The Origin of SoundVision

On this episode of “Simplifying Life Through Technology,” Mark and Andrew sit down to discuss SoundVision's Origin Story.

Embark on a revelatory adventure with Mark DiPetro, the visionary CEO behind SoundVision, as he shares his enthralling tale of passion, innovation, and resilience. We explore the intriguing rise of a company that sprang to life from the embers of a failed business and a lifelong zest for electronics. We learn how Mark navigated the trials of a solo enterprise and evolved through economic hardships. From sub contract work to a thriving business, we explore how dedication and determination can blossom into success. Listeners will find themselves immersed in a story that's as much about personal fortitude as it is about rebuilding an idea to achieve even greater heights.

As we chart the course of SoundVision's ascent, the power of strategic partnerships and the crucial role of key players becomes clear. The episode celebrates the wisdom of placing talent like our operations aficionado Michelle and our sales superstar Zach in roles where they could truly shine, demonstrating the company's dedication to allowing employee's talents to thrive. The episode ventures through the meticulous processes that have propelled SoundVision to emulate the successes of major companies like Apple and McDonalds, and the adherence to a long-term vision. Join us for an episode that not only recounts a journey to success but also imparts the invaluable lessons that can inspire your own path to greatness.

To learn more about SoundVision:

https://www.svavnc.com/

To learn more about Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Successful People:"

https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/

To learn more about Cameron Herold's "Vivid Vision:"

https://cameronherold.com/vivid-vision/

Check out our Instagram to see our recent projects:

https://www.instagram.com/soundvisionllc/

To listen to more “Simplifying Life Through Technology” podcasts:

https://www.svavnc.com/podcast/

Contact Us Today:

(704) 696-2792 | Info@svavnc.com | soundvisionlkn.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, it's Andrew. Welcome to Simplifying Life through Technology. Joining me in the podcast room is our CEO, mark DiPetro, here with me to discuss the origin story of sound vision. Well, I wanted to bring you in here today because I wanted to discuss the origin story of sound vision, kind of how the business came to be.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Thank, goodness, it's my Marvel movie now.

Speaker 1: 0:36

It is, this is your life.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Sound vision is actually my second company in this industry. I started back in 1998 with a company called Custom Home Integrations and actually it started with an infomercial in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and I can't remember the guy's name, but he was selling this thing like a book and he was saying, hey, whatever your passion is, make a business out of it. And he was talking about like the tax benefits. He goes, whatever you like to do, you could buy that and save on the taxes if you were a business. And I thought, well, man, that's kind of cool. Like I'm into electronics, I've always been into them as a kid and I thought, man, I could just buy stuff and save whatever 25% on a 30% on it. So I literally set up a bank account and got an EIN number and I was in business back then and that quickly changed and matriculated into.

Speaker 2: 1:32

I was working for a major builder here in town and they were having issues with their model homes and outfitting them with electronics and so I said, well, I'll just do it. And so I started doing that for the model homes around Charlotte. It was a big builder, so they were building a lot, a lot of new neighborhoods, a lot of model homes, and then the sales reps in that company started to inquire if I could add things for their customers. That particular builder was not keen on doing change orders and so they were very expensive. So there may have been some behind the scenes things between sales reps and customers and I was the guy that was actually going out there and running wires and doing stuff.

Speaker 1: 2:17

And when you say add things, what were? You adding at the time.

Speaker 2: 2:20

Yeah, good question. So like speakers in the ceiling was a common one, or like a home theater prewire in their living room. Back then it may have been as simple as adding a television or a telephone. Jack Definitely did. A lot of those. Intercoms was another one back then, but essentially the sales reps would get the customers to pay me on the side and I would go and do it and because I worked for the builder, the contractors that were building the house didn't mind me being in there as opposed to somebody on the outside that they didn't know or didn't have insurance for or whatever.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Right. So that's how they originally started that lead to you creating your business, because you kind of liked how that was going and you said, hey, maybe I can do this on like a daily basis.

Speaker 2: 3:01

Yeah, you know, in the beginning it wasn't. In the beginning I was selling for this company and I wanted to be a sales manager, and to be a sales manager you had to do production as well. So I thought I wanted to go work in production. So I told them that and there was just no spot for me. They were waiting for spots to open up and there just wasn't one, and so I waited for it's hard to remember now at least six months, maybe even been a year and eventually I'm like man, this is dragging along, I'm kind of tired of doing sales and want to do something else.

Speaker 2: 3:32

So at that point I had so much work just from this company and just from the sales reps giving it to me that it was like a full time job and I thought, well, I mean, I can do this myself and I can support myself just with the work I had. So I tried that. One of our builders, joe Granda, was kind of my boss's boss at the time, hi Joe, and Joe brought me in and literally gave me two neighborhoods, which was incredible to think that like one human like me, just me had two neighborhoods worth of the largest builder in Charlotte at the time.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Yeah, and starting out like that, start now.

Speaker 2: 4:09

Yeah, I mean I made all kinds of mistakes, so many mistakes. I had no idea to hang a satellite dish. I screwed that up. I had no idea how to measure for speakers screwed that up. You know rookie stuff now, but mistakes are how we grow. Well, I was growing a lot.

Speaker 1: 4:25

So that kind of led to the first business. And then, how long did that last for your first company?

Speaker 2: 4:29

Yeah, so the first business started in 98 and I went full time myself in 2001. And so from 2001 to 2008, we grew that I actually was really subcontractor based in that business. In that particular business I wore all the hats and this is one of the major changes. You're going to ask later about some struggles and some successes that was. One of the major changes was that in that business I wore every hat. Everything had to go through me. I thought that's the way it worked. So I sold, I was the product guy, I was the guy doing the schedule, I was the guy handling at least the service calls and when you get to a certain level you just run out of time.

Speaker 1: 5:09

It's a lot, it's a one person to do it and to do it effectively and to do effectively that's right.

Speaker 2: 5:15

A lot of balls get dropped, not out of intent, but just out of you just don't have enough time.

Speaker 2: 5:22

Too much going on, yeah, and you can't specialize. So that business lasted till 2008. And when 2008 came around and the whole climate of the building industry changed at that point I was also going through some personal things at the time it was a perfect storm, in a negative way, and I thought at the time, because I had been successful so far, of kind of selling my way out of these lulls in business and I was not successful in that, so literally I lost everything. That's a cool story that I'm happy to tell, maybe in a different podcast absolutely, but lost everything. And in 2010, I had to start over. So in the short term between 08 and 10, I had gone to work for another company here in Charlotte. That's actually where I met Zach. Oh, no way. So, yeah, he had a little different story but similar result and we met there and for a couple of years I worked there.

Speaker 2: 6:18

I was traveling to see my sons. It was not a really great time in my life and it certainly wasn't a stable time. Around 2010, I had the opportunity to take on a pretty large project and it would allow me to kind of start over. At the time I needed the freedom to go see my sons. That was kind of the more the pressing thing for starting sound vision, but that was really short lived in being the pressing part of it anyways. So August 23rd of 2010, I started sound vision.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Wow, 2010. Yes, 13 years ago, 13 years ago. So when you started it back in 2010, what was kind of your initial inspiration or what was your goal in creating it? You know, cause you had had a business before. So what did you come into this business trying to do differently? Or how are you crafting the business?

Speaker 2: 7:09

I don't know if it was my goal. Maybe it was my goal to kind of right the wrongs, to learn from the past and to make it better, to use those to make it better. When you lose everything you have a different perspective.

Speaker 2: 7:25

And every time I tell that story I say I have a financial degree. My dad was really good with money, and not only was good with it, but he taught me about it, so I understood it. So my mistakes were my own. They were not from a lack of knowledge. They were more from kind of an ignorance. And there was the ignorance of the business part of it which I learned a lot from. There was also the ignorance of wearing all the hats. I don't want to stereotype it and say that it's a guy thing, because it's not, but I think that a lot of guys think hey, I can't ask for help. Hey, if I'm not doing it like you know, I'm not man enough or whatever. It's kind of silly.

Speaker 2: 8:03

You're pride on your shoulder, thank you, it's a pride thing, that's right, it's a pride thing, and when I realized that specializing and doing what I do really well and then giving off the stuff that I don't do as well has been a tremendous shift, and so I think the goal when I first started was I have an idea of how to run this business. I need to do it way better. So I think that was it.

Speaker 1: 8:32

So Sound Vision has always been about bringing technology into the lifestyles of customers. Our motto here is simplifying life through technology. Was that always kind of your motto when you came up with this business?

Speaker 2: 8:44

Once I learned about taglines, it's always been there. I was the tinkerer. Those of you guys of a certain age will remember the flashing 12 on the VCR and it would flash forever and I was the guy that couldn't stand it. So I'd figure out how to do.

Speaker 2: 8:57

The time my dad worked for Xerox and he was a regional manager and he had the first. It was called the Memia Writer. It was the very first typewriter with a memory and it had a little small little screen on it. Basically, you could type a line. If you needed to correct it, you could backspace and then when you do the next line it would print that line. So he was doing a sales training, had no idea how to use it. It was sitting down in my sister's room and I went down and I figured out how to use it. My dad came down and think I was breaking. It was like a thousand dollar typewriter. Then he realizes that I know how to use it. He based his sales training on what like a you know, a 10 year old figure out on the typewriter.

Speaker 2: 9:37

So it was always into like tinkering with stuff and early on I started to feel like, you know, these things can like better your life, make it easier, make it faster, make it simpler. So I did buy into the technology thing of how can we do things better, how can we serve customers in a way that maybe it entertains them, maybe it relieves stress, maybe it's more security. You know, whatever it is that's important to them. We want to make their lives easier by using the technology that's available to do so and over the 98 to now, whatever that is, there's been a lot of changes.

Speaker 1: 10:20

So we constantly try to evolve with that and grow with it yes Well speaking of changes, how do you feel sound vision is different from when you started it back in 2010 to now?

Speaker 2: 10:32

Man. There's so much, I mean, that just leads into the team, which includes you, among other things that we've done so many changes. When I restarted sound vision, there was a gentleman named Jody Fisher who owns Link's AV here in town or over in Denver what's up fish? And he and I literally worked together. His wife is a pharmacist and the days that she was at home with the kids we would go out and work, and then the days that she wasn't, he would stay home and I'd do proposals and bills and all that kind of stuff. And then when I met Zach again, I said hey, you know, we could really use somebody that could sell. I'm okay, but it's not my gift.

Speaker 1: 11:09

Right.

Speaker 2: 11:10

And so I met Zach and actually I'd called him to know if he knew anybody that was looking for sales position. And he said, well, tell me more about that. And we ended up having lunch. And then he said hey, I think that's me. So we went on our first sales call together and I said one sentence and the customer answered and he jumped right in and that was the last sentence I ever said and he sold a lot in the first day he was here. He sold $140,000 in his first day here, which was pretty unbelievable. Yeah, that's awesome. So I said, okay, I've got the sales guy, that's perfect.

Speaker 2: 11:45

And then that was the catalyst of let's find someone that can be an all star in each position. That we need an all star to be Came from a book called Good to Great. That's a classic business book that talks about having the right person on the right seat on the bus, and we've said that a million times here. So that happened. And then Michelle came along afterwards. We wanted someone to do operations again. I'm good at it, I can do it, but it's not like my passion and it's not my gift either.

Speaker 1: 12:18

Yeah, you need someone who have that expertise and, like you said, has that passion to bring it.

Speaker 2: 12:23

Yes, and then you can hand it off and they have the time to just do that. Right, that's what they do. And so Michelle came in and has taken that to another level. She also brought in the marketing side. And now you're here, andrew, and, oh my gosh, the work that you do. I can't do what you do Like. I can do operations, I can do sales I'm not great at it, but I can do them. I can't do anything like you can do, so that makes us unique.

Speaker 1: 12:48

We all have different talents in this world.

Speaker 2: 12:50

That's the whole point. It's crazy. We just hired somebody who is incredibly passionate about inventory control. Now, anyone that's listening to this literally I would like to know. If you know anyone, please write in. If you know anyone that is passionate about inventory control, I can't imagine. It's out there. It's out there no matter what you need in a business, there is someone that not only will do it, but loves doing it and will do it like with passion. So that was really the biggest change is that we very quickly I decided I'm not going to run the business like I did before. There was a lot of financial things put in place that are way different here. Those are probably one in one A. Getting the right people in the right seat on the bus is definitely a huge one.

Speaker 1: 13:39

So you think building departments within the business is really what helps skyrocket you to grow as a company? You know, yes, so you can take on more projects, you can do more things. That's right.

Speaker 2: 13:49

That's right. You know we mirror, like Apple, for example. Apple and McDonald's are two companies that we mirror and you might go that's kind of weird Like why, yeah, how it's not necessarily the product, like I'm not saying the iPhone is the best phone out there. What I'm saying is that Apple is constantly trying to evolve that into being easier, being more user friendly. They don't always succeed in doing it, but they're constantly trying to do it. You can model after that.

Speaker 2: 14:16

Mcdonald's is another one. The product at McDonald's you may or may not like, but the process of how McDonald's does things meaning I can take a kid from Moscow and stick him in here in Charlotte and he knows how to do fries because the process is done and one of our core values is being process oriented, and that is critical to success, at least in our world, and that's something that's very different too. In the previous company, everything is just in my head. Here it's all written down, and not only once, but we revise those and so having those processes allows us to bring people in and give them a jumpstart on what they're doing, as opposed to just letting them figure it out and wing it.

Speaker 1: 15:02

Take a moment to engage with us. Use the hashtag sound vision pod on social media, drop a comment, share your thoughts or just let us know you're out there. Fire up those social media accounts and hit us up with hashtag sound vision pod. That's sound vision pod, and let's make this a podcast community. We can't wait to hear from you. You started the company with just a few individuals and now we're up to over like 20 people.

Speaker 2: 15:30

I think it's 23 now.

Speaker 1: 15:32

Yeah. So with all that growth, where do you see sound vision going in the future?

Speaker 2: 15:38

So two other books. There's the classic Steven Covey, the five habits of successful people, and that one of those is begin with the end in mind, and that dove tailed into the vivid vision by Cameron Harrell. And so about four years ago, maybe four or five years ago, I read the vivid vision on a plane flight. Essentially it's you writing down and crystallizing where you want to go. So sound vision has a 10 year plan. Now it's about seven years. That's extremely detailed and we go over it in our meetings about once a quarter so that everybody knows what it is and that's kind of the guiding light of where we're going.

Speaker 2: 16:17

What's crazy is that when you write the stuff down and you have that end in mind in the beginning, it's crazy how that directs you to get there, where the path takes you, where the path takes you. So we are headed in that direction. That is going to include some growth. That could be organic as far as like people here that could be opening another location here. That could be a different location, a different place, but there's definitely some additional growth which gives opportunity for our team also to grow internally and not feel like they're stagnant in whatever position they're in currently.

Speaker 1: 16:54

Right. So through your time at sound vision, can you tell us about some of your struggles that you have had?

Speaker 2: 17:02

Really the not wearing all the hats and staying out of stuff. So what I found as an entrepreneur is there's one thing to say you're going to take this hat off and give it to somebody else. Then I tend to metal back in sometimes and that undermines the other person and so that has taken a fair amount of years for me to delegate. And they say delegate and elevate. That's taken a while to get to that point and I really consciously try to not take over things. The biggest challenge has been, when something's yours, when you start it and it's like your baby and you're building it, to give that stuff up and know that there's going to be mistakes made and know that someone might not do it as well as you did it, or to hire the wrong person or to put the wrong person in the wrong role. I mean we've done all this stuff Right, but that's just what's required to grow. And if you don't want to grow, it's okay, but if you do, that's what's required.

Speaker 1: 18:04

And I think the hardest thing for me personally- has been that Just letting go yeah, it has been that and almost trusting people because you know, like you said, it's your baby. You're letting go of your title into the world. Is someone going to properly take care of it, like I know I would? In my head, that's right.

Speaker 2: 18:20

But you know, when you don't, the other thing is you miss out on things. And you're a perfect example, andrew. Again, I'm not really a creative mind. I think in my head I'm creative, until I see somebody that's actually creative and then I realize, oh my God, on a scale of one to 10, like I'm a point one and you're a 50. And until you're willing to kind of give that up and go, hey, I'm not good at this, or even recognize that you don't recognize what is out there. Now, on that front, like our marketing is so much better. Oh, it's crazy, crazy good. And that would have never happened if I hadn't been able to get on my own way.

Speaker 2: 19:01

Right, To let it happen, to let it happen, that's right. So some of it's negative, some of that growth, but to get to that end it's worth it.

Speaker 1: 19:10

Well, let's speak on some positives then. What do you feel are some of your biggest successes you've had with building sound vision through the years?

Speaker 2: 19:17

I think that it's cliche to say our team is our biggest success. I think the processes are also a huge success, but our team is crazy good and communication, attitudes, work, ethic, all of it.

Speaker 2: 19:33

Yeah, it really is. My dad was big on just take one little step forward, one little step forward, and I have definitely adopted that. So in every part of our business whether it's sales or engineering or marketing or project management or service or all of them like I feel like it's my job to push just a little bit for that next step, just a little bit, just a little bit, not one little idea. One of my ideas are crazy and people like, oh gosh, I got to listen to this. Every once in a while there's a nugget. As a leader, I really feel that's part of the job is just pushing each person a little bit, each little department a little bit to get better, and I think that is a huge success.

Speaker 2: 20:17

We are so far from where we were before so far, and I would be remiss if I didn't say the financial side of it too. Just to give you an idea like in our first company and back when I was in my 20s, 30s, maybe even early 40s, I couldn't understand someone having a car without a car payment as an example. That was my mentality. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. We never had a van in my first company that was paid off. Here we have. I believe there's nine vehicles total and with the exception of the one we just bought that our accountant said hey, for taxes, I don't want you paying cash for that. So we do have one, but the rest of them are all paid off and now I can't understand, like having a car payment Again. Just a mental shift.

Speaker 2: 20:59

So the way that we run our business from a financial standpoint, which I feel is a passion of mine and is a gift of mine, it's freed me to be better and put us in a better position so that going forward, we are stable and we can grow. That's awesome.

Speaker 1: 21:14

Well, thank you, Mark, for getting into all the nitty-gritty details of how we came to be a sound vision. This is a really good one.

Speaker 2: 21:22

You know I'm surprised that we didn't do this as one of the first podcasts I want to share with our audience who we are, how we came to be, where we're going, so that they know that they can trust us with their projects and continue to support us. We're super, super grateful. We recognize that we are not here without our customers. We are not here without our team. Thank you for what you do. This is really cool to be able to do this.

Speaker 1: 21:46

Well, thank you for sharing. Thank you for joining us. You can learn more about Sound Vision at soundvisionlakenormandcom. You can follow us on Twitter at soundvisionlkn. Find us on Instagram and Facebook at soundvisionlc.