Gold is 1134 this morning we are paying $28/gram Tuesday 1/19 Tim
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
more of what the Pawn Shop taught me.....
Another week in the books and some victories some setbacks....here is what got done.
- video systems is in ...only a few minor changes to be made move and refocus some cameras but some interesting video already. Thanks to the guys at Privacy Electronics for a smooth installation. I have eight motion sensitive cameras and 60 day DVR. I attached an example of the video quality. Very cool tech I can log in on the internet and not only see but hear what is going on in the shop.
- New guy (Dean) has a few weeks on him now. Shows up on time and seems interested in his job.
- Eric, manager/brother-in-law is working out well, bery honest and seems to enjoy the job more than I thought he would. For a guy who couldn't get a job teaching history to end up as a pawnbroker is a stretch but it seems to work for him, we will see.
- we are averaging 15-25 walk-ins a day even though we have very little merchandise to see
but we have a metric butt load coming out in the next two weeks.
- We bought out a tool shop going out of business around the corner and got some cool stuff, shelves, tools, storage stuff for $200.
- about 3k of stuff off the street, only about 1K in pawns :< but more each day.
- we have 16 oz in gold now about 30 days away from scrapping should have 30 oz in first run.
- Sold our first gun, Walther PK380, to a local employee of another gun store :>
- got some cool stuff in, ATV, Jetski, goped, bose 321, nice audio stuff, xbox360, 200 dvds, 140 video cassettes....you get the idea
- still need more signage
- have appt Tuesday with flyer distribution guy as the newspaper ad was almost a complete flop. If we didn't have one 100gr buy from it I would call it a total loss.
- Our standard operating procedures to get merchandise out and on craigslist, ebay and in the local classifieds sucks...really bad. That I will fix this week.
- The website is still 3rd gradish but I'm just one man.
- Delivery van still needs to be wrapped. That is a surprisingly expensive prospect $1700
Sunday, January 10, 2010
What I Iearned this week......
Part of being a business owner is having a plan. I've learned the hard way that you always have a plan you just just are not aware of it sometimes. And the worst one of all is no plan because without one you will surely end up exactly where you deserve do be.
My plan in starting a pawn shop was multi-part.
People know when you are being honest. As a pawnbroker you LOTS of opportunity to really rip people off. As of right now we have done almost 100 transactions and you can see in the customers eyes when they come in,fear, and really feeling out of place. They come into the store with their guard on high alert. But if you talk to them like they are family things change.
We have a customer that has been into the shop three times in five days already we call "guitar Joe". Joe has sold us a cool mid 80's Fender amp and hung out to talk. Saturday, Joe comes in and says he would like to thin the herd of guitars in his house and wants to sell his Fender Telecaster.
Now for those who don't know the telecaster is an iconic instrument with a long list of credits with an unmistakable sound. The cherished instruments depending on where and when they were made go from 100 to many thousands of dollars. Joe's pride and joy is a 60th anniversary black and white beauty. After a little testing Joe tells me he what he wants for it and I ask him why he doesn't sell it himself. Joe tells me that even though I might only have it for awhile he knows I'll take care of it, and he thinks I'm an honest guy.
I know that after a little work I'll make a few hundred from the guitar but the trust that Joe showed in me was worth its weight in gold. Being a Pawnbroker is kind of cool. I've always been pretty good at the things I do in life, but this one feels different. More to come....
My plan in starting a pawn shop was multi-part.
- I've always wanted one. I know that sounds weird but when I was a kid(younger) I loved to goto them and look for rare guitars and coins. Never really found the 100.00 Les Paul but the search continues.
- I really suck at picking stocks so hopefully I can invest some money in the shop and make a good return.
- I can not remember to take out the garbage most of the time, yet I can tell you the difference in mintage of 1964d vs 1964s dimes. I can spot a fake Rolex at 30 feet. My depth of knowledge of all things completely useless is only helpful in a pawn shop.
- I've always been pretty good at marketing and seeing what doesn't work.
- I am completely and utterly unemployable, so this better work.
People know when you are being honest. As a pawnbroker you LOTS of opportunity to really rip people off. As of right now we have done almost 100 transactions and you can see in the customers eyes when they come in,fear, and really feeling out of place. They come into the store with their guard on high alert. But if you talk to them like they are family things change.
We have a customer that has been into the shop three times in five days already we call "guitar Joe". Joe has sold us a cool mid 80's Fender amp and hung out to talk. Saturday, Joe comes in and says he would like to thin the herd of guitars in his house and wants to sell his Fender Telecaster.
Now for those who don't know the telecaster is an iconic instrument with a long list of credits with an unmistakable sound. The cherished instruments depending on where and when they were made go from 100 to many thousands of dollars. Joe's pride and joy is a 60th anniversary black and white beauty. After a little testing Joe tells me he what he wants for it and I ask him why he doesn't sell it himself. Joe tells me that even though I might only have it for awhile he knows I'll take care of it, and he thinks I'm an honest guy.
I know that after a little work I'll make a few hundred from the guitar but the trust that Joe showed in me was worth its weight in gold. Being a Pawnbroker is kind of cool. I've always been pretty good at the things I do in life, but this one feels different. More to come....
Friday, January 8, 2010
Real Art In Pinellas Park, Fl.
Even as a kid I have always had a great appreciation of art. I used to go to the Ringling Museum of Art to see the great Renaissance period works with my parents and ever since then it has been one of my favorite places on earth. I'm almost afraid to bring my youngest one there, in fear that he won't see the beauty that I see in it.
I was always amazed at the scale of the paintings. It was hard for me to even imagine completing one of those great paintings in a lifetime and being amazed that one man could do so many. What I consider art is eclectic, but the things I really appreciate is 14th-16th century Flemish and Christian art. Specifically Ruebens. I also have a great love of mechanical things..... cars, planes, automatic wristwatches, and well made guitars.
Having a pawn shop in what is not considered a metropoliton area I never expected "real" art to ever appear in the store or at least very rarely. Well less than ten days with the doors open in walks real art. Not lifestyles of the rich and famous, but, some interesting stuff.
We had a customer come in and sell some coins. Common US coins. He also has some Irish coins, not my thing, but I liked it that he showed me. He also had a good story about the coins and it was obvious that he had enjoyed having them. He also taught me a few things about the coins that I looked up to confirm and his information was correct. I got to check off my learn something new for the day box, cool enough.
Then he says to me "I brought the litho that I talked with you about in an email".....hmmmm. Here is where our story makes a detour.
Right now most of our marketing is contacting Craigslist sellers and making offers for there stuff. We use a combination of live and software generated offers initially. If any interest is garnered then we get into a "live" negotiation with them. We go through about 300 emails per day. I had misssed this last email because had told me he was coming in then followed it up with another email saying he had more stuff.
Once I put a customer in the "coming in box" I generally ignore the follow up emails, beacuse I cant handle any more emails. Not the ideal procedure but necessary right now.
Getting back to the story. He tells me he has a lithograph of Frank Frazetta's original artwork of "the lieutenant". Frank Frazetta is the artist that made the movie Heavy Metal, drew Conan, drew Tarzan and other famous dark, gothic, sci-fi greats. It was obviously well framed with COA and it was a beautiful Lithograph.
If you don't know the difference between a good and not good litho the difference can be hard to see. Fortunately, for me, I can see it. This particular one had great color separation and really nice paper, well framed. It was a plexi-glass face but that was easily fixed. I didn't put a number on it and asked for some more time. Graciously he accepted my request. Hopefully I can still buy it at his offer and I'll put a picture of it here. Maybe, just maybe, there is some hope for culture here yet.
I was always amazed at the scale of the paintings. It was hard for me to even imagine completing one of those great paintings in a lifetime and being amazed that one man could do so many. What I consider art is eclectic, but the things I really appreciate is 14th-16th century Flemish and Christian art. Specifically Ruebens. I also have a great love of mechanical things..... cars, planes, automatic wristwatches, and well made guitars.
Having a pawn shop in what is not considered a metropoliton area I never expected "real" art to ever appear in the store or at least very rarely. Well less than ten days with the doors open in walks real art. Not lifestyles of the rich and famous, but, some interesting stuff.
We had a customer come in and sell some coins. Common US coins. He also has some Irish coins, not my thing, but I liked it that he showed me. He also had a good story about the coins and it was obvious that he had enjoyed having them. He also taught me a few things about the coins that I looked up to confirm and his information was correct. I got to check off my learn something new for the day box, cool enough.
Then he says to me "I brought the litho that I talked with you about in an email".....hmmmm. Here is where our story makes a detour.
Right now most of our marketing is contacting Craigslist sellers and making offers for there stuff. We use a combination of live and software generated offers initially. If any interest is garnered then we get into a "live" negotiation with them. We go through about 300 emails per day. I had misssed this last email because had told me he was coming in then followed it up with another email saying he had more stuff.
Once I put a customer in the "coming in box" I generally ignore the follow up emails, beacuse I cant handle any more emails. Not the ideal procedure but necessary right now.
Getting back to the story. He tells me he has a lithograph of Frank Frazetta's original artwork of "the lieutenant". Frank Frazetta is the artist that made the movie Heavy Metal, drew Conan, drew Tarzan and other famous dark, gothic, sci-fi greats. It was obviously well framed with COA and it was a beautiful Lithograph.
If you don't know the difference between a good and not good litho the difference can be hard to see. Fortunately, for me, I can see it. This particular one had great color separation and really nice paper, well framed. It was a plexi-glass face but that was easily fixed. I didn't put a number on it and asked for some more time. Graciously he accepted my request. Hopefully I can still buy it at his offer and I'll put a picture of it here. Maybe, just maybe, there is some hope for culture here yet.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Update 01/07/2010
OK OK I know its been awhile.....In between the new Pawn Shop I have also been living my life. For those of you who know me I have and drive a lot of classic cars and my baby 69 Dodge is just about done. I spent the last 4 years making my ultimate daily driver and now the last of the mods are almost done.
That is 512 cubic inches of Chrysler motivation. I owe great thanks to the Shaun over at Street Productions in Largo he truly is a master craftsman. We had it on a dyno and unfortunately the dyno only went to 700ft lbs of torque because this motor has more than that. Should be installed and running by tomorrow. Look out St Pete here comes the hammer....
Plus we are going to have our first buys come out of holding tomorrow and have pawn shop material for sale!!!! We have enough to fill 4 cases and two of the big gondola shelves as you walk in the store. We also have an ad starting tomorrow in the Pinellas Park newspaper. The ad is one of those kind that are like Post-It notes on the front page. Going out to 20,000 papers it's an ad for gold at 28/gram or 5% loan. We shall see how it works on Saturday.
We have had great traffic for start up and some interesting items check it out....
Plus we are going to have our first buys come out of holding tomorrow and have pawn shop material for sale!!!! We have enough to fill 4 cases and two of the big gondola shelves as you walk in the store. We also have an ad starting tomorrow in the Pinellas Park newspaper. The ad is one of those kind that are like Post-It notes on the front page. Going out to 20,000 papers it's an ad for gold at 28/gram or 5% loan. We shall see how it works on Saturday.
We have had great traffic for start up and some interesting items check it out....
Michael Kelly Visionary acoustic bass 749.00 retail less than 300 here
I got a ton of new Citizen Eco Drive watches from my friends at The Watch Studio.
These are honest $270 watches that are gonna go for less than $110!
No real Pimp is complete without his own pimp ring. This one is in 14kt white gold and 1.5ct of hard slapping diamonds. I know you can't live without it $500
More to come very soon thanks for looking and please go to Yelp and say nice things about us, that would really be great.
talk soon....
Tim
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Been a week....
ok ok been a week but it's been productive....christmas was great got a new leatherman (very cool) and spent some time with family. Pawn shop is doing well don't really have anything to compare it against but we are purchasing 800-2000 per day from the street. We really don't have a lot of pawn yet but we are getting 3-5 people a day in off the street.
Put an ad in craigslist for an apprentice that got a few responses. You will notice the ad is very specific as to how to get an application. The phone calls for the ad are very funny because I just basically berate them for being stupid and then I send them to another pawn shop across town. I know that might be mean but that pawn shop deserves it. I went in about 3 weeks ago looking for merchandise and was told to F*^* off, so there you go.
Eric is working out well and learning new stuff everyday, not bad for a brother in-law. I think he likes it also.
Iron doors installed tomorrow and hopefully the debit machines start to work soon.
Put an ad in craigslist for an apprentice that got a few responses. You will notice the ad is very specific as to how to get an application. The phone calls for the ad are very funny because I just basically berate them for being stupid and then I send them to another pawn shop across town. I know that might be mean but that pawn shop deserves it. I went in about 3 weeks ago looking for merchandise and was told to F*^* off, so there you go.
Eric is working out well and learning new stuff everyday, not bad for a brother in-law. I think he likes it also.
Iron doors installed tomorrow and hopefully the debit machines start to work soon.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Huge Saturday and I have 2 subscribers!
Man what a huge first Saturday. Eric and I were in a panic until about noon we were afraid we were going to blank for the day. Then it was like someone left the gate open at the old folks home. We had four walk-ins, six CL buys for over 1100.00 and my family came by to see the progress avery great day!. This blog is also attracting some real characters who are emailnig me and now we have two subscribers. It takes all kinds I guess. Saturday we bought.......
- tools
- a Trikke
- camera
- game boys (2)
- PS2
Friday, December 18, 2009
busy busy
Wow, that was a fast week, bought about $4,000 off the street,
ugly bike and a Trikke
ipods, lcd tv, computer, zunes, game boys, 25dvd's
guns from Lipsey's
even a hopped-up Yamaha Zuma!
and had our first real sale! Yes it was the Epiphone mandolin. everyone thought I was crazy for ordering new mandolins for the shop but I was vindicated.
I made exactly $50 bucks profit.....I'm rich! It was good we had a lot of walk in traffic looking for stuff we obviously don't have yet. I also made a buy over at my friends at International Diamond and my good friend Ken Duval at The Watch Studio. Great people. Now for a Saturday, what to expect......We also paid for an ad to run the first week in Jan.20k viewers it is a sticky note that goes on the front page that looks like a to do list kinda funny I'll keep you up on the ROI.
Tim
ugly bike and a Trikke
ipods, lcd tv, computer, zunes, game boys, 25dvd's
guns from Lipsey's
even a hopped-up Yamaha Zuma!
and had our first real sale! Yes it was the Epiphone mandolin. everyone thought I was crazy for ordering new mandolins for the shop but I was vindicated.
I made exactly $50 bucks profit.....I'm rich! It was good we had a lot of walk in traffic looking for stuff we obviously don't have yet. I also made a buy over at my friends at International Diamond and my good friend Ken Duval at The Watch Studio. Great people. Now for a Saturday, what to expect......We also paid for an ad to run the first week in Jan.20k viewers it is a sticky note that goes on the front page that looks like a to do list kinda funny I'll keep you up on the ROI.
Tim
Monday, December 14, 2009
training day
Today we paid Pawnmaster to come by and give us an 8 hour tour of the software in the shop. Holy cow, I guess if you improve on something, the same thing , for 22 years it gets good. This software has almost every imaginable option and situtaion covered.
On the business side we had a gold customer, a guy looking for an AK, we bought a vintage schwinn bike and some guy came in with a huge cordless hammer drill, but he could not demo it because it was dead. Good day for not marketing. The people at Pawnmaster were awesome and Eric and I feel real good about being on our own.
Big day tomorrow we are going to have a regular day and see how it goes. Sink or swim, we shall see.
On the business side we had a gold customer, a guy looking for an AK, we bought a vintage schwinn bike and some guy came in with a huge cordless hammer drill, but he could not demo it because it was dead. Good day for not marketing. The people at Pawnmaster were awesome and Eric and I feel real good about being on our own.
Big day tomorrow we are going to have a regular day and see how it goes. Sink or swim, we shall see.
Friday, December 11, 2009
ok I am a pawnbroker for real now
Well we started the marketing plan today even though Pawnmaster was not functioning properly yet. I bought a ipod and some dvd's grand total 180.00 retail maybe 300.00.
30 days from now we will do an update and see how we did. 4 walk ins and 1 guy who literally threw the door open and screamed "do you buy paint sprayers" and then ran off. You couldn't make this stuff up.
We only had an hour to really attack the plan but we generated a lot of action. Still nothing, and I mean nothing but some guitars in the store.
We did have one nice old lady come in present us an old 14k ring with some small diamonds oone missing. Because the scale was not working I sent her to the "we buy gold" guy around the corner. I told her that the going reate was around 12-15/gram and to make sure and see the scale.
In a matter of minutes she is back and tells me that he offered her 60 dollars and "said" the ring weighed about 4 grams but she couldn't see it.......hmmm. Wel a least I know how much the gold guy pays.
All in all a great start.
30 days from now we will do an update and see how we did. 4 walk ins and 1 guy who literally threw the door open and screamed "do you buy paint sprayers" and then ran off. You couldn't make this stuff up.
We only had an hour to really attack the plan but we generated a lot of action. Still nothing, and I mean nothing but some guitars in the store.
We did have one nice old lady come in present us an old 14k ring with some small diamonds oone missing. Because the scale was not working I sent her to the "we buy gold" guy around the corner. I told her that the going reate was around 12-15/gram and to make sure and see the scale.
In a matter of minutes she is back and tells me that he offered her 60 dollars and "said" the ring weighed about 4 grams but she couldn't see it.......hmmm. Wel a least I know how much the gold guy pays.
All in all a great start.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
aghhhhhhh I hate new stuff......
Well my day was interesting. First we start with an 830 meeting to manage and try and buy a competitors business. In my actual money making business life I own a large PEO(employee leasing company). We have 1500 employees in the state of Florida hoping to add more with this aquistion. That went great looks like it is something that is going to happen in the next 10 days....yea! Get to the pawn shop by 10am to start training for the software Pawnmaster oh the meeting was at 9am dammit. Ok no problem lets start now. Nope the server is not responding and they have to reshedule till tomorrow and take away the server. Ok lets clean this place up.
Take a look:
about 11am the IT guy comes back with my server.......sweet now its really on for training on friday.
more cleaning then ......I get a couple of characters that come in with fake watches thinking I just fell off the truck.
great first customers are con artists this is whee the dark music would start in the movie.....get out of the pawn shop, just get out now.
then pawnmaster calls to check on the new server it's locked up tighter than my first girlfriend on prom night ....6pm Im going home. Pawnbroker great idea ;/
Take a look:
 |
| Big Tim's Pawn www.bigtimspawn.com |
about 11am the IT guy comes back with my server.......sweet now its really on for training on friday.
more cleaning then ......I get a couple of characters that come in with fake watches thinking I just fell off the truck.
great first customers are con artists this is whee the dark music would start in the movie.....get out of the pawn shop, just get out now.
then pawnmaster calls to check on the new server it's locked up tighter than my first girlfriend on prom night ....6pm Im going home. Pawnbroker great idea ;/
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Pawnmaster
Well today I got the point of sale system installed. It's called Pawnmaster and it basically does all the hard work for you. Keeps you legal, reports, gun log etc. I have scheduled 8 hours of training lined up for tomorrow. Pawn university in a day.......wow.
Got the jewelry testing and display equipment today and finally got the AC working. Now I basically have a 5000 sq. ft. store with almost zero mechanidise and 1 employee who has never been in a pawn shop (brother in-law) until recently.
I am a retail genius.
We did have a couple of real characters walk in off the street today and look at the guitars. I didn't have a way to sell them anything yet so I didn't push, it was encouraging though. We are going to use the internet and telemarketing to get foot traffic going. Between the website www.bigtimspawn.com and calling craigslist.com and calling ads from the local fish wrapper we hope to get 30 pairs of feet over the threshold everyday, that is the goal.
I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel, although this has taken much longer than we hoped I hope to report my first sale and pawn by the end of this week!
As a closing note, regardless of how much money and experience and business acumen you have I don't think this would have been possible without the support of my wife. It's always been MY dream to be a pawnbroker not hers, I love her more than ever for helping me make it attainable.
Got the jewelry testing and display equipment today and finally got the AC working. Now I basically have a 5000 sq. ft. store with almost zero mechanidise and 1 employee who has never been in a pawn shop (brother in-law) until recently.
I am a retail genius.
We did have a couple of real characters walk in off the street today and look at the guitars. I didn't have a way to sell them anything yet so I didn't push, it was encouraging though. We are going to use the internet and telemarketing to get foot traffic going. Between the website www.bigtimspawn.com and calling craigslist.com and calling ads from the local fish wrapper we hope to get 30 pairs of feet over the threshold everyday, that is the goal.
I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel, although this has taken much longer than we hoped I hope to report my first sale and pawn by the end of this week!
As a closing note, regardless of how much money and experience and business acumen you have I don't think this would have been possible without the support of my wife. It's always been MY dream to be a pawnbroker not hers, I love her more than ever for helping me make it attainable.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Even more guitars
In this pic from left to right is an Epiphone DR1000, a Ibanez RG120, Fender Starcaster (great sounding cheap guitar), the bass is a Ibanez, the mandolin is an Epiphone MM300, then the almighty Epiphone Casino for you Beatles fans, and finally a solid body gold metallic Gretsch electromatic. How about that selection for a pawn shop!
We have guitars!
We got our first delivery today of guitars and some of them want to come home with me! In this picture you will see a Fender 290sce that has big sound and builtin fishman preamp with tuner and phaser! Next to that is a Takamine eg333 with beautiful maple top and then a really cheap fender 12 string. Further to the right is an awesome Gretsch semi-body Electromatic w/Bigsby and a lot of attitude. The bass is a Schecter Stilleto. Of couse you can see the empty cases but not for long.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Federal Firearms License
OK now I'm real trouble, I have an FFL and I can can mess you up! What that means is a I can buy and sell most handguns and long guns. Paperwork is crazy but it is worth it. One of the advantages is that you get the best pricing on guns but if you mess up the paperwork, it's your ass.
The guys over at the ATF where you get the license are the best. Yah it is a body cavity search but if you are serious about guns you get the license.
The guys over at the ATF where you get the license are the best. Yah it is a body cavity search but if you are serious about guns you get the license.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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