Humble Beginnings - 1st AVL Job Ever!! - CROWNCAST - Episode 3

Our 1st job ever was a failure and ended before it started...Thanks to an old lighting dimmer that caught fire at a local church, we got another job opportunity. This was the beginning of Crown Design Group.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

welcome Toc uh three so three

0:12

so good times today we wanted to do a little bit

0:18

of a I don't know time travel let's go yeah flashback this is an

0:24

Origins episode yeah this should be kind of fun we have like a

0:31

no outline for this no plan really never do um yeah we figured it' be cool just

0:38

to kind of talk about how we started and see how much we can remember right um

0:44

and then we have some pictures of the very first job we ever did right which will be cool actually our second job

0:50

ever the first job was a failure so and we'll get into that yeah the very beginning did not start

0:57

very well right so once again if you don't know who we are I'm Garrett yep I'm Ben CEO of crown Design Group we're

1:04

an AVL integration company we do audio video lighting commercial um integration

1:09

essentially so everything audio video lighting and we got into this world in a

1:14

kind of a random weird way uh we start a crown from nothing out of nowhere and we

1:21

kind of want to go through that today and then we'll show you guys pictures of like the first job we ever did and yeah

1:26

and where where it all started I'm just I'm already trying to like go through old files in my head right now to see if

1:33

I can pull out some stories yeah so um so honestly you know

1:41

this has been a lot it's been a huge it's been a crazy Journey yeah so we're in year 11 and now we're looking back 11

1:47

years ago what that looked like yeah why don't we talk a little about how we cuz you said it kind of started on a it

1:54

wasn't an accident but it wasn't like we didn't sit down and plan to

1:59

start a company right at all I think a lot of businesses start that way

2:05

business plan yeah business plan try to go get funding try to you know Capital

2:10

Investments yeah whatever you need Angel Investors have a really serious plan a 5

2:15

year 10 everything mapped out ready to go and then try to make it happen right and honestly what I see most from new

2:23

AVL integration companies is like a rogue employee from another integration

2:28

company yep going going rogue and going doing going solo right so they've come from a

2:35

template they came from a company that's already doing it they do it this way they do it that way they learn it and

2:41

then they're like I can do this better or whatever and then they leave and they start doing it that's typically the way

2:46

you see it now we didn't do that yeah you want to talk a little

2:51

about kind of where we were yeah before Crown even happened and right so both

2:57

you and I were on staff at a church here in town bide Community Church y That's our home church still is we love it

3:04

Randy shout out Randy we love you the whole team whole Bayside team we love you um baypro my baby a child but yeah

3:14

we we were both working at Bayside I was a tech director so I had the opportunity

3:19

to be on staff there from early days we were meeting in a

3:25

school uh and it was wild it was set up tear down every week five Services five

3:31

Services a weekend in a school cafetorium scho it was the old Saturday and Sunday deal and at that point we the

3:37

the church was what probably five or six years old yeah I think I think so yeah and it was running crazy yeah so it was

3:45

packed and then our uh stage designs were so elaborate we had grown in all

3:50

this all this gear over the years so like set up and teod down was a beast yeah and I came on staff I was the first

3:58

production person on staff I remember having interviews with Dave Neeman and Jordan becknell shout out Dave shout out

4:05

Jordan love you all and going back and forth and the story was was that Dave

4:12

would talk to me we'd talk numbers and stuff and then he'd run in and talk to Jordan and he'd be like Jordan if you

4:19

hire Garrett you're not going to get that new digital console that's how it works you're going to have to keep your analog uh alen

4:26

Heath GL whatever it was and uh he said he kept going back and forth

4:32

because we were kind of negotiating the terms and everything and so finally Jordan's like I don't care get Garrett

4:38

and this was right after ID gone to school so I went to full sale University got a recording arts degree and these

4:44

negotiations of a job like I was literally getting married I was graduating and getting married and

4:50

starting a new job all in the same month yeah and moving from Orlando back to Bradon all in one month yeah and so all

4:58

these negotiations are happening they're going back and forth and then I got in so then I was the tech director built up

5:03

that team for the first time built up a production team from nothing they had a couple guys on that were were great uh

5:10

some rolled out as soon as I came in they're like they weren't down with the new uh the new hierarchy the new

5:17

regime um but then got to the opportunity to do our first building

5:22

project with Bayside into their first building and then I had I I had the opportunity to work with a different

5:28

integrator and oversee that project mhm then from there we launched a campus

5:34

first Bayside Campus West Braden campus then we launched another one then we got

5:39

into the big building then I oversaw the project for the 2500 seat Auditorium that they're in now and then now they've

5:46

got like I don't know 10 locations or something like that right but at the time we

5:52

were we were in the new building and we

5:57

were launching campuses and it was a lot and you came on staff to help alleviate

6:04

that I needed someone and you really came on staff at Bayside I need to help with like a drum cage or something right

6:10

stage design building a drum cage I mean churches out there have you ever built a drum cage I'm sure you have we've built

6:17

a couple uh until Phoenix drum cages came around everyone was like you had to

6:22

try to make it the old clear Sonic thing would just fall apart like an accordion right so you had to try to figure out a

6:28

way to make it a little better a little more stable ceiling on it the top acoustic ceilings never fit right

6:35

and so you built a pretty legit cage out of clear Sonic pieces I remember uh and

6:42

at the time we knew each other but we didn't we weren't like yeah buds or we

6:48

didn't we weren't business partners that's for sure yeah I was just coming off the road so I'd been touring a band

6:55

for years plug the band yeah since October hit it up on Spotify it's been

7:01

you know what get some royalties this past weekend um I went to my dad's play this past

7:07

weekend and since the guitar player our band is my brother Luke and since the drummer married my little sister Audie

7:14

the Family Affair and since the bass player was Josh who's actually on staff of Bayside by the way now still uh still

7:19

was my brother yeah but we're all very close so we all went to this play uh that we kind of grew up in and it was

7:26

the first time again that all four of us had been together in years so we took a band picture so we have one there yeah

7:33

oh AI was there too the whole band was there yeah all four of us okay so um we hadn't been together in years and so now

7:40

we have a few pictures realiz there's like six and seven year gaps you know since we came off the road but it's

7:45

pretty funny did y all break in break out into an Acappella chorus did not how beautiful you we went right back into

7:52

the old band pose you know upper shot with the camera we tried to do the whole

7:57

thing now you have to photoshop in some dreads yeah Josh had a wig he has a wig

8:02

cuz of because of the the kids camp they're doing in the summer and he's like it's dreads I should have brought it dude you could have wor so rid

8:08

because he had long hair back then yeah right so yeah I was in touring in a band um I was uh involved in Bayside super

8:15

early too um back at the school when they was doing one service like it was really early there's only like 100 150

8:22

people there were you at Basha I was at the very first service at Freedom at Freedom yeah so like was like a year in

8:28

or something about a year in right so yeah we got a little Mailer in the mail and me and my wife had just been married

8:34

um this is over 20 years ago holy crap but yeah so I was involved super early

8:39

our family was involved super early um we were a part of the setup and tear down too and then you were at school so

8:47

towards the end when when our band was getting close to going kind of full-time

8:52

um we started hear I started hearing your name cuz I was at Bayside running sound as a volunteer yeah you're helping

8:59

yeah just helping out on on the weekends and helping set up tear down whatever um so I remember Jordan saying they were

9:06

thinking about hiring somebody and full-time and he was at full sale so that was you m and um and I was leaving

9:13

to go on the road full-time so I went and then I was gone for years and and you were involved in Bayside so we have

9:20

this kind of Gap right you know we were both involved there but not at the same time so then yeah fast forward a bunch

9:27

of years and I remember uh talking to Greg Ellery

9:33

shout out to Greg too shout out Greg um I remember him saying uh there's just

9:38

too much going on they're just he's just like Garrett needs help there's just too much it's too much on him there's just

9:44

one person you know this whole thing um and we had just come off the road we

9:50

decided to stop touring we were married starting having kids and was like we just we didn't want to be gone so much

9:56

and so we were just like it's just time to kind of come home and and do something different so um that's kind of how it happened uh

10:04

I ended up on staff there obviously with you right and then we um started

10:12

uh making the weekend Services happen right and they got more elaborate cuz

10:17

then they were in a building now and then there was one campus at that time and there's a little more power there's

10:24

a person to kind of help out with stuff and free you up on things and so yeah we

10:30

rolled that way for about three three and a half years or something I think is how long I was there yeah um before we

10:37

did Crown full-time but so yeah that's how we ended up knowing each other we

10:42

just started working together at the church and then doing a bunch of crazy projects there and making Services

10:48

happen every weekend in a very fast growing vibrant Church um it was fun yeah it was it was

10:57

a wa West man man we were Fig we were figuring out the new church model in real time like this is this is like

11:04

Bayside was like one of four Arc churches I think they were number three they were the third Arc Church ever I think so there was like hardly any Ark

11:11

churches running this model trying to reach the community the way that they they were and are and so we were in real

11:18

time figuring it out right and I was like hanging out with people at different churches trying to figure out

11:25

like what how do you do it and they're all trying to figure it out too it was it was a wild time doing all the stage designs we're doing all the AV we had an

11:32

integrator that we worked with at the time that uh end up being one of our mentors for company uh we love them Bill

11:40

uh Bill plat shout out Bill plat I love you man thank you so much for your investment in us and just being one of

11:46

the nicest guys I've ever met yeah um and we were doing a lot so when we had

11:53

to do it all in in house too so we were doing installs we were doing lighting changes we were doing stage designs we

11:59

doing remodels of other rooms we were doing all that stuff and uh like that

12:05

kind of that's how we cut our teeth yeah we learn it we learned a ton that way and in and in the in the in the time

12:12

Bayside started it was not the biggest church in town no now it is I mean you you see the you see the bumper stickers

12:18

everywhere right uh it's so big that like everyone knows about it even if they don't go to church right uh and but

12:26

at the time we were smaller and so well there was a transition where we

12:31

became the big happening place and then there was no one else around to help us right like there was a transition where

12:36

like the smaller guys in town uh which were doing great stuff just couldn't help us at this next level right and so

12:42

we were like reaching out to like Highlands I was hanging out with Justin fire sheets shout out Justin a lot of

12:48

shout outs on this one uh and you know he was he's awesome I love him too and he was very helpful

12:54

for us at the time and um a couple other guys too were hanging out with guys from El

12:59

and just kind of getting I'm like how do youall doing this and we're all trying to figure it out at the same time um and

13:07

because we were doing it we were the ones doing it in town and we were making

13:13

waves MH in the area cuz Bayside was just bumping it was just happening it

13:18

just we couldn't keep up launching campuses first C first service of a new campus was so packed that they're like

13:25

well we got to out of service yeah and then by you know a month two months in oh we got to launch another campus now

13:31

it was wild times just like boom boom boom boom boom and we're like whoa trying to figure it all

13:37

out and I think it was during that season of launching campuses and all that stuff that we started to get some

13:43

calls from other churches in the area asking who does your AVL who does all

13:49

your stuff and so many visitors would come to Bayside right so like you said

13:55

Bayside started blowing up significantly launching m multiple

14:00

locations we were doing five Services there too in that building for for the whole I almost the whole time I was on

14:06

staff I think we did five Services I think it was inside the first year of moving moving into the first building I

14:12

think we're still we were back up to five Services I think it was just so fast Saturday and Sunday Saturday and Sunday two on Saturday three on Sunday

14:18

it was I say it was brutal it was brutal two teams two AV teams like production

14:23

teams for one for Saturday one for Sunday every single week we not us we were at both we had volunteer teams yeah

14:30

we were there constantly but we had like a a crew a b crew C crew I think at one

14:37

point I I probably had I think we're overseeing like 180 volunteers it's like

14:42

a small Church volunteers yeah yeah probably not even really a small church I guess at that time but but yeah so

14:48

many because of what Bayside was doing so many churches were coming here

14:54

to see what they were doing right cuz it was spreading across the country I mean it wasn't just in Florida everyone was was learning hearing about Bayside and

15:00

Bayside has such an open door policy like hey come come hang out learn what

15:05

we do we just want to help like if you know Randy if you know Bayside it's not about just Bayside just Randy just any

15:13

of that stuff it's it's really like to meet the community and we can't do it all like you can't fit all of Bradon

15:19

into a campus right so we need other churches to be reaching the community helping people out yeah so and so they

15:25

would come there A lot of times and they'd bring their pastors and they bring their production guy or whatever

15:30

right and yeah at the time like we were doing we were doing some crazy stuff

15:36

some cool stuff production wise and I remember the first uh at the movies series we did yeah and we all we wanted

15:43

to go all out Y what so we we did we had like red carpet we did fake surround

15:49

sound surround sound we could do that opening we're hanging like studio monitors around the back of the room uh

15:56

teaching the video Team how to bounce a 51 mix right like doing it all we had

16:01

like red carpets we got we did uh like a box office check-in so people came and

16:07

you had a little fake ticket and you got it remember the serve team would not wear the vests right we had burgundy

16:13

vests we went all out and then the surf team was like I don't want to wear it I was like what on Earth man it's a vest

16:20

it's like a unisex burgy vest it's you could put it on top of any serve shirt

16:27

it doesn't matter and it just looks cool they would do it yeah we I mean I'm a little sore about that we did that a bunch with stuff though right and we

16:34

always tried to like push the limit on I mean that was what we did there like

16:39

obviously we were over production but we got to do a lot of creative stuff too and they kind of let us do things with the set designs fory your designs or

16:47

like like you said even costume stuff sometimes we like we pitch stuff all the time it might get shot down but yeah

16:53

yeah we did some crazy designs and we just always it's like what we do with

16:58

around I mean it's we we try to do the best thing we can possibly do it makes it fun yeah and so why not try to do it

17:05

the best way so that's St we always took it even when we were there I don't want to keep doing the same thing over again I want to keep growing I want to keep

17:13

pushing how do you make it bigger and better I want to make it look better sound better uh be cooler uh just the

17:20

processes be better everything like if you stop doing that just get boring right so that was our mentality there

17:26

when we were there and and obviously Bayside was just doing really cool

17:31

things and it was growing and um leadership was great and strong and

17:39

everything was just it was bumping yeah and so yeah a lot of visitors would come other churches would

17:44

come and a lot of times we'd be back in the front house booth and after service

17:51

someone would bring somebody up to us a visitor that they were hosting and say hey this is so and so from this church

17:56

can you tell them about your production stuff or whatever and so we talked these people and we did that a lot M um and

18:03

then we started getting asked from these same people uh hey who does your AV stuff

18:09

here like who does the production stuff and it was us it would be like we do it right and so they're like oh that's cool

18:16

well then those conversations started turning into well could you come help us at our church right and the first ones

18:22

were usually were no uh we were working crazy hours y we didn't have time to go

18:28

do anything else it was so heavy at Bayside and and we were so invested there it was wild it was like there's no

18:33

way we could go and and do this at another church and try to help somebody out so we'd give them ideas and whatever but we would say no yeah and

18:42

then one time something happened okay yeah so you all right so yeah so uh in

18:49

you know working for a church you don't you don't make a lot of money yeah I don't it's it's part of it's part of the

18:56

gig hey it's probably a little better now it definitely go back 15 years yeah there weren't as many megga

19:03

ches around no one knew what there was going on but uh I had started uh aide

19:11

LLC um so that uh so that I can make a little money oh my my monitor turned off

19:17

again there we go um and so I started an LLC called uh Walker creative and uh me

19:25

and my wife my uh Audrey she's she's a graphic designer she's a really great great graphic designer uh she did the

19:30

Bayside logo I want to say it here for the internet uh I heard word that some people were talking trash at Bayside and

19:36

giving credit for that logo to someone else I want to uh make it known right

19:42

now that uh Audrey Walker made that basside logo the one that's on your car

19:49

it's it was her I remember her working on the logo and bringing me over and showing me like three or four versions

19:56

and I want to give a little shout out to myself I said I like that one and guess

20:02

which one we used so I'm also like a closeted graphic designer just FYI hey I

20:08

made Lio BOS out of that logo before that's right shot them on a wall so um

20:15

uh forget where I was going with that uh LLC yeah started in LLC we're going to do some side work and then I got a call

20:21

from a dude who was building out a indoor trampoline thing which was kind of new at the time it wasn't like now

20:28

everyone knows about it right uh and I won we won't mention names um but this

20:33

dude is like Hey we're doing this like uh trampoline thing can you help with the AV and we're like oh dang that

20:40

sounds kind of fun and I'm like I think I need some money and so I was like and I have this

20:46

LLC now and so okay so I I went I'm like I can't do it on my own uh because I

20:52

don't know what I'm doing because I've never done this before other than Church other than what we did at B what we were doing at bide let me pull in uh my

20:59

partners in crime at Bayside so I came to you and I said hey this guy at this trampoline place wants to do a big AV

21:06

thing and uh do you want to partner with me on it yeah and uh we went to another

21:13

person too we won't get into that but um you were like yeah sure let's do it let's try and figure it out and so that

21:20

was the beginning right there yeah it at the time it was called Walker creative which yeah probably wouldn't have been

21:26

the best name for you was a business partner yeah but uh that was it but it

21:32

was set up and ready like we could well that at least we could we could at least do pay our taxes thank you uh government

21:39

that was very helpful as a startup you know we got to pay you more okay um yeah

21:45

but we we had that so we got to jump into it yeah and uh that first project

21:52

was a complete failure it was it was uh we had so many meetings we spent so much

21:58

time on it like and the first meetings were we want this trampoline park to be

22:05

Disney right and we're like whoa okay cool this is awesome let's do Disney man let's go wild let's like make it cool

22:11

let's do all this cool lighting and uh zoning things and sound and TVs and like

22:16

big projector on the wall and like this make this interactive like a big trampoline interactive Place yeah um we

22:23

built a model like we did everything we

22:28

but what we had was we had a a third person that was helping us that was supposed to do all the drawings yeah and

22:35

then that person kind of had some issues and had to roll out yeah and so all of a sudden we're like he's supposed to be

22:42

doing the drawings for us cuz we don't know how to do drawings right and then now we're like now we got to do drawings

22:48

so what did we do we went we got them printed printed at Kinkos I remember being in my tiny little apartment I was

22:54

renting cuz I didn't have a house rened an apartment at the time and we had no money so like Kinko like that you know

23:00

that $50 $80 thing whatever it cost to print was a big deal and we bought two of them so that in case we mess up one

23:05

because we were literally using pencil crayon yes to draw symbols symbols for

23:12

electrical on the floor plan right and that's how we were going to give that to the electrician yeah and be like hey we

23:18

need these are the circuits we need and it was literally drawn on by hand because we didn't have the programs and

23:24

I'm sure there's like a million different programs now that make it super easy and back then talking 11 years ago this is you know it's not it

23:33

wasn't that it wasn't we didn't have these programs so it was a lot difficult like we were talking to people that were

23:39

going to school for this stuff for Drafting and like all that so we had to draw it and so we were doing this whole

23:46

Pro this whole project we worked so hard on it we didn't fully understand what we were

23:52

doing but we're like figuring it out on the Fly we did those drawings we put our

23:57

proposal together we had we we got a contract signed yeah we had our first

24:03

contract yeah we did the whole thing for this project we had set up we had

24:08

already gotten pricing for some we had already made a couple contacts to buy things yep that was new um we actually

24:15

used Bill plat on a couple of those early on CU he he he hooked us up and helped us get some get some better

24:22

pricing on things cuz we weren't dealers for anybody right at the time yep but yeah

24:27

we went through the whole thing we presented it to them on a number of occasions I think and did different revisions and I I thought we were going

24:34

to get it seemed like we were going to get it then we signed a contract we were like this is happening we got it we're

24:39

just waiting for a payment now we were literally they signed it then we were just waiting for that deposit

24:45

yeah and then I remember I think we were at we were at my dad's play your dad's

24:50

play how random is that I talked about it earlier yeah we were there helping 11 years ago helping volunteering Josh was

24:56

there too it was a different Josh at the time yelling he was a yeller then he was a

25:02

yelling Roman soldier I never forget that all he did the whole play was yell and scream like a murderer which he was

25:09

but uh uh I remember getting a call from that client and he goes hey I just

25:15

talked to this other company and they say they can do this for half the price

25:20

and I was like what and so then he's like yeah half the price and I'm like

25:26

well how's that even possible I'm like were you getting a crazy deal all these fixtures we're like this is our first job like we're we're like giving you

25:31

everything for free pretty much trying to make this happen just to make a little bit of money and what it was it

25:36

was not an oranges apple apple it was an oranges Apple not orang orang

25:41

whatever they it was just junk yeah so when we got the other proposal from the other C uh from the other uh company it

25:48

was not the same thing and so I was like hey dude what happened to Disney right I thought we were doing Disney here you

25:53

said Disney that's when we put this whole thing together yeah and it was it ended up not being Disney I'll tell you

26:00

that much nope uh I went there a couple years later and I looked around I'm like oh this is not Disney this is the

26:08

opposite of Disney yeah it was exactly what you thought it would be it was another company just did trash yeah

26:15

trash crap everywhere just horrible fixtures it was looked dumpy look crappy

26:20

looks it didn't look like Disney you kidding me right it looked like junk but that customer I guess didn't want to pay

26:29

yeah so so that was that was a failure man yeah and I remember thinking oh okay I guess we'll

26:37

go back to church done there I guess we're not doing an AV company cuz it we weren't a

26:43

company we weren't actively out trying to find work and stuff this was just something that came up yeah then it went

26:48

away and we're like okay well we got a set design we have to do a Bayside so we need to get back to work right and we

26:54

did and so we just went back into Bayside stuff

27:00

um and I don't know it was probably a few months later it wasn't immediately

27:05

after but it's a few months later we got another call yep um from a local chch

27:11

from another church in the area yep that wanted some help with some lighting and

27:17

they had a little budget yep and we got together again and said do you you want

27:23

to try again and see if we get a job that hurt I mean losing that for first job we lost money yeah we did so

27:32

much work yeah we had to do a bunch of prep and we were under contract and then

27:38

like what are we going to do sue them right go away sorry you got we have a contract with you for whatever it was it

27:45

probably like a $40,000 it was nothing we got this contract you got to honor it yeah and we

27:51

had like no money to what are we gonna do yeah but when we got that second call it was like it was weird because I'm

27:59

like I don't know dude like I've been it feels like I've been through this before like we went through this whole thing

28:04

they're probably just gonna pull the rug out from underneath us right and uh is just going to be more waste of time we

28:10

were doing late night like all this stuff is on top of a fulltime job right a very demanding 40 plus hours a week on

28:18

weekends to one day off right uh schedule we were working six days a week

28:24

no matter what right Saturdays Sundays pretty intense right doing these Services as a production

28:31

director I understand your pain I understand the stress yeah it is like no

28:36

one else it's like an there's very few positions on a weekend service that has as much stress as a tech director right

28:43

because technology breaks all and it has to happen in coordination it's like it takes a lot out of you yeah I lost most

28:49

of my hair because of basa but um yeah it wears you down on top of just normal

28:56

hours and it's every week and it's different every week never STS you're not like on tour where you're

29:01

doing the same thing for a full tour right same song Set same lighting cues

29:07

same everything it's not that it's something brand new every week and

29:12

you're running it with volunteers not staff yeah five times a weekend five times a week plus other locations that

29:18

we were monitoring as well plus other services during the week first Wednesday Service uh special event night special

29:25

youth thing men's night women's night a funeral has to happen you need to be there and run audio for them it never

29:31

ended at 8:00 on a Tuesday night it's constant so then this was just all on top of that on top of all that now start

29:37

a company now do these other jobs and so we got the call for this new

29:43

job and you want to jump into it you want to look at it yeah but we um this is when we made the name change it

29:49

happened before this job yeah I remember you saying I don't care it can be Walker creative I was like that's so

29:55

weird yeah especially in a 5050 50 scenario well I was I was probably thinking like um is it hard to like

30:03

change a name do we have to start all over and do an LLC like we knew nothing about any of this stuff business-wise

30:09

they don't te you stuff in school you don't learn any of it so you start finding it out if you try to do it on your own we found out well you can

30:15

change the name and I think that's what we ended up doing so the actual the very first LLC you ever created I think just

30:22

changed the name y to Crown yep which was another random thing was like what

30:28

should we call it and I think we were just text I think we were texting at that time yeah we were texting back and

30:33

forth we weren't like fact each other it was an iPhone so I'll tell you that I don't think 2013 was oh maybe actually

30:40

yeah oh yeah it was I got my first couple of my guy couple of the guys had to on when we were on tour they had iPhones that's right I got my first

30:46

iPhone when I was at school full sale so it was but yeah I remember just texting we were just texting random words back

30:52

and forth just the most random words ever and then crown came up and we went that Audrey you guys did a a logo same

31:00

logo Audrey did that logo it was it was a more gray different colors of gray at the time but this exact same thing it

31:06

holds up today it's still but still feels right we wanted to be able to get

31:12

our first check with the new company name and like the whole thing so we had to go get a bank it was y a a lot of

31:19

work all for hopefully this job that would maybe happen it might not even happen we didn't even know right it

31:25

seemed like it was going to but you want to jump into it yeah you want to do a commercial break commercial break all

31:30

right commercial break AVL systems are great when they work and a nightmare when they don't

31:38

well we've come up with a solution for when they don't Crown care is our subscription-based service program where

31:44

you get 247 support 24/7 critical system monitoring and a host of other goodies

31:50

if you're interested in Crown care please give us a call or contact us through our website

32:05

and we're back okay from that commercial break our sponsor thank you for our sponsors for giving us all that money

32:10

it's amazing wow how does that work if it's if we are our sponsor we got to pay ourselves more yes can't wait to pay ourselves

32:17

more yes we just made all that money uh wait that's like the government yeah

32:22

giving you m giving you your uh tax money back yeah look I got all this money from the government return uh did

32:28

now did you really we're going to get into that sometime let's do it all right

32:33

okay so this is First Baptist Church Bradon yeah very first Crown job y ever

32:42

and I have some so this is a lighting project so we got we got uh contacted by

32:48

their worship director at the time who's not there anymore right um and he was like Hey Y'all do lighting we need some

32:55

lighting like our place is old and we're like of course we do lighting yeah we've been doing this for years you kidding me

33:00

yeah oh yeah haven't you heard of Walker creative Crown Design Group uh but yeah

33:07

so then we were like okay yeah let's we GA we we pulled ourselves off off the

33:12

ground we Rose From the Ashes from the trampoline ashes and we were like okay

33:18

let's let's see what we can do for this Baptist Church yeah and I remember getting together uh they had given us a

33:26

budget we didn't know that was real or not again cuz our past experience was it was not real OB failure so we're like

33:33

well this is going to be another failure we're like okay we have a budget um and I remember having like meetings at our

33:40

house um super late at night yeah in well into the morning hours because it

33:47

took us so long to put quotes together then like yeah for one we didn't know how to we didn't have a software to put

33:52

a quote together no so we were like trying to figure out how to make look okay on a piece of paper right we were

33:58

just doing logistical stuff like that y not to mention like trying to design a system for them that would help their

34:04

room and kind of accomplish what they wanted to do right um but yeah we would be we'd work all day at church right

34:13

building something or getting ready for a huge event like normal yep and then we would go straight home and meet up again

34:20

and jump into like this design yeah our day our days off were Crown design yes

34:26

our vacation our PTO was Crown design yeah uh for

34:32

like two years yeah but this is like the beginning of that this is the very beginning yeah but yeah I remember I remember being at your house and we were

34:38

working on quotes and trying to figure this stuff out and I was there late and like my car got towed from car got to

34:44

just off the road from cuz I was there so late and the stupid HOA is like can't you can't park on the on the road I'm

34:50

like I'm trying to create a company here people I'm trying to launch Crown design yall have to hold me back another

34:57

another hurdle and then those days like trying to go get your car that cost 300 bucks from the toe like those were that

35:03

was so brutal CU we had no money at the time and we dump we any money extra money we had we were like spending on

35:09

Crown to like go buy or print copies or whatever y I went I fought the HOA on

35:15

that though and I won yeah because they they they tow towed it like at 11:00 p.m. I was like wait you can't tow a car

35:22

at 11:00 p.m. we thought it got stolen I remember I was like I got my freaking car stolen another okay another maybe we

35:28

shouldn't be doing this but uh yeah so we had worked on

35:33

this try to figure it out so what the church wanted was lighting they had an old dimmer that was

35:40

like trash yeah it had like it caught fire it caught fire a couple times this kind of what started it they were like

35:46

okay the dimmer actually caught fire so we have to we have to do something at this point right uh that's how that's

35:52

how this job came about right yeah something caught fire someone smell smoke and then here we are now we're in

35:59

and then they also wanted to creatively uh up there it was just nothing so let me show you a

36:05

picture boom there it is pretty pretty

36:10

typical looking Baptist Church it's uh

36:16

they had the organs going they needed an organ donor if you've heard that one before and that was their set design by

36:24

the way those were light boxes with caution tape and that's how we rolled back that's that wasn't us but that's

36:30

how churches rolled back in the day it's cuz they were doing a stage renovation I remember this now I see this picture

36:36

right yeah yeah I can see it yeah create this is what they did cuz the stage was torn

36:41

apart they said well let's just make it like a construction site on stage you know and do a series about oh changing

36:48

stuff in your life and what that's I remember talking to the worship pastor about it and that's that's what they did

36:54

and that's why our little our little budget bundled into this thing into a series into this series and into this

37:01

construction budget this little overhaul they were doing well that's clever then yeah I didn't know that yeah and that's

37:07

but that we get jobs like that a lot where they get a chunk of money to do

37:12

the roof or to redo the carpet or to redo the whatever and they think well at the same time Now's the Time to maybe do

37:18

something with AV and we'll get and we we got other jobs like that too especially at the beginning but that's

37:23

how this one happened they sneak it in yeah they sneak it in these budgets so yeah that's the room or that's the uh

37:31

um there it is you can kind of see they're lighting now like they they didn't have anything going on right like

37:36

not much here uh that's up at front of the house looking down a big room it was a big room they at least 1100 or

37:43

something like that yeah balcony this is their old uh dimmer patch Bay they had a

37:48

they had a that's a stage pin y connection and it was a it was a dimmer patch Bay yep pretty nuts it was just

37:56

ugly a lot of you can kind of see why two fur and three Furs and four fur to

38:02

make things happen uh who knew why there'd be a fire I I have no clue why there'd be a fire well I do it's because

38:10

of that so we uh we were brought in to fix their dimmer so we had to we're

38:16

gonna uh that was priority yeah we got to get them a new dimmer M we have to

38:22

hire an electrician to move all these circuits over yep cuz we can't trust this old one anymore it's just got to go

38:27

yeah and so we started to work out what that looked like we got with uh some

38:34

electricians um they were able to put us put a quote together for us so we could just oversee the whole project and just

38:41

so you know typically that's what we do we'll we'll oversee and work with the trades or bring in the trades so that it

38:46

gets done right so that they know exactly because I mean how many electricians work on dimmers doesn't happen right so we were able to guide

38:53

them work out the the channel counts and and get this this new uh dimmer put in

39:00

and then we did some eye candy stuff on stage right so I've got some pictures of

39:06

the first install um let's take a look so that's kind of when it's going we got some

39:12

lighting going yeah um we were there at nights oh man so again yeah we're

39:20

working full-time while we did this yep uh work all day at church at Bayside and

39:25

then we would drive across town and come here till and work through deep into the

39:31

night yep all that cabling and everything on that front trust that was that lift yeah okay I know you can't

39:38

hear the audio on this right now but uh we brought that trussing down and it

39:43

broke the laser the fire alarm laser that's right and so that fire alarm laser every time we brought that truss

39:48

up or down it would break the laser and then the fire alarm would go off and we'd have to call and this is probably

39:54

at like 2: in the morning or something stupid like that yeah so that

40:00

was that's a funny picture right what that's you on that's me on the on is that me and the lift that's I think so

40:06

yeah oh my gosh so that's that's uh Pro that's I'm laying down cuz probably like

40:12

2: a.m. yeah so then you know we probably have uh work the next morning

40:17

at like 8 or 9 or something like that at baysite so that was that was us working

40:23

that out man it it was a tough I mean in today's

40:28

in in in our Scopes today that was very small oh yeah um I mean that was a very

40:34

small install but just two of us yeah Sweat Equity starting a company and that's what it looks like yep that's

40:40

what it looks like right there in a Genie Lift uh in the middle of the night setting off alarms that's what we

40:46

do yeah and then I think I've got some pictures of the final um I remember some of these

40:54

pictures so here's all the circuits for that dimmer nice tied and going to our new dimmer so that

41:00

was a a portable um crazy story on this too is that Matt stuff our employee now

41:07

he helped he helped we we H we hired him on this job oh dang I forget how much

41:14

money we gave him probably wasn't much but he was a child at the time and he's still a child of my

41:19

brain he was a child at the time and uh

41:24

it was just extra he was working at Bayside too so uh we were able to give him a little

41:30

extra money and he was in the same boat as us making making some extra money but he is our employee now full-time and has

41:35

been for years but back then he was on the very first job we ever did that's Crown yeah yeah we've I mean Matt's been

41:42

around yeah forever I mean I love the guy I think I've given him every job he's ever had light hired him a Bayside

41:49

hired him again a Bayside oh he went Starbucks I didn't do that and then hired him a crown but yeah he's he's the

41:55

guy that has been around we had to pull P him in too because some of this dimmer stuff like we we really didn't know much

42:01

about yeah he was very helpful but he was a he had been digging into the lighting stuff for a couple years already yeah and and knew some shortcuts

42:08

and stuff so Matt's one of the best lighting guys I know yeah if not the best lighting guy I know period he knows

42:13

more than anyone else loves it too so it's great Matt you're a rock star boom

42:18

so yeah that's this that's the dimmer boom pretty pictures man those

42:24

are old iPhone pictures like they you're not allowed they wouldn't give you that it's a potato phone picture couldn't get

42:31

that feature to like calm it down a bit so this was huge for us man it it was a big change in the room too they had some

42:36

Movers On The Ground they had some pixel bar things some uh we we put a I think

42:43

we put a light on the cross and like cropped it really nice yep look I mean look at the light just blowing out on

42:48

these photos man that's hilarious yeah you didn't get that option to fade it down this first iPhone pictures people

42:54

this is uh archaic but this is what they wanted this was they wanted something to make their stage pop and look better

43:01

they wanted better front lighting which we we redid all their front lighting as well that was that Demmer and reaiming and relamping and all kinds of stuff for

43:08

that as well and then we also gave them uh new control we did Vista here yep um

43:15

which was Monumental for them they were running some kind of dimmer sliders basically for lights y so they had moved

43:22

into a software I remember that piano picture we used that thing for lot of

43:27

promos and stuff yeah these are the creative the creative photos this is how you have to start though I mean right

43:33

Crown existed at this point there's Vista in its infancy um but yeah Crown

43:40

was in its infancy too I mean we had we had no promo shots we had nothing to kind of Market ourselves at all so this

43:46

was the first job we ever did absolutely and we used these pictures on a lot of stuff right let me look we've got the

43:52

we've got the first check from this project let me look at it

43:58

we put it in a frame what's the date on it I recently found it and I framed it we framed it

44:04

for their for our office year um it's probably

44:10

2013 2013 522 2013 May yeah what what's the date right

44:18

now we're not May yeah close almost so that'll be 12 years in May if you want

44:23

to count this as the first one so this check the first check from Baptist Church Bradon to

44:30

Crown Design Group the address is my old house address which Still Still

44:36

sometimes it still haunts us to this day I know mine too for some reason these dealer these dist distributors or

44:43

manufacturers they won't change our freaking address we'll randomly get a call from a random person that bought our homes years ago hey I got a package

44:50

got a package for you for Crown what the heck dude I think I saw it last week on something really yeah it was yeah yeah

44:58

just yeah just a couple weeks ago what the heck man they didn't send anything but I caught it on a form all right so

45:03

this check is to Crown Design Group the first one for $188,600 there you

45:11

go and most of that almost all of it was equipment we made I mean if we made $500

45:18

it was like a win yeah for like couple nights of install all that it was wild we had we were not dealers for anybody

45:25

right we couldn't our I remember I remember just trying to squeeze any

45:32

money out of anything that we were buying because we had to basically buy stuff online yep um and then if we could

45:39

somehow call that company and work a deal with them to get a few hundred bucks off than we knew we could make a

45:44

few hundred bucks right and that was it it was like that and then some and a little bit of labor for the work yep and

45:51

we didn't really appreciate her own labor at the time right so it wasn't very much and we didn't what we're doing

45:57

really I mean yeah well we kind of knew what we're doing but yeah I mean we knew enough to do this at the time it was a cheap it was a cheap job for them too

46:04

and they got what they needed and what they wanted yep and it was done safely and done right yep

46:09

and um they're still using that dimmer today I guarantee it it's probably still sitting in there yep but um yeah what a

46:18

crazy a crazy time to figure it out and

46:23

that's when we start after we did that job is when we started to say we need to try to become dealers for

46:30

stuff because man if we could become a dealer we could actually make a little bit of money by selling something right

46:37

um and ultimately that's what's happened over years but what it's really led to is allowed us to be super competitive

46:44

with pricing right so we can have lower pricing on things because we get to buy it at a certain price right all these

46:50

things we learned I mean over years and years of doing it but well we've added so many different elements to our

46:56

services in our in our company so and it it all compounds in a way where it ends

47:02

up being a better deal for everyone for for our customers CU we're all in one house right so we're not just just only

47:09

doing design and then walking away we're doing design and then we're procuring

47:14

the equipment and then we're installing the equipment and then we're training on the equipment and then we're servicing

47:20

the equipment it's just the whole thing and when you're looking at the whole the whole pie like

47:25

that it's easier to to make Cuts it's easier to uh uh give deals and and work

47:32

it out cuz it's like hey if you want to do this whole thing if you want to partner with us and do this whole project like it's best case scenario

47:39

you'll be working with one company you'll be working under one uh Banner of design no one else is going to be like

47:46

coming in and doing other things right and uh it ends up being a better a better deal now we we continued to work

47:53

this way we continue to run Crown this way for like two years where we we kept our full-time jobs at Bayside yep and we

48:00

kept doing Crown jobs now after this job we didn't know we didn't know any we didn't it was

48:06

we made some extra money and we we're happy about that obviously we made a little extra money um but we had know

48:14

maybe in the back of our minds we were thinking I wonder if this would turn into something I don't know but right Bayside was like we've said blowing up

48:22

and ve very huge part of our lives and so it was straight back to that yep and I think it had been a couple months

48:28

or something and uh one of my volunteers at Bayside came to me and said hey our

48:34

church is going to do an upgrade with lighting and I heard you guys did that thing in

48:39

town do you want to do ours I remember I remember calling you and saying we can

48:45

do it again you want to do it again right and we're like what's the budget uh and it was I think it was even

48:50

smaller oh really yeah but and I remember thinking but we could do it in less days and it's probably be worth it

48:57

we could make a little money and so we did that and that's kind of how it started we uh we kept doing that for a

49:06

couple years yep every couple months maybe something would come up and we do it and like you said we would take our

49:11

vacation time yep to do it we wouldn't go on vacation we take our vacation time to do jobs because we couldn't get them

49:16

done otherwise I remember once at someone at Bayside came and talked to us about that he said hey I heard that

49:23

you're working on your vacation days right and I'm thinking yeah that's what

49:29

I'm doing and they're like well that's not really what vacation days are for

49:34

I'm like I'm pretty sure vacation days are for whatever the heck I want right and right now I'm trying to make some

49:40

extra money cuz whatever but that was a weird thing yeah but we I was I remember

49:46

being pretty adamant about well I'm going to this ain't stopping yeah so I need this extra money I mean I was in

49:54

pretty big debt from school yeah for years I both me and my wife went to very

50:00

expensive schools yeah and we had you know over $100,000 in student debts for

50:06

years and years and years yeah and I was like I got to get out of this and I'm not going to get out of this if I just

50:12

work at Bayside right and Bayside they did what they could and whatever you know and I agreed to the terms and I

50:18

worked for them and I'm super glad I did and I learned so much and I think it was a great you know a great thing yeah but

50:26

I needed more money yeah and so I was like I'm not this is not going to stop

50:32

yeah and it I mean and it didn't we it actually started picking up y like year

50:38

two we started getting more jobs Y and that's when it was like that's when we

50:45

had to take our vacation time just to do jobs it wasn't even an option anymore we couldn't make it happen we couldn't

50:51

continue we we couldn't sustain what we were doing working as much at the church and then working as much with

50:57

crown and but ju and just just to pinpoint that like that is this is the

51:05

way that you should start a compass I was just about to say it we we said this earlier most people start with a

51:12

business plan and funding and people and employees and an office and whatever and

51:20

debt and debt yeah to make it happen to see if you can make it happen we did it in a way where

51:27

we didn't need the crown money it was very nice actually we did need it um but

51:33

we didn't need we had a job already we had a job yeah and how could we uh how

51:41

how long the problem was how long could we do it that way and still be

51:46

completely invested in Bayside and and doing that and then putting enough effort into Crown to maybe make it

51:51

something real um but because we started that way the there wasn't this huge

51:58

amount of stress on Crown to get its next job CU if you don't the company's going to fall apart and go bankrupt like

52:04

most do right um I think 90% fail in the first year and then 90% of those fail

52:11

within the next five years so and then if you're in a partnership it's like 50% worse wor so worst odds ever I mean most

52:18

companies don't make it most companies fail all props to anybody who started something like this from nothing and is

52:24

still maintaining year after year here right it's one of the hardest things ever to to maintain to keep it running

52:32

as you grow and expand it's funny you know I think Elon Musk has a quote about what it's like to be a entrepreneur or

52:39

be a business owner and he says something like it's like chewing glass

52:45

and staring into the abyss and it that makes sense to me

52:50

somehow like it's a very obtuse uh way of you know describing it

52:57

but you don't know and it's difficult and it's hard and it's you never know what's going to happen you can't make

53:02

people give you money you can't make people choose your company right uh you can't you know we we from early days

53:10

decided that God was going to be a provider with this thing right and that he's just going to have to bring us work

53:15

right like if we don't get a project it's CU it wasn't ours right if we get it it's ours and God gave it to us to

53:22

help our families to help whatever employees families everyone right and

53:27

it's very very difficult to start a company and keep it going yeah

53:33

but we we did it the right way Sweat Equity side gig that turns into a real

53:40

gig yep now there was still a huge risk when we jumped ship and went full-time with

53:49

crown it was Crown was Crown was bumping too it started picking up now I say it

53:55

was bumping compared to now I mean compared to uh First Baptist right

54:00

compared to First Baptist our very first job it was bumping we were getting more jobs um bigger jobs and we had worked

54:07

deals for becoming dealers for for companies and that made us able to have

54:13

have more profit on jobs increase our margins yep um but

54:20

uh I had I actually went part-time at Bayside before we step before we uh

54:26

stepped out of those roles and yeah it it allowed me to uh pick up some slack on some jobs

54:34

where it it was just there was too much going on we couldn't do it right we couldn't do everything and we were going

54:40

into that large bayside's brand new room the big building so you were like that

54:45

was that was your full-time job at bide basically the building yeah um while also launching campuses and the whole

54:50

thing yeah yeah but it was a huge project Crown wasn't doing it it was it was uh bill plat the the other that's

54:57

right the other integrator um but you were involved you were managing that whole thing um massive room 2500 seeds

55:04

big PA big everything brand new for us yeah it was wild but Crown was still going too and it was like we have to

55:10

somehow make this still happen and right still make Bayside happen and I ended up going part-time at Bayside that was the

55:17

first kind of little bit of Disconnect from there with crown was me going part-time um helping job helping on jobs

55:26

um when when you were overloaded and um and then still producing and doing services on the weekend for Bayside

55:33

while the building was happening we eventually got to a point where we thought we could take a shot at

55:39

Crown full-time mhm and I remember there was a specific job that came along I

55:44

don't even say what it was but it came along and we were thinking all right with this job we could it was only two

55:52

of us we had no employees we had zero overhead we had we had nothing we had no no office we had no car we had no fans

55:59

no trucks nothing we barely had some tools that we had accumulated over the last couple years from jobs Y where a

56:05

lot of our profits went we have to go buy tools we didn't have them yep um so we had nothing we kind of knew what we

56:11

needed to survive and this job came along and I remember doing the numbers

56:16

and saying we could live on this job for like three or four months assuming the job goes well nothing crazy

56:24

happens we could do this job and it would it would it would hold our me and you our families for 3 or 4 months if

56:31

nothing else happened MH so was this the time like was this it could should we go

56:38

for it and then do this job and we know we have a little bit of buffer and during that buffer another job has to

56:43

happen because if it doesn't we're leaving some very established jobs in a

56:50

in one of the fastest growing churches in the country who's doing massive things who just built this huge building

56:55

right and we're stepping out of that we're we're dropping those jobs yeah and that part of our lives and those people

57:01

and everything to take a shot at Crown yep and

57:07

so yeah I remember I think I'm pretty sure we had the like the conversation over text message probably I remember us texting

57:15

saying I feel like we should take we could we could we could do it we could take a shot and you were saying the same

57:21

thing and then it came down to timing of like how do we we wanted to leave Bayside in a really really good way cuz

57:27

what they had done for I mean honestly Crown as it exists now with me and you

57:33

wouldn't have wouldn't have existed had it been had it not been for Bayside maybe you had started maybe you would have started Walker creative and done

57:39

something on your own maybe I started something else on my own did something else right but as it sits now crown with

57:45

me and you wouldn't have happened if we didn't have if we wouldn't have worked together at that that job and all those

57:52

years and everything right absolutely it was such a massive part of our life and to leave was a massive thing yeah uh

58:00

I had been on staff there for I think like almost seven years my wife had been on staff for

58:05

like nine years or something she did all the graphics including the logo people

58:10

that's right and like we said before both we were both involved in that church way early on we've been there forever right it's a big part it's a big

58:17

thing yeah and we went through a season of like what should we do like yeah we we can get this job maybe live a couple

58:23

months is that what God wants is that like you know we're trying to figure figur this whole thing out like what you know and I remember it was uh during the

58:31

21 days of fasting and prayer mhm and so that was like the big decision time like let's let's uh spend some time thinking

58:39

about this praying about this during this fast I remember getting Jordan in in the mix too and talking to him about

58:44

it which is probably tough because like he was kind of almost my well it was like him and Kristen they were kind of my bosses I think we were the f I think

58:51

he was the first person we started telling talking to yeah and so he uh about it and so he knew about it and I

59:00

told him hey I'm praying about this man and can you pray for you know pray for us and be thinking about it too and

59:05

we're going to go through this this fast and see what happens yeah and uh it very

59:12

scary it was terrifying and then when I then I had a had a meeting with I had a

59:19

meeting with Jordan uh scheduled to like at the end of the fast like right and I

59:24

was like I I hadn't fully made a decision yet yeah but I knew I didn't feel bad about it right for

59:32

me um and so I had this meeting set up with Jordan I was going to meet with him and just like hey like what do you think

59:37

man like what do you think and uh we had that meeting and then he's like he's

59:43

like yeah I told Randy and like all stuff I was like what I haven't even made a decision dude I'm like we're supposed to talk about this and figure

59:49

this thing out right but he had I guess there was a conversation that happened and he had to tell Randy or something

59:55

like that I I don't know but it was and then like literally he told me that and I like got a text from Randy he's like

1:00:01

hey can we meet I'm like Jordan what is this like so now he wants like what's going on like I haven't made any decision dude like we're supposed to

1:00:07

talk about this but really what came out of that whole thing was uh look at the fruits MH look at

1:00:15

what is happening with crown look at what it's done for your family look at

1:00:21

what it's done for your clients uh the churches you've worked for look at look at the

1:00:27

fruit and when you did that you could see that it was a good thing and that

1:00:34

God had a plan for it yeah and it was a very it was a feeling of is finality is

1:00:40

that a word yeah finality it felt like that it felt like we're getting we're getting Bayside into this big room which

1:00:47

is a massive project it so much work man oh my goodness and it felt like this is

1:00:53

this is time this is time yeah those uh I remember those

1:01:00

conversations as well and I just remember for us it was super important

1:01:05

that we wanted to we just wanted to leave in a good way right from Bayside we didn't want to

1:01:11

just peace out and yeah that was a big thing from leadership that Randy and

1:01:17

everyone else you know always taught us was you know you never let something drop you you put people in place to to

1:01:23

lift up the these uh positions you know right you never you don't want things to just fall apart when you walk away yeah

1:01:30

you never know what what comes around in the future your roads will meet again and right plus just personal

1:01:36

relationships that we had and we didn't want to plus the positions we had at the at church were were pretty important

1:01:43

roles and we had been there a while and had systems going and so to to lose us both at the same

1:01:51

time was it I remember having these conversations like you're both leaving at the same time yes we're going to both leave at the same time you part time

1:01:56

though that's right so it had it had took the stung out a sting out a little bit me going part time before you had

1:02:01

one foot out the door already yeah but um yeah that was a that was a time from a business

1:02:08

standpoint where we decided to take that shot and that um Turned real really quick where

1:02:16

we were leaving those really good jobs in that church established jobs we had families we had I had kids at the time

1:02:24

um young young kids you probably maybe uh my daughter was born yeah right before this whole thing

1:02:32

so so yeah I mean daugh was born in November and then we were making FAL decisions in January ESS and we're going

1:02:38

to quit our jobs and try to do this and with no with only having one job on the books basically that's it mhm um but

1:02:46

with knowing that we were W to take the risk and we had seen the fruits of it and thought we could we could do this

1:02:53

right we just need to make we need to we need I remember think think we need this much per year to make this happen to

1:02:59

survive right and maybe it turns into something bigger who knows but to survive we need this much right very

1:03:05

difficult man very difficult we learned so much um brass balls man man had to I

1:03:13

think back and I go how was I that uh ballsy how did I do it I remember being

1:03:19

terrified but also like we got this it was exciting um it was it was definitely

1:03:27

exciting for me I don't I hadn't worked a conventional job in like almost my

1:03:32

whole life Bayside was my first like conventional job in a in a really long time wait a second you worked every

1:03:38

conventional job before you went on tour but it wasn't real they were like I'd

1:03:43

work them for like a month and be like I got to go on tour for two weeks and I'd lose the job it wasn't like a real job

1:03:50

internet uh Ben classically has done every single job known to man touring

1:03:56

it's happened I was a beekeeper I I mean it's been that far beekeeper Ben beekeeper Ben Audi

1:04:03

already was a garbage man I we did every yeah we did everything but I hadn't had like a real job that was like my real

1:04:10

income for for I had like a real job for a long time I guess I was just not

1:04:17

molded for it but so yeah it was exciting I like the gamble part of it like it was it was all just new so new

1:04:25

but man we did not know what we were doing um how do you you don't unless unless you came from

1:04:33

another company like like we were talking about I remember I remember we'd talk to like some of these other manufacturers and stuff and they'd be

1:04:38

like uh what made you start an integration company and we're like I

1:04:44

don't know actually I didn't even know we didn't even know what our job was like I didn't even know what it was

1:04:50

called like we were learning things from talking to people they're like oh are you a design build I'm like

1:04:56

uh yeah we design it we build it I think yeah I we're design build we learn a lot from going to shows yeah and talking to

1:05:02

a lot of Manufacturers like this at the same place and they'd ask the same questions we're like all right we really got to like Google this and figure out

1:05:07

what they're talking about what does this mean it was definitely a fake till you make it thing oh man but the jobs

1:05:15

always turned out like we were always able to deliver that was I mean it took

1:05:21

us a long time to figure out jobs and figure out how to make it happen but we were always able to deliver and and make

1:05:28

it work we were always able to deliver because uh we had built character and

1:05:34

it's part of what we are I mean yeah we worked that way when we were at church at Bayside right we had high

1:05:40

integrity uh we didn't mess around with people we didn't lie we wanted to be

1:05:46

honest and do the best work that we could yeah and to this day if we mess up

1:05:52

it's on us yeah we'll fix it if we break something which happens seldom but when

1:06:00

it does new guy in a scissor lift or something and hits a wall or something uh we fix it so because we had the

1:06:07

character and because we had these I guess tenants of uh the

1:06:14

company uh that is what equals success honestly yeah

1:06:23

and you can look back and see these these jobs um I feel like they came in

1:06:30

like a really good order yeah remember probably as we grew we were attracting different types of

1:06:36

jobs as we got better we would attract a different job and each job was like a little more of a stretch for us it was like okay we're doing this this time we

1:06:43

got to figure out how to do it right how's the best way to do it had one of those bigger jobs come early on it may

1:06:49

have been a complete catastrophe you know so we kind of learned and built through that and it did happen in really

1:06:55

good order that was one of the only things Bill Platt told us mhm was don't

1:07:01

get too big too quick Y and we're like what we're like bring it on give us give

1:07:06

us the million dollar job give us the $2 million job go don't don't get too big too quick because Bill had uh worked at

1:07:13

Disney he was over all of audio at Disney yeah and he saw firsthand the destruction of AVL

1:07:20

companies integrators as they came took a bid on a Disney project project Y and

1:07:27

then folded y because they couldn't hold couldn't keep up or they didn't bid high

1:07:33

enough they didn't have their pricing right and then they just get destroyed yeah and I still hear that stuff kind of

1:07:38

happens but uh uh but what it what it really means is you know really I don't

1:07:44

we had that in our mind but how do you control that we can't control that it's like what comes what jobs come come and

1:07:50

then we we figure it out from there it just ended up being a really good prog ression of types of projects that we

1:07:58

could handle that stretched us a little bit at a time by a little bit at a time and we're still stretching even now

1:08:05

every every project is stretched because we want to do things bigger better

1:08:11

faster yeah but it's that's what made it happen I think

1:08:16

yeah that progression and us being able to not be so dependent

1:08:21

on Crown money at the beginning yeah um until we went full-time and then it was

1:08:27

okay now this has to happen right if it doesn't we're screwed right and that

1:08:33

changed a lot of things too um when we got into that world it was hey we can't

1:08:39

this has to happen now yeah we got a few months we got a couple months here to make it happen but we got to make it happen now we got to hustle yeah which

1:08:45

we did yeah it was it's been it's been crazy man it's been it's wild to think

1:08:52

back at those those days it's wild to think back fact that we got through it that we did it uh thank God for helping

1:09:00

us through it and giving us jobs and you know now we're now we're taking over the

1:09:06

universe Crown Empire and here's what it's grown to and it's still growing I

1:09:11

mean heck yeah we kind of wondered back in those early days like could this turn into something or would it be just

1:09:17

enough for us to squeak by and survive in our lives that's a really good point

1:09:23

yeah and I want to tell the internet something about small businesses and business

1:09:28

owners Ben and I could have lived a comfortable life the two of us yeah just

1:09:34

the two of us doing smaller to medium jobs yeah and we could have raised a

1:09:41

family and taking care of ourselves and it would have been Ben and I and that would have been it yep a project came

1:09:48

along that was bigger than that and we could have said no to it instead we decided to start hiring people y now we

1:09:56

are sharing the wealth we can't do it all on our own that's why we need the help but this narrative that these that

1:10:04

business owners are these greedy selfish people non- tax paying we

1:10:11

true we we employ people right we give

1:10:16

people jobs we help families make ends meet the entrepreneur the business owner

1:10:24

is the Lifeline of America yeah not the government right not anyone else right

1:10:30

and we are not selfish one of the greatest accomplishments of crown design

1:10:36

has been taking care of our employees yeah I say that you know Loosely being able to create a career for someone

1:10:43

being able to we feel that stress as business owners we feel the stress of our employees families we feel it it's a

1:10:50

real thing this is not just like uh business owners getting rich off their employees like so many silly narratives

1:10:56

out there and we're not I'm sure there's bad business owners and all that but

1:11:01

there's way more good ones all our all the people in our small groups like everyone has this we don't we want our employees to thrive we want their

1:11:08

families to be safe and healthy and and uh for their for them to feel great yeah

1:11:14

is not one of these weird things but you can bring it back it could have just been you and me and we could have been

1:11:20

happy instead we decided to expand and to bring on the risk of other people's

1:11:26

livelihoods underneath us and take on that responsibility and again another note we didn't do that until we

1:11:33

absolutely had to yes so we wanted to right and it got to a point where we

1:11:40

were living comfortably and and it was it was great um and but we were working

1:11:45

a ton it was like we were working so much at the church and then with crown we got some it was like oh we don't have

1:11:51

to work as much on the weekends whatever but then Crown started getting bigger and then Crown was just like then you it takes over everything right um then

1:11:57

you're working all the time and we like we get get employees and that would free up a little bit of

1:12:02

time but that's a big expense and how do you how do we train like they don't know

1:12:08

we it was a whole new chapter in the business you know it was um but we held

1:12:14

out as long as we could and then we had a lot of conversations about is this what we're going to do do we want to

1:12:21

just keep it small like this or do we want to and we are trying to figure that out and then yeah a job came along where

1:12:27

we're like we can't this doesn't happen this doesn't happen unless we have employees right so we're going to go

1:12:33

down this road and and ultimately that's what happened yeah and it's it's been a

1:12:41

learning experience I think it's been huge to be lean and mean as long as possible uh I would have loved an office

1:12:49

day one I would have loved a van I would have loved all these things we didn't have them we did nothing for

1:12:55

we used our own carss my Honda Pilot's suspension got jacked up because we had

1:13:02

so many tools and like equipment in the back of my that car for so long uh we worked in our garages yep uh

1:13:11

then we got our first storage unit which was like half the size not even half the size of this this office and that was

1:13:17

our storage unit where we could keep some stuff instead of it just being in our garage yeah and then we graduated to

1:13:22

a bigger one yep and then we graduated to a bigger one and we bought a van and then we could fit our van in the storage

1:13:28

unit cuz we had nowhere to park we couldn't park at our house HOAs hate business owners you can't have a you can't have a van you can't have a truck

1:13:35

on on the road office we didn't have an office so we had to finally get a storage unit big enough for the van and

1:13:41

our junk our tools and all the tools and everything else every morning we would drive on install days we had drive to

1:13:46

that storage facility yep pull the van out pull one of our cars in and then go

1:13:53

to work that's a story of a business owner that's the story of growing a company that's the way you do it you

1:14:00

don't listen I wanted a great off I wanted you know you have these dreams of having a room like this or like you know

1:14:07

with our pictures on the wall and uh comfortable desks and uh you know little

1:14:13

little tripods microsof sweet camera systems you have these dreams uh you

1:14:19

don't get there overnight and small businesses out there you got to remember that keep it lean and mean if you don't

1:14:24

have to buy don't do it uh it's better to feel uh security and it's better to

1:14:29

have security for you and your staff than uh a beautiful office yeah in my opinion and that's the way we rolled

1:14:36

with everything yep with employees with vehicles with whatever right but

1:14:43

progression kept going and jobs kept getting bigger and Crown kept getting bigger and we kept learning as we went Y

1:14:51

and now we're taking over the world we're the best according to my mother here we are here we are some 12 years

1:14:58

later yep so that's how Crown Design Group that's the original story of crown

1:15:04

Design Group a lot of other stories in there we could talk about at some point we'll do

1:15:10

other episodes but uh yeah yeah every project has a bunch of weirdness to it and and stories and everything that's

1:15:16

what this podcast is about just showing our projects uh hopefully you learn something hope you learn like about AV

1:15:22

and all that jazz but um also the building of a company and Entrepreneurship and comp you know

1:15:28

that's all it's all something you can learn from us yeah I hope but um feel

1:15:34

good on that yeah all right sweet well hey Crown Design Group www.c crdesign

1:15:40

group.org go on that website and hire us if you need anything audio video

1:15:46

lighting we do full design full procurement we can get you anything we'll give you a dirty deal yep um we do

1:15:53

install we're licensed uh we're insured trust me we're insured the

1:15:59

amount of money oh my goodness and then uh yeah we we we service and we we

1:16:05

install and we everything in between everything everything AVL and also if

1:16:10

you're having issues if you're stuck if you're in a bind go to www. Crown care. Crown care.

1:16:18

help forgot Crown care. help you can go on that website at any moment if you're

1:16:24

on a a weekend you can't figure something out you really need help something's not working your console's

1:16:29

doing something funny your lighting's messed up your Network's down anyone you don't have to be one of our clients you

1:16:35

could be anyone go on that website Crown care. help sign up for emergency support

1:16:40

we're calling you in a half hour we're going to fix it for you or you can schedule support for during the week and

1:16:47

also we have a subscription so if you're one of these crazy guys that has like massive system I guess you don't have to have a big system but if you really want

1:16:53

that extra care of 247 monitoring making sure every one of your systems is working you don't just show up on a

1:17:00

Sunday morning it's just not working uh it's being monitored and we already know we'll know a second it goes down we'll

1:17:06

fix it before you even know about it we would have loved that back in the day think of that back in the day on the

1:17:12

weekends you can't get any help just to have somebody just just to call and and

1:17:18

bounce something like stupid propresenter or whatever is messing up you can't figure it out just to have somebody to call you never had yeah

1:17:25

manufacturers aren't available uh other integrators aren't available typically yeah uh we were kind of available but we

1:17:33

didn't have a system around it so now we have a system where you go on that website uh we'll put you through a

1:17:38

portal and be able to help you out so our our Tech Team our uh technicians for Crown care are happy that you call they

1:17:46

are happy that you were calling them and they are excited to help you and now that you've heard a bit of our origin

1:17:51

story you kind of know why this has progressed all the way to where now we offer this as a product cuz we were

1:17:58

sitting there in your shoes on Sunday mornings all the time had nobody to call

1:18:03

to fix something it was always on us yep so to have that is is pretty cool these

1:18:09

systems are getting very technical too right so it's hard to find a technical director that knows about all this stuff

1:18:16

it's almost impossible yeah so you have to find a tech director or someone that oversees your Venue or church that is

1:18:23

probably specialized typically in s sound like that's like usually the most difficult to to fill to D it yeah but

1:18:28

then that sound guy is not an it dude and he's not a lighting guy right and he's not a video dude like this just

1:18:34

doesn't happen so if it goes down we have a team that can help you out y so

1:18:41

Crown care. help Crown care doelp love yall see

1:18:46

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