A Few Words from the President

Team Loyalty,

As always, I want to start this by thanking everyone for their hard work and commitment to Loyalty Pawn, THANK YOU! The year is half over that is just unbelievable to me, time certainly flies by. This last quarter, we have experienced great growth in revenues, pawns, and customers. This is truly because our team has embraced our company culture and is providing loyal services! We are seeing the positive changes and I hope everyone see’s and feels the great strides of improvements thus far.

I want to thank you every one of you for the 100% participation in the “Employee Experience Survey”. For me it was very eye opening and informative. I appreciate all the honest feedback, positive and negative. The overall results were very positive about the direction we are going which is terrific. I was a little disappointed with some of the comments and grading in some of the questions and I was under the impression that we were further along in our culture then many have expressed. I want to let you know that I am here to come up with solutions to get our culture and environment feeling "Loyal, Dedicated, and Creative". Without your input I would have kept moving along thinking we are molding our culture in a positive manner. Trust me, the survey was positive, and we are cohesive as a team, but we have areas that need improvement. I have an action plan that will start with another survey. This will be a quick 4 question survey. The idea behind this survey is to give me and the executive team a quantifiable metric to prove to our entire team we ARE heading in the right direction. This will be 100% anonymous and I would like to see 100% participation. I will be 100% transparent with the results. Much of my action plan will be to increase transparency throughout the company, have all team members that would like to grow within Loyalty Pawn feel that they can grow, recognize individual efforts on a more consistent basis, give a clear understanding of each role and position and build communication for all Loyalty Pawn team members. Again, thank you for your participation and input, we will continue to "Move The Needle"!

Store update efforts!! I certainly would have like to have been further down this road, but we had a little hold up with the city of Roseville that should be corrected and a new permit in place by the time this newsletter is in your possession. Exterior signs should be up at all locations except Roseville by the end of July. I am working on finalizing an action plan for interior remodels. The goal is to have 3 interiors completed by the years end. This s a stretch but I love the challenge!!

I hope your 4th of July was celebrated with friends and family and stay cool this summer, there have been some hot days and I am sure many more to come!

Team Member CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer)

Stan Lukowicz

What is Personal Branding?

“Personal branding” is used to include nothing more than a simple business card with your name on it, but with the development of social media and an increasingly individualized society, the brand you build around yourself is perhaps the single most important way to stand out! Personal branding is the means by which people remember you. It is how you present yourself to potential clients and customers. Your personal brand builds your business, but it still centers around you as an individual.

According to a consumer surveys, only 33 percent of buyers trust messages from a brand, while 90 percent trust messages from an individual they know! That means in business, you have a much better chance 2018 of winning people's trust if you bond with them first as a human being and encourage your fellow team members to do the same. Effective personal branding will differentiate you from other professionals in your field. Remember that personal branding is not about selling. It's about building relationships with your current and potential customers. The average human being will encounter 100 new people every month that’s 100 new friends and/or potential customers!

When you leave your home and interact with people during your day, make sure you maintain a positive and professional appearance in keeping with your brand. Carry business cards with you and watch for potential clients. People love supporting local businesses and professionals, and if you manage to form a relationship with others in person, they will be more eager to do business with you.

Your online presence is also important. Your personal brand is an extension of who you are, and it's what you want to present to peers and potential clients. If you maintain a strong personal brand, your business will appear more human to others, and it will win over their trust while highlighting yourself as a dedicated professional. In social media keep a balance between business-related updates and personal updates, so that others will see you as being both professional and personable. No one needs to know what you ate for breakfast, but a picture of you at last Saturday’s Tent Sale may create some “buzz” both for you and your store team.

Look at anyone who's crushing it in business and life and you'll usually see it's not just their business that's doing well; they also have a powerful personal brand. So if you want to be a SUPERSTAR build a personal brand that will allow you to achieve great things! Be true to yourself, keep learning, create value and stand out in the crowd. YOU are YOUR brand!