The Importance of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship in Pro AV

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Pro AV today. I'm your host, Ben Thomas, as always. Today's discussion is centered around one of my favorite parts of our entire industry, and that is the business owner. And the, the small businesses and the regional businesses that keep us going as an industry I I think it's important for us, you know, to not always spotlight the folks who the or the the ultra large titans. Right? You know, those are those are great folks on a mass part of our industry, but we're so dependent and reliant, especially regionally and locally on a lot of these integrators, business owners, manufacturers, engineers, entrepreneurs, And I wanted to get insight today from somebody who's in that world, specifically in the Midwest. So that means that I've got my next guest on today, and that is Daniel Anderson. From Stratham. Daniel, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Hey, Ben. Thanks so much for the introduction. Happy to be here. Well, look, we're we're looking forward to to getting your perspective on things. Right? I I obviously touched on it just a second ago, but, you know, the role that that folks like you and Stratham and Event companies and integrator companies play in our industry is massive because so many times what we found is that you end up being the liaison between the end user and the manufacturer or the dealer a lot of times. So for for most of our community, you guys end up being the face of the AV community. Right? And that's almost the reason I like to poke fun about be but you see the folks in the stage blacks running around rolling cables because that's what people think about when think about our industry because you are able to, have a lot of those impressions and have a lot of those conversations with folks outside of the core AV community. So looking forward, to having you on today. But wanna start here, Daniel, I know you had kind of an interesting journey to the industry, and even some some some time serving in our armed forces, but You know, before we dig in, would love to ask about your story. Right? Everybody's got a different story about how they found their way to the industry. What's yours? Absolutely. So my story is probably a little bit more unique than, most other peoples. I think, the part that's not unique is middle school, high school. I kinda got the nudge from a youth pastor that said, Hey, do you wanna come push some faders on this console at, church or during youth group, and I I mean, obviously is someone who's curious. I was absolutely I jumped at that opportunity. At that point, I think is when the production bug bit me, for lack of a better term, and I really fell in love with the process of creating something. I wasn't a big fan of being on stage in theater or anything like that. I I much preferred being the guy in the sound booth or behind the scenes helping build that. I grew up in a small town in Western Nebraska where there was not a lot of conversation about ProAV at that point. Looking back now, if somebody would have tapped me on the shoulder as a senior in high school and said, Hey, you could go jump on a tour bus, go do all these things. My life would probably look vastly different than it does, but that didn't happen. So I kinda put my passion for AV to the back burner my love of music to the back burner right after high school, realized I wasn't making any, thriving her growth decisions, joined the military, ended up joining the army, spent thirteen years in the army. That was split between active duty time and then, some national guard time, here in the state of Nebraska. Very thankful for the opportunity that that presented to me. Got a lot of great exposure to leadership and just places and things that I'd never seen. Fast forward a little bit. Twenty fifteen, was a year that my family will never forget. My wife was pregnant with our second child. Through that process, there were some complications he unfortunately passed away shortly after he was born. And that was kind of an aha moment for me when I said, you know, life is really too short. I could be comfortable and stay in the military for the for my twenty year period. I could do all these things, but I really realized in that moment that that's not what I truly loved. I loved going out and providing solutions for people. Help creating the show. And still to this day, I love that process about this. But through that, experience of our sun passing away, I I really just Dovind on the deep end. I said, you know what? I don't have a business degree. I just got some YouTube training on AV. I served in churches. I've done all these things, but I'm gonna start this company because it's what I wanna do, and this I think is the right thing that I should do. So fast forward. That was years ago, seven years ago. We've got a thriving company that's serving a wide variety of clients I've learned a lot of valuable experiences, and taken away a lot of things from the mistakes that I've made as well. Well, Daniel, I've heard that story a few times, and and it still resonates as if it's the first time that I've heard it. Right? Because you were able to turn you know, what could have been a tragedy that could have spiraled into a positive. Right? And and, you know, I I love hearing about your background in in music and some of the theater stuff, especially in high that's that's that's a the way that a lot of folks find their way into the industry. And I wanna ask, even before we kinda dig into some of the specifics about being kind of a business owner and operator, wanted to ask, you know, a lot of folks that come from that world might go into the traditional sales or work in the industry in in a more hands on capacity, but you took that and spun it more towards the entrepreneurial side. You know, where did that entrepreneurial spirit come from? Is that something that you've had for a while, or is that something that that you found recently? I think that a a lot of that, bags on my family's history or liens on that. Sorry. We have a fourth generation ranch in Western Nebraska. I spent a lot of time growing up with grandpa who was just building something. Right? And it it was incredible to see something be built out of nothing. And I think it was probably in my years of like seven to ten years old of getting to know what it means to run a business. I I still remember the first business plan I ever wrote I had a lot of teachers call me crazy. I think I was eight years old, but I was gonna sell cookies in the front window of this, yeah, shopfront in, downtown Ogoala where I grew up. And I was just I just wanted to serve people, and I think that that's where this came from. But being able to see the freedom of what entrepreneurship offers, I think is something that's that's bigger than that. And the fact that we get to create something, I'm a firm believer or big believer in the fact that entrepreneurs can solve a lot more problems than just being an employee is. And I think a lot of that culminates in creating your own business. While it's probably the most or more challenging route. It's the most rewarding route in my opinion. And, Daniel, I'm so glad you gave that answer, right, because I I agree very much that the entrepreneurial, mindset really benefits our industry uniquely, right, because they're that's what drives innovation, that's what drives new products, new offerings, and that's what also serves our local communities. And that's kinda what I wanna ask about next. Right? You you know, are self professed servant of the Midwest. Right? And and, you know, you talk about Nebraska and you talk about those communities that might not always be what I would consider AV towns that that that it's I don't mean anything derogatory to about that, but they're not towns where you would associate you know, tons and tons of AV business coming in. What's it like and what sorts of opportunities maybe even some challenges come from running a business in a town that or or even a region, that I would say is not not the world's biggest major market for AV technology. Yeah. I would, I would be the first to tell you we're on an island. There is certainly not a lot of draw for the big corporations to come host an event here, or host a conference or whatever that is. So I think the benefit of that though is that we get to build lifelong relationships with a lot of our clients. Still, a lot of the clients that we had on day one other clients we have to, today. So, while there's not a lot of new opportunities locally, we get to build lifelong relationships and be able to help build brands and help them communicate their message the way that they they deserve. Because to your point, there's not a lot of AV out here. So with us being the expert or the the only provider in a region, we can really, drill down and give them world class service that they really truly deserve in that Midwestern style. Well, we touched on it just a little bit earlier. Right? You get to be the vehicle almost the and feet, if you will, to steal an analogy from, the religious world. You get to be the hands and feet of the AV community. Right? You get to be part of a community that otherwise might not have the opportunity to see the latest technology or to have access to something as simple as LED walls. Right? But because you have you know, the relationships, whether it's with the manufacturers, dealers, distributors, whatever, and the end user, you're able to bring a lot of that technology. But but that kinda leads us to the to the next question, which is a little bit more focused on, how you're able to build those. Right? So so coming into the AV world on the business side is very challenging, especially when you're trying to start a new business because you've got you've gotta build relationships with with manufacturer partners, installer partners, obviously as an integrator, you've got a higher staff. What are some of the biggest things that that that you know, or maybe even some obstacles that came up. Trying to build that from the ground up. Yeah. I think, one of the biggest obstacle we face early on was just the the time to build the relationship, right? It's gonna take a lot of time. You can't walk into the door of a client and say, Hey, would you like to spend a hundred thousand dollars or whatever that may be for a a product or service. So, it's taken us three or four years to build a lot of those relationships. And now that they're built, they're solid, But that was probably one of the biggest obstacles that we faced early on as we, have built this company as it's just gonna take time to build trust. And my history. I don't have six years of tutoring to say, Hey, look at what I can can do. It's almost good faith to a certain extent. So being able to come in and show that reliability and that care throughout that process has been key in our growth. But that would be the biggest obstacle I would say that we've we've faced. Well, and I wanna ask this too. So, Because of my day job, I get to interact quite a bit with manufacturers. And one of the the biggest challenges of any manufacturer, most of them will tell you this as well, is that They don't always get great feedback from folks on the ground level, right, because there there tends to be quite a few steps. And as much as we always want to interact with every level of our our our, AV channel that there is some form of, you know, telephone that has to happen. What were what are some things as as really almost the end of the line? The feedback maybe that you wanna give to manufacturers, whether it's on the product development shipping side? What are some of the things that you wished that that world knew or maybe some of the things that you wish you were able to get from that world a little bit more? Yeah. That that's a good question. I think understanding that there is a market in the Midwest and there's smaller communities, because I I think a lot of us get overlooked by those manufacturers. Because we're not in a desirable for lack of a better term, market. So being able to understand that there's still some untapped potential out here and there's some market share that they could be able to, reach into. Outside of that, I I'd be honest we really have good relationship with a lot of the vendors and manufacturers that we have. And they've given us world class service We've also been very selective with those people that we do work with because, we understand it's our reputation on the line. So We don't wanna lead that to chance. So we've we've been very direct and very intentional with the people that we brought on to projects, to be able to help and support us through those processes. Does that Does that answer the question? It it it it does. It it really does because, you know, and and this actually kinda leads me to my next question, which is a little bit more centered on associations and groups and trade shows and things like that, where, you know, it's hard at times to try and be all things to all people. Right? And and as much as manufacturers wanna be that, it's difficult to be that. And the same token, the the infocoms of the world and the DSEs and the LDIs and all sorts of different shows of the world are are trying to reach folks like you on a daily basis. Right? Are trying to convince folks to say, hey, come and see what's happening in the industry. Take the knowledge back. We'll train you. We'll we'll equip you to to serve your communities. You know, how often do you find yourself at a lot of these shows? And do you enter regularly with associations. Are you, you know, do you do you seek CTS certifications, things like that? Absolutely. I think, we try to make it to one big conference as a staff annually. Obviously, with a smaller team, that can be a little bit more challenging because we still have to keep the the day to day going forward. But the the LDIs of the world, the infocons, all of those things, the amount of information and relationship that we can build in that week or those three days or however long we're able to go, be at those, in person conferences are absolutely crucial for our growth. We're also, I think since day one, we've been members of Avixa to some extent. The ESTA all those organizations have played a key role in, training and equipping us to feel empowered to go out and and really execute high level shows and give the best possible service to our our clients. And I think the the big thing for us is that we don't have access to a lot of those types of shows locally. So it's an even bigger draw for us to go, take the effort to attend those because we can't just drive down the street to Infocom like, some people can. So that's that's just more draw for us. To go seek that knowledge and that wisdom from those organizations? Well, in I'm curious. Right? I mean, talk about there being even a need in the Midwest region, and and you, you know, you've got shows in Denver. You've got, you know, there are shows that pop up all sorts of different places. I'm I'm not trying to exclude anybody here, but You know, what would you say, you know, what would what would be valuable if you were to see like a a regional trade show or even a a dealer show regionally, would that be something of value to you? Is that something that you would find maybe would help enrich the community? Absolutely. I think if if they were, able to design, an East Coast, West Coast, and maybe Midwest, style trade show. I think that there would be a lot more draw from smaller companies in the Midwest or in the rural areas. Because it is hard if if we were to fly a ten person team out to a show and shut down the business for, a week to go attend that, that's a little bit more challenging than it is to drive, a couple hours away for two days and then then be closer, and more accessible if there is a need that that arises. Right? Cause we all know small businesses never predictable in any way. So being able to have more of those road shows, those regional trade shows, those types of things. And even on an educational platform, I think the industry could do a better job in my opinion on offering more regional training platforms for these things. Right? I I think a lot of, manufacturers want their products to be used, but then they bypass, a large sum of of people or don't tap into a specific market. So I know for us, we've tried to get, the draw more towards Omaha. That's a that's a bigger metro area, or even Kansas City to be able to to bring even just a hundred people together for a day to learn about a piece of software or something specific that would really be beneficial for a lot of smaller companies. But and I love your perspective on this too, which is which is why I'd I'd kinda am implying a little bit, but You know, I think that's the battle that we face as an AV community is is in a same thing with me. Right? There I see a lot of the same types people because I typically go to a lot of the same types of shows. And naturally, there tends to be folks who for lack of a a a better term are excluded from that community, not on purpose, not from any sort of intentionality, here in your perspective on this is incredibly valuable. Right? Because what it does is it is it helps actually personify a little bit more, of the day to day challenges, the operate challenges. Right? Even something as simple as and we all know this. Right? It doesn't make sense to shut down a small business and a small integration and events company for four days to fly ten people out to Vegas. Right? That doesn't make sense because you've got shows. You've got all sorts of different things happening. But that's that that should seem obvious. Right? But the reality is it's it is a point sometimes that that is a, an oversight in our community, and and I love hearing your perspective on it because it refreshes a lot of, you know, just thoughts in my mind to say, hey, we we could be doing so much more as a community even just digitally, right, offering education, offering research, all sorts of different things to help support our, end end user and our end installer and our event operators companies, so I appreciate you sharing that. But, you know, what would you say? So if an event was to come right to an Omaha or a Kansas city or something like that, What are some of the things specifically that would be valuable to you? Is it, being able to see hands on products, having manufacturer partners there? Is it more training focused, or would you even know, would it be end user, even specific content? What what site what sorts of things would be valuable for you? Yeah. I think the hands on port is always valuable, right? Because if you're gonna go make an investment in a piece of equipment or recommend somebody make an investment in a piece of equipment, being able to have the, exposure to be able to, have the hands on experience with it. Right? We're not gonna recommend a console we've never used before. More than likely. Right? So even spending four hours with a a marketing team from a company to push knobs and and faders and do all the things that we need to do is is absolute key. I think something that would be the most valuable, are those other two options. Right? The training We don't have a huge pool of of talent in the Midwest, right? If we're looking at freelancers or wanting to grow more people into this industry, offering more of those introductory classes or those advancement classes and really educating people on what's possible in this industry. I think I could I this confidently for both of us. There's no other industry that we would want to be in because this is such a diverse, such a a wide, thrown industry that gives us so many different things that, it keeps us on our toes each and every day. So being able to offer that training and education piece, and just overall awareness would be huge on more of a regional level. Well, Daniel, look, I mean, I I know at least for me, this insight is incredibly I'm sure it is to our audience as well. And, you know, we've got folks in our audience that are c level executives at some of the biggest companies in the world, not even just in the pro AV world, but IT infrastructure all the way down to obviously folks at the end of the line who are turning the knobs and and and, you know, running that cable. Right? And I think that's what's cool about this show specifically is it gives folks from all sorts of different places of voice, in our community. You know, I'm I'm so grateful and appreciative for you sharing yours today because it's incredibly valuable, for us as a community to hear some of the things that that, you're experiencing really on the ground level. So, Daniel, I think you thank you so much for coming on today. Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me, Ben. Hope that my insight has been valuable for, everybody listening. Well, we appreciate it. Absolutely, Daniel. And and thank you so much, to our viewers who are watching today. Be sure to like it's cribe. And look, if you wanna reach out to Daniel, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna kick it back to you, Daniel. How can folks how can folks reach you? Absolutely. Our website or via email. Our website is stratum pro dot com. That's s t r a t u m p r o dot com. Learn more about us or you can reach out to me directly. It's daniel, d a n I e l, at stratumpro dot com. Look forward to being able to connect and, help however I can. Look at that. Shameless product placement. I love it. You gotta have it on the show. But we appreciate you all tuning in and be sure to, check us out next time on ProIV today.