Tom Nix Survived Riots, Death Threats And Built A $45 Million Empire

The fiercest competitors aren't always the ones who threaten a firm's bottom line. Tom Nix, the founder of Navicert Financial, learned that the hard way. Navicert's primary subsidiary was Nix Check Cashing, the largest check cashing chain in Southern California. When the company began to expand (and formed a joint venture with Western Union), Nix found himself in the middle of a literal war with his competitors. "We were going to build the first national check cashing company in the country," Nix recalled. "We formed a company called Wunix (for Western Union Nix) and created a trade name of Gold Star Check Cashing." When Nix opened his first 10 stores in Northern California, he upset some of the people from the Chicago check cashing industry that were also trying to move into the region. "They came and made death threats against my employees up there," Nix told Benzinga. "They threw pipes through our windows while we were open for business. They threw eggs at our customers. We ended up having a fistfight at one of the Check Cashers Association meetings."

Nix eventually learned that someone had planned to assassinate him at an upcoming convention in New Orleans. "I took eight people there, including myself," said Nix. "We wore bulletproof vests. Most of [us] were armed. We were ready for a shootout." Thankfully, that was the end of Nix's nightmare. "[The shootout] didn't happen," he said. "We got the word from the powers that be that they didn't want to go about business that way. I said, 'Great. [But] you can play this any way you want. If you want to play hardball, we're not running.'"

Nix tells the full story of his death threat (and the peaceful resolution) in his new book,

. "The book is full of lessons learned in a 42-year small business career, as well as information that helped transform me from a San Pedro lowrider kid -- basically had my own gang and everything -- to a very successful businessman," said Nix. "I share this information in hopes that it will help other people have and create for themselves a happy, more prosperous life."

features "amazing TV-style armed robberies" and an entire chapter about the 1992 Rodney King riot. The book also chronicles his time as a Los Angeles County Reserve Deputy Sheriff. In 2007, Nix sold his company to Kinecta Federal Credit Union for $45 million. At the time, Nix Check Cashing had 60 stores, 450 employees and served 400,000 in-person (over-the-counter) customer transactions every month.

During his career, Nix teamed up with a couple of legislators and worked with the California Check Casher's Association to create new laws that would require check cashers to prominently post their fees. Nix also wanted them to provide a receipt with every transaction, and charge no more than three percent for cashing a payroll or government check. "That eliminated the price gouging overnight," said Nix. "People had to figure out how to make money by treating people fairly and they had to give a receipt. If they didn't they were breaking the law." This made the business very competitive. "If you weren't running a clean, well-maintained business with great service, you weren't going to get the business," said Nix. Disclosure: