Pawn Stars Rick Harrison Reveals Secrets Behind His TV Show (Big Profits, Fakes, & Conspiracies)
Dropping Bombs
Brad Lea
4.9 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2025
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
LightSpeed VT: https://www.lightspeedvt.com/
Dropping Bombs Podcast: https://www.droppingbombs.com/
You're here because you want to win—big. Brad Lea doesn't mess around. In this episode, he sits down with Rick Harrison from Pawn Stares to tear into the origins of his Vegas pawn empire, insights on negotiating and spotting value, the realities of running a pawn shop, and dives into conspiracy theories, crypto skepticism, and behind-the-scenes stories from the show, delivering the unfiltered truth you won't find anywhere else. No fluff, just real talk and actionable steps to crush it in business and life.
Rick's links
https://www.instagram.com/rick_harrison/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/pawn.afterdark/?hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/@PawnAfterDark
Brad Lea is a self-made entrepreneur who turned small-town grit into a multi-million-dollar empire. With over 25 years dominating sales and leadership, he's mentored thousands to outsmart, outwork, and out win their competition. His top-rated podcast, Dropping Bombs, brings raw, game-changing insights from the biggest names in business.
LightSpeed VT is Brad's brainchild—the world's leading interactive training platform. It's built to make your team sharper, faster, and more effective, without wasting time or money. Whether you're a startup or a Fortune 500, LightSpeed VT is how you scale success and dominate your industry. Curious? Check it out:
https://www.lightspeedvt.com/
Brad's also behind Closer School, the go-to program for mastering sales and closing deals like a pro. Want to 10x your income? This is where you start. His book, The Hard Way, lays out the brutal, honest lessons he learned building his empire—your blueprint to winning the game. Get it here: https://bradlea.com/product/the-hard-way/
This isn't just a video. It's a wake-up call. Watch it. Share it. Act on it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm probably the most successful pawn shop in the United States. |
| 0:02.0 | It's because I've always been honest with people. But there's been a few times when people come in, they're just being assholes because they just want to be on TV. What do you see as far as crypto? I still think it's fucking Dutch tulips. What about the Epstein list? Maxwell, she was convicted of trafficking young women to who? But we want to know who was down at epstein islands being a creepy fuck and then cash |
| 0:21.3 | patel says we watch the video then the video has a one minute missing why do you think they're not |
| 0:26.3 | releasing it question number one you when i moved here in 1991 you guys saved my ass multiple |
| 0:36.0 | times just FYI there was no pawn stars at the time. It was just fucking golden pawn, I think. Golden silver pawn. That's what it was. It was, it was that, it was still where it is. Yeah. You guys had a window out front. Yeah. I'd slide. I'll do that thing up myself. Dude, I remember you. |
| 0:52.5 | I remember your dad. I remember. I don't really remember everybody. I remember you. I remember your dad. You guys just worked there. Yeah. Not worked there. You owned it. But I didn't know you owned it. And nobody knew who you guys were. And you guys were just doing your thing. And I used to think, God damn, dude, I want a pawn shop. |
| 1:11.3 | Because you guys must have just got smoking deals every day for a hundred years |
| 1:17.1 | um I know you got a smoking deal on my shit yeah um yeah it's uh and fortunately uh you know I was |
| 1:26.0 | I got the first pawn license in Vegas in 33 years. |
| 1:29.2 | Wow. |
| 1:30.2 | Yeah. |
| 1:31.1 | How? |
| 1:32.2 | Okay. |
| 1:32.9 | No, because like I'm 22 years old, I want to open a pawn shop. |
| 1:35.7 | This is 1987 because I'm old. |
| 1:38.2 | And so everyone's telling me, literally, if you want a pawn shop, you got to wait for someone to die. |
| 1:44.0 | Then it's a million |
| 1:44.7 | dollars for the license i'm going like that's bullshit because i'm a cocky 22 year old i'm not my cocky 60 year old |
| 1:51.0 | now and then um so i go out a business license and say i want a pawn shop they go no you can't i go |
| 1:56.6 | why not so they hand me the city code so in 195, the good old boys got together and they passed a |
| 2:06.0 | city ordinance saying they would issue one more pond license when the city population got to a |
| 2:10.3 | quarterfamilient. Well, in 1955, 25,000 people lived in Vegas. They never thought it was going to happen. |
... |
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