Has anyone forwarded Sir Wesley 's company info to Bose? I have a feeling that they would LOVE to hear about him and Digital Lifestyles LLC.

Jason

There are too many people in our business who've never gotten dirty a day in their lives. Soon they'll be describing us like they describe lawyers... 95% make the other 5% look bad.

Doug @ HomeWorks

Only mild flaming eh?

I don't agree with Wesley's "plan" at all. That's why I didn't answer his e-mails.

What I meant by on to something is that he has now looked at a bunch of house plans... done what we all do and designed the structured wiring packages and been paid (probably handsomely) for something repeatable and probably copyrighted.

I'm sure the smoke and mirrors helped and I'm sure the flaws will be exposed over time. I personally would never make the statement that one of my designs is 100% futureproof.

The repeatability is something that is required for any business to grow... I guess this just made me think even more about what this business really holds for my retirement. I make money but to do it I have to sacrifice a lot of time and physical and mental energy. I feel that unless there is some way to ensure a level of repeatability with some aspect other than custom systems and one on one attention, then my business model is doomed to eventually fail when I burn out.

I get terribly bored wiring 2500 Sq ft. houses with a little structured wiring package for whoreout rates. Other contractors have nailed 1000 home a year builders and accomplish this with interchangeable semi-trained staff. They do what I consider bogus work with the phone wires nutted together, the data never trimmed and an unmounted 8 way cable splitter inside a 14" enclosure WITH security wiring. I can rail all I want to but one of these contractors has season tickets to the Sonics, Seahawks and Mariners and rolls around in a 7 series BMW.

I agree that money ain't everything. I don't think I can live like a rich guy (and who knows... this dude could be a million in debt). I do know that you have to make hay when the sun shines and at 43... I'm thinking more seriously about where this is ending up... I'll bet others probably are too, they're just not as freely admitting it.

I love custom electronics... I love home theaters... I love the looks on cients faces when we provide them with a great system. But I'm also starting to feel that as our industry grows we are being overrun with charlatans in for a quick buck... and every time one of these guys strikes a client it erodes our industry. Pretty soon there will be comedy routines about us on HBO and caricatures like the ones drawn of used car salesmen. We'll be on some 60 Minutes expose' .

Some of us who are so busy choose to not realize this and go about our busy businesses and simply shrug by saying "oh well... thats not my client anyway" (no I'm not ripping on QQQ... I do this too).

I guess we all press ahead and do the best jobs we can... and let the Timshows and Wesleys come in and clean up. I'm sorry though... its hard for me not to notice and think about what way I too can cash in because as much as I love this stuff... I love my family more and when some client wins my weekend time over a disappointed 5 year old because I need the money so bad... or care so much about the reputation of my business it makes me question whether it's all worth it (solution for some... STAY SINGLE!).

Anyway... good luck old Wes. Maybe someday I'll be paddling a kayak next to your yacht and hopefully we'll both be happy.

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This message was edited by QQQ on 01/30/05 01:05 ET.

QQQ...

I did read that!

Thank you... its been a while since I received a good flame.

Next time though... me personally instead of mom, ok.

Anyway,

Back to the thread.

I know I de-railed the topic but who else feels kinda the same way? It may not be the best to discuss in public forum but what have some of you done with your business to ensure or think about retirement? It just doesn't seem to me that you can be the wonderful personal service person... be the one and only thing that pumps your business full of life and transfer that to enough employees that don't end up leaving when they get well trained. There are an awful lot of splinters in this business.

So, funnily enough, I think my thoughts are moving toward exit strategies... not now by any means but at least eventually.