I started Sound Incorporated in 1966, literally on my kitchen table with a pencil, legal pad and a crazy plan to do my own thing.
My short-term business plan was to get through the day. My long-range plan was to get through the week. My loan officer was Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob also was my bank and very skeptical of my business plan.
In the beginning I got lucky and sold a rather large plant paging system to a company in Aurora called Vendo. That made Uncle Bob very happy. Since I was the only employee, I had to design and install the system myself.
My day at Vendo started at 7AM stringing wire and hanging speakers. At 3PM I returned home and made phone calls or donned my only suit and went cold calling on potential customers. I would park my car in an industrial area and walk from plant to plant, knocking on doors and asking, “Wanna buy a sound system?”
As time went on I became so busy I almost quit a few times. I was selling, installing and spending more and more time on the telephone. The phone was becoming an albatross around my neck. The more systems I sold and installed, the more phone calls I had to make and return.
To say life was stressful would be an understatement. At 28 years old, I had a wife, two kids, a mortgage and a car payment and worked 12 to 15 hours a day, six days a week.
But it fit my type AAA personality perfectly and I was having a ball juggling all my responsibilities. When I retired in 1995 Sound Incorporated employed 150 people.
I started this column with the goal of explaining how much easier it would be to start a company today considering all the technology we have. I kinda went off the deep end.
In 1966, there were no electric typewriters, calculators, computers or cell phones.
In today’s world, I could receive and return phone calls, texts or e-mails while on a 40-foot telephone pole hanging speakers at the Little League field. The person on the other end of the line could think I’m probably sitting in my plush office waiting for my assistant to bring me a latte.
Whatever happened to young idiots like me who want to do their own thing?
Guess it’s easier letting someone else have all the fun, eh?