.png)
The RTO Show: "Let's talk Rent to Own"
The RTO Show Podcast is the podcast for the rent-to-own industry, hosted by Pete Shau, an industry insider with more than 20 years of experience in RTO operations, sales, leadership, marketing, and store growth.
Each episode brings candid conversations, practical insights, and real stories from the people shaping the RTO community, including operators, vendors, association leaders, store teams, industry veterans, and innovators helping move rent-to-own forward.
Pete’s conversations are built for seasoned veterans, newcomers, owners, managers, vendors, and anyone who wants to learn from the shared experiences, hard-earned lessons, and fresh perspectives inside the rent-to-own industry.
From lead generation, lead management, customer behavior, store traffic, door swings, sales process, collections, training, recruitment, and leadership development to technology, CRM integration, mobile-first shopping, Google ranking, Facebook ads, video marketing, advocacy, APRO, TRIB Group, RTO World, LegCon, and the future of the rent-to-own business model, The RTO Show helps listeners understand what is really happening in RTO.
If you work in RTO, serve the RTO industry, or want to better understand the people, challenges, trends, and opportunities behind rent-to-own, The RTO Show Podcast is your insider’s guide to the industry’s pulse.
Join The RTO Newsletter: https://bit.ly/RTOPODnewsletter
Learn More About Sponsorship: https://bit.ly/RTOPODsponsor
The RTO Show: "Let's talk Rent to Own"
The RTO Show LIVE at RTO WORLD 2026
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
If rent to own does not define itself, someone else will. Charles Smitherman of APRO and Adam Sutton of RNR Tire Express break down how culture, clear language, and AI search shape the future of the rent-to-own industry.
Recorded live at RTO World 2026 in West Palm Beach, this episode of The RTO Show Podcast brings host Pete Shau together with two of the RTO community's most active leaders. Charles Smitherman, CEO of APRO (the Association of Professional Rental Organizations), explains why telling the industry's story first matters more than ever as people turn to AI for answers. Adam Sutton, CEO of RNR Tire Express, shares how DX3 (culture, customers, and community) helped his franchise earn a spot on the 2026 Franchise Culture 100 list.
The conversation moves from franchise culture and leadership development to subscription thinking, product as a service, APRO's updated best practices, and the push for a self-regulating industry. It closes with practical GEO toolkits for RTO members and the lessons learned from the New York ELSA Act advocacy effort. Pete also shares what it meant to receive the Heritage Award at RTO World.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- How RNR Tire Express builds a value-driven culture with DX3 and the "team member" mindset
- Why repetition, encouragement, and a "fail fast" attitude help teams change culture
- How subscription thinking and product as a service explain what RTO customers value
- Why repeating APRO's core truths about rent to own helps customers, lawmakers, and AI engines get the transaction right
- What RTO operators can do now to improve marketing and compliance messaging with the APRO GEO toolkit
Join The RTO Newsletter: https://bit.ly/RTOPODnewsletter
Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/4wpbUqF
Subscribe on Spotify: https://bit.ly/RTOPODspotify
Learn More About Sponsorship: https://bit.ly/RTOPODsponsor
Welcome To RTO World 2026
Pete ShauHello and welcome to the RTO show, the only number one rated and award-winning podcast of RTO World 2026. Listen, guys, if you haven't had a chance to come down to any one of the RTO worlds, you are missing out. This is something to behold. Educational sessions. You get to walk the halls with some amazing legends. You get to learn one-on-one with them. We got Tissid Talks. We got Charles doing push-ups on the stage. Amazing. We've got some other things going on, but first, I want to tell you about the sponsors that make this possible. Number one, April is the premier sponsor of the RTO show because you know what? They are here to help it get it done, whether it be the GEO, whether it be the legal council, whether we get a whole list of them telling us you should do this the right way because we want to be good people. That's right. We just want to be good people. And the newest sponsor of the RTO show is RR Tire Express. If you guys are looking for a franchise, that's where you need to be. Now, right now, let me introduce my esteemed, esteemed, authored guest, Charles Smith herwin, who is being introduced while we
Meet Charles Smitherman And Adam Sutton
Pete Shauhave the radio going on.
SPEAKER_03I feel like that's like a WWE theme song.
Pete ShauThat is. I think I'm waiting for you to walk down the aisle and just you know tackle or you know smear.
SPEAKER_03You took your shirt on this time. I love the shortcut.
Pete ShauYou took a shirt off or push out later. In case you don't know, Dr. Charles Smithman, who is the CEO of APRO. Now, we just recently had a name change too. We are now the Association of Professional Rental Organizations because we are forward thinking. Not only that, there is so much going on in the RTO landscape that they're helping us out with. We're gonna go over that a little bit. And author of the RTO Revolution, and what's the name of your book? Yeah, the esteemed author. You have your book that came out as well. I've got a few. Oh man. You know, so many he can't.
SPEAKER_01You know what?
Pete ShauExcuse me. He's the author of this book and the other ones we're not gonna mention. So how how's it going, Charles? How uh today, right now, quick overview. How is the show going?
SPEAKER_00You know, it's going about as well as we could have hoped for. I really, yeah. Uh this is such a you know, we work on this for years in advance, and uh just to be here, see it all kind of come to come into being, come into fruition, is such a cool thing. So yeah, it's going about as well as we can hope for. This is a great venue for us. Uh makers a lot of excitement.
Pete ShauAbsolutely. West Palm Beach, you can't get any better than this. Except now with my co-host, it gets a little bit better. I've got Adam Sutton here, second generation CEO to R NRT Express, son of legendary Larry Sutton. How is today going?
SPEAKER_03Today is going well. If you don't mind, I'm gonna answer your last question because he has to give a political answer because he's I know he does. Uh, but I I think the show is going amazing. It's hard to up it every year and to make it as good as last year, even better. And Charles, his amazing team, uh, all the people that put time into this really care about the industry and it comes through in everything that you see here and the the content that they were putting out. So I just to answer last question, even though you didn't ask me, I think the show is going amazing. If you have not come, you need to come.
Pete ShauYou guys need to be here. And uh, I just went, I just want to know, was it like personal when you were up there doing the push-ups? Was it was it personal? Was it just I got I'm going to get this done?
SPEAKER_00I I I I felt the weight of the industry on on you know, I didn't want to let anybody down. I I challenged the guy, so I felt like I had to.
Pete ShauSo for in context, Charles is on stage doing push-ups against the American Ninja Warrior keynote speaker, and he literally comes out one ahead. Now, I don't know if it was our bad counting or we kind of gave it to him, but I can tell you what, he looked good up there doing it because he is a triathlon county.
SPEAKER_03We use RTO
The Heritage Award And Why It Matters
SPEAKER_03math, but and this isn't uh uh scripted, you didn't pay me to say this, but I do have to add there is something on the table I requested to put here, which is this lovely Heritage Award. No, not this, not this. We're going somewhere else. If you don't have this, you should buy it, you should get it, great stuff. But this bad boy right here, Charles, you would have do you mind sharing what what Pete, our very own Pete Shaw, was awarded uh yesterday?
SPEAKER_00So Pete was recognized for as the this year's Heritage Award.
Pete ShauThe Heritage Award? I won the Heritage Award. And I'm gonna tell you guys, if you don't know me, that was a huge, huge moment for the show for me. I love rent to own. I I don't do anything but rent to own literally in my life as my day job and my secondary. This is what I do, and to be recognized by the industry is so amazing, and I do appreciate that. And everybody that voted for the RTO show to get this award, thank you so much. But I couldn't do it without you. So, saying all that, you know, talking about great things, talking about what we have here, we also want to talk about culture.
Franchise Culture Wins With DX3
Pete ShauR has been listed. There's Mike Tisson right there, listed as the 2026 franchise culture 100 list for like some amazing. I'm gonna I'm gonna get into the stats of this in a second. But first off, to be on that list is amazing. How did you do it? I mean, R Tire Express has gone through like some tremendous changes. You get the name change, the franchise starts shooting through the roof, and now you got the scores to prove that this is what you do.
SPEAKER_03It's uh it's a lot of bribery, uh, a lot of twisting of arms and begging and pleading. No, uh no, the reason why I love this particular award is because it's actually represents our franchise support team and all the support that they give and our franchisees. And um, you know, we you know very well we have a thing we call DX3, uh DX3 right here, which is driven by our three core values culture, customers, and community. So it's really our goal every day. We come in the office and we try to create a value-driven experience across those three values. And our team uh won this, they deserve it, and and I'm just honored to watch what they do every day.
Pete ShauI'm gonna tell you guys, let me just share some stats with you and how you get here because Charles is no he he's no second place to this. They've actually changed April, and not that April was in a bad spot, it's just in a better one. Everybody here loves it to death. You guys should have seen yesterday. Talisha, is it Wendell?
SPEAKER_00Wendelly.
Pete ShauWendelly. I mean, it was I hate to say it, I was shedding a tear. I was trying, yeah, I'm not and what did I hear? I'm not crying, you're crying. But it's one of those things that when you when you have a family like this, it just doesn't get any better than this, unless you happen to be an RR franchisee. Listen here. Honesty and integrity. They scored 97% out of a 76% high. They've got an enjoyment of organization. They scored 95% out of an 80% high. They're killing these stats. Respect 94% over 78, team culture 94% over 74, and trust 94% over 73 scores. So, in other words, they're killing it in every aspect to make it just a place that you want to be. And not only that, a place where you want to open your family's legacy and start right off the bat with an RR tire express. I'm listening, not trying to kiss this. It is what it is. They are doing a great job. And if you want to do something about it, you need to call Trish. Yeah. I was gonna say RR franchise. Don't call him and don't call me. Don't call me.
SPEAKER_03I'm having love a call, but uh, you're not gonna get called.
SPEAKER_01Don't call me, don't call me. I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_03RRfranchise.com. Check it out if you haven't listened if you're guys honored by those numbers. Thank you for reading that.
Pete ShauAnd not only that, I believe that Apro scored some awards as well. So as we're going through the awards section here, uh, there were two awards that Apro had received.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you know, we've been doing a little bit of AI stuff, uh generative engine optimization. Uh, that's all I've been talking about for really the past.
SPEAKER_03What is this AI you speak of?
SPEAKER_00It's this uh you saw the matrix. It's yeah, it's that coming to life, yeah. Um so we we've been doing a lot really in terms of narrative, in terms of trying to refrain the industry in a positive way. And I I truly believe we're on the tip of the spirit. Uh there's a there's a lot that we've been able to do. And so we uh as an association, we're involved in associations. That's how we get our professional development. We learn from what other trade groups, membership organizations are doing. And uh we've been honored by the American Society of Association Executives with uh an advocacy award. Um, and we've also been uh awarded one from the Texas Society of Association Executives. We've won their Impact Award for the year. We're the sole winner of that, which is really exciting. Uh we've been around for 45 years and to kind of get some recognition from the things we've got is awesome. Absolutely.
Pete ShauI want to say, you know, as we're sitting on this award-winning panel, which I love to say, I mean, we talk about RTO, but really it's it's a relationship business. The relationship not only do we have with the customers, we have with each other. To be a part of Abraham is to be a part of a larger group, a family that understands that when one of us do it, we all do it. If we all want to give to our community, we're all gonna do it together as one. When we're going out to educate, when we're going out to help whoever is in need, whether it be leadership, entrepreneurship, or doing push-ups on the stage and teaching them how to be fit. That's what we do all together. Talking about that, there's a couple of people that I would like to recognize because as we were talking about that, these are the groups that came through as far as this list is concerned. Now, there were five uh members of RO Tire Express that also came up on the 2026 modern tire dealer.
SPEAKER_03These are some of our top franchisees, yeah.
Pete ShauSo these guys, and and listen, nothing wrong with the rest. These guys just stand out a little bit more because they are legends in this industry and they know what they're doing. Number one, Gulf Coast, LP Incorporated, uh, from Moss Point, that is the Strunks. Listen, I they that doesn't get much better than the Strunks. I mean, whether you're on one side of the industry or the other, whether you're in DC, whether you're talking about legends, whether you're talking about the family, you're talking about Shannon, you're talking about Shane, you're talking about Cynthia. They are everything RTO. We love them. Rental Concepts LLC from Fayetteville. That's David Harrison's group. Oh, I wish David Harrison was here, right? I love David. I wish I could dress like David.
SPEAKER_00David's the best dress guy.
Pete ShauHe's the slickest-looking guy at RTO, man. He makes sense.
SPEAKER_03He's he's been working out too. I don't know if you're thinking about you guys having fun tests.
Pete ShauWhy are you supporting that, Charles? I I hope for that.
SPEAKER_03I think he started, I think he started a trend. I think he started a trend.
Pete ShauAs far as uh RIMS is concerned, RIMS is a major, major corporation. They are just killing it. Um, inside R Tire Express. Yeah, absolutely. So we got RIMS USA LLC, RR of Missouri LLC. Also the guys in St. Louis or out of St. Louis, Larry Caracos guys.
SPEAKER_03Speaking of legends.
Pete ShauTalking about legends, I mean, he is just killing it. Oh, Rent One expanding more this year to top over 100. Am I right?
SPEAKER_00That's right.
Pete ShauAnd he has RRs. He does. We love you, Larry. We're just saying that on both sides of the coin. There's no one way or the other, they'll fight for you later. And then uh SPF management, which is literally RR Tire Express, run by Matthew Warren. Um, listen, that that's home, that's home state. So if we want to call it, we have the guys out there who are doing it under the franchise, but we also do it right here at home. When you're talking about Tampa, Florida, that's where we're at. And we we we are just like everybody else. We're gonna get it done. We're gonna be there for our communities, and we're gonna do some DX3. I don't have a I don't have my DX3.
SPEAKER_03I wish I had some, I wish I had Charles Musklex. But I don't know if you said it, but they all of those folks made it uh on the 2026 Modern Tiger Dealer 100 list. That's a top 100. It's really uh proud of those guys. And our team.
SPEAKER_00I'll say, you know, with Apro, we get we publish a weekly newsletter with news from the industry. It really, it's really a brag piece about our members, particularly student in the community. And I will say every week we are getting an RR award, an R story. Uh so it's just really I I am gonna agree.
Pete ShauEvery time I have something, uh it's really hard to not have to skip over the R, but I do get it quite a bit. But you know, to tell you guys right now, um, before we get into the real big segments, April's been doing a really big push as far as social media is concerned, talking about coming something on over and over and over again. One of the things that uh I've seen more, Charles, and you can talk about this real quickly, but I see more postings, I see more snippets of, you know, even the Legend series that's come out. Uh we've got the book here. You know, he helped write the RTO revolution. This was a huge push in the right direction. And if you ever read the book, yes, it does sound a little bit different. You want to know why? Because it's actually written for GEO. This is so that it can be seen and you will see more of it. AI minded on everything you do. Right now, there is a huge push to put April and RTO forward. Where did that come from?
SPEAKER_00Well, it's needed. I I think the you know, we we've always lived in this industry as if we're not telling our story, someone else will. And that's right. This is you know, there's just a great opportunity right now with AI, kind of a leveling. Uh, in the past, you had to do a lot of SEO. Yeah, that's it. Kind of earning that that piece. Now, if there's a vacuum there, which there's a huge vacuum, this book it filled a big piece of the vacuum telling that history, telling that story. Um, from a from a firsthand account in most places, thanks to our friend over here.
Pete ShauJust so you're aware that we helped out with the RTO revolution book. That's right. That's right. You know, it I and I and I love the fact that it's forward thinking. I hate being reactive. Yes. And I know that you've said that before, too. There's no way to be uh reactive to your situation. You have to be thinking forward and you have to attack it. If you want good culture, you have to go for it. If you want to be right with your community, don't wait for them to say, hey guys, you haven't showed up. Show up ahead of time and be there for them. So, what I can tell you is one of the ways that they've also done it, not only do they have the book, not only are they putting out more social media, there is a leap program. And the leap program is like these educational programs that April is putting out with the leaders of our RTO industry, which I will be on there September 8th and we'll see you there. Mark your calendar. But mark your calendar. But this is leaders in the industry.
SPEAKER_03The award-winning September 8th.
Pete ShauThe award winning. I love the sound of that. But we are also putting these on for you. Then you can also go back and see those later on, right? If you can't make it to that meeting, it's okay. You can actually go back as an as an A Pro member and watch that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, we've got we've been doing this for now a year and a half or so. Maybe we were up to 17 or 18 of those sessions. So a lot of topics. So, I mean, I think that's just kind of where we are. We're we're we're now at a position. We're a pro and we're pro all of these things. Uh, what I want to what we're trying to do is proactive, not being on the back foot, not really having to defend ourselves because there's nothing here to defend. We need to be proud of who we are, what we do. I think everything we're doing on the social, everything we're doing here with this book, all this content we're doing is really just telling our story. Uh, the social stuff is great, but we're doing a lot of human stories like customers, employees, uh, expressing the value. That's it. Yeah, the best people to say it are the people that are actually affected by it. We when we do any type of advocacy, any type of lobbying, and be able someone to be able to say, This is how this has impacting me. I am one of the 20 households in this country that uses rent to own in a year. I am one of the 7 million people that's affected, and rent to own helps by giving me this option. And so being proud and being proactive, that that's really what we're trying to do, and that's where all this really fits in. Absolutely.
Pete ShauI tell you, the reasons that we started the podcast was because we heard a lot of one side. We didn't hear enough on the other. There are hundreds of people in this gathering right now that would get their left leg to keep on doing what they're doing because they believe in the transaction. We're here to help in every single community that we're in, whether we're doing, and I know we'll get into that later because RNR has some big shoes to fill for anybody else who decides to do it. I mean, they give away charities, and your father is a very big help on that. I mean, he's very charitable. Uh I, you know, I'm just saying, guys, right now, it puts it puts a tear to my eye. It it's what we do, and we do it through not only the regular rent-to-owned transaction or the lease-to-owned transaction, we provide a good way to get home. We provide a safe way to get to work, we provide a good night's sleep, we provide an ability for your kids to do homework. And it's not that we're trying to say, hey, we're the best, but we're here to help, especially in the economy that we're in right now. People are feeling it, it's getting tight. Paychecks haven't changed, but things have gone up. Milk's gone up, gas has gone up, rent has gone up. I'm sorry, Anthony, I know I'm looking at you, but rent has gone up. He pays more than anybody I know. And you know why? Because it's that's what it takes to live in a free country. And at the same time, we're gonna do what we can to help others around us. Talking about that, because you have this guy right here, has really been forward thinking in RR Tyrone Express to getting the culture to where it is.
Building Culture In A Me World
Pete ShauCulture driven has been probably one of the one things I've probably heard as a consistent drum beat as I've been at RR. It is culture, culture, culture. And it's really important to maintain that. But as we go into that, right now, and you know, and we're just calling it what it is. Right now, everybody's on TikTok, they're looking at themselves, they're posting on Instagram, they're posting selfies. So when you're in a world of it's it's about me right now, how do you get that culture to shine? What is it that you do to put culture in the forefront and say, you know what, this is what we believe in time and time and time again?
SPEAKER_03That's a great question. Um, when you find that answer, let me know. Uh so no, I I think you're right. I think, I think it is a very much about me culture. You know, it's very much uh uh moved to a transactional culture, if you will, you know, with the the very good things, very good reasons for convenience and uh speed delivery and all these things of I used to have to drive somewhere and go get it, now it comes to me. Um and so it can be difficult um in that to carve out that space. But for us, we we trying to build a value-driven culture, we don't, you know this very well, uh, we don't use the word employee as an example. We use the word team member, right? And um not that it's like a stickler on words, but it's it's more of a mindset for an employee is transaction, right? So uh that that that it can be replaced, it's a number. But a team member is two things. One, they are on our team and that that we're paying them. That comes with responsibility. We got to help them do the responsibility, equip them, and empower them to do it. But more importantly, as a company, I believe, to be a value-driven company, which is our ultimate goal, um, uh we're on their team. And it's a mindset of saying, hey, it is a world that they're used to being about them, and we want to help that a little bit. We're gonna help them shine and make them better and and more even impactful they've ever been. But it's also drawing them into that community of the company and and making it about not us as the company, but us as as the people that are the company. And so it's difficult, but I I honestly I think some of the uh the the younger generations that are coming in now are more primed, hungry, and ready for that community and uh that true value because COVID, all these things that have happened, and there's been such a disconnect. And I really think they crave it. So that's really the rent-to-owned industry we're in. It's relationship driven. I think that's what the company should be about as well. And when you nurture and and uh and promote those relationships, uh great things happen.
Pete ShauSo I and I know that it's not easy. It's not easy to do. It's easy to say, hey, we're gonna have this wonderful culture. And what it takes is Michael Wall standing right there, we're pointing him out. Um, but what it takes is dedication, right? So how how was how was the start of that? When you started putting culture up front, what did it take? What were the like you know, the steps that you had to say, you know what? Um, right now this is where I believe we are, and this is where I know I want to be. How did you start those steps to get the company, the culture, the teammates in that direction?
SPEAKER_03Sure. So
Systemizing Values With Accountability
SPEAKER_03I I was blessed to be able to, I came back uh nine years ago, I believe. Um I worked at at R in 2000 for a couple years when uh my father started it. Rint and roll back in the day. Anybody that's listening, by the way, we are no longer rent and roll. Can I do a shame?
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna tell you right now it gets a little twitch in his eye when you say R and R. It's no longer rent and roll. It's RR. No, give you it.
SPEAKER_03We we love rent and roll, but we are Rigre Express. What's the R R mean? It doesn't matter. Uh no, so it's a great acronym. So my father had built a great foundation, and and all the people at the company had really built the great foundation and what we now call kind of a serve not service uh you know experience. And um, but we were growing fast. We were we were gonna be a hundred stores soon. Um, and that was I think we hit a hundred stores in 2018. And so I just kind of looked at it and said, okay, how do we how do we take the the best of who we are and the best of my father's legacy, how he's lived his life? I used to travel, as you know, as a kid and just watch him the way he treated people. That's why we say team member, because he never had an employee, right? He was always on their team. And um, but how do you memorialize that? Because he's not going to be able to talk to every single team member. And us as a franchise or as you grow in scale, we're not gonna be able to have that direct contact. And highest level, I'll just tell you um the DX3 thing, that's where that came about. My previous life, I had the pleasure of working with uh two of my favorite uh clients, but also experiences as a consumer, which is Disney and Chick-fil-A. And I just kept asking the question how can you go to a Disney uh uh Chick-fil-A location and get the same experience at each location every time? Absolutely, and and and we wanted to emulate that so we kind of framed it and and kind of productized it and looked at what they did and then tried to just really encapsulate communicating what our values are and and empowering them to achieve it. And then the the last part, hardest part, is to hold your company uh to that standard.
Pete ShauThe accountability piece is is huge. And I and I, you know, April's done an amazing job of changing the culture as well because as you've come in, I I see the smiles on the faces of the people that you are slave drive. No, I'm just kidding. But I listen, these guys work hard and yet they love to do it if you ask them. I mean, listen, Talisha works hard when they were mentioning all the things that she did. Charles, I just want to say she's working extremely hard, but she loved it and she wouldn't be anywhere else. And that's the culture that you want to you want to have because they don't do it just because they don't just clock in to clock out, and then they gotta check. They love the industry, they love what they do and they love who they work for, and it's really important. And this is something I kind of want to share with both of you. So, what are some hurdles that you have? You want to be culture driven in the sense that I want you to come here, I want you to be here, I want you to express how you feel. It's okay to have that talk for back and forth because as much as I'm gonna listen, I want you to listen to me, I want to listen to you. Let's take that into accountability. How can we make this better? Going both ways and both CEOs, what are some things? That you came across, and how did you overcome those for some of the guys who are at home listening and going, I want to change it, but but man, my guys, they're they're they're a little bit hard off, you know, hard off the cuff. Like, what are some things that you would say, this is what we came across, and this is how I got over it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I you know, I I love what Adam does with DX3. I every time I I hear about it, I always pick up something else. Um you know, and I think that there's an openness to being able to listen and learn from those things. Absolutely. I you know, one thing I think that we we really I kind of came in and very much got a very iterative look, perfection is the enemy of the good. We've got to keep moving, we've got to keep improving. And with that, there's a fail fast. Um it's okay to fail, just fail fast. Fail fast. We're going to make mistakes, and that is fine. But I want people to be, my staff, I think they feel that uh freedom, freedom to be, you know, um to try new things. Because that's we don't we don't bring a lot of the cool things we're seeing around here unless we're willing to try it. And we I think we're doing we're getting more things right than we're getting wrong, and that's fine. But I want to make I want to make some mistakes along the way too. And I think uh kind of getting the staff kind of comfortable with that type of orientation and mindset. Uh, but I think also it's the mindset part. Uh what the work that we do, all of us do, with what we provide to a customer at the end of the day is important work. Yeah, we're able to provide it from a very high, you know, 30,000 foot level for the entire industry. And I think our staff's very much bought into the mission that we have. And we've we're we're tethered to that mission. I think the the cool thing about DX3 is you you have a tether to that. You know what your purpose is and what that framing is every day. There's no kind of guessing or work, you know, this deviation that comes from that. You know, hey, is this mission-driven? Is this part of what we're trying to do? And if it is, we're going to do it. And if it's not, if it's out here, then that that's outside of what we'll say about that.
Pete ShauThat's outside of the scope. It's it's it's fail fast. I love it. What would you say is something that you faced changing the culture around to be on that list? And it's not always about being on the list, but it's great to be recognized for the work that you do, and the people around you are saying, you know what has made a difference? What's something that you come across?
SPEAKER_03So I think you, you know, you first have to define what that is, right? And and then I call productize or systemize that and and uh kind of make that. We tried to make it a little bit sexy, you know. Uh DX3, nobody's gonna walk around. I want to be driven by all of our values. You know, it's like, oh, but DX3, okay, DX3 mindset. So, but I think I think you just can't stop talking about it. My uncle Slats, who founded Buddy, uh, Buddy's Home Furnishing, Buddy Buy right back in the day. Uh, my great uncle Slats, um, amazing man. He used to always say in his his leaders' meetings, you've heard me say this a few times as well. Uh, it's like mud on the wall. Whenever you're talking to your leadership, your teams, you you you throw mud on the wall, most of it comes down, but every time a little bit sticks. And so, you know, and I think in our position, I've heard I think somebody this morning, the CRO, chief repetition officer, I love that. I love that actually. I stole from somebody, you know, CEO is the chief encouragement officer. So uh you just have to keep to uh not stop talking about it and keep encouraging it and then empowering them to do it along the way.
Pete ShauSo I want to I want to go a little bit opposite right now. So, and maybe you can help me with this too, Charles, because you you you have a way of looking at things as well. But how do you know if you're the one that's holding back, bottlenecking, slowing down to culture change? Because maybe your guys are ready for it. Maybe they're interested in getting to the next level. Like you said, there's a lot of new people coming in, there's a lot of younger people that are coming in hungry, expectant, ready.
SPEAKER_03How do we know if we're not the ones holding them back? Yeah, that's a really good question. I think you have to ask people. And I think you also have to be Charles Charles, are we are we holding him back?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. Yeah, no, I think I think you're we need to talk. We need to talk out of it. Fail fast.
SPEAKER_03There's some people you don't ask. You know, Jonathan Rose is somebody I've learned not to standing right there. Just you guys know he's standing right there. I love I love Jonathan. Um, so no, but you not only do you have to ask, but you have to you have to genuinely want to hear the answer, you know. And um, we heard recently in a leadership talk, this guy talked about uh, you know, you don't know what your blind spots are. Uh so somebody else has got to tell you, right? And so if you know if you're walking around like you got everything together, um, you know, uh you probably don't. So you got to have an open, trusting team that you're honest with them, you know, two-way feedback and they're honest with you and constantly improving, right? You can't get lost in that. You can get as a leader of mental gymnastics and always trying to, you know, but you need to be confident, but you you just need to be open to it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that. And I'd I would say something similar to that. Like being there's a saying that the beginners, in the beginner's mind, the or in the expert's mind, the possibilities are limited. In the beginner's mind, the possibilities are limitless. And I think having that beginner's mindset, because there's an honesty you have to have with yourself. Like, I I'm not perfect. I mean, I I have bad ideas and there are I have bad ideas. Um, but I've got a staff that will challenge me on that. Uh, and I've got a it's a it's a working thing too to be open to um making mistakes, and uh, and there's a vulnerability I think that comes across with that too, with particularly people you're trying to lead and trying to get to follow you and have confidence in the things that you're doing and in you, um, then I think that that does come across with that. So um and knowing you you being open to listening about DX3 values five all these things that we like here with these education things, keynotes. He's killing me. He's literally killing me.
SPEAKER_03He's not cussing right now, though. I think they're not playing music to cancel out.
SPEAKER_00He's he's literally killing me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I think I saw Michael Helton over there was turning up the uh the volume, I believe.
Pete ShauSo, you know, I just want to say the way I see it is culture's a team sport. Yeah, you can coach it or you can play in it, but it takes two to tango, be a part of it, whether it's the top end or the bottom end, contribute your way, make sure that you understand we're all in this together and we're trying to make it right. And if you play your part in the culture game and you play your part and you play your part, those blind spots get a little bit smaller every single day. I got a lot of spots. Absolutely.
2026 Market Shifts And Competition
Pete ShauSo talking about talking about expansion in 2026, uh, you know, I've seen good things and I've seen bad things. There's been a couple of there's been a couple of closures, there's been a couple of takeovers, but that's not always bad. You know, sometimes you hear in the news like, hey, we lost a couple of stores, hey, we're not where we used to be. But is that always bad, Charles? Is it to is it to say, you know, yeah, let's look at the whole picture and not just a snippet of it and say, you know what, underperforming stores or stores that are not on key, it allows to free up some revenues for people to do better cash flow, to have better business in the stores that they're in, and keep people employed. Is that a part of it as well?
SPEAKER_00No, I think there's uh there's an efficiency that's happening uh and an adaptation to the realities of what the world looks like in 2026. It's a lot of things that are kind of happening. We've got a lot of things that are moving online. We've got a customer that is uh the customer base that's changing. We've got new generations that have different buying preferences, different preferences, how they get information, how they see things uh that weren't necessarily available to to us when we were certainly that age and to our parents from the way that they shop and uh interact. And so I, you know, there's kind of a correction, I think, in some ways, but I don't necessarily see it's a bad thing. There's an evolution that's that's happening.
Pete ShauSo coming out of these other all these other names that are happening in the lease-to-own world or payment world, there's something that they don't have is the ability to return the item, the serviceability of those items, which not to mention on a furniture and the wheel side is huge. Okay, you get a flat tire, your day is over. It takes four tires to ride, it takes one to stop you. If you're if you have these situations, we've really got to educate everybody and make sure that they understand the benefits of lease to own and rent to own are still available. We haven't changed anything of what we do. And I think that's really important as you talk about GEO, as you talk about SEO, and as we feed the AI engine and letting them know hey, we haven't changed what we do. They've changed what they do. They're the new kids on the block. Yeah, but we still have the relationships. When you miss a payment with them, there is some serious consequences. Sometimes you can change percentages, sometimes it even goes longer. It doesn't happen in what we do. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, and it's also very transactional, right? The beauty we already said of rent to own. It's when I was a kid running around these halls in April till now, uh, some 40 something years later.
Pete ShauWe're not gonna call them a latch key kid anymore. It's it's an RTO kid.
SPEAKER_03It's RTO kid. RTO kid. Uh it's always been about relationships. And so I will tell you though, something uh to be optimistic and positive about all those things you said because I hear people complaining and you know, here in these halls sometimes, uh, you know, ah, all this competition, all these things. I love it. Let's go. Because you know what else they have you didn't mention? Billions of dollars that are educating people that you can make payments on something they didn't know they could do before. So, you know, back in the day, half of our value uh battle, value will be a new word, the battle of value. I think we're gonna trademark that before this goes live. But the battle was educating team members, or excuse me, well, team members to understand it and and preach it to the customers, but educating the customers on the value of what we have and all the protections and programs and the you know, no penalty obligation return, all those things. So I I love it because I think it's opening up a whole new customer base. I've been saying for a decade or so it's really subscription-minded folks are already payment-minded. We just have to reveal to them look what we can do and look what you can have today while keeping money in your pocket. So I think all those things are a positive, and I think we need to look at it as such, and I think it's gonna grow our industry and not shrink it.
SPEAKER_00I I love what you said about the subscription, and I because I think that model really fits just incredibly
Subscription Thinking And Product As A Service
SPEAKER_00well with what we do because that's what it is. We provide a way to get something. I mean, I I do this with legislators and I've done this with committees before. Yeah, I take out my phone and I say, Look, you're basically renting to own this phone. There's nothing on this phone that you have, you're subscribing to everything, and and people are comfortable with that. So I think subscription with the benefit of ownership, if you get to that point and pay off, that's it. It's just a different thing. Otherwise, I will never own any of these apps on my phone. And I'm probably okay with that. Um, but I so subscription is really good. What I've what I've been playing with recently is this idea of you've heard of SAAS, like software as a service. Well, we've had product as a service. That's right. And all of these things that come in with, in the case of furniture, like with a uh storefront delivery, installation, we're gonna take care of your warranty. Uh, you've got all these things you don't have to worry about where you're truly just paying for the services attached to the to the item that you're getting, whether it's tires or a refrigerator or a mattress or something.
SPEAKER_03Can I add something interesting to your phone analogy? So if you, you know, my background's technology and SaaS, I was in that industry. So we we built a lot of mobile apps, but a lot of things, so it was heavy for a long time of watching the statistics on what phone people had. Well, Samsung had 60 plus percent of the market, 60 to 74 percent for a long time. If you look back now at the charts, when it started shifting, the iPhone started gaining, gaining, gaining, what was the shift? It was when they started making payments on those iPhones, right? Yeah. So same product, amazing thing, but the affordability and flexibility of being able to do a low monthly payment, it changed the game on that one singular product. And I think that's again, go back to what I started with. That's the opportunity that we have, you know, and we need to lean into that. That uh we no longer have to educate them that you can make payments on your tires and payments on your refrigerator appliances. It's it's uh quick accessibility and flexibility. That's what we're all about.
SPEAKER_00And I think there's we're shifting to, particularly on the tech side, that there's not this idea of ownership doesn't have the same association that I think it has had historically with our parents, our grandparents. It's less important to the younger generation. That's it. It's an interesting stat. No, you think about with this phone's a great example. I'm paying this phone off. I will have this phone paid off in two months, and I'm gonna get a new one as soon as I do because this phone's a piece of trash right now because the battery is dead and the uh the apples are you listening? I just want you to.
Pete ShauBut you're right, and it people are getting so used to the fact of doing that over and over and over. It's least about it's less about ownership and it's more about accessibility. I have access to this as long as I want it. And the moment that I don't, if I have the ability to take it away from myself and no longer be responsible for it, well, that sends a message to a lot of people. Hey, I can afford it today, but as volatile as some things can be, I might not be able to do that tomorrow. And if I have the ability to walk away from it and say, you know what, I don't have that responsibility again and again and again, but guess what? RTO is the king of that hill. I mean, it doesn't get much better than that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
Pete ShauSo from both of you, where do we see this trend? Where do we see RTO with this in the next coming three years?
SPEAKER_03I would just say this, tying it back to what we said earlier. Affordability um may bring them in the door, but I think experience is what's going to keep them coming back, right? And get them to tell their friends and their family. So I think that's always been rent-to-you know I it's just up to this point in history, it's always been almost like the best kept secret, right? I mean, if it's pretty big industry, it's not a secret, but you still look, you know, we're at 10% potential potential market cap. Like we could go so much more, and I think it's growing with all the reasons we talked about. And so I think though the key is going to be creating the best experience ever. Uh and I think Vriton's always done that, but some of us have, I believe, have been able to rest on our laurels a little bit because of what we offer. And but now you're you're there's a lot more competition out there of okay, other people can offer payments, but what can they not offer? A value-driven experience, the relationship, right? The flexibility of all the things you mentioned, turning it back in and not being treated like a number but a customer. So I think we just have to lean in and flex what has always made us stronger than ever, and and we're gonna get and grow bigger than ever. Yeah.
Pete ShauSo am
Best Practices And Self-Regulation
Pete ShauI right in saying, Charles, that recently APRO came out with a new uh was it code of ethics for the RTO industry because of what's going on and the shifts that are being made, APRO's being proactive in the way that we say it and saying, hey, this we might as well look. And if you guys haven't done this, we want the dealers to know if you haven't updated your agreements in the last five years with the way things are changing right now. We'll get into a little bit of that later, but it's happening, and they're gonna scrutinize everything that's going on. If you do not have a mindset for that, you might want to get a hold of use your April membership. Yeah, call Charles' team, find out. Like it could have changed.
SPEAKER_03Very, very important. Really great value right there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I you know what we're the dream is for us to be a self-regulating industry. That's that's the idea. And things that we can do to show that we are promoting best practices, that we're promoting ethics, we're promoting this good behavior uh that reflects on all of us. That's what we're trying to do. So we did um we have updated uh a new set of best practices. Uh we're very much always looking at what's going on on the legislative front. What we're seeing right now, um, you know, the the legislation, our statutes aren't being as messed with uh as they were in the past. Uh so we're seeing a lot kind of the law is developing really kind of from case law. We're seeing what the attorney generals who are really our regulator, attorneys general, that are really our regulators.
Pete ShauI don't know if you remember that, but I had I had to literally quote that attorneys general. I was like, is that real? That is real, guys. That's exactly how it's said. Um, you know, in the book, if you have the opportunity to book, and I'm not just pushing the book, thank you so much. You are a saint, and we appreciate you.
SPEAKER_03Shout out on the podcast to Ashley.
Pete ShauAbsolutely. Ashley does a great job right here. How old are we where we're like, turn it down over there?
SPEAKER_01Turn it down.
SPEAKER_03We're doing it for you.
Pete ShauWe're doing it for you. You guys have a chance to actually get and read this book. And again, it's coming out on audio version very soon. But if you get a chance to read the book, there are some things in there that it is so pertinent to what we're talking about right now. One of
The Four Core Truths And GEO
Pete Shauthem being the four core truths. Yeah. That is something that is repeated several different times in the book. Charles, explain to me what that is. And right now, let me explain to you the four core truths so that Charles can kind of get into it. Number one, RTO is not a credit transaction. That's repeated over and over and over because why? You can return it. It's serviceability and is a terminable lease. Simple as that. Flexible ways to pay and flexible payment options. You can do weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and that can teeter. In some other ways, there is no option to pay late, and we don't have that option to pay late. You you must pay on time, and that changes it from having a credit option and not having credit, which is something I actually learned in the book. Uh, number three, we are essential, and I can tell you guys right now, if you're in a if you're in a hard situation, and this is less for the dealers, but it's more for the folks at home. You have an emergency, you call the guys, whether you're stuck on the road or you have a fridge that's going out, they're there to take care of you. And I don't know any dealer who would get a call at 659 and go, you know what, your stove is out. I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow. You got a flat tire, I know you're on your way home, but we'll see you tomorrow. It doesn't work that way, and that's not how the industry is built. And regulated. So regulation is really what we'll get into next, but it's part of what we're doing. We want to be self-regulated so that we're not outside regulated, including by the FTC and everybody else. Charles, this is repeated over and over and over in the book, the four core truths. Why is it important to say it again and again? What is the differentiating factors of having to say these four core truths in every way we do it, whether it be on our online presence, on the websites, whether it be April, whether it be in the book, whether it be what we do on our social media posts, why is that so important?
SPEAKER_00Well, it goes back to the what I said earlier. If we're not defining ourselves, someone else will. And I think this is just a really clear, simple, some not quite the DX3 uh branding that we've got over here. Yeah, we got Ronald. We can take Core 4. I think that's Chick fil A's. We're working on that. We're working on it. Um, you know, whenever APRO was founded, there's a good story in the book. I can't remember who you interviewed that told this. I think it was Lynn Leach about going into a legislator, and there were three different rent-to-own companies from the same town that set before the committee and described the transaction in three different ways. Absolutely. And that was really kind of what APRO was founded on was bringing a common language to what rent to own is. Um, and we did that with the statutes, we did that with a lot of the language that was in that. This is a way we're kind of continuing with that, really, for the AI era, whenever we're not searching for blue links on Google. We are getting an answer every time we type in. In fact, Google is prompting us to ask a question because it wants to give you an answer. Um, and so anytime there's a question about rent to own that's asked, these are the four core things that across the board are applicable, and they are, as we say, the truths. And so we're trying to repeat it. There's a way with GEO and AI, the way this works, it's kind of prevalence, uh, trustworthiness, authority are all very important part of this. Uh, but the prevalence of this being said over and over and over again, so it gets that kind of stickiness to it, uh, that gets answered, put in the answer.
SPEAKER_03Can I add to that too? Because we've talked about this in our our board meetings, and and Charles has done an amazing job, as you mentioned, kind of leading the way as an industry, but we can't, as people and members of that industry, companies, we cannot, we you, the listener, uh can't leave it there, right? So I would challenge everybody listening. Um, if you want to learn more about that, we're using terms GEO, there's AIE, there's all these things, right? Um, that basically just means everything from search engine back in the day is now moving to some sort of robotic answer, uh, really in the cloud uh of all the information coming together, whether if it's Google, it's Gemini, if it's you know, Microsoft, it's you know, all these things. So we as companies also have to be talking about this, educating our people at it, but also putting it on our website, right? So I just want to encourage everybody uh talk to your web team and your marketing team and say, hey, I want to learn more about this, reach out to the association because the more websites that are putting it out there, it becomes a more authoritative language, of course, any PR and all those things. But we can't talk about it enough. And as you mentioned, we we should be telling that story because there's people out there that just don't understand it and it gets out there the wrong way. So tell it the right way.
SPEAKER_00And when it's repeated by our members, and that's really where the ultimate intersection of this goes is like our members benefiting from this, and really the customers benefiting from it because we've got the transaction available or the relationship. I hate that transaction. I'm I'm really having trouble with that because uh it's just so impersonal. It's the relationship and then having the opportunity to have that this relationship available. So
Toolkits, Prompts, And The Forge App
SPEAKER_00we have a uh we've got a GEO toolkit on the April website that really gives you the instructions of how to put this on your own company website. Uh, I'm gonna brag on Amberly Maya, our director of marketing.
SPEAKER_03Amberly is amazing, man.
SPEAKER_00She's incredible.
Pete ShauListen, Amberly, I know that you're watching this. We think highly of you, no matter what you say or what you do. We love you here, and we'd love to have you on here. She's a little camera shy.
SPEAKER_03I give one more shout out to Amberly. So she's also doing a great job on the Forge app in the community. Yes. Where if you're not on that, get engaged on there. You're gonna get a lot of great information you can bring back to your team. But really great tool that April has rolled out. It's only as good as you're gonna make it, though. So a lot of plugs today, but that's a good one. Get on there, learn more, and help educate more. Even if you're like, I don't need to get on there, I know a lot. You can benefit on there by benefiting others with your knowledge. So and Amberly does a great job of organizing that chaos and helping get it out there.
Pete ShauYeah, she's helped me quite a bit, and I am I am a very messy person. She's helped me out, she's helped this podcast out in many, many ways. Um, she made me uh look a lot better than I did before. She's helped me with the branding.
SPEAKER_03She's helped with a lot of AI work when you see. This is not what he looks like right now.
Pete ShauNo, I'm this is a digital outset of what's going on.
SPEAKER_00I get Amberly, I I get too much credit for some of this stuff. Amberly has been instrumental. There's no Amberly, there is no awards, there is no maybe no book, there's no a lot of these things. She is just an incredible part of our team. I mean, I can't brag up enough about our whole team. Yeah. Um, this is Amberly's kind of focus, and I've you know we challenge her with that. Uh, she did a session yesterday uh with Mark Williams on AI and things that really kind of that that our members can take home and start applying today. One of those things that she did, which is going to be available, we'll start putting this out a little bit more. But it's actually some uh basically a library of resources you can upload to your own Chat GBT Claude and start to ask questions. Educating it and good prompts. Exactly. So it's kind of like that educated uh model that will that will produce the common language that that's tied in to that. So you're not getting this kind of you know um just repetitive, uh the same exact thing.
SPEAKER_03And you want to make it your own a little bit too. I would just encourage you to take that as the template and then make it your own, shape it a little bit. And and the more content that goes out there, bottom line, this generative engine optimization, all these things is gonna help everybody in the industry get found, get better, and get that correct message out there about rent owner and why it's so great, why our customers love it.
Pete ShauOne of the
New York Advocacy And AI Reality
Pete Shaureasons I wanted to talk to both of you as to why it's so important is because if we don't tell that story, yeah, you might end up like some of the folks in New York State. Now we've kind of we've kind of cleared that hurdle for now. So it's not a good thing.
SPEAKER_03Shout out to Jeff Smith, by the way.
Pete ShauBut Jeff Smith and the NYRDA doing an amazing job with Charles, going up there all the time and making sure that we're seen for who we are. But the ELSA Act of the N loan shark, what is it, uh the uh and loan shark bill, it it it really would have kneecapped the RTO industry in that state. And really, that would have been a hard blow because as the state that is, it could have led to more states. Now it is dead now, but Charles, what did it take to get to where we are now? And is the GEO way we're doing things, getting all the websites together, is that the way that we crossed this hurdle?
SPEAKER_00I think so. I mean, I and I, you know, a a year ago, well every year ago, when I pitched the idea to the board, I said, look, this is our got milk campaign, but we're not going to do a Super Bowl ad and we don't need a higher celebrity.
SPEAKER_03He had white lipstick on it.
SPEAKER_00It was it was very convincing.
SPEAKER_03It was nice, nicely done.
SPEAKER_00It's it's not gonna be nearly as expensive or nearly as sexy as that, but what what what we're trying to do, and I'll bring it to New York because New York has been this this bill was introduced three years ago, and it's required of a lot of education, which requires a lot of resources in terms of time, and energy going up there. I've been up to Albany maybe four or five times. Uh taken we as the helping the NYRDA and Jeff Smith, I think we've taken about 75 meetings over those uh with legislators, like in person, over Zoom. Uh, and it's about education because the the that bill was not necessarily a bad bill in of itself. We were just thrown into it. Yeah, and we were thrown into it. It shouldn't even have been a exactly. All these other products did not have a state statute, yeah, much less a state statute like in New York that was passed in 1987 and amended in 2009, uh, where we worked with the legislator on both times uh to provide these concealer protections. Uh, these were trying to regulate these new fintech products that needed some sort of regulation. They were where we were in 1980, 1987. They didn't have that framework or that definition. So that's kind of the idea of what we're doing with the GEO. It's really an ultimate advocacy project and trying to provide that education and putting that out there because the reality is the way the world is right now and the way it's going, people are getting answers through AI. And you say, well, I don't use AI, I use Google. Well, if you're not scrolling down the page to click on a link, you're using that's Gemini uh AI.
Pete ShauYou're using AI. And listen, a lot of what they're talking about is right here in the book. And I'd hate to pitch the book all the time, but guys, there's a lot of what we went through in this book to be state-regulated in 47 states, and we don't want anybody else to regulate what we do because we do it just fine. They have the laws in place, especially in New York. If it's already been re-regulated, it's been rewritten, we don't need it again and again and again.
SPEAKER_03But we do need to who's gonna read the audio version, by the way. That's what I want to know.
Pete ShauWell, when the audio version comes out, we will actually have you listen. No, no, no, no. I'm saying between one of you guys, yeah. So, you know, it's just one of those things that I think getting to know the history is something that we can do to get everybody to understand it. Because if you hear it from me and you hear it from Adam and you hear it from him, and then you hear it from the dealers, I would love for Dennis to be talking about that. I would love for the guys on the floor to be talking about it the same way we talk about it. Because what you said, they showed up three different people with three different rent-to-owned stories. Yeah, that's that's a scary thought because they're I guarantee you they all did it with the right intention. But without the right verbiage, without the right guidelines that April's providing for us, we could get that wrong. We don't want to do that, especially because we have Jeff and his guys growing opening stores in New York.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna add RR stores too. R stores franchise.com stores. Uh, I'm just shameless plug, shameless plug. Uh you know, I was gonna add that too. Um, my father brought me to DC on a uh Capitol trip up there with April many, many years ago, 15 years ago. Amazing experience. Learned what I'm about to tell you there, but reinforced when I came back years later. Um, so shameless plug for the legislative trip. You should go if you have a gun. But what I learned there was it was really interesting, is we actually, when you're sitting in with those lawmakers, and a lot of them are the are the juniors and the people that are doing all the work, uh, but they've never heard of rent-owned, right? So not only in that case were they three different ones, but most of the time they haven't heard anything about it because they've never been in a position to need the rent-owned industry. So what happens? They're gonna believe what the first time they hear it and whatever they hear about it, right? So that's the additional power of getting there first, getting the message right, and and in the capital trips case, getting in front of them or the state legislative. I just think it's such a powerful thing of we cannot talk about it enough. How can you talk about it more? I think you're doing your show and everything else is doing a great job of it, but we can't mud on the wall, right? Yeah, that's it. Every time a little bit sticks.
SPEAKER_00And that's it. And I'll say, you know, particularly when it comes to our legislative process, the the federal government bought 6,000, or sorry, the Congress bought 6,000 uh co-pilot licenses. Um the I there was uh I read an article in the Washington Post that was last week, and right now, in the official record uh for a bill that was passed a couple weeks ago, it says at 10 35 a.m., Claude responded, Colin quotation mark, dot dot dot. Whenever the whenever the whenever the rep that was the whose whose aid was responsible for cutting and pasting from Claude and putting that in there was asked about it, and if he was, you know, are you embarrassed about that? He was like, We all do it. Yeah, he was like, I don't know why she was using Claude. I prefer Gronk, I think it's much better. And so look, there's a reality to it. And so if that's kind of where a lot of that first line of someone that's writing a bill, researching a bill, if they are doing what everyone else is, they're gonna trust it. Yeah, they're gonna go and they're going and asking their their AI program, and we're have to be part of that answer and be provide a balanced truth, as we have here with these four four truths, about what our industry is about. Having this story from this book, having our legends tell those stories, having our customers through these testimonials that go on YouTube, go on our social channels. We're hearing firsthand primary primary evidence. I think that's really the thing. You're hearing it from the horse's mouth rather than hearsay from a guy on Reddit that may have had a bad experience one day and has to opine about something. But it's so true because it's exactly what happens. Yeah, these random guys that come up with these videos on YouTube that don't understand the industry and they think they've come on to something that, oh, I found out something that's wrong, and I'm gonna tell you about it. That look, we we're the authority here, and we need to leverage that authority, and that's really what this whole project's about. Uh, we we speak for the industry. That's what Apro is for. It's supposed to be the voice of the industry, no offense. Um I thought that was the first thing.
SPEAKER_03We were the literal voice of the industry. Yeah, I thought that was crazy. Well, look, let me can I modify that a touch? Because I think you are, but but more importantly than that, I think we're the voice for the customer. Yes. Right? At the end of the day, what we provide is affordability and flexibility to things that our customers, which are often the hardest working people in America, but just because they may not be credit worthy or they're they don't have the the right XYZ in their bank account, uh, they they can't afford it and they can't get what they deserve. And so I think we are the voice of the industry, but the industry is the voice of the customer, and that's why it's so important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and we're and we're speaking for them. And I think that's our history plays that out. We we passed these statutes. Yeah. We these are consumer regulation statutes. We were asking for it to be asking for rare. We need to score we want to be regulated. That's it. But you think about it. I said transactional bothers me so much because it's relational. We are not retail where someone goes in one time and you never see them again. That's right. We our customers come back. We want them to renew to keep this lease going and hopefully get to ownership. That's kind of half the goal here is to get them to ownership. Yeah, that's a relationship, that's not a transaction, right?
SPEAKER_03I'm just I'm feeling the rhythm, I'm feeling the rhyme.
SPEAKER_00This is kind of like the we're reaching a you know, it's the crescendo at the end, baby.
SPEAKER_03This is if you can't hear the music, there's some great dance music.
Pete ShauThis is the last leg and we have to dance. This is a dance off right.
SPEAKER_03If nobody can hear any of the music listening, they're just gonna be like, What? And they're watching, they're like, Why are these guys randomly breaking out and dance? That's great.
Closing Takeaways And Sign-Off
Pete ShauSo, you know, coming into the end, some takeaways that I want to, I I just want to make sure that we cover. Culture is best because if you do it from the inside out, it will be recognized, it will cause growth. Yeah, it changes the literal name of foundations from you know April as being progressively for what we're doing and professionally changing to what is going to be best for you, best for us, best for this industry. That's what we do. Okay. So, guys, first off, get the book. Listen to the award-winning RTO show podcast. Get a franchise, be part of the group, and make sure that when you advertise, make sure that when you reach out to your communities, make sure that when you have anything that goes out, you run it through the GEO that April can provide for you to say, hey, these are the things that you should be stating as well as your ideas. Because you know what? We're all in this together. Yeah, guys, I really appreciate your time on the show. Thank you very much. CEO Charles Smitherman, an absolute great. He's only been on twice, but he's doing a great job of it. I should like we got a co-host certain day.
SPEAKER_03This has been an honor. This is fun.
Pete ShauAdam Sutton, CEO of R Tire Express. Guys, I'm gonna tell you as always, we do appreciate our sponsors. April being a premiere. This is our first vendor sponsor. We also have WoW brands doing an amazing job keeping us where we are. And I'm gonna say, guys, thank you so much for being on the show. And I'm gonna tell you guys, as always, get your collections low to get your sales high. Have a great one.
SPEAKER_03Thank you, everybody. Thank you, everybody.
