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Nobody likes red tape. Nobody likes spending hours reconciling bank statements and comparing a pile of purchase orders with a pile of packing lists...

A lot has changed on the technology landscape since I started writing this column in January 2000. As I move into my eighth year...

As we begin this New Year, I believe we can learn something from the pioneers of the Old West. In those days, there were...

I finally did it: I upgraded my personal home system to a 42-inch flat screen HDTV with a Blu-ray DVD and added a new...

Running your custom installation business profitably requires putting systems in place to manage your products and prices. It is not possible to build a...

Properly setting prices can have a huge impact on the success or failure of a custom installation business. To casually decide that your company...

We all work hard in this business. Our personal energy is the fuel many of our small businesses run on. We give it all...

I visited a big-box AV retailer recently and was surrounded by what seems like 100 flat-screen displays. After so many years in this business,...

Reps are the unsung road warriors of our industry. They pay the price to travel to make house calls to all the small dealerships...

The custom AV installation business is a hot market to be in. While our small installation companies may never make it to the NASDAQ,...

Whenever I talk shop with someone in the installation business, they always mention that they just dont have enough time. This constant stress is...

Most custom AV installation companies are pretty small. Even those generating a few million in annual sales generally operate with a handful of talented...

This is an important year in the world of computer software. Microsoft is releasing several versions of the long-awaited Vista operating system. On top...

Happy New Year! Congratulations on making it through the craziest, busiest installation season of the year. Hopefully, January is a brief pause for you...

I fell in love with the wonderful magical qualities of music as a teenager. Every night I would listen to top FM hits from...

Tis the season for HDTV sales. Out with the tube TVs and in with the new eye-popping HD flat screens. These hot tickets are...

Running a custom business is a very demanding job. It takes great selling skills, years of professional technical and installation skills, and perhaps more...

At CEDIA EXPO, there are so many exhibitors, so many products, so many classes, so many contacts. If you spent just a few minutes...

Monday morning comes at you like a truck. You are hit with a long list of things to do and then, of course, the...

I think it was more than seven years ago at CES when I saw HDTV for the first time. It was on W-VHS tape...

Hercules was a mythical hero in Greek literature who had to perform 12 labors. These were feats of strength that were impossible for normal...

I talk with companies all the time about what works and what doesnt work in the custom installation business. One thing that companies need...

Within the diverse field of residential system installations, there are a lot of companies who perform all kinds of installations. These vary greatly in...

Your Perfect System Every month as I browse through the pages of trade magazines, I see an endless explosion of new CI products that...

According to the current HDTV timetable, December 2006 will be end of the transition to digital television. Whether you believe in HD fairies or...

There were timeless words spoken to me by a white-haired architect who was at the top of his field. At lunch I routinely asked...

In the Christmas classic Its a Wonderful Life, heaven intervenes to show Jimmy Stewart how the world would be remarkably different without him. To...

clock, to get all of our work done before the days end. Then we are attacked by the unforeseen problem, the unwanted interruption, the...

I believe our ranks are swelling with lots of small new companies who are getting into this business. This year at CEDIA EXPO I...

Todays custom installation landscape contains a complete range of businesses. At one end we have one-man operations working out of home offices and at...

Without focus, nothing is clear. Put on somebody else’s prescription glasses and tell me what you see. You could not function for five minutes...

Did you know that if California were a country, it would have the fifth largest economy in the world? It is also the entertainment...

In our business, less is more…half of the time. For example, control systems like AMX and Crestron offer us powerful platforms that can administrate...

Think about it. Our job is to provide the complete package of design, installation, project management and coordination of every single detail of the...

At CEDIA EXPO last fall, I had lively discussions with more than a hundred companies about how they create proposals. I found newer companies...

Our industry is known to cater to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. When high-quality products like this become truly affordable, we have...

The custom installation industry hasnt heard from PHAST founders Eric Smith and Will West since 1997, when they sold their home automation technology to...

Youre a salesman. You live or die on the bid that you write. Its your future, and its all in the bid. I have...

Sure, you would like to sell anything your client asks for, but forget about it. Best Buy sells a zillion dollars of A/V gear,...

Admit it, you’re addicted. You put in-wall speakers in every room. You install them in living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, home theaters, bathrooms, decks and...

Every time you sell a system, a long process begins. The final days of the installation process are the most critical to success, and...

How far will you go for the "perfect" system?