The RTO Show "Let's talk Rent to Own"

The Art of Supply: Building JLR America

• Pete Shau • Season 5 • Episode 15

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A glass artist's son from Uruguay transforms into a rent-to-own industry leader—Leonard Alonso's journey captures the essence of entrepreneurial spirit and American opportunity.

At just 13 years old, Leonard was crafting glass Disney characters on Main Street after Walt Disney himself discovered his father's artistry at the 1965 World's Fair. This early training in craftsmanship and customer service laid the foundation for an extraordinary career path that would take him from Disneyland to the highest levels of the rent-to-own industry.

When Leonard transitioned to Champion TV (later becoming a 100+ store powerhouse), he started in the warehouse refurbishing scratched console televisions. His breakthrough came during a closed-door sale when his product knowledge and natural sales ability caught management's attention. This moment launched his ascent through operations—from store manager to regional director overseeing 54 locations—his secret weapon being a meticulous approach to product handling that dramatically reduced costs.

After decades in operational leadership across Champion, Color Time, Aaron's and more, Leonard identified a critical gap in the rent-to-own supply chain. Drawing on this insight, he founded JLR America, creating a streamlined supply solution specifically tailored to what rent-to-own operators actually need. What sets JLR America apart? A leadership team with over 50 years of combined in-store experience, competitive pricing, lower shipping thresholds, and the agility to make decisions "within a minute"—now serving over 500 rent-to-own stores nationwide.

Leonard's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs reflects his own success formula: "Hone your skill and don't be afraid. Take the plunge." Want to learn more about transforming industry expertise into entrepreneurial success? Explore JLR America at jlramerica.com or call 727-395-9121 to discover how their rent-to-own knowledge can support your business needs.

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to the RTO Show. I'm your host, pete Chow, and today we're going into some history on a new company that you might have heard of but you might not know why they're here, and this is a great way that I can introduce you to my next guest Now. Leonard's been doing this for a long time, a really long time now, but let me introduce you the right way Leonard Javier Alonso, now president and owner of JLR. And before we go into all the good stuff, how are you doing? I'm doing great.

Speaker 2:

And that's JLR America.

Speaker 1:

JLR America. That's right. Excuse me, make sure we get that all in there Now. Jlr America came from some rent-to-own roots and, truthfully, when we're talking about roots, your roots stretch from outside the US. So I love to hear these stories where people come in and they really take advantage of what we have available to us and kind of like the American dream right, I mean, that's what you were able to do and kind of just take it both hands and just make it happen. So walk me through this. Uruguay, south America. How did you end up in America? From all the way down there, what got in your family and said hey, you know what, we're going to try? The USA.

Speaker 2:

My father was a glass artist in Uruguay, South America, and he came to the 65 World's Fair and had a booth where he was showing off his art. World's Fair and had a booth where he was showing off his art and Walt Disney came by his booth and said I would like that on Main Street in Disneyland, wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 1:

So I just want to back that up for just one second Now back in 65, we're talking about the Walt Disney, not just somebody else. No, the real Walt Disney, yes, wow.

Speaker 2:

Okay, and so they talked terms. There was another company called the Erebus Brothers that helped bring my father to the United States, and my father became one of the glass engravers at Disneyland.

Speaker 1:

So he's an entrepreneur. He gets taken all the way to the US. He brings the family with him.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Is this where you got the idea. Like you know what. This is what I need to do. I need to fund my American dream by just getting out there and getting it done, cause you've had several glass jobs since then.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I actually learned the family business started young, working as a glassblower at Disney. I was 13 years old at 14. I was already on main street, uh, making custom orders for people, Wow. And I did that for several years. And then one day I decided I didn't want a job where I just sat in one place the whole time and when you're in manufacturing you're stuck to that one area. So I went and interviewed with Westgate TV, which was Champion TV At that time. They had six stores, but they eventually had over 100 stores when they sold.

Speaker 1:

Champion really grew. Yeah, they had some grassroots growth there that really just kind of took off. Yes, I want to ask them real quick what did you make? When you say glass, what did you make?

Speaker 2:

I made all the Disney characters.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so these were little minis, little Mickeys.

Speaker 2:

Correct, wow, okay, so these were little minis, little mickeys.

Speaker 1:

Correct, wow, correct. So I'm going to be honest, man, that sounds like that's not something that a little kid goes out and does, right, I mean, this takes talent, this takes drive, this takes dedication On top of that. You know, in some cases you know, like the blue collar worker that takes an apprenticeship you have to learn. Did you learn from dad?

Speaker 2:

I did, my father taught me, and my brother and my mom and we learned how to all make glass at the house at first, Wow. And then other members of the family learned it. My uncle, my cousin and we literally had a small little factory in our garage where we were blowing glass. It sounds like Apple and Microsoft.

Speaker 1:

You start in the garage and you just go on from there.

Speaker 2:

And then somebody called in at Disney and said hey, we need a glass blower on Main Street. And what's your son doing? He was like, well, my son's only 14 years old, but I still went there and blew glass in front of everybody.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I mean, the reason I ask, Leonard, is because rent-to-own back then was a new business. Right, it was sprouting, it was growing, but you had to be a worker, I mean, you had to be able to put in some time. Now you go back to how hard that was to get things for your family to just kind of like, hey, we're going to make this happen. Now you're following in dad's footsteps, you're doing something that's difficult. How great was that transition to be able to pull all that knowledge, all that work, effort and all that grit to the RTO industry.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it really helped Because at that time in 1981, when you worked for a rental-owned company, you were working seven days a week. Yeah, it was a full-time job and it was 60, 70 hours a week and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Speaker 1:

I can't imagine the seven-day-a-week. I enjoyed every minute of it. I can't imagine the seven day a week. I did come on, at least when it was six days. I mean I've had seven days. They had the Santa Saturdays and stuff like that to go on to the weekends and stuff. So we'd had seven days a week but that was like probably 48 weeks out of the year. I at least had the six days. But back then it was just blossoming. I mean there was so much that happened at Rent to Own from the early tallies and you know we had talked about before, you know, the Ken Butlers and the people you know, really blossoming into this industry and it's good to hear that you were a part of that back then. So you, I mean you kind of started on a whole bottom level with Champion.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I started. I ran a warehouse and worked a refurbishing center where all the consoles that would get scratched up they would come into my area and I would touch them up with Mohawk kits.

Speaker 1:

Oh, the Mohawk kits, and I'd gotten pretty good at it.

Speaker 2:

And what moved me out of the warehouse was they were having a closed door sale one night and they invited me to go in there and said we need your help. You don't really know our agreement, but you can at least help us with customers. And I went and started helping customers buy things and I kept moving them over to the customer service reps so they could do the agreement. And at the end of the night they called me in there and said what were you telling these people, these people? We've never had anybody sell so many items. What were you saying people, these people we've never had anybody sell so many items. What were you saying? And I said nothing. I was just telling them about my product knowledge. And the next day I met with a regional manager and he said we're moving you out of the warehouse. You need to be in sales. And that's how rental really started blossoming there.

Speaker 1:

So for me, I guess the biggest question is not only being able to move up.

Speaker 2:

That's great Refurbishment center. We never had one of those. What? What exactly is a refurbishment center? Yeah, well, uh, at that time we had um Westgate TV which became champion. Uh, they had six um Westgate TV stores which carried console TVs. They were made out of wood, oh, the consoles, yeah, and so they would get nicked. They would get nicked and they would bring them into the refreshment center and we would touch them up. How many stores did that cover? It was six stores and, believe it or not, they would bring in between four and 10 of those things a day.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know, the worst thing I got, to be honest, the worst thing was the drivers. They'd get in homes but it was the manipulation of the movement from one place to the next because they were cumbersome, they were big, they were heavy and on top of that TVs. Nowadays they probably weigh 20 pounds. But even though back then you had a 20-inch, 24-inch TV, those things were like 20, 30 pounds on top of the basket that they were in. So you had this wooden console thing that were inside of us. You're talking about 120 pound thing and you get a couple of guys and, unfortunately, just moving it back and forth or whatever you're doing around to own it. You know it gets. It gets to the point where it needs a little love. And if you guys don't know this, the Mohawk kids are famous for being able to. They got great markers, they have great crayons and stuff like that. So you start there but it says 54 stores. How did you get to be from the guy who's in the warehouse to over 54 locations?

Speaker 2:

So I moved into a store manager's position. I got promoted, and when I got promoted to a store manager I had learned from the experience of what not to do when you handle product, and so we were very strict on how we handled our product and our rental returns and consequently my cost of goods was always 5% to 10% lower than the rest of the company. And one day they came in and said why are you so much lower than everybody? And it's because of the way we handled product. I handled product like a mover. Every item always got wrapped with a blanket. Back then we used tape, we didn't have rubber bands and nothing got handled unless it was properly padded before it went to the truck.

Speaker 2:

I mean that drastically, reduces it drastically because the customers rarely did any of the damage. It was always the drivers.

Speaker 1:

It's 80%, if not more. It's our fault, unfortunately. Then we take it out there and we want them to hold onto it and do some good with it. But sometimes they seem like man, if you're not going to treat it good, then what difference does it make for me? And that that's a bad way to build a relationship. So you take care of some stuff, you have some good refurbishment that piles on the work for you Now. Now you've got stores and stores and stores.

Speaker 2:

No, what happened is I went from a store than everybody else, which went directly to the bottom line, and they wanted the rest of the company to be that successful, and that's how I got promoted to a regional director. When I left Champion, we had 108 stores and I was in charge of 54 of them.

Speaker 1:

That's a story, but then you keep on going. Where does Color Time come into all this?

Speaker 2:

I left Champion and went to Color Time as a VP of operations. I had 30 stores and I was there for three years. Color Time was not a growing entity at that time either, and I ended up with Aaron's and I worked there for three years and there I used some of my skills in refurbishment to help create the certification zone.

Speaker 1:

It was actually a dream child of Ken Butler's, but my region was the one that set it up Now Ken Butler, a friend of the show, and I can tell you right now I'm a fan.

Speaker 1:

Oh, big time but you've mentioned some other people that you've met along the way. Now, if you guys don't remember, ken Butler was on a couple weeks ago and he was the COO of Aaron's for many, many a year and helped him achieve great heights. But then there were some other people that you met with, including Larry Sutton, which I am a huge fan of Larry's. He has, you know, the R&R and let me tell you every time that he has something to say, I just got to stop and listen. I really enjoy listening to speak. I enjoy what he's brought to the table over the years. How do you know Larry?

Speaker 2:

Larry was a champion franchise, an affiliate of ours, and he had at one time had 30 plus stores and I ran, of course, the corporate side, and him and I would always speak back and forth on what was working for us and new techniques, because we were in the first stages of Rent to Own, so we were making stuff up as we went along, literally, and we had a great comradeship. I ended up working for Larry when I went back to Rentway. Rentway eventually bought Champion and eventually I went back to that company and ended up working with all the guys I had worked with before and Larry ended up being my boss. Oh, wow yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know, I've always said and this is the God honest truth, there are people that have worked for me, that I've worked for, and there are people that I've worked for that work for me. And it's one of those relationships of rent to own. Don't burn your bridges, correct?

Speaker 1:

Remember to respect your people. I do, because it can always turn around to where one day you never know. I mean, this is just the ebbs and flow of the business. You know, one day you could be something and then they get bought out, or you buy out something that you were a part of, and then it just goes back and forth. There's a time when you know, aaron's had over 22, almost 2300 stores, now they're down, rent-a-center the same. They had almost 3000 stores, now they're down. And it's like you never know where you're going to end up and where you're going to be. Of my most favorite people, I mean, I met Paul in the early two thousands when he was running a location. I was running a location, we were under the same district manager and then years later he is the VP of of you know impact holdings.

Speaker 1:

Oh, the president. I'm sorry. You're absolutely right. He's recently a president, which April great shout out to Paul. He did a great job of that For sure. I mean just to highlight some of the great things that he's done and it's like it's great to know that there's still that there. So, coming into this, you have all this knowledge. You've been in the operations side. Now you're bringing all this together and then you actually go and make a different turn from rent-to-own and you start kind of supplying rent-to-own. But you did that for a while. Yeah, talk to me about that.

Speaker 2:

So I left rent-to-own and, especially my last few years, I was traveling a lot, I was working in Miami, west Palm, opening new stores, and I was on the road a lot. I decided to really stay more at home and I decided to go work for a vendor that was supplying the rent to own side with accessories, and I really enjoyed it. I was there for 21 years as their VP of sales and it was something that I always dreamed of having my own business doing the same thing. Because there was such a need to have a one-stop shop that would carry all these things, because I remember as a manager, all the time I would not waste, but all the time it took and spent finding items that I needed to buy, or sometimes you would get low quality items, thinking you were getting this but you got something else, and so I wanted to be that person that supplied the rent-to-own industry with everything they need to run their business.

Speaker 1:

So we're talking about other vendors that have done this. And then you decide to say you know what? I think there's a better way to do this, as Ken Butler would say, I think there's a better mousetrap right. And so you put this together and here out of that comes JLR America. That's correct. So, leonard, help me out. We have places like RES, we have places like Petro. What stands out about JLR? Why come into it when you have two big companies like that and say you know what? Here I am, I've done this. I kind of know what's going on. What sets you apart, what made you decide to go down this road?

Speaker 2:

sets you apart. What made you decide to go down this road? Well, what really did? It was because I had the in-store experience that none of my competitors had. It gave me the leg up at my last job because I understood where rent-to-own was coming from. I knew what they needed, and that's what drives us apart. Currently, jlr America, we have over 50 years in combined rent-to-own in-store experience working for us. So we're talking about frontline operations Frontline operations I'm talking about from the store level all the way to multi-unit.

Speaker 1:

So how far do you reach? Is this all over America? This is nationwide Okay, so we have no problem getting product anywhere, correct? So if I'm somebody that's been using your competitor, what is it that Leonard says to me? Hey, you know what? This is a better deal. Is it the pricing? Is it the customer service? What exactly sets?

Speaker 2:

it off. Well, it's the pricing we're very competitive or lower. It's also our free shipping guidelines are lower and we carry really only the goods that a store would need Understanding rent-to-own. I don't bring in items that rent-to-own has no use for or flashy items that they might buy once or twice, but I carry the staple items that all rent to own needs to buy.

Speaker 1:

So is that how you keep the pricing down? We don't indulge in all the other things have a lot of overhead and then sit on it for forever and ever, and ever.

Speaker 2:

No, no, we don't do that.

Speaker 1:

So, you know, I've got to ask, with everything that's going on, how is the tariffs, how is the things going on, you know on, currently in the landscape of shipping between one country to another, the manufacturers to the purchasers, how is that affecting JLR?

Speaker 2:

Well, this did take us by surprise. The tariff was not something that we even expected, but we've really buy from many vendors vendors that manufacture in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and we've always bought from several of them. We didn't put all our eggs in one basket on one China source, Although we do buy from a China source that currently is sort of on hold because the other countries are coming to us even though they have a tariff. They have lowered pricing to sidestep the tariff per se, so pricing should remain relatively even to what it is now.

Speaker 1:

So, as far as the capability of JLR America, sometimes we have companies that have 19 stores, 20 stores, some companies that have five, but then you have some companies that are sitting on quite a few. You've got Rent One that have quite a few, you know. You've got Mike Tissett up in Ohio. That's got 44, 42, 44 stores. You've got some of the guys in the Northeast that are sitting. You know Blue Ocean I think it's Blue Ocean, I'm trying to say that right, but you know they're acquiring more and more now you know. So you've got guys that have got a lot of decent amount of stores. How is the supply chain working for those large vendors?

Speaker 2:

Well, we currently supply over 500 stores. Okay, and you know, we just celebrated a one-year anniversary At the same time. We don't just supply rent to own, we supply the appliance retailer and the installation companies with all their appliance installation supplies. We're also a StereoFab vendor, a StereoFab distributor, an authorized distributor. So we sell thrift stores like Goodwill, salvation Army and many other chains. When I say 500, I'm talking about just rent to own. There's probably several hundred other in the thrift area and there's a couple hundred in the appliance side. So JLR America is growing. Oh yeah, we've grown literally every month. I've always thought that I did a great job of growing on the rent-to-own side, but I, you know this business is right up my alley. I've done pretty well at my competitors, for I was there for 21 years and we grew 18 out of 21 years. Okay, well, that's great.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

First off, that's great. The other thing, you mentioned Mike Tissot, and he is a supporter of my business, which you know. He's a great guy and a great customer and great company.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know I think we said it, we said in the green room before and I'll say it again, listen when everything was going and you know the podcast was changing. We're trying to figure out how we're going to do it and what was going to be the status quo going on from there. You know he was one of the first interviewees that came on and actually was on the show and helped us kind of figure out where we were going. Great interview. I mean we love him to death. He's always so busy I'll never get a chance. I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to get him back on again, but I mean he had a great, it was great to see him and I've talked to him several times since then. He just stays constantly busy. But we owe it to Mike for giving us that opportunity and we haven't looked back. I thank God for Mike all the time.

Speaker 1:

But as you're going into this, you're growing, you're moving. What challenges have you had to overcome as, coming into this, you've got a couple of people already set up, I mean rent-a-home guys. They're historical. You kind of know what they're going to do. They have this ability to just kind of stay on the status quo If nothing's broken, don't fix it, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. So how do you break into that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Well, I think it's through relationships Over the last 40 years that I was involved in Rent to Own. I took my relationships very seriously and I nurtured them, and I've made some very good friends in the industry that are, you know, some of the big doers in the industry today. I've always looked at this industry as an industry where the entry level guy delivery guy could start today and within a year could be a store manager if that's what he wants to do. All he has to do is set his sights on it and he'll be that person If he wants to be a multi-unit guy that is within his reach.

Speaker 1:

That's always important, right? We always want somebody to be able to move up, especially in rent-to-own business. The rent-to-own business is one of those that you know. I don't think we ever mentioned it enough and I know that we've mentioned it on a podcast before. But you know, you don't have to be a rocket scientist, you don't have to have a six-year degree. You have to be a hard worker to be able to come in, build relationships, do your job in a timely manner and make sure that you take care of the people that take care of you, and that is a success recipe. I don't care who you are, I don't care how far you go. You can take that all the way to the top, and you know that. I mean you know, when you mentioned 50 years, you mentioned 50 years of operating, and I know that you're almost there, but is there anybody else? That kind of helps you make this flow, that you can say we do this together. And this is where this timeframe comes from.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. So you know I've got 21 in-storeown years and plus 20 more years of servicing the industry, but I also have a VP of sales, larry Oller, which has over 30 years in rent-to-own all in-store experience, which has really helped our rent-to-own side of the business.

Speaker 1:

So when you're looking for somebody, where did Larry come from? How did that come up?

Speaker 2:

Larry, uh worked well. Larry had worked at RES for a while, that's true.

Speaker 1:

I do remember that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he was talking about there was a lapse in in in his career, where he went to work for rent to own as a salesperson and him and I got along very well, Okay and um, that's how our relationship started and we've always talked about the possibility of, uh, me doing something and him coming to work for me, and so when it became true, I called.

Speaker 1:

You reached out, I called yes, all right, I've noticed and we've talked about this too again in the green room. We've talked about certain things that some of your competitors might get that are kind of falling off. They're not important, they don't stay on the books or whatever the case is, parts that we don't need, parts that sit in their warehouse. You're saying that you're very streamlined. How did you come up with the idea that we should be more streamlined, and is it just streamlined to the rent-to-own process versus the furniture world? Does the furniture carry different things than the rent-to-own carries?

Speaker 2:

Well, if you carry basic staple items that rent-to-own buys, you know how much inventory to keep. If you carry 15 different types of HDMI cables, like we carry five but if you carry 15 different sizes, it becomes a lot harder for you to keep the stock. And now you're going to be backordering items.

Speaker 1:

Is that like a four-letter word?

Speaker 2:

Just a lot longer right Backorder.

Speaker 1:

Sure, I mean the problems that are coming up and I've noticed. So one thing that I did notice right is that a few months ago they had a lot of people buy a lot of things and they're saying you know, in the fourth quarter some people might've reached out, bought a lot of things because they knew that this was coming. In this situation you're not that way because you're not selling TVs and furniture and stuff like that. But I also hear and again, I'm not an economist, I don't know but that there's a possibility that because there's so much overflow that's sitting there in China and they're trying to get out, they might actually have undercut prices just to move.

Speaker 2:

It Is that something that you take advantage of. I've heard that. No, we have not, our vendors have not told me that, but we've heard that that could be happening up the pike because there's so many containers being canceled because of the uncertainty of the tariff and a lot of people are switching over to friendlier places to get their goods. Or also, the United States carries a lot of the goods we carry. Stereofab is an American product. It is made in the United States, in New York. Well, let's push that.

Speaker 1:

We do, let's make that happen, besides the fact that New York's already going through its rent-to-own issues, as is. But as far as JLR, I see you at a lot of places that I don't see your competitors at. That is probably one of the big differences that I've noticed is that when I go to Meeting of the Minds, when I go to a Trib event, just like when I go to an APRO event or the combination of the two, I see you guys there where I don't see a lot of your competitors, or if I do, they're in a different capacity. Does that help you out? I mean, being a part of Trib, being a part of APRO, being at these events, yeah, no doubt One of the biggest kicks or help that we've gotten was from Trib.

Speaker 2:

Going to Trib just totally moved us in the proper direction and I've always felt like we need to support the people that support us, and a lot of these association shows are made up of the same people we're selling, so we support their show, they support us. It works very well so it.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I know that you've seen these, probably a lot. You've seen these shows time and time again, from the from the beginning to now, right, and there's these big changeovers now, I mean it's just from 1981 to, yeah, I mean you, you see a lot of things that come and go. As a matter of fact, two of the greatest people that I've talked to and I'm going to miss very dearly, although we're going to try to reach out to them very, very soon Ed Wynn, ceo of Council for April 40 years and Gary Ferryman, who was recently, is going to be on the show. He's on the show. He's going to be released pretty soon. Forty four years in the rental home business. So you know. My question is you started JLR America. You've hit that 40 year mark. Where do we go from here? How long are we going to be in JLR? Are you going to pass the handoff? You're going to be this for the next 10 years.

Speaker 2:

You know, as long as I'm healthy, I'm going to run the show, you know, and there'll be today. What I do see is, um, there, it's becoming a lot more technical. Uh, things are a lot more advanced. Uh, now we got AI into the mix and we've got to stay in touch and keep up with that. If not, we're going to be left behind, and that is what we're doing. I mean, I'm I'm bringing in people that understand, um, technology, and that's what we're doing.

Speaker 1:

I mean I'm bringing in people that understand technology, and that's how you're going to create the better workflow.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

So what do you see? I mean, you've been doing rent-to-own a long time. Not only have you been in rent-to-own, you've been servicing rent-to-own, you have people that have been in the business for a long time. No-transcript, because I think everybody I've asked said AI, and I'm with you 100%. I think AI is here to stay and I don't care what you do. Some form, some way, somehow AI is permeating into everything that we do. So, besides the changeover to some of the AI events, is there something coming down the pipe the way? Maybe you help them, or what you've seen?

Speaker 2:

You know I'm selling a lot more of this. That's changing in the way the rent-to-own world works. Yes, in fact we've done that for years, long before technology came in here. I remember when the mattress encasement hit the market and that was a game changer because in the rent-to-own industry we were discarding mattresses. They'd be on rent for a couple of months, come back and you'd have to get rid of them. And the mattress encasement, which is one of our top items, that was the game changer and we immediately started telling everybody in the industry about it. I mean there was other vendors out there like Protect-A-Bed in the industry about it. I mean there was other vendors out there like Protect-A-Bed, but when the wholesale distributor that I had worked for started carrying it, that's really when it became streamlined with rent-to-own, because we were already supplying the majority of rent-to-own companies with their other goods. It was much easier just to throw a couple of encasements in with a dryer and range cord than it was buying an entire case or however much you had to buy from the other company.

Speaker 1:

Tell me about it. Yeah, I mean you always have to match what's good with what's coming. Yeah, so if I wanted to be a customer of JLR America, right, I've already got these other guys' information. How do I get a hold of JLR America and how do I change from what I'm doing to what might be better for my company?

Speaker 2:

We custom make just about everyone's programs, and that program has to do with approvals through a regional, approvals through an owner, or just sending order acknowledgements that your store just placed an order with us, and so we also provide reporting that will show you what your stores have bought, and you know we're pretty strict on that and that, I think, also sets us apart from our competition. So how do I reach out to JLR? Jlramericacom, or you can call me on my cell today and I'll answer it.

Speaker 1:

JLRAmericacom. Man, you couldn't make it much easier. What's the phone numbers that they can reach out to you guys?

Speaker 2:

It's 727-395-9121 or cell phone is 813-230-7656.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't get much better than that, guys. You guys can reach out to the actual owner of JLR America and talk the talk Right, and then JLR America can walk the walk. Yes, sir. And it's great to hear that you guys have been able to transition, that you have been able to transition from being in the business to supporting the business, to owning a part of the business. Yes, sir.

Speaker 1:

I mean, isn't that the American dream, absolutely dream, kind of making it full circle. So if you could say anything to somebody who is looking to kind of go down that road, either to be an entrepreneur themselves, or maybe they're a little bit newer to the country and they want to keep on pushing forward, what do you say to them, leonard?

Speaker 2:

I say hone your skill and don't be afraid. Take the plunge. The worst thing that can happen is it doesn't work and you'll be doing something else. But hone the skill, which means perfect what you do and then go do it.

Speaker 1:

And I was listening to Deion Sanders the other day because I find him very fascinating. Whether you like him or hate him, I find him extremely fascinating and he was saying something about that. You don't chase the grandness, you don't chase the money. If you hone your skill, if you get better at what you do and then you become the best at what you do, it will come to you. All the benefits, all the business, all the financial stability will come to you. Just be good at what you do and it will find you.

Speaker 1:

I agree with that 100%. I enjoy listening to that because he's very confident and I don't find it off-putting Some people might but I find that if you know what you're doing and you know what you're worth, it will get back. It will give back.

Speaker 2:

Right as we were talking to Trib about becoming Trib vendors, dennis from Trib gave me very good advice, which was, he said, perfect what you're doing, first Make sure you're working out the kinks. You want to make a statement when you come out and everyone knows about your company? Yes, and we did. We took his advice. We worked out the kinks with software, with website, with personnel, with warehouse distribution, and it is working very well. That's good.

Speaker 2:

Best advice I was ever given, and so we held back for one trip show. We could have gone to the first trip show, but we didn't. We waited till the next trip show, and when we went, we made a huge impact Made an impact.

Speaker 1:

So from all the way to coming from Uruguay working with dad, becoming like literally one-on-one with you know Walt Disney doing that, and then transitioning and taking all that knowledge, all that dedication, all that skill to rent, to own, doing that for 20 something years and then kind of being supportive of the business for 20 something years Now doing JLR America, I got to say I appreciate the grit. It's nice to see somebody here who's gone that far. You know you mentioned a couple other names. It was Joe Fedorchek, is it Mike Gerwe?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I had worked for. These are a couple guys that I did work for and they were mentors of mine. One was Joe Fedorchik. He was, uh, the guy in charge of the state of florida for errands and he's the guy that really showed me how to take rent to own to a different level. Uh, then what? Because you know I had worked a big store and rent to own back then was maybe 90 grand and then you come work for errands where the average store's doing 150 plus and it was really because of Ken Butler had a message and he had people like Joe Fedorchik that took it out into the field exactly the way. It was told to him and it was amazing working for him. It was tough, he was a tough guy but he was probably one of the best bosses I had.

Speaker 2:

The other one was Mike Gerwig Sr. Mike Gerwig Sr was the founder of RES Accessories and Mike Gerwig Sr was a showman. He also valued the relationships more than anyone I've ever known. It is no different. We treated wholesale distribution no different than rent-to-own treats their customers. You build that relationship with the customer so you can continue selling goods to that customer, and that's what wholesale distribution is. Same thing Every chance you get, you stop and you make sure that you build the relationship with that customer and you know who that customer is, you know who his kids are, you know where he lives. You know who his kids are. You know where he lives, you know what he likes.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I mean, building a relationship is a part of a couple things being dependable and being able to be depended on, and making sure that, as you go through things, you have that open relationship, that open conversation. This is what I can do. This is what I can do, and I want to get you to ownership. How does that work? And I know that builds in JLR. I got one question, though when did JLR come?

Speaker 2:

from. Well, there's actually me and two other partners. I'm the L.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right. So who are the other partners?

Speaker 2:

They're silent partners.

Speaker 1:

They're silent. Okay, all right.

Speaker 2:

The other one is JNR.

Speaker 1:

JNR. Yeah, okay, gotcha All all right. The other one is j and r. J and r. Yeah, okay, gotcha all right. So j and r. So j l r comes from the partnership partner ownership, correct, of jlr america.

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay, so, and everything is available online everything's available online and we'll I mean setting up an account with us very easy. One of one of the another thing that sets us apart is how flexible we are. We can move on a dime, we make decisions right there in the office, and we can make them within a minute. Well, good.

Speaker 1:

I mean, making it happen is so important. Nowadays, we really do have to move at the drop of a hat and making sure that our customers are getting what they need, whether you are prepared and you got things taken care of on time, or whether you got to get that order in right away. I mean we just got to move. We got to move and make it happen. I'm so happy that you're here. I mean, leonard, we could probably sit here and talk rent to own all day, but I think that the focus is JLR America is here to kind of rival what's going on. Make sure they take care of the customers and make sure they do it with the rent-to-own mindset. All right, yes, sir. Well, listen, leonard, alonzo, we really appreciate you being here. Thank you. Thank you so much for being with us.

Speaker 1:

Listen, if you have any questions for Alonzo, please hit up the show. You can reach us at Pete, at TheRTOShowPodcastcom. You can hit us on the DMs. We have Facebook, instagram, linkedin and now YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe and I will tell you. Guys, as always, thank you for being here. Get your collections low to get your sales high. Have a great one, thank you.

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