Frank Scarso Hit Rock Bottom. Then Built an Empire. (His Secret Will Shock You)

In this powerful episode, we sit down with entrepreneur Frank Scarso, who shares his incredible transformation from addiction to building a thriving business in the cash advance industry. 

Frank opens up about his personal struggles, the lessons learned along the way, and how his experiences shaped his approach to business and helping small business owners succeed. This conversation is packed with raw honesty, practical business advice, and inspiring insights on resilience, mindset, and entrepreneurship.

Frank Scarso is an entrepreneur and business owner specializing in providing capital solutions to small businesses. With years of experience in the cash advance industry, Frank has built a reputation for speed, honesty, and integrity. His personal journey of overcoming addiction has given him unique perspective on resilience and the importance of maintaining a positive mindset in both life and business. He is passionate about mentoring others and helping small business owners access the capital they need to grow.

Personal Journey & Transformation

• Frank's candid reflection on his battle with addiction
• The role of resilience in overcoming life's biggest challenges
• How personal struggles can inform and improve how we help others
• Becoming a grandfather and personal milestones in recovery

Business & Entrepreneurship

• Overview of the cash advance industry and how it works
• Why small businesses need alternative funding solutions
• Building a business from the ground up: failures, lessons, and wins
• The importance of speed and efficiency in serving clients
• How Frank's company became "the fastest in the business"

Mindset & Success Principles

• The power of maintaining a positive mindset
• Why treating your job like it's your own business matters
• Learning from mistakes and failures
• The non-negotiable role of honesty and integrity in business
• "Life is always a lesson to be learned" philosophy

Team Building & Company Culture

• Creating a culture where employees think like owners
• The importance of understanding client needs
• Building trust with both team members and clients
• Investing in relationships for long-term success

Financial Wisdom

• Making every penny count in business
• Financial literacy for small business owners
• Understanding the true cost and value of capital
• Practical advice for managing cash flow

Contact Frank at:

• https://avanza.nyc
• 212-457-1336

Transcript

Rob Pene (00:01.275)
Alrighty, welcome everybody. Grateful that you are listening and watching and I'm very grateful for Frank Scarso who we have here. This is gonna be fun because in true to fashion, the podcast is called Nice To Meet You and it really is nice to meet Frank. To get us started, Frank, this is what usually kicks off the conversation and then everything just kind of takes off from there. But if you were to reflect back

FRANK SCARSO (00:16.942)
Like what?

FRANK SCARSO (00:25.006)
you

Rob Pene (00:30.529)
on the past 12 months in your life and you were to turn that into a Netflix movie, what would your movie be about if you looked at this past 12 months?

FRANK SCARSO (00:46.35)
So it's a very good question. The movie would be about someone who is continuously growing his business, expanding a company on a professional level, on a personal level. A person that just turned 50 and has just found out that he's going to be a grandfather. So it's kind of exciting. But the movie would be an uplifting movie. I'm a very positive person.

believe in good karma, believe in, you you manifest your life. So it's a positive feeling that I would like to portray in that movie.

Rob Pene (01:18.465)
Mm.

Rob Pene (01:25.569)
Okay, so I'm assuming that because of the business and everything, you had to go through some ups and downs in order to recognize, I definitely want to focus on the positive and help others. Tell me a little bit more about the business and then, yeah, how that started. Yeah, let's go from there.

FRANK SCARSO (01:45.752)
So, know, ups and downs, I'm glad you mentioned that. So I used to be a Wall Street guy for 21 years. And unfortunately, you know, I got caught up in addiction to alcohol and talk about ups and downs. was actually at a certain point, I was actually living on the street. My wife separated from me. Nobody wanted to talk to me. lost all my family, my friends, my job. It was a mess, but slowly but surely, my persistence and...

continuing to want to get back to where I was and back to my family, which was the most important thing. I didn't even care about the financial aspect of it, was my motivation for my sobriety. So here I am, I'm looking for something to do. And this kind of fell into my lap. I went to actually go work for somebody, started out at the bottom, right? Literally started out at the bottom, learned every step along the way.

Rob Pene (02:26.081)
Mmmmm

FRANK SCARSO (02:43.414)
And then with some luck, right, we were able to start funding one deal at a time, one deal at a time. Next thing you know, you're funding two deals at a time and so forth. You make a lot of mistakes along the way. You learn what works and what doesn't work. And still today, I'm always learning new things. Life is always a lesson to be learned. I try to learn something new every day. It's important.

your failures, it's important that you at least learn from them. At least don't make it a wasteful event if something goes the other way. So that's my ups and downs stories if you'd like to get into it more. I'm an open book. I don't mind talking about it.

Rob Pene (03:27.029)
Yeah, yeah, I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued because I know that with addiction comes some very deep reflection and some deep turmoil that you have to kind of go through. But then there's also that other swing where you experience the highs of being focused and doing a lot of things just falling into place. So for your business right now, how long have you run it? And then do you see the same resilience that you had in the past need to be activated for your business now?

FRANK SCARSO (03:46.67)
you

FRANK SCARSO (03:57.913)
So we've been operating now for almost nine years, January will be nine years that I started the company. And yes, in my industry resilience is important because you're dealing with merchants, small businesses. Some of these small businesses unfortunately don't make it and they have to close their doors. And when you take a loss, it's important that you stay the course, it's part of the business, you deal with it.

You know, you stay resilient in the fact that you're going to continue to move forward. And that's how you get through these little bumps and these little hurdles that you have.

Rob Pene (04:33.183)
Yeah, do you, when you counsel your clients, do you feel like you, because you've experienced counseling yourself, you feel like you're advising them from experience?

FRANK SCARSO (04:45.966)
Yeah, I do. do. Because, you know, again, dealing with the merchant lets you say they're struggling to make their payments. You know, I'm understanding that life happens. You know, I get it. Life happens. You can have a slow time due to a broken refrigerator, you know, for restaurant or, you know, someone's got a couple of trucks headed down and so forth.

Rob Pene (04:55.777)
Good.

FRANK SCARSO (05:07.938)
So I try to counsel the people and I try to instill positivity into them and tell them that, listen, everything will be OK. We'll work it out. Don't worry about me. Worry about getting yourself back into the groove. And we'll get paid when the time comes. But for the most part, I try to be as understanding as possible. Unfortunately, you can't always make everybody happy. But for the most part, I deal with pretty good people.

Rob Pene (05:28.705)
Yeah

Rob Pene (05:37.951)
Yeah, how important is mindset in what you do?

FRANK SCARSO (05:44.153)
mindset's important, I think, in anything in life, no matter what you're doing, whether it's you're with personal issues or whether you're dealing with work issues. You know, if you go into something thinking that you can't get it done, you might as well not even try because you're not going to get it done. You have to have that positive attitude that I can get this task accomplished or completed. You know, I can do this. I can do that.

Rob Pene (05:59.585)
Yes.

FRANK SCARSO (06:12.022)
If you're sitting there and say to yourself, I'm not going be able to do it, it's a long thing, you're not going to succeed. Failure is just inevitable. So it's important that you keep strong minds. Like I said earlier, I'm a strong believer in manifestation. You manifest your own life. So I think if you stay positive and you think good thoughts and you treat people nice and respectful.

and you try to be as caring as possible towards people and show some empathy, you know, the world, the universe repays you.

Rob Pene (06:47.989)
Yeah, sometimes it's a little hard, especially when you're down in the dumps, right? When you're just like, defeated and it's, it's the truth. That's the reality. Like everything just kind of hit rock bottom, hit the fan. Just nothing's going my way. How did you get out? How did you snap out of it? Like, was it a long period or was it instantaneous?

FRANK SCARSO (07:08.558)
Yeah, it took three years. So for three years, I was actually separated from my wife and kids. you know, when you hit rock bottom, unfortunately, you really hate to sound cliches, but you have to hit rock bottom and lose everything to realize what you lost. You know, you have to just get to that breaking point. And, you know, it took me three years, several stints in rehab. You know, was arrested several times for DWI.

Rob Pene (07:34.069)
Really?

FRANK SCARSO (07:38.402)
And that takes a toll on you. But I knew from other experiences in life being on Wall Street, because Wall Street has always been ups and downs, right? So I know that when things are bad, they're not going to stay bad forever as long as you continue to try to move forward. And on the flip side, when things are really great, they don't stay great forever. So cherish those moments. It's important.

Rob Pene (07:59.777)
Hmm. Yeah, expect the highs and expect the lows. Yeah. It definitely seems like you're a guy who would support people, who would understand what they're going through when they're going through the down parts. Who was there? Were there different types of people that were there for you to kind of lift you out of your situation?

FRANK SCARSO (08:24.429)
So really, for the most part, I was on my own. I just became this person that nobody wanted to be around. My own mother, she used to say, you're not my son. I don't know what happened to my son. And I had a couple of friends that stuck by my side that helped me out a little bit. But for the most part, you have to do it yourself. And then when your loved ones, your family, your friends see that you're really trying.

Rob Pene (08:35.82)
Yeah

FRANK SCARSO (08:53.157)
that you're really making the effort. That's when they come in and they say, know what, let's help you. We're here for you. We're here for you. Anything that you need. So until you show that you want to correct this devastating event in your life, you're not going to get help from the outside because everybody's tired of it. You know how many times they've heard the stories, I'm going to be better, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And then at the end of the day, it's just more of the same bull.

So once the bull stops and you do the complete opposite of what you were doing, right, you flip it 180 degrees and start heading back the other way, the loved ones will come back into your life. It's just, know, time heals everything. they'll tend to not forget, but they'll tend to let it go. You know, they'll just let it go. You know, and that's what I've learned from my experience.

Rob Pene (09:30.025)
Hmm

Rob Pene (09:39.423)
Mmm.

Rob Pene (09:47.809)
Yeah. Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (09:52.268)
Again, when you're dealing with addiction, unfortunately, addiction is a very strong disease and everybody's recovery is different. So what works for me may not work for you or for Joe or for this one or that one. Everyone has a different type of recovery. But as long as you try, you can get help and you can succeed. If you don't try, it's not gonna get better. It's just gonna continue to get worse.

Rob Pene (10:21.525)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I can see the movie now, the uplifting part, you know, with the friends and family kind of leaving and then being there to cheer you on after. Let's talk a little bit more about your business. Now, specifically for the audience, what do you actually do and then who do you actually serve?

FRANK SCARSO (10:39.895)
So we provide small businesses with capital. know, businesses that either don't have credit or need money immediately or can't go to a bank. We provide capital to them fast, within a couple of hours. So we service that niche market of the small business. Most banks nowadays really don't want to lend to small businesses. They're really looking to do corporate stuff and that's why...

you know what what is baking pressure expect you know it makes our side of the business look look better because we're a private lender were the alternative lending space you know welcome in and will purchase receivables from a merchant will pay for them up front and then they pay us back over time so you know we're a lifeline for some of these businesses so without us unfortunately some of these places you know are are in big trouble i don't know if you've ever

Rob Pene (11:19.179)
Mm-hmm.

FRANK SCARSO (11:39.383)
tried to get a loan from a bank or a mortgage or whatever it is, but it's a lot of paperwork and it's a lot of going back and forth. You know, these people need money immediately, you know, and that's where we come in. So we serviced that, you know, emergency niche.

Rob Pene (11:54.049)
Are you specific to your location or nationwide?

FRANK SCARSO (11:57.645)
No, no, we are nationwide. We do all 50 states. We operate in all 50 states.

Rob Pene (12:03.167)
Yeah, Boy, so it makes sense that you're in that space because you're in Wall Street so you know all the money stuff.

FRANK SCARSO (12:10.732)
Yeah, it was like the flip side. When I was on Wall Street, we were asking people for money. Now on this side, we're giving people the money. So it kind of came into like second nature for me. This was kind of like a walk in the park. I'm just very lucky and I'm blessed to have had the opportunity to have a second chance. Really, it's more like a tenth chance, but really a second chance in life. And it's hard starting over.

Rob Pene (12:31.477)
Mmm.

Mmmmm.

FRANK SCARSO (12:39.502)
when you're 40 years old. You I was very depressed. I didn't like my job. You know, I some, you know, I suffered from depression and anxiety. I wasn't treated, you know, I'm gonna say 99 % of addicts probably have some sort of underlying mental health issue that they're not addressing. So, you know, it's important that you address those issues and that's how you get going.

Rob Pene (12:57.813)
Yes sir.

Rob Pene (13:08.341)
Yeah, a lot of people that start businesses would either find investors or find partners that, you know, the co-founder concept. Did you have someone that you partnered with to get started and then you did your own thing or did you just kind of naturally go into your own thing?

FRANK SCARSO (13:25.046)
No, so I was at a point where nobody really wanted to work with me, right? I still had that stigma hanging over me, which I can't blame people, right? I've let so many people down. But with that said, I did everything myself. My brother offered to help me in the beginning and I said, no, this is something that I need to do on my own. I appreciate it. you know, it took some time. It probably took me longer because I didn't have the help.

Rob Pene (13:29.067)
Yeah.

Rob Pene (13:46.825)
Wow.

FRANK SCARSO (13:54.307)
But it also taught me lessons. learning every aspect of this business was important. Learning from all the failures and mistakes that we made along the way. I did have a partner for a short period of time that I brought in, and he's no longer with me. So I was the founder of the company, and I had a different vision for this company a couple years ago. And we're going up.

Rob Pene (14:00.757)
Okay.

FRANK SCARSO (14:20.526)
completely separate route because we're getting bigger. We're growing, you know, we have four offices now, we have 22 employees, and we're growing by leaps and bounds. So, yeah.

Rob Pene (14:30.497)
That's incredible. Is there anything specific that you can attribute the growth to?

FRANK SCARSO (14:34.146)
Yeah, thanks.

FRANK SCARSO (14:40.408)
Well, I think that's being honest. know, in our business, in the merchant cash advance business, unfortunately there's a lot of thievery where brokers will send in files to a lender and that file goes out the back door. I don't do that. You know, I pride myself on honesty. We work fair. We work hard. We pay your commissions on time. You know, we just, we don't try to get over on anybody.

for anything. Again, that's just bad karma. If you do bad things, bad things will come into your life. I'm a firm believer of that.

Rob Pene (15:19.455)
Yeah. Yeah. What's your vision for the future of the business? Are you going to stay within that niche or kind of do a spinoff and open some other things?

FRANK SCARSO (15:27.938)
No, I'm probably going to stay here and this will be my last stop. And my youngest one, she's a freshman in college. So was hoping that maybe at some point, you know, after she graduates and gets her feet wet, you know, working for somebody else, we'd want to come in and take a portion of the business and run with it. So this way there's someone to, to inherit it. You know, this is something that you can do for a very long period of time. I mean, just like anything else, there's stress.

Rob Pene (15:55.253)
Mmm.

FRANK SCARSO (15:58.179)
But when you're dealing with margin calls on Wall Street and then you're dealing with stuff here, it's just, it's a completely different thing. those 21 years that I had, you know, trained me to deal with, with, you know, devastating issues, losing people tons and tons of money. you know, it gives you a thick skin, you know, it leathers you up a little bit, you know, so you can absorb more. can take more of the hits.

Rob Pene (16:19.35)
Yes.

FRANK SCARSO (16:27.81)
But what came with all of that was a lot of depression. I didn't want to work there anymore. I was stuck, 40 years old. And with the grace of God and hard work and determination, persistence is important. Never give up. That's one thing I can tell people. Never give up. You'll find a way to make your way back if you just try.

Rob Pene (16:33.578)
Yeah.

Rob Pene (16:49.632)
Hmm

FRANK SCARSO (16:56.206)
you just try. Doors will open up for you.

Rob Pene (16:58.463)
Yeah. For the people that aren't aware of how the business works, the cash advances, the merchant cash advances, can you share like a brief description of what that looks like?

FRANK SCARSO (17:07.938)
Yeah, yeah, so we will come in and it's a revenue based model. We'll evaluate three months worth of bank statements, business bank statements. We'll average out to see how much they were doing in deposits and then we'll base our offer on how much they have in receivables. It's not guaranteed, it's high risk what we do, but it's also high reward for us.

Rob Pene (17:33.258)
Hmm.

FRANK SCARSO (17:36.857)
But so the process file comes in, we analyze it, we make an offer. If the merchant agrees to it, we go to the next couple of small steps and within a couple of hours, the money's in their account. So Fridays are typically our busiest day of week. Why? Because of payroll. You have a lot of businesses that are short on money for payroll, they need that cash. Or businesses that have a big project and they have to buy materials for up front.

Rob Pene (17:50.067)
Wow.

FRANK SCARSO (18:05.602)
That's what we do, we help those businesses. Unfortunately, some of these businesses are really not run well and because it's a revenue-based model, unfortunately, we learned that the hard way, right, when a file goes bad on us. But files going bad defaults are part of the business, you you're gonna get the defaults. If you're not getting defaults, then you're not funding enough.

Rob Pene (18:31.295)
Yeah. How do people find you? How do your customers find you? Or do you find them? You approach them?

FRANK SCARSO (18:38.572)
No, no, so that's great question. We don't originate any files in-house. Over the last nine years, I built a network of brokerage firms that send us deals. So we don't originate any files in-house. All the deals come in to us via email. know, I probably have north of 100 firms that we work with and that we service. So rather than building a book of business of...

Rob Pene (18:59.488)
Mmm.

FRANK SCARSO (19:04.236)
merchants in-house, built a book of business of brokers or broker shops and basically instead of building my own army, I'm using the armies of others to bring it.

Rob Pene (19:09.387)
Yeah.

Rob Pene (19:14.111)
Yeah. That already have. Yeah. you still work with people that come directly to you though. Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (19:20.534)
Yes, of course. Yeah, of course. But for the most part, everything that we do is brought in by a broker.

Rob Pene (19:26.911)
Yeah. How does a new business, so somebody comes up with an idea, they're like, great, and they see online, yeah, you could go start an LLC here. Do you work with those types of people too? No.

FRANK SCARSO (19:38.914)
We don't. If you're not at least established for 12 months, we don't work with startup companies because startups really don't have revenue. We're a revenue-based model, so it wouldn't be a fit for us.

Rob Pene (19:48.587)
Wow.

Rob Pene (19:52.287)
That's right. That's good. That's good. Now, your employees, I know you mentioned team and family is important to you. So, you know, community is big. What do you look for in team members? Like, what are the few traits that you're like, okay, this person would help us or this person knows that way.

FRANK SCARSO (20:10.862)
You know, you want to see, you you want to try to hire people that can merge in with your type of characteristics. You know, if you're a very soft spoken person, you don't want the loud people, you know, that are, you know, over the top. You want people that are kind, people that are understanding, people that are patient. know, patience is important. You have to understand you're dealing with people that are

Rob Pene (20:26.849)
Hmm

Rob Pene (20:34.687)
No.

FRANK SCARSO (20:40.332)
in an emergency situation for the most part, right? So you have to their hand a little bit. So you want to see good qualities like that in employees. You know, again, you're going to make mistakes with employees, you know, unfortunately, sometimes the wool gets pulled over our face. But for the most part, I've been very lucky. I have a young team. I'm the oldest one in the company. Most of the team is in their 30s.

Rob Pene (20:58.603)
Mm-hmm.

FRANK SCARSO (21:08.328)
except for my wife. My wife is here. She's the president of operations. brought her in. And we look for those that care about the business and that treat this place like it's their own. You know, my dad was very important in my life. And when I started working, you know, in a bagel store and pizzerias when I was younger, he told me, treat the place like it's your own. If you're not going to treat the place like it's your own, then don't do it.

Rob Pene (21:20.79)
Mmm.

FRANK SCARSO (21:37.869)
Don't be disrespectful towards your job. Be proud of what you do. There's nothing wrong with working. Just be proud of it. Treat it like it's your business and care for it. And that's something that's always stuck with me. And now I look for traits like that in people that I hire.

Rob Pene (21:54.081)
Yeah, that's good. That's good to have an idea. And you do it any type of business, right? As long as they have revenue online.

FRANK SCARSO (22:02.67)
Right, so we do have shipping guidelines, right? So like right now, trucking industry has a very high default ratio. So we're staying out of that. We just put real estate back on. But we have to be aware of, you know, many different things. for instance, weather, right? If you have a certain area, let's say like Houston got bombarded with hurricanes. Next thing you know, you're getting files that are close to the Houston area that need money that it's not going to be able to collect.

So you're not going to be able to help those folks. At the end of the day, I have to answer to my investors, right? The people that, you know, that, that, you know, are, are my lenders that we use their capital to fund the merchants and purchase those receivables. So I have a fiduciary and I have to do what's right for the lenders. I have to do what's right for us and I have to do what's right for the merchants. So there's a lot of moving parts. but

Rob Pene (22:31.633)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Rob Pene (22:38.197)
Yes.

FRANK SCARSO (23:00.846)
We're doing it. The growth has been tremendous. This year has been a blockbuster year so far. We're up already by 50 % of what we did last year. So we're growing. We're growing.

Rob Pene (23:08.609)
Nice.

Rob Pene (23:12.381)
Oof. Wow.

Yeah. So you mentioned vendors that you're investors. Do you have to build that book of business too?

FRANK SCARSO (23:24.398)
That's a book of business that we build, correct? So that's a book of business that we build up until about two years ago when I changed and went different directions. Most of everything that I did was through friends and family. But because of the way we work and you know, the brokerage shops are happy with us. They were sending in more files than we can handle. So I needed some help to get some money in here and that's hence how I started to bring in employees and putting in pieces in place.

Rob Pene (23:26.899)
Yeah.

Rob Pene (23:37.537)
Mmm.

FRANK SCARSO (23:54.703)
And now with that capital that's coming in, that's helping us in the drive forward and the drive to the next level.

Rob Pene (23:58.132)
Mm-hmm.

Rob Pene (24:04.895)
Yeah, is there a certain type of profile like investor profile that you look for? Or or if they have money and they're nice people?

FRANK SCARSO (24:14.124)
well it's all yeah you know it's all about the revenue right but like you i like what you just said if they're nice sometimes because you could do a funding call at the end you do like an interview right they're nasty mean to you on the interview and you're trying to give them money it's a sign to cancel the deal fortunately you'd be surprised and there's a lot of fraud in this industry you'd be surprised how many fake statements we get from banks that get submitted

Rob Pene (24:33.633)
Hmm.

FRANK SCARSO (24:43.415)
It's unbelievable.

Rob Pene (24:43.477)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what makes you different than other competitors?

FRANK SCARSO (24:51.178)
Our niche is we're the fastest in the business. know, lot of, most of the other places, they'll hold deals for a couple of days and then pick and choose. We move quick. If we're gonna fund something for you, we're gonna fund it. You know, if we make an offer and we go to contract, 99 % of the time we're gonna close that deal where it's 50-50 with most other places that the broker's gonna be able to close that deal or not.

So we pride ourselves in being the fastest in the business, which we probably are. And that's why the brokerage firms really like this. Plus, every Friday, they're getting their commissions sent to them via wire. They don't have to ask me. I send out an email Thursday night. We account everything. If there's any issues or any discrepancies, we go over it. Friday, they get paid. The merchants, their clients, we send wires. So they get their money right away. So they're happy. It's about making...

Rob Pene (25:22.911)
Mmm, no.

Rob Pene (25:43.339)
Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (25:45.337)
people happy, know, servicing them. And that all comes from, you know, my time being on Wall Street, because that was like a customer service, you know, business, right? You have to service the, the, the invested in the clients. So I took that mentality here into, into a bond. So we service the brokers, we service the merchants, we service our lenders. So we try to make everybody happy.

Rob Pene (26:11.369)
Yeah. What's the payback period for your clients? Is it standard or is it varied? Okay.

FRANK SCARSO (26:14.862)
It's about a four month term.

Rob Pene (26:19.529)
Yeah, it's not bad. It's not bad. Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (26:21.698)
Yeah, it's not bad, but again, it's high risk, know, it's high rates, but it is very rewarding, you know, it is very rewarding.

Rob Pene (26:32.885)
Yeah, and especially if it's an emergency and if it's an established business, they can prove that they've generated enough, but they just need help.

FRANK SCARSO (26:42.35)
And you know what, everybody needs a little help in life every once in a while. Let's be realistic, know. People have problems. People run into issues, right? And we are here to help during those difficult times if you need something fast. That's what we're here for. If you're a company, let's just say you're a restaurant and your freezer breaks, you're gonna go to the bank, it's gonna take them months to give you a loan.

Rob Pene (26:45.793)
Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (27:10.414)
where we can come in in a couple hours, have that money in your account so you can replace that equipment and continue to operate. You know, the banks really are not for the small businesses anymore like they used to be. And that's why the alternative lending industry is grown. It's a $1.2 trillion industry. BlackRock thinks it goes to $10 trillion industry inside of the next 20 years because there is always that gap that needs to be filled.

Rob Pene (27:41.375)
Yeah. Yeah. And it sounds like you're really, really, really helping people when they really, really, really need it. Yeah. Well, that's good. So if people wanted to find out more about how to be a client or even an investor, where do they go?

FRANK SCARSO (27:47.35)
Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (27:56.611)
Yeah, you can go to www.avanza.nyc.com. Yeah, yeah, we're online. We have a portal set up for our clients, for our lenders, and we have an app set up for our lenders as well. So we try to make it a very seamless process. also part of the expansion.

Rob Pene (28:06.561)
Okay, are you guys online? Social media?

FRANK SCARSO (28:26.744)
We are now IRA approved. have a third party custodian, so anything that we do for our lenders can be done in an IRA or retirement account.

Rob Pene (28:29.749)
Whoa.

Rob Pene (28:37.675)
Wow, that's good. That opens up a whole nother market. Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (28:41.498)
Yeah, whole nother market, whole nother market. One of the best moves that we did. I'm going to say that probably 25 % of our lenders make the investment through their retirement account.

Rob Pene (28:54.291)
Nice. man, talk about expansion. Yeah. Good, good deal. Yeah, I bet. Yeah. Yeah. If you were to give one last encouragement to business owners who are like struggling, but not really, they're like just in the middle, what would you encourage them to break out of that middle?

FRANK SCARSO (29:16.942)
Well, first and foremost, don't borrow money if you're not going to use it right away, you know, because we are a high rate. If it's you're going to borrow the money just to have it in the account. I would tell you not to do that. Just use what you need when you need it. You know, we're there within a couple of hours, right? A couple of or days. Some of the other lenders are a day or two. So don't take it unless you're 100 % needed because, you know, it is very high risk.

Rob Pene (29:46.29)
Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (29:46.43)
is very high risk. And to these merchants really just watch your bottom line. Count every penny, make every penny count. Sometimes you have to treat nickels like manhole cupboards. Make sure that they're heavy so that they don't go jumping out the door.

Rob Pene (29:54.24)
Mmm.

Rob Pene (30:04.127)
Yeah.

FRANK SCARSO (30:05.806)
As a small business, it's important that you maximize every penny.

Rob Pene (30:10.431)
Nice. Amen. Well, great, man. It's been a great conversation. I appreciate you. Yeah. Everybody make sure to go to Avanza, right? Avanza.nyc. Avanza.nyc. All right. Congratulations on all the success and the growth. This is exciting. I'll be watching.

FRANK SCARSO (30:14.04)
That's what I appreciate too.

FRANK SCARSO (30:19.072)
avanza.nyc

FRANK SCARSO (30:25.56)
Thank you. Thank you. I hope you do well with your broadcast. I hope you get to meet all the people you're looking to find.

Rob Pene (30:32.831)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate it.

FRANK SCARSO (30:35.427)
Yeah, no problem.