After nearly 12 years in rent-to-own and 27 episodes of the show, Danny is leaving the industry. He's heading to a pool manufacturing and distribution company — a complete career pivot — driven by the need for a better work-life balance. With three kids, a teenager about to get her license, and a schedule that demanded he be available essentially all the time, the math finally caught up. He calculated that guaranteed weekends off alone would give him 52 extra Saturdays a year with his family — almost a third more time at home.
Pete doesn't frame it as a failure. He points back to their "realizing your sweet spot" episode and their earlier "RTO family effect" episode, both of which touched on what this business demands of people who do it at a high level. Danny had been a self-starter and self-motivator for over a decade, but the industry's pace eventually outweighed what he could give it right now. He leaves the door open — he's been in rent-to-own long enough to know people leave and come back, and he won't rule anything out in five years.
The two reflect on what the show became: 27 episodes, listeners across the country and even in Germany, merchandise people are actually wearing to industry events, and a format that neither of them had any idea how to build when Danny pushed to just hit record on that very first pilot. Pete credits the show with changing him personally — helping him see the industry not as competing brands divided by walls, but as one community of people doing the same work differently.
Going forward, the show continues as Pete's project. Season 3 will lean heavily into interviews and guest voices from across the rent-to-own world — owners, franchise operators, veterans with 30 and 40 years in the business, and people from every level of the org chart. Danny will return as a guest. Pete is looking to take the show to RTO World and continue building what they started together.
As Danny puts it on the way out: they built something that had never been done before, and he wouldn't have wanted to start it with anyone else
Join The RTO Newsletter: https://bit.ly/RTOPODnewsletter
Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/4wpbUqF
Subscribe on Spotify: https://bit.ly/RTOPODspotify
Learn More About Sponsorship: https://bit.ly/RTOPODsponsor
