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A “short-term job” after the Marine Corps turned into a career that put Mark Connolly in charge of hundreds of rent-to-own stores, and the path there is anything but clean. We talk through the real story: job fairs, brutal hours, constant relocations, industry consolidation, and the leadership decisions that separate a manager from a builder.

Mark breaks down what actually scales an RTO business: recruiting great people, protecting customer experience, and never pretending collections are optional. He shares the hiring tells he trusts, the traits he knows he cannot coach, and the practical operating advice that helped him rebuild performance across multiple markets. If you run multi-unit operations or you’re trying to grow from one store to two, you’ll hear blunt guidance on when to slow down, when to push, and why profitability has to be the foundation.

We also dig into the Arona story and the broader portfolio strategy behind BCP: buying stores, investing in real estate, and expanding into businesses like Valvoline quick lube, restaurants, pet retail, and equipment rental. The thread that ties it together is simple and hard: keep great operators in place, treat vendors as partners, and don’t outgrow your leadership bench.

If you’re serious about growth in the rent-to-own industry, hit play, take notes, and then tell us what you’re building next. Subscribe wherever you listen, share this with an operator who’s scaling, and leave a review so more RTO leaders can find the show. What’s the next move you’re considering?

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