RTO Legend Volume 1: Lyn Leach

A flip chart, a promise to a father, and a tiny Omaha storefront lit the fuse for a 24-store rent-to-own legacy grounded in dignity and service. We sit down with industry legend Lyn Leach to unpack how a consumer-first mindset—friendly collections, honest agreements, and real return options—can turn a risky startup into a reliable community anchor. From vacuum tubes and rooftop antennas to Atari consoles, VCRs, and modern gaming rigs, this story tracks how products evolved while one mission stayed constant: improve quality of life and help customers reach ownership.

Lyn takes us behind the scenes of vendor battles and breakthrough moments—when a few believers extended those first fragile credit lines and proved relationships still power retail. He shares the mentors who simplified collections, the nuts-and-bolts of compliance that APRO made accessible, and the role of loss damage waivers in protecting both customers and stores. We also dig into policy trenches: statehouse wins, near-miss federal legislation, and why inviting lawmakers into stores flips the script on outdated stereotypes.

The conversation turns to today’s fault line: virtual rent-to-own models that advertise flexibility without physical service or true return paths. Lyn lays out how brick-and-mortar operators can compete by upgrading websites, tightening lead management, and creating unforgettable in-store events—from cultural celebrations to community food truck nights—that transform shopping into connection. If you care about customer trust, transparent pricing, and the future of rental-purchase, this is a masterclass in doing the right thing, the right way, for the long haul.

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APRO
Association of Progressive Rental Organizations

APRO
Association of Progressive Rental Organizations

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Chapters

• 0:00 Kicking Off The Legends Series
• 3:04 Omaha Roots And Early Family Influence
• 5:42 1982 Launch And Borrowed Beginnings
• 9:17 Building A Consumer-First Model
• 13:22 Vendors, Credit Lines, And Early Products
• 19:27 Mentors Who Shaped The Journey
• 23:05 APRO Membership And Legal Guardrails
• 27:10 Growth To 24 Stores And Team Culture
• 30:54 Hard Lessons: Betrayal And Policy Defeats
• 35:24 The Threat Of Virtual RTO Models
• 39:13 Fixing Misconceptions And Showing Value
• 42:59 Modern Store Experience And Events
• 47:04 Community Credibility And Local Alliances
• 50:19 Lifelong Learning And Industry Bonds
• 53:19 Legacy, Purpose, And Closing CTA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:09

Hey everybody, welcome to the RTO show. I'm here at the RTO World 2025. And let me tell you, I'm really, really happy to be here. I have a special guest, but so you guys know, we're actually going to do something different this season. Now, this is the first video of an entire series that APRO is doing. And why is it important? Well, we're going to get to the history of Rent's own and more importantly, how we got here. And it doesn't start any better than with Lynn Leach. Now, we are actually in Omaha. Well, you got to get the guys from Omaha if you're going to be in Omaha. So this is where we're going to start. We're so happy that you're here, Lynn. And listen, we're going to go back a little bit. We're going to find out how we got here. But more importantly, what matters to you, what matters to us, and how April can show the history of rent to own. Lynn Lynch, how are you doing? How's everything going today?

SPEAKER_01: 2:02

Outstanding. I'm doing well. Thanks for having me. It's good to be here in my home state, uh hosting the first RTO world ever in Omaha, Nebraska.

SPEAKER_00: 2:12

That's it. And so with everything coming over here, you traveled for years to every state imaginable, right? Now you finally get to bring it home. And I and I hear that you're you're close to here. You didn't even have to go that far, right?

SPEAKER_01: 2:25

No, no. We live uh part-time, eight blocks from here, and my my full-time residence, about 50-55 minutes from here. So this is home.

SPEAKER_00: 2:33

This is home. So in case you guys don't know, we are literally across the street from the stadium. It's probably the one of the most beautiful convention centers that I've actually been to. I'm really excited to be here. But let's get into it. So the reason that we have Lynn here is we got to go back to 1982. Right? So to be in the Legends Club, you're at 40 years or more, which is covered. All right. We're about 43 years, or is this 44 to 30 years old? We're just starting our 44th year. That's it. So in 1982, you and Natalie get together, your wife, um, two children, and Eli.

SPEAKER_01: 3:14

Um, so my Eli is my grandson. Ben is my son. Um, my daughter, Mindy, has Eli. That's my grandson. And then Ben has uh uh adopted a child too. Her name is Sienna. So I have grandson and granddaughter now.

SPEAKER_00: 3:28

That's awesome. So are they a part of the rent-to-owned world?

SPEAKER_01: 3:32

Yeah, so Ben is. Ben is our chief operating officer. His husband, Ryan, is our uh director of training. Awesome. So they're both involved in the business.

SPEAKER_00: 3:40

Beautiful. So then they know all about, well, maybe we're gonna talk pre-Ben 1982. They weren't here.

SPEAKER_01: 3:48

No, well, so um, no, that that's right. So they they weren't even born yet. Mindy would be born shortly after that. Uh, but yeah, it was just me, Natalie, and uh one employee soon to become two. Uh we opened right at 25th and oh, the very first store. It's still there, still operating, still one of our best stores, um, most productive stores. And away we went with a bunch of borrowed money that my dad helped me with. Um, loaned me a half a million bucks to get started. And um, he was a little a small mom and pop furniture store owner, so he had his own business himself and was busy with that, but was kind enough to help me get started financially with my business, and then later helped me borrow more at the bank as we continued to grow Ace Rent to Own. But it was thanks to my dad, Gene, it was his first name, that helped me get the whole thing started. Without him, Ace Rent to Own would have never got off the ground.

SPEAKER_00: 4:46

Well, we're gonna get into how many locations you have now because that's a success story. But let's go back to 1982. You're with Natalie. I'm gonna guess you guys had just gotten together or been together for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01: 4:56

Yeah, just um just we married in 1980. Okay, so fairly still newlyweds, um, fresh out of college, uh, went to work for Barry Gambini, Ron, and Dave Happy out in California. Okay. Um, and started in San Diego with a brand new store, literally opening the day I got there. They picked me up on a Sunday at the airport, took me to the store, started getting me ready to go, teaching me everything I needed to know, and we opened on Monday morning with a big grand opening. So away I went, and then they eventually moved me to Sacramento, which was their biggest store, and then on to company headquarters in Visalia, California. And after I'd worked for them long enough and could see this is a really incredible industry, and I know I can do this, and I love what it is. I love helping clients, I love giving a quality of life improvement to people. And I was so motivated that I wanted to come back and do it myself, only put slightly different twists. The things that they did really well, I learned from them and kept those and initiated those into my own company. The things that I had a slightly different idea on, I could make those changes. And there we go. 1982, with a potload of borrowed money, my wife and an employee and a half, and here we go. Let's start, let's open the doors and start writing some agreements.

SPEAKER_00: 6:19

So the idea was in 1982, after after kind of understanding the furniture business and kind of going through the ranks, starting it was basically based on how you felt about I can do this maybe better, or I could put my tweaks on it, or or my family can kind of we we have the ability to put a spin on it in a way that they're not doing elsewhere. And that's how we got. So, how did you present that? So you have this idea of you know creating this this way of rent, you know, I want to say rent to own, but oh, this way of selling furniture. And you talk to dad and go, I have this different way of doing things, and I hope you trust me.

SPEAKER_01: 6:57

So I mean, if if you if if you knew my dad and I knew him really well, you know, you know you better bring it in and be prepared. Okay. So put your best foot forward quick. So I came in, and this is way before computers. So I come in with a flip chart, and I've got everything written out, how much money it's gonna take, and what the forecast for business, what my business model would look like. And I'm flipping these pages and showing him. And he's and pretty soon he said, Stop, stop. I I think we can do this. I can afford to help you. You can't go belly up on me because I'm gonna give you a significant amount of money, and without it, I won't be able to retire. So you've got to promise me that you will get this, make this go and make it successful. And I promised him, I told him, whatever it takes, I will not fail at this. And he said, I believe you. So he loaned me the money and and and off we went. And that is literally every time I thought, oh, I'm seven days a week, I mean 75, 80, 85, sometimes 90 hours. I I opened the store even on Sundays back then, rent it by myself. Then I'd close at five and make the deliveries that I promised that I would get out yet that evening. And my wife would be at home with and um you know, waiting patiently, then with my daughter and saying, Yeah, you just get home when you get home, take care of business. So she was super supportive. But yeah, we brought a different twist. We bought brought what I think is a more consumer-first approach, more uh friendly collections and and really building on the relationships, not building just on profit or on revenues, but knowing that if we built those relationships so strong with the clients, then we wouldn't have to worry about the revenues. Though they would take care of themselves. And I think people gravitated and saw that's what we were about, saw they could tell us the truth when they were having a hardship. And rather than hide when they were having a hardship and not answer the door or answer their phone, they'd open the door and say, Look, I'm I'm having some troubles here, and I'll tell you what it is. And I mean, from the very beginning, we were committed to let's not pick anything up that the client doesn't want. If there's another way, we're gonna be friendly enough not to have to take that product back from them.

SPEAKER_00: 9:12

So, what made you decide? You're coming from the sales world, you're coming from a retail side. What made you decide in 1982, I'm gonna pitch this to dad, but we're not doing just retail. We're gonna do something that back then really wasn't heard of. I mean, not every there wasn't on every street corner. Nowadays you can pick up, you know, look in RTO and things will pop up. But back then, when there wasn't any, uh there wasn't any Google searches, there might not have even been any yellow book searches because there wasn't it wasn't really built out. What made you decide instead of retail and selling it with your spin, rent to own was where you guys wanted to do it?

SPEAKER_01: 9:46

So once again, I have to give a lot of credit to my dad. He is the one that um that told me look, this mom and pop retail store that I have, this is going to become a dinosaur in the thing of the past. It's gonna be really hard to compete, but there's this wave of the future, this new way of doing business in furniture and electronics and appliances. It's called rent to own. And I really think that you ought to look at that. And so that's what caused me to go out to California and go to work with those guys. It was my dad's uh insight of saying, it's gonna be really hard to make a living the way I have. You need to look at a new way of doing business in the same product categories, but in a completely different way of doing business. Rent to own, or he, as he was calling it back then, rental purchase. Rental purchase is gonna be the new mom and pop retailer. And so if you want to have a life like I did and have a store or stores that that you can be successful at like I was, you shouldn't look at just retailing and and just doing retail sales. You should look at this new wave of the future, this rent-to-own, rental purchase model. And that's what caused me to take a look at it and go to work there and then end up opening my own store.

SPEAKER_00: 11:01

I'm I'm so curious about that because now before you had gone that route, and before you got with dad and you made this business decision, the family used to repair TVs.

SPEAKER_01: 11:12

So that's how my dad got started. He was a military and a Navy man, got out of the Navy, went to work selling insurance, and he'd sell insurance by day and repair TVs by night. So that's how he got his retail start. Um, he and my mom and sometimes me would go out in our repair van, and he, if he could fix it in their home, he would. If he couldn't, then my mom would help him carry the TV out to the truck or to our van and then he'd take it back to our home and he would fix it there. And if you remember, back in the day, TV repair was mostly plugging in a different tube, figuring out which tube didn't work and just putting a new one in. So we had tube testers and all kinds of things that he did back then. And then eventually that um evolved into hanging aerial TV antennas on the top of people's homes. Yeah, the big ones. The big ones, yeah, on a big pole. And so he built a trailer we would pull behind the TV van, and it had a telescoping pole that he would put up and then you know, thumb screw it down and then do the Nick section, thumbscrew it down. And we would go through the streets of downtown Lincoln looking for homes that didn't have an aerial antenna. And he had a big cord on a board that and he would unwrap it before he knocked on the door. So he had the cord in his hand that he wanted to hook up to their TV. So he'd knock on the door, they'd come to the door and he'd say, My name's Gene Leach. My son Lynn here and I, we're putting aerial antennas on people's homes. If you'd give me just a minute, I like to show you how much better your reception will be with an aerial antenna than the rabbit ears that you're using now. So he'd go in there and he had a little alligator clip. He'd take a screwdriver and take their rabbit ear off and then clip that on, and they'd go, Oh, my word, look at that. I mean, no more rolling, no more ghosts, you know, no more fuzzy picture. It would just be beautiful. And then he'd say,$199 installed tonight. We'll get the ladders off and we can have it in for you tonight. And back then, I mean, yeah, it was a decent amount. I mean, we're talking about the the mid-60s. Um, and I mean,$199 was no small amount, but people would go, gosh, that's just so much better, you know. And and he they'd say, Can can you do it tonight? Really? And he'd say, Yes, but yes, my son and I. And he's like, he's got to be seven. How is he gonna help you? And he goes, I don't let him on the roof. He does go up and down the ladder and he hands me tools, but I don't allow him up on your roof. That'll be just me. And they're like, All right. And I'm telling you, eight out of ten probably said, Do it, do it, install it tonight. So he'd get all his materials out. And I mean, that's just the kind of he was an innovator. He was a true entrepreneur. He was he was my entire role model, um, my hero. I mean, that's just a fact. And I and I loved being with him. It was such cool father and son time, and he taught me what being a true businessman, a man of character looked like from the time I could be six or seven and even understand what that meant.

SPEAKER_00: 15:04

So he he starts doing this. He introduces you not only to a different aspect of what he does, but how to do it, how to be that salesman, how to be up front, how to get it done, how to go after it. So then where did the idea of rent to own come from that? He because you you you went into the furniture side of it. He already has a TV side of it. When would when you when you first opened a store, did you introduce furniture first, or was it the TVs first?

SPEAKER_01: 15:32

No, so he is he went on from there. He opened a small TV repair shop that was not out of our home anymore. He had a retail location, and then he got like an RCA and then a Zenith franchise. So he was selling new TVs. That blossomed into the store that he had then, and he he he branched out into appliances, furniture, and electronics. Um, and and so I worked for him all the way through college, high school. I mean, he taught me what honors, codes, bonds, ethics, you know, and and being a salesperson, uh being a manager of people, um, yeah, being a hard worker. I mean, he taught me the value of hard work, and and he also taught me the value of being loved. My secret sauce in life, when people ask me, how did you do this? I mean, how did you grow from what you had to what you have now? You know, what's the magic? And I tell them always, my secret sauce was the love of my mom and dad. They both loved me so much and they taught me right from wrong. They taught me hard work from being lazy, they taught me character and they and they taught me how to care about people, how to forge relationships. If it weren't for their love, I would not have anything, really. But and it's not just in business, too, it's in general, raising my kids, right? I mean, I do theater. I mean, so so I put my heart and soul into that. There's so many rodeoing, right? I I I'm used to rodeo and and so so many things that the things my mom and dad with completely different kinds of love. My dad was a more tough love. I mean, I mean, he expected a lot. His his ambitions were very high, and he would say, I have very high expectations for you. I know what you're capable of. I expect you to meet those expectations. And my mom was more the nurturing, hugging, kiss on your forehead kind of love. No, I could do no wrong, whatever happened. She'd go, Oh, you know, I still love you that. And and I mean those things both were invaluable. But that was my secret sauce that they loved me so much that they made me believe I could do anything I set my mind to doing. But that's the truth. Yes, it is. That's the absolute truth. Yes. It is the sole reason that that I've been able to do these things. Heck, I was, I mean, got to MC the governor's ball when Pete Ricketts was elected the first time. I was his announcer and MC, and then he hired me again to do his re-election ball. And I grew up in a three-bedroom home with one bathroom and no shower. And sometimes I'd look around and go, How am I doing these kinds of things? How does Pete Ricketts hire me to get into his governor's ball? You know, and and I know what it was, I know is that my mother and father instilled in me the only person that's going to limit you is you. If you believe you can do it and you keep trying, you'll figure out a way to get it done. Just don't give up on yourself. So many people quit on themselves, right? Absolutely. Long before they should have. Absolutely. And if they'd have just stayed the course and kept showing up and kept giving their best effort, eventually they would have got whatever they were wanting. And I really don't care what you're talking about, whether it's a race car driver or a Broadway musical performer or a rent-to-own guy, if you just keep showing up and doing it right, telling the truth, being decent, being honest, and and never give up, keep grinding. You can make it. Anyone can make it.

SPEAKER_00: 18:57

Absolutely. So that's how you got in. 1982, you start. How was your relationship with the vendors back then? Because at this point in time, rent to own probably isn't on the top of everybody's list, right? So you go to somebody, you say, Hey guys, um, I'm opening this location and this is what I want to do. Now I I've heard the turmoil between rent to own and retailers throughout the years. How was your relationship with vendors at that beginning point when you're so there really wasn't one?

SPEAKER_01: 19:28

Um, I I just as I was getting ready to open that store, um, I went to my first CES show, and I thought, okay, I'll just go out there and I'll meet with these vendors, you know. I'll talk to Samsung, I'll talk to Zenith and RCA, and they'll open me an account, you know, and then they'll start shipping me some product. And it wasn't at all like that. I mean, you had to fight just to get an appointment when they'd say, I'd they'd say, What's the name of your store? And I'd say, Ace Rent to Own. Oh, oh, uh, yeah, maybe you could wait over there a little bit and we'll see if we can get to you.

SPEAKER_00: 20:01

Wait in the rafters, hold on.

SPEAKER_01: 20:03

But finally I'd get an audience with them, and then I mean I'd do my very best to convince them, you know, just give me a small line of credit. Let me prove myself. And there were vendors that were peculiar to the rent-to-own industry. I mean, I went to my first April show um and and met uh Steve with Welton. I can't think of his last name right now, but he was one of the first guys to give me a decent line of credit. Um, and I was so thankful. I'm like, wow, he's gonna give me 90 days credit. And he, you know what he said? I just trust you. I don't know why, but I'm gonna trust you, and I'll keep trusting you till you burn me. Steve Burn me. So don't burn me. So yeah, Steve Sherman, that was his name.

SPEAKER_00: 20:43

I've been telling you, Welton was a big player for years and years and years. So, you know, if you helped pioneer that, we would appreciate that. So, as we're going through, what were your main lines of so you had furniture, TVs, and appliances? Yes. What did your branch into as the years went on? What were the some of the things that you know you can say, like the first, you know, three, four years, we had the basics, we had these core products, but then we added something different.

SPEAKER_01: 21:10

We added video games way back in the day. It was the Atari 2600. I mean, really the first home video game. We added those. We had a whole line of the games that you plugged into them, the software. Um, we added VCRs. When we opened VCRs, it was not a thing. I mean, there was none. Do you know when that came about? Oh, I I'm gonna say that was maybe the mid-80s, 85, 86, right in there. Um, paying a thousand and twenty dollars for my first VCR. Oh my god.$1,020. That's that's factory cost. Yeah. And so you couldn't sell very many of those back in that day at that kind of price. But I mean, it was an invention. Being able to record TV was, I mean, world-changing. And people, everybody wanted one, but not many could afford one. Um, computers, I mean, the computer age after that, then, you know, laptops, desktops, gaming. When I first opened my first store, we were not computerized. All the payments that we took were on billing cards, ledger cards. I remember that. And we filed one according to the date and one according to alphabetical. And so when they'd come in and make a payment, we'd type it on a typewriter and put it back in the the ledger cards back in the files again. That's literally how rudimentary it was. And then a few years later, computers and software that that fit rent to own were were invented, and off we went in the computerized age.

SPEAKER_00: 22:37

What was your first and and I think I already know the answer to this question, but I'm gonna ask it anyways. As you're going on, and maybe we'll maybe we'll divert a little bit. Who would you say is somebody that you mentored, somebody that mentored you, uh I should say, and helped you besides mom and dad? Somebody that was like in either in the industry or outside of the industry, but helped you focus on the industry or business. Who would you say one or two great people that kind of just helped you over?

SPEAKER_01: 23:05

First name that comes to mind, Daryl Tissett. Really? Daryl Tissett was an April president, and I was a nobody, and I mean, just a young guy that was trying to make a go of it, you know, trying to get open my second store or third store, I don't remember which it was. But I can remember Daryl Tissett sitting with me at a picnic table and said, I'll give you all the time you want. Just pepper me with questions. And and the man became uh a true mentor to me, somebody that I could call when I wasn't sure what to do. Um, every April show, he and I would talk. I mean, he was just um just an incredibly kind man to help mentor me. Also, a guy named Bud Holliday. Okay. Um, he was very well spoken and he gave seminars at the April shows. And back in the day, you could buy a cassette tape of the of the seminar. And I always bought a cassette of Buds, and I'd take them home and listen to them when I was driving to work because he was just incredible. And he broke it down so it was so simple, and he'd say things like, We're not building any rockets here. You know, we just rent TVs. That's all we do. You got to put them out the door, you got to collect the rent, you got to sell enough of them, and when they pay them in full, you got to find another customer. I mean, it was just he he was so folksing, but an interesting uh presentation on his seminars, and I always got something out of it. He was really good at teaching collections, so I really enjoyed that out of him, too. So I would say those early on were a couple of my mentors. Um, and then since then, man, I've got a lot of my best friends in the whole world are rent-to-owned dealers. Um, his Daryl's son Mike, I mean, right now he is just as good as it gets, I think, in the rent-to-own industry. Um, Gary Farriman, good friend of mine, Chris Bolan. Um, I don't want to leave anybody out there, so many, I mean, dozens and dozens of my best friends in the whole world that I know if I was really struggling, really not sure what to do, or just needed somebody to love me, those guys would be there for me. They'd travel, whatever it took. There's just a bond there that when when you've gone to war with some of these rent-to-owned dealers and you fought back political attacks and you fought back unfair uh trade, and and these guys were shoulder to shoulder. And you're in Washington, D.C. All those trips I made when I was the April president to lobby Congress, senators, congressmen, and women, and they were right there with me, you know, setting up appointments with their congresspeople. And uh man, I mean, you just forge a bond that is there's no such thing that's equal to that. These these became my rent-to-own soldiers.

SPEAKER_00: 25:50

So you said something that's really important because I wanted to get into that. The advocacy of APRO is super important. What initially pulled you into that first advocacy? And do you happen to know about when you joined?

SPEAKER_01: 26:02

Yeah, so I mean, literally right as we were opening our first store. So I mean, the we opened and the and the convention was then. So I was there within a matter of weeks of opening my first store. And I knew of it because of Gambini, the happies. I I knew that April was a thing, and that if I was going to be in this business, I had to be a member of APRO.

SPEAKER_00: 26:23

What was one of the first things that you said, I'm glad that I'm with April now because this happened? Something, you know, there was a there's a lot of road that some people that come in now, whether they've been here for five years or 10 years, they haven't seen some of the things that we've gone through. Whether it be somebody in Texas who says they want to shut us down, or we like you said, in in different states, different arenas, but things happen where they thought, I don't know if this is how it should work, or I don't think this is fair for the consumer. And you almost have to like educate them on what we do and how we do it. What was probably the time frame in the first situation? He said, you know what, I'm glad that we have joined because this could have really gotten way out of hand.

SPEAKER_01: 27:03

Just this is a really good question and a really solid answer, I think, here. Ed Wynne. Ed Wynn legal counsel. So when I first joined April, um, I mean, he he was giving the legal update, you know, and making sure people were staying in compliance. And I realized some of the things that I had done back home, some of my agreement and so on, wasn't in compliance. So right away we made adjustments and changed the content of the agreement. Um, I mean, we learned some things that we could do that I didn't even know. I didn't know that you could sell loss or damage waiver. And that's something I learned from joining April right away that this was an incredibly helpful thing to the clients because they were not able to pay for something that was lost, stolen, destroyed. And it was a good source of revenue for us too. So, because it covered those losses. And so right away we implemented loss of damage waiver, but it was that making sure that I knew how to rent to own, I knew how to sell, I knew how to collect, I knew how to build out my show floor. What I didn't know is what I didn't know. And Ed Wynne is the guy that brought that to me. And and and I would just I'd take copious notes. I'd sit in there and I'd come out of there with 18 legal pages of notes that I got out of Ed Wynne, and I'd go back home and tell Natalie, we got to do this, we got to do that, we got to make this change. I don't like how we're doing this. This I think is risky the way we're doing that. So made all those changes. And it was April that that took care of me and introduced me to Ed Wynne, but also other dealers that could answer questions and together we could go, what do we need to do? And and we were back then still working on getting laws passed in the states. And April did that for me, helped you I mean, unite um Renta Center and me and and the other independent dealers and Aaron's got us all united and and got into our state house, got with the State Department of Banking chair. If it wasn't for April, none of that would have happened. April was entirely responsible for for kingpinning all of those state laws that we're blessed to have now. So then when was your presidency? 2000 gosh, I'm gonna say I five, four right in there, something like that.

SPEAKER_00: 29:23

We're talking about initiating one of the first rent-to-own situations in 1982, all the way up to actually being president of something that you said probably helped you really kind of define how you can make the rent-to-own transaction better in your state. Yes. Which leads me to is there a Nebraska RDA or is it Iowa-Nebraska RDA now? It's Iowa, Nebraska.

SPEAKER_01: 29:44

There used to be a Nebraska standalone, but it had grown mostly dormant. We weren't having yearly meetings like we should have. And so Iowa and Nebraska combined, and now we have really uh much more interesting meetings, a lot more attendees. We can get sponsorships and and better speakers because we've got quite a few people there that represent quite a few stores amongst those two states. And and we work arm in arm. I mean, the Iowa and Nebraska dealers are all friends and all work towards operating a better rent-to-owned community.

SPEAKER_00: 30:18

Well, I tell you what, every time I talk about Ed Wen and uh we have our conversations, I feel like he's teaching a masterclass. Because every time I talk to Ed, you know, he's a man that he doesn't there's not a lot of small talk. When you talk to Ed, it's business. And every time I talk to Ed, I mean, he just he has so much knowledge and history, kind of those two together. Um, and I every time we talk, I just I feel like I like I even when I'm not taking notes, I should be. Yes, just because of all the things that he's gone through and seen and learned and and and kind of been a part of throughout his 40-something years uh being the legal counsel for for April, and it it was just it's just a wonderful story.

SPEAKER_01: 30:59

And he would tell it like it is no punches, cold, right? Yeah, and he would tell you if you were doing wrong. And I mean, he had such a uh dry wit that his seminars were not only informative but entertaining, right? And I I always enjoyed them, but um thank I mean he represented me later on as we acquired a couple of other rent-to-owned stores. Um, he represented me and made sure that we did everything right as we were making that purchase.

SPEAKER_00: 31:26

So and so we've gone from one in 1982 to 23 right now. 24. 24? Yeah, wow. Okay. That's that's amazing. First off, to to know that there's been a 44 year gap, and you have 23 stores are from what I hear doing very well.

SPEAKER_01: 31:42

Yeah, I mean, sure. Yeah, they're they're doing very well, and and it's thanks to a whole team of great people. Um, I've got uh staff that is just Second to none. We've got people that have been 30 years, you know, and lots in the 20 years, 10 year with the company. And so uh they really like it and they stay, they're cared about, they know that they're loved, they love what they're doing. They can get behind the mission of helping people to see a better quality of life, helping them get to ownership. It's not about the profit. Take care of the client, the profit will take care of itself. And and who doesn't like that way of thinking?

SPEAKER_00: 32:17

Oh, absolutely. So then let's flip that around. You got people that have been there, like you said, 30 years, you got 20 years. But it's never always all rainbows. No. Right? There are times where you hit those feed bumps because we never stopped. Rentone has never stopped, but it has hit those moments where, wow, this is a difficult situation. In your 44 years, your 24 stores, you've got these people that have been with you. What's one of the times where you hit something in the road that came up to you? Something that, you know, whether it be for advocacy, whether whether it was legal, whether you had a customer situation pop up that you never had before, that now maybe we go through a little bit easier. What's what's some time that you can say 44 years? This was a this was a time or two where it was it it got real.

SPEAKER_01: 33:01

These are some really good questions. And I'm gonna I have a two-part answer here because they're completely different subjects, but equally disappointing. So the first time a trusted employee stole from me, I mean, that one hit me right in the heart. Somebody that I really, really trusted. Um, my business partner Frank had used this guy as a babysitter, and and he turned around and burned us and was pocketing some money. Man, I mean, the first time that happened where you loved somebody and then you realized they didn't love you back, and in fact, they were intentionally trying to harm you, is a really tough pill to swallow. And I don't know that you ever get over the ding in your armor from that. Yeah. You you learn to trust but verify. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And and so that, that, and I mean it's happened a few times over the years. If you've been in business 44 years, you've had a few people that really were were uh wolves in sheep's clothing, right? And and they weren't what they said they were, and they stole from you or cheated from you. And so, ugh, that hurts. The second thing I would say is me as a leader in April, we've gotten so close to getting federal legislation. Um, during my time with the April board and as president, we've got legislation passed in the Senate and the House, but never at the same time. And when I was president, we got so, so close. We got it through the House, and I was absolutely convinced that we were going to figure out a way. And Rena Center and others were helping pull strings behind the scenes to find people that that we that would help us in the Senate, you know, sponsors, co-sponsors, many, many trips to Washington, D.C., many nights away from home, many coming home on Friday on the red eye flight after having been there several days lobbying members of Congress to support this thing. And then that the session ended, the term ended, and we still didn't get it. And I had to say, uh, defeat. And I hate defeat. And but well, we just, I mean, it wasn't possible. You know, we tried to tried to get our bill in with whatever else we could, any some kind of omnibus bill that had a lot of things that didn't have anything to do with rent to own, but our our issue just wasn't great enough to pass it on its own. And we'd always get edited out as bills were making their way through the house at the very end of the session. And ours was one of the subjects that would end up on the side of the road having been thrown off on the way so they could get it passed. That personally, for me, is as I wind up my career here, that's a deep disappointment that I wasn't able to, with the help of so many great dealers and so many politicians that really were trying to help, and and great members of the April staff that were trying to help. It was, it's just still, it's it's a burr under my saddle that we couldn't, despite all the good intentions, the lobbying, the grassroots, blood, sweat, and tears, we still couldn't get it done. And now I wonder, is it ever gonna get done?

SPEAKER_00: 36:14

I talked to Ed Wynn about that, and he was there was a lot, there was another side to that that he brought out. You know, uh sometimes when you when you make the federal law that also gives the federal uh eyeballs on certain things, and it's you know, being regulated in the state, um the way he put it might be a good idea to just leave it the way it is. Now, of course, I never think that it's a dead issue or a bad issue, but talking about that, those were a couple of things that hit you pretty hard. As an industry, because you've you've you've seen, you've talked to, like you said, uh Daryl Tissett, you've talked to Ferriman, you've talked to these guys that are really icons in this business. Daryl Tissett has out in the past. You know, an absolute leader and legend in this business. But you know, in going through these years, what do you think is one of the hardest things that the industry has gone through? Something that we we that it was tough to get through.

SPEAKER_01: 37:13

I still think, and it I think it's not only tough now, but I think it's it's an ongoing problem. And that is the virtual rent-to-owned companies that don't have boots on the ground, they don't have the ability to take product back, they don't have the ability to go out and service a TV or exchange it for them. They they just don't have that ability. To me, that's problematic in that we aren't. Earlier today, we heard in the legal session, be what you say you are. And and I know we those that have brick and mortar stores are what we say we are. We know we're in the rental purchase business, and and we are what we say. You can return it at any time. But the virtual rent-to-owned dealers that don't have anywhere to go return it, that's problematic for me. And I worry, and no disrespect intended to any of them. I don't personally have any axe to grind, but I worry about our transaction and how it's defined and whether people really believe that that is, that we're not credit, that we're a lease and not a credit sale, when in fact there's no way to return the product, which is the one thing that makes it so much different than a credit sale from some of these virtual online rent-to-owned companies. And so that troubles me. It's still troubling me, and I think it's something that this next generation of dealers ought to pay attention to and make sure that we protect the transaction and that we do the transaction, that we execute the transaction the way it's written, and and that we don't accept an imitation or something that is a hybrid of that.

SPEAKER_00: 38:53

How far off do you think that can be? Like you see it now. You see that it it has been around for a few years, that it might make rent to own seem, although it's not, it might make you know put eyes on us in a different light. How, in your opinion, how long do you think we have before it becomes a bigger problem?

SPEAKER_01: 39:13

Boy, if I had knew the answer to that, um million dollar question, I'd I'd probably be buying a lottery ticket. Um I don't know. Soon, soon, I mean, sooner than later, I think. Um right now, I think the politics as as it stands right now are a little more friendly than they've been in the past. Uh the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not at its strongest right now. And so I don't think it's coming in the next few years. Politics blow like the wind, right? I mean, from one from one term of president to the next really changes how America is enforcing regulations, rules, laws, and so on. Right now, I think it's fairly business friendly. But but those tides will turn again, and it's not, it won't be long before the consumer financial protection bureau is knocking at the door again. Or if they're not, there'll be another Henry B. Gonzalez. Yeah, God, right? And who will be after you, like literally wanting to shut down your business. And do you know why? Because he doesn't know what he's talking about. If he could spend a day, a week in the rent-to-own store and see this is not predatory lending. This is not lending at all. And these are not predators, these are people that care about their consumer a lot more than regular mom and pop retail. And I mean, that's I've had politicians in my store that learned all about the rent-to-owned industry. I invited them in when they were skeptical as to whether they would sign on as a co-sponsor. And when they came and spent a few hours in there, they would all, to a person, say, This is way different than I thought. This is not predatory in any way. This is this is small business at its very best.

SPEAKER_00: 40:58

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 40:58

And so, yeah, they'll be howling at us in some way, shape, or form. And I hope, I hope it's not about that transaction and that we don't have somebody that's done it, done us some harm. But I live in constant fear that that's gonna be a thing and and we're gonna have somebody that did something so regretful that it's gonna cause harm to all of us.

SPEAKER_00: 41:19

Just so you guys know, you know, if you are part of an you know, a rental dealer association in your state, whether it be the Florida, whether it be Missouri, whether it be Iowa, Nebraska, and you have the ability to have somebody come to your location and really, really see what we do. That is a that is a feather in your cap, something that you can do and really show the government of your area, of your town, of your county, of your state, this is how we run, because there is an idea out there that we're not running that way. And it's really not true. Let's take it back a little bit because so we have this idea, you know, there is this idea, this thought of rent to own. You said Welton was one of the first companies that said, you know what, we're gonna give you a shot. Who else was was some of the first initial vendors that said, you know what, I'm gonna believe in rent to own, even though maybe the Samsungs of the Zenith or whatever, they're not really interested in us right now, but we're gonna do that.

SPEAKER_01: 42:19

So it was Zenith, though. We had a local distributor right here in Omaha, truesdale distributing. Okay. And the and and I went over there to the actual show floor there in the distributor ship and and spoke with them. They sent me down in an office. They said, All right, look, this, let's see your credit. I filled it all out. They got back with me a couple days later, gave me a small line of credit. Eventually that got bigger and bigger and bigger as we paid on time each time. But Zenith took it a good chance with me. So did Ashley. Ashley was super helpful. I mean, they've been around way longer than me. But back in the day, I mean, rent-to-own wasn't even a thing. I was one of the early pioneers in this. There were not a lot of rent-to-own dealers when I opened my first store. No. And Ashley didn't understand how important rent to own would be to them at that time either. But thankfully, they evolved with us and ended up really being the furniture manufacturer that saw it first and said, this is going to be an important part of our of our business. So we got to pay attention to this. And so, yeah, Zenith, Ashley, those were a couple that came in. Then we had a local distributor that carried a line called Gibson, Gibson washers and dryers, Gibson refrigerators. And that was our first big appliance line, was Gibson. Later became Whirlpool. But back in the day, local distributor, guy by the name of Kaufman, sat with me and said, okay, I'll give you a chance, burn me once, you'll never be back here. So you better pay me, not just on time, but a few days early. You know, and and of course we paid on time because I didn't want to damage that line of credit. That was so valuable. It was one of the biggest problems was getting people to trust us and being able to at least get 30 days, sometimes 60 days, sometimes, as Steve Sherman gave me even 90 days to pay, it allowed me to continue growing my store.

SPEAKER_00: 44:09

I think that, I think that, you know, going back and seeing how important they were to the growth of what we do today. You know, those those vendors, those initial meetings and saying, hey, we believe in you enough to to to go. And then there was growth with that. Now, I don't see Zenith anymore. Obviously, they've been a you know a change of company, but you know, like you said, Ashley, I mean, they've been along for the ride. Yes. I remember when I first came on and you know, right at 2000, we were selling Welton products for years. Um, and it was because of those relationships that you'd helped forge. So as we're doing all this and we're going through the years, what's something that you would say to some of the people nowadays who didn't know about the relationship that we didn't have with Ashley, then that we didn't have with Zenith, that we didn't have with Welton, that you helped create. What are some of the things now that you would say to the next generation that are coming through that might help them with whatever is coming up next?

SPEAKER_01: 45:06

Well, I think the store experience has to get better. Um, we're we're now seeing a generation of people that want to shop only online. They they don't really even want any human contact. If we could just put the the item on their doorstep and they could carry it in themselves, they probably wouldn't. They wouldn't. They want to do all the signing virtually online. And so we've got to get better at that. We've got to learn to sell in places that are not in the store. Um, because if you're expecting footprints in your store to be the chief way that you're landing new agreements now, you're going to be really struggling for sales. So you've your online presence has to get better, your website has to get better, the functionality of it has to get better, lead management has to get better. That's a real thing. Referrals, um, I mean, landing referrals online on whatever your source, making sure that you've got good reviews. That's really important because people are going to be looking at that. But if you want people still to come to your store, and I do, we all do, then the in-store shopping experience needs to get even better. There needs to be something extraordinary that's going on in there. Yes. Festivals, fiestas, you know, what it's championing various different cultures. You know, maybe a black history um event in your store or something that that is marketed towards Latino people. You know, we we have something that we do in one of our stores we call Fiesta Sabido, where they we have a food truck vendor that comes out and makes tacos. And I mean, it's an event. It's not just we're bringing people in trying to sell them agreements. We'll have 80 groups of people in a 11, almost 12,000 square foot store. The place is absolutely packed, and it becomes a social event that people get off work, they go home and get cleaned up, and they come back to the to the party at Ace Rent to own because it's a social event. And I think it's those things that these new dealers they have to get better at. They have to see. It's not just the same old, same old. You can't just put some ads on Facebook and and virtual and you know, maybe some postcards in the mail to your current clients. That is not going to be enough. It needs to be event driven. And your in-store experience needs to get better. And for mercy's sake, learn to sell better without anybody ever coming into the store.

SPEAKER_00: 47:35

Yeah, yeah. I I I completely agree with you 100% on that. What do you think the biggest misconception then is for us that that you know might be hurting us right now? What do you think the biggest misconception of rent to own is?

SPEAKER_01: 47:48

What I think it is is I mean, it's still it's still we've beat it a lot, but we haven't beat it back entirely. And that is ripping off poor people. That we we could charge less and we just choose not to because we're profit mongers. And if they could see my books, I will roll open the books and show them that my margins are not better than your big box retailers, you know, and in some stores they're way worse. You know, I mean, so the the idea that we're basing our prices by trying to unfairly profit is so wrong. So if I mean, it's better, right? It's better. We're not turning on the nightly news and hearing, hey, you're ripping off poor people, predatory, this and that. Better, but it's not fixed yet. And so what I'd like to do is is is show the world what it's really like. Show the kinder, softer side, show the free time that we give away, letting people put their account on hold and coming back two years later and pick up right where they left off. They haven't lost anything. I I want to show that they can, in our stores, trade in anything at any time and get any other product in the store and we'll take all the money they've paid on that product, even though that is not a profitable transaction. It keeps the client satisfied and it gets them to ownership so they keep shopping with us and buying other things. It that's the misconception. We need to show the world better than we do that we're the kindest and friendliest industry and not predators that are unfairly profiting.

SPEAKER_00: 49:23

Yes. So we're going through, we're doing this legends podcast, and I can see the passion that you have for it. I feel the same way. Sometimes, you know, people that don't really understand rental own, you start talking about before you know it, you're standing there and you're talking about these things, the hands are going back and forth. And I tell people, my hands are going, I'm sorry. But it's because I believe in what we do. There was a time where it was a job. I don't think my career ever really started until I started believing. Until I started really seeing what we did. And when I started seeing what we did, that's when the passion grew for how can I let everybody else know about this? How can I, what more can I do to get everybody involved in the same space that I am? So here we are. We're at RTO World 2025. We are going down the Legends series. We're helping Apro and all of our listeners understand what happened, where we came from. What's something that you would like to see come out of this type of series?

SPEAKER_01: 50:33

I think so many of us rent-to-owned dealers don't understand or not understand it strong enough that there are other agencies, other groups that can help. We are members of the Better Business Bureau. And we're one of the few. There's hardly any rent-to-owned stores that join and become members of the Better Business Bureau. And not only are we that, um, at one point, I think it was 2017, we got the Better Business Bureau Integrity Award. And this is in the largest category in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota. The people that make the Better Business Bureau what it is, their board of directors, saw that Ace Rent to Own was the member of the highest level of integrity that despite the fact that most of our business is not selling, but it's collecting, we still have no unresolved complaints. So rather than run and hide from a group like the Better Business Bureau and just say, we'll never be able to satisfy, we came in with both feet forward and said, no, show us what we need to do better. Show us how to solve complaints, show us what we're doing wrong, and show us what we need to do for you to bestow such an honor on us. And so I think better business bureaus, a chamber of commerce, there's local business organizations that you can join. Um we I got the uh Rotary Club ward. It's it's uh the called the Golden Wheel Award from the Rotary Club for the work that we do with our charitable side of the business and got to go give a speech in front of the Rotary Club. But these other groups that I'm telling you about, when you open a new store, they will show up there and do a ribbon cutting. And every member of their board of directors for the local chamber of commerce will show up and become a mouthpiece for you. They're they may not be interested in shopping with you, but they can tell others what you do, and they can help you one person at a time dispel any of those myths about ripping off poor people or unfairly profiting. And they can actually tell your story as well as you can if you'll just invite them in and show them how to do that. The other thing I would say is you're never too old to learn more. Here I am, 65 years old. I'm back again to go to the seminars here and learn what I don't know or that I can do better. There is never an April or TRI event that I don't go home with something else that's a really important tidbit or multiple tidbits. So get on your plane or get in your car and come to April, come to the TRIB events, come learn more, interact with the dealers, um, become a stronger, better, more convicted dealer that you're gonna do business the right way than you've ever been before by building those friendships that you asked me about, mentors, friends who you can turn to when times get tough or when you're not sure what to do? Don't stay at home and think you've got it all figured out, because you don't. And so everyone should come. If you've got a rent-to-owned store, or if you've got a thousand rent-to-owned stores, get to these events and learn what you can do better. Learn from the people that love it like you love it.

SPEAKER_00: 53:50

So, what would you say you want the Lynn Leach legacy to say if if if somebody else is sitting here? I'm I'm a little younger than you are, so there might be a time frame where you're like, I'm gonna take a step back. This is gonna be somebody else, uh, whether it be your son that's sitting here, maybe in a couple years, or somebody else. What would you want us to say was Lynn Leach's legacy? How do you want to be remembered?

SPEAKER_01: 54:14

I that's a another good question. I I want to be remembered as someone who truly loved the industry and all members of it and got loved back. That that I understand the value. Look, let's say you're a car dealer and you've got somebody that comes in and trades in a late model Cadillac on a brand new Cadillac, that's a big day for that guy that's getting his new car. It's a fun day, right? Cool. That's that's not life-changing, but it's a cool day. But in our industry, when we back up the truck and we bring in a bunk bed and we help them get it assembled, and you've got kids that were sleeping on a love seat and in the recliner, and now all of a sudden they've got a comfortable, safe bed, and you watch them run over and hug on their mama's legs and say, Thanks, mom, for the nice bed. Or you're backing up the truck on Thanksgiving Eve and unloading a range so that they can finally have a family meal, not made in the microwave or on a hot plate, but made in a real oven. Or maybe it's a dining set that they need. And now instead of having to eat on TV trays in the living room, this rental purchase store was able to get them a seven-piece dining set so the whole family can gather now and have some critically important family time. I'd like to be remembered as somebody that that loved the industry enough to see that value and see what it did for me and develop in me the ability to have that warm, fuzzy feeling that I'm doing well for people, that I'm doing right for them, to give me a profitable business, but at the same time provide them some critically important things that improve the quality of life for their family to get loved and be loved back. That that would be how I'd like to be remembered. Saying a lot.

SPEAKER_00: 56:09

But I think you got it. I think I think you're there. So, guys, I'm gonna tell you right now, this is why we have the legends here. It's because there's so much that they can teach us. There's so much knowledge that we have in the past and going towards the future. Lynn Leach here has been doing a wonderful job at kind of explaining how things have been, how things were, and hopefully how things will be. So we're gonna be looking forward to seeing you on the next podcast, but we want you to know, please, join us online always. You can see us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and now YouTube where you'll be able to see this. We want you to subscribe. And as always, I'm gonna tell you I'm so glad you're on the show, and I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01: 56:50

Thank you for having me. It's been a real pleasure.

SPEAKER_00: 56:52

Absolutely get your collections low to get your sales high. Have a great one.