Update for the International Pawn Symposium in Atlantis

PCG International Pawn Symposium

Ladies and Gentleman in Pawn Land!

There have been many developments since our announcement for the return of the Pawnshop Consulting Group’s International Pawn Symposium.

2025 Theme – “In search of lost knowledge and treasure in the

ancient city of Atlantis”!

Dates are October 12^th – 17^th and will be hosted at the World Class Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

For those of you who attended our 1st International Pawn Symposium held at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, you had the opportunity to meet and listen to my son Justin Whitehead – yes, my son and here is what we have

coming from him this year in Atlantis.

Justin will be providing one of our openers for this year’s event followed by one of the closers of the event as well.

This year’s theme is centered around “In Search of Lost Knowledge in the Lost City of Atlantis

A little background on this presenter:

• Grew up in a pawn family
• Worked in family shops as a youngster @ Pawn Max (started by myself (Jerry in Florida), and the Original Uncle Joe’s Pawn out of Ft. Worth Texas followed by Doc Holliday’s out of Austin Texas. Many road trips checking out stores on the way, some as an adult “Gold n Pawn” (Bobby Whitehead Jr’s Store Gold N Pawn, Weatherford Texas), attending conventions growing up, attended many workshops led by myself (Jerry) he spoke on Social Media at the 1^st symposium in Naples, endless lunch and dinner table conversations (charged as business expenses) and musings on back porches with good cigars and good friends
• Undergrad in Philosophy from FAU, minor in anthropology, classical studies certification, emphasis in computer science
• Masters in Liberal Arts from TCU all of which while maintaining a 4.0 GPA
• He has been a tutor at a college. Now works in student affairs at TCU, hobbies include programming video games, D&D, travel when it can be afforded (He met his wife on a voyage to Sweden), and navel-gazing (a joke about philosophers and the coining of the term and how he’s done navel-gazing and ready to report his findings to the pawn world that is his direct and extended family with all of our attendeeds at the Symposium)

For those of you who may have attended our 1^st International Pawn Symposium at the Ritz Carlton in Naples Florida, Justin did speak at that event back in 2011.

From Justin’s research and background, here are a few tasty morsels for us to chew on that will be expanded upon as we set the stage for the world class presentations and social functions that will happen this year in Atlantis as we search for lost knowledge and treasure

PHILOSOPHICAL TREASURE HUNTING 101

• The myth of Atlantis

  • According to the ancient philosopher Plato. Once upon a time, there was a mighty power based on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. This empire was called Atlantis, and it ruled over several other islands and parts of the continents of Africa and Europe

  • Atlantis was arranged in concentric rings of alternating water and land. The soil was rich, the engineers technically accomplished, the architecture extravagant with baths, harbor installations, and barracks. The central plain outside the city had canals and a magnificent irrigation system. Atlantis had kings and a civil administration, as well as an organized military

  • Plato used it as a parable, but we’ll get into that as the presentation takes shape

• Here are some bullet points for us to examine in anticipation of my son’s presentation and setting the stage for us so to speak in Atlantis this coming October!

Philosophical Thoughts

Philosophical approaches to running a pawn business – the treasure of Atlantis: wisdom.

An informed discourse on several great thinkers and how their philosophies can be applied to modern day operations. Think of it as if you were a King/Queen of your pawn empire, and have at your court a philosopher, a consigliere, to whom you are granted erudite advice in a classical sense on ways in which to run thine empire.

An examination into the nature of what philosophy entails and how being a thinking, reflective, pawnbroker can enrich your experience of running a pawn business for not just professional, but also personal, growth – how the two can go hand-in-hand for a well-rounded, thriving, approach to running a pawn empire.

Among practical anecdotes, Plato’s Myth of Atlantis, and Allegory of the Cave set the scene for how and why this approach can be theoretically effective for the wise ruler of pawn. What follows is then an examination of Søren Kierkegaard’s concept of the Spheres of Existence and its insight to how personal choice and commitment can lead to an authentic experience of being a pawn operator/ruler – more importantly: how this can shatter cultural stereotypes of the business model and lead to a flourishing of not just the operator,  but of the business/kingdom itself in its relation to the community in which it presides.

• From Justin, In my anthropology minor studying Asia, and then again in Social and Political Philosophy, I studied the book it was from, the Tao Te Ching, and found out about the concept of wu wei

  • Working at Gold-N-Pawn under my Uncle, Bobby Whitehead Jr., my father’s brother, I gleaned some insight into wu wei from him in relation to sales. He said, “A customer does not want to be sold something, they want to buy something.” It reminded me of that kind of Karate-Zen that is a lesson from nature: “the frog lets the fly come to it.” No need to be pushy, “I am here if you need me or have any questions.” Perhaps you’ve experienced this yourself in a store, or say a car lot, the pressure is unattractive and has an opposite effect than what the salesperson desires

Closing

• My gift, as it were, to you here is all of this information on how philosophy can potentially help you to run not just your business, but yourself. Hopefully, this understanding can correlate towards effective management styles and adaptability to forces within and without the pawn world that will help. If you are looking for where to go next, perhaps try a humanities perspective to seeing things in the world like Thales did and you can capitalize on it – view it from various angles, watch movies, read books, listen to music, watch the news (but try not to let it cloud your reason when it appeals to your emotions), monitor the markets, go to church if that’s your thing, talk to each other and see if you can put yourself in other peoples’ shoes to gain their insight, take time to reflect, go on a vacation – enjoy Atlantis!!!

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL PAWN SYMPOSIUM 

This event is limited to 100 attendees and is only $1495 per head – which includes all meals, social functions and the seminars being presented at this world class resort.

You can secure your participation by scanning this QR Code, once confirmed we will send you the Pass Key for the Hotel reservation for the host property:

We are currently accepting paid participation to guarantee slots on the roster. We have about 85+ participants on the list currently and paid reservations are coming in now.

We have also procured a room-block at this EPIC resort of only $149 a night plus their resort fees.

Don’t Miss out, all of the Pawnshop Consulting Group’s Symposiums have sold out! Space is limited to 100 to maximize the interaction, socialization, and opportunity to learn from and visit with many other like minded individuals in a luxurious atmosphere!

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Jerry Whitehead – Pawnshop Consulting Group – International Pawn Symposium