jw2k_fr
New Member
Hello all.
I'm an infrequent member here, and have recently created a couple of listings for gear I need to sell. In talking with another member (hello @PPstereo), I mentioned that I had looked to move sideways / expand into the 2 channel market from my historical bread and butter of IT and home automation / control systems. PPStereo asked me to give some kind of account of my choices and experience in getting to where I am now. So here goes. It'll probably be a little random, but I'll keep it shorter to being with and let anyone who it interested ask questions.
I started my business in 2008, after moving here from the UK in 2006. I've been an IT sysadmin for 25ish years, and moved sideways into the AV / home automation back when I lived in London, around 2002.
I went to college back in 1991 for a hybrid (interface) design / computer science degree, which was a good starting point. I left college and had a couple of smaller roles doing telephone tech support for DOS and Windows 3.1/WFW... a setup that will probably baffle the cellphone generations. I got my MCSE back in 1997 (iirc), which was one of the best things I ever did. It got me top level jobs, including doing tech support for a large multi-national which expanded my experience in ways I would never have imagined (including the ability to live and work in other countries). I already had some programming experience, but my main focus, my main life experience really, has been troubleshooting and fixing problems. Learning TCP/IP and how networks work, along with the other stuff, made if very easy for me to join one of the best home automation companies in the UK as the network / IT admin and start doing programming of Lutron homeworks systems and AMX control systems in 2002.
For those who haven't played with one, these home automation systems (Crestron, AMX, Savant, and possibly Control 4 being the major players), are the kind of thing you read about in high end architectural and interiors magazines where someone walks into their theater, presses a single button, and the lights dim, the shades come down, the movie fires up and you are transported into entertainment nirvana. Or that's how it's sold...
The reality is that these systems are never perfect. In my view, you live or die by your programmer. A good one knows how to break down the architect's (or end user's) requirements into logical steps, and build those steps back up in program code, accounting for the limitations of the hardware involved, and the specific job it's being installed into. Many of the biggest headaches I've had to deal with have either come from a system being sold by a "yessir!" salesman who is just looking to make a commission, or by design limitations, for example where there was no provision for ventilation in the equipment closet, or insufficient wiring run to each location (one coax, one CAT5?). Experience, and having a team approach to this kind of work is the key to success.
Anywho, that's where I've worked my way to over the past twenty five years. I'm pretty good at the troubleshooting side of things, I don't sugar coat things for clients, I'm involved all the way from the specification, through installation, to post-sales support, and that has led to a decent portfolio of clients who keep coming back and who recommend their friends, occasionally. The work isn't particularly exciting, but then who has a dayjob which is? Maybe bomb disposal... or maybe flying fast jets for the military (my career of choice when I was 18... and why I applied for, and won, a Royal Naval flying scholarship... only to decide I didn't want to become a pilot... but I digress). I do find it satisfying though, and somewhat varied, but these kinds of systems aren't usually built to play high resolution audio, or to make things sound as good as possible.
Why not, you might ask? Who wouldn't want to get the best performance out of their system, or to be transported by Arthur Rubinstein playing Chopin's nocturnes? Maybe people who don't have time to listen to music in that kind of way? People who just aren't affected by music like that? I'm sure there are multiple reasons... most of which are alien to me. Music is my drug of choice. It is an emotional salve for many situations. It can change my mood, brighten my day, and lift me when I'm feeling flat.
Which is why I wanted to start selling systems which were focused on the quality of the musical experience. Unfortunately, it seems that most of my clients don't seem to fit that mold. A lot already have systems which they paid a lot of money for (and were never finished properly by the original installer - something my company remedied, and the reason they are now our clients), but which they have no desire to replace. Combine that with the economics of starting this kind of business in NYC, to compete with people like Sound by Singer, or any of the other well known players, who have massive inventory and well specified demo rooms, is no small undertaking, and something well outside of my budget. You may be able to gradually carve yourself a niche in the market with a single, small demo room, but you're going to need foot traffic to sell small pieces of beginner equipment - mass market audio plus stuff like Sonos. The kinds of equipment I was hoping to sell are a small percentage of the market, which has to be supplemented by the everyday stuff too. And don't get me wrong, it's possible to make fun, engaging systems with budget components. But all of which was outside the scope of what I was able to do whilst supporting my current client roster.
For anyone looking to get into this kind of work, the market has changed massively in the last fifteen years. The number of dealers who can afford to follow the old "flat earth" two channel religion are almost non-existent these days. Most people want some degree of cellphone/tablet integration, and you can't do that with any degree of success without having basic networking skills. It's far easier for an IT guy to learn the audio side of the business, than for someone with golden ears to learn all of the networking stuff to be able to specify, install, and troubleshoot IP based equipment. The ability to secure a network, and possibly add remote VPN type support is key to keeping costs down by limiting truck rolls. Secure is the key word here. Anyone can punch a gaping hole in a firewall, but should that client fall victim to ransomware, or something similar, who are they going to look to for a fix or some form of compensation? If you're still keen, start by learning basic network architecture, and the key components, and learn TCP/IP v4 and how to subnet. Being able to understand how a network is put together is key for troubleshooting. Troubleshooting skills - the ability to think logically, to break a problem down into steps, and isolate and discount possible causes, is at least as important, but less quantifiable when it comes to learning. I wouldn't necessarily call it an art form, although being REALLY good at it could be, it's more about experience. The more you've seen, the more likely you will have had to deal with something similar. Start with those, learn basic wiring, and you're 80% of the way to being in the top 10% of installers in the business.
Anyway, that's a potted view of the industry, complete with broad, sweeping generalizations. If anyone does want to know more, feel free to ask questions. I'm sure there are others in the same market who can add their two cents, or supplement this!
Thanks for lookin'
I'm an infrequent member here, and have recently created a couple of listings for gear I need to sell. In talking with another member (hello @PPstereo), I mentioned that I had looked to move sideways / expand into the 2 channel market from my historical bread and butter of IT and home automation / control systems. PPStereo asked me to give some kind of account of my choices and experience in getting to where I am now. So here goes. It'll probably be a little random, but I'll keep it shorter to being with and let anyone who it interested ask questions.
I started my business in 2008, after moving here from the UK in 2006. I've been an IT sysadmin for 25ish years, and moved sideways into the AV / home automation back when I lived in London, around 2002.
I went to college back in 1991 for a hybrid (interface) design / computer science degree, which was a good starting point. I left college and had a couple of smaller roles doing telephone tech support for DOS and Windows 3.1/WFW... a setup that will probably baffle the cellphone generations. I got my MCSE back in 1997 (iirc), which was one of the best things I ever did. It got me top level jobs, including doing tech support for a large multi-national which expanded my experience in ways I would never have imagined (including the ability to live and work in other countries). I already had some programming experience, but my main focus, my main life experience really, has been troubleshooting and fixing problems. Learning TCP/IP and how networks work, along with the other stuff, made if very easy for me to join one of the best home automation companies in the UK as the network / IT admin and start doing programming of Lutron homeworks systems and AMX control systems in 2002.
For those who haven't played with one, these home automation systems (Crestron, AMX, Savant, and possibly Control 4 being the major players), are the kind of thing you read about in high end architectural and interiors magazines where someone walks into their theater, presses a single button, and the lights dim, the shades come down, the movie fires up and you are transported into entertainment nirvana. Or that's how it's sold...
The reality is that these systems are never perfect. In my view, you live or die by your programmer. A good one knows how to break down the architect's (or end user's) requirements into logical steps, and build those steps back up in program code, accounting for the limitations of the hardware involved, and the specific job it's being installed into. Many of the biggest headaches I've had to deal with have either come from a system being sold by a "yessir!" salesman who is just looking to make a commission, or by design limitations, for example where there was no provision for ventilation in the equipment closet, or insufficient wiring run to each location (one coax, one CAT5?). Experience, and having a team approach to this kind of work is the key to success.
Anywho, that's where I've worked my way to over the past twenty five years. I'm pretty good at the troubleshooting side of things, I don't sugar coat things for clients, I'm involved all the way from the specification, through installation, to post-sales support, and that has led to a decent portfolio of clients who keep coming back and who recommend their friends, occasionally. The work isn't particularly exciting, but then who has a dayjob which is? Maybe bomb disposal... or maybe flying fast jets for the military (my career of choice when I was 18... and why I applied for, and won, a Royal Naval flying scholarship... only to decide I didn't want to become a pilot... but I digress). I do find it satisfying though, and somewhat varied, but these kinds of systems aren't usually built to play high resolution audio, or to make things sound as good as possible.
Why not, you might ask? Who wouldn't want to get the best performance out of their system, or to be transported by Arthur Rubinstein playing Chopin's nocturnes? Maybe people who don't have time to listen to music in that kind of way? People who just aren't affected by music like that? I'm sure there are multiple reasons... most of which are alien to me. Music is my drug of choice. It is an emotional salve for many situations. It can change my mood, brighten my day, and lift me when I'm feeling flat.
Which is why I wanted to start selling systems which were focused on the quality of the musical experience. Unfortunately, it seems that most of my clients don't seem to fit that mold. A lot already have systems which they paid a lot of money for (and were never finished properly by the original installer - something my company remedied, and the reason they are now our clients), but which they have no desire to replace. Combine that with the economics of starting this kind of business in NYC, to compete with people like Sound by Singer, or any of the other well known players, who have massive inventory and well specified demo rooms, is no small undertaking, and something well outside of my budget. You may be able to gradually carve yourself a niche in the market with a single, small demo room, but you're going to need foot traffic to sell small pieces of beginner equipment - mass market audio plus stuff like Sonos. The kinds of equipment I was hoping to sell are a small percentage of the market, which has to be supplemented by the everyday stuff too. And don't get me wrong, it's possible to make fun, engaging systems with budget components. But all of which was outside the scope of what I was able to do whilst supporting my current client roster.
For anyone looking to get into this kind of work, the market has changed massively in the last fifteen years. The number of dealers who can afford to follow the old "flat earth" two channel religion are almost non-existent these days. Most people want some degree of cellphone/tablet integration, and you can't do that with any degree of success without having basic networking skills. It's far easier for an IT guy to learn the audio side of the business, than for someone with golden ears to learn all of the networking stuff to be able to specify, install, and troubleshoot IP based equipment. The ability to secure a network, and possibly add remote VPN type support is key to keeping costs down by limiting truck rolls. Secure is the key word here. Anyone can punch a gaping hole in a firewall, but should that client fall victim to ransomware, or something similar, who are they going to look to for a fix or some form of compensation? If you're still keen, start by learning basic network architecture, and the key components, and learn TCP/IP v4 and how to subnet. Being able to understand how a network is put together is key for troubleshooting. Troubleshooting skills - the ability to think logically, to break a problem down into steps, and isolate and discount possible causes, is at least as important, but less quantifiable when it comes to learning. I wouldn't necessarily call it an art form, although being REALLY good at it could be, it's more about experience. The more you've seen, the more likely you will have had to deal with something similar. Start with those, learn basic wiring, and you're 80% of the way to being in the top 10% of installers in the business.
Anyway, that's a potted view of the industry, complete with broad, sweeping generalizations. If anyone does want to know more, feel free to ask questions. I'm sure there are others in the same market who can add their two cents, or supplement this!
Thanks for lookin'
