Since Google and Facebook basically block us from running ads on anything with loans over 36% APR... we had to lean hard into natural, organic traffic to grow. 68% of cashtime.com visitors already come from organic Google searches anyway, so the real path to new customers… and stealing them from competitors… was ranking at the top of those searches, especially local ones like 'cash loans near me' or whatever people type in.

I saw reviews as the main throughline to make that happen. We got every one of our 150+ customer-facing folks asking for Google reviews after good experiences... and in just two years, we more than doubled the total reviews the company had built over the previous 18 years… adding over 6,500 new ones. It worked big time: shot our local search rankings way up, built massive trust with all that social proof, and brought in a ton more customers without spending a dime on restricted ads.

Cash Time's old website was clunky and outdated... 10-second load times, horrible customer experience, and it was killing us on organic traffic. Since Google and Facebook restrict ads for loans over 36% APR... we had to go all-in on natural, organic search to bring in customers, especially dominating local searches like 'cash loans near me' or city-specific ones.

I teamed up with a great crew to revamp the whole site. My specialty is making things fast and SEO-strong. We switched to WordPress with Astra (from wpastra.com)... it's super lightweight, under 50KB core files, and in clean setups it loads in as little as 400ms on GTmetrix with A grades and sub-1-second times. Paired it with Elementor Pro for easy, on-the-fly changes without bloating the site... my WordPress builds consistently hit sub-3-second loads on GTmetrix now.

(Pro tip: If you're on WordPress, Astra is the way to go—lightest theme out there, modular, SEO-ready, and starter templates make launching quick.)

If it's Shopify, I custom-code with Liquid to make it unique and faster than the defaults. For Squarespace, you're looking at one right now, and people always say it's surprisingly slick because I stick to their one-click philosophy… let customers buy or inquire without scrolling.

For SEO specifically... we built individual landing pages for every location and major city, plus solid blogs to target those local searches. We went from barely ranking in the top 10... to hitting #1, #2, #3 on popular terms. Combined with the review explosion we talked about earlier, it shot our visibility through the roof, built huge trust, and brought in way more customers naturally… no ad spend fights. That all added up to $2.5 million in growth.

The new site? Cleaner experience, blazing fast, way better rankings, and real customer growth without relying on restricted ads.

$6 million deficit. That number hit hard. As part of the Executive Board, we sat down, brainstormed, and started turning the company around. Changes had to happen slowly, like turning a big ship... too many moving parts, branches, people, and processes all tied together.

The underwriting team was playing it way too safe. They turned down solid loans out of caution, which killed our volume. Repos weren't getting done fast enough when payments stopped coming in... that dragged losses out longer than necessary. Collections were a mess too, scattered across locations with no real coordination or system.

We centralized collections to bring order and consistency. On top of that, we pushed to put GPS trackers on every car with a title loan over $5,000. If someone quit paying, we could locate the vehicle right away and recover it cleanly... no more endless chasing or guesswork. That one move cut our losses significantly and gave us real control.

I also took a hard look at marketing spend. Talked to employees on the front lines, got their honest take. Our TV ads were costing $750k a year... flashy, sure, but they just weren't moving the needle anymore. ROI was weak, especially since Google and Facebook already block us from advertising most of our loans over 36% APR anyway. Was I nervous slashing that budget? Yes, very. Cutting a line item that big feels scary... especially when it's been the status quo for years. But after digging in and hearing the team, I knew it was the right call.

We redirected energy to what actually worked: tightening operations, centralizing collections, adding GPS security, and leaning hard into organic traffic, local SEO, reviews, and the website overhaul we covered earlier. Steady, smart moves across the board flipped the deficit and got us growing again. No overnight miracle... just consistent decisions that added up.

EOS Organization and Traction. Before, each of Cash Time’s locations had something called an SOP, but honestly they didn't have real, standardized ones. It was more like basic training where new hires were expected to learn their job and responsibilities from whoever was training them individually... pick it up as you go, figure it out from the person next to you. That led to a lot of variation store to store, no real cohesiveness as a company, and tons of inconsistencies in how things got done.

I first learned the EOS method, the Entrepreneurial Operating System from Traction by Gino Wickman, while working at KKOS Lawyers with Mark Kohler, my previous employer. It completely changed how I managed teams... brought clarity, accountability, and real traction to everything. What I realized along the way is that I’m naturally wired as the Integrator in EOS terms. EOS talks a lot about Visionaries, those big-picture leaders who come up with the bold ideas and see the future of the company. My role has always been to work side by side with top-level executives and CEOs, take their vision, and get it across the goal line. I’m the one who turns the dream into daily execution, holds the team together, filters the ideas, keeps the cadence going, and makes sure everything actually happens.

The first week at Cash Time, I told Scott we needed a company-wide meeting every week. The executive team was so disconnected from what was actually happening in the stores... I made it a point to work at different locations weekly myself, just to stay grounded in the day-to-day reality.

Now those meetings happen every Wednesday, with the executive team right here at corporate. It keeps us aligned, surfaces problems quickly, and builds the cohesion we were missing.

Having a clear, written SOP for every single position is essential... and it goes hand in hand with training. Training teaches the skills and mindset, but the SOP gives the exact steps, so a person can open it up, follow it, and execute their job without second-guessing. You remove all the uncertainty and questions at the door... no more 'how do we handle this?' or 'is this the right way?' It makes onboarding faster, reduces errors, and keeps quality consistent no matter who’s working.

I talked to some employees who literally had nothing to do during slow periods... with better structure and solid SOPs in place, those individual stores could turn that time into productive stuff, like flyering in the community or reaching out for B2B partnerships to bring in more business.

It wasn't about overcomplicating things... just implementing EOS principles like strong SOPs, weekly alignment meetings, and better team connection. That brought the whole company together and gave us the traction to operate smoother and grow stronger. As the Integrator, that’s exactly what I love doing, helping turn vision into real results.

Ad restrictions forced us to get really creative... no big Google or Facebook campaigns for our loans over 36% APR, so we had to think outside the box for local visibility.

Typically each store was supposed to flyer for about 15 minutes a day. We'd design flyers, order them in bulk from a printer... 2-3 week lead time, $10k spent just to get them in hand. Too slow, too expensive, not flexible enough.

My solution? We bought a solid commercial printer from POA, Pacific Office Automation... they're right here in Arizona, great for office equipment and production printing. I handled the setup myself. With my background in film and design, I'm an expert in all Adobe products, especially Illustrator... figured out the right margins, sizing, bleed, everything to mass-print high-quality flyers in-house. Created templates and a simple system so anyone could hand it off and keep things consistent without me micromanaging.

The flyering worked immediately. We targeted the areas right around our stores and competitors like Cash 1 and Titlemax... hitting apartments, houses, cars, high-traffic spots. Consistency was key... get those flyers out day after day.

We hired one dedicated 'flyer guy' first, Salim. He's Syrian, lived in Mexico for 12 years, has this unique accent that actually makes people stop and listen when he explains the offer. It added a personal touch. Results came fast, so we hired another one to cover more ground.

This guerrilla-style marketing... low-cost, boots-on-the-ground, surprise-in-the-neighborhood tactics... added straight to that $2.5 million in growth we saw from organic and local efforts.

We also ran a bunch of community events to build goodwill. I managed all of them... we'd set up in parking lots or local spots, give away TVs and gift cards every hour on the hour. People showed up, signed up, talked about us. It wasn't flashy ads... just smart, hands-on ways to connect directly with the community and drive real traffic without fighting restricted platforms.

Guerrilla marketing like this... in-house printing, dedicated teams, targeted flyering, community giveaways... proved you don't need big budgets when you get creative and consistent.

$2.5 Million in the Green with New Locations. Because 68% of Cash Time's traffic to the website comes straight from natural Google searches... we had this huge edge to expand smartly and pull customers away from competitors. With ad restrictions blocking paid Google or Facebook campaigns on our loans over 36% APR, organic local search was our golden ticket for growth.

I came up with the idea to open 'ghost locations'... lightweight presences in new markets to rank high in local searches without jumping straight to full staffed stores and big leases. Pitched it to Scott and the executive team... they bought in, and we started testing.

First was Flagstaff. We rented a small office in a community coworking workspace, put up a couple of branded signs, snapped photos... then I AI'd them heavily to make everything look polished and professional for the Google Business Profile listing. I shot the videos myself to showcase the 'location' and got it all verified and live.

The tricky part... how do we actually fund a loan for someone in Flagstaff when there's no full-time employee on site? Easy fix... we connected with local CPAs and trusted pros in the area. Offered them a solid rate to handle the in-person signatures, paperwork, and GPS tracker installs on vehicles. They became our local closing partners... customers searched for cash loans or title loans in Flagstaff, saw us ranking high (boosted by the optimized profile, our strong website, reviews pouring in), applied online or through the partner, and we handled the rest remotely or via them. It clicked right away.

Each of those locations is capable of generating $1 million in loans... it just takes consistent presence and time to build trust, volume, and word-of-mouth in the area. To speed that up, we sent our 'flyer guys' right to these ghost cities and towns... targeting apartments, houses, cars, high-traffic spots around competitors like Cash 1 and Titlemax. That boots-on-the-ground push gave us instant local visibility while the online rankings caught up.

Flagstaff proved the model worked... so we rolled it out to Arizona's outskirts. Sierra Vista next, then Yuma... same lightweight approach to capture those underserved border and rural markets, dominate local searches, and steal share from the big national chains.

This tied perfectly into the bigger picture... the fast website revamp, review explosion (doubling 18 years' worth in two), location-specific landing pages and blogs, guerrilla flyering (now extended to the new markets), community events. All of it amplified organic visibility across more cities, drove natural applications and foot traffic, and added directly to that $2.5 million in growth. What started as ghost setups turned into real momentum... and now those spots have solid presences on the site, serving customers statewide.