It always amazes us with as many pawn conventions we have attended, exhibited and presented at and with the hundreds of clients that we have served in this industry when we get asked “who are you guys”, “who is Vernon Stading”, or “what experience do you really have in this industry”. Vernon’s personal favorite questions is, “did you evencome from the pawn industry or own stores of your own”. We would like to tell you how Devoted Pawn Consulting came to be the fastest growing Pawnshop Consulting Company in the business and a team with over 65 years of combined pawnshop experience that includes pawnbroking, selling, and even ownership in stores.
Before Starting Devoted Pawn Consulting, the predecessor, Devoted Business Development ( a consulting firm that later re-branded and re-organized into Devoted Enterprises), Vernon Stading was an upper management leader in the corporate world. He worked as an executive in charge of a large territory for an international franchise company called H&R Block. He used to manage a group of franchise and corporate multi unit managers. That is where he got into consulting by accident when one of the larger franchisees mentioned to him one day that they wanted help with some of their other business ventures. This led to other franchisees doing the same thing and ultimately to a lucrative business in addition to his corporate full time career. One of those franchise owners happened to own payday loan and check cashing companies and wanted to diversify into pawn and title loans to help protect themselves against ever increasing CFPB regulations. With his background in merger and acquisition, Vernon was more than happy to help them acquire pawnshops that were in trouble and make a great living doing it. They then learned the pawn business together, one mistake at a time, and learned how to make them profitable as soon as possible. So, when Vernon and his team train you on their Pawn Process™, you can rest assured that they know what they are talking about because they personally wrote thousands of loans at the counter and sold tons of merchandise using the same techniques they are training clients on today. The owners had no money to grow the business and we had to get good at turning the inventory they had into cash flow to put loans on the street. After doing this for almost 2 years in addition to his normal corporate career, Vernon took another position with a large company that owned commercial real estate, pawnshops, eCommerce store, payday loan shops and more. He was brought in to turn around a large chain of payday loan stores for them and got them back on track after years of downturn. Becasue of the knowledge of his background, Vernon was asked to help take over and “flip” pawnshop/payday loan hybrids that they owned secretly in the southern Midwest market. Vernon did this for almost 2 years, making that company millions of dollars by fixing and selling these transformed locations and turning around their operations. From there, Vernon Started his own consulting company called Devoted Business Development and began to work full time as a self-employed consultant. Not surprisingly most of his clients where in the pawn and payday industries due the success and the name he was making for himself.
Devoted Enterprises & Devoted Pawn Consulting
“Devoted Pawn is built on a promise of no kick backs, no need to ever hire us again and us giving you all the tools that you need for long term financial health and success. No strings attached. Ever.” Vernon Stading
When Vernon founded Devoted Business Development, he consulted in 3 major industries. Pawn/payday companies, hospitality companies (customer service), and franchise companies. As our business grew rapidly over the first 3 years, we realized that it became harder and harder to market each individual industry separately and the people in the pawn industry didn’t think we were associated with it because the word “pawn” wasn’t in the title. In 2016, Devoted Business Development re-incorporated and re-branded itself due to those reasons and also because of business growth into other industries. The re-branded company is now known as Devoted Enterprises and has DBA’s (doing business as) entities named Devoted Pawn Consulting, Devoted Franchise, Devoted Hospitality, Devoted Commercial Real Estate and others. This allows us to market each brand separately but also take the key learnings from one industry and apply it to others. This has made us stand out drastically in the pawn industry and has made us different and special in many different ways. In 2018, Vernon Stading also created a not-for-profit organization that helps business in need free of charge with the donations that they collect. This allows us to help many pawnbrokers in need when they cannot afford our services. To this day, Vernon has ownership interests in several other ventures including pawnshop and payday loan companies so you can rest assured that advice he gives is solid because he uses it where his own money is involved on a day to day basis.
Proud Pawn Industry Accomplishments
Vernon is not known to brag and talk about his accomplishments but as part of the Devoted Pawn team, we would not be doing justice if we didn’t mention his and our combined accomplishments. We are most proud of the fact that every month we help pawnbrokers who are in dire need of changing the way they do business. They are accustomed to the “old school” way of doing business and need help and support on where to begin. We give them not only the most solid foundation on how to do so, but step by step directions to follow long after we have been paid and gone on to the next client. We have clients that are still seeing double digit increases in retail sales and pawn balance and more years after we have helped them. This is because our process promotes a thought process of us giving you all that you need to achieve independent financial freedom and that process allows you to continue to improve year after year the more you practice it and execute it. But don’t take our word for it, check out what our clients say about us and find out for yourself what our successes have been and how well we are regarded in the pawn industry.
If you asked Vernon what he is most proud of, he would most likely tell you that the day he founded Devoted Foundations was one of his most fond moments in his self employed career. That is because to date, we have partnered with his not for profit organization and have helped 13 (and counting ) pawn companies pull themselves out of a bad situation and set themselves up for success with little or no money paid out of their pockets. The impact that this made in their personal and professional life has been nothing short of dramatic. Vernon would also talk about how hard, yet rewarding it has been changing the pawn industry for the better. He has brought in many vendors to the industry in professions that did not exist before such as nationwide benefits providers, nationwide wealth management professionals, cost savings experts, tax experts who can prove that you are overpaying your taxes in your business, and many more. All of these are meant to help the pawnbrokers and not line the pocket of the vendors. Vernon would also tell you that he is proud of the fact that he introduced a vendor-less Pawn Conference that was designed purely for the pawnbrokers profitability even though it cost him tens of thousands of dollars personally out of his own pocket. It was a huge success and has even helped shape and change the way other conferences and conventions are operating. All you have to do is look around to see that for yourself. All of these things unselfishly benefits the pawnbrokers and makes them more successful and are pioneered by Vernon with no agenda other than making a fair wage for helping owners succeed. Check out the testimonials from those who attended the 2019 Pawn Conference. Lastly, Vernon would talk about how he prides himself on not collecting kickbacks of any kind in any way from the referrals he sends to his clients or the new vendors that he brings in to this industry. He is quoted as saying “Devoted Pawn is built on a promise of no kick backs, no need to ever hire us again and us giving you all the tools that you need for long term financial health and success all with one simple hire. No strings attached. Ever.” You can rest assured that you are in good hands with Vernon and his team here at Devoted Pawn Consulting and that your best interests are our only goal.
How Does Devoted Pawn Consulting Help Pawnbrokers
At Devoted Pawn Consulting, we desire to never have you need to hire us again once you retain our services. This is because we give you everything that you will ever need to succeed with every single package so you can grow and improve on your own. These tools and services include, but are not but limited to:
- Free admission to our Pawn Conference in May as well as our other events scheduled- Included in every service package from us.
- Free custom marketing and advertising plan for your company including digital, online, seo, social media and more- Included in every service package. You do not need to pay additionally for this which will save you thousands of dollars!
- Free competitor analysis – we will review your competition and give you the plan of attack than can help you take business from them almost immediately.
- Free custom commission and bonus plan creation- Included in every service package that will fit your business just right and is sure to help your team grow your business.
- Free cost saving review on all your services, spending and more- Included in every service package. This is usually tens of thousands of dollars saved every year and more than pays for our services every single time
- Free review of your taxes to show you where you are overpaying for your taxes every year and can put that money in your pocket or back in the business. This usually equates to tens of thousands of dollars saved every year, per location.
Lastly, we guarantee your satisfaction and the return on investment of our services with a money back guarantee even if you have retained the services of other pawnshop consultants. In fact, almost 100% of our clients over the years have hired other pawnshop consultants before us and still see double digit increases in the pawn balance, retail sales and more when they work with us. There is no risk and no reason to wait to hire us. The time is now to experience the new age Pawnshop Consultant and what it can do for you. We also offer onsite and Mobile Pawnshop Consulting for your convenience.
