THE BLOG

27
Feb

The Money Doesn’t Know What It Doesn’t Know: Jer Trihouse

Jer Trihouse ConsultingBy Jer Ayles-Ayler * I got a call from  Hilary Miller, a lawyer buddy of mine. A group with more money than god wanted his counsel regarding entry into the small dollar loan space. When he explained they would have to pay him, they bailed.

Great! You have access to “the money.” So what! Do you really think attending a conference, making a few calls gathered from Linkedin, and talking with vendors with something to sell are going to deliver your “secret sauce?”

• Lead gen
• Analytical
• Collections/Underwriting
• CSR’s
• Software that does what you’re team wants it to do.
• Legal/Licensing/Compliance/Taxes/Offshore/Tribe/State
Tactics and Strategies
• Technology
• SEO/SEM/Mobile/Offline marketing

There are a LOT of really smart, creative people in our space. We aren’t making a ton of money by accident. We’ve learned the hard way – in the trenches. We’ve screwed-up royally BUT survived that early, catastrophic failure; well most of us :o)

So… you’re a lender. Oh, I get it. You’re an Internet guy now. You’ll do it all in your underwear from your beach-front home office ( Stop laughing, no cracks! That’s me :o) You really think you don’t need troops in the field, out in the trenches? Who is going to knock on doors and collect your money? Whose going to repo your collateral? Where are you going to store this stuff? Payday loans – the way most of us are doing them today – are toast! The PDL cheese has moved. You have to differentiate your products and services. It’s a new world, a savvy consumer, and more regulators than you can shake a stick at. Plus, plenty of lawyers to remind us of this on a daily basis.

Yep, it takes capital but that isn’t enough. It takes a village – I mean a team :o)

To succeed and survive, you must collaborate. You’ve got to “play BIG” with your Team to win. Our industry is changing rapidly. There has never been so much opportunity. Nor has there ever been so many challenges. Millions of consumers all over the world Want and NEED our products!

Expecting to “pick the brain” of an expert over lunch and launching your enterprise will lead to a catastrophic failure. Build relationships NOW; before you need them. Even those of us who have been in the game for years still have to invest time and money.

Want to explore? Need to put capital to work? Want to take your expertise in operations to the next level? Got a new solution for the industry but can’t get in front of the “players?” Hit me… Jer@TrihouseConsulting.com

Http://www.PaydayManual.com
702-208-6736
WARNING! I’m BUSY. Drop an email. Introduce yourself. I’m an old Dude. I talk to a lot of really smart folks all day long. (I’m serious!)  Put some bullets to me in writing. And NO, your input will not wind-up on my Blog :o) I have so damn many NDA’s and MOU’s I just assume we have one with you already!

Finally, if you’re going to be in Newport Beach or Corona del Mar in March, I like a nice red. I’m not sure what Hilary drinks. See you in the St. Regis. Go ahead! Just try to “pick my brain.”

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24
Feb

New York Times: Banks Enable Payday Loans

Jer Ayler - TrihouseJessica Silver-Greenberg at The New York Times breaks another insightful story focused on the payday loan industry’s incestuous relationship with banks. I would point out that several banks, in addition to providing credit lines and mezzanine capital to payday loan direct lenders, offer payday loan products to their customers having direct deposit of their payroll check: Banks Offer Payday Loans.

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16
Feb

North Carolina Payday Loans Coming

'Incredible Alcatraz (San Francisco)' photo (c) 2009, Dhilung Kirat - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/It seems the citizens of North Carolina are finally being heard. They want access to small dollar loan products via stores rather than exclusively by applying online or driving across state border lines. North Carolina Payday Loans.

Regarding payday or car title loans, what’s your #1 challenge/question? Hit me: Jer@TrihouseConsulting.com

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07
Feb

Google Doesn’t Really Hate the Payday Loan Industry!

If you’re into payday loan search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click-programs (PPC) such as Goggle Adwords read on. If not, GET OUT OF HERE  NOW. We value your time.

Google’s been rattling it’s sabers regarding payday loan lead generators and direct lenders for months. Recently, the Google elves got pretty nasty. They dropped more than a few major lead gen companies out of their search results completely; this just as several of clients for whom we do consulting were near completing various rounds of financing to enable them to evolve into direct lenders.

Our readers know that, in spite of the fact that payday loan lead costs for lenders often reach as high as $150, margins for lead generators are getting squeezed big-time! The “good-old” days are gone. More competition, mobile phones, tablets… are disrupting our space. Google algorithm updates are wreaking havoc as well.

What’s a “loan shark” to do? (Actually, these iterations are occurring in all industries.) Many of the old-timers in the payday loan space are “throwing in the towel.”  Those of us remaining interpret these events as OPPORTUNITY. If you’re of the latter mind-set, click the link to a lengthy, insightful SEO article below.

“Why Google Hates Payday Loans (But Loves Profiting from Them)”
Published by an anonymous search engine marketing company (Wow! Who could it be?) working in the payday loan space to avoid possible retribution from Google or other companies.
PS: FULL CONFESSION: We’ve been using the knowledge base at Planet Ocean for years to stay ahead of Google.
1) For our store footprints and local search engine results, we use “Get On the Map”: Get on The Map! The Complete Local Guide to Getting Your Small Business Online!

For our Internet lending and national market we use “Winning the Search Engine Wars”: Planet Ocean SearchEngineNews.com Unfair Advantage Book

Meanwhile, for your enjoyment, READ The Article over at Search Engine Journal,  “Why Google Hates Payday Loans-But Loves Profiting from Them.”
Full disclosure: We love Planet Ocean’s search engine expertise so much we are affiliates.

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04
Feb

Tribe Owned Businesses in Downtown USA?

So… U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote a letter January 28, 2013 to The Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs asking the agency to reject the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma’s land-into-trust application. The Oklahoma-based tribe bought 229 acres of vacant land in Cayuga County, NY for $738,554 in 2002. The Bureau rejected their plans for a casino in 2006 and 2008. The agency said, “the tribe had not demonstrated the casino plan would provide an economic benefit to the tribe’s members in Oklahoma.” Strange…

What’s the implication for other tribally owned businesses? What if this “geographically remote,” federally recognized  tribe were to build a call center in downtown NY coupled with a technology center to offer small dollar loans exceeding New York’s usury rates? Certainly this enterprise would employ both tribe and local residents thus benefiting both parties economically. How will local tax payers, officials and state attorney’s general respond as this scenario is repeated in cities throughout the USA?

According to Glenn Coin | gcoin@syracuse.com , if the trust application is approved this time, the land will be taken off the tax rolls, costing local taxing entities approximately $9,541 in revenues, based on 2012 real property records. What about the jobs that would be created for employees of the call center and all the construction and materials employment resulting from this construction? Any thought given to the impact on local businesses from restaurants to equipment suppliers?

Read more here and here.

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