Larry and Sharon Carrico have spent more than four decades building a strong family & a successful business – their book tells the tale: good, bad, & ever-hopeful
You might want to read Sharon and Larry Carricos’ memoir, Own Your Life: On Building a Family Business and Leaving a Legacy – not just because it’s an interesting and quick read, nor just because it’s a story about succeeding in the rent-to-own industry, but because, in part, they wrote it for you.
“We wrote the book with three things in mind,” begins Larry, CEO of St. Louis- based SKC Enterprises Inc. dba Rent One. “First, we wanted it to be a legacy for our kids and grandkids. Second, we were in the middle of the pandemic, and it became important for people to know who they work for and why they’re there, so the book was part of letting our coworkers know about us, our story, and our values. And third, there are so many RTO folks who have stories similar to ours, great stories to tell – we wanted to share our story so that others might do the same thing.”
Larry and his partner in business and in life, Sharon, began the process of writing Own Your Life in 2021, connecting with their publisher, Advantage Books (an imprint of Advantage Media Group), early on, and securing a ghostwriter to help them gather and organize their thoughts and words.
“We had weekly calls and did interviews with the ghostwriter, then she’d send an outline, we ensured she had all the relevant points, and we’d edit and add to what she put together,” Sharon explains. “It’s a back-and-forth scenario; I rewrote my sections into more of my voice, and she helped Larry get his sections documented a little better. Of course, when you have two authors, it takes time.”
“Sharon and I telling the same story from our own viewpoints was really rewarding,” notes Larry. “Sometimes, we have differing versions of what actually happened. And somehow, it’s brought us even closer – and it’s brought our family closer together, too.”
Married 40 years and counting, the Carricos know something about close family; all three of their children – Steven, Nicki, and Kelly – as well as Larry’s brother, Keith, are involved in the Carrico businesses in some way. Kelly (now Martin) serves as Rent One’s Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Culture, Steven is Director of Real Estate for another Carrico company, LDC Properties, and Nicki – a New York City-based documentary film producer – still contributes to company marketing.
The book covers the Carricos’ life from both Sharon and Larry’s growing up years through their life together – meeting, marrying, and building both a family and a family business. While theirs is definitely a success story, they tackle the challenges, obstacles, and failures, too – including addictions, a crippling tax miscalculation, and a devastating fire. So how do their family members feel about the couple’s “warts and all” approach to their memoir?
“Well, we really tried to tell our story, not theirs,” Sharon attests. “The kids have been mostly amused by it, and they’re grateful we did it. I think they were surprised by our early years; we’re not huge on reminiscing and talking about our childhoods, so they had no clue. Probably my mother had the hardest time getting over the beginning part, but I hope she ultimately came off as the heroine she is and the matriarch she has always been for our family.”
Interestingly, both Carrico daughters are also published authors; Nicki wrote a Christmastime children’s book last year called The Tipsy Tree (www.thetipsytree.com), and Kelly has an essay included in the 2021 anthology Owning Your G.R.I.T.: 40 Women’s Stories of Harnessing the Power of Growth, Resilience, Intention, and Tenacity (by Bardot & Burggraf).
“We had to catch up!” laughs Sharon.
Yet another reason behind Own Your Life is Larry and Sharon’s intention to spread the word about how they’re using their good fortune to help others. A dozen years ago, the Carricos founded the Great Expectations Foundation, which works to provide funding for organizations focused on children’s wellness, fitness, education, and emotional and spiritual development. Last year, the foundation expanded to offer grant opportunities for nonprofits located close to Rent One and RNR Tire Express-Midwest (also Carrico-owned) stores.
“I’m a longtime fan of (author, salesman, and motivational speaker) Zig Ziglar, who said, ‘You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want,’” Larry notes. “This has always been the goal we’ve wanted to achieve.”
While the book belongs to Sharon and Larry, they feel a large part of their story belongs to the many people who played a role in their ultimate success.
“We definitely recognize where we’re blessed to be in our lives today isn’t simply by our own doing,” affirms Sharon. “There have been so many people along the way who helped us with everything from the kids to business decisions to banking to travel and life – and the rentto- own industry has been paramount in that. RTO has always been a very open and sharing community, and we’ve found tremendous connection and support there. Our rent-to-own colleagues have been true friends and true companions on this journey, and we’re so grateful for that.”
“You can’t do it by yourself,” Larry agrees. “You’ve got to have a whole bunch of team members to get you there. Coworkers, clients, vendors, friends, family – they were all essential to how we got where we are. And the crashes are critical, too. We always talk about failure as an event, not belonging to a person – because if that were the case, then I’d have been gone a long time ago.”
Above all, say the Carricos, they want their story to be one of hope – and perseverance.
“It’s painful to me when I hear this generation of youth being so cynical about the state of the country,” explains Sharon. “I believe the American dream is not a thing of the past; people still flock to our country for a reason: There’s still opportunity, still a way to find success.
“So if you find yourself with nothing – as we did more than once – then you just put one foot in front of the other and keep going,” Sharon concludes. “And that’s not about just business; that’s life, and marriage, and kids. Whatever you’re facing, just keep doing the next right thing and don’t stop. Keep going.”
Own Your Life: On Building a Family Business and Leaving a Legacy by Sharon and Larry Carrico is available in paperback or Kindle edition at amazon. com. You can learn more about the book, the business, the family, and the foundation at carricostory.com.
Kristen Card has been a contributing writer for RTOHQ: The Magazine for 20 years.
Book Review: Carricos Inspire with a Powerful Story
Storytelling is powerful. Stories personalize, connect, and transform abstract concepts like success, adversity, and determination into concrete, relatable events. They humanize people and experiences while demonstrating the commonality of our existence.
Own Your Life: On Building a Family Business and Leaving a Legacy chronicles Larry and Sharon Carricos’ living of the American Dream. Personal and honest, Sharon and Larry alternately share their accounts and perspectives of their journey together, and the resulting legacy they have built in the form of their family, businesses, friends, coworkers, community, and colleagues.
Beginning with their Midwestern childhoods, Own Your Life follows Larry and Sharon to their first meeting at a bowling alley in Belleville, Illinois, to their California courtship, to their budding family and business in Huntsville, Alabama, and to their eventual return to Illinois and Missouri. The book is both authentic and compelling as it traces the ups and downs, highs and lows, of the Carricos’ moving experience and the lives they have touched along the way.
At the core of their adventure together is their now-38-year-old family business, Rent One, one of America’s largest independent rent-to-own companies. The beauty of Own Your Life is the materialization of Sharon and Larry’s foundational values and lessons learned into that business – producing a measurable impact that has helped many thousands of people improve their lives and turn their houses into homes.
The Carricos’ story can best be summarized as inspirational. Alongside their own American Dream voyage, Own Your Life illustrates how the couple has – with the help and support of many – built a lasting legacy of service to others, from their relationships with coworkers, customers, colleagues, and vendors, to their roles as industry leaders and community benefactors.
With Own Your Life, Larry and Sharon Carrico not only have preserved their story and values as a legacy for their family and businesses, but also have provided an exceptional example for others in RTO to use as a model for engaging in the powerful medium of storytelling – owning your lives and leaving legacies of your own.
Charles Smitherman, PhD, JD, MSt, CAE
APRO CEO
