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 manag...
Unlocking Capital In Rent To Own
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Money problems in rent-to-own rarely show up as one big issue. They show up as tighter cash flow, higher customer acquisition costs, and a growing pile of skips and charge-offs your team does not have time to chase. So we brought in two people who live on the “how do we fund this” side of the RTO business, and we kept the conversation practical.
First, I sit down with Tom Murphy from Capital Concierge to talk business capital for rent-to-own and lease-to-own dealers. We get specific about what lenders look for, why...
Grow Slowly, Learn Fast: A Rent-to-Own Owner's Playbook for Starting and Scaling
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Carson Hostetler never planned a career in sheds. He moved to Texas for a job that fell through, started selling sheds online through his brother's connection, and later joined a young shed manufacturer as a salesperson. The founders were around 21 and 22, the company was about a year old, and they asked him to serve as president. When a founder left, Carson took his shares. The deal was five years of sales targets in exchange for equity, which he describes as golden handcuffs.
The company began in a founder's dad's backyard and...
How Rent To Own Turns Renters Into Homeowners
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Mortgage rates jump, home prices stay high, and suddenly “just buy a house” sounds like a joke. We wanted a real alternative, so we brought on Jen and Joe De La Fave to explain how rent-to-own homes can work when it’s built around clear terms, real screening, and a genuine path to mortgage qualification.
We talk through the nuts and bolts that most people never hear: how they market properties as rent to own, the first questions they ask to filter serious buyers, and why the option deposit matters if someon...
How Rent To Own Powers The Portable Shed Industry
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AI is already “explaining” rent-to-own to your customers, the media, and regulators, whether we like it or not. If we don’t publish accurate, industry-authored information, the internet fills in the blanks for us and those guesses can turn into headlines, policy, and bad assumptions. That’s where the shed world gets fascinating, because rent-to-own portable buildings sit at the crossroads of logistics, contracts, customer education, and public perception.
I’m joined by Shannon Latham, better known as The Shed Geek, to map out how the shed industry really works: manufacturers, independen...
How to Spot Future RTO Leaders on Your Team with Erica St. Charles
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Watching someone rise fast in rent-to-own can look like luck from the outside, but Erica St. Charles breaks down what is really happening behind the scenes: trust earned one shift at a time, relentless follow-up, and a leadership style that never asks the team to do work she would not do herself. From getting soaked loading a trailer to winning back-to-back Region of the Year, Erica’s story is a straight shot at what modern RTO leadership actually demands.
We talk through her move from hotel management into the rent-to-own industry, th...
Joe Ignace of Velocity 360 on Sales Science and increasing Close Rates in RTO
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One store Joe Ignace worked with found that 80% of its quotes never got a follow-up call.
Joe is the CEO of Velocity 360 CRM, and he joins Pete Shau to explain where dealers lose sales after the lead comes in. He started in door-to-door sales, learned to treat selling as a formula, and now helps shed, outdoor structure, and furniture dealers fix their lead management. Pete asks the practical questions: how fast is fast enough, which lead sources actually close, and what a dealer can do when the phone is ringing and...
Credit Is Splitting In Two and That's How Rent To Own Benefits
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Credit is changing right under our feet, and if you run a rent-to-own store, you’re going to feel the impact before most people can even name it. Phones get quieter, shoppers take longer to decide, and deals feel harder to close. That doesn’t automatically mean demand is gone. It can mean the paths customers used to rely on are closing, and they’re about to look for the one door that still says yes.
We walk through the hard signals behind the shift: banks tightening standards for subprime lending, what t...
Why Your Next Customer Is Still Sitting at Home
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A three-year delay doesn’t sound like much until you translate it into what rent to own actually sells: first homes, first rooms, and the big “everything at once” purchases that come with household formation. The average move-out age has climbed from about 23 to about 26, and that shift is quietly reshaping demand across the rent-to-own industry. I break down why this is overwhelmingly a housing affordability story, why the purchases did not disappear, and why a backlog of delayed household formation could become a powerful tailwind for operators who build real customer relationships now.
Tectonic CEO Dusty Gulleson on Leading RTO Teams Without Micromanaging
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Half of new platform rollouts fail, and the software is rarely the reason. Dusty Gulleson, CEO of Tectonic, joins Pete Shau to explain why so many RTO dealers buy a CRM, POS system, or routing app their teams never use, and what to do before you sign the next contract.
Dusty built a 100-person technology company over 27 years with no outside capital and a team that tends to stay for more than a decade. He walks through his people, processes, and platforms order of operations, how to read a vendor pitch...
RTO World 2026 Highlights: Hello West Palm Beach!
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If you think rent-to-own is just a transaction, RTO World 2026 proves it is a full ecosystem built on relationships, standards, and real community impact.
Pete Shau is in West Palm Beach with Charles Smitherman, CEO of APRO, for a candid recap of the event. They cover why networking is a competitive advantage for operators and vendors, what the APRO Legal Summit revealed about TCPA, texting, and shifting state laws, and why the Generative Knowledge Initiative matters now that AI and search engines are already explaining rent-to-own to customers, journalists, and policymakers...
How Self-Awareness Turns Good RTO Sellers Into Great Ones
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Charisma is the quiet force that can make an average pitch land and a perfect pitch fall flat. Pete sits down with Arky Jones from Australia to unpack why some people seem to “read the room” instantly, how emotional intelligence shows up in tiny nonverbal cues, and what sales leaders can do to coach those skills without turning their teams into robots. If you’ve ever watched a rep with less product knowledge outperform the expert, this conversation puts language and structure around what you’re seeing.
We go deep on self-awa...
The RTO Show LIVE at RTO WORLD 2026
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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...
How To Make Your RTO Store Grand Opening Pay Off Big!
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A grand opening can be the moment your store becomes “the new place in town” or the day you spend a lot of money and barely get noticed. We sit down with Vince, VP of franchising at RR Tire Express, to get practical about what actually moves the needle when you’re launching a new location: how to ramp faster, how to avoid a shaky first impression, and how to build trust with people who have never heard of your brand.
We dig into the real purpose of a soft opening vs a g...
What If Rent to Own Training Is Really About Trust with Nick Robinson
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Training sounds simple until you watch a new hire freeze the first time the phone rings or a customer brings a messy, real-life problem to the counter. Nick Robinson from RNR Tire Express joins me to get honest about what actually builds confident teams in rent-to-own: a people-first culture, patient repetition, and leaders who are willing to stay in the gap until someone is truly ready.
We dig into what franchise training looks like from both angles, from my role as a franchise training specialist to Nick’s boots-on-the-ground operations approach an...
AI Is Rewriting Rent-to-Own Marketing Now
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Google search is quietly turning into a no-click world, and rent-to-own marketing feels the impact first. When AI Overviews answer the question on the results page, fewer shoppers ever land on an RTO website, which means the old playbook of “rank and convert” stops working the way it used to. We sit down with Ryan Krass of WoW Brands to unpack what’s changing, why it changed so fast, and how rent-to-own dealers can stay visible when the buyer journey starts inside AI.
We connect the dots between macroeconomics and consumer search...
Great Rent To Own Stores Are Built On Relationships
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Everyone offers “easy payments” now, so why do some rent-to-own stores keep growing while others stall out? I sat down with Phil Hamer from Buddy’s Home Furnishings to get real about RTO operations, from the habits that win on the showroom floor to the behind-the-scenes systems that protect collections, staffing, and customer retention.
Phil walks through his 24-year journey from starting on the truck to leading corporate operations, and what he learned along the way about mentors, competitive drive, and developing people who can carry the business forward. We also break...
Verify First, Chase Less: How DataTrue Helps RTO Dealers Make Smarter Deals with Dan Jobrack
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One wrong address. One recycled phone number. One “upgrade” that turns into a first-payment disappearance. Those small details can snowball into charge-offs, truck rolls, and weeks of wasted collections effort. I sit down with Dan Jobrak from Data True to get practical about how rent-to-own operators can protect the business without slowing down the counter or treating every customer like a suspect.
Dan walks us through what Data True actually does, why it was built as live data verification instead of a “garbage in, garbage out” database, and how front-end verification helps cl...
You Know What to Do, So Why Aren't You Doing It? John Preston on Decision Paralysis
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Your brain is not broken, it’s overloaded. John Preston joins us to explain why so many entrepreneurs, GMs, and sales pros get stuck in a loop of planning, worrying, and second-guessing, even when they already know what to do next. He introduces “Clearing the Sleary,” his upcoming business narrative that turns modern overwhelm into a clear, usable framework. Sleary is an acronym for self-doubt, limiting beliefs, exhaustion, anxiety, regret, and ego, and the metaphor is unforgettable: a clogged sink cannot flow until you stop adding more gunk.
We get practical about...
Legacy Of Service: The History Behind the Kirk Kaye Volunteer Award
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Some people leave a résumé. Others leave a wake of better days behind them. That’s the kind of legacy we’re talking about with Cecilia Kay as she shares the story of her late husband, Kirk Kay, a rent-to-own leader remembered for putting people first long before it was a slogan.
We trace Kirk’s path from First American Rental in Atlanta to opening Gator Rents in Daytona Beach, including what it really takes to jump from corporate operations into ownership. Cecilia explains how Kirk built a store from the grou...
The Seven Principles That Make Sales Easier
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Most sales scripts fail for a boring reason: they assume people decide with patience, logic, and unlimited attention. They don’t. We talk with Patrick Van der burt, an ethical persuasion trainer based in Australia, about how real decisions get made and why so many prospects aren’t rejecting you they’re freezing in indecision.
Patrick connects Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 vs System 2 thinking to what we see every day in marketing, rent-to-own (RTO) sales, retail, lending, and leadership. When we “help” by piling on details, we often create uncertainty and delay. The g...
Jeff Smith: From Recovery To RTO Leadership
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One video on a birthday night was enough to force an honest mirror. Jeff Smith tells us how that moment helped him choose sobriety on April 16, 2022, and why everything accelerated after he stopped drinking, not just his health, but his leadership, focus, and ability to build. Jeff is now part-owner of Hometown Rent To Own with five locations, and he brings a rare perspective on what growth looks like when you are rebuilding yourself at the same time you are building a company.
We talk about the rent-to-own business as a...
Why RTO Still Wins Today
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Cash flow lies, growth is expensive, and culture slips the moment leaders get too far from the counter. We sit down with Jerry Marshall, a longtime rent-to-own operator turned owner of seven locations under Kappa Investments, to talk about what it really takes to scale in the RTO industry without losing the standards that built the business in the first place.
Jerry walks us through his winding path from Rentway to Aaron’s to entrepreneurship, including what buyouts and getting “traded” taught him about resilience, timing, and choosing the right platform. From t...
Fix Customer Service Before It Costs You
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Most businesses don’t lose customers because of price, they lose them because the experience feels messy, slow, or forgettable. We sit down with Vance Morris to pull back the curtain on the Disney approach to customer experience and translate it into practical moves rent-to-own operators can use immediately, even with a small team and a busy day-to-day schedule. Â
We talk about why great service is built on simple systems and SOPs, how to map the customer journey so you know where standards matter most, and how “plussing” keeps your playbook from ge...
Inside the Legal Side of Rent-to-Own Sheds
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One missed disclosure, one careless ad, or one unopened bankruptcy notice can turn a profitable rent-to-own deal into a full-blown legal mess. That’s why we brought on Nick Garrard, NSRA legal counsel and an attorney who works deep in the shed rent to own world, to help us get practical about where dealers get exposed and how to stay ahead of it.
We talk through what really changes when you move from traditional RTO items to higher-value sheds, and why the fundamentals still come back to the Rental Purchase Agreement Ac...
Should AI Be Your Next New Hire
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Your store’s phones are either making you money or quietly leaking it. We sit down with Viraj from Atlog to get past the buzzwords and talk about what AI actually does inside rent-to-own operations when the goal is simple: reach more customers, collect more consistently, and stop missing calls and texts.
We break down where Atlog started and why the first wedge was collections automation in the RTO space. Viraj explains how they learned the business by visiting dealers across the country, then turned that discovery into AI voice agents th...
Building Beyond RTO: Mark Connelly on Expansion Done Right
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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...
The Future of RTO Buying, AI, and Omnichannel Retail with AMPTAB
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What does the future of rent to own technology actually look like, and how can dealers stay competitive as AI, automation, and real time inventory systems reshape retail buying?
In this episode of The RTO Show Podcast, host Pete Shau sits down with Michael Costa from AMPTAB to explore how digital infrastructure, integrated ordering systems, and omnichannel retail tools are changing the way rent to own businesses source, manage, and sell products.Â
From simplifying vendor catalogs and reducing buying friction to discussing AI powered product search, API integrations, customer f...
How Lauren Talicska and APRO’s LedgeCon 2026 Are Shaping the Future of Rent to Own
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What happens when a first time LedgeCon attendee walks into Capitol Hill and discovers the true power of advocacy in the rent to own industry?
In this episode of The RTO Show Podcast, Lauren Talicska shares her experience attending APRO’s LedgeCon 2026 and explains why legislative advocacy, industry relationships, and storytelling matter more than ever in modern rent to own.Â
From changing public perception and educating lawmakers to building stronger customer relationships and growing leadership confidence, this conversation explores how the rent to own industry continues evolving through collaboration, com...
Inside LegCon 2026: How APRO Is Protecting the Future of Rent to Own
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What happens when the rent to own industry stops reacting and starts leading the conversation in Washington, D.C.?
In this episode of The RTO Show Podcast, Pete Shau sits down with Charles Smitherman and Amberlee Maya to break down why APRO’s LegCon 2026 became one of the most important advocacy events in recent rent to own history.Â
From legislative advocacy and consumer protection to virtual rent to own growth and industry storytelling, this conversation explains how rent to own leaders are shaping the future of the RTO transaction bef...
How RNR Tire Express Builds Better Shops Through Training, Service, and Leadership
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What separates a good tire shop from a high performing customer focused operation?
In this episode of The RTO Show Podcast, Pete Shau sits down with Jason Chui of RNR Tire Express to explore how leadership, hands on training, customer service, and operational systems are helping RIMS USA scale one of the fastest growing rent to own tire and wheel businesses in the country.Â
From ASE certifications and service manager development to AI powered shop systems and customer retention strategies, this conversation explains how the modern tire and wheel r...
RTO Legend: Honoring Ernie Lewallen’s Legacy in the Rent To Own Industry
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What does it mean to leave a legacy in the rent to own industry?
In this special tribute episode of The RTO Show Podcast, Pete Shau honors the life, leadership, and lasting impact of Ernie Lewallen, a respected RTO operator, APRO leader, industry advocate, and one of the driving forces behind the growth and preservation of the rent to own community.Â
This episode explores how leadership, advocacy, mentorship, and industry stewardship shaped Ernie’s four decade career with UHR Rents, United Household Rentals, and RNR Tire Express. Through stories fro...
David David’s Leadership Lessons for Rent To Own Operators and Entrepreneurs
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What does it take to build a lasting legacy in the rent to own industry?
In this episode of The RTO Show Podcast, Pete Shau sits down with David P. David of American Rental and Full-O-Pep to explore more than four decades of entrepreneurship, leadership, industry advocacy, and customer focused growth in the RTO business.Â
From building rental stores across multiple states to helping shape APRO, TRIB Group, state rental dealer associations, and rent to own legislation, David shares the stories, strategies, and leadership lessons that helped define modern R...
Family, Advocacy, and Leadership in Rent to Own with John Cleek Jr.
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What does it take to build a multi generation business legacy in the rent to own industry while shaping the future of advocacy, community leadership, and customer service?
In this special RTO Legends episode, Pete Shau sits down with John Cleek Jr. to honor the life and legacy of “Tiger” John Cleek of Cleek’s Home Furnishings. From growing a family owned rent to own business in Missouri to helping build state rental dealer associations across the country, this conversation explores leadership, entrepreneurship, grassroots advocacy, customer relationships, and the power of commun...
How Kevin Silvers Built Relationships Across the Rent to Own Industry
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What keeps someone successful in the rent to own industry for more than three decades?
According to Kevin Silvers, it comes down to relationships, reinvention, consistency, and showing up for people every single day.
In this episode of The RTO Show, Pete Shau sits down with Kevin Silvers of King of Promotions to talk about the evolution of the rent to own industry, vendor partnerships, customer engagement, leadership, and business growth. From caddying for golf legends like Arnold Palmer and Michael Jordan to building long term relationships with Rent...
Darrell Tissot’s Rent to Own Legacy and the Future of Customer First Leadership
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What does it take to build a rent to own business that lasts for 40 years and impacts generations of customers, employees, and industry leaders?
In this special Legends Series episode of The RTO Show, Pete Shau sits down with Mike Tissot to reflect on the life, leadership, and legacy of Darrell Tissot, founder of Countryside Rentals DBA Rent 2 Own.Â
This conversation explores the evolution of the rent to own industry, customer access, leadership development, small town retail strategy, same store sales growth, mentorship, and the power of relationship driven b...
How Mike Strong Built a 44 Year Rent to Own Legacy in Small Town America
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What does it take to build a rent to own company that lasts more than four decades and still feels like a family business?
In this special Legends Series episode of The RTO Show, Pete Shau sits down with Mike Strong, along with Michael Strong and Angela Strong, to explore the growth of Mike’s Rent to Own and the leadership principles that helped shape one of the longest standing independent rent to own businesses in the industry.Â
From sleeping in the back of the store during the early sta...
Gary Ferriman on Building Trust, Customer Loyalty, and Long Term Growth in Rent to Own
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What does it take to survive every major shift in the rent to own industry and still come out stronger more than 40 years later?Â
In this Legends Series episode of The RTO Show, Pete Shau sits down with Gary Ferriman of Showplace Rent to Own to explore the real history of the RTO business, from used TV repair shops and handwritten rental agreements to modern rent to own software, industry advocacy, and multi generational leadership.Â
Gary shares how Showplace grew through customer trust, disciplined growth, strong industry relationships, and a...
Trooper Earle on RTO Franchising, Leadership, and Building a Successful Rent to Own Business
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What does it take to survive four decades in the rent to own industry and still keep growing?
In this episode of The RTO Show Legends Series, Pete Shau sits down with Trooper Earle of Premier Rental Purchase to unpack the real story behind building one of the most respected rent to own franchise systems in the country.Â
Trooper shares how he went from managing ColorTyme stores in the 1980s to leading Premier Rental Purchase through banking crises, franchise expansion, technology transformation, and industry disruption. This episode explores rent t...
Clover’s Certified Refurbished Strategy for Rent to Own Dealers and Consumers
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What if certified refurbished inventory could help rent to own dealers increase margins, reduce inventory risk, and offer premium products customers actually want?
In this episode of The RTO Show, Pete Shau sits down with Paul Adamson of Clover to break down how certified refurbished products are reshaping the rent to own industry.Â
Paul explains how Clover partners with major brands like LG, GE, Breville, and Vitamix to refurbish returned products through a rigorous testing and certification process before they reenter the market. The conversation explores reverse supply chain m...
Michael Bennett on Leadership, Rent to Own Growth, and the Future of the RTO Industry
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What does it take to build a decades long leadership career in the rent to own industry while navigating economic downturns, company transitions, and industry evolution?
In this special Legends episode of The RTO Show, Pete Shau sits down with Michael Bennett, CEO of Buddy’s Home Furnishings and former three time APRO president, to explore the people first leadership philosophy that shaped his career and helped influence the future of rent to own.Â
Michael shares stories from Rent A Center, RentWay, Aaron’s, and Buddy’s Home Furnishings while d...
