
we know Ben and you know for forfor those of us that are second
generation we kind of um youknow our it's like a little club
it is a little it is a littlecool kids club kids club um but
I think that I think in additionto that I I would tell somebody

(01:17:29):
that's just coming into it tothat it's okay to fail as long
as you're failing forward thatit's okay to screw up you're
gonna screw up you're gonna makemistakes and it's gonna be okay
but I think that I would reallyencourage them to be a member of
Trib, be a member of April andcome to the shows because that's

(01:17:50):
really where you're gonna learnthe most and to be able to rely
on um you know the you knowwhether it's uh Chris Bolin or
Dan Fisher you're gonna findthose people wandering around
and they're all of them are veryopen Mike Tissett they're all
very open and willing to giveyou any advice answer any

(01:18:12):
question that you have.
So I I think that that would bemy first and foremost.
But then the second part of thatis gonna be to you know if you
really sit there and focus on itfor a moment, you really know
exactly what what at least forMichael and I, what our dad's
goal was and it and it's notabout the money.
It it it really isn't and it'sreally about who's uh who's Mike

(01:18:35):
Tis um really about taking careof taking care of the customer
at the end of the day and youknow treating your people with
respect.
Um and I think that as long asyou're doing those two things
you're you're gonna be justfine.
And I would also say justcontinue to have fun with it.

(01:18:56):
It really is just the absolutebest industry uh that's out
there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:01):
Well I I will tell you this uh I give you guys a
little nugget before we leavetwo people that stand out to me.
Not everybody is is spot on.
I mean there's nobody that youmentioned and there's so many
that we haven't mentioned thatare amazing in this industry but
two people that really havehelped me with what I've done in
the podcast and moving on.
And that was Dan Fisher youmentioned him Michael and you
know Mike Tissett that youmentioned Angela so Dan Fisher

(01:19:21):
was one of my first intervieweesand it was off camera, it was
off script it was literally on aphone I was trying to record
what he was saying on thislittle recorder because I didn't
have anything at that point intime.
But you know he gave me a lot ofgreat advice and a lot of things
that we talked about and thatstood out to me because at that
point in time he didn't know mefrom Adam.
And yet he took out the time tosit there and talk to me and

(01:19:42):
really do you know a little bitof mentorship kind of like your
father does with you guys andjust kind of give you that
advice and some of the thingsthat I really didn't even think
about.
I didn't know about and hereally sat down and talked to me
about that.
And then I will say the firsttime I had a partner you know in
the first couple seasons of thisand and you know he had decided
that he was going to go adifferent way and and kind of do

(01:20:04):
something different.
And I had no idea where I wasgoing to take the podcast from
there.
Because we we we were crossbanter it was like you know
that's what it was.
And the idea of having somebodyon the show was daunting because
I really wasn't I didn't knowwhat I was doing then.
I didn't know these big peoplethat it was you know I wanted to
talk to like you know he saidAngela these guys are up there.
And the first person that saidthat he would be on the show was

(01:20:25):
Mike Tissett.
And in our world guys if youdon't know this landing Mike
Tissett on your first recordingis like you know Johnny Carson
pulling somebody out of the airit was like I didn't know that
you know he would do it but itmade such a difference to the
podcast and how it was welcomedand I'll always appreciate him
for that.

(01:20:45):
And that Mike, I wish it wasyou.
I'm sorry that it wasn't you Ididn't know you back then but I
wish I'd have had you on theshow we could have done a three
with Mike but you know some ofthe accolades that I want to get
into before we go Angela you'redoing a great job you're the
vice president currently atMike's Rentone isn't that right
so the vice president kind ofdoing your thing as the

(01:21:05):
president of the KRDA helpingfind the uh the founder of the
Leap program as you know withyou and others amazing job
Michael kind of running thebusiness with your sister April
board member heritage heritageaward recipient KRDA member as
well you've helped developed acouple of other things as far as
that's called the intro theintro to RTO is that something

(01:21:27):
that you you you you kind ofhelped get with and then we've
got Mike who sits quiet overthere he's very quiet but done
an amazing job in this world inthe RTO industry founded in 1981
in a small town in Kansas andthen all these stores later you
have a family you have a legacykudos to you you know over a

(01:21:49):
hundred employees just to saythat alone small business is so
important in this country rightnow to say now that you've taken
it from where it was to ahundred employees not so small
anymore but that's amazing and Iand I really appreciate that
you've even been able to takesome time to be on this Legends
podcast doing the stuff thetrucks uh you know and and I I

(01:22:10):
love the name it's uh it'sreally right on the nose but
then that's what it's aboutright getting straight to the
point and making it happeningwith the people that are we you
know the communities that weserve and now being on part of
which I appreciate the Legendsseries here with you guys you
know Angela Michael really gladthat you guys had the time to
come out here bring dad alongwith you you know can sit down

(01:22:33):
and have a good old time andtalk to me for a little bit I
want to say I do appreciate it.
Guys what I will tell you is wethank everybody especially you
guys for watching the Legendsseries is so important to kind
of share their stories wherethey've been where they're going
and what's going to happen.
The leaders in the industry ifyou want to know more hit me up
at the show Pete at the rtoshowpodcast dot com you're also

(01:22:53):
going you can go to the websiteat www dotrtoshowpodcast dot
com.
Welcome to look in there buysome swag we can use it get down
there put your name in there Iwill reach out to you if you
have that you can see some ofthe shenanigans uh shenanigans
that I've been able to get intosome crazy stuff some videos
that I've been in we are onFacebook and Instagram LinkedIn
and YouTube where you're gonnasee this guys I really

(01:23:14):
appreciate you being a part ofthe show thank you so much for
being here and I want to tellyou guys as always get your
collections low to get yoursales high.
Have a great one thank you heyyou guys you guys are amazing I
appreciate hey everyone it'sPete Chow here from the R2 Show
podcast and I want to tell youabout a company that's making a

(01:23:34):
real difference in therent-to-owned space WoW brands
I've seen firsthand how theyapproach marketing and let me
tell you it's not just aboutads.
WoW brands build completedigital ecosystems designed
specifically for therent-to-owned industry their
e-commerce and lead generationstrategies are built to bring
qualified leads and did Imention that they are actively
working with the rent-townindustry while also being

(01:23:56):
members of April and Trib?
Listen these folks arepassionate problem solvers they
don't just slap somethingtogether they design build and
scale the kind of digital retailtools your business needs your
customers actually want.
So if you're serious aboutgrowing reach out to WoWBrands
at wildbrands.com i trust it andI think you will too

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