On April 17, 2006 Planet Cash gave out its first loan, and so began a love/hate relationship I had with our business. It was conceived from the very beginning that I would run the store for a year or so then we would hire a store manager and I would go off to do my own thing.
For 15 months I was at the store 6 days a week, 8 hours a day. During this same span Emily and I went on our little vacation and we closed Perfect Day. So, I was flat broke, heart broken and now beginning to be bitter that I was at Planet Cash 6 days a week. Granted, Planet Cash had nothing to do with my personal problems, it was just an easy target: it couldn’t fight back.
Around January 2007, after a pep talk from Greg, the CEO of the old corporate office, and a kick in the ass from Justin, I really began to work hard to making Planet Cash succeed. Up until that point, due to a miss communication, or a lack of paying attention on my part (most likely the latter), our collections had failed. . At least 50% of our checks that we deposit will bounce, and if we don’t call those people, we don’t get the money back. So, we have money going out and only 50% of coming back: see where this is a bad thing? Without good collections, a store will not make money. Once I realized this, I worked my ass to get our collections up, and with that, money in our pocket.
In August, 2007 we hired Herman, our current store manager. It was a huge sigh of relief for me. For the past few months we had grown so fast, that our collections had faltered again and without a second person in the store, there was no sign of it being fixed. We spend months training Herman and within a few months I was able to start taking off Saturdays, which I had not been able to do in almost 18 months: it was glorious! We hired 2 part time collectors during the holiday season because the store had gotten too busy for Herman and me to handle the customers and make collection calls. Starting around February, we hired a part time teller to help with customers as well, and I began to slowly back away from the store.
Currently we are growing at a rapid pace again and must have two full time employees there at all times and come this holiday season we will be in need of a part time collector again. So, after firing our full time teller Saturday, we were in need of another teller.
Monday morning Justin calls with the idea of him being in the store full time. For the past few months Justin and I have been taking life pretty easy. We have been splitting time at the store and our rental properties, and getting our new houses in order. We, honestly, have not had to work real hard.
The plan had been that I would finally get a full time job, which I have been looking for, and at that point, Justin would over sea the store with the two employees. With Justin’s idea that puts me out of the store and Justin in, and me with almost nothing to do: and it is odd. I have spend the past 2 ½ years waiting to be out of the store and when the day comes, it is a little un nerving. I got off the phone with Justin Monday morning with my mind racing. Now what do I do?
I was laying in bed thinking about the changes. The biggest thing that keeps crossing my mind is that it will not be My store any more. For so long I was the “store manager.” I handled all the day to day operations of Planet Cash The Manager Desk was labeled as my desk. It was my stapler, my caculator, my chair, my tape dispensor, etc. (Oh yeah, Justin, I peed on the chair; enjoy it).And it seems almost childish that this crosses my mind and but it does. To be completely honest, Justin will run the store much better and effectively than I ever did. Justin knows Pay Day stores. That is what he did for 8 years, he over saw around 44 stores and opened close to 15 of them. He trained the managers and area managers and helped write the loan software program that we still use today. I will miss running the store, miss the customers, miss hearing the daily soap opera of a life Herman leads. I think I am going to feel left out. My phone will be quiet during the day now that Herman can ask Justin the 20 mundane questions he seesm to have every day. BR>
So, my job search continues. I keep waiting for that perfect job to fall into my lap. This is the first time in my life that I have had to look for a job. I am luckily enough to still receive a check each month from Planet Cash. I know there are lots of people out there looking for jobs with no money to feed their families, so I should not complain at all. But, if you know of anyone hiring, let me know. ;-)
**A small disclaimer I would like to add. I do want to paint Justin as the partner who would make me stay in the store as he ate grapes all day. This was the plan and Justin had a full time job at corporate. Justin and I have a great business partnership and I feel that we compliment each other really well. We each have played a role in Planet Cash and its’ success and the store would suffer if any one of us quit doing our part. Justin was very helpful in the beginning stages of giving me a Saturday off when I needed to travel or a day off during the week for a doctor, etc.
I encourage all of you who read this whole blog to head over to Justin's blog, it explains the picture below and has a nice video of the dancing alien (just click the picture)
Around January 2007, after a pep talk from Greg, the CEO of the old corporate office, and a kick in the ass from Justin, I really began to work hard to making Planet Cash succeed. Up until that point, due to a miss communication, or a lack of paying attention on my part (most likely the latter), our collections had failed. . At least 50% of our checks that we deposit will bounce, and if we don’t call those people, we don’t get the money back. So, we have money going out and only 50% of coming back: see where this is a bad thing? Without good collections, a store will not make money. Once I realized this, I worked my ass to get our collections up, and with that, money in our pocket.
In August, 2007 we hired Herman, our current store manager. It was a huge sigh of relief for me. For the past few months we had grown so fast, that our collections had faltered again and without a second person in the store, there was no sign of it being fixed. We spend months training Herman and within a few months I was able to start taking off Saturdays, which I had not been able to do in almost 18 months: it was glorious! We hired 2 part time collectors during the holiday season because the store had gotten too busy for Herman and me to handle the customers and make collection calls. Starting around February, we hired a part time teller to help with customers as well, and I began to slowly back away from the store.
Currently we are growing at a rapid pace again and must have two full time employees there at all times and come this holiday season we will be in need of a part time collector again. So, after firing our full time teller Saturday, we were in need of another teller.
Monday morning Justin calls with the idea of him being in the store full time. For the past few months Justin and I have been taking life pretty easy. We have been splitting time at the store and our rental properties, and getting our new houses in order. We, honestly, have not had to work real hard.
The plan had been that I would finally get a full time job, which I have been looking for, and at that point, Justin would over sea the store with the two employees. With Justin’s idea that puts me out of the store and Justin in, and me with almost nothing to do: and it is odd. I have spend the past 2 ½ years waiting to be out of the store and when the day comes, it is a little un nerving. I got off the phone with Justin Monday morning with my mind racing. Now what do I do?
I was laying in bed thinking about the changes. The biggest thing that keeps crossing my mind is that it will not be My store any more. For so long I was the “store manager.” I handled all the day to day operations of Planet Cash The Manager Desk was labeled as my desk. It was my stapler, my caculator, my chair, my tape dispensor, etc. (Oh yeah, Justin, I peed on the chair; enjoy it).And it seems almost childish that this crosses my mind and but it does. To be completely honest, Justin will run the store much better and effectively than I ever did. Justin knows Pay Day stores. That is what he did for 8 years, he over saw around 44 stores and opened close to 15 of them. He trained the managers and area managers and helped write the loan software program that we still use today. I will miss running the store, miss the customers, miss hearing the daily soap opera of a life Herman leads. I think I am going to feel left out. My phone will be quiet during the day now that Herman can ask Justin the 20 mundane questions he seesm to have every day. BR>
So, my job search continues. I keep waiting for that perfect job to fall into my lap. This is the first time in my life that I have had to look for a job. I am luckily enough to still receive a check each month from Planet Cash. I know there are lots of people out there looking for jobs with no money to feed their families, so I should not complain at all. But, if you know of anyone hiring, let me know. ;-)
**A small disclaimer I would like to add. I do want to paint Justin as the partner who would make me stay in the store as he ate grapes all day. This was the plan and Justin had a full time job at corporate. Justin and I have a great business partnership and I feel that we compliment each other really well. We each have played a role in Planet Cash and its’ success and the store would suffer if any one of us quit doing our part. Justin was very helpful in the beginning stages of giving me a Saturday off when I needed to travel or a day off during the week for a doctor, etc.
I encourage all of you who read this whole blog to head over to Justin's blog, it explains the picture below and has a nice video of the dancing alien (just click the picture)
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