Back from Dixie Pawn Convention.

Sons Grow Up!

Oh what fun it is to see a son with his father at a pawn convention.  Proud father and his bug eyed kid.  It brought back so many memories.  My mom and dad took me to the JCK jewelry show in New York.  There was no NPA or any convention for pawn back then, but seeing the trade is fascinating and anyone that has not been has to give it a whirl.  There is a new generation of pawnbrokers beginning.

Kathy and her team from the Dixie Pawnbrokers Association did an amazing job.  Congratulations.  The Southern Pawnbrokers are a real tight group.  Everyone knows each other and there is a real sense of camaraderie in the air.

Our take away of the last 2 days is there is change in the air.  New stores are opening and competition from the big 3 public's are shaving market share from the independents.  Business the last year was good.  Diamonds were being bid bought and sold.  Pawn is good!

What is fun for me after growing and running Superpawn’s 50 stores (sold to Cash America – 2004) was learning from the Industry leaders that sell services and goods to the Pawn Industry.   Thanks to Steve Wexler, Michael, and Tony for your advice and help to Cynthia, Michele and myself.

We were saved by AT&T – wireless hotspot device. 

We got to the show to find out the Internet connectivity was going to be upgraded next month.  It was so bad that we were ready to pack up.  I had seen this device at Costco when shopping with my wife and thought maybe there is a store nearby.  There was a store closing in ½ hour and off went Cynthia and Michele.  They came back with a black device half the size of an Apple phone.  We logged in boom done.  A great deal for $120.00 and $50 a month and can be used anywhere a cell phone works.

We set up Bravo from scratch in 15 minutes.  Ticket, label, and receipt printers, along with scanners tested beeping and printing.  The web application is so easy compared to servers, connections, and old setup. 

We validated our technologies ease of installation at this show.  Going to a trade show and seeing your product work, and the way Bravo requires, the simplicity and the minimal effort is what you would have expected.  I was so proud that we have the technology that works like everyone would expect.

What happens when the Internet goes down?  Our competitors common fear tactic.  What happens when your server goes down? This has been a 20-year problem with servers that has never gone away.  The answer to both questions is you can’t conduct business.  The next question is, how often?   The server goes down more frequently than the Internet.  And if you plug in an extra Internet service provider for your store, like the AT@T hotspot you nearly guarantee yourself uninterrupted service.  Bravo services have never been interrupted.

Our competitors didn’t even set up a store demo because of the expense, time and technical support required to setup their systems.   Setting up Bravo is as easy an Apple App on your phone.  You get the benefit of a Million dollar data center for each of your stores and powerful software that gets your store operating the way you want.  This is the beauty of Cloud Computing.  Its already 5 years since Cloud computing has been introduced and where most of services are being delivered today.  Bravo is 100% Cloud.

Freedom

I asked a pawnbroker that has been looking for a software solution for the last 10 years why he decided on switching to Bravo.  “Freedom”  “I don’t want a system that limits me in how I want to operate my store”.  “Bravo is Freedom”  “Thanks for finally bringing a new and complete product to our Industry”.

That made the convention for me.

Steve Mack