RTO Legend: Larry Sutton of RNR Tire Express

A nickname born from a Southern Baptist speaking style and a talent for rallying a room might sound like a fun story, but “The Reverend of RTO” is really about substance: value, trust, and relentless follow-through. Larry Sutton joins us to chart an uncommon path from family retail roots to building Champion on a 50-50 handshake, navigating funding shocks when Berg-Warner exited the space, and ultimately selling at a premium before discovering that retirement by golf isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

What pulled him back was the same customer he never stopped rooting for. A tip about rent-to-own “tires” led him to discover an exploding demand for custom wheels—and a bigger mission hiding in plain sight: safer commutes, reliable family travel, and dignity at the point of sale. Larry launched Rent-N-Roll in Tampa and watched lines form. Then came the pivotal insight: the brand shouted “rims,” so tire buyers never walked in. A franchisee’s experiment separating tires from wheels unlocked demand and sparked a smart rebrand to RNR Tire Express—stores that look and feel like top-tier retail, with the flexibility of lease-to-own.

We dig into the operational backbone that makes the value real: lifetime rotation and balance, nitrogen to stabilize pressure and extend tread life, and deep training through TIA and ASE certifications. Larry explains why bringing alignments in-house wasn’t just a margin play, but a safety commitment. He shares the leadership rules that scale—hire people smarter than you, love hard work, and lead from the front—and why the rent-to-own community’s culture of sharing is a competitive advantage most industries don’t understand.

If you care about customer value, brand identity, and finding the right niche at the right time, this story delivers a practical blueprint. Subscribe, share with a builder in your life, and leave a review with the one lesson you’re taking into your next pivot.

Chapters

• 1:09 The Reverend Of RTO Origin Story
• 3:36 Family Beginnings And Early Retail Work
• 6:50 Curtis Mathes And The Birth Of Rent-To-Own
• 11:01 The 50-50 Handshake And Champion’s Rise
• 15:50 Debt, Funding Shocks, And Surviving Borg-Warner’s Exit
• 20:26 Selling The Chain And Corporate Culture Clash
• 27:16 A Payout, A Year Of Golf, And Restless Ambition
• 32:28 Spotting The Wheels-And-Tires Opportunity
• 36:49 Launching Rent-N-Roll And Early Hypergrowth
• 41:10 From Rims To Safety: Solving The Used-Tire Problem
• 45:25 Rebranding To RR Tire Express
• 50:10 Store Design, Brand Identity, And Marketing
• 53:31 Operational Differences: Maintenance, Nitrogen, Value
• 58:04 Training, Certifications, And In-House Alignments
• 1:03:41 Scale, Competition, And Crossing Borders

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Hello, welcome to the RTO show. I'm your host, Pete Chow, and today, today is the day of legends. Now, you guys know that we're doing the Legends series, but who's my guest today? Well, he's earned himself the moniker, the Reverend of RTO. I've got to find out. Larry's Larry Sutton here. I'm so happy that you're on the show. Thank you for being a guest.

SPEAKER_01: 0:29

Thank you. It's good to be here.

SPEAKER_00: 0:31

Before we even fan of the show. Oh, thank you. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. We do this for you and for you guys out there, but I have to know where did the Reverend of RTO come from?

SPEAKER_01: 0:41

Wow, you know, I get asked that a lot. And and funny enough, uh, you know, back in the uh in the early part of APRO, uh funding was so critical. It's just absolutely critical. And um uh so one of my when I was on the board, uh one of my uh the missions was to go out to all the state associations, uh, give them a seminar of some type, whatever it's called. I had maybe 20 different messages, you know, that I would that I would do. But of course, at the end of it, I would always ask for funding. And so my speaking style is more Southern Baptist minister than it is speaker style, because I don't uh I don't speak with notes. I'm very uncomfortable speaking with notes. So I just kind of say what comes up. You know, I I have an outline, but I'll wander here and I'll wander there, but eventually get back on track. But always at the end, we're gonna ask for money because we're trying to get things going. And so uh I was at some seminar, and some guy said uh after the seminar, he came up and said, uh, I'm gonna call you Reverend. The Reverend, and somehow that got out, and it just grew and into uh that's the Reverend DeMartino.

SPEAKER_00: 2:01

Well, it's stuck. It's it's stuck, it's been generational since I came on. Um it's been there. And and you know, to say to say the least, you you have a record of being able to control a room, being able to orate very well, get everybody involved, and at the end, I don't know, but maybe the sermons done, sold, you know. But it's it's good to it's good to have you on the show. We raised a lot of money. Hey now. You got to give that offer, Blake. Come on, you gotta you gotta come up. Absolutely. So as a legend, let's start from the beginning and kind of hit some course way through here. Perfect. You started at 15 with mom helping out slats. Now, this is a family thing. You have a family that so it's crazy because you know, there are a lot of people that I talk to in the legends that are we started this maybe from a family perspective or whatever, right? But not usually from well, my my uncle was somebody that was like you know, revered in the business. Then you become somebody revered in the business. Then there is a there's a guy named Adam around here somewhere who's revered, he's getting revered, he's he's cutting his teeth on it, right? He's he's kind of making his own way. The whole family, because you know, Tampa, Tampa Bay, let me say, guys, I love Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay holds a dear place in my heart because there's not only is it rent-to-owned driven, but there's a lot of history that comes from. Oh, there is. So at 15, you guys start helping out slats. Yeah, how did how did that start? How did that transition from a 15-year-old young man to I want to be in this business?

SPEAKER_01: 3:32

Well, what happened uh the the the year before we moved here, I had come out and worked the entire summer um on a on a delivery truck. We're we were uh as a matter of fact, uh Joe Gazzo, you know Joe. I know Joe. Joe's dad uh was here from Mississippi because he was my Aunt Lois's nephew and on her side, and then I'm Santa's nephew. So the so Joe and I get on the same truck. And that's how I met Joe Gazzo's dad, Frank, and we uh installed ACs. We did these window shakers back in the day where you cut a hole in the wall and install. So we did uh uh air conditioner installation together. He and I were on the same team, and we delivered appliances and and and different things like that. And um, so that was my first exposure to the TV and appliance world. It wasn't rent-owned at that time, it was strictly retail. Um so the following year, uh my uncle called my mom and said, Hey, I'm my company's growing. I really need you to come and be a part of this and help me out in the in the sh in the in the bookkeeping and in the office. So we moved to uh uh Tampa, Florida from Oklahoma City uh when I was going into the tenth grade. And so at that point, I'm uh a lifelong employee of the of the family. And so uh the I would uh I worked on a DCT program all through high school where I'd go to school half a day and then go to work half a day. Uh so it gave me the money I needed uh when I needed a car and when I needed to buy things or do things or whatever, because uh we didn't have much money rather. We were we were reasonably poor. I didn't know we were poor, but we were poor.

SPEAKER_00: 5:12

You know, I think back then there was this thing that you just didn't know it because you know our parents did everything they could to just kind of shield us from that. This is this is just life, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 5:19

I had no idea. Yeah, I had no idea. I've I've uh when we when we moved here, we actually uh got in a duplex, uh a one-bedroom duplex. It was my brother, my sister already lived here because she had gotten married and and uh had moved here. And uh it was my brother, my mother, and myself. My mother took the couch and gave my brother and I the bedroom. So we had our own room, we didn't know any better.

SPEAKER_00: 5:42

It was just all good, yeah. And then and then here we are, right? So we get in Oklahoma, you're cutting out, you're cutting out the wall shaker holes, you're making a difference. Now, Slats didn't kind of go in traditionally to rent him, right? He had an appliance business that he kind of started. Yeah. And can you help me walk walk me through that? I I wish I had the ability to talk to him now, but what was the need that he saw at that point in time that he said, you know what, let me get in the business of supplying this to uh rent-to-own-wise versus this way?

SPEAKER_01: 6:16

Well, I I'll tell you, uh, because I know exactly how. Uh I had eventually uh taken a role with Curtis Mathis, the television manufacturer. Yes, yeah. And um I was the uh uh Southeast uh the Florida sales manager for Curtis Mathis. Mathis, uh Curtis Jr. was running the company at the time and a brilliant guy. A brilliant guy. And they had two brands. They had Curtis Mathis, and they had um trying to think of the other brand. Oh, Rutherford was the other brand. Okay. Well, Willie Talley was running the Rutherford division because it was being made particularly for ColorTime, the one of the early Color Time guys, and they were making this brand just for them. It was the same TV, they just put a different name on it. And so Mathis realized that if they want to sell more product, they had to get more people into this new business of rent-to-own. And so Curtis Mathis was at the at the forefront of going out talking to these retailers about opening up a rent-to-owned division, and Swatch bought right into it. He said, I love it. It's fantastic, let's do it. And uh so my cousins, uh his daughter Karen was our first manager in the rent-to-owned, and it was a rent-to-owned store inside of a store. And it was it was like Buddy Myright. And then over here was this rental division, and he started uh he started with that. And and you know, obviously, long story short, he eventually got out of retail and became one of the larger rent-to-home dealers in the country. But that's kind of how it all got started was through that relationship with with Curtis Mathis um and and them really supporting the business. Uh in fact, my role became with Mathis, going out and teaching my retailers how to get into the rent-to-home business and how to how to run it.

SPEAKER_00: 8:17

Coming out of that, you you start with the family because out of need, right? You come from Oklahoma, you get there out of need. Sure. You start working for Curtis Mathis and and everything else that's going on. Right. Slatt starts going in this direction. When did Larry say, this is what I want to do? Right. Because we we didn't become R tired express overnight. There was actually a road that you went down that brought you to Rent to Own before this.

SPEAKER_01: 8:41

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 8:43

You're you're you're you're kind of showing everybody how the rent to own system is done, how you want to get it done. So then when did Larry say, you know what? I want to make this mine. I'm gonna do this. And and who was there somebody that kind of helped you with that decision or make that decision?

SPEAKER_01: 8:58

Absolutely. Tell you a story. I was uh actually uh visiting my dealer in Daytona Beach, uh, a guy named Bill Ogle, who had a uh a company. Uh and uh he he actually had a retail company called Westgate TV, which was one of the largest, he was one of the largest Curtis Matthews dealers in the country. And so I was over getting them started on their rental division, and and we he and I talked about doing it out of a different store as opposed to in the store, which we thought was a great idea. So we I was working with him on that. We became pretty close. And uh so he was one of my big dealers. Well, Robert Mathis, who was a grandson of the founder of Curtis Mathis, was actually the Curtis Mathis dealer in Lakeland, Florida. And he decided he wanted to get out of business and go into the investment world. So now I had an opening in in uh the middleman state, Lakeland, Florida. I needed to fill it. I was like, I gotta have a dealer here. This is, you know. So I went to Bill Ogle and said, hey, there's a there's a there's a Lakeland market, it's dynamite, we gotta do it. I want you to be my dealer there. And uh so he thought about it and he looked at me and said, Well, why don't you and I do it together? And I said, Well, what would that look like? And he said, uh, well, I'll put up all the money, you do all the work, I'll own 51, and you own 49. And I said, You know, Bill, I don't think so. He said, Why? I said, Yeah, 49 sounds kind of like a job to me, and I've got a good job. So I said, here's what I'll do. I'll go ahead and do all the work and get it open, hire the people and get them trained, get you open. But I'm gonna just stay where I'm at because I'm I'm I'm feeling good about that. He said, Okay, that's if that's the way you feel. So we get the store open, I find a location, we get the build out done, I've hired the true the the group, we we get the grand opening going, and it takes off like a rocket ship. I mean, they're just they're in line waiting to get these things. And so Bill hadn't seen it yet. We were we were open about three weeks, and he came to town and he looked at everything and he just went, man, this is this is incredible. I love it. This is fantastic. So we go to lunch. We're sitting at lunch, and he says, What's keeping us from being partners? And I just looked at him and I said, 1%. And he's it's a true story. He just looked at me and said, So if I tell you 50-50, you're you're you're in, I said, Absolutely. I'll give my notice right tomorrow. He said, Deal, and we shook hands. And we actually, at that be at that time, we became 50-50 partners. And it wasn't for three years before we ever did the paperwork.

SPEAKER_00: 11:47

I think back then the power of a handshake was was not what it is today. I think I think back then it was like you'd rather not go against that than to lose your word in front of somebody.

SPEAKER_01: 11:56

Oh, absolutely. That was kind of a standard in good business, you know. But anyway, that's that's kind of how that started. And eventually uh Champion grew to over 150 stores in the Southeast. I had 30 of those uh that were in my in my group. And uh we uh just in over a 15-year period, we grew up a whole bunch of stores and was having a great time and uh just enjoying the industry. And so that was kind of you know that so that was the original me in the rent-to-own business. And uh that was and and and and eventually we sold that uh because there was some people out buying stores that were paying way more than they were worth. There was a group out of Texas, uh actually it was uh Wayne Heisinger and a guy named George Johnson. They were buying up rent owned stores because they wanted to get in the sector, and they bought Bill White out in Texas, and they were just coming up trying to buy everybody, and and so they were just offering uh absurd amounts of money. Right. To the point that, you know, I didn't really want to sell it. It would, it would just, it would have been foolish not to this, you know, because it was that crazy. And uh so we sold it, and uh I I I did a three-year workout agreement with the folks that bought it, and I got out of that in about a year and a half, luckily, because I was not happy. I'd never uh had people calling me, I didn't know, telling me to do things, and I'd be like, I wasn't, I was not a good corporate guy. I'd be like, who's this? And you want me to do what? Why would I do that? You know, I was very argumentative. I was used to my own, you know, being my own boss, and so I I didn't didn't work well with other bosses.

SPEAKER_00: 13:43

Well, I know the multipliers back then were a lot higher than they are now. Oh, yeah. I I do know that. Yeah, I couldn't tell you all the numbers, but I can tell you I remember uh you know, through the Legends series that there are multipliers back then that we just don't see today, right? But then the business was in a different course than it is today. I think there was a lot of uh a lot of coming about, a lot of earning your your stripes back then as well.

SPEAKER_02: 14:05

Sure.

SPEAKER_00: 14:06

You start late 70s, you're on your way to making this champion deal all the way through 1997. Right, right. How did you start at that point? And who helped you along on that trail?

SPEAKER_01: 14:20

Well, you know, my my mentor, uh my my original mentor in in the business in general was Slats, of course, teaching me the uh the the business principles that he used in Buddy Byrite. Um so I had a great mentor in in that regard. Uh Bill Ogle, after that, just had a brilliant mind as well in what people want and and what they need and um and how to simplify it. And so I gotta say, between Swass and Bill Ogle, uh I really had a couple of brilliant guys that uh got me there. Um when I uh when this opportunity came up, obviously I had to go have a talk with my uncle about, hey, I'm gonna go into business with someone else. And uh, you know, and secretly I was kind of thinking maybe he'll want to go in business with me instead. And I'll I'll do that. But you know, we had a long talk, and and and I think he knew that he had a couple of sons and that where where his business was probably gonna end up was with them. And so I think he really gonna just saw through all of that and thought, you know, I know Bungle's a great guy, you're in good hands, so you you you can yeah, I'm happy for you. Go with my blessing. You know, it was a really neat uh time for for him to step up and and and do the right thing, as opposed to say, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_00: 15:42

You know, you can't even do that. What do you what are you talking about? Well I think I think some of part of you know the legends that we get to talk about, the people who have been in the business this long and have lasted, they have these, they have these stories, they because they understood, right, right? And so, granted, I'm sure he probably would have loved to, but sometimes as leaders, we we gotta look at our people and go, that guy's gotta cut his own way. Right. That that guy's gonna make his own space and whatever's going on and push on through. And it's great to see that because as it branched, it did so very well. Oh, yeah, absolutely. It was really cool. We're getting through. What are some of the challenges that you have? I mean, you go from working for somebody to working for you, right? Which is which is, I'm gonna tell you right now, it is a transition. There are a lot of people out there who say, I would love to work for myself, I'd love to be an entrepreneur, I I want to be my own boss. You're never your own boss. No, you know, we always we always answer to the high and mighty customer though. They're the ones that hire and fire us. There's no such thing, you know. But throughout that, there's that there's that learning curve. Slat says, hey, I think I've taught you as much as I can. Call me anytime. I'm giving you my blessings. Go do what you have to do. But then there's a learning curve as you do that. What are some of the challenges in those 27 years, those 30 years where you know you went from doing it for somebody else to doing it for yourself and being being the guy at the end of the line that says, hey, at the end of the day, I've got to answer this question one way or another. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 17:10

How did that happen? How did that transition? Well, I I uh you know, the you mentioned mentors, and I'm and I mentioned the original too, but you know, about that time APRO was actually starting up. And you uh uh probably some of the legends they on the list were all on the board. You know, Kevin Quinn, Slats, uh uh uh uh Daryl uh Tim Ernie Llewellyn, all of those guys were my contemporaries. I got elected to the board of directors, and so they were really, you know, the our business is such a sharing business. I mean, it's it's outside businesses don't get it. They don't understand why we tell each why we help each other what we do to make our business better. Uh a lot of businesses don't get that. They go like, what? What if it's almost like it's incestuous. What do you mean? But I really got a lot of great ideas from uh from all of the different folks that were participating in the board of directors and in the creation of APRO. Whenever I would go out and do these seminars, I spent all my time with these rent-owned dealers. And you you learn from everyone, Larry Carico. I mean, you know, people like that, and you're hearing what they're doing. So you're getting to check, you know, I've got an idea, but you're getting to run that by some people that have either done it or haven't thought of it or won't think it's also a good idea. So it was really uh just an incredible environment to be able to succeed in because you had all these wonderful, ingenious guys who had made their own way pitching in and helping and telling you which way to go. And and you were and then you were doing the same for them. What if you came up with something, that's what's that's where seminars came from. You know, if we tried something and it worked, that'd be my next seminar. Let's tell everybody, let's let everybody know. So we didn't do the ones that didn't work, obviously.

SPEAKER_00: 19:02

I I am I'm curious because one of the main things that I've I've started to realize in this industry is it's cash-intensive up front. When you own as many stores as you have been a part of, sure, did that ever play a role in saying, you know, funding's difficult now? It's it's it's you know, we have difficult probably today than it was.

SPEAKER_01: 19:23

Oh, I oh, definitely. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:24

You know, I've got 10 stores, I'm going to 15, I'm going to 20. Yeah. Um, what were some of the financial burdens that you took on that you were able to overcome during that time?

SPEAKER_01: 19:33

Well, uh, that's another great question. Um, well, you know, for years, um uh Borg Warner was financing 85% of the rent-owned stores in this country. I mean, it was and they were doing it at a pretty hefty interest rate.

SPEAKER_00: 19:49

They were making their money back. They were making their money back.

SPEAKER_01: 19:52

Profitable thing for Borg Warner. Eventually, uh uh when when there was a time when interest rates and I Forget what it's 70s, I believe, when interest rates were like 18 or 20 percent. We were literally paying 18 percent for borrowed money and and still was able to make a profit. But because we our prices had to change according to, you know, to to to make that happen. But eventually uh somebody bought Board Werner, came in, looked at it, and didn't like the didn't like the the the business. And so they decided they're not gonna finance anybody. So this is oh my goodness, a long about memory is hard to hard to get the ears, but late 70s, early uh no, it had it had to be had to be 80s, and they said, okay, everybody's got two years to pay off their loans. And and because we used to, uh back in back in the day, whenever you bought something, you didn't pay the bill. They sent the invoice to Borg Warner. Borg Warner paid the bill, and then you paid back Borg Warner over 18 months. The the same way you got your money, that's the way you paid them. It was that pretty simple transaction. You know, you invoice goes to them and you pay the next 18 months. Uh so eventually they they left, and there wasn't anybody uh financing them the business. Uh and all I can say about that, and it and it put a lot of guys out of business because a lot of guys had way too much debt for for for where they were, and it either through a gross spurt or whatever, and it really hurt a lot of folks. We were very fortunate because we were uh we were probably a little more debt averse uh and a little more conservative about how much debt do I want. And and I I I think just being an Oklahoma guy, you know, you're like, hmm, let me keep this simple. I used to look at our depreciated value, what we what we had in value and product, and I never wanted my debt to be over that. And if it did, if it got over that, I'd pay it down. And so that's kind of we we were in such a good shape debt-wise when all this occurred that we were able to pay that off in a couple of years. The only thing it did to us is it kept us from opening stores uh because we didn't have enough to pay off the debt at open stores. So we had to go two or three years without opening stores. And by that time, uh we forged a relationship with a uh a bank out of Texas that uh loved what we did, and uh and we were able to get with them and started open stores again. So uh it for for us, we were able to get through it because we were in good shape. I know some folks that weren't in as good a shape and they didn't make it to the end zone because they could not pay it off in two years and could not find another capital source. Uh but for the most part, uh most of all my friends made it through it, and a couple years later we just had different lenders.

SPEAKER_00: 22:48

Well, they were listening to the reverend, that's what happened. So I don't know about that. So we make it through all the way to the 90s. Yeah. Somebody's coming through, they're talking numbers that you just can't get out of.

SPEAKER_02: 23:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 23:02

So you've learned how in the beginning, at 15, to start working hard, right? You're doing half and half school, half work, you're learning from a big, huge name in the business as somebody in the family. Then you get to grow and learn from other names in the business. You make the successful thing in 97. You think it might be a good time to retire. That was a lie. That was a lie. So we're at 97, and we decide, you know what, this is a good time. I'm gonna get I'm gonna get something out of this. Right. I put some blood, sweat, and tears into this, but I'm gonna get out of the champion way. Now, there was a lot of stores that were so how many stores did you sell specifically? 30. So you sold 30 locations. I'd be happy to have two. 30 locations, and so here you are. You've been able to for a long time because in Rent to Own, we don't just sell products. Oh, absolutely. We sell the life experience. I'm not selling a washer and dryer, I'm selling you some clean clothes to go to school, to go to work, absolutely to be right. You know, uh, I think Larry Carico said this last year when we were in DC advocating on the A Pro at Legcon. Right. And he said, we don't provide refrigerators, we provide cold milk. You know, we we don't provide mattresses, we provide a good night's sleep.

SPEAKER_01: 24:14

That would be Larry Carico.

SPEAKER_00: 24:15

So as as we go along, and you're I mean, you're you're this, this is what you do. You you've accomplished this. Yes. Then you sell. Now you did say there was a three-year. So there was the three years that you could not compete.

SPEAKER_01: 24:26

We had a three-year, I had a three-year agreement. I became vice president of the Southeast region, and in the first six months, we opened 26 stores. Uh, there was plenty of money, there was plenty of enthusiasm, and it was like, you know, when you when you deal with Wayne Nine Thing and George Johnson, it's like, just go do it. Just do what you gotta do. We'll find the money. You wonder about that. They they could raise a hundred million on two phone calls. I mean, it was crazy. Um, but so at the first six months is some of the most fun, some of the most fun I ever had in my life. We were we were popping stories up left and right and bringing on folks, and it was great, having a great time. And then something changed because what they were doing, what happened where they were buying a lot of people out without doing a lot of due diligence. I mean, it it got kind of careless, uh not because of them, but probably the team. They just they wanted to buy more. They wanted to and so they bought a lot of people that really weren't performing, um, including all Renco in a final purchase. Uh and and and we found things out that we just we had no idea before they bought them, and we were like in the field trying to make something out of these messes that we would run into. I'd go to a store, there'd be a truck in the back, and that it was supposed to have$50,000 worth of inventory in it. What it had was$50,000 worth of junk that could not be reused, but they were calling it inventory. And so it was it was kind of crazy. Um, but uh but we just kept going at it and going at it. But eventually uh the middle management started bringing in new people. Uh uh again, I I you know I hated being a renegade. It wasn't that I didn't want to listen to people in responsibility. The problem is, guy got hired a month ago, doesn't know anything about the business. He came from Wall Street or came from some other company that and didn't really know what we were doing, and they were giving me wrong stuff to do. And I knew it in my in my brain, so I just kind of said, no, I'm not gonna do that because that that's not a good good part of that. I'm wasting my time doing that. And so I was just that kind of person that would say it. Um so uh and I I guess it didn't make anybody mad because they never fired me. But but eventually I I I kind of grew tired of the of the process and and the le the constant leadership changes and the constant uh you know buying people that you you shouldn't have bought or should at least shouldn't have paid what you paid or whatever. And I was kind of getting tired of it and worn out because I was flying a lot and uh and and going to meetings that really weren't productive. And um then uh Bill Morgenstern uh decided he wanted to buy them. And uh so I knew Bill. Bill and I had been friends for for quite some time, and uh so we he came in and uh got that deal done, and I went into uh great Bill Morgenstern story uh is I went into his office for a meeting. Wayne Sutton was my was a good friend of mine. We're not related. Everybody asked me, you guys brothers? We we really are brothers, but we're not related. But Wayne's Sutton. Brothers by another mother. Yeah, exactly. Brothers of another mother, another Sutton mother. And uh so um so we were having our interviews with Bill, and uh, so I went in to sit down with Bill, and we were all at this hotel, and I went in, and and um so uh Bill said, listen, he said, I got some great ideas of what I want you to do. And here's what I'm thinking. And I said, Bill, hang on just a second. I said, listen, we know each other for a long time. We we like each other. I'd like that to continue. And and I gotta tell you, that this last six months of or 12 months of of being in this in this group has just really not got me in a great mental place. And I'm I'm you know, I've been flying to useless meetings in Athens in in Texas um for about a year and a half, and I said, and your office is in Erie, Pennsylvania. I don't really feel like I want to be flying to Erie, Pennsylvania for these meetings, and I said, I'd be better. I said, you'd be better off if I didn't come. I really, and I know I will be. I said, so really that's that's what I'd like to do. And and he sits back in his chair and he says, Well, kind of disappointed. Um what do you want? Yeah, I said, I don't want anything. I I just want to be out of my contract. And so he sits back again a few minutes. True story, absolutely true story. He goes, What about this? What about I pay out your contract and I vest all your options, and you can go do that. And I'm looking kind of like, is there somebody? Is this a prank? I just told this guy I didn't want anything, I just want to go. And he gave me a half a million dollars right up front and vested all my options. I was like, okay. And uh funny story, I walked back out and Wayne looked at me and said, How'd it go? I said, Wayne, tell him you don't want anything. But that's how I got out of that deal. And then I just spent a I literally spent a year playing golf in 1998. I I didn't do anything all year except play golf. I played golf 290-something days, uh sometimes twice a day. My handicap got horrible. I started not liking golf. Um, you know, Bill Ogre used to say, if you love the beach, don't buy a house there. Yeah. He said, because it's never going to be the same as it was when you didn't live that year. And Air said, I think he's got there's something about that that that that wreaks truth. I don't know how to pull it out altogether, but there's something about that. And sure enough, man, I I just I wasn't loving golf. I was just something to do. I wasn't traveling. I wasn't, but what I really missed was the association, the fellowship, the teaching, the learning, the the sharing of ideas and the excitement of of being on a team. And I just missed it. And uh so I messed around with a few things. I bought some smoothie franchises, some tropical smoothies. Uh didn't didn't really care for that. I got out of that within six months, uh, opened some check cashing stores, uh, and uh didn't like that. Um The call of rent to own was coming back. Yeah, just nothing was fitting.

SPEAKER_00: 31:02

You know, that's gothing was fitting. That's where that's where I have the question. Yeah. Because you went through traditional rent to own from beginning to end.

SPEAKER_02: 31:10

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 31:11

With all the mentors and all the issues and all the greatness and all the all all the store openings and and from one end to completely out of it on the other. Right. And then in 2000, I've got to know what happened.

SPEAKER_01: 31:25

When what came up that you said, I didn't know it compete. Right. So I could not go back into the TV appliance marketing drill. I couldn't go back and do that for another three years. So I had to find a different product. And so What led you to Wheels and Tires? That's that's what I want to do. How did you get to Wheels and Tires? I I would love to tell you that I've just my brain just was sitting there one day and I thought about that. Uh the reality is I was in um I was in Atlanta talking to a guy named Dana Webster. Dana owned a company called Tele. Uh it used to be who you'd call to find out if it's somebody's you know on the bad list or whatever. Oh uh Teletrack? Teletrack. Dana was the founder of Teletrack. He also was the the uh first guy to he invented pay per pay TV and and sold that. So Dana was Dana was a a pretty cool guy and a good friend of mine, and we were just talking about different things, and and I go, I was looking at import and rates for title fine. I was looking at all this stuff, and Dana said, Have you seen what these guys out in Texas are doing? And I said, Well, who? What? What? He said, There's a company out there called Rentatire that's got a few stores opened. They're renting on tires. And I said, What? Renting on what? Tires? Are you serious?

SPEAKER_00: 32:48

I said, First off, you've got to get me to believe that.

SPEAKER_01: 32:52

I said, really? He said, yeah. And I said, now that's interesting. That's interesting. So uh it wasn't a week later I got on an airplane and flew to flew to Texas, started business stores, looking around. And when I got there, I realized that in fact, they weren't really written on tires, they were written on wheels. They were just written on tires because you had to put tires on these wheels. Right. They weren't really in the tire business, they were in the wheel business. And I looked at it and I thought, this is intriguing. I mean, this is this is kind of cool. I like this. So I started looking at um and researching custom wheels and was looking um uh at the at the trends, and the trends were like crazy. It was like, you know, year on year, the the custom wheels were getting more popular. There was a ton of rap stars back then. Oh, that was it. Rap was just coming out, and everybody was singing about rims. And we used to have a contest called Rapping for Rims. That's how that's how it was really cool. And and and got some great jingles from it, as a matter of fact. But anyway, it it became about that. And I just kind of looked at everything they were doing. I came back home and I couldn't get it out of my mind. I thought, yeah, this that could be fun. So uh I said, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm I'm gonna do that. And then I got to find out a way how I got to, because we could also take care of another problem because I when in my research, I found out that all the the RT, traditional RTO customer types were literally buying used tires. They were out buying used tires for 30 bucks, 40 bucks, 50 bucks. They're paying$50 a tire for a tire that someone else is done with. So they're going and dropping$100, getting two new tires. They never have a decent set of tires on their car. And I thought, oh man, I could I could solve that problem. You know what? I know how to do. I know how to do that. So we spent a lot of time. We we we we opened up, uh, and I'm going long here, as I always do. But long story short, uh, we we when we opened our doors, I mean, we had trouble spelling wheels, not much less how do we size them, how do we do, we had a big learning curve. So I opened a store closest to my office so I could go to the store every day and and participate. And then at night I would go back to the office and write policy or write, you know, programs or training manuals or whatever. And then the next day I would go back and try out some of the new forms and stuff like that. But literally, when we opened the door to that store, I'm telling you there was a line out out front. But while we were building it out, it was an old gas station. This is an old gas station. And and we kind of fixed it up and put these cool looking things in the front and made it look cool. But and it was called Rent and Roll back back then. And there were literally people standing in line when we opened the door. It was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. We grew in the first 90 days. It was the fastest growth I'd ever seen, faster than any traditional RTL store I'd ever seen. And I was like, this is cool. This is this is fun, you know. And that was that that first door, and then you know, we opened our second story, got the same results, and we went in our third story, and you know how it works how it works, you get to that point and you're ready to do something else.

SPEAKER_00: 36:10

So well, I think that trend stayed with you. I'm providing something to give somebody what they need, right? Whether it be a great night's sleep, whether it be clean clothes, whether it be to be able to get on online and do your business, right, whether it be cold food, whatever the case is, right? Instead of that, now you're providing a way to get to work, a safe way to get from point A to point B if you want to take your family on a trip, whether you're going to school.

SPEAKER_01: 36:33

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 36:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 36:34

And that kind of holds true to how you were able to get this beast off the ground because now well it it's it's transitioned to be able to do that, and that and that's because we're of perseverance. Uh you know, we we we grew in wheels like you wouldn't believe. I mean, everybody wanted custom wheels back then. It was insane. And and and then a lot of people didn't have the credit, the money, or the or the wherewithal to get it. So so we were there and and and we were able to take advantage of that. But for some reason, we weren't growing in our passenger tire business. We we just weren't, we the message wasn't getting there. That people were still buying used tires, and that was bothering me. And I kept trying, hey, let's try this display, let's try this price, let's try these things, let's do this, let's try that. And then uh it it kind of came about that we kind of figured out that the reason we weren't really attracting the tire customer is that we were, I mean, in a in a traditional wheel store, you didn't show your beige. You wanted uh, you just wanted your showroom to be all wheels. You the only tires you had in there were the performance tires. So we so I tried to do displays for pasture tires and the whole bit, advertised the heck out of them. We just weren't making a dent in the pasture tire business. So we started at our meetings talking about we gotta find a way to do this. We've got to find a way to do this. And it came to find out that in reality, the reason people weren't coming to us to I was in 7-Eleven one day, had a Rut and Roll shirt on. And the guy said, Oh, you're with the Rut and Roll Group. I said, Yes, sir. How you doing? And and he said, I'm I'm doing great. And I said, uh he said, man, that's a cool concept. I said, thank you very much. I said, have you ever have you ever been in the store? He said, no, but no, I haven't. I said, why not? He said, I don't need wheels. I said, Well, you you you you need tires, don't you? He said, You guys do tires? We we had promoted wheels so hot and heavy that our identity was about wheels. And so our identity was keeping us from making a dent in the passenger tire business. And the reality is, is that's the group I wanted to help the most because I wanted to make a dent in that used tire. Get them out of used tires and get them a good product. And so just you know, tried various asundries of things, and and then uh and then one day I got a call from from a franchisee and said, hey, I'm opening up a new store and I'd like to try something. And uh and and and it was I'm gonna, I'm gonna I want to separate the tire department from the wheel department, make put all the pasture tires in, and I want to put on one part of the building, I want to put tire express and and and that kind of thing. And it was David Harrison, by the way. You we probably know who that is. And I said, Dave, that's a great idea. Let's give that a try. Because all the every every year we were talking about how can we do this? How can we transition? And that was his idea. He came up with that idea, and sure enough, took off. One of the fastest growing stores. Tires, passenger tires. Wheels never slowed down, but the passenger tires just started coming. And uh so we started, uh we looked at that, and that within a short period of time, we decided we needed to rebrand. We needed to rebrand. Take a look at what our stores look like. We had to become more of a tire dealer that offered rims as opposed to a wheel store. And so we've really done a lot of work identity-wise and changing that identity. And that's why that ultimately became RR Tire Express. That's kind of a long story.

SPEAKER_00: 40:19

No, no, and I'm going to say because listen, if it's if it's not right, don't be afraid to fix it. Because the issue is riding the same thing till the wheels fall off might not be a great idea. Now, I remember rent and roll. Honestly, that that that is engraved in my mind. Oh, yeah. We still have people that come in and I know. Well, I mean, you know, working for buddies a long time, I heard buddies buy rights till the wheel, you know, until the until the cows came home. But you rebrand with a purpose, with something to change and show and rectify why you're doing this. Absolutely. Now, mind you, I'm not saying it wasn't bad then, but we are actually sitting again for the second time, for the second sudden, at the RR Tire Express studio. Now, if you guys don't know, this is a beautiful spot. We've done really well with the branding, the rebranding, and how it looks now. So now we're RR Tire Express, which is the same but different.

SPEAKER_01: 41:18

All of a sudden, people are coming up for tire. That's it, right?

SPEAKER_00: 41:20

And we get the job done. Well, an RR Tire Express, it's actually really done well. I mean, the rebranding is beautiful. I wanted to talk to you about that because some of the stores that I see, and I listen, I'm not going to say at all that there is a typical rent-to-owned store. I'm not going to say that, but I can say that I've seen my fair share of rent-to-owned stores, and some of them kind of do favor the same.

SPEAKER_02: 41:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 41:44

But what I have to say is in the idea of RR Tire Express coming from Rent and Roll, coming from a traditional rent-to-owned basis, these stores look like retail locations that offer rent-to-owned. Absolutely. Which is amazing because you look at them, and I and I've I've been able to say through experience and view of the value of just looking at it and going into one and saying, you know what? I saw Firestone that didn't look this good. Oh, yeah. I saw a good year that didn't look this good. Right, right. What came into that thought of like, you know what, we're going to be the hottest-looking rent-to-owned tire wheel dealer out there. I mean, I mean, look at that. The stores look amazing. Yeah. Where did that come from? How did that, you know, how did that transition?

SPEAKER_01: 42:30

You know, again, uh a team uh thinking in the in the right uh in the right way. And and you know, even though um Adam uh didn't officially come back until 2017, he was never too far from the from the ideal uh group, you know. So so whenever we always reached out we were talking about because it as far as marketing goes, he was the best marketing guy I knew. You know, and I was like, I'd so I'd always talk to him and run things by him. So so even before he was here, he had an impact in a lot of that that that thought process and design stuff. His his his impact was still there. Um, even before I badgered him into coming back.

SPEAKER_00: 43:16

We did we did hear the story, but I would so you you get the stores going, right? So we're we're at 2,000. We're really starting to kind of make the dent in it. You start in the Tampa Bay area. Yep. So we're starting in the Tampa Bay area and we're going through now. Even though you're doing rent-to-own, this is a different part of it. What were the unique challenges to a tire and wheel situation? Not just the fact that we want to rent tires, but what were some of the differences that you came across and said, you know what, this this is this is definitely a hurdle I've got to stop and take care of because it's different than the furniture. It's different from sofas and living room groups and well, there's a lot more maintenance involved in it.

SPEAKER_01: 43:55

Uh because you you you have to take care of tires. You if if you want tires to to last the way they should, you don't just put them on the car and forget they're there. I mean, you've got you got to keep the air uh, you know, pretty consistent, which is why we went to nitrogen refill all across the board to help that, because when you're running nitrogen, you get more tire wear. You don't have to refill your tires, it'll it'll hold your pressure. That's the main reason for nitrogen in tires. So we we have nitrogen in every store. Um, you have to rotate and balance those tires every four to six thousand miles or every six months in order for them to not wear out quicker. That's the reason we include with every purchase lifetime rotating balance with no additional charge. And when I say lifetime, life of the tire. So if those if those tires are on our customer's car for six for three years, they're gonna have in that time six free rotating balances or more if if they're driving more, but at least two a year, they're gonna get two of those every year because we want those tires to last as long as they can. That creates the value that you and I both know when someone uses the rent-owned transaction to buy something, they're gonna pay one more. So I believe and have always believed, it's up to us to make sure there's value attached to what they're gonna pay for. So when you look at everything we include that other tire dealers charge for, we really feel like we're the best value in the tire business, even if they don't need to come in and make payments. We we have a ton of people that come in and pay cash, you know, uh for tires because they like our value. They like what we're offering for the price that we offer. So it's uh that's a part of the story.

SPEAKER_00: 45:44

Well, I I can I can tell you, one of the things that I learned coming through this business was, you know, there was a lot of people fixed on price point. It's a price point. This this price point is this, and this price point is that. And somebody one day came through and and they gave me a book, and and uh the f well the first book I read was One Minute Manager because they made everybody read it.

SPEAKER_01: 46:02

That's that's a good book. Yeah, that's a good button. One of the first books I read. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 46:07

And so, you know, I learned that it wasn't the price point, it was the value for the price point. Absolutely. I don't wouldn't mind spending a million dollars if I got everything I absolutely needed out of it. Absolutely. And I had a problem spending five dollars for something that wasn't worth two cents. Yeah, so there was always that value to dollar ratio. If it's worth it, they'll pay it.

SPEAKER_01: 46:26

Absolutely. And and people don't want people will say they want the lowest price, but what they really want is the best value. They want the best value. They just haven't had anybody explain it to them correctly.

SPEAKER_00: 46:38

Well, I I want to I want to bring this up because you say it so well. We've got this lifetime situation. We take care of the tires, we rotate them, we put nitrogen, we make sure that, you know, for the life of the tire, they're good. Right. I wouldn't imagine you started out that way. No, no, of course not. So how did you get what did you go through to go, oh, you know what? We better start offering this. You know what? Nitrogen is a great idea, guys.

SPEAKER_01: 47:01

The more you learn, you know, it's and and and that's one of the things I love about business, is because you're in a state of constant learning. Constant learning. It never stops learning. And and and and so that's part of any business growth is that you know you get information, you go, oh, when when nitrogen came out, we looked at it and I went, I wonder if that's true. We did the research, found out, well, yeah, it's true. In fact, that's why NASA, uh uh NASCAR and NASA, not uh no aeronautic, they actually use nitrogen to airplane tires. And they were using nitrogen at NASCAR 35 years ago. Why? Because they didn't have to change the tires as often. That's less pit spots. They figured out the size. And once you look into that, you find out, say, that's a great value. We need to do that. And so you just put it in. And uh, you know, automobile dealers today, if you go buy a new car and you and you go to leave, you'll see on their deal nitrogen.

SPEAKER_00: 48:03

Oh, I've got I've got the green cap on mine still.

SPEAKER_01: 48:05

It'll say$300. And you're like,$300 for nitrogen?

SPEAKER_00: 48:12

Really? So how so how many tires do you think you had to go through to realize, hey, I need to put nitrogen in these tires? Was it a couple years?

SPEAKER_01: 48:20

Oh, oh, absolutely. Nitrogen didn't get into our package probably the first 10 years. Uh, but then when it but as soon as it kind of started getting into the tire, we look at everything. I mean, you know, it just like you would in in the traditional business, you know when you go to APRO and you go to you go to we go to a thing called uh SEMA. And so that's where you find out what's going on with equipment, what's going on with with uh with you know, in in our business, we've got a$100,000 to$200,000 worth of equipment in the garage that is important. Uh it's important to be maintained, it's important to work properly, and uh I mean you're you're dealing with people's safety here, you know. So uh when when you're taking tires off and putting tires on, you're dealing with with taking care of people's safety. So you've gotta have your game in the tip-top shape. You cannot be half-tailed about it. That's the kind way.

SPEAKER_00: 49:17

Well, I mean, you know, coming from traditional rent-to-own, there were the drivers, delivery guys, delivery techs, however you want to call it. You know, one when I first came on, I was an account manager that delivered it, which is part of what we did. Right. The training has to be a hugely different between saying this is how you double carry a sofa, this is how you install a fridge, this is how you, you know, this is how you service a washing machine and you double check it to make sure that the hose in the back is tight because otherwise you're gonna fill this place up and we've got we got issues. How did the training how how was the difference in training for people who were doing deliveries versus listen, this family's gonna get on the road in about 15 minutes? Yes, and every bolt has to be right, and the tires have to be, you know, even now to get it. Well, right. So, you know, how did that transition happen as from from where you come from to where you are now and the training courses and the and the the obvious necessity of un getting them to understand how important it is to get it right the first time. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 50:17

I mean, what did you have to go through? So in in in in our industry, there are groups that that focus on on education. And one of them is TIA, uh TIA. Uh and and way they even certify. Like if we've got all of our guys that start doing installs and they get certified through the TIA process, meaning they go through the training, they get the, you know, they go get their testing. They're doing we actually reward folks for every level of TIA they go through, they get a raise every time they hit a new new level. And and also today, we're actually taking it a step further because we're actually having all of our people go through what we what what's in the industry they know as ASE certification, which means they can literally work on that vehicle if they find, if if if they are going to align something, they find that the the some bars are off or some parts are wrong or whatever. Literally, they're qualified to replace that uh those parts. And so when you're in when you align, we we we we started doing alignments probably 10 years ago, and we put it because we kept sending alignments, but half the maybe 60 percent of the cars would come in to get new tires and we put them on the lift and find out they're not aligned. So for years, we were sending them to our best friend Dallas Tree to get them aligned. And if eventually it hit home, it's like, why don't we just buy some alignment machines, do the training, then we'll do it ourselves. And uh so that's that's what we did. So now all the stores have alignment machines.

SPEAKER_00: 51:50

Um Well, I think that's part of the entrepreneurial spirit to say, hey, we have something here. Let's not only take the extra step, let's take two extra steps. Not only we get our guy certified, but then give him the tools to do it the right way to make sure it's done and keep it all in-house.

SPEAKER_01: 52:04

So there's some so there's some those are the, you know, as you grow, uh and and and and you're you still you go to all the shows, you get with other dealers, you talk, you see what other dealers are doing, pretty much like what Apro does. Uh, there's a lot of groups in the automotive world that are similar. They're not near as uh as friendly with each other, though, as they are in the RTL business. They're great guys, but they don't tell you they're sinkers.

SPEAKER_00: 52:31

Yeah, well, you know, talking about the other guys, there's been a lot of growth. So I know there's some competition.

SPEAKER_02: 52:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 52:37

Starting from 2000 to now. Yeah. And and help me if I'm wrong, over 200 plus locations?

SPEAKER_01: 52:42

Uh right now, I think we're at 208 stores in 30 states. Before the end of the year, I think we'll probably be in uh 31 states and two countries. No. Oh, wow. As a matter of fact. Wow, that's growth. We've signed our deal in uh we just signed a deal in Canada. So we're gonna be opening up our uh franchisee in Canada uh in the near near future. So uh we're we're multi-countried now.

SPEAKER_00: 53:06

We're multicultured because we're multi-country. That's right. That's right. So out of all this, yeah, you you've you come on young, you take on champion, you get out of it, you play a lot of golf, right, you get back into it with something that wasn't really mainstream here, it takes off. Sure. What would you tell somebody who's entering that entrepreneurial age in their in their lives? Whether that be now, whether that be there in the 20s, whatever the case is, what's some advice that you could say, you know what, from the reverend of RTO, this is what I would say I would keep in mind of, I would do be mindful of this. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 53:49

Well, there's there's there's just a few. There's probably a thousand, but a few that matter. Uh one of the one of the things I would tell everybody is is one of the things that Swatch told me early in my life, uh, which really made me a believer in how in how successful I was gonna be. You know, and and what he said was, uh, he said, Larry, if you want to be successful and you want to and you really want to be very successful, he said, best way to do that is hire people smarter than you. And boy, I got off the stool at that minute, and I just was gonna say hallelujah, because everybody I knew was smarter than me at that point in time. But uh but that but there's a lot to be said about that. And yeah, are people more talented than you in areas? Uh you know, and of course there are. I mean, I don't care who you are. There are people with more talent. I don't care who you are, there are people with more brain power. I don't care who you are. There are people that know more. You know, so if you're caught up in thinking you know it all, you're you're gonna be behind, not ahead, you know. Uh and so hiring uh smart is is is number one is have people around you that you trust. And they're probably a little smarter than you are. And that's that's always a good start. Uh but but then secondly, for me, um I just never ever complained about hard work. I just I don't I don't I I think it you know, I s I spent my summers growing up in Oklahoma and on the farm on my grandparents' farm. And I mean, work is what you did, not four days or five. You've been working seven days. You I mean, every day you got up and went to the cotton field and you picked cotton, you pulled cotton, you did whatever they were gonna do. Um, and people say, what's the difference of picking cotton and pulling cotton? You know? I don't actually know. You got a cotton bow, right? Cotton grows in this sticky bow, right? Well, if you pull cotton, you pull the whole bow off and put it in your bag. If you pick cotton, you pick the cotton out of the bow and put it in your bag. Now, when you take pick cotton to the to the uh place where they buy it, they'll pay you more for it. Because it's already separated. Because it's already separated. They they can skip a process. But man, when you pick cotton, your hands bleed. You're gonna bummy, you're gonna at the end of the day, your hands are just uh messed up. And every time they would decide to pick, I go, oh man, we're gonna go pick. You're gonna pick it. I wanna pull it. I don't wanna. But anyway, I grew up in that environment. And so you get up in the morning, you you you you slop the hogs, you go out and milk the cows, you do all of this stuff. And so I think that experience was after a while, it's not work. After a while, it's like, it's just what you do. I mean, it's like so you don't be, you know, I mean, I used to, my aunt used to drop me off on one row of cotton and and and say, okay, I'm gonna have water for you at the end of row eight. So you're you gotta work your way up, down, up, down, up, down, and then to get, oh, one more, I gotta go up to get water. That's how I grew up. And so I I think it just uh it came natural that working hard, because I, you know, again, I work hard is just it is if you don't, there's they're it it's you're not you're never gonna be as good as you can if you're not wanting to work hard. And and you don't love working hard. You know, I mean, and most people I know that are successful, they love work. They don't hate work. They don't, they're not disgruntled with work, they're enjoying work. Uh and so I I've kind of been in that mode too, uh except for that time I worked for those guys. So making sure that you surround yourself with people who have drives, smart people that we can lead, and then making sure we're not shy to work at and hey, you know what uh when Alexander the Great was 19 years old, uh he almost conquered the entire world as they it was then as they they know it now at 19 years old. If you ever look at any of the pictures of the battles, where where was Alexander? He was on a white horse leading his troops into battle. He was in the fight always, not up on the hill watching. So I think that's a that's a good analogy of where you ought to be. Don't be afraid to get in there and and and get with the uh with the team and and uh and and show them that you you you work just as hard as they do, if not harder.

SPEAKER_00: 58:33

One of the things that I want to cover is that early on you were able to see a need that needed to be filled. You were able to take that on, fill those needs, get champion built up, you got out of it. Most people don't have the ability to see another thing coming. Yeah, yeah. If somebody wants to get into business, is finding in that unique approach, it it I don't think that's an easy thing. No. How how do you how did you how were you able to identify this, you know, this area and go, this is an area that's gonna grow. I know that if I put my all into this, not not just because I work hard and not just because I know I can do it, because you know, we as entrepreneurs you feel that way, regardless of where you stick me. I'm gonna be successful. But part of the success is also getting in where you fit in, right? There's a niche and there's an opening, and I see a problem because that's that's also the entrepreneurial thing. That's also the rent-to-own worry, right? We absolutely we see an opening, we see something different and go, I can feel that need because there is one out there.

SPEAKER_01: 59:38

Well, that's why the product uh line with rent to own today is much broader than it than it than it back in the day. It was worse as drivers or refrigerator. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00: 59:47

Well, there was core products because they were literally core products. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 59:50

Exactly. So you look walk into the store now, they got furniture, purses, jewelry, I mean they had all kinds of products because there was a it was a want or and and need Outside those areas, and they and they added the product. So that that's number one is and and where you're going with that is um you know how do how do you know and in in my case um I knew I wanted to do something using our methology of transaction, our the the least to own transaction. And why? Because the people, the customers that I had known and met over the 25, 20 years that we had champion, in my mind were just some of the most hardest working, deserving people I'd ever met in my entire life. They just awesome people. Uh that would have you in their home, or just they they were just honest and they were just hardworking and they just wanted a better life and they were willing to work for it and wasn't willing to pay for it. And I kind of fell in love with that customer. So I knew I wanted to work with that customer, but I was not able to do what I the product. So at that point, I was just looking for a product. You know, I was looking for a product. And again, you know, somebody had already started it. And so I was like, hadn't thought of that. Let me go look at it. And when I did, I went, I think that's this this has some promise. And then again, you go back and look at trends, and you know, anybody can go online and go, hey, tell me the the wheel trends for the last five years. And and and and then I saw that, you know, it went here, then here, then here, then here, you know, and it was like, this is getting big, you know. I mean, when we when we the first store ever opened, I think the most amount of wheels that were sold in any year at that point was maybe 10 million, you know. Now five, six hundred, eight a billion, you know, in in in wheel. It just was you just you can look. So you know, do there's always a place you can find and and today I guess all you could do is ask chat GPT or whoever chat. You just you just chat it up. Chat it up. What can I get into? I don't know. I don't know how you get in touch with grok, but I I heard somebody the other day saying, ask grok. And I said, how do I find grok?

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:15

Well, you know, it's it's I I I really enjoy that thought process. You started with the idea that you knew rent-owned was what you were gonna do. I I had to get back to that. You just had to figure out what that you were gonna what you were gonna provide to the customer. Yeah. That's that's that's a that's a thought process I'm gonna take with me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:37

Well, and if you if you go, if you even push that back to when I got into the the business with slats, I grew up around the televisions, the appliances, the all of that stuff, and I kind of learned about all of that and stuff. So I was kind of like, ooh, yeah, I get to stay with that. So that you know, stuff that I was already familiar with it and kind of liked it. Uh my senior year in high school, true story, I sold every one of my teachers either a colored television, appliance, or not furniture, but appliance or colored television. My senior year, every teacher. My senior television.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:11

That's what we're talking about. Listen, guys, we're here with the Reverend of RTO, kind of just letting us know how he started, how he got there, and how he made it to be exactly where he's at with the Sutton name all over everything. RR Tire Express just doing an amazing job. Larry, I'm very grateful that you took out the time to be able to talk to us today.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:31

I'm so grateful that uh you took the time to be with me today. You're getting, you're, you're a pretty uh you're a pretty in-demand guy these days.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:39

We are getting there. We appreciate it. Because you know why? It's listeners like you that help us out here and the rent-to-owns aspect. We are doing the Legends podcast series again. Legend, Larry Sutton has been doing it for years and years and years, probably forgotten a lot more than I'll ever know. But I've got to say I thank you so much for being here. If you have any questions, please go online, hit me up at Pete at the RTO Showpodcast.com. You can email directly. You can go online to the website at www.thertoshowpodcast.com, or feel free to hit up the DMs on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and where you're gonna see this on YouTube. Now we've also started branching out a little bit more on some other social media pages, but we're not gonna push that yet until I get it all locked in. But if you guys have any questions, please let me know. I really appreciate you being here. I really love the branding. I love the direction. I love with you and Adam have gone to it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:34

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:34

It's a complete pleasure to be here and have the conversations that we've had. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:40

I've enjoyed myself. I really have.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:42

I I I love the business. Yes, I love the business. Yes, that's why we're here. Well, I will tell you guys as always thank you for being here and get your collections low to get your sales high. Have a great one.