May 9, 2018
Scot Keller joins us on today's episode of Pawn Leaders. Scot was born in Philadelphia and then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where his father was a professional poker player. He attended high school in Las Vegas and went to Arizona State University. Scot later moved to Lake Cormorant to help his family run Keller's Pawn.
[01:52] Scot encourages small pawnshop owners to go to conventions to meet with veterans in the business
[02:51] “For the amount of money you get charged, especially at the smaller conventions, it’s worth every dime.”
[03:14] Scot recounts in his younger days, the strategy he would use to get products at the flea market cheaper than usual
[06:30] Mississippi is lenient with the regulations. They charge 25%, holds for 2 months and allowed to hold buys for 2 weeks if they do automatic computer transfers to police and 3 weeks if uploading or faxing pawn tickets to the police
[07:44] Based on the zip code of the Keller’s Pawn, there are 2,200 people with a median income of $45,000 and a ratio of males to females is 75 percent to 25 percent.
[08:08] Keller’s Pawn is located on Highway 61 and gets many tourists, including persons from Italy and England
[10:56] Scot knows many pawnbrokers who were previously bartenders
[11:25] “If they wanna do business, I’ll go as fast as I can. But if they wanna take their time, to stay, absolutely stay!”
[12:06] Being able to play multifaceted roles to attend to your customers, gives you a better outcome
[12:46] “I have great customers that I see on bad days”
[18:58] Lessons learned:
- Don’t be afraid to admit to mistakes
- Be willing to try everything, even if it doesn’t work
- Have fun