Trooper Earle on RTO Franchising, Leadership, and Building a Successful Rent to Own Business

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the RTO show.
I'm your host, Pete Chao, and weare doing the Legend series.
Today we are talking to noneother than the legend, Trooper
Earl, all the way from Premiere.
How's it going today, Trooper?
I I hear that you've got so muchgoing on this week, but I'm glad
that you got time to sit withus.
How's it going today?

SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
Outstanding.
I'm looking forward to ourdiscussion.

SPEAKER_00 (00:23):
So I wanted to take us back a little bit because
these legend series are a littlebit more about what happened and
what got you here versus now andgoing forward.
Of course, we'll tackle that alittle bit later.
But let's get started with wheredid Trooper Earl decide?
You know, rent to own is what Iwant to do.
Usually, uh, when we're talkingabout people that started and
they make it to the Legendsseries, uh, rent to own wasn't

(00:45):
on their radar.
And then something happened,some event, some situation, some
person brought them into theidea of rent to own.
And then lo and behold, theytake it, it takes foot, and it
just takes off.
Where were you when when rent toown finally, you know, you
caught the rent to own bug?

SPEAKER_01 (01:02):
That's probably very appropriate.
Uh, I just needed a job.
So I got a college degree.
I got out of college, startedlooking for things that I wanted
to do with my college degree,um, ended up bartending for a
while, and then my brother raninto a uh I started with
ColorTime that network, and mybrother ran into a color time
franchisee that said I'm lookingfor you know a new manager at

(01:24):
the store.
And and they were to they wereactually talking about a concept
that I would be a kind of a uhjunior partner in.
And uh my brother, my olderbrother, encouraged me to go get
go get a job, and that's what Idid, and I just I never left.

SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
So that's usually how it starts.
That's that I'm telling you,when I talk to the legends,
that's usually how it starts.
The rentone was never on theradar, and then something, some
some situation caused him to gointo it, and before you knew it,
that's the direction that lifetook.
I I did the same thing myself,believe it or not.
Now, I'm not where you are, butuh 20 years 21 years ago, I
actually did the exact samething.

(01:59):
I was working as a teller at abank, and uh, you know, somebody
was doing their job, they weregoing the rounds and they were
talking to people that theythought would fit, and I was
like, I'm not interested, but Iwill I will stop by.
And all I all it took was oneconversation, and 21 years
later, here we are.
So got a question for you.
So, what year was this?
What year were they talking toyou about this that you decided

(02:20):
color time was a good idea?
Uh uh 1983.
So in 83, your brother says, youknow, and I think you should do
something a little bit morepermanent.
He introduced you to the colortime guys, and you come on.
Now, how long did you spend withColor Time?

SPEAKER_01 (02:35):
Well, I was I was with Color Time for I think a
total of uh nine years.
So uh I started off as um amanager trainee, and it was you
know one week, and then thenthey throw you at a store, and
then I was a store manager for ayear, and then I became a
multi-store manager for athree-store chain for another
year, and then um, so that wasabout two years from that point

(02:58):
where I actually worked forsomebody, and then that owner,
along with another um color timeperson, said, Hey, we think that
you're talented to make thissuccessful.
You want to go open up stores,and we'll give you a piece of
the action.
So I got an equity, a juniorequity position, and uh I said,
sure.
I said, What do I need to do?
And it's basically the samething you're doing now.

(03:18):
I said, and I get equity?
I said, sure.
So uh goodness, who would turnthat down?
Yeah, so I went in 1985 in thesummer of 85.
I opened up my first store inFredericksburg, Virginia.
It took off so fast that withinfour months I said, let's open
another one in Manassas,Virginia.
That took off just actuallyfaster than the first.

(03:40):
And I said, Well, let's look atour third.
So, like I think it was thespring of 86.
We opened up Williamsburg, andthat took off pretty well, not
as fast.
And then we opened our fourthstore in the fall of 86.
So basically, you know, in lessthan a year and a half, and I
went from one store to fourstores.
Um, and there I then I got metmy match.

(04:02):
Uh I was like, uh I was I wasstruggling to make them all
successful and and that andpre-computers, we didn't have
computers back then.
So we had what's called theone-write system, where they're
all handwriting all the paymentsand that kind of stuff.
And I did that for uh sevenyears.
Um, we got up to five stores,and then I bought my partners
out.
Uh, and at that point in time Ibecame uh in I think it was

(04:26):
1982, um, so I guess a total ofseven years, um, I became uh a
franchisee with uh Color Timeand I own the five stores that I
had opened up, um, became mystores um at that point.

SPEAKER_00 (04:42):
So you decided at the end of seven years, you
know, this is a good idea.
Now, just curious, this positionthat you got when you when you
acquired that ownership, was itat a great price or was it at
just at a good time where itmade sense to, you know what,
regardless of the price, thisthis is where I need to be?

SPEAKER_01 (05:01):
Sweat equity.
It was all sweat equity.
I had 22%, and the other twopartners had 39.
Uh, they put up the money, theypulled the clout.
I just went and did the work.
Um, but I got to a point inseven years that there was a
partnership dispute, and Iliterally went to the bank and I
said, I'm not worth a lot.
Those guys are worth a lot more,but if I leave, they don't have

(05:21):
they don't know how to run thestores, and they don't run the
stores.
Um, so the bank, I encouragedthe bank to loan me the money to
buy them out.
And I went from 22 to 100% ownerat that point, um, largely
because the bank, I said, if Iwalk out the door, I don't know
about your investment.
And the bank said, Well, youknow, and and literally I had a

(05:42):
townhouse and a car, and thatwas about it.
So um they loaned me over amillion dollars to buy the other
partners out, and and then umwhen I did that, um, there was a
couple of sister corporations.
I was able to acquire uhmanagement to purchase two
stores.
I was in the process of openinguh uh took me to seven, the

(06:06):
process of opening an eighthstore within like four months
after this purchase.
I started looking at anotherstore, and then uh at that time,
Color Time Corporate came to meand said, we have three stores
here we we think we you couldacquire in in the Virginia area,
and then another five.
And so literally within ninemonths of me going from junior

(06:26):
partner, I was the third largestColor Time franchisee in the
country with 16 locations.
Oh wow, yeah, and my one milliondollar debt went up fourfold, so
four million dollars.
I was young and dumb and didn'tcare, and you know, I was like,
okay, well, you know, what areyou gonna do?
Take my townhouse and my car.

(06:46):
Right.
Um, but it but we we I learnedhow to do it right.
I guess probably the the lessonhere is um I learned from the
very beginning how to uh whatrent own was all about.
In my first two years, I went toquit like three times.
Like, shouldn't I do somethingmore with my career?
But I was always challenged anduh I understood people, I

(07:07):
understood our customers, Iunderstood our employees, um, I
understood the business morefrom a financial stand because
of my college education.
So I was really good at doingbusiness projections and talking
to the banks, and theyunderstood that not only could I
run the store, but I could talkon their level too, with you
know, borrowing money and andhow to uh how that money would

(07:29):
be repaid.
And that's how I that's how itall happened because uh every
one of those things, while colortime helped facilitate some
things, um, the bank wanted toknow where they were gonna get
their money back, and I showedthem on paper how I was gonna do
it, and they trusted me uh indoing it.

SPEAKER_00 (07:47):
So how did you go?
So we have 16 locations in theearly 90s.
How did we transition toPremier?
Where did Premier come from outof ColorTime then?

SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yeah, and that's a that's a that's another story.
So then um I had the the 16stores for a couple of years, we
were doing really well, and thenthe finance company, Chrysler
First, was funding ColorTimeFinancial Services, which is
where we actually got our moneyfrom, um, decided they wanted
out of the business.
And so while I was$4 million indebt, they wanted me to like pay

(08:20):
it off or find a new loan.
Like, that's not gonna happen.
And so they squeezed all of thecolor time, if I remember
correctly.
Color time had about$50 millionloaned out through their
organization, and they reducedit to$25 million in a year.
And people like me essentiallygot pushed into a corner.
And so I um I negotiated my wayout.

(08:41):
I sold back um a majority of thestores, 11 of them, I sold them
back.
And the five original that Ihad, I left with.
I financed, I they were actuallyfinanced at my original place
before these new acquisitionswere financed through Colortown
Financial.
And that's when I left theorganization.
I said, the organization failedme.

(09:02):
I'd borrowed money and put a lotof things on the line to be
successful with these stores.
And I thought they were goingthe right, they were going the
right direction.
Um, but with the bank pullingback on what they were willing
to loan out and stuff, I wascaught in a bad situation.
So I said, fine.
And when I negotiated my way outand sold back those stores to

(09:23):
the Color Time Corporate, whothen sold them somewhere else,
I'm not quite sure.
Um, I I don't want to be part ofthis organization.
So one of the other Color Time,the largest Color Time
franchisee at the time, was aguy named Carlos Sardinia.
He was based, he had 26 storesbased in Florida and Kentucky,
and he had left um six monthsearlier seeing the same problem

(09:45):
that I had, and he formedPremier.
And so when I got ran into mytroubles with them, I and
decided I want out, I joined upwith him, and I was the first
licensee at the time of thenewfound Premier.
It was called Premier Rentalback then, but we we coined it
Premier uh Rental PurchaseLater.

(10:05):
And shortly after me, about fourother color time people in the
next year joined us, and wequickly went to like 50 stores,
but then there was um industryacquisitions were going on by
the time publicly tradedcompanies were buying smaller
publicly traded companies in thedroves at that time, in the
droves, yeah.

(10:26):
It was, and the numbers wereridiculous, and pretty much
everybody sold out except me.
And so I said, fine, I'll justbuy the this corporate name and
take care of it myself becausethe name on the building was you
know not my name at theoriginally, it was Premier, and
I didn't own the name, so Ibought Premiere and then um kind
of just settled in with my ownlittle core stores again.
I wasn't I didn't want to bepart of the corporate roll-up.

SPEAKER_00 (10:48):
And uh so wait, let me let me so let me back up just
a little bit so I understandthis.
When everybody was selling, andyou said you got to your five,
does that mean that the otherpremieres sold as well?

SPEAKER_01 (10:59):
Yeah, so um so Carlos's 26 stores, my five, and
then on uh four otherfranchisees, we added up to
about 50.
And so we were like a flash in apan.
All of a sudden we went fromCarlos started it with his 26.
I joined on, four other peoplejoined on within a year, year

(11:20):
and a half.
We're at 50.
But then we became a target forthe publicly traded companies
who were acquiring and givingvery good prices at the time.
Yeah, and all of all of themtook their money except me.
I said, I I don't really want todo this, I don't want to, I
think there's a better, a biggerfuture.
So the 50 went back to five.

(11:40):
Wow, and I bought the name.

SPEAKER_00 (11:42):
So right at that point in time, everybody was
gone.
There was nobody to hold on toit.

SPEAKER_01 (11:48):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (11:48):
Okay.
And was that when it becamepremier rental purchase versus
premier rent to own?

SPEAKER_01 (11:53):
It did.
That's exactly right.
Yeah, we changed the nameslightly, and and there wasn't
much what I bought.
I really just bought the rightto keep the premier name.
There wasn't really any tangibleproperty um or assets at the
time.
And uh and to I guess about ayear later, um one of this
there's a person named WallyLandmesser, um, found me.

(12:15):
He happens to be uh thelongest-standing Premier
franchisee that we have.
He came to me, I guess, in 1996or seven and said, I'd like I
heard about you, I'd like umyour help in opening a store.
And I said, Okay, well, I canlicense you the name like I did.
We were charging one percent atthe time.
And um, and so I helped him.

(12:35):
And then I think the next year,for five years in a row,
somebody found me.
I wasn't really marketing, theyfound me, and I helped them
become a premier licensee.
So now I have my five stores andtheir five stores basically.
And um, and then it started topick up, and before I knew it, I
actually sold my stores toconcentrate on helping other

(12:55):
people with their stores.
And by like 2005, we had 16locations that were all
franchisees.
I didn't own any store, I soldmine in this transition, so I
could focus on it.
And I ran into a lawyer whosaid, you know, you're really
franchising.
And I said, Yeah, but I don'thave anything really to sue.
And said, You think you shouldthink about it.

(13:16):
And so they said, We'll convertfrom a licensing company to
franchising, which is highlyregulated.
And uh it was quite expensive, alot more expensive than I
thought it would be, but I didit in 2005.
Um only two of the thosefranchisees decided they all got
their opportunity to gosomewhere else or leave the

(13:36):
organization.
Um, and two stores left.
The others remained, and most ofthem are still in business with
us today.
And then we just grew fromthere.

SPEAKER_00 (13:45):
Now you said one percent.
One percent is not a lot.
Now I understand that it'slicensing for licensing versus
franchising, but now you knowthat model uh, and I don't know
where it's at now, but I can Ican tell you right now, one
percent.
I think everybody would be afranchisier premiere if it was
uh if it was still that good.
I would imagine it's not therenow.

SPEAKER_01 (14:05):
No, it's five percent.
Okay.
Uh that's pretty much gonna it'sI think our competitors charge
six and seven, but we're atfive.
And but one percent we didn't doanything really.
We basically, you know, helpedeat with if we created a
marketing, we shared thingsbasically, but we didn't have a
corporate staff.
It was basically I had mystores, they had their stores,
we shared.
But but it came to a point inwhich we all realized that all

(14:29):
of us were gonna go out ofbusiness as the industry
matured, unless we started to dothings we couldn't do unless we
pooled our money together, andsomebody had to take ownership
of that.
So we originally went to 3% andthen we eventually migrated to
five.
And you know, so that means Ihired staff with the five

(14:51):
percent, and we invested ontechnology and and that kind of
stuff.
But really, in in 200 um five,we converted to 16 stores, and
by 2009, we actually got up toabout 63, um, I think it was 63,
six upper sixties um locations.
Now we'd also gone into wheelsand uh uh payday loans on car

(15:16):
our cars, not paying loans, butrent owned cars, and we also got
into um um cash services.
Um and then 2008, if you allremember, was the uh the banking
crisis.

SPEAKER_00 (15:30):
Correct.

SPEAKER_01 (15:30):
And um we so we had five different brands at the
time.
So Premier had Premier HomeFurnishings, Rental Purchase,
Premier Wheelworks, uh PremierAuto by Rent, and uh you get
your cash.
So five different divisionsbasically that were 60 some odd
locations.
So we went from 16 to 60something, from five to 2008 or

(15:50):
nine, somewhere in thatballpark.
So it was you know anotherroller coaster ride of massive
growth.
And uh then 2008, the bankingcrisis hit, and nobody was
lending any money.
And so I kind of say from 2008to 2010 or 11 or 12, somewhere
in that ballpark, uh, bankers'lips were moving, but no money

(16:13):
was changing hands.
And so some of our people had areally hard time.
We released our the wheelindustry, the industry itself
kind of cratered.
Um, and uh payday loans gotregulated by the Dodd-Frank
regulation, so we got out ofthat.
Um the the car business neverreally took off, and then we
were left with our homefurnishing stores, which were

(16:35):
big, big stores, 20,000 squarefoot stores, retail stores that
were retail and homefurnishings, and they you know
their rent factor was like 20grand a month.
Yeah.
When that when that hit, um thatperiod of time from 20 to or
2008 to 2010, couldn't sustainthose volumes.
And so they all uh worked theirway out, and then we went

(16:58):
backwards again to about the 50,45, 50 store level, which is
kind of where we're at now.
And um while we've we've hadincreases, we've had decreases
at the same time.
So that shook us out in reallyabout 2012.
I might guess from 8 to 12, wewere just kind of hanging in
there like everybody was, um,with the change of the banking

(17:21):
crisis that occurred in 2008.

SPEAKER_00 (17:23):
And it just it just kept on.
So that's how many stores are inthe actual premier premier uh
business franchise model rightnow is is about 45 to 15.
47.
47, 40, 47 at the time.
Now I had a question.
You've done, I mean, even tothis, even to this time frame
that we're talking to now, andwe're talking about, you know,
we're at the 2008 to 2012 mark,you know, when you're talking

(17:44):
about 83 to that time frame, youknow, you've had upwards of 60
stores, you've had fourdifferent types of locations,
whether it be tires or furnitureor rent to own, you have all you
know, the payday loans.
So you have all of this.
Did was there somebody with youat that point in time that
helped you as a mentor or helpedguide you in this business that

(18:08):
you know really helped kind ofthrough the year, just you know,
uh a kind of like a soundboard,so to speak?
And I wouldn't say one personbecause there's this sometimes
there's several, but you know,to do as much as you have, um,
it sounds like a lot to do onyour own.
And kudos to you if you have.
Well, was there anybody backthen that that kind of helped
you and mentored you along theway?

SPEAKER_01 (18:29):
Um, yeah, um, largely yes and no.
Nobody directly in the industrythat that I that that helped me.
There the industry's always beenvery helpful, and and April has
always done their part uh toprovide good information and
that kind of stuff.
Dan Witzel, um, a CPA, uh, whoum I had met him, I was

(18:50):
introduced to him by ColorTimeum people.
Uh he's been instrumental in oursuccess.
And um he taught me what Ididn't know about rent owned
from uh financial aspects.
And I I tell a story which isvery kind of it's funny, but I
had 16 stores back in the earlydays with ColorTime and that,
and they said you really need tohave a professional accountant.

(19:14):
My brother was helping me at thetime, but um, he wasn't a CPA by
trade, so I went and go visitthe N Witzel and I plopped down
16 financial statements, and hetold me three or or four of the
financial statements that themanager was stealing from me.
And I'm like, uh where do yousee that on the financial
statement?
And I went back and he was righton all of them.

SPEAKER_00 (19:34):
No kidding.

SPEAKER_01 (19:35):
And he told me and he told me something about
almost every one of my stores.
You know, this one is you know,hanging on to old merchandise,
and this one's doing this, thisone's discounting the first
payments, and this one's alllike and I'm like, I'm looking
I'm reading the financialstatement, I'm like, I don't get
it.
Where where do you see that?
And I went back and basically Irealized that the numbers that
was a huge turning point for me.

(19:57):
That I could that the numbers ofthe business, if you know, and
most people, sadly today, thatare my franchisees, don't look
at their financial statements,they look at their cash balance
and make decisions.
And I guarantee you, most smallbusiness entrepreneurs look at
their cash balance and say, ifthere's enough money in the bank
account, I'm doing all right.
But if they would learn to readthe financial statements, they

(20:18):
can they can decide from thefinancial statements where the
weaknesses are and and figureout how to improve them.
And he taught me that.
And that was a great educationback in what was it, 1992, 93
area.

SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
I mean, Dan's Dan's been in this business for as
long as I could remember,probably uh another legend that
I wish I had time to speak to.
He's absolutely uh been aroundand seen so many things, um,
very, very respected as far aswhat he does and the amount of
time that he spent in thisindustry.
I agree with I agree with you100% on that.
That you could learn a lot ifyou know how.

(20:53):
And I think some of the I thinksome of the things come from
that as far as like people notdoing it, owners, uh, especially
when you have a one tothree-store owner that's really
more interested in kind of halfand half, half doing ops, half
doing the back end, and notreally looking at the
financials, is because I I andI'm I'm just saying this from a
point of view of myself.
I don't think they know how.

(21:15):
Some people just haven't beenlike literally sat down and
trained, and this is how you doit, this is what you're looking
for, because they come from aplace of operations, and not
everybody does, but you know,sometimes you get that person
that comes from operations, theywant to own it because they know
it very well, they believe init, they're very passionate
about it, but running thebusiness from outside of the

(21:36):
business versus running it fromthe front counter are completely
different situations.
And uh I I I think that it couldbe it could be more, it could be
pushed more as far as thetraining and how they do, or
just finding somebody to mentorthem, like like you were able to
to say, hey, this is what you'relooking for, this is what you're
gonna see, this is what'shappening.

(21:57):
Um, and I'd love to see more ofthat go on.
Speaking of that.

SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
Well, just if I can capitalize on that, that happens
to be my strength.
I can and you know, I I now knowI think can pick up a financial
statement from any business, andnot that I'm super at it, but
it's not about the numbers, it'sabout trends and relationships.
So if this number on the revenueline and this number on the cost

(22:21):
line, and how are they changingover time, you can get a feel
for the business.
But when it comes to arent-to-owned store, I can now
read a financial statement andtell you a lot within five
minutes, more than the operatoreven knows.
And we teach that at Premiere.
In fact, that's how we grewPremier.

(22:42):
The the way I was able to growthe franchise, we didn't grow it
like every like our competitors,around the center, Aaron's
buddies, where we got you knowmassive amount.
We got either rich peoplealready had money, um, you know,
like Aaron's was, you know, Iheard one time you had to be
have a six million dollarnetwork to open up an Aaron as
well.
Oh wow.
You don't have to, you don'thave to worry about if a guy's

(23:02):
got that kind of money, you'relike, well, your banking is your
problem.
We provided the banking forevery one of our franchisees.
We're the odd franchise in therent-to-owned system.
So I make it when I to how Ibuilt my organization when it
went from my five stores toeventually within basically five
or five or six years to the 60ssome odd, I got the funding for

(23:25):
every one of my franchisees.
So it's a service that what Iprovide up front, uh basically
let's say I will get you thefunding you need.
First of all, let's determinethe funding you need, and maybe
it varies from store to store.
And you know, what are you gonnapay yourself?
How many employees you're gonnahire, you know, how fast you're
gonna grow, what do you thinkthat, you know?
So I all those variables insidethe business.
We put that in.

(23:45):
I built this massive, unique uhworksheet.
Um that's taken me decades tobuild, but it's the only one of
its kind in the industry.
And literally within probablyfour hours is what we do, I can
build a plan for the bank.
And then we modify it, and thenwith Dan Witzel's help, he
reviews it and proves it.

(24:06):
Um, then we put it together in auh a full write-up with you know
pictures of the location, etc.
I I've had people in a bank andgotten the money I needed, a
half a million or more for alocation within 48 hours.

SPEAKER_00 (24:20):
Uh I was just about to ask you that.
What so in the time frame thatyou'd say, let's say we're going
back the last three to fiveyears, what is the average cost
of, and and when I say average,I do know that they you know it
it can differ from state tostate depending on how big the
uh the location is and all that.
But if you were to say anaverage, is it about five?

SPEAKER_01 (24:38):
It um no, it it it when I first started doing this,
more like 550, and now it's morelike about 650.
About sixty.
And there's some added cost oflabor and things, and rents have
gone up and stuff.
But yeah, and yes, you couldopen, and I've seen stores open
up below five, um, but theythey're just doing a hook or
crook or using their creditcards or whatever it is.

(25:00):
To do it right, to do it allwith bank funding and to do it
the right way.
You need about five, what wasfive fifty, more like six three,
six thirty, six fifty now.
And it does vary by location.

SPEAKER_00 (25:12):
And so what what is the average size store for
premiere nowadays?
Is it five to six thousand?
Are you on the larger end ofstores, or is it is it really
just the franchisees, you know,whatever they decide that they
want to do, and there reallyisn't an average size?

SPEAKER_01 (25:29):
No, no, there's an average size.
Um, most of our stores aresomewhere in the belt park of
five to six.
Um, you know, we have a few thatare a little bit below five, and
we have some that are seven oreight uh thousand square feet,
is what you're talking about.
And then you know, the the bulkof it is is uh obviously the
bigger stores are able to givemore to the the showroom.

(25:51):
Um but it we rent factor uhbasically when you decide where
you think the store is gonna be,our average stores are um the
the medium, okay, is about70,000 a month, um where we have
stores that are significantlyhigher and some that are lower,
but the medium is about 70,000 amonth.
So if you say, okay, I and youtalk to a seasoned operator, and

(26:14):
most of the time I'm workingwith seasoned operators who are
in the same market, they workfor Rennes Center, work for
somebody else, and they want toown their own deal.
So they know they get a gut feelfor what the business is going
to do because they're alreadyworking in that market and doing
it.
But if they say it, you know,let's say 8,000 is or 80,000 is

(26:34):
where they want it, uh wherethey think their store is going
to be, for example, uh,traditionally you used to want
to keep your rent factor at$7,000 or 7% of that.
It's now really about 10.
So when we say, okay, well, ifyou think you're gonna have an
$80,000 store and you're prettyconfident of that, we need to go
out looking for a locationthat's somewhere between five

(26:55):
and seven thousand square feet,but you're not paying more than
eight thousand a month, tenpercent of what you think your
estimated gross will be.

SPEAKER_00 (27:03):
That's that's about yeah.
I I'm I'm just doing the math inmy head as you're speaking, and
I and I'm kind of going throughthe numbers, and I'm I'm with
you right there.
I kind of I kind of agree withyou 100% on that.
So I help me out here because westarted at color time.
You got in, you got up to somany stores, you backed out to
your five stores, you grew itagain, they took it out, you've

(27:25):
grown it more.
We come into the financialcrisis, but then recently,
recently, I've heard that you'vebeen able to acquire the last
bit of rent, or I shouldn't sayRena Center, the last bit of
color time stores from RenaCenter, which basically means
there's and and I could be wrongon this, but there's no more
color times left.

SPEAKER_01 (27:44):
Well, there are color times, they're just under
we I now own the brand, so we'rewe're leaving them as color
times.
So um I'll I'll I'll take youfrom where we last left off at
2012 or so.
And I will say from 2012 to2015, I kind of knew, even
though we had 40-50 stores, Ikind of knew that if we did not

(28:07):
make a direction, we would notsustain another decade.
Um, you know, we had greatoperators, but we didn't have a
lot of systems.
And so in 2015 to 17 range, wemade a massive investment into
um premier university trainingprograms, a lot of uh digital

(28:28):
services, uh websitedevelopment, because websites
were coming along at that time.
Now you're now you the websitesare now a second door to your
store.

SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (28:36):
So you have the front door and you have a door
on the internet, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (28:39):
Correct.

SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
Uh a lot of that stuff.
And then, if I'm I get thisright, somewhere around 2018, I
got a phone call from um BudGates, who was Easy Home.
And they had 40-somethingstores, 20 of them or so were
corporately owned by Bud Gatesand uh investment group, and
another 19 or 20 franchisees,and they didn't know what to do

(29:04):
with the franchisees, theywanted to close up, and they
were gonna sell their corporatestores.
So I acquired those stores, andthey just had that organization
was um uh Bud, I you know, it Ithink they didn't bud didn't
know where to go with in thefuture, right?
And I didn't wasn't able to keepthem.
So there's only about um we wentthrough a period of time where

(29:26):
many of the stores closed orsold and bought me out.
I I became the a franchise oressentially, and that 19
dwindled back down to a handful,and we still have those
handfuls, they converted toPremier.
And then so that was anotherlittle boost for us, and then
but they then there wasattrition.
They didn't all um most of themhad gotten disenchanted with

(29:49):
with easy home.
So by the time I bought it, theywere like, Listen, I just want
out of the rent home business.
Like, okay, well, let's figurethat out.
And then uh, yes, uh earlierthis year, uh Color Time Arena
Center um contacted me and said,Would you like to buy the Color
Time franchises that we had?
There were six locations thatwere left, and these were strong
operators that had been aroundfor literally decades.

(30:12):
Some of them just about the timewhen I left Color Time, they
were joining Color Time.
And I said, Absolutely.
So it's it was almost I have toadmit, the first when I got the
phone call, it was like deja vu.
This is I started at Color Timeand now I'm buying it.
Right, right.
So it was um um, so as much ofit as an emotional thing as it
was, but we have these, there'ssix stores, four franchisee,

(30:35):
great operators.
We're just we're excited to havethem, and I think they're
excited to be with us becausethey're no longer part of
Renaissance, which they were afish out of water at
Renaissance.
Uh, and for us, they're justthey're just like us, they're
entrepreneurs.
Um, you know, we're we're we'redown to their level.
So we I I think we're able togive them better support than

(30:56):
Renaissance was able to givethem, and I think that they'll
say the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 (30:59):
You know, something that you mentioned earlier was
that you are a different type offranchise, something a little
bit out of the norm.
And you seem to be doing it verywell because you do have a set
amount of stores.
We're not talking about one ortwo.
So there's a belief in thePremier System.
What would you say sets youapart and makes you that
different type of franchise inthe RTO network versus let's say

(31:20):
you know you have buddies outthere, you do have Rena Center
uh uh franchisees and andothers, uh no RR does uh
franchises.
What sets your franchise in yourmind, in your opinion, aside
from them?
And why would somebody say, youknow what, Premier is like is
like where I want to go?

SPEAKER_01 (31:39):
Um good question.
And I would say that initiallywe were the only franchise in
2005 that would help you withyour funding.
Um, not only would we get thefunding, but in some cases we
actually provided upfrontcapital, like$100,000, and they
would get the rest of the bank.
So so for some people, it was umthat we helped them with the

(32:03):
funding.
With others, um, we didn't welook for seasoned operators, we
didn't look for money people.
So, you know, there wereprobably a lot of people who
called errands and they said,Well, if you don't have six and
a half million, theconversation's over with, you
know, and that kind of stuff.
So they could say, Well, I'm agreat operator.
Well, good, work for one of ourfranchisees.
Um, so we were we we were theonly ones in that niche for the

(32:26):
longest time.
And um initially we had a prettyhands-off model, which was you
know how to run a rent-to-ownedstore, um, you know, whether you
came from Aaron's, Rena Center,Buddies, Rainbow, wherever it
came from.
And uh we kind of let them do ittheir way.
But I will say that over thelast 20 years of doing this, the

(32:48):
last five or six, well, thatmore than that, five to ten, I
would say, we started to realizethat you know, we had some
people that kind of did it theAaron's way or the Renaissance
way or whatever, that it wasn'tworking.
They we we as a franchiseunderstand now that that in
order to be a successfulfranchise, and and to be
successful, we have to make sureour franchisees are successful.

(33:10):
And so they have to be puttingmoney in the bank on in their
and for that to happen, it can'tall be slightly different.
They they need to be moreuniform.
There's still a lot of autonomythat we give them.
Uh, if they're fine, if they'remaking money, we kind of leave
them alone.
But those that are struggling,we bring them back to the
baseline.
And a lot of them weresuccessful because they work for

(33:33):
somebody, and therefore the cardclose percentages and some of
these things are like, well, II'm working myself.
Some people work harder forother people than they do for
themselves.
And we have to remind them thatthat's that shouldn't be the
case.
You should work harder for you,and whatever you produce goes in
your bank account, not somebodyelse's.
But some people do need um tobe, they need a boss or

(33:56):
something, or someone to tellthem the ugly sometimes.
And so we uh I think as afranchise uh organization,
sometimes what I'm doing is whenpeople are challenged.
I have a saying when when thingsare not going so well, quit
lying to yourself.
And when things start goingwell, you can start lying to
yourself.
But yeah, but the pointbasically is some they have to

(34:19):
be told the ugly.
And and and um, you know, theyhave to be those are terrible
results, and you're not doing itwell, or you're you're whatever,
and and and they need that kindof feedback.
So why what are we differenttoday?
We're still about the operator,and we always look to say, um, I

(34:39):
I know uh one of our franchiseesis a franchisee of another
system outside the rent zone,totally different.
And he said that the franchiseconsultant comes around and he's
he's all he wants to talk aboutis how to raise the revenues
because as the revenues go up,the franchise or makes money.
But when he says, Can you helpme about my bottom line profit?

(35:00):
the franchise consultant doesn'treally care.
And so we do care, we care aboutyour bottom line profit, we care
about your profitability, we wecare about your associates.
And so I think I would say we'remuch more in touch and much more
active with our franchiseesbecause I'm a former rent-owned
guy, right?
Not a professional franchise orand so there's a different level

(35:24):
of connectivity here, and that'swhat I think the color time guys
loved about joining us because Iam connected with the business.
I know their numbers as well asthey do.
My team knows their numbers aswell as they do.
Uh unlike before, where theywere kind of on their own,
they're a franchisee, but youknow, kind of like a McDonald's,

(35:44):
you could be a franchisee, butfranchise or just cares about
their their portion, notnecessarily what you're doing
all the time.

SPEAKER_00 (35:49):
So, out of all the all the 47 stores that you have
now, how many out of thoselocations are owners?
So I would imagine that some ownmore than one franchise uh
location, correct?

SPEAKER_01 (36:02):
Yeah, we have about 33, I think it is 33 owners,
franchisees.
Uh and some are multiplefranchise, you know, a couple
two people owner, you know,partners.
So we have a good amount ofsingle-store franchisees, and we
we have um a handful, more thana handful, uh a good amount, I
guess, of multi-store peoplefrom two to um our largest is

(36:26):
five.

SPEAKER_00 (36:27):
So if somebody, if somebody says, you know what,
Troop, I love what we're doinghere.
I love Premier.
I have this one store.
I want to open store number two,store number three, whatever the
case is.
Do you also help them with thefunding to get to those?
Or are you, I've got you thefirst one, you now you know what
you're going through.
This is your opportunity to kindof go out there and get this
done yourself.

SPEAKER_01 (36:47):
No, we help, we help with every store.
We also help with storetransitions.
So we have just now hit our youknow 20th year of franchising.
And I have franchisees and likeI love you, Trooper, but I've
been here for 20 years, I wantto do something different in my
life.
So we're helping them, and wehave a standing$100,000
investment that to the buyer.

(37:09):
So if a franchisee says I wantto sell, and I just you know, I
have a neighbor that wants tobuy me, I will work with the
neighbor to help him acquire thestore, and I will put up$100,000
for the neighbor to help thecurrent franchisee get out at
the price he wants.
You know, obviously a reasonableprice.
But so there's uh I and then youknow, we just work it out with

(37:33):
the neighbor, and then theneighbor has we're a junior
partner in the business, and theneighbor can buy us out if
that's what they want.
Or they don't if they don't needour money, we don't offer it.
So I mean if you don't have to,right?
Yeah, so we're we're but I'malso the I don't know.
I I of all the stores that we'veever opened up, I can only
probably think of a less than ahand, a less than five that I

(37:56):
was not uh involved actively inthe funding.
Almost everybody said, hey, youknow, um uh let's do the
funding.
And we use mostly uh SBA 7Aloans, and um those loans are
very favorable.
Uh long term tenure notes, uhthey're and they're capped at uh
2.75 over prime.

(38:16):
Sometimes we get more get betterrates than that.
And um so yeah, we've we prettymuch have coordinated all the
funding, and we can go anywherewith that 7A note, it can be,
and we probably have donebusiness with 20 different banks
over the decades uh who do thoseloans, but it's a you know the
federal program.
So if you know how to to pitchthe loan and you know how to um

(38:40):
uh provide what they need, youcan pretty much go to any bank
and get the money.

SPEAKER_00 (38:43):
So I have a question for you because I was looking at
the map on the website cominginto this, and I noticed that
like a chunk, I'd probably say85%, in my visual opinion, is up
in the northeast.
What's going on with the rest ofthe country?
I say everybody's kind ofgrouped up a little bit uh north
of, let's say, well, I don'tknow, maybe Virginia going north
all the way through to, youknow, to the top of you know,

(39:05):
the the the east side coast allthe way north, and then a little
bit, you know, a little bitover, you know, by the Great
Lakes, but I I I see it all overthere.
Where what's what's what's goingon with the rest of the country?

SPEAKER_01 (39:17):
Yeah, we we we have a stronghold from Nebraska right
across the the belt the rustbelt there, right on up into
Connecticut.
So uh it's just where theoperators came from.
Um, you know, we've had storesin uh Oregon and California, New
Mexico, um, Alabama, we don'tnow.
Um it it it really just camewith the operators.

(39:38):
And so we're we're franchiselicensed to go anywhere in the
United States.
We've also looked at you know,franchising in Canada, which is
very different.
But uh bottom line, if someonecalled me from Hawaii and wanted
to do it in Hawaii, I I'd do itwith them.
But it's the operator.
It just yeah, it just sohappens.
And it's also if you think aboutit, that's where the population
is too, you know.
Um and and then you got some notso friendly business states like

(40:01):
California, who are there'spopulation in California or
along the West Coast, they'renot very friendly to or helpful
to small business people.
And this is not an easy businessto get into um because the
barrier to entry is you know,like we talked about earlier,
$650,000.
Um, and you have to build up acritical mass.
There are a lot of otherbusinesses that are franchises

(40:24):
that are service-oriented.
You just need a truck or two andsmall location and a telephone,
and you can start making money.
So with us, you gotta buy a lotof product, and so it's um it's
not as not as challenging as saya McDonald's, where you've got
to you know build a building andyou got a several million dollar
footprint and equipment and allthat, but it's not as easy as

(40:46):
say a service master.
So we're we're right in there.
And that's so really we justfocused on the operators, and
that's where the operatorscalled us from.

SPEAKER_00 (40:54):
So you said that earlier, you look for operators.
You don't necessarily look forsomebody who's looking to open
the franchise.
And you know, let's say I've gotuh a couple million dollars, I
want to open a couple, you know,let's say a couple of stores,
I'm looking at you because youknow how to do it.
You're looking for the peoplewho have the passion, the
knowledge, and the history andthe business to get this open.
So how do you because you saidyou you really kind of don't at

(41:17):
that time you hadn't really beenlike advertising for that?
You're you they find you, youfind them, but like is has that
changed to more recent timesthat you actually are looking
for people now to join thepremiere family, or is it I'm
here, we're doing a great job,and I will I will keep the doors
open for anybody who wants towalk in.

SPEAKER_01 (41:36):
Um both, I guess.
So in the early days, uh we hada website and people just found
us.
I mean, they they would hearfrom uh their friend who went
off.
Now, I have people in myorganization now that they were
both working at Rennes Center orsomething, and and they both one
heard about us and he told theother, and then one joined, and

(41:58):
the other one's like, Well, whatam I waiting for?
And then he joined.
So there was there was a um agrassroots, I guess, you know,
it filtered from one person toanother.
Um in when we finally kind ofleveled out in from like 2012 to
um say uh 2020, uh, we did tryto market.

(42:18):
We went to the franchise umInternational Franchise
Association show in Las Vegasand and all of that looking for
investors.
So we're we're we're capable.
We I wouldn't have said in theearly days, we were not capable
of helping an investor becausewe didn't have the
infrastructure.
But in that 2015 to 2018 range,we built the infrastructure.
So if an investor came to us andsaid, I've got the money, we

(42:40):
would certainly be able to helpthem.
And we've actually got a newprogram that we're gonna
announce here at our conventionsoon uh about um how to continue
the franchise system um andoffer additional uh franchise.
But I guess what I'm saying, youknow, I know how other people
built their franchise.
They went to money people, itjust has never worked for us.

(43:03):
Not that we wouldn't, butsomeone shows up, sure, we'd
figure it out.
But uh and we're capable, wejust it's been our niche that to
deal with the operators.

SPEAKER_00 (43:13):
So going back a little bit, because I want to I
want to make sure that you knowit it this is such a clean
story, right?
It goes through and you kind oftell us what were some of the
really big challenges that youhad when starting premiere and
then kind of going from there.
You have your five stories, youchange the name over.
What were some of the bigchallenges that you had to
overcome at that particularpoint in time that might have

(43:34):
even been new to you uh or newto the situation that kind of
like this is this is not good,but you were able to overcome
and then say 20 years later,this is this is where we came
from.

SPEAKER_01 (43:49):
Uh I don't know anybody uh that that I would say
that's so I've been a businessnow for forty years, franchising
or been in licensing franchisingfor thirty Um I I don't know
anybody that that that that'shad a smooth sale.
I I think if you want to besuccessful, you just wait for
whatever the next challenge isand then you have to figure it

(44:11):
out.
I had one franchise you justtold me the other day, they have
a new slogan called JFO.
Just figure it out.
Okay.
And so um, and so the that'swhat we did.
I mean, because in the earlydays, I was I grew from one
store to four because I couldhandle it and I was I could
personally be at those stores,but then I realized I didn't

(44:34):
have a system and color timeback then really didn't offer a
a system.
Not I mean, if you know muchabout the industry, for 30 years
it's it's really changed.
You know, it was pretty had nocomputers and and now there's
systems and processes andwhatever.
So um, so every all of us had togrow along with the with the

(44:55):
change in the industry.
So there was that stage, andthen there was the funding
stage, and then uh then therewas the banking crisis stage
where we were kind of like, oh,how do how do we pull this off?
And so every one of thosehurdles, um, you know, when I
bought Easy Home, it turned intoa legal mess.
So then there's the legal stage.

(45:15):
I had to learn a lot about thatand and that kind of stuff.
And so I've been around and I'vewe've seen a lot, and I I guess
the answer is you just figure itout, and you don't really know
what it's gonna be.
Um, but you have to have thatattitude that whatever it is,
you'll figure it out and you'llgo find the the resources that
and the people who can help youget through it that might have

(45:37):
been through it before.
But uh it's it's survival.
If you want to be anentrepreneur, it's just survival
of the fittest, basically.
It's not JFO, right?

SPEAKER_00 (45:46):
JFO.
Yeah, that's gonna be that'sgonna be a new catchphrase.
So looking at the future, uh yousaid a couple things uh that I
wanted to kind of go atactually, really one of the main
things was Premier University.
You said that you've seen someof the areas that needed to be
trained on, and you createdsomething to help with that.
What can you talk to me a littlebit about Premier University and

(46:08):
what that's about?

SPEAKER_01 (46:10):
Oh, yeah, that was that's a massive gem.
We, you know, there's there'ssome things I can look back and
say, we did it right.
We we invested heavily, hundredsof thousands of dollars, and it
took us three years to developit, and we actually were a year
and a half behind releasing ituntil it was right.
But it is fully interactive, uh,started with a very big vision

(46:34):
and just hung in there, youknow, because the dollars going
out were just massive.
In the last year, we had sevenpeople working on it every week,
um, a different talented groupto bring it to life.
But what it did for us was itbrought all of that knowledge
that we had into a trainable umuh uh rep replicable to repeat

(46:59):
uh mode in the sense that wecould now we all talk the same
language.
The moment it came out, and ittook about a year for everybody
to kind of get up to speed andtrained, and that and we have a
we make sure everybody in ourstores are qualified and
certified, and we went throughall of that process, it it
changed us dramatically.
It made us stable.

(47:19):
Before it was it was, you know,we were good because somebody at
the front line was good.
So Premier University, and nowwe've ex we keep expanding it to
um training for our corporateoffice staff, training.
We hired a warehouse manager atone store, and like we need we
need a warehouse managertraining program, you know, how
do you how do you manage awarehouse?
And so it now that we've got it,we know how to add to it and add

(47:43):
different series.
But it has been one of thethings that if we hadn't done
that in that 15 to 18 period,I'm not so sure we'd be in
business today because it we weneeded to that's where that's
the traditional franchising thatI said we morphed from um you
know loosey goosey, um everybodyhad autonomy a little bit, as

(48:06):
long as you could be successful.
And it's amazing how many peoplenobody came to me who wasn't
successful in rent-owned, butthen they when they became a
franchisee, they becameunsuccessful at owning and
operating their business.

SPEAKER_00 (48:19):
It is it is different, it is very different.

SPEAKER_01 (48:22):
Yeah.
So once we did PremierUniversity out, and then uh
another thing we did was in2000, uh, well, uh let me back
up for a second.
In um, I think it was 2016-17, Ihad this guy named Angelo

(48:44):
Gugacello, who had was workingfor a an independent RTO company
in Texas City, Texas, and thethe the French, or the not
franchisee, but the his ownerran into financial trouble and
the bank ended up with the bank.
The bank ended up with thebusiness, excuse me.
So he contacted me and said, youknow, I'm tired of this.
I've done this for 20 years orwhatever, I want to own my own

(49:06):
store.
And you know, how much money doyou have?
I'm like, practically none.
I said, okay, we'll figure itout.
And we eventually bought whatwas a broke store in Texas City,
Texas.
Um, and and it wasn't makingmuch money.
It was ugly, it was in terribleshape, etc.
We bought it, and um over nineyears now it is the largest

(49:29):
store by volume um andprofitability in our
organization.
It is it is so well run.
It's because of him, he's he'sjust he's just great.
He is and we did it on verylittle money, but in 2019, they
had a part of the back room umthat had an upper deck about

(49:50):
1200 square feet that was kindof a storage.
You have like a big hole in thefloor where they would, you
know, so whatever whoever hadthe building before us it had a
dumb weight or whatever, theylift things up to the upper
store, but it was basically notused.
We created a virtual uh wecreated a training center, um,
so our national training centerabove a store.
So you kind of go up and you'reyou've you don't even realize

(50:13):
you're in a store.
You're it's almost like theHouston um center, whatever the
Houston um aerospace center.
TV's everywhere, it's fullydigitized, you're you know, and
we can zoom people in and andthe training center.
So we took what was PremierUniversity and created a live
training session.
We're running live trainingsessions and programs there, and

(50:36):
um, and then you walk down outof the center, and before you
know it, you walk right into astore.
So we created a training centerand a store together, and it
just so happens, thank God, thatwhat was once a bankrupt store
that nobody wanted, by the way,before they before the bank sold
it to us, they calledRenissarians, everybody else,
everybody said, No, we don'twant that.
And still they didn't want it,they couldn't give it away, and

(50:59):
they basically gave it to us anda cheap price.
And then I'll say one morething.
Then when I realized we weregonna send people down there to
Texas, I I live in Virginia, andyou know, other people on my
staff live somewhere else otherthan Virginia, and most of our
franchisees are somewhere elseother than um uh or somewhere
else other than Texas, um, thatwe started to host things and

(51:22):
and the hotel costs were justkilling us.
So I ended up buying a housedown there on the water, kind of
nice because it's close to thewater.
Nice.
Uh it's our it's our corporatehouse.
And I couldn't imagine, it waswe did it for cost savings
reasons.
And I couldn't imagine what wasgonna happen when I did it.

(51:43):
But I will tell you that at thecenter during the day, we're
talking to the head.
Um, and then at night we go tothe house and we'll drink and
party and you know look at theocean and all that stuff.
And it's what changes people iswhat happens in the heart.
At night, they're kind of like,do I want to go back?
Am I ready for this or whatever?
I don't I and they all theevents we do are generally

(52:06):
multi-day events, so they comeand they spend the night and
that kind of stuff.
Right.
Usually a couple nights.
Uh the transformation happens atthe house.
It it doesn't happen at thestore.
The store at the center, it'sall about the information to the
head.
I can just tell you, um, youknow, I've I've I've just I've
seen it.
I can act, you can almost seeit.
Some people kind of break intotears, or some people are

(52:27):
getting mad at themselves, like,but it's it's at the house when
we're in a relaxing mode or justjust chilling that it you can
just see the gears chaining andand something sparks them and
says, I'm gonna go back and makemy business better.
You don't see it at the center,center's too much information.

SPEAKER_00 (52:46):
That's I love to hear that.
I mean, I I'd love to see it.
I mean, honestly, that that'syou know, it's always those
ideas that you've got to try,right?
You've got to you you you knowthat there's something missing,
and you try, you try differentavenues, you try different
things, and when you see themwork, it's such a payoff.
You know, and you see it in realtime when somebody's struggling

(53:07):
or somebody has ideas, and thenyou can see them turn, the light
come on in real time, and thengo back changed, and and not
always because it's always theinformation that always helps,
right?
The information always helps,and it's better to know
everything that you can, butsometimes it's the person
inside.
You know, it's what drives you,it what it's what fuels you,
it's what gets you up andgetting you to work every day,
and when you can touch that,that's a huge thing.

(53:30):
That's that's great to hear.
I mean, congratulations on that.
I also seen talking aboutgetting ahead and moving
forward.
There is a Premier Mobile app.
Yep.
And where did that where didthat come from?
What was the so I I know thatthat's pretty much where
everybody is headed.
What can you do on the PremierMobile app?

SPEAKER_01 (53:49):
Well, we we've got a version out there now, and a new
version is scheduled for releaseat our convention.
And literally, we're planning onyou can do everything um on the
mobile app.
Uh you can uh we from atechnology basis, we took a
decision 15 years ago, or whenactually maybe it was only 10,

(54:10):
10, 12 years ago when we firstgot cloud servicing or
computing, you know, when thatfirst started coming out.
And we made a a decision, itseemed right at the time, and
thank God we did, that we weregonna try to consolidate all of
our information on our servers.
So whenever I talk to people inservices or whatever, where's
that information gonna behosted?

(54:30):
And I said, well, no, either iteither hosted on our server or
we um or we have access todownload it from your server,
depending on what you knowwhatever third party we're
working with.
Bottom line is when you and andwe also excuse me, we're a SQL
uh uh house, basically,everything's in SQL.
So when you bring all thatinformation, we have HR data, we

(54:52):
have marketing data, we have uhversorant data, which we use
versar end at our stores, wehave other data.
When you have it all in onearea, you can you can see things
or you can create reports or youcan create automation.
So with the mobile app, uh moreand more businesses going there.
We we probably all do ourbusiness with banking or

(55:15):
whatever on the app.
When you go on our mobile app,you can see live what the
inventory is at all of ourstores.
And it's in real time.
So if they if you sell somethingat a store, it comes off the
mobile app.
If you change the price at thestore within a certain couple of
minutes or whatever, it sinks.
You change the price in birthrent, it changes on our website.

SPEAKER_00 (55:35):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 (55:35):
Um so it changes on the website, but also changes in
the mobile app.
So we have the website.
I look at the website aspassive.
The website does nothing for youunless you decide you're going
there.
Or you click on a link thattakes you there.
A mobile app, once you get itdownloaded, and one of the
there's some features in therethat you need to download the

(55:56):
app, like for example, bonuspoints, and that we when they
have if they have the mobile appdownloaded, it then calculates
all their payments on time andstuff and gives them points that
they can use for differentthings.
But most people just hit theredemption and say, send these
points to the store.
So when they show up to maketheir next payment, they have
the points are there, they canuse the points to make their

(56:18):
payment.
So if they download the mobileapp, now it's not passive, it's
active.
We can communicate with them, wecan send them push
notifications, we can do things,we can tell them that this
weekend there's a sale going on,whatever.
And so we're still workingthrough that technology.
It's been very difficult.

(56:38):
Um and it's been very expensive.
But the idea eventually is thatI while we want people to come
to our stores, they don't wantto come to our stores.
There's a pain in the butt forthem to come to our store,
right?
You know, they want to be ableto shop and pay and do all their
business from their couch.

SPEAKER_00 (56:55):
Well, we're we're in an Amazon world right now.
That's that's the way it is.

SPEAKER_01 (57:00):
And so we hope they can pay, they can make they can
pay their payments, they can umdo um it says schedule a service
call, they can track a deliverythat's coming to their house.
There's um we have some loyaltyrewards things, we have some fun
things that we do there, gamesthat we so the point is, yeah,
we we we we believe that thatthe um our customer will become

(57:24):
more of a digital customer, notbecause we choose to, we still
look further and come to thestore, but that's just the way
the world's gone.

SPEAKER_00 (57:32):
It has.
It has, it's it's a digitalworld out there.
It's really great to hear howfar you and Premier have come.
And you know, sounding the wayit is, uh, as far as much as you
put into it, you said you'vebeen in the rent-to-owned
industry for 40 years.
How much longer are you going tobe in the industry?

SPEAKER_01 (57:50):
Five to ten.
So I've told even my team, my myfranchisees know that I'll be
around for at least five, butmaybe closer to ten.
But I'm I'm transitioning tomore of chairman of the board
and out of a CEO.
And I've got some wonderfulpeople that are working with me
now, younger.
This is a this is an energybusiness.

(58:12):
If if you want a store to dowell, you got to bring the
energy every day.
Um, and it's no different.
So when you bring uh my energylevel is is dropping as I get
older, I guess.
Um maybe not my brain power, butmy my energy level is, and I'm
trying to transition out ofbeing CEO over the next five
years or so and uh be moreactive in the investment side

(58:38):
from then on, uh helping peoplein on the mentoring side.
Um I love going to our TexasCity uh training center and our
corporate house, and just andthen I I have a franchisee that
was one of my originalfranchisees from 20 years ago,
um, and we helped him get inbusiness and all of that.
And uh about a year ago he camedown and spent a couple days

(58:59):
with me just one-on-one, andthat's where we do some planning
for additional stores orwhatever the problem is.
And we realized at the end ofthat, I thought, you know, you
and I have spent more time intwo days together than we have
in 20 years combined.

SPEAKER_00 (59:11):
Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 (59:12):
Because you know, we meet each other at conventions,
we talk on Zoom, whatever it is,we you know, go.
But the the the intenselong-term interaction for two
days hanging out together, it isreally meaningful.
And I enjoy that, so I can dothat for the rest of my life.
And and and and and it's veryrewarding when I can actually
say that while everybody has ajob and everybody so they can

(59:36):
make money to take care of theirfamily, I believe Premier has
done a really good job of takingcare of other people's families,
and that's very rewarding to me.

SPEAKER_00 (59:45):
Well, that's I mean, you know, right now we're in a
digital world, and sometimesit's great to remember that we
were we are a society built, weare a social society.
Um, being next to people, beingclose to people, being able to
talk face to face, interact,problem solve, uh, be excited
to, you know, it's not justgoing through the trenches, it's

(01:00:06):
also through the highs andeverything in between.
You know, you want to celebrateyour birthday, you want to
celebrate the successes withpeople, it's not the same over
the screen, just like whenyou're having a hard time.
People don't usually go on avirtual world to tell you, they
might complain on Facebook or orTikTok nowadays, but if you want
to get over that, that's athat's a conversation.
I don't know many people whohave good sessions over you

(01:00:28):
know, uh virtually.
You know, if you really wantthat close connection, it's
something that has to be done inperson, and I I agree with that.
Let me let me ask you aquestion, because then you know
you before you move off that ifI can add to that one.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:41):
Sure.
Now when people say, Why would Iwant to join Premier?
I don't even try to sell themanymore.
I just say, look, um, if you'rewilling to pay for a plane
ticket, I'm willing to feed youwhen you get down there or
whatever, come for a couple ofdays, and I'll show you uh a
store that was once bankrupt,that's now massively successful.
And you and I can hang out for acouple of days and you'll just
see it.

(01:01:01):
And so that's so we don't even Idon't do it anymore because it
because it's everything I try tosay over the phone to somebody
and why, whatever, whatever.
Look, if you're if you're reallyinterested in us, take a couple
of days of your time and a planeticket, and then I'll show it to
you, and I won't sell it to youbecause it sounds so canned when
you're trying to sell it tothem, it's not real, right?

(01:01:22):
And that's what you're talkingabout.
It's the digital world of tryingto tell them over, or can you
send me a brochure?
Can you send me prospectus or anFUMIT, what's called franchise
disclosure document, whatever.
So yeah, but you want to knowwho we are?
Get on a plane and come see us.
Let me show you.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:38):
That's it.
Yeah, yeah.
So let me let me ask you inclosing, what you have gone and
done quite a bit from you know,running a couple of stores to
owning a couple of stores toletting those stores go to
growing this franchise that you,you know, this franchise
situation that you have aspremier rental purchase.
You've had a couple of differentbusinesses, you've had stores

(01:01:58):
come, you've had stores go,you've had people who are you
know positively interested inthe business uh do well, and
you've had people in theinterest in the business get out
of the business because theydidn't do so well with all that
knowledge.
Somebody that's coming in,somebody that is maybe in
operations now that wants to bewhere Trooper Earl is, or an
owner of their own situation,whatever that might be, what is

(01:02:19):
the advice that you would giveto them to say, you know what,
if I knew this or these coupleof things coming up in the time
frame that I did, I think itwould have made a huge, huge
difference?

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:32):
Um, yeah, good.
That's a good question.
Um so you know, my kids, I tellthem about the same thing, and I
tell uh prospective people uhthe same thing.
One, there is a statistic that'sout there and it varies, but
basically somewhere around 90%of franchise uh owners are still
in business after five years,but somewhere around 90%, 80, 90

(01:02:57):
percent of independent smallbusiness owners don't even make
it through the first year.
So if you want to be a businessowner, you're there is a much
greater likelihood of successbeing part of a franchise.
You know, you don't see very toomany McDonald's stores close,
you know.
So they they they have theseyears or decades of building a
system and you come in with thatsystem.

(01:03:20):
Um and that that's a so if I andand me, I've I I I have great
respect for the independents inthe uh RTO business who you know
started or up their brand andhowever, and they're still in
business after 30 years.
I don't know how they did thatall on their own because I
wouldn't be where I am if itwasn't for initially color time
and and other people who helpedme out.

(01:03:41):
Um the other thing is I wouldsay passion and energy.
Um I just was you know uh wasraised in an environment where
you know I had passion.
I have passion for thisbusiness.
And you can tell passion by justthe speed at which they talk or
the voice, the tone of their orhow they use their hands when
they talk, whatever.
Do they have passion in whatthey're doing?

(01:04:02):
And can they bring energy to thebusiness, whatever they're
doing?
Because if they can do that, inmost cases they'll be
successful, I think.
Um, you know, obviously you gota certain amount of street
smarts and book smarts to to getthrough some things, and then
it's I bel I still believe it'sa relationship business for us,
and I believe most businessesare relationship business.

(01:04:25):
You know, my relationship withDan Witzel, uh, it doesn't help
me on a day-to-day basis, but hehelped me learn some things that
were very invaluable to me.
Um uh my my employees, uh my uhfranchisees, their employees.
Um so I I would just say uh pickif you want to be in an

(01:04:45):
industry, um your chances with agood franchise, there are bad
ones, um, is far greater thantrying to do something on your
own, unless you're creating anindustry on your own for the
first time.
You know, you're you're you'rein a you're you you have an idea
that's is it is its ownindustry.
Number two, um, you know, if youdon't love it and you don't

(01:05:07):
bring the passion, um, yeah, Idon't think you can be
successful in anything.
Or why do it, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:13):
Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:14):
Um, and then the third is um technology is
important these days, but umyour success will always be
based upon your relationshipwith vendors or banks.
The time to talk to a banker iswhen you don't need money, you
know.
So that I'm telling it's true.
You've I follow bankers, and Ibuild relationships with

(01:05:34):
bankers.
And yeah, you the time to sobuild a relationship with your
employees, our associates andfriends and vendors.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:43):
So well, I appreciate the news, I
appreciate the insight, and Iappreciate you spending time
with us today on this on thisjourney that we've spent, kind
of discussing where you've been,where you've where you've grown,
where you've learned, and youknow, hopefully where we're
going in the next few years.
Guys, I appreciate you listeningto us.
And Trooper Earl kind of justtell us what's going on with
Premier Rental Purchase.

(01:06:03):
If you have any questions,please hit me up at the show,
Pete at the RTO ShowPodcast.com.
You can also just go to thepodcast as far as the online and
see what we're doing there.
You can also buy some swag thereat www.thertoshowpodcast.com.
Make sure you buy some swag.
You can also uh help out theshow by becoming a sponsor.
If you want to know more aboutus, you can hit us up on

(01:06:23):
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,and YouTube where you're going
to see this, where you cansubscribe so you don't miss
anything.
Trooper, I really appreciate youbeing with us today.
A lot of insight and a lot ofunderstanding of where you've
been and where Premiere has beenand kind of where it's going.
And I really hope you much muchsuccess in the next few years
that you have.
And I hope that you get to hitthat director position, um, you

(01:06:44):
know, looking over and uh aboveand beyond everything and kind
of just getting everybody to uhto understand that this is a
passionate business.
And when we have people who arelooking to invest in us, that's
the way to go.
And I appreciate that.
And I appreciate you guyssitting us and listening today.
And I will tell you guys asalways get your collections low
to get your sales high.

(01:07:04):
Have a great one.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Hey Jonas!

Stuff You Should Know

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Trooper Earle on RTO Franchising, Leadership, and Building a Successful Rent to Own Business

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Hey Jonas!

Stuff You Should Know

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

All Episodes

Trooper Earle on RTO Franchising, Leadership, and Building a Successful Rent to Own Business

Hey Jonas!