The RTO Show "Let's talk Rent to Own"
Welcome to "The RTO Show Podcast," your gateway into the fascinating world of the Rent to Own (RTO) furniture industry. Join host Pete Shau, who brings nearly two decades of experience to the table, as he dives into engaging interviews and thought-provoking discussions on the latest trends and innovations. With a blend of humor and realism, Pete explores the evolving landscape of Rent to Own, making complex topics accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or simply curious about RTO, tune in for insights that will inform and entertain!
The RTO Show "Let's talk Rent to Own"
Flipping the Script: Host Pete Shau's Journey in the Rent-to-Own Industry
What happens when the host becomes the guest? Join us on an exciting journey as Pete Shau, flips the microphone to reveal his life story. From a snowy birth in Brooklyn to the sunny vibes of Florida, Pete's path led him unexpectedly into the rent-to-own industry, thanks to a life-changing encounter at a bank. This episode promises insights into the power of building genuine relationships and how everyday interactions can open doors to opportunities you never saw coming.
Through engaging discussions, Pete shares his ascent from account manager to overseeing multiple stores, stressing the importance of firsthand experience—like working on the truck—to earn credibility and respect within his team. We navigate through stories of paradigm shifts, the art of empathy, and the lessons learned from role models who've shaped Pete's leadership style. This episode is packed with personal growth reflections, touching on how self-awareness and understanding personality types can enhance both personal and professional lives.
We wrap up with a nostalgic look back at childhood hobbies and their unexpected influence on business acumen and personal motivations. The episode also presents thought-provoking narratives on reassessing social circles and examines the nuanced world of sales and persuasion. Whether you're interested in leadership, personal development, or just a good story, Pete's journey offers something for everyone, highlighting the rewarding experiences within the rent-to-own industry and beyond. Tune in for an insightful, heartfelt conversation that's bound to resonate with RTO listeners.
Hello and welcome to the RTO show. I'm supposed to be your host, pete Schell, but today it looks like the tables have turned and we have some great guys here that are going to turn the tables on the RTO show today and make it so that the host is actually the guest. So I have Paul Metivier and still doing the impact holdings, and then Josh Zysiecki, who decided that he's going to be on the other end of this because he's been on the other side the receiving side, the interview side for a couple of times. Now he's going to be on the other side of this, and so I just so we all know I am not scripted. I have no idea where we're going with this. This is Full Monty right here. So, without further ado, if you guys want to introduce yourself, go ahead. Josh.
Speaker 2:Sure, no problem. Obviously, Josh Sycycki, Great Rooms, celebrating 11 years been in Red Zone for 20. So what are?
Speaker 1:you looking to do today, man? What's the accomplishment? What are you trying to get out of this?
Speaker 2:Well, like you said, you're not scripted and you don't know where this is going to go. So neither do we. All you said you, you're not scripted and you don't know where this is going to go.
Speaker 1:So neither do we. All right. And then Paul.
Speaker 3:Metivier, what's going on, Paul? I'm the guy that knows what's going on today.
Speaker 2:That's right, paul knows it all Paul's got the plan.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly. So this is the podcast where we turn the mic around right, and we've talked about this for a minute, I think, when you and I we had a chance to talk over a year ago, and then I know Josh got on a podcast with you and he even brought it up towards the end of his podcast. When are we going to talk to you? When do we get your story out? And today's the day, and you are right. No one here knows what questions I have planned.
Speaker 3:Real quick. You know one thing I know it's important to all of us. We're all part of the all name team, which is all of us have a name that is very, very difficult to pronounce, or people call us whatever they want to call us. So before we even get started with this, pete, can you tell us the proper pronunciation of your name, so everyone knows?
Speaker 1:So everybody knows the Pete Chow and it was. It was easier for me to do that because you know, as everybody has like a stage name, you know the big guys have a stage because it's easier, it's easier to work with. But my legal given name is Guiming Pedro Xiao Jr, so it's a hybrid of a Chinese Puerto Rican name. I am a junior, so it comes from my father. My father is well, he's half Puerto Rican, half Chinese. My grandfather came from China, my grandmother came from Puerto Rico and so they wanted to pass that down Right, and so my mom wanted that to be passed down. And so here we go, but in school that was hard, so Peter eventually. But then my dad got remarried so she had a Peter, my dad's a Peter and I'm a Peter, and I was like I, we need Pete, pete's going to work and I will, I will take that to my grave. So it became Pete Schau All right, good, well, thank you.
Speaker 3:That's a great story by the way, and Josh, I've called you personally different names, but it's Sy Zicky right.
Speaker 2:Just like I tell everybody, you can just call me Josh, it's all right.
Speaker 3:Josh Zicky. Yeah, you know Sy.
Speaker 2:Zicky, but you know, you can just call me Josh.
Speaker 3:All right. So, Pete, I want to kind of start this off and I'd like you pre-RTO, I'd like you to walk us through your childhood, Take us all the way up to the beginning of RTO.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be long, but tell us a little bit about yourself. Born in New York, born in Brooklyn in 78, in the 78 snowstorm that happened, went to a private school for the first few years of my life. After that we came to Florida for a couple of different reasons, but mom needed to get out of New York and the family was just. You know, it was the way it was. So mom and me and my brother, we came all the way down to Florida. So Lake Placid planted roots, stayed there, middle school, high school. My brother went to the same school as I did, my daughter went to the same school I did, and then it wasn't that. Lake Placid wasn't great, just need to kind of spread my roots a little bit Ended up going into rent to own Sebring at that time it was Renner's Choice, before they had gotten with Thorne, and so we started Renner's Choice, ernie Talley, michael Drawn those guys back then and you know, then the Thorne joining ended up in Hardy County where I took over my first store, which was the Wachula Rent-A-Center.
Speaker 1:And during that transition, when I was in Sebring trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do, I was a bank, I worked at a bank and you know, somebody doing their job was coming around kind of scoping things out. I had seen him quite a few times come into a deposit. He's like I like you kid, you know. I was like I appreciate it. And he's like, hey, why don't you? You know, come check us out. He gave me a card. He's like come on down, we'll talk. And I'm like I've never heard of anything we're talking about. I don't know what rent to own is. I don't want to really deliver a listen. I'm in a shirt and tie. He's like we do shirt and tie.
Speaker 1:And uh, you know, he offered me a whole lot more money than I was making. I was making like $7, seven, 25 an hour and at that time they were doing a $13 an hour. It was. It was a whole different ball game, it was a career. He sold it to me as a career and like that was in 2000. So I graduated in 96, 2000, I'm talking to him at the bank and I just kind of went, went from there and um, so that eventually led me to work in Sebring, then took my first store in Huachula, and I think I've worked in every store in Hardy County and Highlands County and then Lake Wales for a little bit and Bartow, arcadia, huachula several times Just went on from there.
Speaker 3:What was it about you at the bank that you think that person saw that made them want to recruit you? You're making $7 an hour.
Speaker 2:You said this was about the year 2000? Yeah, okay. Well, from seven to 13 is a big jump too. And was it just the money?
Speaker 1:So it wasn't. But here's the thing. So I was, I was doing college at the time, right? And it's actually 99. I started in January of 2000. So it's actually the end of 99, probably November, and he's coming in. He does deposits every single day. That's part of what they did.
Speaker 1:And you know, in any business, especially in the rent-to-home business, we try to create that familiarity between ourselves and whoever we're with, right, we create the relationship. So he would just come in and, hey, how you doing, how's everything going? Looks like. I mean, back then the cash deposits were a lot more than what they are now, right. So it's like oh man, you had a great weekend. Oh, you had a great week. Oh, this one isn't so big. You know, you guys got to work harder and I didn't.
Speaker 1:I have no idea what he did, but he did have a certain tie and he was really nice to me too. And I think the idea of having somebody who was very open to that relationship as well because give me the positive slip, I'm good and he's still nice to them. But there was no talk, there was no open dialogue, and so he was just more like that, and when he said something about it it was flattering. I'd never had anybody tell me anything like that at work, like, hey, you know what, I really appreciate what you do. You sound really nice, you know, I think you might be interested in this.
Speaker 1:But the fact that he even mentioned it, the fact that he said there was a career to it, I had no idea what I was going to do. So, even though I was going to school, even though I had a job, I had no direction and the only thing I knew for sure at that point in time is I didn't want to work at the bank. It was too quiet, there wasn't a lot going on, nobody was as friendly as I kind of wanted them to be. You know what I mean. It was just so transactional. You know, you come in, you do your business, you go home. People would come in and big deposits, small deposits, but nobody ever seemed really happy. It was just what I noticed.
Speaker 1:When he mentioned the word career, it did catch me. Did he have me sold? No, but it was a good sticking point. So when he, you know, when I stopped by and he mentioned, hey, you know, this is what we do, and I'm like man, there's a truck involved, like, really he's like you know, if you don't start there, you're not going to understand where we are now right, so you can't go into management without getting through these things. And so we talked about it in the money situation at that point in time was a tipping point, but it wouldn't have been the whole thing, because there was a lot more physical involved in that.
Speaker 2:So for me, I feel like he sold you on. What we really do in rental home period is he came in and built a rapport with the bank rep and you were able to give that back to him and you guys built the rapport, which is what we do with our customers at our counter. We build that rapport with them. He got to know you and because you were able to reciprocate that back to him, that made you a great candidate for what we do.
Speaker 1:The smart move on his part is he didn't pull the hook too soon, right? Because sometimes we go out there and we do see people that are great, and I think sometimes we haven't talked to them long enough. And here is a stranger out of nowhere coming up to me and going hey, I have this opportunity for you, would you like to come? And they're like, yeah, you're great, but I've only known you for like five seconds. This was after several interactions and when I say several, not just him coming in and doing a deposit, after several times of actually physically talking with him more than just, hey, there's a deposit, cause the first time he came in, here's a deposit.
Speaker 1:And I was like, okay, great, you know, hey, what's this? And he's like, yeah, we deferred your. Okay, I have no idea what he was talking about. I was just like, okay. And so he hooked me at a time where I I kind of knew who he was in a sense not for sure, but I knew more of about him and I was like, okay, let me try this out. And then when I went now I was on his turf and he was a lot more outgoing and he was showing me this and that and the possibilities, and I don't know if I was a hundred percent sold at first, but he had me intrigued and it was definitely a time for me to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sounds like he was interviewing you every time he dropped a deposit off. That's what it sounds like he got to know you by that seventh time, Right, and then he was hey you should come work for me, man, you know you had a great personality. I like who you are. You built a rapport with me. You did every single thing I need you to do in my business. Come work with me.
Speaker 1:He was feeling me out for sure. All right, and you know what? I didn't even understand that until a couple of years after I was already on board.
Speaker 3:Well, I'll tell you this when we talk about podcasts, we always look to get something out of it, like what's a skill I could take back, what's a story that I could apply to my business that's going to help me get through. You unintentionally just shared one that I think gets overlooked a lot of times, which is out-of-store recruiting. Out-of-store recruiting I don't think he intended to be recruiting you at the bank either. I think it was a natural progression of relationship building, rapport building over time that led to it. But this is the way out of store recruiting goes. You hear people say go out and just go out and recruit somebody at the grocery store because you're shorthanded right now. No, that's not the way it goes. You're recruiting out of store happens at the places you typically shop. So if you go to a restaurant frequently, you don't just get one look at a person, you get a second, a third, a fourth even if that waiter or waitress or bartender is not waiting on you this time.
Speaker 3:You still see them interacting with other people. You see good days, you see bad days. You see challenging situations. You see what they do when it's slow. You see what they do when it's busy. This is applicable to grocery stores, gas stations, fast food restaurants, wherever you are.
Speaker 3:So what's interesting is this individual, over a period of time, started transactional rapport, gets built, it turns relationship right and he liked you and you liked him, and that's the beauty of human connection. So now it became a time where he was at a point where he felt comfortable enough, he trusted you enough, just off those many interactions, to offer you a job. Luckily for you, that job also almost doubled your pay. Yes, you made a mention that you wanted to get out of the bank because the bank is boring. Right, pete? It was absolutely paint dry, boring.
Speaker 1:The best thing that I had to do at night was just count the money. Yeah, you know, and it was really that simple. You sat there and just kind of people walked up and at that point in time, you know again, there was more money.
Speaker 3:I couldn't even imagine doing it now, because now there's not much money right, so you know there was a lot of money.
Speaker 1:So the main thing that I was even worried about is make sure I said hi and I got the cash count right, because you always have to make sure it's right, and so balance down to the penny, and that was it. I was gone. I couldn't tell you the name of the lady I worked for. I couldn't tell you what they liked. I couldn't tell you what their favorite animal. I didn't know anything about them. It was strictly come to work. They liked the way I worked and I liked getting paid, and that was it. There was nothing to it. So it was like I didn't have any loyalty to that. I just did, definitely.
Speaker 2:Well, that's awesome. It was probably the best bank he ever walked into. I mean, he got peed out of it.
Speaker 1:Right, and then, 20 years later, yeah, here we are 20 years later.
Speaker 3:You know you mentioned you were studying at the time you're going to school. What were you studying? Studying at the time you're going to school? What were you studying? Business, business, yeah. So that's going to lead to a later question I have, in terms of you know. Well, let me ask you what made you go into business, what made you want to study business?
Speaker 1:So when we came down, my mother. She's been in healthcare for like ever and ever and ever and I did not ever want to be in healthcare. I don't want anybody's lives in my head, even if it's insurance, I just don't want that. But I had grown up with her going to an office every day. She got up, she got dressed, it was always reports and meetings and deadlines and that's just kind of what I knew. So my thought process was I'm great with my hands and I like what mom does. And right now, at the point in time that I was doing it, I was in school and I was wearing ties. So I was like okay, well, this is kind of where, where the direction is just going. So business was the idea and it kind of just went that way.
Speaker 3:You mentioned that you didn't want to be in the healthcare health field. My wife is also. She's a mental health counselor. So to me I don't understand how she can keep all of that together and still sit down at the end of the night. You know, for me rent, own or business, you know, it's much easier, I think it's easier to unplug. I think then when you're dealing with maybe a crisis situation of somebody's mental health or physical health so I think you mean that.
Speaker 1:but you do, you do have a direct responsibility for people's lives.
Speaker 3:What you do right now you're in multi-unit management, right? It's so critical to being able to motivate individuals and teach individuals to keep them to where they can provide for their families and maybe their children go on to be healthcare workers, right? So it's still great responsibility that we all have sitting at this table to provide a greater good for our coworkers, if nothing else, just to set a good example, right? Yeah, so what you're doing? It may not be healthcare I mean, you might not be the person on the other end of a life or death situation with the scalpel, but I guess, metaphorically, you could be in terms of the mental scalpel that you might, yeah, cause the idea was they have a responsibility.
Speaker 1:The responsibility that I have now was learned right, so I got into it and it was gradually given to me as somebody who came in as an account manager and then I became an assistant and then it became a store manager and eventually managed several stores to become a district or a regional whatever position you know they call it now or just multi-unit between. Well, I've always had seven stores, so seven stores. But like it's one of those situations where I can understand it more now because I've done it and I've been through it. So there was a transition period in around 2009, when I came to Tampa, I didn't go right back into rent to own, because I didn't understand rent to own in the big city. I understood rent to own in smaller towns. You know, like you know, you're talking about Huachula and Lake Placid, sebring, lake Wales. I knew that, I knew the relationships that I can make out there, but Tampa was like scary to me. It was like I've heard stories and I don't know anything about it. So I'm going to stay away from that.
Speaker 1:And so, again, mom, being in the health field, I became a financial counselor in the emergency room and the idea was with your background, you should be able to collect the dollars needed for the insurances. I had no idea what I was getting into and not on a bad thing. They're definitely needed because if you're coming from a certain standpoint, that you have to look at it from the insurance point the taking care of it there's a monetary situation that comes with it. So I become a financial counsel in the ER and I found it extremely difficult to be able to go into a room where somebody's having a crisis broken leg, kids not feeling. Well, it could, it could be, it could be something very crazy. It could be something as small as a couple of stitches.
Speaker 1:But you know and and say, listen, this is the kind of coverage you have, this is, this is what's going to cover. But you have a copay of and I mean, I would say some numbers that would just throw me out there 250, 350. And it's like I became the immediate enemy number one in the entire hospital. They were looking at me going. I'm here because it's an emergency, hence emergency room, and you're asking me for dollars, and so, if there's anything that woke me up to, I understand the business of healthcare, but I don't think I can do it. I just didn't have the heart for it and I stuck it out for two years and I just knew at the end of that, it's it just it's not me, I can't.
Speaker 2:So I get what you're saying and that's awesome, and I also got what Paul's saying with his wife that's a mental health counselor. But a lot of what you just described we deal with on a daily basis other than insurance. We're still having the same conversation. We're still having the same emergency situations where someone well, you can't take my refrigerator because I need my refrigerator, and then you still have to have that financial talk with that customer. So how do you feel the differences between the two being that you said you had a hard time in the healthcare part of it versus what we do?
Speaker 1:So one was explainable to me and I think this is purely in my head right. So, absolutely, emergency is emergency, no matter how you look at it, just how you define it internally. I think it made me a better collector, for sure. But it also made me realize, in the mindset of going into a situation, I think I was a harder collector before that and it made me empathize a lot more with situations and I think I was able to build better rapport after that. And it made me empathize a lot more with situations and I think I was able to build better rapport after that. Hence why I came back to rent a home.
Speaker 1:But it was hard at that time and I did not take it well. I personally brought it home Like it just bothered me, and so, with those four days on, three days off, and I did four 10 hour days and that was it. And so if you land on a weekend, you land on the weekend. If you land here, just holiday. It's just that's the way it is. I mean, that's how it works, we're open all the time. And so that brought up to me. Okay, I need something that I can plan around, something that I know, okay, if I have this off. I wanted that. Being able to relate was a lot easier after that. Understanding what the customer was going through was a lot easier after that. Understanding what the customer was going through was a lot easier after that because I was, in a sense, being able to put myself in somebody else's shoes and go.
Speaker 1:I understand what you're saying. Here's the hard point of it. You know this is what the can and can't do moment, but I understand it, and it used to be hey man, this is the deal, this is where we're at. Okay, like, this is where you got yourself. I didn't get you here. It's kind of where you're at right now to a tell me what's going on and then after that, okay, these are my options. You help me, help you. How can we get through this together? You know what I can do. You know the hard nose and where we're at with that. So how do we get to where we need to be? That opened up dialogue for all of that, but I didn't know that. Then I was just scared to death. I mean, I saw some stuff that I was just like is that leaking?
Speaker 3:out Like I'm in the wrong room right now Because I feel bad.
Speaker 1:I just I felt bad. I just like I can't. I mean, I did, I do it, yes, and I even remember when we did our podcast and you said I'm a good soldier, I did it. If you asked me to do it, that's my job, I'll go and do it. But internally, after I closed some doors, I was like God. I just felt like, wow, that I just do that you know.
Speaker 2:So the experience in RTO for you is a better feel-good feeling than you were getting from the healthcare industry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, yeah, absolutely. I was definitely able to quantify a refrigerator versus like a broken bone.
Speaker 2:All right Awesome.
Speaker 1:And it also made me appreciate what I did. Yeah, right, because at some points and not that it's a real comparison, because it's not but at some points you've got the healthcare worker and you have somebody who's coming in for the insurance and they both do this. They're both covering you in a way. One is covering you right now but one's covering you down the road. Okay, you get a $20,000 bill and that can really hurt you. That you get a $20,000 bill and that can really hurt you. That can wreck you in some ways. So, same thing what we're doing now is we're serving the need now, but we're also making sure that you're not hurting six months down the road when you're making all kinds of off payments. You've been giving me all kinds of late fees that aren't going towards a payoff. We might be there to pick it up now because we just we are at a hard pass right now that we have to do something. So it translated a lot more than I expected. It really helped drive things home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but there was a four and a half year period that I was gone. Two years I was a financial counselor in the ER and two years I worked as a warehouse manager after that because it did bother me, and so I went to that. And then one day I was like this is not what I want to do. So hence 24 years, and I have 20 years of experience. One day I looked at my wife then and I was like it's time to go back. And it was crazy because it actually came out that way. It was like it's time to go back and my ex-wife used to actually work for Rentone and she knew exactly what I was talking about Like it's time Real, real quick.
Speaker 3:Were the breaks simultaneously or were they spread out? Did you leave? You were the counselor at the ER. Did you come back to Renton and then take another break, or was that four years? It was back to back? Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:So I did the financial counselor thing and I called my mom one day and I was just like I just want you to know my decision. I'm letting them know, but I'm letting you know like I don't know how you do it. I don't know how to do it and because sometimes and again not not that what we do isn't dissimilar it was just like she'd get a phone call at five o'clock in the morning because she did admissions, you know, in different areas of the hospital and we're like hey, we got this, came up and the doctor moved it up and like we need an off. Like stat, there's nobody there at 5am At least I don't, I, you know, I don't know how she did it.
Speaker 1:She was able to get offs, but like you've got to know people, you've got to be able to pull some strings because there's nobody in their offices at that time. And so you're going through an emergency line and you're actually literally sending faxes and you're you're like waiting down to the second because there's a doctor going. Like listen, we're talking about a $50,000 difference between this minute and this minute and this customer needs it now. The customer, I'm sorry, I'm, I'm used to rent zone, that's all right. This patient needs it now and it, that's what I. I just, it was like my heart just would go out to them.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I totally understand what you're saying, cause what I'm the vibe I'm picking up from you is you know, there's a difference in terms of what introduced the chaos to the person's life, and this can be on rent zone, or this could be the patient. The chaos could be from behaviors, poor behaviors. I struggle sometimes with empathy when it's behaviors. When I see the person committing bad behaviors, whether it's a coworker or a customer, or maybe in the medical field if I was a medical doctor or a dentist, I would feel the same way about the patient. It's like why are you doing this? We've talked about this, we had a game plan, but your behaviors are not changing and you're creating your own problems or crisis. And then there's the other side, is tragedy. When a tragedy strikes, I think sometimes we even have coworkers in our industry the bad actors, I'll say. They can't recognize the difference between behavioral issues and tragic situations that occur, unfortunately for customers and even patients. Sometimes those tragedies happen back to back to back. So then it makes you wonder are they telling me the truth or this? And that we don't have to judge people, but we should have a relationship with the individual, whether it's the patient or it's the customer or the coworker, to be able to ask those questions and be able to trust that what they're telling us is actually true.
Speaker 3:Coming back, but I can see your point, because when tragedy strikes in the medical field, whether it's a crisis happening to somebody, whether they're suffering from a mental break or a physical break, if it's not something they brought on themselves, it's hard not to.
Speaker 3:We should be, I think, more than empathetic. I think we should be sympathetic to those individuals when they're going through times like that, and then we should react as a human being would and put everything else to the side and just be present with that person, really listen to them and help them get there, trying to collect money in those situations, especially, I think, in the medical sense, because it is more life and death. Let's be honest, I can see why that caused your problems. I think you gave us a good window into who you are just by that conversation. Pulling it back to business a little bit, you brought up on two separate occasions in the first 10, 15 minutes we've been talking here about starting on the truck. You've said it at two separate times, whether you know it or not, but I've been taking notes here, that's why I have my pen, and I want to know from your perspective, why was that so important for you? I don't want you to speak for anyone else.
Speaker 1:Well, I can tell you right now that it's easy as general managers, it's easy as anybody who's in a position of management over other people, to make it very logical. Right, I have a job to get done and I have these several things that are part of my day. Right, I need call-throughs done. I need deliveries done. I need services done, trucks got to get done. There is a point in that that you have to understand what you're asking people to do, and I do not like to ask people to do something that I do not know how to do. That bothers me, and we're not talking about like, hey, build me a house, because I don't know how to build a house, right. But when I say, hey, I need you to have this conversation with this customer, I know how to tackle it by training you, because I've seen those situations when I say you cannot talk to a customer that way, because this is what you're going to get out of it. It's because I've done it, I know what's going to happen. Starting on a truck, you know, it never meant as much to me as it then, as it does now to say I've been in customers' homes, I've said things I really needed to and I've said things that I didn't need to and I caused some strife in that relationship that we had with that customer because I didn't do it right and this is why I don't want you to do it. I learned that you know, not every delivery is the same. It's easy to see it on paper, but you can tell the difference between who's setting up a DAP that's done it before and who hasn't. Right, so you go. Hey, I want this delivery done.
Speaker 1:First thing you're finding out is what side of town is it in? What time are you going? Are you going between four and six when it's heavy traffic? Are you going between, let's say, 11 and 12, where it's a little bit less traffic? You go in between two and three, where I can expect you to get there pretty quick. Is it on the first floor? Is it on the second floor? Is it on the third floor? Florida, you don't need an elevator to hit four floors, right? Third floor makes it difficult. All right, now I got to find out what are you taking upstairs? Are you taking, like, a coffee and table set that you can do by yourself, or are you taking a bedroom set that's still in the box so you have to unbox it, take it up the stairs and then put it in the house and set it up. All those things I learned on the truck and I can say, okay, now and back then I don't want to show my age too much, but back then we had a map right and so I knew my customers by map.
Speaker 2:Was that a paper map? Or was that a paper map? No, it was a paper map.
Speaker 1:These phones nowadays- but it was a paper map and it also helped me understand why it was important to run my route. As I was doing deliveries, as I was doing my services, who am I passing up? And at the time I never had to tell my GM. He kind of understood it. But I mean, they expected that out of me. Like if I'm going past the house that I've been to twice, two times this week, and I got no results, and I'm there at a different timeframe than I have been, absolutely you better stop. Stop and find out what's going on with that customer. Let's solve that problem while you're out there.
Speaker 1:My five up and five downs have there been times where I messed it up? Sure, have there been times where I'm like I'm going to be late for my next delivery and I've decided, you know what in my head, if I do a five up, five down, I'm not going to get there on time. And then did I have somebody come behind me and go? But how long would it really have taken? And so, doing all that, I can tell my guys now. I've been there, I've done that. I know what you're going through now. Are there differences between the 25 years that it started and it did now Absolutely. But I can tell you that the weight of bedroom sets is still the same. Unboxing is still the same. Five up, five downs, they're pretty much the same. How you get to where they are, you step on a gas pedal, you step on a brake pedal, it's all the same. You might look at your phone. I might've read a map, but the relationships are still the same.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like starting on the truck, for you gave you the leadership skill to be able to advise your new drivers, as you said, hey, advise your new drivers, you know. As you said, you know, hey, I've done that, I've been there, so you know you're. It made you a better leader when it comes to that portion of of the business and knowledge.
Speaker 2:So it gave me the knowledge just like when they call you and go I Pete, you know we couldn't get the couch in that door and you're going. I know you can get that couch in the door. Don't get me started with those stories.
Speaker 1:I mean, how many times do you hear that now? And you're like listen, man, I've gotten twice big accounts in a half size. You know. And. But you know you also have to remember sometimes is this the first time that you're there being shown how to get it done, right, because there were times when I said that somebody had to come out here and listen, let me take off my tie and let me show you how to get it. I'm not coming out here again and you're like I never saw that before, but now I know. You know, I actually learned on the truck that a blanket is not just for doors. I mean, I've learned to stack stuff on blankets and slide it in a way that I've never be able to slide it without. And I didn't learn that from sitting behind a desk. I learned that from being out in the field. Do they have carpets? Do they have tile? Is it easier to slide? You know how do you take it. Taking the cushions out and taking the feet off make a huge difference.
Speaker 2:So, to feed off of Paul's question then, is how? What's your feelings? Do you think everybody should start in the truck? Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Even if there are people out there that have an astounding amount of, they're just clear, they understand how to manage, they understand business. You need to put them on a truck. I'm not saying that they aren't above it or not above it. I'm saying that to understand this rent-to-own business, you have to do this rent-to-own business and to stand there and say to somebody, hey, you should have done this side by side refrigerator a lot faster. It's okay.
Speaker 1:But if you don't know how to do it and you don't understand what's behind it, I might have had to take it off both doors. Now this side-by-side had a water and ice. That water had to be snaked through that little hole that I never knew it had, because we've never taken one apart before. So wait a minute, I didn't have the right tools because there wasn't a screwdriver, it was hex head. So then I had to find that I got it off and then I finally had to snake out this six inch water pipe that I didn't even know belonged to it. Now I got to put it back together. I've never leveled out the doors before. I didn't even know there was a way to level the doors. It's easy to say. It's a lot harder to do? Put everybody on the truck.
Speaker 3:I'll just say, too, you can read a book on time management or take a course at a junior college on time management. Until you've been on the truck you don't really know rent-to-own time management. I think there's a big gap. Sometimes from coworkers in the field that have been doing it for a while they listen to the academic, the person that's never been on there. There's a big difference between academic and practical in terms of rent-to-own. I agree with you on some sentiment. I don't know that everyone has to start on the truck, but they do need to get into the truck and I think it's twofold.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're right, yes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think it's twofold. Number one there is from the perspective of you're not asking anyone to do something that you're not willing to do, so you're willing to go to the third story. You're willing to get out there in the heat, you're willing to mess up your khaki pants or whatever it is, and and and, potentially sometimes even work through the, the dings. You get slight injuries that aren't like enough to keep you out, but your bruises, the cuts, and just being hurt and physically worn out at the end of the day your team will believe in you so much more when they've seen you bleed and sweat with them. You know that's one thing. So that's kind of like the Joan of Arc. You know I'm the general that sound patent, I'm at the front of the line, I'm not at the back of the line. Like I say, it removes the consultant or the politician from the job. And those of us that work for a living, we don't like politicians and we don't like consultants. Unless that politician and consultant has walked a mile in our shoes, then I'll listen to them. I'll listen to them. If I see that in the person, then okay, if they understand the grind, I can be with them. But the other part of it, that not being in the truck I think really hurts store managers that ascend quickly because they're smart and likable, absolutely deserving of the position, they've earned the position, but they've never really managed a route or been on the truck. The other part of that is they get taken advantage of so often by the individuals that realize that they don't know how long things take, that they've never had those conversations with customers or had to overcome those objections. Therefore they always have the built-in excuse because they can take advantage of what should be a very effective leader that doesn't have the practical knowledge of the job.
Speaker 3:So I do agree with you Time in the truck is important. We used to do that with MITs back in the old Renner Center days. The MIT had to manage a route at some point. If they couldn't hit the close and open and they couldn't handle the road duties done. See ya, you had a month. You had to be consistent in hitting those numbers for a full month. If you couldn't get past that, guess what? You didn't graduate from elementary school. So there is no middle school for you. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1:Have a good day. We appreciate you, but there is a way to fast track people.
Speaker 3:And I think when you do fast track people, they do have to have the buy-in from the team beneath them, the men and women that are in the truck. They have to believe in that person, that they're also willing to do the job, and they also have to know that that person does understand how long things take for both reasons not being taken advantage of and also just being there for that person. When, when they have heavy things plus a person that doesn't go on the truck, they love to load the dab.
Speaker 3:Yes, they love to stock that thing full and then be overly critical of a team member that isn't maybe meeting the time criteria that Google maps said it should have taken. Right, yeah. So again, I do agree with that. You just brought it up twice, so I wanted to get there. This podcast is about getting to know. Pete. I made you do an assignment, josh. I made you do an assignment too.
Speaker 1:We had homework, we had homework.
Speaker 2:But you did it as well. What a great leader you are, Paul Thank you, josh, and I concur. Hey, I have to recognize, you know when it's, when it's there, so you know you delegated very well.
Speaker 3:So you took the the 16 personality test right, and, and and this is another tool I think we should leave listeners or watchers of of this particular podcast is going to that site. It's free, right. You just put in your email account. They'll email your results after you, but it's called 16 personalities. It gives you a short. How long did it take you to complete it? Not?
Speaker 1:long, I mean, I didn't 10 minutes. Yeah, 10 minutes.
Speaker 3:So you did it and then you got your results. So my first question for you related to that what did you learn about yourself? Did you take the time to read about yourself and your personality?
Speaker 1:I did. I didn't study it as much as I probably should have, but I did read it and I thought.
Speaker 2:You probably didn't know you were going to be quizzed.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, it's one of those things like I looked at it and sometimes in the back of your mind you're like is that really me at it? And sometimes in the back of your mind you're like is that really me? Is that? Because I think, when you look in the mirror we see the 20 year old that we used to be in high school behind the shadow of our face. Today, when we're on the phone and we hear ourselves, I've had to really get used to my podcast voice. I never knew that I sounded like this. As I've listened to myself more and more through podcasts, I've gotten used to it.
Speaker 1:But when I first started, that's not who I hear in my head, and sometimes when you read it, you have to read it again and again because who I see myself as and who is relatable on that paper to me didn't seem like the same person. It seemed like I had a little bit more of leadership traits in there. When I want to take control of things, and I never saw that To me, I feel like I'm a guy, we get along, we have a purpose, we're driven, let's get there. And so I saw a little bit more of a spearheaded approach in that and I had to really think about that. It made me kind of more look at myself more than read it again and go is that really me? And then what do you do? You go back and you start playing scenarios, right, and you're like, well, in that situation, did I do it there? I might have, you know, I saw it one way, but then I watched a movie again and what did I see? Something I never saw before. I saw, you know, a little snippet here, or I remember a phrase there. I remember you know what that was actually driving me absolutely batty.
Speaker 1:And maybe they actually did allow me to take control of that situation, because either I was annoying the hell out of them or I had a really good idea and I portrayed that, hopefully, in a light that they allowed me to do that, and it really made me think. It did. It made me really think about it. So I didn't want to go into it too much, but yeah, it made me like after I read that, I kind of sat there and just go. Is that what I look like on the other side of this, of this coin? You know it's funny, you'd mentioned consultants. I'll throw this in real quick. Is that? I don't know if you guys ever noticed the amount of people who have worked in the rental owned industry. That are our vendors.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have, I have.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's like that in any other industry, because I've never gone to the conventions of any other industry, but I've noticed that when you say it's it's greater to take advice from somebody who understands the business. There are people out there who have done this business and now they're, they're vending to us, they're selling to us, or whatever you want to call it, and they have a better insight. That's one of the things I appreciate sight, that's one of the things I appreciate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like they get out of the business but they don't fully get out of it. But to kind of bring it back to the personality thing, real quick, pete, so I can understand what I did the same thing. I don't know if Paul did as well, but I kind of read it and I was like, oh wow, you know, that thing's a lot nicer than I am. About myself, so, but about you, I'm curious to know who the people were in your life that helped contribute to that personality that you do have. So what were your? You know, who were your role models and what made you become Pete? Wow, that's a God.
Speaker 1:You see, now you start going to those questions. That's usually what I'm asking other people. It feels kind of like on this side of the seat. Well, so you know small story when I was growing up in New York my dad was a bigger part of my life then, but my dad stayed in New York and so when I came down to Florida, our relationship was different because there was just a lot of distance and so I saw him on the summertime. But I mean, is that really, you know, is that really being a part? It's not. I'm not blaming anybody, it was just the way it happened. I saw my dad on the summers, I was with my mom throughout the most of the year, and so you know, of course I'd have to say my mom, in a way, was was a big part of how I saw things. But as I got older, I did look for some some male role models unbeknownst to myself until I got older, and one of the guys that I got to say really made me look at the way I did business and it's going to be crazy because we never got along was Rafael Torres.
Speaker 1:He had a very unique approach to Rentoni. He had a very unique approach to a lot of things. He had a very unique approach to rent-owning. He had a very unique approach to a lot of things, but he had a very direct way of looking at things. He was very like. He knew what he wanted way before the conversation started. How he got there, though, didn't feel directional, but he got there, and so it was just one of those things. Like, he was my DM at the time as my division manager at RAC, and when I first started, he was my division manager for RAC a long time, and so he was able to come from Venezuela. He knew what he wanted, he came in, he worked hard and he was great at making relationships. But the truth was there was always a purpose, whether it was to pay, whether it was to sell, whether it was. He was very purpose-driven, and I think that actually played a big part in the first part of my career and my life as to why I see myself a certain way and why I might actually do things more directional and try to play more of a leadership role in that, or take charge, or whatever you want to call it. But that was one of them, and it's crazy that I have to say that Rack did that, but it did.
Speaker 1:As I got older, there's been a couple of people that have really made a difference in my life. My wife's father, my current wife's father, is one of them. I love the way he is. What's his name? Ken Ken. He's a very family guy. He's got. They're just traditional in the sense that he's been married for 40 years and they have a family business and they stay with their family and so for the current part of the last 10 years of my life he's been a big part of that. You know, part of the you know unfortunate sins.
Speaker 1:I came from a broken home. It was mom and her two kids and we came out here and I didn't know anybody. So it was a big difference. When I came to Florida, I knew nobody, my brother didn't know anybody, so it was just me and him and it felt like me and him kind of against the world. You know, mom was at work, we didn't know anybody.
Speaker 1:So everywhere I went, my brother was there, my brother's eight years younger than me. So it was like really odd, because I'm like this teenager and my brother was with we do it anywhere. My brother was with me and so we kind of learned to the relationships that we had with our friends and our friends, family and the people that we met. You know, and, and over time you know Raphael, in a sense, ken, in a sense even my first manager at Burger King when I was in high school man, she was like no freaking joke man. She'd be like nice to you and then turn around and be like man, you got time to lean, brother, you got time to clean? She would just, I was scraping bubble gum off the bottom of tables, but I guess I took it from the people that I work with, maybe, maybe kind of, and I've never had to look at myself that way. Josh, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:No, that's all right. So for younger Pete, from what I got out of all that for younger Pete it was mainly mom and brother yeah, that were some big parts of your life that kind of pointed you in the direction you wanted to go, and then obviously it sounded like you had some really great managers as you came up, I did luck out. You know through your career.
Speaker 1:Well, I got to say maybe part of it too is that because my brother was younger always felt like I had to set an example. So I was trying to learn from the people that I had in front of me to be able to show him what I thought was the right way to do things. Because at the time when we came to Florida and there's a whole lot of reasons behind this but both fathers were kind of out of the situation at that point in time Not my father because of distance, but his father for a whole different reason, and so we didn't have that father figure. I didn't know what to give him, and so I was trying to suck up every bit of knowledge that I can find to at least give him a direction, Because, being eight years behind me, when I was 16, he was eight.
Speaker 1:That's when he started kind of realizing life. Right, you start realizing life between like eight, seven, eight. And so it was like hey, you got to go to school, hey, you got to do this. You know, thank God, my brother went to the military. He did four years in the Navy and he graduated from USF. So he's doing all right. But you know, I thought that it was necessary. So I think I just learned from everybody who was willing to teach me anything.
Speaker 2:Well, as he was pointing you to become a better man by trying to learn all these things, you obviously, in turn, were pointing him to become a better man as well, as he went into the military and graduated. I mean, it sounds like you both really held each other up and did great things for each other.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a circle. It's a cool thing to know about you. So, yeah, well, I appreciate that you guys are making me look inside here. It's definitely a different side of the podcast.
Speaker 3:Influence goes both ways, you know, and that's something I want to talk to you about a little bit later. You know kind of have a general structure. You influence others, but you should always be influenced by people beneath you as well, whether it's a younger brother or it's your coworkers as well. So I'm going to ask a question a little bit later about that Sure Getting. So I'm going to ask a question a little bit later about that Sure Getting.
Speaker 3:Back to a real quick on this, on the personality test, it's a great practice for everyone that listens to this to do this and do this with your family members as well. You brought up is that really me? I had a reaction to some of the criticisms in my personality test and I was like, no, no way. Then I asked my wife, my kids I have twin boys and I said is this me? And they said, dad, that's, that's you. And I went oh my God, yeah, I don't want to be known that way. Um, but I would say, do with your family, do it with your coworkers, your supervisor and your direct subordinates, because it changes the way you might talk to each other or at least have a better understanding of where they're coming from. There is no bad personality. There are 16 personalities. They're all good. Like that's the thing too.
Speaker 3:I've had coworkers. I tell them to take the test. Then they take it because they answer the questions how they think I want them to answer it. And then we start going through it. I'm like this is not you. Do it again. Be honest and understand when you go into this. There are no bad personalities. This is so you and I can talk better. This is how we can communicate and fix those gaps where we might not see things the same way. I might even promote somebody with a different personality for myself, so I don't get pigeonholed into a mindset of what I am, or. It's just what I like and how I think my own paradigm and we're going to get to paradigm in a minute as well.
Speaker 3:I would strongly suggest that everyone take that personality test, evaluate themselves, do it with their loved ones and also their coworkers that, again, are directly above them and below them, and then have a conversation about it. You might learn a lot about each other. That helps to plug in those gaps as to why are they acting that way. Now you have a better understanding. Or, more importantly from this exercise is why am I acting this way? Your personality, guys, does not change too much. It doesn't From the time you're a young adult to the time you die. Your personality is your personality. Your behaviors, however, can change, and I would stress that your paradigm can change, and I'll explain a little bit about that in a minute. Kudos to your mom.
Speaker 2:I agree with that. By the way, Paul, that was great. Yeah, I agree with that a hundred percent A hundred percent Kudos to your mom.
Speaker 3:She didn't raise a victim. Yes, you know you had. Everyone has a story to tell. You know the old Chick-fil-A ad where you watch that video.
Speaker 3:Everyone's got a story to tell so don't pretend to know anything, man, I had one of those. But uh, your mother had an opportunity to cave in, be a victim herself and raise we, you know her children to to be victims. And your personality, your, your, your optimism oozes out of you, pete. It oozed out of you the first time I saw you in Huachula, when a hurricane literally went through Hurricane Charlie destroyed your store and you're working out of a trailer. That was the minute I realized I liked you. I just saw something. It was like this light of positivity and I said I like him. I like him a lot. So I'm glad you're having success in what you're doing and I hope more success finds you. So that brings me to to you know. So, outside of that, you know the listeners should consider taking the 16 personality test. It is free. Learn about yourself, learn about your coworkers, learn about your spouse, your children, everyone in your life. That's important to you and it's great conversation. If nothing else, what you just did in this exercise is you don't just have the boring. How was your day? What'd you eat for lunch? No, you actually talk about something that could lead to a future conversation and more conversations down the road as you learn to build that relationship even deeper with individuals that you care deeply for. So my next question for you involves paradigm.
Speaker 3:Stephen Covey, to me, is one of my gurus. I talk about him all the time with my team. He is one of the people even long after he died. His books and his YouTube videos still resonate in my head when I'm stuck, I go to Covey, stephen Covey, my father. And then not to get too religious, I would say it would be Jesus Christ. Those would be the three. Then not to get too religious, I would say it would be Jesus Christ. Those would be the three individuals that when I need them, I know where to find them and then they help to bring me back you know what I'm saying to where I need to be. And all of them are dead, you know, but it doesn't matter because I still hear their voices all the time. Stephen Covey talks about the seven habits highly effective people paradigm. Yes, if you haven't read the book, I recommend you.
Speaker 1:It's great. It's a great book.
Speaker 3:So do you remember the story where he is on the train and he's reading a newspaper and he's talking about I'm not going to do this justice, but I'll try to do it for the listeners. So it's a late night and he's on the train on a Sunday morning and it's Saturday night's over and he's trying to get back to his home and he's just wants to look at the papers. This is the time there were no phones, but she had a newspaper, so you can immerse yourself in the comics or sports section or see what's going on. And at this point in time it's New York city. Then, all of a sudden, on the train comes this rambunctious family. On the train comes this rambunctious family, these three young kids and this dad come stumbling onto the train and the kids are making a ruckus. They are running up and down the train, they are bothering everyone else on the trains or everyone else is on this train, like what the heck? It's early, people haven't even had their first cup of coffee yet. These kids are going nuts and the dad sits there and he's doing nothing, nothing to stop the behavior of these kids running around like crazy.
Speaker 3:So Covey says he puts his paper down. He's had enough, his paradigm, I've had enough. And he goes to the dad and taps him on the shoulder and he said the dad looks up at him with this odd gaze in his eyes, like maybe you've been drinking or on drugs, and he says hey man, there's an entire train car here full of people that are just trying to get to where they're going, minding their own business. Your kids are creating quite a scene. They are really causing problems here. Can you please get control of this situation of your kids? And then he says the father looks up at him and goes oh, oh, my God, I I'm so sorry, I know, I know, I know we need to do a better job of of getting my kids under control. The thing is we just left the hospital and their mom just passed away and I don't know how to act and I don't know what to do. I'm totally lost. Stephen Covey in that moment his paradigm.
Speaker 3:Paradigm is just the lens in which you see the world, or it could be a lens in which you see a situation. Right, this person says this you kind of brought it before this call. This kid's name was this so our paradigm, our lens, is going to train us to see something for in our bias and everything, our thoughts and our experiences. That point views what's happening and it becomes our reality when, in essence, this train story tells you there could be a completely different reality, a real story, the real root cause that we don't often ask enough questions or get to the bottom of and eliminate our own bias to see what's really going on.
Speaker 3:Stephen Covey went from chastising this man to the next thing out of his mouth was oh my God, I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help? That story? When I read that in that book found me at a right moment in my life. I'll tell you that I've never forgotten that story and I share it with as many people as long as I can live. So if you're not into reading books or you like audio books, you just want a YouTube paradigm from Stephen Covey, do it. But my question for you is can you remember back as a child the first major paradigm shift that you had? And it doesn't have to be as a child, pete Now, I know this is hard. You may need a minute to think about it. We can always come back to this later because you might be reminded of yourself as we go through the rest of this, but can you think of a time where you thought you knew the reality of a situation and then your entire mind shifted when the smoke cleared?
Speaker 1:When the veil came off. Oh, when you say people, you don't know, it's really we don't know what's going on. Until you know what's going on, Something that you said this morning, josh, and I said I was going to tell you and we're going to just say it now. So Josh is on his way into the studio and he says that you know, hey, man, I needed to stop because I saw the situation Go ahead and describe it that way, that way, you, I don't, I don't mess it up.
Speaker 2:So I'll I'll do my best not to get emotional about it, because it really touched me. Obviously, you probably heard that when we were talking. But so, yeah, so I live out in the, in the boondocks, you know. It's not a very big city, so they're just starting to build up and they're building up this one road. It's five, six lanes, but it's still very rural and they're building housing developments out there. There's no businesses, there's no gas stations, there's no nothing. It's literally just a road and they're starting to build housing developments.
Speaker 2:So, on my way here which is why I was late, why I called you I'm driving down the road and there's this little girl with her backpack standing at the corner of this new housing development and then this new major road that they just built, and not a parent in sight couldn't have been more than five or six years old. Not a parent in sight Couldn't have been more than five or six years old, and it just it killed me because I'm like why is this little girl standing here by herself? People are getting and I'm not just talking about children Adults are being taken daily, you know, and so I was on the phone with my daughter at the time, my oldest daughter and maybe it was because I was on the phone with her and I'm realizing that. So I'm like I said, allie, I said I got to turn around, I have to go sit, I have to go wait to make sure that this little girl's okay.
Speaker 2:You know I can't, I was probably going to call the police, I don't know what I was going to do, but I was going to make sure that this child was okay, because there's no reason that she should have ever been standing where she was. But anyway, so I did, I turned around after, after a few minutes, some more parents and their children came out. Never, her parent, her mother or dad never showed up, but a few other parents did, with their children waiting on the bus. And so I left and called you and let you know I was running late. But and then you were going to share something with me because of that story it brought a memory.
Speaker 1:So it's it's funny that you mentioned that because, number one, I love the good hearted nature that you have. You know you're on your way and you know that you have someplace to be, and it was more important to make sure her safety. Especially nowadays, what's going on with everybody and everything? You always hear kids being taken advantage of or they're or they're missing, and I think that you know our most precious is our most vulnerable, and so you know I love that and I'm going to say this to you guys, and I never intended to say it and I've actually never talked about this to anybody except my wife in my life.
Speaker 1:When I was five, I was kidnapped, at least attempted, and so you know he I don't know what his intentions were, we never had a real good conversation. You know, I went somewhere for a short time. I cannot remember a lot of it. I don't know if it's young or there's just a blocking out that I. I just don't remember a lot of details. I remember small details. I remember the guy. I couldn't remember his face. I can remember his body, his style, his type. He's almost my height, foreign.
Speaker 1:We went somewhere and you know, in that time frame my mother was able to get ahold of the police and they were able to find him. And as we were leaving the building and you might imagine, in New York, you know the 17, 20 story buildings and, depending on the building, they usually have only two exits. This particular one that I know of and of course I was five, so I don't know had one main exit. As he's walking out, it was almost a scenario of a movie. There was like five cop cars, I mean. They pulled in and like he's literally holding me as we're walking through this thing and like this whole convergence of what seemed like a police force at my age, came in and, uh, he didn't put up a fight. I mean it wasn't, you know, it wasn't like a gunfight or anything. He put me down and and and then the next thing I remember is being in the police station. So my mom was there and I was there, and at that particular point in time this was an older police station. Now, mind you, this was 40 years ago. The holding cells were inside the police station, so it wasn't like somewhere where it was like away, it was like literally inside where the offices were, and so I was sitting there and I remember that the officer who was talking to my mom I mean they didn't have anything at the office and he offered me like jelly toast or something like that, just so he'd call me, like I had no idea what was going on. And I just remember it was jelly toast and I was eating it and he was looking at me from the cell the entire time I'm eating this. He's like eyeballing me through the cell and eventually my mom noticed and she was, like you know, closed the door or whatever, fast forward.
Speaker 1:I couldn't tell you what happened after that, I couldn't tell you what was going on, but when you said that it made me think wow, you know, I'm glad that there are people out there who care, because there are scenarios in this life where somebody will try to take the most precious thing from you, regardless of your situation. You mentioned moments. It wasn't exactly that moment and it didn't mean as much to me then as it does now. But, holy cow, I had no idea that this guy had any intent at all and, as a matter of fact, I remember at that point in time in my life thinking before the events of even seeing police. I didn't think anything of it. I really don't remember who he was as in. I don't know his name, I don't know what role his life, in our lives that he played. I did not see him as a threat, but when the veil was pulled back, I completely lived a different life after that.
Speaker 2:So I would like to thank you, pete, obviously, for sharing that. I know, as men, it's hard for us to share things in our lives that you know, um, I don't know. It's just hard for us to to share things like you know, situations like that. So I appreciate you, you know, for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely it was.
Speaker 2:it was uh, it's, and I'm sorry that that happened to you Like that's, you know, horrible. It's something that should never happen, and but again, thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, I think all the you know God blessed the broken road. Right, we're here now.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, so everybody knows me, but maybe that's why that happened today. Maybe God needed you to talk about that today. So, and and and I'm glad you got that out Maybe that's the answer to Paul's paradigm question is maybe you don't see that, but that was a moment in your life that something changed in you, that you still remember that to this day and it makes you who you are.
Speaker 1:It definitely, you know, always in the back. You never think about it every day, but if there's a moment that happens, a moment, a situation, a comment, a concern, it becomes a forefront thought process in what you do, just like the experiences that we go through every day. You know picking up somebody that we shouldn't pick up, having the conversations with somebody we should have and didn't not saying goodbye when we should have, or not having that last conversation when we should have. I've had customers in the past that you know. I had a customer once in Huachula and her name was Pat Gibson. I used to call her Miss Pat because we're in the South, but Miss Pat, when she first saw me at a rent-a-center I had come from Sebring, this is a little bit bigger going to Huachula and, man, I was going to get my late fees. She was just one of them customers that she just did not like late fees and she was always coming in on Monday or Tuesday and no matter what you did, she was coming in on Monday or Tuesday. First thing she said to me is son, you got an attitude problem and we need to fix that. I was shocked Like look, lady, tell me that you're the one who's past due right Fast forward two years.
Speaker 1:She was actually like a second mom to me. She taught me some of the things that I should do and some of the things I should say, and she would call me hey, my car is something's going on in my car, I need help. She would call me and say, hey, my husband needs this, can you help him? It became a relationship. The worst thing that I can say that ever came out of it was I didn't know she was sick. I didn't know anything was going on.
Speaker 1:One day she was working and in my opinion because I don't remember how old she was she was probably mid-60s, later 60s. She worked as a waitress at one of our local restaurants and I used to eat there all the time. I hadn't seen her in about a week and I got a call from her husband, who I wasn't as close with. We were close, but it was just me and Miss Pat usually and he told me that his wife passed with an aneurysm and I did not get to see her before that and I could have. I could have, I had every ability, but I did not and I did not understand the situation that she was in and I didn't know where she was at physically or health-wise. She never put that in the forefront. We had a great relationship and I miss her. I wish I would have. Yeah, and here we are.
Speaker 2:We're all going to be in tears after Paul. You know he mentioned the.
Speaker 1:Chick-fil-A video.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you this and I want to back up his sentiment, which is thank you so much for trusting us and everyone else that might listen or see this enough to share that with us. You know I would say that there could have been a lot of different outcomes with that. I know. You know that. I know you've seen enough and you've read enough articles, or maybe seen different movies and exposés, in terms of what happens to a lot of kids that are abducted. You're very, very fortunate. You were obviously chosen to be rescued and that comes a great responsibility and what you could do for the rest of your life.
Speaker 3:I'm not telling you what you should do when you retire, but I think everyone should have a goal from what am I going to do, what purpose will I have once I retire from my working career and what am I going to pour myself into next? To me, that would almost be a sign that you should do something along the lines of protection of children or working with kids that have gone through some very difficult situations just like that. I don't know. I think, like Josh just said, sometimes you just got to read the tea leaves right and say that's going to be a greater purpose of where I would like to put some additional resources, assets or me towards. Again, I'm not. I'm not telling you what to do.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate the conversation because I've I've actually, you know, sometimes through conversation you find out more about yourself. Yeah, just like going through that 16 personality test and you find out something about yourself that you didn't know. You know, I never really thought about it until you said that and maybe that might be something in the future. Listen, everybody has their beliefs, but I definitely believe God puts people on your path for a reason Good, bad or indifferent. It's about how you interpret it or your paradigm. So you know, maybe that is a direction at reason good, bad or indifferent. It's about how you interpret it or your paradigm. And so you know, maybe that is a direction at some point in time.
Speaker 2:I'm a huge believer in self-awareness and you know all those little things like that. Again, paul uses the word paradigm, covey used the word paradigm. For me it's self-awareness, you know, it just sounds like that's a moment in your life. You've had a couple moments you just spoke about Ms Pat and that you became self-aware and you and you've and it's probably changed you and you may not see that, but those moments they build us into who we are and it's, it's cool to see who, what makes Pete Pete, and that that that's probably a great thing that builds. That is a reason that you have empathy because you've went through something like that. So it's created that into in you to be able to empathize. You know, empathize for others.
Speaker 1:We're open all kinds of doors. Now today, guys, we're open, we're we're opening things. I don't know. This is.
Speaker 2:I wanted to be. I wanted to be a psychologist in another life, just so everybody knows.
Speaker 1:It's good. It's good, it's real good.
Speaker 3:What do you think is your greatest strength? Lightening the mood a little bit. What do you think is your greatest strength?
Speaker 1:Oh, in terms of what you bring to the table in your career or with coworkers. When I first started in the DM role, I had no idea what my goal, what my purpose was, besides getting people to do what they wanted to do Right. So you need to get these other people to a certain point and although at that point in time and I always, we always used to equate it to being Michael Jordan in the team versus being the coach of the team, and that was a big transition when I transitioned over I had no idea. And now that I get to look back and I go okay, I've taken some leadership courses and I've done some. You know, I did a Dale Carnegie course and I've kind of read more and I've done some stuff.
Speaker 1:If I was to say that is there something that you do well, pete, that you think brings something to the table that you could probably put on, the first, one of the first marks of your resume is a culture leadership team. I believe in my team. I believe that they have to be believed in, I believe that they have to be nourished, I believe that they have to be trained and I believe that they have the mindset and I also believe that capable. People without the right mindset are still going to be susceptible to the losses that they had before until they understand. In my mind, I can think you're a superhero, but you need to believe that too, and the day that you believe as much as I believe in you, for some people who don't have that self-confidence, it will not work. So if I was to say, if I walked into with a group of people, what is the first thing that I would establish? Well, you're going to put out all the fires, but at the same time, we are doing this.
Speaker 1:It's funny you said, you know, talking about a truck, about three months ago we had a customer who was about to skip on us, not on purpose, but they kind of let us know like late in the game, hey, we're getting evicted, like this is a last minute thing. It's a Saturday night and uh, the door, the hammer's coming down and we need you to come get this Cause, otherwise we're going to have to leave it. We don't know what happens. You know, always know what happens when you leave something in a department complex. It's never there. When you get there and, uh, you know, my, my GM called me and he was like I don't know what to do because everybody's gone. Well, let me tell you what to do. You're going to get the truck and I'll meet you there and he's like you're going to be there, absolutely. It was a third floor pickup of a bedroom set, a living room set and I can't remember tables or something like that man. That was rough, because I haven't done that in a long time, those third floor deliveries, man oh.
Speaker 1:God, it was so hot. Anyways, to go back to it, I believe that that culture leans into a team and I would never ask you to do something. I'm not going to ask you on my way home, as I go see my family, that you need to be away from your family doing something very terribly difficult because you know what happens to the product and what happens to the store. Should you not get that?
Speaker 2:Yep, they Jeff it up happens to the store, should you not get?
Speaker 1:that, yep, they Jeff it up. You don't have the backup? Well, listen, then we will just figure it out. Of course, on my way there, I made some phone calls and I had some very convincing conversations with some other people and somebody showed up. So there was the three of us. Was it hard? Oh my God, it was hard. Was it difficult? Yeah, but I would like to think, not that I would just do it, but the fact that we're in this together and our culture needs to be all the way around. So if I was to say one thing a culture, team type of leadership where everybody's involved. Now, is there going to be a star player? Yeah, is there somebody going to be leading the shots? You bet, but believe, at the end of the day, if you're the one sweeping the floor and you need help if everybody's gone, we'll do that together too.
Speaker 2:So your biggest strength would be your optimism for other people.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's a better way to put it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, have you ever lost that for someone that you you know? Because, like you said, you're bringing a culture to the table and you have to believe in these employees and you mentioned you know, if you don't have, if you lose that in them, that that's a situation. Have you ever had that you know experience where you had to lose the belief you had in a manager, and how'd you handle it?
Speaker 1:I'm pretty optimistic In certain regards. It might be a downfall. I don't believe that I lost the optimism, but I do believe that there's a time to cut it short, right? So optimism will take you so far, team will take you so far, but I cannot do the position for you. If I find myself doing a position for you, then we have an issue. So are there going to be times where I need to show you Absolutely? Are there times where I need to take charge so that you can follow me and see how it's done Absolutely? But there is a time cutoff and I won't lose the optimism, but I will believe that we need to have a conversation and maybe you're just a better seat on a different bus. That I can do, and I wish you all the best.
Speaker 1:And I've had people that probably haven't done the best to me and I probably wished them happier thoughts than I should, but at the end of the day, I don't know what their resolve is. I don't always know what happens when they go home. I don't always know their needs and their situations when they go home and sometimes maybe people feel like they have to do something because they just don't have another way out and maybe they haven't had a conversation with somebody and said hey, man, this is not your only option, or there are other things and other ways you can get this done. I don't eat dinner with them, I don't wake up with them, so I don't know their motivations and their machinations, but I can tell you that I try not to lose that optimism, but I will separate myself from a situation if I feel like it's necessary, Okay.
Speaker 3:Well, and that goes back to paradigm. You know you have to get to the root causes. You have to seek first to understand, right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And if we go back to paradigm, one of the biggest lessons I would say to anyone that's trying to apply it to their businesses no matter what you think in your experiences taught you, you need to be sure, Um. So ask more questions, observe a little longer before you make that comment or you do. That thing can totally salt away a relationship that you never intended to have happen. They say the worst thing you could do to someone is accuse them of something they didn't do. That's way worse than being a sucker and letting somebody take advantage of you. They're both bad, Right, and uh, it kind of sounds like you know, you? I wrote down a culture of we. You know you're not going to ask somebody to do something you wouldn't do. You're willing to jump in and do it, but you don't want to do people's jobs for them, Right, you know?
Speaker 3:Johnny Rockefeller says that everyone acts in their own, in their own self-interest. First, that might be the reason you had to get on another coworker to get them out there, you know, because their self-interest. Where they just didn't want to do it, they didn't see why. When people evolve from their own self-interest usually when somebody nurtures an individual and they understand that, you also believe in their self-interest and you're going to help them meet their goals and you're going to be there for them, Then they evolve past their self-interest to the interests of the team. Um, and the interests of the team.
Speaker 3:When you have those teams we can see it in some stores that we have, and then we totally see it wrong in other stores we have the only real solution is you either have to inspire or change the leader in the store that doesn't have it to be that, or you have to change the leader, and if you're the problem, then you either need to fix it in yourself or step aside for someone to take your seat right, Because we all could, Peter principal, get to a position that's that's, that's beyond our capabilities, Right. So I thought that was kind of interesting that you brought that up. So I think I know the answer to the next question, cause I think you just answered it with your greatest strength. Tell me what you feel is something you'd like to change about yourself, or maybe your biggest I hate saying weakness, but opportunity.
Speaker 1:I love the word opportunity. You know kind of change it up for a second Every time we're in an interview. I like to use the word opportunity, because sometimes you use the word weakness and kind of like man, I don't want to tell you what I do wrong man, this is an interview. That's right. Wow, what is something that I think could probably be one of the number one checkpoints that I could do better?
Speaker 3:Well, the personality tests that you took will tell you that your greatest strengths. When you read your biggest strengths four or five of them then you look at your weaknesses. Isn't that weird? They're my strengths again, but worded differently. You did mention a minute ago and I'm not trying to lead you that this is the answer that sometimes maybe you believe too much in people. So it's your greatest strength, but can you elaborate? I'm not trying to put the answer in your mouth, it's your double-edged sword.
Speaker 1:It can be Always. Seeing the best in people sometimes will give you the appearance you want to believe the betterment right. You want to believe that every decision made that you make is for a great reason. So you would like to believe that everybody else is doing the same thing, and the reality in life is that's not always the case. Am I trying to blame everybody? No, and that might be it right there.
Speaker 1:I am quick to to to sit down and make it a weak culture, but some people aren't on that level. Some people don't want that, and it's an upfront thing. Yeah, it can be a double-edged sword. You know, really kind of tackling some situations and learning from it up front and going this is a. This is part of the tree that I need to prune pretty quick and and I have I have had a tendency of holding onto people and really trying to push them beyond their, their scope of their own abilities.
Speaker 1:You know, and like I know, you can do better. I know you can do this, but, man, I can't want this more than you do and I think sometimes I don't recognize that fast enough upfront, that I'm believing in you and I'm looking at what you have to offer and I'm seeing that these, there are sparks, there's these ambers, but, man, you just you're not setting that fire on it. I can't figure out why, and it should have been. I've given you more than enough opportunity to be the person that I need you to be to, where I know you can get, and now we've gone beyond that, and so that relationship needs to change, and that is definitely a part that I could probably be better at, because I am that guy.
Speaker 3:You just spoke to my gardening heart. It's not like gardening, that's brutal. No, you just said sometimes you have to trim to, and what I interpret as you have to trim sometimes to sponsor new growth and anyone that's into gardening of any sort, whether it's vegetables or it could be flowers or it could be you have to always. If you're growing roses, for example, you have to deadhead the dead roses and that's the only way that sponsors new growth. I like to believe it or not, in this story for another time. We we like to believe it or not in this story for another time we like to.
Speaker 3:We farm butterflies, my wife and I. So we've taken this great interest in butterflies and the way you have to do it. They need milkweed to eat when they're in the. You know the caterpillar stage and what you do with milkweed. The best way to get it to grow is you cut it down to almost nothing and it always regrows within weeks back to this big beautiful bush again, and then, if you don't have anything to eat it or to remove the dead limbs, it dies again and you have to cut it down, oh wow. But you have to do the same thing if you're growing kale or lettuce you harvest. Harvesting and taking out is some of the best way to sponsor new growth, because if you harvest properly, you cut it correctly or you pull from it correctly without killing it, new growth always will happen and the new growth is always more robust and bigger and tastier than the first harvest. Every subsequent harvest is better.
Speaker 1:You're giving your plants experience. Yeah, how do I make it better?
Speaker 3:I love gardening man, and what you just talked about was a big part of what you need to do. So you do have to trim the dead branches, you have to trim the dead leaves, and if there's a coworker that's not bought into your team environment or what you consider to be a healthy environment, even they have to go. They have to go. You know, I thought about this and a lot of coworkers, somebody um, we had a conversation about labor day, right. So I was talking to a friend about labor day and uh, and, and I said you know, the people that actually go to work, those of us that go to work or did go to work and fueled and grew something beautiful, are the true heroes of our country. I don't care what political party you're with. You're a hero if you go to work every day and you enrich somebody's life, provide for yourself and your family, and then, of course, you yourself and your family, and then, of course, you're paying your taxes right, and different people get to varying levels of the career, but the way to truly be free in life is to provide for yourself and your family and then, hopefully, someday you can achieve financial independence.
Speaker 3:Labor Day doesn't get its due and we don't spend enough time talking about it, but it's truly about the American coworker. It's about the American worker, and we are given a day off every year to celebrate ourselves, and we know who we are, and a lot of people listen to this. They know. I just want them to know they're heroes. I don't care what stage of their career they're in. They could be at the top, the president of their company or chairman of their company, or they could be a new customer account representative, getting in the truck for the first time and learning what it is that we do. You guys are heroes. You know the men and women that do that. You provide for your families in a very big way, trust me. Your kids may not tell you, but they truly, truly respect and they thank you for nothing else. Let me thank you for all of them, because you truly are a hero. He's so insightful.
Speaker 2:He is, isn't he?
Speaker 1:We kind of see the different side of Paul right now.
Speaker 2:I know I'm trying to be the hype man, but I can't hype him up.
Speaker 1:He's always on the serious note. He's on that point. I'm not always serious. Josh, I believe in you, you can do it.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:Uncle Sam's sitting right here, you know, there you go baby, you need to pat him on the back.
Speaker 1:I'm running for president, all right, all right.
Speaker 3:You got my vote, you got my vote when did you realize that you were good at business and you liked money.
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't know about good at business. I know I liked money early on, as soon as I started working for RTO. Actually, I realized that when I saw the change in incomes. It was great.
Speaker 3:What about you? I'm curious, I like asking that question to people. I know exactly when.
Speaker 2:I first started. Are you asking me? Yeah, you're not going to like my answer.
Speaker 1:Oh, I may or may not, you are not going to like my answer.
Speaker 2:So I am not a money-motivated person. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't. And I don't want to get on me because this is a podcast about Pete, but I've had nothing and slept on doorsteps and I've lived in big houses. It just doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, josh, that might be a superpower though.
Speaker 2:I don't, I don't look at it that way.
Speaker 1:You know you need you need to take that test again.
Speaker 3:But, no no, it makes sense because you're a protagonist, which is the common I think I text you back is the common personality type of most, most multi-unit leaders. Is that one, that personality type that you have, and it's one that's strongly people orientated, over things orientated. So it's not too surprising to hear me hear that answer. I know you maybe not as and I'd like to get to know you a lot better.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying to make this again.
Speaker 3:You are. You have one of the most compelling stories I've ever heard, and you know being to go out with you at different times, spend a little time with you. I'm way better, by the way, in these environments one-on-one. I don't not that I don't like conferences, but I don't see how you can have a meaningful conversation screaming over one during a rock concert. The music is so loud, people are just yelling everywhere and I feel like it's like you could build acquaintances that way. I don't know if you could really build relationships, but, but your story is so good.
Speaker 3:I just want to tell you something that I have so much respect for you and someday I would like you to meet my kids and I want them to hear your story from you and not from me. I've talked to my children about you and I started telling them the story. I said you know what? Someday I want you to meet Josh Seizicki and I want you to hear his story. I think you're, I think you're an American dream man. I really do Appreciate that and I think you are as close to, as a purpose driven person that I know. So it does not surprise me whatsoever about your answer, but I just wanted you to hear that from me, because I think this sometimes I'll be in a long car ride or a plane ride.
Speaker 3:Now I think about you and then I don't always send the message, and I know a couple of times I've texted you about things, like when I listened to your podcast with Pete but I just wanted you to hear directly from from me what I really think about you. I think you're an admirable person, somebody that should be followed. So, anyway, when, well for me, I realized I loved money Number one, I also grew up without it, so when you don't have it, it was kind of like I didn't want to be in the same position that I was in as a child. I didn't want my kids to have that, so it was very motivating for me. So for me, though, it was trading baseball cards at a very young age.
Speaker 3:I was always a hustler. I used to sell blow pops at school. I was that kid that would sell blow pops at school. I did pencil fighting for money. I mean you name it.
Speaker 1:Oh God, that's a memory. I was terrible at that.
Speaker 3:You know I was the one that was. If money was involved, I was very motivated to be good at it. But I built up a lot of money with baseball cards. I had every Beckett magazine to look at the values of them and that's when I realized I knew I wanted to go into business. But do you still have them? That's the question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do. When I was younger, I had baseball cards. Because I don't know how old you are, I'm assuming we'll just say mid forties. Yeah, I was 77 for me, so you know 77 here. All right, so yeah, and then 78, 78, but um so when I was a kid I had man boxes. I mean, that's what we did. You collected baseball cards and, uh, our house burnt down, lost every single one of them.
Speaker 1:That's why I asked you if you still have yours. So I have some of them. Uh, some of them. That's rough Every one of them.
Speaker 2:That's rough, so that's why I asked you if you still have yours.
Speaker 3:I have some of them. Some of them were stolen. My house got broken into and somebody stole. I mean they even stole some of my dad's Marine Corps stuff, which is just brutal, like why would you take something?
Speaker 1:What purpose would you do that? I don't know.
Speaker 3:I don't know what they thought, but they, they took the money, stereo equipment, they took my baseball cards. I still had some Um, but yeah, that that was that was kind of when I knew. But yeah, I mean, a lot of times there's something in your childhood that you remember and you're like shoot, I was. I was always doing this back then. I've always been kind of hustling or trying to outwork everyone. Uh, even with my baseball card collection and Beckett.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny. You guys say that mine was basketball cards and comic books. Yeah, okay, here we go. I was garbage kids and making baseball cards.
Speaker 3:When did this start? Well, I started young.
Speaker 1:So I mean I was reading like well, marvel started with the x-men, uh, and then, and then you know x factor and and everything that came along with that early. Um, how old were you?
Speaker 3:I was probably along with that early um how old were you? I was probably eight, but you haven't thought about it till now, right? No, not talking about it now, but your business sense may have come from that it might have.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was. I was always trying to get into. Like you know, it started out with the 25 cent comics that weren't that expensive, right, because that's what I could afford at that time. And then how do you build up? And why is this one more? And then they would send them in to get looked at and somebody would grade them somewhere and say this is a worthy comic book of this much and a 9.5 and a 9.9. And oh, it's got a little corner, it's marked an eight.
Speaker 2:Oh, you did it, that's so funny that you brought that up because I didn't even. You just said, pete, you did it. That's so funny that you brought that up because I didn't even. You just said Pete. That's where you might've got your business sense from Cause you're right, because back in the day with our baseball cards, we had the price guides and we're looking them up.
Speaker 3:How much is that worth? What can I?
Speaker 2:what can I trade that for? What can I sell that for?
Speaker 1:So hey, same thing with your comic books.
Speaker 2:So you too?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we forgot about the price guides and all that. It was something I never thought of until you guys mentioned that. Yeah because, I would go for first of. So it wasn't just the number ones, but it was also when did this first character come out? When did Hulk first come out? When did Superman first come out? When was this character introduced? And then that comic book would be like $40. And you're like $40?.
Speaker 3:Like Hulk. How did I? Was asked when I was a junior in college at USF here in Tampa and I tried to get an internship with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter at the time and they interviewed me and one of the questions they asked was the question I just asked you both, which was when did you know you liked money and when you wanted to go into business? And my answer was when I had my first baseball card collection. They told me and this was Dan Carnival and Bruce Baird. Bruce Baird is still one of the most successful financial advisors in Sarasota, florida. He has a building named after him, or at least a floor of a building named after him in downtown Sarasota. So you know this guy is a big deal. They both told me that the answer to that question was the reason that they hired me for the internship. They said they had never thought about it. It also solicited them and then made them think back like yeah, like I never.
Speaker 1:I would have never really thought about it, because when you said baseball cards, I was thinking NBA basketball cards. I was like I never liked those.
Speaker 2:You were trading your you know your basketball cards. You're trying to trade with your friends to get the ones you want and I'm going to give you these three for that one.
Speaker 1:I would go to the comic book store and I was that kid that would be there for like five hours and spend like 25 cents. You know what I mean. But I would just go through and just you know, page after page and so.
Speaker 3:So think of it. Now I have a nephew that's into vintage records. He goes and he looks in old record stores. Even when we went to London together cause a big, uh, epl fan, so I went to you know Manchester city game and he went. He went with me and my boys and he wanted to hit every record store when we were in Manchester and when we went to London cause he was looking for certain records that he knew were of value. I don't know anything about him but he did. You know other people. It's a sneakers, their sneaker heads, you've. You've got a whole generation.
Speaker 3:Some people say I don't get that. You know some people. It's fashion and clothing or belts or designer stuff. It's like, hey, when you understand the value of something and it's just a hobby you have, that hobby is probably paved the way for you to get into your business. It taught you a lot and you self-taught yourself a lot. You had the guides or you go on the websites and you understand the value.
Speaker 3:You make trading wins. I'm trading you with that, but I know I'm taking this guy the cleaners. I'll get a card that's twice as valuable as one, and then sometimes it's just out of scarcity I might let you take advantage of me in a trade. Hey, this is part of what happens too when you buy, sell stores right, when you talk about it. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but sometimes the loss is because you don't have what they have.
Speaker 3:You need that location right. You need to tie up a loose end in between where you have two stores that are too far apart. So it's more valuable to you. You're willing to overpay for it. Other times you get the good end of the deal. The best trade partners are the one where you win sometimes and you let them win Sometimes. Those are also the best relationships you'll have in your life. When one party always has to win and this goes back to relationships with coworkers and customers you got to know when to let the other team win and you have to know when you have to win. You got to know when to let the other team win and you have to know when you have to win.
Speaker 1:You got to know when to hold them. You got to know when to fold them.
Speaker 2:That's so fun, you know. Speaking of the records, though, put your, put your. You said it was your brother.
Speaker 3:My nephew, your nephew, you know.
Speaker 2:I've got some old Neil Diamond records and a Kenny Rogers one, if you know he's interested.
Speaker 1:What's crazy is that before even New Country existed, I actually used to listen to Kenny Rogers. Yeah, it's crazy how the world works. And you know, what's funny is we have this conversation and we're talking about things and he's kind of like eliciting these memories and these responses and then he has introverted Would have never in my life seen that as a Paul Metivier trait, I would have never seen that that's the logistician versus the executive and this is my personality type.
Speaker 3:So the reason for that is because the test I shared with you all, the survey I did. It was 51% introverted, 49% extroverted. Getting back to that real quick. Your personality does not change but there are going to be elements or traits that you score closer to 50. And in those situations, the ones where you're closer to 50, you could, depending on the day of the week or a major event happened to you in your life birth of a child, lost your job, you know, something like that could occur. That could cause that personality trait to go a little bit over the other side.
Speaker 3:Now, if you're firmly in a 60-40 situation, or even 58-42, you are that trait. You can only go so far to the left or even to the right of that particular personality. But for me the introverted and extroverted thing comes from. So, for example, today I've got a series of meetings. I've got this one, I've got another one after lunch and then I meet with Sharin this afternoon between three and five. When I get home tonight I'm going to be very introverted.
Speaker 3:I would have talked so much that I'm just drained and I need to recharge my battery. Other times when, for example, if I office from home, I need to be extroverted. I can't wait to get out and do this or go visit stores because I need. I have one of those split introvert, extrovert personalities where I need to feed the part of it that's, it's craving in it. When I have a craving I need to fill it, otherwise it become unhappy, you know, but you know so it's. It's unique and I think a lot of people you had this exact same thing introverted, extrovert. If I'm not mistaken, it was 51 and 49.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly so there are going to be times you need your alone time, you need to recharge your battery, you need to put into you or just not talk, you know, and that's totally cool.
Speaker 1:Maybe I don't spend enough time with Paul, cause I could see that with you. I can see that. I've seen you in a group of a room full of people and you're just good, just like I'm here. And then I've seen you in interact with a lot of people at the same time, where even we're all talking business and we're all talking shop talk and you know you're a big part of that conversation. I seen that with you. I haven't seen that and I would have not guessed it.
Speaker 1:But, then, as I was reading over your you know your traits is, you know, always learn something. I love learning new things. I love, I just love it. It makes my day to find out about people or things or exciting.
Speaker 2:Well, again it goes back to and you know what you? You brought it up and again it brought that memory back of the Chick-fil-A video. I mean that Chick-fil-A video. I don't care who you are If you've never seen it. You need to watch it because it does. Let you know that just because I'm looking at you, I really don't, you don't, I don't know. You Do you understand? And that's why you said, like I've never seen that in Paul. That's because, looking at Paul, you see the part of Paul that Paul wants you to see. You don't see the part that Paul doesn't want you to see You've got a good book cover.
Speaker 1:Paul, You've got a good book cover. It's the story that's different. Your book cover is great.
Speaker 3:And it's not an act. You know, and Trin knows this, he and I have his and that's helped our relationship tremendously over the years. But when somebody really does truly know you, they also know, you know kind of where, where you're at on that on that given day. But it's, it's not an act necessarily. There are times where I'm tremendously extroverted my wife would tell you the exact same thing where I'm excited.
Speaker 3:Or we will go to a dinner party and have no problem being the actor in a dinner party role, where everyone has their different roles that they have to play in this net, and I can pull that off. Matter of fact, I'm proud to say at one of those dinner parties I went to, I got picked as the actor of the night, you know. But and then there's other times where I'm totally good Just being in the side of the room, finding another person. That's a little bit more chill, a little bit more quiet, and I'll just engage with that person one-on-one and we we watch as everyone else are the lead actors and I'm totally, I'm totally comfortable doing that as well. I guess it just is, the older I've got, the more experience I've gotten, I'm more comfortable and be in both of those things when I need to be them, you know. So I think that's that's more the situation.
Speaker 2:Agreed. I do have a question, though, for Pete. I want to bring us back, okay, to comic books and basketball cards. All right, so you said some of the first comics you read were X-Men.
Speaker 1:X-Men comics.
Speaker 2:So who and this is a two-part question, okay. So who is your favorite X-Men, and do those comic books have anything to do with why you enjoy dressing up as superheroes now?
Speaker 1:So okay, so it's a two-part thing, right? So when I first started, I started off with Marvel. I was reading all Marvel comic books. Wolverine was my favorite and I couldn't tell you why at the time. I think I know more now as I got into DC. It was always Batman, and so if anybody knows that loves comic books, in DC you either a Batman or you're Superman. Okay, I, I won't get into the reasons why I'm not you have to tell us why Batman, though?
Speaker 2:because Batman has no superpowers, he's just rich.
Speaker 1:And that's why.
Speaker 2:I think that's that is true. He has a lot of you know what Good answer.
Speaker 1:That's the reason why I, you know, because everybody, you know, we always put it together and it's like no prep time. Superman's going to kill him, period. Okay. Is he going to fight him? Sure, that's like me standing in front of a rhino putting my head down and going we're going to knock heads. You know the answer to that question there's, no, there's nobody's going to go. I think that guy's going to knock that rhino out. You know, it's more like I know the outcome of this and I'm brave enough and courageous enough to stand here with people who have powers that are more and beyond what I can possibly think of every day, day to day. Does the guy have more courage that will never see a cut or a bullet wound or a bruise going into a fire, or a guy who just well prepared?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I guess when you think of a hero, he's more of a hero.
Speaker 1:He would be the epitome of what a hero really is when you talk about a lot of the heroes that come out. The ones that stand out to me are always the guys that he's not a hero because he has a superpower. He's not a hero because he can hear things or he can do things or he can fly. He's a hero because he does the best that he can with what he has. He does something. He does something.
Speaker 3:And don't forget also the self-confidence to stand amongst those exceptional people that are, you know, despite the fact that he doesn't possess all those skills, but he knows he belongs. You know, there's something of that in life as well. I'm more of a Batman over now that you're just saying it over Superman, for exactly those reasons he's he's human Right and he's introverted.
Speaker 1:The biggest thing about Batman is this and they always say that this is something that's come out for years and years and years and then it's not that Bruce Wayne is playing Batman, it's that most of the time, it's Batman having to portray Bruce Wayne. He's not a millionaire or billionaire or whatever. He just has to play one to get back to his night job. And so I believe that who we really are on the surface, who we really are underneath, we might have to play tones to something else because we have to be, we have to be correct in our lives, right, but who we are underneath is always going to come out. And so I feel like maybe I am a little bit too nice in some situations, that I could probably prune the tree a little bit sooner, because, inadvertently, that's who I feel.
Speaker 1:I feel like I can save you. I want to save you, I want to bring you, I want to be able to say that you did not succeed not because of me, because if I had a role to play in that, I want you to know I will do everything in my power to train you, to show you, to give you the tools and the yellow brick road to get to where you want to go. If you choose not to go that way, well, that's your business. Yeah, but it won't be because I didn't try, and maybe that's why I feel the way I do about Batman and Superman.
Speaker 2:Hey, you know, and now that we've talked about it and you guys obviously have made me think of it in a different light not that I think I'll change, I still think Superman's the best, but Batman is you know, he definitely he embodies, you know, our first responders, our military, because those are the Batmans of our world. You know so, but now, that being said, you still have to answer that second part of the question.
Speaker 1:So what I, what I will say, is when we first got into making commercials and we first got into doing videos and I was I'm going to say this again, I had said it before, but I'll say this again so it was me, danny and Amberlee and we're sitting there and, of course, amberlee's got this mind of making these things and she has this vision. I'm nowhere on this spectrum. And so Danny and I are the DMs at the time and we're sitting in front of her and she's like hey, we need to do this. And I couldn't tell you the specifics and idea. It was a commercial or something. And I was like no, no, I would seriously upfront. No, danny was sitting there and he's like I kind of like that idea, I'll do it wait a minute I stopped.
Speaker 1:I dude no, you're not. He's like no, I'll do it, I'll do it. And I'm like no, my seven against your seven. No, I don't think so, Count me in.
Speaker 1:And it was crazy how that happened because, as that manifested, as it went along, he never took the secondary role. I did, and so part of that role. And we, Amber Lee and I we say it to each other all the time, If we ever see us in a convention, you ever see us doing something, it's whatever it takes. And my thought process was I'm not going to get beat, he's not going to beat me. And so, even though the roles weren't competing, it was like, well, who's going to play this character? Who's going to do that? Who's going to end up in the lake, Whatever it takes, but I will not be the guy left behind in history going. That was you on American Idol first season, and you decided to fall off. And then, 20 seasons later, you know Ryan Seacrest is the man to beat, right? So I was like no, I'm going to do it. And then somehow it ended up me doing more of the crazier roles. So now, when you say that I'll put on spandex, I'll wear it, because to me it's a means to to an end. I want to get my my message out there and it kind of goes back to the first thing we said I will never tell you to do something that I'm not willing to do myself, and I always.
Speaker 1:Will Smith had this thing. He was talking for a while, there was. I'd listen to Will Smith all the time until he slapped somebody, but anyways. So I was listening to Will Smith and one of the things that he was saying was is that your biggest accomplishment will be on the other side of your biggest fear? And he mentioned one time that he was going to go skydiving and he was absolutely terrified of it, but he didn't want the experience to beat him. He wasn't going to get on the plane and go, I'm not going. He said I'm getting on the plane and somehow somebody's going to push me off. We're going to do this. And he got to the other side of it and he said it was one of the most exhilarating experiences he had. Because when you have everything, what's the next thing? You do Something that you can't control. Right, and there's that element of you have your shoot not open and then that would be pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:But you couldn't control it, you can't buy your way out of it, you can't act your way out of it, you can't be a good politician. It's just life. And so, on the other side of that fear, he saw accomplishment. And the other side of that fear, I told myself, if I'm afraid of it, I'm going to jump into it as far as I could go. That is the beginning of how all this happened.
Speaker 2:I was going to say that next is that I think that kind of opened that changed you. It did or opened your, or changed your paradigm, or whatever it was that that made you become more Now you're, now, you have no issue speaking at our shows and you, you're the superhero persona you know, just like that video I showed you when we were at the show, I'm like look at Pete man, he's running through the parking lot. You're not even dressed up at that point, but it's become who you are now, and so it definitely has opened you up to bigger and better, pete.
Speaker 1:So you know, well, I've also learned that I want to learn and I had let fear for a little while drive me. You know, I'm afraid of that. I'm afraid of that and I've always been a self-taught person. I hate to say that I've always, out of my life and all the experiences that I have, I believe that I learn better on my own. Show me and then let me do it. I'm not saying don't coach me. I'm not saying don't come back and say, hey, this isn't right. But like I've always been one of those people that I know for sure, if you tell me to do it, great, let me do it, let me fail. I'm not saying that you know you can't guide me. Guide me and then, when I get it right, coach me and say, hey, that was a good job, do it again.
Speaker 1:I, I got to fail to get better and I felt at that point in time I had hit something and then I slowed down and I don't like that thought. I don't want to stay in the mud. I don't want to be complacent, I don't want the future to just pass me by. I'm going to have to hold on to this train and I can either run along and jump on or I can let it hit me, but one of the two things that I can do is either get on board or not get on board, and it was like I will not let it defeat me being afraid of it now, and I've used the phrase when we first started doing the podcast. But you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and although it's still uncomfortable, I've gotten better at being able to tackle things that I haven't been able to or been afraid to earlier on in my life.
Speaker 3:Are you more comfortable with this podcast now of being on the other side, or have you gotten to a point now you feel pretty comfortable?
Speaker 2:at this point you know a little bit. A little bit, I mean, because now the real question is now going to get started.
Speaker 1:There's some self-retrospect, going on here and like finding out. Like you know, I like doing these. I went when, when paul first mentioned it I I'm a yes guy I was like yeah, and then I went back and I was like whoa, that would be crazy. And then he said it again. I was like yes, and then the thought like last week, I was like what am I gonna say?
Speaker 3:you know, I what?
Speaker 1:what do I say? And now, for the first time, when I have people that come on right, they're like I don't know what I want to say. I'm like what?
Speaker 3:are you talking?
Speaker 1:about Like you've got a lot to say, you've got so much history and so much knowledge and, trust me, I'm not going to softball it. But at the same time, I'm not going to ask you about politics. I'm asking you about what you know rent to own. You've done this for years and you have business. I'm like, yeah, just be on the other end of the phone, this is just a conversation that somebody else might hear. That's all it is.
Speaker 2:And so now, I want to say it's a fear, but it's something I've been able to tackle on this side, so it's different. That's awesome. I just want to say so. For me, you know, I feel lucky enough to have met you and Paul, because, you know, I believe I really met you when I first went to DC, right. I believe I really met you when I first went to DC, right. That's when I really first kind of met Paul and sitting in with them and listening to them talk, help me start talking which is how you started learning about me, because I was the guy, that was man.
Speaker 2:I didn't talk to nobody. I sat in my own little bubble and then then seeing Pete start opening up and doing the things that you've done and we've talked about it in the past, You're like oh, come on, Josh, when are you going to talk? Blah, blah, blah. And because I've met you, you've had that impact on me to help me, man, I'd have never sat in this podcast. Nah, you guys go ahead and do it. But because I've met you two and I appreciate that and others, but I wanted to say that it's been a great experience and blessing in my life to have met you guys and to watch you come out of your fear helps me go well.
Speaker 2:Hey, pete came out of his fear. I can do that. I can get on that plane. You know how.
Speaker 1:I like riding on planes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know so you know Well you know, what's funny is that in one of the courses that I took and you know a lot of people don't always say I learned that from that course. You know I learned it and I applied it they were like just take a snapshot of your life, take yourself out of it. Who else do you see? That's who you are, in a different face, in a different time, in a different space. Who you surround yourself with is what you are going to reiterate. It's going to be your echo chamber. How is that going to look to you if you take yourself out of that picture? I was shocked and I said you know what? There's nothing wrong with the people that were in the picture, but I realized that those people were not going to push me to go anywhere else.
Speaker 1:Everybody that I had been with or I had associated with was complacent with where they had been. This is where I am. I'm a soccer dad, I'm a soccer mom, I don't have a business, but I'm okay, working a nine to five, I'm good, I live a good life. And so, slowly but surely, I started adding different people into that, just changing them out and I'm not saying that I like ex-nate anybody and they're excommunicado but I changed how I reference them to the new people or to people that I have known that maybe I did put in that circle and I added them to my experience finding hey, you know what, you have done this, how do you do this? And so my picture changed, my Polaroid changed and when I did that, my life changed, changed, and when I did that, my life changed.
Speaker 1:My life really changed to people who were looking for more, willing to do more. They were happy with where they were. They weren't complacent with where they were. I want more out of this. Where are you going to be? And something Paul says is hey, after this is all over, what are you going to do? I had never asked myself that and now that you've mentioned that, now, in that little nugget, that seed is going to grow and for the next 10 years, I'm going to be referring to a podcast that I did 10 years prior about where am I going to go at 65? Because I'm not the guy to sit there at 65 on my porch and just.
Speaker 3:You can't go back to being a bank teller. I can't win, right, I can't do it.
Speaker 1:So it's yeah, we'll all be gardening at Paul's house.
Speaker 2:This is how he's going to be inside Cause he doesn't want to be near us.
Speaker 3:Four out of seven days, I'm fine.
Speaker 1:So three days alone. He's like, yeah, dude, you're, yeah, you're good. But I mean, you know, I love having these situations where you get challenged, so to speak. I'm challenging you to think of this, I'm challenging you to be something out of your comfort zone and I, I feel like the crab or the lobster. I won't grow until I shed that skin. And that thought of when I'm whoever I'm looking at in the mirror is now that 46 year old guy. It's not the 20 year old guy trapped in that body who used to be able to do everything that he thought he could do, because when I wake up in the morning, my back tells me otherwise. I've got to learn who I am today. I've got to enjoy who I am today. I've got to remember that I'm also a product of a lot of decisions and experiences and gross that that young guy in the mirror did not get to have. And so it creates scars and wrinkles and I talk differently than I used to.
Speaker 3:Well, you are what you eat and that goes for not just your diet, it goes for or or exercise, it goes for the media. You put in your head what you decide to read, what you decide to look at before you go to bed at night or first thing in the morning. But you just quoted Brian Tracy is another social scientist, kind of like a Stephen Covey type is that piece, but I believe he's still alive and he talked about if you want to be successful, you have to be around successful people, he said. And keep in mind, think about every loser. You know who do? They hang out with other losers and if you start hanging out with losers, you'll start to dress like those losers. You'll develop the behaviors of those losers.
Speaker 3:And then somebody asked him a question and I remember where this was and they said well then, how do you start associating with, with successful people? He said well, that's, that's a process. The first thing you start doing is changing your own personal behaviors to what successful people do. Then, over time, successful people start noticing and recognizing other people that are driven and motivated like them. They'll find you and then you'll find them and before you know it, you have this cohort of individuals that are highly successful, that you now become your new friends. Successful that you now become your new friends. And he said you can't be afraid to fire the old friends, the ones that are holding you back. They're either going to have to join you on this journey or they're going to have to be left behind. I want to give you some advice. Do you mind if I give you some advice?
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I was very fortunate to have a fantastic father. My father was flawed. The best thing that my father did to me was he shared all of his success stories, but he also shared every mistake he ever made and he was brutally honest, and I do the same for my kids right now. But I want to everything I heard about you. When the question was kind of asked what is your biggest strength? I hear servant leader. You know, and I know that's become a phrase and I don't like phrases that get coined and people loosely just toss them around.
Speaker 3:But you're willing to do what you ask other people to do. You're willing to jump in. You have high belief system in the individuals that work for you or around you. You see the good more than you see the bad. You're not as skeptical. You know, when you go into those relationships.
Speaker 3:But I'll tell you something my father told me, which was um, you can't fix them all, cause I was the exact same way for the longest. I thought I could fix everyone. I thought it was motivating enough that I can get through to every single person. I used to talk to my dad every night. I would drive home at the end of the night and we would go through these sorts of things. I think it's the thing I miss most, honestly, about my relationship with him.
Speaker 3:But, um, but, the thought process of being able to repair, because you can repair. You can't fix, but repair and make these slight nudges in the right direction for individuals to help them become successful. That is admirable of yourself, pete. Anyone listening to this that is the exact same mindset. You should give everything of yourself to train and coach and guide and motivate individuals around you, but not all are going to take it Right.
Speaker 3:So my thing is the worst thing you can do and I've I've had to terminate people because they've made this mistake. They become the martyr. They don't take out the bad people, so then they become the martyr and they think that all these bad people are going to look up to him in admiration long after they're gone. He took a bullet for me. He wouldn't fire me or do what nasty Paul wanted him to do. So now, look, now they just look at it as I get a couple more paychecks until somebody does come in and fire me, and I don't know why that person just fired themselves, but they look at you as a sucker. So there is a fine line to play between being that servant leader but don't be the martyr. That's the only advice I give you, and I feel like you're you've gotten there or you're you're getting there.
Speaker 1:Well, I've had to pay a couple of dues for that, no doubt.
Speaker 3:But but it just if you you start finding that you suddenly could be the one falling on the sword. You better make a decision, cause keep in mind what I said early on, and JD Rockefeller said this a long time ago people need to act. They need to protect your family. That's first.
Speaker 1:For me to. I do not have that down. I am learning. I'm still learning that that's a process I'm still going through. So very recently we had to let go of somebody in those situations and I probably did hold on, probably two weeks too long, but I have to say that every day is a new learning day. You just got to take every experience and what, what can I pull out of this experience and what can I do? Experiences is about taking what you've learned in the past and applying it to what you have in your future, and so that was a learning curve.
Speaker 3:And think about what I said earlier, which was the worst thing you could do is accuse somebody of something that they didn't do Right. So hanging onto somebody a little bit longer Pete is they didn't do Right. So hanging on to somebody a little bit longer Pete is is a better process than cutting somebody too quick. If you cut somebody too soon before you've given everything of yourself and there was, and put it this way, if you've ever gotten rid of somebody and someone else hired them and that person was great under that person, you know you move too quick and we've all done that too Right. But that's kind of the barometer of how you could really truly measure. Measure that I think you're erring on the side of kind of what you need to be.
Speaker 1:But you know, I would just, I would just say that Well, I mean I, you know what in the past and I will say this because I feel like it's happened to me in the past I've had I don't know if I was the best employee, I don't know if I exhumed the best, you know, I don't know if I was the best choice.
Speaker 1:In my own opinion. If I look back at myself and like I was rambunctious and I did some things when I was younger and somebody saw something in me and and because they saw something in me, they didn't allow me to fail, they gave me a place to go, they gave me direction, they gave me this you are just dude, left field man, just bring it in over here. And because of that I'd like to say okay, I'm here where I am now. And I am here where I am now because somebody reeled me in and I feel like I have to do that before I now. Whether it's the right call or not I mean, it's a case by case but I feel like I got to do that. I got to give you the right tools and if you don't want to build that house, that's up to you, but I feel like I've got to do that.
Speaker 2:First because you know diamonds in the rough are in the rough for a reason. Yeah, you know, truly and honestly. You know, from from my heart to yours and I'm sure probably from Paul, you've done some really great things and you inspire quite a few people and you need to understand that. So you know, keep going. You know you inspire me and I appreciate it. So, but I do need to know, and I'm pretty sure Paul wants to know as well, at the end of the day, to really get to know who Pete is. We need to know are you credit or sales? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Wow, I haven't. I got off of that question because there was so many God, it caused so much controversy. Okay, to be completely and fully open. To be completely and fully open when this podcast first started, it started with a dichotomy Everything that that my partner was, I felt like it was in the opposite end, and one of the things that we firmly agreed upon was that I was a sales guy. That's, that's something that we like. I would be the guy willing to like just whatever it took the above and beyond to make sure that you know that you were loved here and we take care of you. Do I have collection tendencies? Sure, over the years, though, I started as a collections guy. Like that was, that was my passion. Like I was the collections guy.
Speaker 1:When I got into sales, it was hard. It was hard because, with collections, I had a list of people that, if they didn't answer the phone, I didn't feel bad. Going after Cause, like I was like, okay, this is, there's a reason, you know, in sales, I find it so. It was. So it was this big challenge, because they didn't have, they didn't owe me anything, and so I had to become this guy of what is it that I'm doing. That is going to convince you that I am doing the right thing for you by you giving you this service. And so, as that grew, that became a passion. And so when you see a guy running across a parking lot with a sign, it's because I genuinely want to give and change the lives of the customers that I have. So sales is. Is that answer All right? I'd say, right now it's like a 60, 40. It's just, you know, it is what it is. It's. It's you know it's part of life, but it is what it is you satisfied with his answer, Josh.
Speaker 2:I guess that's a good answer At the end of the day. I understand what you're saying, where going into sales was hard for you, but for me any good salesman is a great collector. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I would agree with that. I wouldn't be as interested in sales if I didn't go through credit first, because that's how you introduce the other side of the coin right. It's always easy to say.
Speaker 3:Hey, you pay a week, get a week, or I'm going to give you something that you don't have.
Speaker 2:How great is that I'm going to furnish your home. That's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1:But you also have to do it with the sense that it does come with responsibility. Here's a whole page of things that you could hold me accountable to, just like I could hold you accountable to. You know, and this is a document for both of us to sign right, this is agreement between both of us. So, yeah, definitely, you have to be a good collector to be a good seller. And then I don't know where I stand anymore. You know, I don't call collections as much as I used to, but Industry question.
Speaker 3:You've become a spokesperson of the industry. People listen to you, they know your voice, they're starting to see you at these shows. So, as a spokesperson, I have a question for you, which is you know, occasionally our industry does come under attack, and more often than not it comes under attack from a few politicians up in the Northeast. I'm not going to say their names right now because I'm not trying to draw their ire. My question to you would be what would you do to these particular individuals that have this thought of what our industry is? What would you do to change their mind?
Speaker 1:I would love to have them on a podcast and the first thought is if you have this particular power, we have powers in our own way, right? The podcast has a power of being reached out and listened to. It might introduce somebody into something, it might sway a thought. So the power that I would be bringing is the rent-owned industry is listening to what you have to say. So you have this power over your constituents and you have the power over this law that you can introduce, and you probably have sway to get it passed. How about we bring our powers together and we sit down and you explain to me what it is exactly that this law is about, that this bill is about? What is it that we're doing or is being done by rent to own that you feel like you need to protect? Whoever it is you're protecting? And I think a lot of the times when we do something, we say that's bad, that's not good, but we're looking at it for face value, right? I look at a law and I say it's going to hurt rent to own. I don't like it. Granted, I feel like maybe I should feel that way. But what if somebody sat down and gave me this compelling story about people in their area and what they're going through that I never heard of, I never knew, I didn't, I did not know that situation. But I also want that person to be open enough to be able to sit down with me, because you're going to be on my podcast and you're going to hear. You're going to hear the things that I've gone throughout the years. You're going to hear about my Miss Pat. You're going to hear about the people that I've seen be ecstatic because they couldn't. They just didn't have another option and then they owned it. Do you know about those people? Because the voice of the podcast, too, is also to get you to understand. I don't intently be a spokesperson, but I will carry the weight if it means that rent to own can cease at the end of the conversation and it's not something I want to do, but it's definitely something I will do and if that means sitting somebody down and saying I want to hear what you have to say, as long as we can be open enough that you can sit there long enough to hear what I have to say. The other thing I would do is I would try to gather as many as allowed without being absolutely crazy, right, because I guarantee that whoever's going into the other side of the meeting has somebody that's advised them, somebody that's given them situations, somebody that said, hey, this particular situation happened in 2022. This particular situation happened in 2023. That's why we brought up the bill, that's why you're the head spokesperson on this right. I don't know if they do it all themselves. Well, I would never put on the cape of rent to own and say I can do it myself. I would also come up with the most like-minded people that I know can stand in the fire with me and go.
Speaker 1:Rent to own is nothing of what you might think. We affect more positive homes than you might hear about the negative, right? Because a lot of people fluctuate. They go to that story, right? Misery loves company.
Speaker 1:So when you have that TikTok of somebody falling off the pier and everybody likes to seeing it, but the person falling off the pier probably didn't think it was that funny, everybody else did, right? So that resonates. But what about the people that saved that person? So that resonates. But what about the people that saved that person? Did you show them? How about somebody who dove in after that guy who has no recognition and he never got a shot taken, but he went in, dragged that guy out and did CPR for 15 minutes till somebody else showed up and saved his life. Let's hear both sides of that story.
Speaker 1:So I would love to surround myself with those people so that if we did have a multi-head podcast, that I would also have the ammunition of some other people who have many years of experience, who can say things that I will never know how to say to that person, and have a great conversation and at the end of it I wouldn't want anybody to say you guys are the bad guys because of this and I'm going to spin it around. I'm not on my podcast anyways. I'll play the entirety of the whole conversation so that somebody can say but this was the rebuttal, and when you had this situation, how far did you go into that situation? Did you just have somebody say, hey, they call me a lot and they bang on my door? Did they ever tell you the distance that was gone into? Did they tell you what they were allowed and not allowed to do? Did they tell you that maybe they're dodging phone calls or maybe they didn't feel right? Is there more to it?
Speaker 1:I think sometimes the politicians, they take the face value of whatever is put on whatever social media page and they go. That's what everybody's thinking and it might look that way. Like I said, paul, you've had a great cover, but your book says a whole different story. You've got layers, you've got depth, you're super intelligent. This guy who I've seen be great on one side, a speaker on the other and very quiet with his family. He takes his family everywhere. That's super. That's your thing. Anyways, I would surround myself with people who matter.
Speaker 3:That's a great answer. Wouldn't they be better served too? Wouldn't a simple way to win these folks over? And look, I'm not going to shy away from the fact that we do have some wolves amongst our herd. We do have some bad actors in our industry that do some bad things, and I think that's every industry right that do some bad things, and I think that's every industry right. But imagine if the individuals that put us under attack, if I think if they just came and worked in a store for two weeks to a month with us, they would realize that the same people they're trying to protect they would hurt the most. They would realize that we are probably the most diverse industry out there. I can't think of one that's more diverse in anything that we do. I think they would get it.
Speaker 2:I think they would also see that we try to help way more than we ever try to hinder.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I think one of the bigger explanations would be have you ever decided to sit and look at a training manual? Have you ever sat down and look at a rack training manual or great rooms or buddies or wherever you go, miss or mister, whoever Take a look in there, it never were in there. Where you see the word harass somebody, you will never see that we're here to take advantage. You will never see profit in a manual that's teaching our guys margins. You'll never see that we're here to take advantage. You will never see profit in a manual that's teaching our guys margins. You'll never see that. What you'll see is be respectful, solve the problem, give them solutions to ownership, make sure that you're courteous, create camaraderie and that rapport, make sure that you stick within the guidelines of what we're telling you Because, like you said, there are people out there who are going to do something that we told them not to do and that happens everywhere.
Speaker 1:Right, you see that one Uber driver that gets the one person in there and they're like, oh my God, I'll never be an Uber driver, but how many is that out of? How many people who ride a particular day? But again, we focus on the negative. Right, we look at that and we go, oh my God, this has got to be the entirety of Uber and it's not. So then go back to the training manual and take a look at that and you tell me anywhere in there where I'm trying to do a disservice to that customer, or can you read in there and you can see I'm trying to get this person to be as professional, as responsible as possible, to get somebody who doesn't have something as ownership to ownership, as possible to get somebody who doesn't have something as ownership to ownership.
Speaker 2:If anything, we're trying to create a better consumer.
Speaker 3:I go on this rant quite a bit and it's something I feel deeply about. I ask coworkers sometimes I get them on one-on-one and I say you know, I was going to ask you this question too, but it was phrased a little bit differently which is why do you do what you do? And I tell them why I do what I do, because we are the people that say yes when everyone else says no. We are the least judgmental company out there that when somebody comes walking in and maybe they don't have credit or they don't have the nicest outfit on, or they don't have the best job, or they've gone through jobs, or they've gone through a horrific divorce, or they've lost a loved one recently that was the breadwinner of the family, they've gone through a ton that put them in the position where they are now.
Speaker 3:And I would say our industry is the industry that steps up and says I don't care about any of that. What I care about is that you and I both do what we say we're going to do for one another. I do have expectations for you, but I am going to be there for you. But my answer is yes. There is no more powerful thing than the word, yes, where? Yeah, you might not be good enough for all of them.
Speaker 3:You know the credit industry is oh, you don't have credit, you don't have this, you don't look at that, you don't have this education. I don't care about any of that. If I look at you in a good, a good sense, that you're being forthcoming on your order form and that it's legitimate and it's accurate and it's honest, then the answer is always going to be yes. And then from there is the most beautiful relationship, is the most beautiful dance you could ever go on with anyone in any business, which is they live up to their end of the bargain and you live up to your end of the bargain. And yes, sometimes you have to be a counselor and sometimes you have to be a motivator, but the outcomes that are positive, that comes from our relationship and rent own are so different.
Speaker 2:And I think they greatly outweigh the negative. The positive that we put out and we get in return from our customers completely outweighs any type of negative.
Speaker 3:Can I ask you guys both a question, do you mind? I want to start with you, pete. When did you first fall in love with Rentone?
Speaker 1:It was in the beginning.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It wasn't a beginning when I first understood it, and not to the degree I understand it now, but when I first really started getting into it, probably within the first six months, it was the most challenging thing I've ever done Because, like you said, it's all encompassing I had to manage files, I had to be on the phone, I had to understand account management, I had to make sales, I had to learn how to set up a showroom. I had to drive a vehicle. I had to deliver return and service. I had to bring something back and refurbish. I had to make sure that my inventory was in line, which meant that I had to check it off and make sure it was tagged.
Speaker 1:I had people that I had to tell if I did good and if I didn't do so good, right, my boss would call me or somebody else would call me and be like, hey, this is the standards and this is what it introduced me to. So many parts of working that it was like everything. It was like the office work that my mom was doing. It was the hard, laborious work that my dad was doing. It was everything, it was everything, and at that point I was like I'm doing this.
Speaker 3:I'm doing this. You know the movies that Navy SEALs and they always look at it. It's the hardest job in the world, right, but they always look at each other and go best job ever had and they dab each other and then they go on and do some mission that can literally when you're talking, I'm just sitting there thinking to myself best job I ever had, you know. But, josh, I want to ask you the same question when did you know? When did you know you love this industry?
Speaker 2:My answers are always great. I guess you guys are going to love this one. So I got into this when I was 28, 27, 28. I don't know. Yeah, somewhere around there I used to smoke back then. A lot of people don't know that about me. I used to smoke cigarettes and I got hired.
Speaker 2:And my first week I was hired the week of Thanksgiving. Okay, so I worked Monday. I was off Tuesday because I was an account manager, account managers were off Tuesdays. I worked Wednesday. I was off Tuesday because I was an account manager and account managers were off Tuesdays. I worked Wednesday. I was off Thursday for Thanksgiving. And then I worked Friday and Saturday. I was off Sunday. So that was my first.
Speaker 2:I was like, hey, this ain't bad. And then when they told me what the job was like hey, you're going to come in. And I had a little bit of collection experience. So I knew like I know how to make phone calls, but you're going to come in, you're going to call the people and find out what's going on. So I was like, okay, cool, so you're telling me that I had all these days off. My first week I get to ride around in someone else's truck, smoke cigarettes and knock on doors and I'm getting paid for it. What was there not to love? I mean, there was nothing not to love, you know. So obviously I'm assured a lot in the business now, but that's really what drew me to it, and I had no boss on me. You know, as long as you gave your results, your boss left you alone.
Speaker 3:You know, as long as you produced the results you needed you were.
Speaker 1:Nobody said nothing.
Speaker 2:You write your own ticket. Yeah, you really do as an owner right Now. As an owner, yeah, I mean, hey, I mean that's, you know results. I was driven and you know I didn't need someone to look over me. I'm sure you didn't need it either, because you're driven, paul, probably the same way, and that was probably the best thing too. You know, as long as you came in, and almost like the transaction you explained with our customer, as long as you came in and hey, this is what we want you to do, you follow through with what you say, I'll follow through with what I say. And, man, now here you are. And here we are 20 years later. 20 years later.
Speaker 3:How long have?
Speaker 2:you been in it, Paul 23 years.
Speaker 3:I was about to say it's about 25 years later.
Speaker 1:but yeah, because, well, January is my anniversary date, so 2000,. It's going to be 25 years and I met Paul a long time ago. Charlie really was crazy. That was a that was a crazy situation out there. We actually worked out of like this office trailer for like nine months. Man, it was crazy.
Speaker 3:A lot of respect. I built tons of respect for you. I only have three more questions. I know we've been sitting here for a while. We either need to take a, but what do you think is the biggest threat to our industry right now?
Speaker 1:Number one is not understanding the industry. Regardless of what happens, I think that the knowledge of what we do and how we represent that to the world, how do we do our business and how people take that business in is always seen through the eyes of people who don't.
Speaker 3:So we need to change their paradigm. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1:Yes, because the way it's always looked at. I think that every time that I've looked up rent to own, I don't get a good Google review, and that's not of one company or one store, I think. In general, when I look it up, it's always when you Google rent to own. You will always get something absolutely different depending on where you are and what it is, but it always has a negative connotation. When I look up Ashley Furniture, I just see the store. When I look up different places that I favor, I don't really see that story until I check the stars right. When I Google rent to own right off the bat, my YouTube searches go into a whole different overdrive and I think that our PR is terrible. I think that's one of our problems. I think one of our problems is our own PR.
Speaker 1:I believe after that, our PR is the actual knowledge. So you do have certain people in certain places who believe that we might be taking advantage of our customers because they don't understand what it is that we're saving them from. Are we running into the shark's mouth? No, right, credit is one of those things where they say a frog doesn't know it's being boiled until the water's too hot. Credit's like that it's being boiled until the water's too hot. Credit's like that it's easy to swipe the card. You don't really know you're in too much debt until you realize you're in too much debt because it just trails With rent-to-own. You know if the water's hot right off the bat and you can make that decision off the bat. The knowledge of that is very compelling, but I don't think that they understand that enough.
Speaker 1:So our PR and the fact that the knowledge of the exactly how rent to own works and how it can benefit and not benefit, you know somebody who is transient or they're staying someplace two months, three months, four months, and they don't have to really worry about ordering furniture, having it delivered and selling it before they leave.
Speaker 1:Or somebody who's in desperate need and, like you said, we have the power to say no, and other people are going to say yes If I I mean I can't, and maybe this is just me I don't know how many places are going to get me a refrigerator by the end of the day. You know what I mean. Like I could go to Home Depot, but it doesn't mean that they're going to give it to me by the end of the day. Right, it's based on their delivery schedule, the pace. Do they have the model that I can afford, because it takes an entire pay? You know I got to buy it then and then I have to worry about who's delivering it, because that also costs, and I have to worry about the timeframe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and do I have the credit to even buy it? Because if I don't have the cash, then are they going to approve my credit?
Speaker 1:It's always, it's always a ballgame. So I think it's the PR, I think it's the knowledge, and then I'm going to say the last one is people. I think it's. I think we always do have those unfortunate situations where we have those people and maybe we didn't prune them in the right time and they, they are remembered a little bit more than they should be. Yeah, guys who knocked a little bit too hard or called a little bit too much and, and you know, we got to curtail that to say hey, these are people.
Speaker 2:That was a great answer, Pete.
Speaker 3:How do you look so young? Outside of genetics Pete? What are?
Speaker 1:you doing.
Speaker 3:Those of you that have never seen Pete, maybe you'll. You'll see him now, like he looks incredibly young. He you know what are you doing young key.
Speaker 1:You know what are you doing? Laughter. I think laughter is a huge part of that. I have learned to smile and enjoy life as much as humanly possible. As I've gotten older, I've had to cut out a large amounts of red meat and processed food. So there's, there's that. But uh, I will say, you know it's a mindset, and I know it sounds crazy and I don't know how else to say that. But I will say you know it's a mindset, and I know it sounds crazy and I don't know how else to say that. There's been a lot of times when my partner and I, when we were doing stuff, you know, danny, they didn't know which one was the older one. Right, they would probably be even more concerned that the older guy is the one jumping out of things or floating on things or jumping in there, like what. That's crazy. It's the mindset, it's it's it's. Number one is the mindset, number two is the care.
Speaker 2:So, in other words, you are the Betty White of the of the podcast world. I hope so. I hope so. If I could live to 99, you know, I would be.
Speaker 1:I would be so happy. I was so afraid she didn't make 100. But you know, if I could live to 99, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, dick Van Dyke, you know he's next in line he's still kicking right.
Speaker 3:He's still kicking and that man, bob Barker, just died, like last week. I couldn't believe it. He's like forever yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I think it's your outlook and it's your ability to see. I guess we're going to go over it again, but I try to see the world. Half glass, half full. Yeah, because, man, you guys know it I didn't grow up with anything. We moved to Florida. I had two things I had my family and I had a bag of clothes. We didn't have furniture. We didn't have my mom. Unfortunately she had a wreck in the car. Like two weeks later we didn't have a car either, like we just we didn't have anything. And you know what? I was never happier. I was happy to just be alive and have my family and we were okay and we made it out alive and it was like God.
Speaker 1:I don't want the doom and gloom and I feel bad for people who have those mental health issues that they've got to go through that, because it's not easy seeing every day where you got to put on a smile and it's difficult. So I take that nowhere near with a grain of salt. I try to do my best to to to smile and enjoy the times that I do have learned from the times that I don't make sure that I don't feed myself some crazy, ridiculous junk, because what you get in is what you get out, so I had to cut out, you know, the McDonald's and all this stuff. It's not easy in our position, right Is it? But I tried to cut out.
Speaker 2:It's not easy in our position, right, but I try to cut out the McDonald's and you know we slip up sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's true, it's true.
Speaker 3:I've been better recently. I was slipping up. Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1:But the processed stuff will kill you, the fried stuff will kill you. I just found out after years of eating steaks I am a steak eating fool. I stopped. I had to stop, and it was actually a personal thing. I was talking to the doctor and they're like you know, you don't really check your diet and I stopped and all the symptoms of my gut went away. It completely went away. Now, at one point in time I used to have eggs Now I can only have egg whites, I can't have egg yolk but I used to be able to eat eggs like nonstop.
Speaker 1:One day it changed. I don't know what happened. One day I could have the steak and one day I didn't. But once I cut it out, my entire, like my whole being was like different. I was like, oh my God, I can't believe I was really infecting myself with. Whatever it was, whether it be you know, the pesticides they use on the food that they give them, or whether it be the you know they give them these all kinds of medicines to not get sick or whatever. Whatever it is that bothered me. My whole life changed.
Speaker 3:It's good that you're paying attention to your body and the foods you're put into it. I think, I think it's a big problem right now. Uh, in our country, compared to the diets that they have in Europe, it's just completely different.
Speaker 2:So eating right, laughed and gratefulness is what I took is what I took out.
Speaker 1:I'm grateful to be here with you guys.
Speaker 2:Well, you were grateful just—you were happy to be alive when you were a kid.
Speaker 1:So you were grateful. I made it.
Speaker 2:Those were the three answers I took out of that you know what's crazy?
Speaker 1:I had a crazy—every time you say something, josh, you just make me go back. When I was about six, I was definitely a knucklehead. When I was a kid, I was definitely a knucklehead. When I was a kid, I was at my babysitter's Back then we were allowed to go outside. I thought I was the fastest thing on God's green earth, so I thought I could beat this car down the street. I was wrong. He hit me pretty hard. I flew over the car, landed on my head. I don't know how I didn't die, but, man, I was happy to be alive.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. So you talk about happy. I was like, yes, hey, I mean the answer to you know the fountain of youth over here, you got hit by a car.
Speaker 1:Go get hit by a car.
Speaker 2:Survive and be grateful.
Speaker 1:And be grateful, you know, I mean, they almost took me away, hit me in the car. Paul, when we Will you run me over?
Speaker 3:I'll do it for you.
Speaker 1:Appreciate that have a great mindset about it.
Speaker 3:What's something about you that outside of work, outside of Rentone, that you like doing that people may not know, or something you're good at doing outside of work that people may not know about? And how do you relax?
Speaker 1:I love working with my hands. That's something I got from my father. So my father has been a carpenter his entire life. His business is carpentry. He specializes in like. So in New York you don't build a lot because it costs immense amount of money. So he would remodel like apartments, right. So you take out the old apartments and I never knew that the old apartments had as much as they did. You know, old radiators and old sinks and these lead pipes and all this stuff and I used to love going with my dad and working with my hands and it was, it was. It was really pretty hard because I was either going to be this or an electrician and, uh, something outside of work is I love working on my house.
Speaker 1:It's just something that I love home improvement and I love doing it myself If can Like, if it's one of those things like I could hire somebody. I'd rather just learn how to do this. And so, if it's just recently just Labor Day we put on new floors in my wife's office. So it's whether it's doing floors or painting or putting up a wall or changing things around. I love working with my hands because at the end of the day, you can see the sweat and the fruits of your labor in your face. It's an immediate payoff on that. And what was the question? How do I?
Speaker 2:I mean, you're running how many stores now, seven, seven stores. You have a podcast, so you're obviously a very busy individual. You have a family.
Speaker 1:Very busy.
Speaker 2:So what do you? How do you relax? How do you unplug? What do you do? You have a family Very busy. So what do you? How do you relax? How do you unplug?
Speaker 1:What do you do? That's a really good question. So I know it's going to sound crazy. I'm going to say this out loud.
Speaker 1:There's a couple of things that I like doing. I have a problem I realize this in my life I cannot sit still. If I sit still, there's something in my brain that goes me. You should be doing something. I really hard time. My wife, like she, wants to kill me. When we go to the beach. She's like just sit in the chair and soak it up and my brain is just like I can't, I need to do something.
Speaker 1:So I've learned I won't sound counterintuitive, but if I am relaxing, if I learning or if I'm taking something in that I enjoy, that will calm me down. So I do a couple of things. The first thing is I listen to other podcasters for two reasons. Number one I love to hear what they have to talk about and I want to learn how they're doing it. How do you get better at it? How do I say phrases? How do I get my point across? How do I do and keep it compelling?
Speaker 1:And then the second thing is there's this guy called Comics Explained right, and so he has a way of just describing a comic, and so I've never been able to get back to the comic situation like I've always wanted to. It's something that I've always loved and I still have all the comics that I had, and so every so often if you hear something that's not telling me or what's going on with today's day, it's like and then he landed and he did this and he did that, and it's unbelievable. It's because I found a way to be able to sit down by enjoying the stories that Stanley and everybody else has been able to tell us for years and years and years and explain. He has this way of explaining characters because he understands the genre the way it is. This character does this.
Speaker 1:So if you pick up a comic book, you might see that this guy's really like a bonehead. You know what I mean. But when he relays a story there's so much character behind it and he brings that into his stories. It's like putting another YouTuber on here. But you know, I get to learn.
Speaker 3:So not necessarily learning about the business, but learning about these heroes that I've had in my head back in a day and I love the Batman ones. I'm not going to lie. My last question, so you're almost off the hot seat here, Pete.
Speaker 3:Uh, and it's it's two part. You can name, uh, either, uh, you know a person or a book, but is there a book or a person, or you can name both, if you want to. That changed the way you think and act. Is there a single person or a single book that has done that for you? Some good questions and, in fairness, we did talk about your mother and we talked about your brother and you brought up Rafael Torres and you did bring up some individuals. But is there, is there anyone that's been that level of, of inspiring to you that when you were around that person or saw that person or you read that book, that it truly, it just made you almost different?
Speaker 1:I would say two books. The first book was introduced to me at RAC the one minute manager. I didn't know I had a management problem the way I did, until I read that book. I was man, I was the micromanaging fool and I wanted everybody to get it right and I wanted them maybe get it right my way. You know, instead of empowering them, training them and let them become the leaders or the people that they can be, I was like my picture looks like this and I'm giving you all the dots to do it and I'm giving you the white brushes and I'm giving you the. I mean, it was just micromanagement to another level, no-transcript management. So the one minute manager was years ago I think it was like 2005 that I had gotten it. Uh, somewhere on one of the Vegas trips or something like that. One of the guys had given it to me and it was something that they were giving everybody. You know you need to read this and I've read those Ken books I forgot his last name, but I mean he has a couple of new ones, you know new one minute manager and they has another one minute and I read into those. But that really kind of started me on the course of. There's more to this than what I know.
Speaker 1:When I read the Dale Carnegie book, it changed my outlook on management altogether, so one kind of brought me into the person I am and the person I could be. The next one was after I read that book by Dale Carnegie. It made me go. I can manage better and that's what set me off on my learning. I can learn how to be better at what I am and I can't just think that it's good enough.
Speaker 1:One thing that that course had taught me was that search for knowledge has to be as intense as your willingness to succeed, because you can succeed today and not tomorrow. And something that Chad Fostick had said is that yesterday's successes do not pay for tomorrow's, you know. And so I thought, god, I need to learn how to be better at what I do. And in that search I realized that I'm never going to be the guy that I want to be. I'm just always going to be getting to that guy. I've always want to be to the next step. And how do I get to that next step? And that book really opened me up to that, because there was a lot of passages, a lot of stories that he had in there a lot of different ways.
Speaker 1:I was like wow, that's when I read the seven. You know the seven step that's. I read that way after seven habits. Seven habits, sorry, I read that way after because I started going down the I don't know enough. I won't say anything, but I didn't feel like I knew enough and so now it's a constant search. So when I'm trying to relax which sounds really crazy, if I can have something in my ear, even if I'm doing something or doing nothing, and I feel like I'm being fed something positive, something that I can pull just one gem out of Good, it settles me. I'm okay with that.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, Great answers. I don't know if you have any other questions for Pete Josh.
Speaker 2:Nope, you said you like working on your house and with your hands, and that's awesome. So I have some work at my house if you're that interested in you know, if you ever need to relax some more and you get bored.
Speaker 3:Are you running out of things to do, pete? Let me show you what I have. Thank you guys. Pete, I appreciate you opening yourself up. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be on that side. Probably some of the topics you weren't expecting, and they can get a little bit personal. I think you shared a lot of things with your audience that they may not know about you uh, not just on a very deep and personal and childhood level, much less your philosophy and the way that you look at at certain things, and I hope they take something out of this, uh, as well. But thank you both.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks so much for coming to the Josh and. Paul, uh, Paul and Josh, you know we appreciate that. Listen, I would tell you this and I mean this wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1:Guys, I appreciate you coming out and doing this. It's been a blast to be on the other side of this, especially with two people that I feel I can actually tell a few things to and understand how it relates to rent to own, because some people don't understand that. But I will tell you, guys, listen, if you have any questions for these two guys to ask me, make sure you email the show. It's at Pete at the RTO show podcastcom. Reach out to me. You can follow me on Facebook or Instagram, linkedin. You'll also see the pictures of these guys, cause they're in a whole bunch of stuff that I do. If you want to go to the website it's the RTO show podcastcom Go on there.
