Quick story!

In 1998, I was looking for my next gig.

I was currently the Co-Founder of a 3-location “Ugly Duckling Car Rental” and U-Haul Truck franchise company.

I was bored.

I noticed the Internet was starting to gain traction.

I began to “play around.”

I signed up for every web design and Internet-focused class at Saddleback College.

One day between classes, I saw a small ad in the Orange County Register; yep, we still had newspapers!

This ad read, “Learn the Payday Loan Business. Free intro class this Wednesday at Harbor Pawn Shop.”

In short, I attended the free class, listened to the pitch, wrote a check for $600 to the teacher, and spent the next two days learning about this new “thing” called a “payday loan.”

Within a week, I applied for my license, added a “payday loan” counter in my Mission Viejo car and truck franchise location, and began loaning $255 for 14 days and $300. 600% APRs!

I sucked! I made every mistake in the book!

My biggest problem? There were four.

Demand for my payday loan product was HUGE.

I put up a “Mickey Mouse” banner outside the office. “Borrow $300 Until Payday.” Lines out the door immediately.

There was a sex call center in my building. They employed 40 ladies who were paid by the minute to talk sexy on the phone. 

These were often three generations: mom, daughter, and grandma.

I did zero underwriting! 

“You gotta pay stub? You qualify.”

Stupid me!

In those days, there were zero tech tools for verifying employment, SS#, or address…

Everything was done manually!

I fell for every sob story imaginable when it came time to pay me back.

I sucked at getting my money back!

I didn’t have a “shark” personality. Life had been too easy for me.

What changed? EVERYTHING!

I hired a “grandma” who worked in the sex call center. Man, was she good?

She began qualifying our payday loan customers when they walked into our location.

She got our money! She was “nice” but relentless. She was literally “the squeaky wheel.”

I rewarded her with a “piece of the action.” [No equity!]

We hit our metrics, and she got a NICE bonus monthly. I devised a simple system, and she worked it!

Loan management software came on the scene. eCheckTrac was my first software investment.

Underwriting services like TeleTrack, Factor Trust, Decision Logic, Microbilt, and DataX… began offering ID verification services.

The INTERNET! Smartphones, SEO, SEM, email SCALED!!!!!

Consumer demand continued unabated. Still does…

Eventually, my Team and the “money” built 15 storefronts in 4 states.

In the early 2000s, I sold my equity in the stores, launched several online portfolios at the request of several “friends,” began consulting, wrote a “bible” about “How to Loan Money to the Masses Profitably,”  and never looked back!

The money is good!

We have our detractors. But I’ve been on the firing lines behind that counter.

I could tell you thousands of stories in which our loan products have saved people’s butts!