November 4, 2025 • 57 mins
A flip chart, a promise to a father, and a tiny Omaha storefront lit the fuse for a 24-store rent-to-own legacy grounded in dignity and service. We sit down with industry legend Lyn Leach to unpack how a consumer-first mindset—friendly collections, honest agreements, and real return options—can turn a risky startup into a reliable community anchor. From vacuum tubes and rooftop antennas to Atari consoles, VCRs, and modern gaming rigs, this story tracks how products evolved while one mission stayed constant: improve quality of life and help customers reach ownership.
Lyn takes us behind the scenes of vendor battles and breakthrough moments—when a few believers extended those first fragile credit lines and proved relationships still power retail. He shares the mentors who simplified collections, the nuts-and-bolts of compliance that APRO made accessible, and the role of loss damage waivers in protecting both customers and stores. We also dig into policy trenches: statehouse wins, near-miss federal legislation, and why inviting lawmakers into stores flips the script on outdated stereotypes.
The conversation turns to today’s fault line: virtual rent-to-own models that advertise flexibility without physical service or true return paths. Lyn lays out how brick-and-mortar operators can compete by upgrading websites, tightening lead management, and creating unforgettable in-store events—from cultural celebrations to community food truck nights—that transform shopping into connection. If you care about customer trust, transparent pricing, and the future of rental-purchase, this is a masterclass in doing the right thing, the right way, for the long haul.
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Association of Progressive Rental Organizations
Association of Progressive Rental Organizations
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
Hey everybody, welcome to the RTO show.
I'm here at the RTO World 2025.
And let me tell you, I'm really,really happy to be here.
I have a special guest, but soyou guys know, we're actually
going to do something differentthis season.
Now, this is the first video ofan entire series that APRO is
doing.
And why is it important?
(01:30):
Well, we're going to get to thehistory of Rent's own and more
importantly, how we got here.
And it doesn't start any betterthan with Lynn Leach.
Now, we are actually in Omaha.
Well, you got to get the guysfrom Omaha if you're going to be
in Omaha.
So this is where we're going tostart.
We're so happy that you're here,Lynn.
And listen, we're going to goback a little bit.
We're going to find out how wegot here.
(01:52):
But more importantly, whatmatters to you, what matters to
us, and how April can show thehistory of rent to own.
Lynn Lynch, how are you doing?
How's everything going today?
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
Outstanding.
I'm doing well.
Thanks for having me.
It's good to be here in my homestate, uh hosting the first RTO
world ever in Omaha, Nebraska.
SPEAKER_00 (02:12):
That's it.
And so with everything comingover here, you traveled for
years to every state imaginable,right?
Now you finally get to bring ithome.
And I and I hear that you'reyou're close to here.
You didn't even have to go thatfar, right?
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
No, no.
We live uh part-time, eightblocks from here, and my my
full-time residence, about 50-55minutes from here.
So this is home.
SPEAKER_00 (02:33):
This is home.
So in case you guys don't know,we are literally across the
street from the stadium.
It's probably the one of themost beautiful convention
centers that I've actually beento.
I'm really excited to be here.
But let's get into it.
So the reason that we have Lynnhere is we got to go back to
1982.
Right?
(02:53):
So to be in the Legends Club,you're at 40 years or more,
which is covered.
All right.
We're about 43 years, or is this44 to 30 years old?
We're just starting our 44thyear.
That's it.
So in 1982, you and Natalie gettogether, your wife, um, two
children, and Eli.
SPEAKER_01 (03:14):
Um, so my Eli is my grandson.
Ben is my son.
Um, my daughter, Mindy, has Eli.
That's my grandson.
And then Ben has uh uh adopted achild too.
Her name is Sienna.
So I have grandson andgranddaughter now.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
That's awesome.
So are they a part of therent-to-owned world?
SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
Yeah, so Ben is.
Ben is our chief operatingofficer.
His husband, Ryan, is our uhdirector of training.
Awesome.
So they're both involved in thebusiness.
SPEAKER_00 (03:40):
Beautiful.
So then they know all about,well, maybe we're gonna talk
pre-Ben 1982.
They weren't here.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
No, well, so um, no, that that's right.
So they they weren't even bornyet.
Mindy would be born shortlyafter that.
Uh, but yeah, it was just me,Natalie, and uh one employee
soon to become two.
Uh we opened right at 25th andoh, the very first store.
It's still there, stilloperating, still one of our best
stores, um, most productivestores.
(04:12):
And away we went with a bunch ofborrowed money that my dad
helped me with.
Um, loaned me a half a millionbucks to get started.
And um, he was a little a smallmom and pop furniture store
owner, so he had his ownbusiness himself and was busy
with that, but was kind enoughto help me get started
financially with my business,and then later helped me borrow
(04:34):
more at the bank as we continuedto grow Ace Rent to Own.
But it was thanks to my dad,Gene, it was his first name,
that helped me get the wholething started.
Without him, Ace Rent to Ownwould have never got off the
ground.
SPEAKER_00 (04:46):
Well, we're gonna get into how many locations you
have now because that's asuccess story.
But let's go back to 1982.
You're with Natalie.
I'm gonna guess you guys hadjust gotten together or been
together for a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
Yeah, just um just we married in 1980.
Okay, so fairly still newlyweds,um, fresh out of college, uh,
went to work for Barry Gambini,Ron, and Dave Happy out in
California.
Okay.
Um, and started in San Diegowith a brand new store,
literally opening the day I gotthere.
They picked me up on a Sunday atthe airport, took me to the
(05:19):
store, started getting me readyto go, teaching me everything I
needed to know, and we opened onMonday morning with a big grand
opening.
So away I went, and then theyeventually moved me to
Sacramento, which was theirbiggest store, and then on to
company headquarters in Visalia,California.
And after I'd worked for themlong enough and could see this
(05:40):
is a really incredible industry,and I know I can do this, and I
love what it is.
I love helping clients, I lovegiving a quality of life
improvement to people.
And I was so motivated that Iwanted to come back and do it
myself, only put slightlydifferent twists.
The things that they did reallywell, I learned from them and
(06:00):
kept those and initiated thoseinto my own company.
The things that I had a slightlydifferent idea on, I could make
those changes.
And there we go.
1982, with a potload of borrowedmoney, my wife and an employee
and a half, and here we go.
Let's start, let's open thedoors and start writing some
agreements.
SPEAKER_00 (06:19):
So the idea was in 1982, after after kind of
understanding the furniturebusiness and kind of going
through the ranks, starting itwas basically based on how you
felt about I can do this maybebetter, or I could put my tweaks
on it, or or my family can kindof we we have the ability to put
a spin on it in a way thatthey're not doing elsewhere.
(06:41):
And that's how we got.
So, how did you present that?
So you have this idea of youknow creating this this way of
rent, you know, I want to sayrent to own, but oh, this way of
selling furniture.
And you talk to dad and go, Ihave this different way of doing
things, and I hope you trust me.
SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
So I mean, if if you if if you knew my dad and I knew
him really well, you know, youknow you better bring it in and
be prepared.
Okay.
So put your best foot forwardquick.
So I came in, and this is waybefore computers.
So I come in with a flip chart,and I've got everything written
out, how much money it's gonnatake, and what the forecast for
(07:17):
business, what my business modelwould look like.
And I'm flipping these pages andshowing him.
And he's and pretty soon hesaid, Stop, stop.
I I think we can do this.
I can afford to help you.
You can't go belly up on mebecause I'm gonna give you a
significant amount of money, andwithout it, I won't be able to
retire.
So you've got to promise me thatyou will get this, make this go
(07:38):
and make it successful.
And I promised him, I told him,whatever it takes, I will not
fail at this.
And he said, I believe you.
So he loaned me the money andand and off we went.
And that is literally every timeI thought, oh, I'm seven days a
week, I mean 75, 80, 85,sometimes 90 hours.
I I opened the store even onSundays back then, rent it by
(08:01):
myself.
Then I'd close at five and makethe deliveries that I promised
that I would get out yet thatevening.
And my wife would be at homewith and um you know, waiting
patiently, then with my daughterand saying, Yeah, you just get
home when you get home, takecare of business.
So she was super supportive.
But yeah, we brought a differenttwist.
We bought brought what I thinkis a more consumer-first
(08:24):
approach, more uh friendlycollections and and really
building on the relationships,not building just on profit or
on revenues, but knowing that ifwe built those relationships so
strong with the clients, then wewouldn't have to worry about the
revenues.
Though they would take care ofthemselves.
And I think people gravitatedand saw that's what we were
(08:45):
about, saw they could tell usthe truth when they were having
a hardship.
And rather than hide when theywere having a hardship and not
answer the door or answer theirphone, they'd open the door and
say, Look, I'm I'm having sometroubles here, and I'll tell you
what it is.
And I mean, from the verybeginning, we were committed to
let's not pick anything up thatthe client doesn't want.
(09:05):
If there's another way, we'regonna be friendly enough not to
have to take that product backfrom them.
SPEAKER_00 (09:12):
So, what made you decide?
You're coming from the salesworld, you're coming from a
retail side.
What made you decide in 1982,I'm gonna pitch this to dad, but
we're not doing just retail.
We're gonna do something thatback then really wasn't heard
of.
I mean, not every there wasn'ton every street corner.
Nowadays you can pick up, youknow, look in RTO and things
will pop up.
(09:32):
But back then, when there wasn'tany, uh there wasn't any Google
searches, there might not haveeven been any yellow book
searches because there wasn't itwasn't really built out.
What made you decide instead ofretail and selling it with your
spin, rent to own was where youguys wanted to do it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
So once again, I have to give a lot of credit to
my dad.
He is the one that um that toldme look, this mom and pop retail
store that I have, this is goingto become a dinosaur in the
thing of the past.
It's gonna be really hard tocompete, but there's this wave
of the future, this new way ofdoing business in furniture and
electronics and appliances.
(10:07):
It's called rent to own.
And I really think that youought to look at that.
And so that's what caused me togo out to California and go to
work with those guys.
It was my dad's uh insight ofsaying, it's gonna be really
hard to make a living the way Ihave.
You need to look at a new way ofdoing business in the same
product categories, but in acompletely different way of
(10:30):
doing business.
Rent to own, or he, as he wascalling it back then, rental
purchase.
Rental purchase is gonna be thenew mom and pop retailer.
And so if you want to have alife like I did and have a store
or stores that that you can besuccessful at like I was, you
shouldn't look at just retailingand and just doing retail sales.
(10:51):
You should look at this new waveof the future, this rent-to-own,
rental purchase model.
And that's what caused me totake a look at it and go to work
there and then end up opening myown store.
SPEAKER_00 (11:01):
I'm I'm so curious about that because now before
you had gone that route, andbefore you got with dad and you
made this business decision, thefamily used to repair TVs.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
So that's how my dad got started.
He was a military and a Navyman, got out of the Navy, went
to work selling insurance, andhe'd sell insurance by day and
repair TVs by night.
So that's how he got his retailstart.
Um, he and my mom and sometimesme would go out in our repair
van, and he, if he could fix itin their home, he would.
(11:34):
If he couldn't, then my momwould help him carry the TV out
to the truck or to our van andthen he'd take it back to our
home and he would fix it there.
And if you remember, back in theday, TV repair was mostly
plugging in a different tube,figuring out which tube didn't
work and just putting a new onein.
So we had tube testers and allkinds of things that he did back
(11:54):
then.
And then eventually that umevolved into hanging aerial TV
antennas on the top of people'shomes.
Yeah, the big ones.
The big ones, yeah, on a bigpole.
And so he built a trailer wewould pull behind the TV van,
and it had a telescoping polethat he would put up and then
you know, thumb screw it downand then do the Nick section,
(12:17):
thumbscrew it down.
And we would go through thestreets of downtown Lincoln
looking for homes that didn'thave an aerial antenna.
And he had a big cord on a boardthat and he would unwrap it
before he knocked on the door.
So he had the cord in his handthat he wanted to hook up to
their TV.
So he'd knock on the door,they'd come to the door and he'd
say, My name's Gene Leach.
(12:39):
My son Lynn here and I, we'reputting aerial antennas on
people's homes.
If you'd give me just a minute,I like to show you how much
better your reception will bewith an aerial antenna than the
rabbit ears that you're usingnow.
So he'd go in there and he had alittle alligator clip.
He'd take a screwdriver and taketheir rabbit ear off and then
clip that on, and they'd go, Oh,my word, look at that.
(13:00):
I mean, no more rolling, no moreghosts, you know, no more fuzzy
picture.
It would just be beautiful.
And then he'd say,$199 installedtonight.
We'll get the ladders off and wecan have it in for you tonight.
(14:04):
And back then, I mean, yeah, itwas a decent amount.
I mean, we're talking about thethe mid-60s.
Um, and I mean,$199 was no smallamount, but people would go,
gosh, that's just so muchbetter, you know.
And and he they'd say, Can canyou do it tonight?
Really?
And he'd say, Yes, but yes, myson and I.
And he's like, he's got to beseven.
(14:24):
How is he gonna help you?
And he goes, I don't let him onthe roof.
He does go up and down theladder and he hands me tools,
but I don't allow him up on yourroof.
That'll be just me.
And they're like, All right.
And I'm telling you, eight outof ten probably said, Do it, do
it, install it tonight.
So he'd get all his materialsout.
And I mean, that's just the kindof he was an innovator.
He was a true entrepreneur.
(14:45):
He was he was my entire rolemodel, um, my hero.
I mean, that's just a fact.
And I and I loved being withhim.
It was such cool father and sontime, and he taught me what
being a true businessman, a manof character looked like from
the time I could be six or sevenand even understand what that
meant.
SPEAKER_00 (15:04):
So he he starts doing this.
He introduces you not only to adifferent aspect of what he
does, but how to do it, how tobe that salesman, how to be up
front, how to get it done, howto go after it.
So then where did the idea ofrent to own come from that?
He because you you you went intothe furniture side of it.
(15:25):
He already has a TV side of it.
When would when you when youfirst opened a store, did you
introduce furniture first, orwas it the TVs first?
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
No, so he is he went on from there.
He opened a small TV repair shopthat was not out of our home
anymore.
He had a retail location, andthen he got like an RCA and then
a Zenith franchise.
So he was selling new TVs.
That blossomed into the storethat he had then, and he he he
branched out into appliances,furniture, and electronics.
(15:54):
Um, and and so I worked for himall the way through college,
high school.
I mean, he taught me whathonors, codes, bonds, ethics,
you know, and and being asalesperson, uh being a manager
of people, um, yeah, being ahard worker.
I mean, he taught me the valueof hard work, and and he also
taught me the value of beingloved.
(16:14):
My secret sauce in life, whenpeople ask me, how did you do
this?
I mean, how did you grow fromwhat you had to what you have
now?
You know, what's the magic?
And I tell them always, mysecret sauce was the love of my
mom and dad.
They both loved me so much andthey taught me right from wrong.
They taught me hard work frombeing lazy, they taught me
(16:36):
character and they and theytaught me how to care about
people, how to forgerelationships.
If it weren't for their love, Iwould not have anything, really.
But and it's not just inbusiness, too, it's in general,
raising my kids, right?
I mean, I do theater.
I mean, so so I put my heart andsoul into that.
There's so many rodeoing, right?
(16:56):
I I I'm used to rodeo and and soso many things that the things
my mom and dad with completelydifferent kinds of love.
My dad was a more tough love.
I mean, I mean, he expected alot.
His his ambitions were veryhigh, and he would say, I have
very high expectations for you.
I know what you're capable of.
I expect you to meet thoseexpectations.
(17:18):
And my mom was more thenurturing, hugging, kiss on your
forehead kind of love.
No, I could do no wrong,whatever happened.
She'd go, Oh, you know, I stilllove you that.
And and I mean those things bothwere invaluable.
But that was my secret saucethat they loved me so much that
they made me believe I could doanything I set my mind to doing.
(17:40):
But that's the truth.
Yes, it is.
That's the absolute truth.
Yes.
It is the sole reason that thatI've been able to do these
things.
Heck, I was, I mean, got to MCthe governor's ball when Pete
Ricketts was elected the firsttime.
I was his announcer and MC, andthen he hired me again to do his
re-election ball.
And I grew up in a three-bedroomhome with one bathroom and no
(18:04):
shower.
And sometimes I'd look aroundand go, How am I doing these
kinds of things?
How does Pete Ricketts hire meto get into his governor's ball?
You know, and and I know what itwas, I know is that my mother
and father instilled in me theonly person that's going to
limit you is you.
If you believe you can do it andyou keep trying, you'll figure
(18:24):
out a way to get it done.
Just don't give up on yourself.
So many people quit onthemselves, right?
Absolutely.
Long before they should have.
Absolutely.
And if they'd have just stayedthe course and kept showing up
and kept giving their besteffort, eventually they would
have got whatever they werewanting.
And I really don't care whatyou're talking about, whether
it's a race car driver or aBroadway musical performer or a
(18:46):
rent-to-own guy, if you justkeep showing up and doing it
right, telling the truth, beingdecent, being honest, and and
never give up, keep grinding.
You can make it.
Anyone can make it.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
Absolutely.
So that's how you got in.
1982, you start.
How was your relationship withthe vendors back then?
Because at this point in time,rent to own probably isn't on
the top of everybody's list,right?
So you go to somebody, you say,Hey guys, um, I'm opening this
location and this is what I wantto do.
(19:17):
Now I I've heard the turmoilbetween rent to own and
retailers throughout the years.
How was your relationship withvendors at that beginning point
when you're so there reallywasn't one?
SPEAKER_01 (19:28):
Um, I I just as I was getting ready to open that
store, um, I went to my firstCES show, and I thought, okay,
I'll just go out there and I'llmeet with these vendors, you
know.
I'll talk to Samsung, I'll talkto Zenith and RCA, and they'll
open me an account, you know,and then they'll start shipping
me some product.
And it wasn't at all like that.
I mean, you had to fight just toget an appointment when they'd
(19:51):
say, I'd they'd say, What's thename of your store?
And I'd say, Ace Rent to Own.
Oh, oh, uh, yeah, maybe youcould wait over there a little
bit and we'll see if we can getto you.
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
Wait in the rafters, hold on.
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
But finally I'd get an audience with them, and then
I mean I'd do my very best toconvince them, you know, just
give me a small line of credit.
Let me prove myself.
And there were vendors that werepeculiar to the rent-to-own
industry.
I mean, I went to my first Aprilshow um and and met uh Steve
with Welton.
I can't think of his last nameright now, but he was one of the
(20:24):
first guys to give me a decentline of credit.
Um, and I was so thankful.
I'm like, wow, he's gonna giveme 90 days credit.
And he, you know what he said?
I just trust you.
I don't know why, but I'm gonnatrust you, and I'll keep
trusting you till you burn me.
Steve Burn me.
So don't burn me.
So yeah, Steve Sherman, that washis name.
SPEAKER_00 (20:43):
I've been telling you, Welton was a big player for
years and years and years.
So, you know, if you helpedpioneer that, we would
appreciate that.
So, as we're going through, whatwere your main lines of so you
had furniture, TVs, andappliances?
Yes.
What did your branch into as theyears went on?
What were the some of the thingsthat you know you can say, like
(21:04):
the first, you know, three, fouryears, we had the basics, we had
these core products, but then weadded something different.
SPEAKER_01 (21:10):
We added video games way back in the day.
It was the Atari 2600.
I mean, really the first homevideo game.
We added those.
We had a whole line of the gamesthat you plugged into them, the
software.
Um, we added VCRs.
When we opened VCRs, it was nota thing.
I mean, there was none.
Do you know when that cameabout?
Oh, I I'm gonna say that wasmaybe the mid-80s, 85, 86, right
(21:34):
in there.
Um, paying a thousand and twentydollars for my first VCR.
Oh my god.
$1,020.
That's that's factory cost.
Yeah.
And so you couldn't sell verymany of those back in that day
at that kind of price.
But I mean, it was an invention.
Being able to record TV was, Imean, world-changing.
(21:57):
And people, everybody wantedone, but not many could afford
one.
Um, computers, I mean, thecomputer age after that, then,
you know, laptops, desktops,gaming.
When I first opened my firststore, we were not computerized.
All the payments that we tookwere on billing cards, ledger
cards.
I remember that.
And we filed one according tothe date and one according to
(22:18):
alphabetical.
And so when they'd come in andmake a payment, we'd type it on
a typewriter and put it back inthe the ledger cards back in the
files again.
That's literally how rudimentaryit was.
And then a few years later,computers and software that that
fit rent to own were wereinvented, and off we went in the
computerized age.
SPEAKER_00 (22:37):
What was your first and and I think I already know
the answer to this question, butI'm gonna ask it anyways.
As you're going on, and maybewe'll maybe we'll divert a
little bit.
Who would you say is somebodythat you mentored, somebody that
mentored you, uh I should say,and helped you besides mom and
dad?
Somebody that was like in eitherin the industry or outside of
(22:58):
the industry, but helped youfocus on the industry or
business.
Who would you say one or twogreat people that kind of just
helped you over?
SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
First name that comes to mind, Daryl Tissett.
Really?
Daryl Tissett was an Aprilpresident, and I was a nobody,
and I mean, just a young guythat was trying to make a go of
it, you know, trying to get openmy second store or third store,
I don't remember which it was.
But I can remember Daryl Tissettsitting with me at a picnic
table and said, I'll give youall the time you want.
(23:28):
Just pepper me with questions.
And and the man became uh a truementor to me, somebody that I
could call when I wasn't surewhat to do.
Um, every April show, he and Iwould talk.
I mean, he was just um just anincredibly kind man to help
mentor me.
Also, a guy named Bud Holliday.
(23:49):
Okay.
Um, he was very well spoken andhe gave seminars at the April
shows.
And back in the day, you couldbuy a cassette tape of the of
the seminar.
And I always bought a cassetteof Buds, and I'd take them home
and listen to them when I wasdriving to work because he was
just incredible.
And he broke it down so it wasso simple, and he'd say things
(24:10):
like, We're not building anyrockets here.
You know, we just rent TVs.
That's all we do.
You got to put them out thedoor, you got to collect the
rent, you got to sell enough ofthem, and when they pay them in
full, you got to find anothercustomer.
I mean, it was just he he was sofolksing, but an interesting uh
presentation on his seminars,and I always got something out
of it.
(24:30):
He was really good at teachingcollections, so I really enjoyed
that out of him, too.
So I would say those early onwere a couple of my mentors.
Um, and then since then, man,I've got a lot of my best
friends in the whole world arerent-to-owned dealers.
Um, his Daryl's son Mike, Imean, right now he is just as
(24:51):
good as it gets, I think, in therent-to-own industry.
Um, Gary Farriman, good friendof mine, Chris Bolan.
Um, I don't want to leaveanybody out there, so many, I
mean, dozens and dozens of mybest friends in the whole world
that I know if I was reallystruggling, really not sure what
to do, or just needed somebodyto love me, those guys would be
(25:11):
there for me.
They'd travel, whatever it took.
There's just a bond there thatwhen when you've gone to war
with some of these rent-to-owneddealers and you fought back
political attacks and you foughtback unfair uh trade, and and
these guys were shoulder toshoulder.
And you're in Washington, D.C.
All those trips I made when Iwas the April president to lobby
(25:32):
Congress, senators, congressmen,and women, and they were right
there with me, you know, settingup appointments with their
congresspeople.
And uh man, I mean, you justforge a bond that is there's no
such thing that's equal to that.
These these became myrent-to-own soldiers.
SPEAKER_00 (25:50):
So you said something that's really
important because I wanted toget into that.
The advocacy of APRO is superimportant.
What initially pulled you intothat first advocacy?
And do you happen to know aboutwhen you joined?
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Yeah, so I mean, literally right as we were
opening our first store.
So I mean, the we opened and theand the convention was then.
So I was there within a matterof weeks of opening my first
store.
And I knew of it because ofGambini, the happies.
I I knew that April was a thing,and that if I was going to be in
this business, I had to be amember of APRO.
SPEAKER_00 (26:23):
What was one of the first things that you said, I'm
glad that I'm with April nowbecause this happened?
Something, you know, there was athere's a lot of road that some
people that come in now, whetherthey've been here for five years
or 10 years, they haven't seensome of the things that we've
gone through.
Whether it be somebody in Texaswho says they want to shut us
down, or we like you said, in indifferent states, different
(26:44):
arenas, but things happen wherethey thought, I don't know if
this is how it should work, or Idon't think this is fair for the
consumer.
And you almost have to likeeducate them on what we do and
how we do it.
What was probably the time framein the first situation?
He said, you know what, I'm gladthat we have joined because this
could have really gotten way outof hand.
SPEAKER_01 (27:03):
Just this is a really good question and a
really solid answer, I think,here.
Ed Wynne.
Ed Wynn legal counsel.
So when I first joined April,um, I mean, he he was giving the
legal update, you know, andmaking sure people were staying
in compliance.
And I realized some of thethings that I had done back
(27:23):
home, some of my agreement andso on, wasn't in compliance.
So right away we madeadjustments and changed the
content of the agreement.
Um, I mean, we learned somethings that we could do that I
didn't even know.
I didn't know that you couldsell loss or damage waiver.
And that's something I learnedfrom joining April right away
that this was an incrediblyhelpful thing to the clients
(27:44):
because they were not able topay for something that was lost,
stolen, destroyed.
And it was a good source ofrevenue for us too.
So, because it covered thoselosses.
And so right away we implementedloss of damage waiver, but it
was that making sure that I knewhow to rent to own, I knew how
to sell, I knew how to collect,I knew how to build out my show
floor.
(28:05):
What I didn't know is what Ididn't know.
And Ed Wynne is the guy thatbrought that to me.
And and and I would just I'dtake copious notes.
I'd sit in there and I'd comeout of there with 18 legal pages
of notes that I got out of EdWynne, and I'd go back home and
tell Natalie, we got to do this,we got to do that, we got to
make this change.
I don't like how we're doingthis.
(28:25):
This I think is risky the waywe're doing that.
So made all those changes.
And it was April that that tookcare of me and introduced me to
Ed Wynne, but also other dealersthat could answer questions and
together we could go, what do weneed to do?
And and we were back then stillworking on getting laws passed
in the states.
And April did that for me,helped you I mean, unite um
(28:50):
Renta Center and me and and theother independent dealers and
Aaron's got us all united andand got into our state house,
got with the State Department ofBanking chair.
If it wasn't for April, none ofthat would have happened.
April was entirely responsiblefor for kingpinning all of those
state laws that we're blessed tohave now.
(29:12):
So then when was yourpresidency?
2000 gosh, I'm gonna say I five,four right in there, something
like that.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
We're talking about initiating one of the first
rent-to-own situations in 1982,all the way up to actually being
president of something that yousaid probably helped you really
kind of define how you can makethe rent-to-own transaction
better in your state.
Yes.
Which leads me to is there aNebraska RDA or is it
Iowa-Nebraska RDA now?
It's Iowa, Nebraska.
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
There used to be a Nebraska standalone, but it had
grown mostly dormant.
We weren't having yearlymeetings like we should have.
And so Iowa and Nebraskacombined, and now we have really
uh much more interestingmeetings, a lot more attendees.
We can get sponsorships and andbetter speakers because we've
got quite a few people therethat represent quite a few
(30:06):
stores amongst those two states.
And and we work arm in arm.
I mean, the Iowa and Nebraskadealers are all friends and all
work towards operating a betterrent-to-owned community.
SPEAKER_00 (30:18):
Well, I tell you what, every time I talk about Ed
Wen and uh we have ourconversations, I feel like he's
teaching a masterclass.
Because every time I talk to Ed,you know, he's a man that he
doesn't there's not a lot ofsmall talk.
When you talk to Ed, it'sbusiness.
And every time I talk to Ed, Imean, he just he has so much
knowledge and history, kind ofthose two together.
(30:41):
Um, and I every time we talk, Ijust I feel like I like I even
when I'm not taking notes, Ishould be.
Yes, just because of all thethings that he's gone through
and seen and learned and and andkind of been a part of
throughout his 40-somethingyears uh being the legal counsel
for for April, and it it wasjust it's just a wonderful
story.
SPEAKER_01 (30:59):
And he would tell it like it is no punches, cold,
right?
Yeah, and he would tell you ifyou were doing wrong.
And I mean, he had such a uh drywit that his seminars were not
only informative butentertaining, right?
And I I always enjoyed them, butum thank I mean he represented
me later on as we acquired acouple of other rent-to-owned
(31:20):
stores.
Um, he represented me and madesure that we did everything
right as we were making thatpurchase.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
So and so we've gone from one in 1982 to 23 right
now.
24.
24?
Yeah, wow.
Okay.
That's that's amazing.
First off, to to know thatthere's been a 44 year gap, and
you have 23 stores are from whatI hear doing very well.
SPEAKER_01 (31:42):
Yeah, I mean, sure.
Yeah, they're they're doing verywell, and and it's thanks to a
whole team of great people.
Um, I've got uh staff that isjust Second to none.
We've got people that have been30 years, you know, and lots in
the 20 years, 10 year with thecompany.
And so uh they really like itand they stay, they're cared
about, they know that they'reloved, they love what they're
(32:02):
doing.
They can get behind the missionof helping people to see a
better quality of life, helpingthem get to ownership.
It's not about the profit.
Take care of the client, theprofit will take care of itself.
And and who doesn't like thatway of thinking?
SPEAKER_00 (32:17):
Oh, absolutely.
So then let's flip that around.
You got people that have beenthere, like you said, 30 years,
you got 20 years.
But it's never always allrainbows.
No.
Right?
There are times where you hitthose feed bumps because we
never stopped.
Rentone has never stopped, butit has hit those moments where,
wow, this is a difficultsituation.
In your 44 years, your 24stores, you've got these people
(32:40):
that have been with you.
What's one of the times whereyou hit something in the road
that came up to you?
Something that, you know,whether it be for advocacy,
whether whether it was legal,whether you had a customer
situation pop up that you neverhad before, that now maybe we go
through a little bit easier.
What's what's some time that youcan say 44 years?
This was a this was a time ortwo where it was it it got real.
SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
These are some really good questions.
And I'm gonna I have a two-partanswer here because they're
completely different subjects,but equally disappointing.
So the first time a trustedemployee stole from me, I mean,
that one hit me right in theheart.
Somebody that I really, reallytrusted.
Um, my business partner Frankhad used this guy as a
(33:22):
babysitter, and and he turnedaround and burned us and was
pocketing some money.
Man, I mean, the first time thathappened where you loved
somebody and then you realizedthey didn't love you back, and
in fact, they were intentionallytrying to harm you, is a really
tough pill to swallow.
And I don't know that you everget over the ding in your armor
(33:45):
from that.
Yeah.
You you learn to trust butverify.
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
And and so that, that, and Imean it's happened a few times
over the years.
If you've been in business 44years, you've had a few people
that really were were uh wolvesin sheep's clothing, right?
And and they weren't what theysaid they were, and they stole
(34:05):
from you or cheated from you.
And so, ugh, that hurts.
The second thing I would say isme as a leader in April, we've
gotten so close to gettingfederal legislation.
Um, during my time with theApril board and as president,
we've got legislation passed inthe Senate and the House, but
never at the same time.
(34:27):
And when I was president, we gotso, so close.
We got it through the House, andI was absolutely convinced that
we were going to figure out away.
And Rena Center and others werehelping pull strings behind the
scenes to find people that thatwe that would help us in the
Senate, you know, sponsors,co-sponsors, many, many trips to
(34:47):
Washington, D.C., many nightsaway from home, many coming home
on Friday on the red eye flightafter having been there several
days lobbying members ofCongress to support this thing.
And then that the session ended,the term ended, and we still
didn't get it.
And I had to say, uh, defeat.
(35:08):
And I hate defeat.
And but well, we just, I mean,it wasn't possible.
You know, we tried to tried toget our bill in with whatever
else we could, any some kind ofomnibus bill that had a lot of
things that didn't have anythingto do with rent to own, but our
our issue just wasn't greatenough to pass it on its own.
And we'd always get edited outas bills were making their way
(35:31):
through the house at the veryend of the session.
And ours was one of the subjectsthat would end up on the side of
the road having been thrown offon the way so they could get it
passed.
That personally, for me, is as Iwind up my career here, that's a
deep disappointment that Iwasn't able to, with the help of
so many great dealers and somany politicians that really
(35:52):
were trying to help, and andgreat members of the April staff
that were trying to help.
It was, it's just still, it'sit's a burr under my saddle that
we couldn't, despite all thegood intentions, the lobbying,
the grassroots, blood, sweat,and tears, we still couldn't get
it done.
And now I wonder, is it evergonna get done?
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
I talked to Ed Wynn about that, and he was there was
a lot, there was another side tothat that he brought out.
You know, uh sometimes when youwhen you make the federal law
that also gives the federal uheyeballs on certain things, and
it's you know, being regulatedin the state, um the way he put
it might be a good idea to justleave it the way it is.
Now, of course, I never thinkthat it's a dead issue or a bad
(36:34):
issue, but talking about that,those were a couple of things
that hit you pretty hard.
As an industry, because you'veyou've you've seen, you've
talked to, like you said, uhDaryl Tissett, you've talked to
Ferriman, you've talked to theseguys that are really icons in
this business.
Daryl Tissett has out in thepast.
(36:57):
You know, an absolute leader andlegend in this business.
But you know, in going throughthese years, what do you think
is one of the hardest thingsthat the industry has gone
through?
Something that we we that it wastough to get through.
SPEAKER_01 (37:13):
I still think, and it I think it's not only tough
now, but I think it's it's anongoing problem.
And that is the virtualrent-to-owned companies that
don't have boots on the ground,they don't have the ability to
take product back, they don'thave the ability to go out and
service a TV or exchange it forthem.
(37:35):
They they just don't have thatability.
To me, that's problematic inthat we aren't.
Earlier today, we heard in thelegal session, be what you say
you are.
And and I know we those thathave brick and mortar stores are
what we say we are.
We know we're in the rentalpurchase business, and and we
are what we say.
You can return it at any time.
(37:56):
But the virtual rent-to-owneddealers that don't have anywhere
to go return it, that'sproblematic for me.
And I worry, and no disrespectintended to any of them.
I don't personally have any axeto grind, but I worry about our
transaction and how it's definedand whether people really
believe that that is, that we'renot credit, that we're a lease
(38:18):
and not a credit sale, when infact there's no way to return
the product, which is the onething that makes it so much
different than a credit salefrom some of these virtual
online rent-to-owned companies.
And so that troubles me.
It's still troubling me, and Ithink it's something that this
next generation of dealers oughtto pay attention to and make
(38:39):
sure that we protect thetransaction and that we do the
transaction, that we execute thetransaction the way it's
written, and and that we don'taccept an imitation or something
that is a hybrid of that.
SPEAKER_00 (38:53):
How far off do you think that can be?
Like you see it now.
You see that it it has beenaround for a few years, that it
might make rent to own seem,although it's not, it might make
you know put eyes on us in adifferent light.
How, in your opinion, how longdo you think we have before it
becomes a bigger problem?
SPEAKER_01 (39:13):
Boy, if I had knew the answer to that, um million
dollar question, I'd I'dprobably be buying a lottery
ticket.
Um I don't know.
Soon, soon, I mean, sooner thanlater, I think.
Um right now, I think thepolitics as as it stands right
now are a little more friendlythan they've been in the past.
Uh the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau is not at its
(39:35):
strongest right now.
And so I don't think it's comingin the next few years.
Politics blow like the wind,right?
I mean, from one from one termof president to the next really
changes how America is enforcingregulations, rules, laws, and so
on.
Right now, I think it's fairlybusiness friendly.
(39:57):
But but those tides will turnagain, and it's not, it won't be
long before the consumerfinancial protection bureau is
knocking at the door again.
Or if they're not, there'll beanother Henry B.
Gonzalez.
Yeah, God, right?
And who will be after you, likeliterally wanting to shut down
your business.
And do you know why?
Because he doesn't know whathe's talking about.
(40:18):
If he could spend a day, a weekin the rent-to-own store and see
this is not predatory lending.
This is not lending at all.
And these are not predators,these are people that care about
their consumer a lot more thanregular mom and pop retail.
And I mean, that's I've hadpoliticians in my store that
learned all about therent-to-owned industry.
(40:40):
I invited them in when they wereskeptical as to whether they
would sign on as a co-sponsor.
And when they came and spent afew hours in there, they would
all, to a person, say, This isway different than I thought.
This is not predatory in anyway.
This is this is small businessat its very best.
SPEAKER_00 (40:58):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (40:58):
And so, yeah, they'll be howling at us in some
way, shape, or form.
And I hope, I hope it's notabout that transaction and that
we don't have somebody that'sdone it, done us some harm.
But I live in constant fear thatthat's gonna be a thing and and
we're gonna have somebody thatdid something so regretful that
it's gonna cause harm to all ofus.
SPEAKER_00 (41:19):
Just so you guys know, you know, if you are part
of an you know, a rental dealerassociation in your state,
whether it be the Florida,whether it be Missouri, whether
it be Iowa, Nebraska, and youhave the ability to have
somebody come to your locationand really, really see what we
do.
That is a that is a feather inyour cap, something that you can
do and really show thegovernment of your area, of your
(41:42):
town, of your county, of yourstate, this is how we run,
because there is an idea outthere that we're not running
that way.
And it's really not true.
Let's take it back a little bitbecause so we have this idea,
you know, there is this idea,this thought of rent to own.
You said Welton was one of thefirst companies that said, you
know what, we're gonna give youa shot.
(42:04):
Who else was was some of thefirst initial vendors that said,
you know what, I'm gonna believein rent to own, even though
maybe the Samsungs of the Zenithor whatever, they're not really
interested in us right now, butwe're gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01 (42:19):
So it was Zenith, though.
We had a local distributor righthere in Omaha, truesdale
distributing.
Okay.
And the and and I went overthere to the actual show floor
there in the distributor shipand and spoke with them.
They sent me down in an office.
They said, All right, look,this, let's see your credit.
I filled it all out.
They got back with me a coupledays later, gave me a small line
(42:40):
of credit.
Eventually that got bigger andbigger and bigger as we paid on
time each time.
But Zenith took it a good chancewith me.
So did Ashley.
Ashley was super helpful.
I mean, they've been around waylonger than me.
But back in the day, I mean,rent-to-own wasn't even a thing.
I was one of the early pioneersin this.
There were not a lot ofrent-to-own dealers when I
(43:00):
opened my first store.
No.
And Ashley didn't understand howimportant rent to own would be
to them at that time either.
But thankfully, they evolvedwith us and ended up really
being the furniture manufacturerthat saw it first and said, this
is going to be an important partof our of our business.
So we got to pay attention tothis.
(43:21):
And so, yeah, Zenith, Ashley,those were a couple that came
in.
Then we had a local distributorthat carried a line called
Gibson, Gibson washers anddryers, Gibson refrigerators.
And that was our first bigappliance line, was Gibson.
Later became Whirlpool.
But back in the day, localdistributor, guy by the name of
Kaufman, sat with me and said,okay, I'll give you a chance,
(43:44):
burn me once, you'll never beback here.
So you better pay me, not juston time, but a few days early.
You know, and and of course wepaid on time because I didn't
want to damage that line ofcredit.
That was so valuable.
It was one of the biggestproblems was getting people to
trust us and being able to atleast get 30 days, sometimes 60
days, sometimes, as SteveSherman gave me even 90 days to
(44:06):
pay, it allowed me to continuegrowing my store.
SPEAKER_00 (44:09):
I think that, I think that, you know, going back
and seeing how important theywere to the growth of what we do
today.
You know, those those vendors,those initial meetings and
saying, hey, we believe in youenough to to to go.
And then there was growth withthat.
Now, I don't see Zenith anymore.
(44:30):
Obviously, they've been a youknow a change of company, but
you know, like you said, Ashley,I mean, they've been along for
the ride.
Yes.
I remember when I first came onand you know, right at 2000, we
were selling Welton products foryears.
Um, and it was because of thoserelationships that you'd helped
forge.
So as we're doing all this andwe're going through the years,
what's something that you wouldsay to some of the people
(44:51):
nowadays who didn't know aboutthe relationship that we didn't
have with Ashley, then that wedidn't have with Zenith, that we
didn't have with Welton, thatyou helped create.
What are some of the things nowthat you would say to the next
generation that are comingthrough that might help them
with whatever is coming up next?
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
Well, I think the store experience has to get
better.
Um, we're we're now seeing ageneration of people that want
to shop only online.
They they don't really even wantany human contact.
If we could just put the theitem on their doorstep and they
could carry it in themselves,they probably wouldn't.
They wouldn't.
(45:26):
They want to do all the signingvirtually online.
And so we've got to get betterat that.
We've got to learn to sell inplaces that are not in the
store.
Um, because if you're expectingfootprints in your store to be
the chief way that you'relanding new agreements now,
you're going to be reallystruggling for sales.
So you've your online presencehas to get better, your website
(45:49):
has to get better, thefunctionality of it has to get
better, lead management has toget better.
That's a real thing.
Referrals, um, I mean, landingreferrals online on whatever
your source, making sure thatyou've got good reviews.
That's really important becausepeople are going to be looking
at that.
But if you want people still tocome to your store, and I do, we
(46:11):
all do, then the in-storeshopping experience needs to get
even better.
There needs to be somethingextraordinary that's going on in
there.
Yes.
Festivals, fiestas, you know,what it's championing various
different cultures.
You know, maybe a black historyum event in your store or
(46:32):
something that that is marketedtowards Latino people.
You know, we we have somethingthat we do in one of our stores
we call Fiesta Sabido, wherethey we have a food truck vendor
that comes out and makes tacos.
And I mean, it's an event.
It's not just we're bringingpeople in trying to sell them
agreements.
We'll have 80 groups of peoplein a 11, almost 12,000 square
(46:55):
foot store.
The place is absolutely packed,and it becomes a social event
that people get off work, theygo home and get cleaned up, and
they come back to the to theparty at Ace Rent to own because
it's a social event.
And I think it's those thingsthat these new dealers they have
to get better at.
They have to see.
It's not just the same old, sameold.
You can't just put some ads onFacebook and and virtual and you
(47:19):
know, maybe some postcards inthe mail to your current
clients.
That is not going to be enough.
It needs to be event driven.
And your in-store experienceneeds to get better.
And for mercy's sake, learn tosell better without anybody ever
coming into the store.
SPEAKER_00 (47:35):
Yeah, yeah.
I I I completely agree with you100% on that.
What do you think the biggestmisconception then is for us
that that you know might behurting us right now?
What do you think the biggestmisconception of rent to own is?
SPEAKER_01 (47:48):
What I think it is is I mean, it's still it's still
we've beat it a lot, but wehaven't beat it back entirely.
And that is ripping off poorpeople.
That we we could charge less andwe just choose not to because
we're profit mongers.
And if they could see my books,I will roll open the books and
show them that my margins arenot better than your big box
(48:09):
retailers, you know, and in somestores they're way worse.
You know, I mean, so the theidea that we're basing our
prices by trying to unfairlyprofit is so wrong.
So if I mean, it's better,right?
It's better.
We're not turning on the nightlynews and hearing, hey, you're
ripping off poor people,predatory, this and that.
(48:30):
Better, but it's not fixed yet.
And so what I'd like to do is isis show the world what it's
really like.
Show the kinder, softer side,show the free time that we give
away, letting people put theiraccount on hold and coming back
two years later and pick upright where they left off.
(48:52):
They haven't lost anything.
I I want to show that they can,in our stores, trade in anything
at any time and get any otherproduct in the store and we'll
take all the money they've paidon that product, even though
that is not a profitabletransaction.
It keeps the client satisfiedand it gets them to ownership so
they keep shopping with us andbuying other things.
It that's the misconception.
(49:14):
We need to show the world betterthan we do that we're the
kindest and friendliest industryand not predators that are
unfairly profiting.
SPEAKER_00 (49:23):
Yes.
So we're going through, we'redoing this legends podcast, and
I can see the passion that youhave for it.
I feel the same way.
Sometimes, you know, people thatdon't really understand rental
own, you start talking aboutbefore you know it, you're
standing there and you'retalking about these things, the
hands are going back and forth.
And I tell people, my hands aregoing, I'm sorry.
But it's because I believe inwhat we do.
(49:46):
There was a time where it was ajob.
I don't think my career everreally started until I started
believing.
Until I started really seeingwhat we did.
And when I started seeing whatwe did, that's when the passion
grew for how can I let everybodyelse know about this?
How can I, what more can I do toget everybody involved in the
(50:11):
same space that I am?
So here we are.
We're at RTO World 2025.
We are going down the Legendsseries.
We're helping Apro and all ofour listeners understand what
happened, where we came from.
What's something that you wouldlike to see come out of this
(50:31):
type of series?
SPEAKER_01 (50:33):
I think so many of us rent-to-owned dealers don't
understand or not understand itstrong enough that there are
other agencies, other groupsthat can help.
We are members of the BetterBusiness Bureau.
And we're one of the few.
There's hardly any rent-to-ownedstores that join and become
members of the Better BusinessBureau.
(50:55):
And not only are we that, um, atone point, I think it was 2017,
we got the Better BusinessBureau Integrity Award.
And this is in the largestcategory in Nebraska, Iowa,
South Dakota.
The people that make the BetterBusiness Bureau what it is,
their board of directors, sawthat Ace Rent to Own was the
(51:17):
member of the highest level ofintegrity that despite the fact
that most of our business is notselling, but it's collecting, we
still have no unresolvedcomplaints.
So rather than run and hide froma group like the Better Business
Bureau and just say, we'll neverbe able to satisfy, we came in
with both feet forward and said,no, show us what we need to do
(51:37):
better.
Show us how to solve complaints,show us what we're doing wrong,
and show us what we need to dofor you to bestow such an honor
on us.
And so I think better businessbureaus, a chamber of commerce,
there's local businessorganizations that you can join.
Um we I got the uh Rotary Clubward.
(51:59):
It's it's uh the called theGolden Wheel Award from the
Rotary Club for the work that wedo with our charitable side of
the business and got to go givea speech in front of the Rotary
Club.
But these other groups that I'mtelling you about, when you open
a new store, they will show upthere and do a ribbon cutting.
And every member of their boardof directors for the local
(52:20):
chamber of commerce will show upand become a mouthpiece for you.
They're they may not beinterested in shopping with you,
but they can tell others whatyou do, and they can help you
one person at a time dispel anyof those myths about ripping off
poor people or unfairlyprofiting.
And they can actually tell yourstory as well as you can if
(52:42):
you'll just invite them in andshow them how to do that.
The other thing I would say isyou're never too old to learn
more.
Here I am, 65 years old.
I'm back again to go to theseminars here and learn what I
don't know or that I can dobetter.
There is never an April or TRIevent that I don't go home with
(53:02):
something else that's a reallyimportant tidbit or multiple
tidbits.
So get on your plane or get inyour car and come to April, come
to the TRIB events, come learnmore, interact with the dealers,
um, become a stronger, better,more convicted dealer that
you're gonna do business theright way than you've ever been
(53:23):
before by building thosefriendships that you asked me
about, mentors, friends who youcan turn to when times get tough
or when you're not sure what todo?
Don't stay at home and thinkyou've got it all figured out,
because you don't.
And so everyone should come.
If you've got a rent-to-ownedstore, or if you've got a
thousand rent-to-owned stores,get to these events and learn
(53:46):
what you can do better.
Learn from the people that loveit like you love it.
SPEAKER_00 (53:50):
So, what would you say you want the Lynn Leach
legacy to say if if if somebodyelse is sitting here?
I'm I'm a little younger thanyou are, so there might be a
time frame where you're like,I'm gonna take a step back.
This is gonna be somebody else,uh, whether it be your son
that's sitting here, maybe in acouple years, or somebody else.
What would you want us to saywas Lynn Leach's legacy?
(54:12):
How do you want to beremembered?
SPEAKER_01 (54:14):
I that's a another good question.
I I want to be remembered assomeone who truly loved the
industry and all members of itand got loved back.
That that I understand thevalue.
Look, let's say you're a cardealer and you've got somebody
that comes in and trades in alate model Cadillac on a brand
(54:37):
new Cadillac, that's a big dayfor that guy that's getting his
new car.
It's a fun day, right?
Cool.
That's that's not life-changing,but it's a cool day.
But in our industry, when weback up the truck and we bring
in a bunk bed and we help themget it assembled, and you've got
kids that were sleeping on alove seat and in the recliner,
(54:57):
and now all of a sudden they'vegot a comfortable, safe bed, and
you watch them run over and hugon their mama's legs and say,
Thanks, mom, for the nice bed.
Or you're backing up the truckon Thanksgiving Eve and
unloading a range so that theycan finally have a family meal,
not made in the microwave or ona hot plate, but made in a real
(55:18):
oven.
Or maybe it's a dining set thatthey need.
And now instead of having to eaton TV trays in the living room,
this rental purchase store wasable to get them a seven-piece
dining set so the whole familycan gather now and have some
critically important familytime.
I'd like to be remembered assomebody that that loved the
(55:39):
industry enough to see thatvalue and see what it did for me
and develop in me the ability tohave that warm, fuzzy feeling
that I'm doing well for people,that I'm doing right for them,
to give me a profitablebusiness, but at the same time
provide them some criticallyimportant things that improve
(56:00):
the quality of life for theirfamily to get loved and be loved
back.
That that would be how I'd liketo be remembered.
Saying a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (56:09):
But I think you got it.
I think I think you're there.
So, guys, I'm gonna tell youright now, this is why we have
the legends here.
It's because there's so muchthat they can teach us.
There's so much knowledge thatwe have in the past and going
towards the future.
Lynn Leach here has been doing awonderful job at kind of
explaining how things have been,how things were, and hopefully
(56:31):
how things will be.
So we're gonna be lookingforward to seeing you on the
next podcast, but we want you toknow, please, join us online
always.
You can see us on Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn, and now
YouTube where you'll be able tosee this.
We want you to subscribe.
And as always, I'm gonna tellyou I'm so glad you're on the
show, and I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (56:50):
Thank you for having me.
It's been a real pleasure.
SPEAKER_00 (56:52):
Absolutely get your collections low to get your
sales high.
Have a great one.
Hey everybody, welcome to the RTO show.
I'm here at the RTO World 2025.
And let me tell you, I'm really,really happy to be here.
I have a special guest, but soyou guys know, we're actually
going to do something differentthis season.
Now, this is the first video ofan entire series that APRO is
doing.
And why is it important?
(01:30):
Well, we're going to get to thehistory of Rent's own and more
importantly, how we got here.
And it doesn't start any betterthan with Lynn Leach.
Now, we are actually in Omaha.
Well, you got to get the guysfrom Omaha if you're going to be
in Omaha.
So this is where we're going tostart.
We're so happy that you're here,Lynn.
And listen, we're going to goback a little bit.
We're going to find out how wegot here.
(01:52):
But more importantly, whatmatters to you, what matters to
us, and how April can show thehistory of rent to own.
Lynn Lynch, how are you doing?
How's everything going today?
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
Outstanding.
I'm doing well.
Thanks for having me.
It's good to be here in my homestate, uh hosting the first RTO
world ever in Omaha, Nebraska.
SPEAKER_00 (02:12):
That's it.
And so with everything comingover here, you traveled for
years to every state imaginable,right?
Now you finally get to bring ithome.
And I and I hear that you'reyou're close to here.
You didn't even have to go thatfar, right?
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
No, no.
We live uh part-time, eightblocks from here, and my my
full-time residence, about 50-55minutes from here.
So this is home.
SPEAKER_00 (02:33):
This is home.
So in case you guys don't know,we are literally across the
street from the stadium.
It's probably the one of themost beautiful convention
centers that I've actually beento.
I'm really excited to be here.
But let's get into it.
So the reason that we have Lynnhere is we got to go back to
1982.
Right?
(02:53):
So to be in the Legends Club,you're at 40 years or more,
which is covered.
All right.
We're about 43 years, or is this44 to 30 years old?
We're just starting our 44thyear.
That's it.
So in 1982, you and Natalie gettogether, your wife, um, two
children, and Eli.
SPEAKER_01 (03:14):
Um, so my Eli is my grandson.
Ben is my son.
Um, my daughter, Mindy, has Eli.
That's my grandson.
And then Ben has uh uh adopted achild too.
Her name is Sienna.
So I have grandson andgranddaughter now.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
That's awesome.
So are they a part of therent-to-owned world?
SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
Yeah, so Ben is.
Ben is our chief operatingofficer.
His husband, Ryan, is our uhdirector of training.
Awesome.
So they're both involved in thebusiness.
SPEAKER_00 (03:40):
Beautiful.
So then they know all about,well, maybe we're gonna talk
pre-Ben 1982.
They weren't here.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
No, well, so um, no, that that's right.
So they they weren't even bornyet.
Mindy would be born shortlyafter that.
Uh, but yeah, it was just me,Natalie, and uh one employee
soon to become two.
Uh we opened right at 25th andoh, the very first store.
It's still there, stilloperating, still one of our best
stores, um, most productivestores.
(04:12):
And away we went with a bunch ofborrowed money that my dad
helped me with.
Um, loaned me a half a millionbucks to get started.
And um, he was a little a smallmom and pop furniture store
owner, so he had his ownbusiness himself and was busy
with that, but was kind enoughto help me get started
financially with my business,and then later helped me borrow
(04:34):
more at the bank as we continuedto grow Ace Rent to Own.
But it was thanks to my dad,Gene, it was his first name,
that helped me get the wholething started.
Without him, Ace Rent to Ownwould have never got off the
ground.
SPEAKER_00 (04:46):
Well, we're gonna get into how many locations you
have now because that's asuccess story.
But let's go back to 1982.
You're with Natalie.
I'm gonna guess you guys hadjust gotten together or been
together for a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (04:56):
Yeah, just um just we married in 1980.
Okay, so fairly still newlyweds,um, fresh out of college, uh,
went to work for Barry Gambini,Ron, and Dave Happy out in
California.
Okay.
Um, and started in San Diegowith a brand new store,
literally opening the day I gotthere.
They picked me up on a Sunday atthe airport, took me to the
(05:19):
store, started getting me readyto go, teaching me everything I
needed to know, and we opened onMonday morning with a big grand
opening.
So away I went, and then theyeventually moved me to
Sacramento, which was theirbiggest store, and then on to
company headquarters in Visalia,California.
And after I'd worked for themlong enough and could see this
(05:40):
is a really incredible industry,and I know I can do this, and I
love what it is.
I love helping clients, I lovegiving a quality of life
improvement to people.
And I was so motivated that Iwanted to come back and do it
myself, only put slightlydifferent twists.
The things that they did reallywell, I learned from them and
(06:00):
kept those and initiated thoseinto my own company.
The things that I had a slightlydifferent idea on, I could make
those changes.
And there we go.
1982, with a potload of borrowedmoney, my wife and an employee
and a half, and here we go.
Let's start, let's open thedoors and start writing some
agreements.
SPEAKER_00 (06:19):
So the idea was in 1982, after after kind of
understanding the furniturebusiness and kind of going
through the ranks, starting itwas basically based on how you
felt about I can do this maybebetter, or I could put my tweaks
on it, or or my family can kindof we we have the ability to put
a spin on it in a way thatthey're not doing elsewhere.
(06:41):
And that's how we got.
So, how did you present that?
So you have this idea of youknow creating this this way of
rent, you know, I want to sayrent to own, but oh, this way of
selling furniture.
And you talk to dad and go, Ihave this different way of doing
things, and I hope you trust me.
SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
So I mean, if if you if if you knew my dad and I knew
him really well, you know, youknow you better bring it in and
be prepared.
Okay.
So put your best foot forwardquick.
So I came in, and this is waybefore computers.
So I come in with a flip chart,and I've got everything written
out, how much money it's gonnatake, and what the forecast for
(07:17):
business, what my business modelwould look like.
And I'm flipping these pages andshowing him.
And he's and pretty soon hesaid, Stop, stop.
I I think we can do this.
I can afford to help you.
You can't go belly up on mebecause I'm gonna give you a
significant amount of money, andwithout it, I won't be able to
retire.
So you've got to promise me thatyou will get this, make this go
(07:38):
and make it successful.
And I promised him, I told him,whatever it takes, I will not
fail at this.
And he said, I believe you.
So he loaned me the money andand and off we went.
And that is literally every timeI thought, oh, I'm seven days a
week, I mean 75, 80, 85,sometimes 90 hours.
I I opened the store even onSundays back then, rent it by
(08:01):
myself.
Then I'd close at five and makethe deliveries that I promised
that I would get out yet thatevening.
And my wife would be at homewith and um you know, waiting
patiently, then with my daughterand saying, Yeah, you just get
home when you get home, takecare of business.
So she was super supportive.
But yeah, we brought a differenttwist.
We bought brought what I thinkis a more consumer-first
(08:24):
approach, more uh friendlycollections and and really
building on the relationships,not building just on profit or
on revenues, but knowing that ifwe built those relationships so
strong with the clients, then wewouldn't have to worry about the
revenues.
Though they would take care ofthemselves.
And I think people gravitatedand saw that's what we were
(08:45):
about, saw they could tell usthe truth when they were having
a hardship.
And rather than hide when theywere having a hardship and not
answer the door or answer theirphone, they'd open the door and
say, Look, I'm I'm having sometroubles here, and I'll tell you
what it is.
And I mean, from the verybeginning, we were committed to
let's not pick anything up thatthe client doesn't want.
(09:05):
If there's another way, we'regonna be friendly enough not to
have to take that product backfrom them.
SPEAKER_00 (09:12):
So, what made you decide?
You're coming from the salesworld, you're coming from a
retail side.
What made you decide in 1982,I'm gonna pitch this to dad, but
we're not doing just retail.
We're gonna do something thatback then really wasn't heard
of.
I mean, not every there wasn'ton every street corner.
Nowadays you can pick up, youknow, look in RTO and things
will pop up.
(09:32):
But back then, when there wasn'tany, uh there wasn't any Google
searches, there might not haveeven been any yellow book
searches because there wasn't itwasn't really built out.
What made you decide instead ofretail and selling it with your
spin, rent to own was where youguys wanted to do it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
So once again, I have to give a lot of credit to
my dad.
He is the one that um that toldme look, this mom and pop retail
store that I have, this is goingto become a dinosaur in the
thing of the past.
It's gonna be really hard tocompete, but there's this wave
of the future, this new way ofdoing business in furniture and
electronics and appliances.
(10:07):
It's called rent to own.
And I really think that youought to look at that.
And so that's what caused me togo out to California and go to
work with those guys.
It was my dad's uh insight ofsaying, it's gonna be really
hard to make a living the way Ihave.
You need to look at a new way ofdoing business in the same
product categories, but in acompletely different way of
(10:30):
doing business.
Rent to own, or he, as he wascalling it back then, rental
purchase.
Rental purchase is gonna be thenew mom and pop retailer.
And so if you want to have alife like I did and have a store
or stores that that you can besuccessful at like I was, you
shouldn't look at just retailingand and just doing retail sales.
(10:51):
You should look at this new waveof the future, this rent-to-own,
rental purchase model.
And that's what caused me totake a look at it and go to work
there and then end up opening myown store.
SPEAKER_00 (11:01):
I'm I'm so curious about that because now before
you had gone that route, andbefore you got with dad and you
made this business decision, thefamily used to repair TVs.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
So that's how my dad got started.
He was a military and a Navyman, got out of the Navy, went
to work selling insurance, andhe'd sell insurance by day and
repair TVs by night.
So that's how he got his retailstart.
Um, he and my mom and sometimesme would go out in our repair
van, and he, if he could fix itin their home, he would.
(11:34):
If he couldn't, then my momwould help him carry the TV out
to the truck or to our van andthen he'd take it back to our
home and he would fix it there.
And if you remember, back in theday, TV repair was mostly
plugging in a different tube,figuring out which tube didn't
work and just putting a new onein.
So we had tube testers and allkinds of things that he did back
(11:54):
then.
And then eventually that umevolved into hanging aerial TV
antennas on the top of people'shomes.
Yeah, the big ones.
The big ones, yeah, on a bigpole.
And so he built a trailer wewould pull behind the TV van,
and it had a telescoping polethat he would put up and then
you know, thumb screw it downand then do the Nick section,
(12:17):
thumbscrew it down.
And we would go through thestreets of downtown Lincoln
looking for homes that didn'thave an aerial antenna.
And he had a big cord on a boardthat and he would unwrap it
before he knocked on the door.
So he had the cord in his handthat he wanted to hook up to
their TV.
So he'd knock on the door,they'd come to the door and he'd
say, My name's Gene Leach.
(12:39):
My son Lynn here and I, we'reputting aerial antennas on
people's homes.
If you'd give me just a minute,I like to show you how much
better your reception will bewith an aerial antenna than the
rabbit ears that you're usingnow.
So he'd go in there and he had alittle alligator clip.
He'd take a screwdriver and taketheir rabbit ear off and then
clip that on, and they'd go, Oh,my word, look at that.
(13:00):
I mean, no more rolling, no moreghosts, you know, no more fuzzy
picture.
It would just be beautiful.
And then he'd say,$199 installedtonight.
We'll get the ladders off and wecan have it in for you tonight.
(14:04):
And back then, I mean, yeah, itwas a decent amount.
I mean, we're talking about thethe mid-60s.
Um, and I mean,$199 was no smallamount, but people would go,
gosh, that's just so muchbetter, you know.
And and he they'd say, Can canyou do it tonight?
Really?
And he'd say, Yes, but yes, myson and I.
And he's like, he's got to beseven.
(14:24):
How is he gonna help you?
And he goes, I don't let him onthe roof.
He does go up and down theladder and he hands me tools,
but I don't allow him up on yourroof.
That'll be just me.
And they're like, All right.
And I'm telling you, eight outof ten probably said, Do it, do
it, install it tonight.
So he'd get all his materialsout.
And I mean, that's just the kindof he was an innovator.
He was a true entrepreneur.
(14:45):
He was he was my entire rolemodel, um, my hero.
I mean, that's just a fact.
And I and I loved being withhim.
It was such cool father and sontime, and he taught me what
being a true businessman, a manof character looked like from
the time I could be six or sevenand even understand what that
meant.
SPEAKER_00 (15:04):
So he he starts doing this.
He introduces you not only to adifferent aspect of what he
does, but how to do it, how tobe that salesman, how to be up
front, how to get it done, howto go after it.
So then where did the idea ofrent to own come from that?
He because you you you went intothe furniture side of it.
(15:25):
He already has a TV side of it.
When would when you when youfirst opened a store, did you
introduce furniture first, orwas it the TVs first?
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
No, so he is he went on from there.
He opened a small TV repair shopthat was not out of our home
anymore.
He had a retail location, andthen he got like an RCA and then
a Zenith franchise.
So he was selling new TVs.
That blossomed into the storethat he had then, and he he he
branched out into appliances,furniture, and electronics.
(15:54):
Um, and and so I worked for himall the way through college,
high school.
I mean, he taught me whathonors, codes, bonds, ethics,
you know, and and being asalesperson, uh being a manager
of people, um, yeah, being ahard worker.
I mean, he taught me the valueof hard work, and and he also
taught me the value of beingloved.
(16:14):
My secret sauce in life, whenpeople ask me, how did you do
this?
I mean, how did you grow fromwhat you had to what you have
now?
You know, what's the magic?
And I tell them always, mysecret sauce was the love of my
mom and dad.
They both loved me so much andthey taught me right from wrong.
They taught me hard work frombeing lazy, they taught me
(16:36):
character and they and theytaught me how to care about
people, how to forgerelationships.
If it weren't for their love, Iwould not have anything, really.
But and it's not just inbusiness, too, it's in general,
raising my kids, right?
I mean, I do theater.
I mean, so so I put my heart andsoul into that.
There's so many rodeoing, right?
(16:56):
I I I'm used to rodeo and and soso many things that the things
my mom and dad with completelydifferent kinds of love.
My dad was a more tough love.
I mean, I mean, he expected alot.
His his ambitions were veryhigh, and he would say, I have
very high expectations for you.
I know what you're capable of.
I expect you to meet thoseexpectations.
(17:18):
And my mom was more thenurturing, hugging, kiss on your
forehead kind of love.
No, I could do no wrong,whatever happened.
She'd go, Oh, you know, I stilllove you that.
And and I mean those things bothwere invaluable.
But that was my secret saucethat they loved me so much that
they made me believe I could doanything I set my mind to doing.
(17:40):
But that's the truth.
Yes, it is.
That's the absolute truth.
Yes.
It is the sole reason that thatI've been able to do these
things.
Heck, I was, I mean, got to MCthe governor's ball when Pete
Ricketts was elected the firsttime.
I was his announcer and MC, andthen he hired me again to do his
re-election ball.
And I grew up in a three-bedroomhome with one bathroom and no
(18:04):
shower.
And sometimes I'd look aroundand go, How am I doing these
kinds of things?
How does Pete Ricketts hire meto get into his governor's ball?
You know, and and I know what itwas, I know is that my mother
and father instilled in me theonly person that's going to
limit you is you.
If you believe you can do it andyou keep trying, you'll figure
(18:24):
out a way to get it done.
Just don't give up on yourself.
So many people quit onthemselves, right?
Absolutely.
Long before they should have.
Absolutely.
And if they'd have just stayedthe course and kept showing up
and kept giving their besteffort, eventually they would
have got whatever they werewanting.
And I really don't care whatyou're talking about, whether
it's a race car driver or aBroadway musical performer or a
(18:46):
rent-to-own guy, if you justkeep showing up and doing it
right, telling the truth, beingdecent, being honest, and and
never give up, keep grinding.
You can make it.
Anyone can make it.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
Absolutely.
So that's how you got in.
1982, you start.
How was your relationship withthe vendors back then?
Because at this point in time,rent to own probably isn't on
the top of everybody's list,right?
So you go to somebody, you say,Hey guys, um, I'm opening this
location and this is what I wantto do.
(19:17):
Now I I've heard the turmoilbetween rent to own and
retailers throughout the years.
How was your relationship withvendors at that beginning point
when you're so there reallywasn't one?
SPEAKER_01 (19:28):
Um, I I just as I was getting ready to open that
store, um, I went to my firstCES show, and I thought, okay,
I'll just go out there and I'llmeet with these vendors, you
know.
I'll talk to Samsung, I'll talkto Zenith and RCA, and they'll
open me an account, you know,and then they'll start shipping
me some product.
And it wasn't at all like that.
I mean, you had to fight just toget an appointment when they'd
(19:51):
say, I'd they'd say, What's thename of your store?
And I'd say, Ace Rent to Own.
Oh, oh, uh, yeah, maybe youcould wait over there a little
bit and we'll see if we can getto you.
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
Wait in the rafters, hold on.
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
But finally I'd get an audience with them, and then
I mean I'd do my very best toconvince them, you know, just
give me a small line of credit.
Let me prove myself.
And there were vendors that werepeculiar to the rent-to-own
industry.
I mean, I went to my first Aprilshow um and and met uh Steve
with Welton.
I can't think of his last nameright now, but he was one of the
(20:24):
first guys to give me a decentline of credit.
Um, and I was so thankful.
I'm like, wow, he's gonna giveme 90 days credit.
And he, you know what he said?
I just trust you.
I don't know why, but I'm gonnatrust you, and I'll keep
trusting you till you burn me.
Steve Burn me.
So don't burn me.
So yeah, Steve Sherman, that washis name.
SPEAKER_00 (20:43):
I've been telling you, Welton was a big player for
years and years and years.
So, you know, if you helpedpioneer that, we would
appreciate that.
So, as we're going through, whatwere your main lines of so you
had furniture, TVs, andappliances?
Yes.
What did your branch into as theyears went on?
What were the some of the thingsthat you know you can say, like
(21:04):
the first, you know, three, fouryears, we had the basics, we had
these core products, but then weadded something different.
SPEAKER_01 (21:10):
We added video games way back in the day.
It was the Atari 2600.
I mean, really the first homevideo game.
We added those.
We had a whole line of the gamesthat you plugged into them, the
software.
Um, we added VCRs.
When we opened VCRs, it was nota thing.
I mean, there was none.
Do you know when that cameabout?
Oh, I I'm gonna say that wasmaybe the mid-80s, 85, 86, right
(21:34):
in there.
Um, paying a thousand and twentydollars for my first VCR.
Oh my god.
$1,020.
That's that's factory cost.
Yeah.
And so you couldn't sell verymany of those back in that day
at that kind of price.
But I mean, it was an invention.
Being able to record TV was, Imean, world-changing.
(21:57):
And people, everybody wantedone, but not many could afford
one.
Um, computers, I mean, thecomputer age after that, then,
you know, laptops, desktops,gaming.
When I first opened my firststore, we were not computerized.
All the payments that we tookwere on billing cards, ledger
cards.
I remember that.
And we filed one according tothe date and one according to
(22:18):
alphabetical.
And so when they'd come in andmake a payment, we'd type it on
a typewriter and put it back inthe the ledger cards back in the
files again.
That's literally how rudimentaryit was.
And then a few years later,computers and software that that
fit rent to own were wereinvented, and off we went in the
computerized age.
SPEAKER_00 (22:37):
What was your first and and I think I already know
the answer to this question, butI'm gonna ask it anyways.
As you're going on, and maybewe'll maybe we'll divert a
little bit.
Who would you say is somebodythat you mentored, somebody that
mentored you, uh I should say,and helped you besides mom and
dad?
Somebody that was like in eitherin the industry or outside of
(22:58):
the industry, but helped youfocus on the industry or
business.
Who would you say one or twogreat people that kind of just
helped you over?
SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
First name that comes to mind, Daryl Tissett.
Really?
Daryl Tissett was an Aprilpresident, and I was a nobody,
and I mean, just a young guythat was trying to make a go of
it, you know, trying to get openmy second store or third store,
I don't remember which it was.
But I can remember Daryl Tissettsitting with me at a picnic
table and said, I'll give youall the time you want.
(23:28):
Just pepper me with questions.
And and the man became uh a truementor to me, somebody that I
could call when I wasn't surewhat to do.
Um, every April show, he and Iwould talk.
I mean, he was just um just anincredibly kind man to help
mentor me.
Also, a guy named Bud Holliday.
(23:49):
Okay.
Um, he was very well spoken andhe gave seminars at the April
shows.
And back in the day, you couldbuy a cassette tape of the of
the seminar.
And I always bought a cassetteof Buds, and I'd take them home
and listen to them when I wasdriving to work because he was
just incredible.
And he broke it down so it wasso simple, and he'd say things
(24:10):
like, We're not building anyrockets here.
You know, we just rent TVs.
That's all we do.
You got to put them out thedoor, you got to collect the
rent, you got to sell enough ofthem, and when they pay them in
full, you got to find anothercustomer.
I mean, it was just he he was sofolksing, but an interesting uh
presentation on his seminars,and I always got something out
of it.
(24:30):
He was really good at teachingcollections, so I really enjoyed
that out of him, too.
So I would say those early onwere a couple of my mentors.
Um, and then since then, man,I've got a lot of my best
friends in the whole world arerent-to-owned dealers.
Um, his Daryl's son Mike, Imean, right now he is just as
(24:51):
good as it gets, I think, in therent-to-own industry.
Um, Gary Farriman, good friendof mine, Chris Bolan.
Um, I don't want to leaveanybody out there, so many, I
mean, dozens and dozens of mybest friends in the whole world
that I know if I was reallystruggling, really not sure what
to do, or just needed somebodyto love me, those guys would be
(25:11):
there for me.
They'd travel, whatever it took.
There's just a bond there thatwhen when you've gone to war
with some of these rent-to-owneddealers and you fought back
political attacks and you foughtback unfair uh trade, and and
these guys were shoulder toshoulder.
And you're in Washington, D.C.
All those trips I made when Iwas the April president to lobby
(25:32):
Congress, senators, congressmen,and women, and they were right
there with me, you know, settingup appointments with their
congresspeople.
And uh man, I mean, you justforge a bond that is there's no
such thing that's equal to that.
These these became myrent-to-own soldiers.
SPEAKER_00 (25:50):
So you said something that's really
important because I wanted toget into that.
The advocacy of APRO is superimportant.
What initially pulled you intothat first advocacy?
And do you happen to know aboutwhen you joined?
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Yeah, so I mean, literally right as we were
opening our first store.
So I mean, the we opened and theand the convention was then.
So I was there within a matterof weeks of opening my first
store.
And I knew of it because ofGambini, the happies.
I I knew that April was a thing,and that if I was going to be in
this business, I had to be amember of APRO.
SPEAKER_00 (26:23):
What was one of the first things that you said, I'm
glad that I'm with April nowbecause this happened?
Something, you know, there was athere's a lot of road that some
people that come in now, whetherthey've been here for five years
or 10 years, they haven't seensome of the things that we've
gone through.
Whether it be somebody in Texaswho says they want to shut us
down, or we like you said, in indifferent states, different
(26:44):
arenas, but things happen wherethey thought, I don't know if
this is how it should work, or Idon't think this is fair for the
consumer.
And you almost have to likeeducate them on what we do and
how we do it.
What was probably the time framein the first situation?
He said, you know what, I'm gladthat we have joined because this
could have really gotten way outof hand.
SPEAKER_01 (27:03):
Just this is a really good question and a
really solid answer, I think,here.
Ed Wynne.
Ed Wynn legal counsel.
So when I first joined April,um, I mean, he he was giving the
legal update, you know, andmaking sure people were staying
in compliance.
And I realized some of thethings that I had done back
(27:23):
home, some of my agreement andso on, wasn't in compliance.
So right away we madeadjustments and changed the
content of the agreement.
Um, I mean, we learned somethings that we could do that I
didn't even know.
I didn't know that you couldsell loss or damage waiver.
And that's something I learnedfrom joining April right away
that this was an incrediblyhelpful thing to the clients
(27:44):
because they were not able topay for something that was lost,
stolen, destroyed.
And it was a good source ofrevenue for us too.
So, because it covered thoselosses.
And so right away we implementedloss of damage waiver, but it
was that making sure that I knewhow to rent to own, I knew how
to sell, I knew how to collect,I knew how to build out my show
floor.
(28:05):
What I didn't know is what Ididn't know.
And Ed Wynne is the guy thatbrought that to me.
And and and I would just I'dtake copious notes.
I'd sit in there and I'd comeout of there with 18 legal pages
of notes that I got out of EdWynne, and I'd go back home and
tell Natalie, we got to do this,we got to do that, we got to
make this change.
I don't like how we're doingthis.
(28:25):
This I think is risky the waywe're doing that.
So made all those changes.
And it was April that that tookcare of me and introduced me to
Ed Wynne, but also other dealersthat could answer questions and
together we could go, what do weneed to do?
And and we were back then stillworking on getting laws passed
in the states.
And April did that for me,helped you I mean, unite um
(28:50):
Renta Center and me and and theother independent dealers and
Aaron's got us all united andand got into our state house,
got with the State Department ofBanking chair.
If it wasn't for April, none ofthat would have happened.
April was entirely responsiblefor for kingpinning all of those
state laws that we're blessed tohave now.
(29:12):
So then when was yourpresidency?
2000 gosh, I'm gonna say I five,four right in there, something
like that.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
We're talking about initiating one of the first
rent-to-own situations in 1982,all the way up to actually being
president of something that yousaid probably helped you really
kind of define how you can makethe rent-to-own transaction
better in your state.
Yes.
Which leads me to is there aNebraska RDA or is it
Iowa-Nebraska RDA now?
It's Iowa, Nebraska.
SPEAKER_01 (29:44):
There used to be a Nebraska standalone, but it had
grown mostly dormant.
We weren't having yearlymeetings like we should have.
And so Iowa and Nebraskacombined, and now we have really
uh much more interestingmeetings, a lot more attendees.
We can get sponsorships and andbetter speakers because we've
got quite a few people therethat represent quite a few
(30:06):
stores amongst those two states.
And and we work arm in arm.
I mean, the Iowa and Nebraskadealers are all friends and all
work towards operating a betterrent-to-owned community.
SPEAKER_00 (30:18):
Well, I tell you what, every time I talk about Ed
Wen and uh we have ourconversations, I feel like he's
teaching a masterclass.
Because every time I talk to Ed,you know, he's a man that he
doesn't there's not a lot ofsmall talk.
When you talk to Ed, it'sbusiness.
And every time I talk to Ed, Imean, he just he has so much
knowledge and history, kind ofthose two together.
(30:41):
Um, and I every time we talk, Ijust I feel like I like I even
when I'm not taking notes, Ishould be.
Yes, just because of all thethings that he's gone through
and seen and learned and and andkind of been a part of
throughout his 40-somethingyears uh being the legal counsel
for for April, and it it wasjust it's just a wonderful
story.
SPEAKER_01 (30:59):
And he would tell it like it is no punches, cold,
right?
Yeah, and he would tell you ifyou were doing wrong.
And I mean, he had such a uh drywit that his seminars were not
only informative butentertaining, right?
And I I always enjoyed them, butum thank I mean he represented
me later on as we acquired acouple of other rent-to-owned
(31:20):
stores.
Um, he represented me and madesure that we did everything
right as we were making thatpurchase.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
So and so we've gone from one in 1982 to 23 right
now.
24.
24?
Yeah, wow.
Okay.
That's that's amazing.
First off, to to know thatthere's been a 44 year gap, and
you have 23 stores are from whatI hear doing very well.
SPEAKER_01 (31:42):
Yeah, I mean, sure.
Yeah, they're they're doing verywell, and and it's thanks to a
whole team of great people.
Um, I've got uh staff that isjust Second to none.
We've got people that have been30 years, you know, and lots in
the 20 years, 10 year with thecompany.
And so uh they really like itand they stay, they're cared
about, they know that they'reloved, they love what they're
(32:02):
doing.
They can get behind the missionof helping people to see a
better quality of life, helpingthem get to ownership.
It's not about the profit.
Take care of the client, theprofit will take care of itself.
And and who doesn't like thatway of thinking?
SPEAKER_00 (32:17):
Oh, absolutely.
So then let's flip that around.
You got people that have beenthere, like you said, 30 years,
you got 20 years.
But it's never always allrainbows.
No.
Right?
There are times where you hitthose feed bumps because we
never stopped.
Rentone has never stopped, butit has hit those moments where,
wow, this is a difficultsituation.
In your 44 years, your 24stores, you've got these people
(32:40):
that have been with you.
What's one of the times whereyou hit something in the road
that came up to you?
Something that, you know,whether it be for advocacy,
whether whether it was legal,whether you had a customer
situation pop up that you neverhad before, that now maybe we go
through a little bit easier.
What's what's some time that youcan say 44 years?
This was a this was a time ortwo where it was it it got real.
SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
These are some really good questions.
And I'm gonna I have a two-partanswer here because they're
completely different subjects,but equally disappointing.
So the first time a trustedemployee stole from me, I mean,
that one hit me right in theheart.
Somebody that I really, reallytrusted.
Um, my business partner Frankhad used this guy as a
(33:22):
babysitter, and and he turnedaround and burned us and was
pocketing some money.
Man, I mean, the first time thathappened where you loved
somebody and then you realizedthey didn't love you back, and
in fact, they were intentionallytrying to harm you, is a really
tough pill to swallow.
And I don't know that you everget over the ding in your armor
(33:45):
from that.
Yeah.
You you learn to trust butverify.
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
And and so that, that, and Imean it's happened a few times
over the years.
If you've been in business 44years, you've had a few people
that really were were uh wolvesin sheep's clothing, right?
And and they weren't what theysaid they were, and they stole
(34:05):
from you or cheated from you.
And so, ugh, that hurts.
The second thing I would say isme as a leader in April, we've
gotten so close to gettingfederal legislation.
Um, during my time with theApril board and as president,
we've got legislation passed inthe Senate and the House, but
never at the same time.
(34:27):
And when I was president, we gotso, so close.
We got it through the House, andI was absolutely convinced that
we were going to figure out away.
And Rena Center and others werehelping pull strings behind the
scenes to find people that thatwe that would help us in the
Senate, you know, sponsors,co-sponsors, many, many trips to
(34:47):
Washington, D.C., many nightsaway from home, many coming home
on Friday on the red eye flightafter having been there several
days lobbying members ofCongress to support this thing.
And then that the session ended,the term ended, and we still
didn't get it.
And I had to say, uh, defeat.
(35:08):
And I hate defeat.
And but well, we just, I mean,it wasn't possible.
You know, we tried to tried toget our bill in with whatever
else we could, any some kind ofomnibus bill that had a lot of
things that didn't have anythingto do with rent to own, but our
our issue just wasn't greatenough to pass it on its own.
And we'd always get edited outas bills were making their way
(35:31):
through the house at the veryend of the session.
And ours was one of the subjectsthat would end up on the side of
the road having been thrown offon the way so they could get it
passed.
That personally, for me, is as Iwind up my career here, that's a
deep disappointment that Iwasn't able to, with the help of
so many great dealers and somany politicians that really
(35:52):
were trying to help, and andgreat members of the April staff
that were trying to help.
It was, it's just still, it'sit's a burr under my saddle that
we couldn't, despite all thegood intentions, the lobbying,
the grassroots, blood, sweat,and tears, we still couldn't get
it done.
And now I wonder, is it evergonna get done?
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
I talked to Ed Wynn about that, and he was there was
a lot, there was another side tothat that he brought out.
You know, uh sometimes when youwhen you make the federal law
that also gives the federal uheyeballs on certain things, and
it's you know, being regulatedin the state, um the way he put
it might be a good idea to justleave it the way it is.
Now, of course, I never thinkthat it's a dead issue or a bad
(36:34):
issue, but talking about that,those were a couple of things
that hit you pretty hard.
As an industry, because you'veyou've you've seen, you've
talked to, like you said, uhDaryl Tissett, you've talked to
Ferriman, you've talked to theseguys that are really icons in
this business.
Daryl Tissett has out in thepast.
(36:57):
You know, an absolute leader andlegend in this business.
But you know, in going throughthese years, what do you think
is one of the hardest thingsthat the industry has gone
through?
Something that we we that it wastough to get through.
SPEAKER_01 (37:13):
I still think, and it I think it's not only tough
now, but I think it's it's anongoing problem.
And that is the virtualrent-to-owned companies that
don't have boots on the ground,they don't have the ability to
take product back, they don'thave the ability to go out and
service a TV or exchange it forthem.
(37:35):
They they just don't have thatability.
To me, that's problematic inthat we aren't.
Earlier today, we heard in thelegal session, be what you say
you are.
And and I know we those thathave brick and mortar stores are
what we say we are.
We know we're in the rentalpurchase business, and and we
are what we say.
You can return it at any time.
(37:56):
But the virtual rent-to-owneddealers that don't have anywhere
to go return it, that'sproblematic for me.
And I worry, and no disrespectintended to any of them.
I don't personally have any axeto grind, but I worry about our
transaction and how it's definedand whether people really
believe that that is, that we'renot credit, that we're a lease
(38:18):
and not a credit sale, when infact there's no way to return
the product, which is the onething that makes it so much
different than a credit salefrom some of these virtual
online rent-to-owned companies.
And so that troubles me.
It's still troubling me, and Ithink it's something that this
next generation of dealers oughtto pay attention to and make
(38:39):
sure that we protect thetransaction and that we do the
transaction, that we execute thetransaction the way it's
written, and and that we don'taccept an imitation or something
that is a hybrid of that.
SPEAKER_00 (38:53):
How far off do you think that can be?
Like you see it now.
You see that it it has beenaround for a few years, that it
might make rent to own seem,although it's not, it might make
you know put eyes on us in adifferent light.
How, in your opinion, how longdo you think we have before it
becomes a bigger problem?
SPEAKER_01 (39:13):
Boy, if I had knew the answer to that, um million
dollar question, I'd I'dprobably be buying a lottery
ticket.
Um I don't know.
Soon, soon, I mean, sooner thanlater, I think.
Um right now, I think thepolitics as as it stands right
now are a little more friendlythan they've been in the past.
Uh the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau is not at its
(39:35):
strongest right now.
And so I don't think it's comingin the next few years.
Politics blow like the wind,right?
I mean, from one from one termof president to the next really
changes how America is enforcingregulations, rules, laws, and so
on.
Right now, I think it's fairlybusiness friendly.
(39:57):
But but those tides will turnagain, and it's not, it won't be
long before the consumerfinancial protection bureau is
knocking at the door again.
Or if they're not, there'll beanother Henry B.
Gonzalez.
Yeah, God, right?
And who will be after you, likeliterally wanting to shut down
your business.
And do you know why?
Because he doesn't know whathe's talking about.
(40:18):
If he could spend a day, a weekin the rent-to-own store and see
this is not predatory lending.
This is not lending at all.
And these are not predators,these are people that care about
their consumer a lot more thanregular mom and pop retail.
And I mean, that's I've hadpoliticians in my store that
learned all about therent-to-owned industry.
(40:40):
I invited them in when they wereskeptical as to whether they
would sign on as a co-sponsor.
And when they came and spent afew hours in there, they would
all, to a person, say, This isway different than I thought.
This is not predatory in anyway.
This is this is small businessat its very best.
SPEAKER_00 (40:58):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (40:58):
And so, yeah, they'll be howling at us in some
way, shape, or form.
And I hope, I hope it's notabout that transaction and that
we don't have somebody that'sdone it, done us some harm.
But I live in constant fear thatthat's gonna be a thing and and
we're gonna have somebody thatdid something so regretful that
it's gonna cause harm to all ofus.
SPEAKER_00 (41:19):
Just so you guys know, you know, if you are part
of an you know, a rental dealerassociation in your state,
whether it be the Florida,whether it be Missouri, whether
it be Iowa, Nebraska, and youhave the ability to have
somebody come to your locationand really, really see what we
do.
That is a that is a feather inyour cap, something that you can
do and really show thegovernment of your area, of your
(41:42):
town, of your county, of yourstate, this is how we run,
because there is an idea outthere that we're not running
that way.
And it's really not true.
Let's take it back a little bitbecause so we have this idea,
you know, there is this idea,this thought of rent to own.
You said Welton was one of thefirst companies that said, you
know what, we're gonna give youa shot.
(42:04):
Who else was was some of thefirst initial vendors that said,
you know what, I'm gonna believein rent to own, even though
maybe the Samsungs of the Zenithor whatever, they're not really
interested in us right now, butwe're gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01 (42:19):
So it was Zenith, though.
We had a local distributor righthere in Omaha, truesdale
distributing.
Okay.
And the and and I went overthere to the actual show floor
there in the distributor shipand and spoke with them.
They sent me down in an office.
They said, All right, look,this, let's see your credit.
I filled it all out.
They got back with me a coupledays later, gave me a small line
(42:40):
of credit.
Eventually that got bigger andbigger and bigger as we paid on
time each time.
But Zenith took it a good chancewith me.
So did Ashley.
Ashley was super helpful.
I mean, they've been around waylonger than me.
But back in the day, I mean,rent-to-own wasn't even a thing.
I was one of the early pioneersin this.
There were not a lot ofrent-to-own dealers when I
(43:00):
opened my first store.
No.
And Ashley didn't understand howimportant rent to own would be
to them at that time either.
But thankfully, they evolvedwith us and ended up really
being the furniture manufacturerthat saw it first and said, this
is going to be an important partof our of our business.
So we got to pay attention tothis.
(43:21):
And so, yeah, Zenith, Ashley,those were a couple that came
in.
Then we had a local distributorthat carried a line called
Gibson, Gibson washers anddryers, Gibson refrigerators.
And that was our first bigappliance line, was Gibson.
Later became Whirlpool.
But back in the day, localdistributor, guy by the name of
Kaufman, sat with me and said,okay, I'll give you a chance,
(43:44):
burn me once, you'll never beback here.
So you better pay me, not juston time, but a few days early.
You know, and and of course wepaid on time because I didn't
want to damage that line ofcredit.
That was so valuable.
It was one of the biggestproblems was getting people to
trust us and being able to atleast get 30 days, sometimes 60
days, sometimes, as SteveSherman gave me even 90 days to
(44:06):
pay, it allowed me to continuegrowing my store.
SPEAKER_00 (44:09):
I think that, I think that, you know, going back
and seeing how important theywere to the growth of what we do
today.
You know, those those vendors,those initial meetings and
saying, hey, we believe in youenough to to to go.
And then there was growth withthat.
Now, I don't see Zenith anymore.
(44:30):
Obviously, they've been a youknow a change of company, but
you know, like you said, Ashley,I mean, they've been along for
the ride.
Yes.
I remember when I first came onand you know, right at 2000, we
were selling Welton products foryears.
Um, and it was because of thoserelationships that you'd helped
forge.
So as we're doing all this andwe're going through the years,
what's something that you wouldsay to some of the people
(44:51):
nowadays who didn't know aboutthe relationship that we didn't
have with Ashley, then that wedidn't have with Zenith, that we
didn't have with Welton, thatyou helped create.
What are some of the things nowthat you would say to the next
generation that are comingthrough that might help them
with whatever is coming up next?
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
Well, I think the store experience has to get
better.
Um, we're we're now seeing ageneration of people that want
to shop only online.
They they don't really even wantany human contact.
If we could just put the theitem on their doorstep and they
could carry it in themselves,they probably wouldn't.
They wouldn't.
(45:26):
They want to do all the signingvirtually online.
And so we've got to get betterat that.
We've got to learn to sell inplaces that are not in the
store.
Um, because if you're expectingfootprints in your store to be
the chief way that you'relanding new agreements now,
you're going to be reallystruggling for sales.
So you've your online presencehas to get better, your website
(45:49):
has to get better, thefunctionality of it has to get
better, lead management has toget better.
That's a real thing.
Referrals, um, I mean, landingreferrals online on whatever
your source, making sure thatyou've got good reviews.
That's really important becausepeople are going to be looking
at that.
But if you want people still tocome to your store, and I do, we
(46:11):
all do, then the in-storeshopping experience needs to get
even better.
There needs to be somethingextraordinary that's going on in
there.
Yes.
Festivals, fiestas, you know,what it's championing various
different cultures.
You know, maybe a black historyum event in your store or
(46:32):
something that that is marketedtowards Latino people.
You know, we we have somethingthat we do in one of our stores
we call Fiesta Sabido, wherethey we have a food truck vendor
that comes out and makes tacos.
And I mean, it's an event.
It's not just we're bringingpeople in trying to sell them
agreements.
We'll have 80 groups of peoplein a 11, almost 12,000 square
(46:55):
foot store.
The place is absolutely packed,and it becomes a social event
that people get off work, theygo home and get cleaned up, and
they come back to the to theparty at Ace Rent to own because
it's a social event.
And I think it's those thingsthat these new dealers they have
to get better at.
They have to see.
It's not just the same old, sameold.
You can't just put some ads onFacebook and and virtual and you
(47:19):
know, maybe some postcards inthe mail to your current
clients.
That is not going to be enough.
It needs to be event driven.
And your in-store experienceneeds to get better.
And for mercy's sake, learn tosell better without anybody ever
coming into the store.
SPEAKER_00 (47:35):
Yeah, yeah.
I I I completely agree with you100% on that.
What do you think the biggestmisconception then is for us
that that you know might behurting us right now?
What do you think the biggestmisconception of rent to own is?
SPEAKER_01 (47:48):
What I think it is is I mean, it's still it's still
we've beat it a lot, but wehaven't beat it back entirely.
And that is ripping off poorpeople.
That we we could charge less andwe just choose not to because
we're profit mongers.
And if they could see my books,I will roll open the books and
show them that my margins arenot better than your big box
(48:09):
retailers, you know, and in somestores they're way worse.
You know, I mean, so the theidea that we're basing our
prices by trying to unfairlyprofit is so wrong.
So if I mean, it's better,right?
It's better.
We're not turning on the nightlynews and hearing, hey, you're
ripping off poor people,predatory, this and that.
(48:30):
Better, but it's not fixed yet.
And so what I'd like to do is isis show the world what it's
really like.
Show the kinder, softer side,show the free time that we give
away, letting people put theiraccount on hold and coming back
two years later and pick upright where they left off.
(48:52):
They haven't lost anything.
I I want to show that they can,in our stores, trade in anything
at any time and get any otherproduct in the store and we'll
take all the money they've paidon that product, even though
that is not a profitabletransaction.
It keeps the client satisfiedand it gets them to ownership so
they keep shopping with us andbuying other things.
It that's the misconception.
(49:14):
We need to show the world betterthan we do that we're the
kindest and friendliest industryand not predators that are
unfairly profiting.
SPEAKER_00 (49:23):
Yes.
So we're going through, we'redoing this legends podcast, and
I can see the passion that youhave for it.
I feel the same way.
Sometimes, you know, people thatdon't really understand rental
own, you start talking aboutbefore you know it, you're
standing there and you'retalking about these things, the
hands are going back and forth.
And I tell people, my hands aregoing, I'm sorry.
But it's because I believe inwhat we do.
(49:46):
There was a time where it was ajob.
I don't think my career everreally started until I started
believing.
Until I started really seeingwhat we did.
And when I started seeing whatwe did, that's when the passion
grew for how can I let everybodyelse know about this?
How can I, what more can I do toget everybody involved in the
(50:11):
same space that I am?
So here we are.
We're at RTO World 2025.
We are going down the Legendsseries.
We're helping Apro and all ofour listeners understand what
happened, where we came from.
What's something that you wouldlike to see come out of this
(50:31):
type of series?
SPEAKER_01 (50:33):
I think so many of us rent-to-owned dealers don't
understand or not understand itstrong enough that there are
other agencies, other groupsthat can help.
We are members of the BetterBusiness Bureau.
And we're one of the few.
There's hardly any rent-to-ownedstores that join and become
members of the Better BusinessBureau.
(50:55):
And not only are we that, um, atone point, I think it was 2017,
we got the Better BusinessBureau Integrity Award.
And this is in the largestcategory in Nebraska, Iowa,
South Dakota.
The people that make the BetterBusiness Bureau what it is,
their board of directors, sawthat Ace Rent to Own was the
(51:17):
member of the highest level ofintegrity that despite the fact
that most of our business is notselling, but it's collecting, we
still have no unresolvedcomplaints.
So rather than run and hide froma group like the Better Business
Bureau and just say, we'll neverbe able to satisfy, we came in
with both feet forward and said,no, show us what we need to do
(51:37):
better.
Show us how to solve complaints,show us what we're doing wrong,
and show us what we need to dofor you to bestow such an honor
on us.
And so I think better businessbureaus, a chamber of commerce,
there's local businessorganizations that you can join.
Um we I got the uh Rotary Clubward.
(51:59):
It's it's uh the called theGolden Wheel Award from the
Rotary Club for the work that wedo with our charitable side of
the business and got to go givea speech in front of the Rotary
Club.
But these other groups that I'mtelling you about, when you open
a new store, they will show upthere and do a ribbon cutting.
And every member of their boardof directors for the local
(52:20):
chamber of commerce will show upand become a mouthpiece for you.
They're they may not beinterested in shopping with you,
but they can tell others whatyou do, and they can help you
one person at a time dispel anyof those myths about ripping off
poor people or unfairlyprofiting.
And they can actually tell yourstory as well as you can if
(52:42):
you'll just invite them in andshow them how to do that.
The other thing I would say isyou're never too old to learn
more.
Here I am, 65 years old.
I'm back again to go to theseminars here and learn what I
don't know or that I can dobetter.
There is never an April or TRIevent that I don't go home with
(53:02):
something else that's a reallyimportant tidbit or multiple
tidbits.
So get on your plane or get inyour car and come to April, come
to the TRIB events, come learnmore, interact with the dealers,
um, become a stronger, better,more convicted dealer that
you're gonna do business theright way than you've ever been
(53:23):
before by building thosefriendships that you asked me
about, mentors, friends who youcan turn to when times get tough
or when you're not sure what todo?
Don't stay at home and thinkyou've got it all figured out,
because you don't.
And so everyone should come.
If you've got a rent-to-ownedstore, or if you've got a
thousand rent-to-owned stores,get to these events and learn
(53:46):
what you can do better.
Learn from the people that loveit like you love it.
SPEAKER_00 (53:50):
So, what would you say you want the Lynn Leach
legacy to say if if if somebodyelse is sitting here?
I'm I'm a little younger thanyou are, so there might be a
time frame where you're like,I'm gonna take a step back.
This is gonna be somebody else,uh, whether it be your son
that's sitting here, maybe in acouple years, or somebody else.
What would you want us to saywas Lynn Leach's legacy?
(54:12):
How do you want to beremembered?
SPEAKER_01 (54:14):
I that's a another good question.
I I want to be remembered assomeone who truly loved the
industry and all members of itand got loved back.
That that I understand thevalue.
Look, let's say you're a cardealer and you've got somebody
that comes in and trades in alate model Cadillac on a brand
(54:37):
new Cadillac, that's a big dayfor that guy that's getting his
new car.
It's a fun day, right?
Cool.
That's that's not life-changing,but it's a cool day.
But in our industry, when weback up the truck and we bring
in a bunk bed and we help themget it assembled, and you've got
kids that were sleeping on alove seat and in the recliner,
(54:57):
and now all of a sudden they'vegot a comfortable, safe bed, and
you watch them run over and hugon their mama's legs and say,
Thanks, mom, for the nice bed.
Or you're backing up the truckon Thanksgiving Eve and
unloading a range so that theycan finally have a family meal,
not made in the microwave or ona hot plate, but made in a real
(55:18):
oven.
Or maybe it's a dining set thatthey need.
And now instead of having to eaton TV trays in the living room,
this rental purchase store wasable to get them a seven-piece
dining set so the whole familycan gather now and have some
critically important familytime.
I'd like to be remembered assomebody that that loved the
(55:39):
industry enough to see thatvalue and see what it did for me
and develop in me the ability tohave that warm, fuzzy feeling
that I'm doing well for people,that I'm doing right for them,
to give me a profitablebusiness, but at the same time
provide them some criticallyimportant things that improve
(56:00):
the quality of life for theirfamily to get loved and be loved
back.
That that would be how I'd liketo be remembered.
Saying a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (56:09):
But I think you got it.
I think I think you're there.
So, guys, I'm gonna tell youright now, this is why we have
the legends here.
It's because there's so muchthat they can teach us.
There's so much knowledge thatwe have in the past and going
towards the future.
Lynn Leach here has been doing awonderful job at kind of
explaining how things have been,how things were, and hopefully
(56:31):
how things will be.
So we're gonna be lookingforward to seeing you on the
next podcast, but we want you toknow, please, join us online
always.
You can see us on Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn, and now
YouTube where you'll be able tosee this.
We want you to subscribe.
And as always, I'm gonna tellyou I'm so glad you're on the
show, and I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01 (56:50):
Thank you for having me.
It's been a real pleasure.
SPEAKER_00 (56:52):
Absolutely get your collections low to get your
sales high.
Have a great one.
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