Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Lewin.
Marc, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Clients often ask how I got into the home automation business. “How long have you been doing this?” they say.
My answer is always the same. “It all depends on when you start counting.”
My father was a television repairman in his native Argentina. I was born there and grew up around electronics. In 1964 my parents moved our family to Miami Beach, and in 1968 my dad opened his own TV shop on 71st Street in Miami Beach. I went to work for him when I was 11 years old, sweeping floors and cleaning up on Saturdays.
By 15 years old I was a qualified television repairman and I would do the outside service visits for my father’s clients. We were installing entertainment systems in people’s homes before there was such a thing as cable, satellite, or the internet-streaming content of today. We installed outside antennas on the roofs of people’s houses to bring over-the-air entertainment into their homes.
At 15 I was not legally allowed to drive alone; I had to be accompanied by an adult driver. My dad had a friend named Jerry – a nice retired gentleman who liked to hang around the shop. Jerry would come with me on the service calls, and it was funny to show up at a client’s house and see the looks on their faces when they realized that I was the technician and Jerry was my helper.
I continued repairing televisions for my dad, and later for another shop in Hialeah, until I was 18 years old, then went to work for a wholesale Electronics distributor as an outside salesman. This was my first introduction to sales. My duties were to visit electronic stores and repair shops all over Dade and Broward County selling them electronic goods and replacement parts. This led me to be offered a job by one of my customers, a retail electronics store in the Omni mall in downtown Miami. They hired me because I knew how to speak Spanish. While there I witnessed firsthand the introduction of the Walkman, the VCR, the DVD, and the PC.
At some point during my tenure at this store I realized that I could be doing this for myself, so at the age of 23 I quit my job, borrowed as much money as I could, and opened Sounds Good Stereo on US1 right outside the Omni.
Initially intended to be a full line electronics store, Sounds Good Stereo quickly evolved into a high-end car audio shop. Our proximity to Miami Beach and downtown Miami, and the presence of a luxury car dealership practically next-door exposed us to a high-end clientele and their vehicles. For the next 20 years Sounds Good sold and installed high-end car audio, including many award-winning systems for athletes, celebrities, and notable clients. As the name implies, we prioritized good sound and performance in our systems. We became very good at understanding our clients’ needs and filling them with award-winning audio and later audio-video systems.
Anyone who’s in the automation business knows that the best home automation installers are former car audio installers. In 2001 I started to see the decline in the car audio industry and so began transitioning into home automation. I incorporated Visual Acoustics in 2003.
At first, home automation was just a sideline; we did mostly car audio and, occasionally, we had a home automation job to do. But Visual Acoustics quickly grew and soon it overtook the car audio business.
Our reputation for quality, integrity, and our strong ties in the electronics industry allowed us to partner with the best manufacturers and helped pave the way for our success.
When Visual Acoustics grew sufficiently large, I sold my car audio business to a talented and ambitious former employee so I could dedicate myself 100% to home automation. Although I no longer own it, I’m proud to say that Sounds Good Stereo, the car-audio business I started in 1983, is still in business and thriving today.
Since making the move into home-automation every year has been our best year ever. Even through the downturns of 2007 to 2009 VA managed to stay busy and grow. Last year we purchased and custom-remodeled an abandoned church in Wynwood to be our new base of operations. VA now employs 19 extraordinary people, has 11 vehicles on the road, and 2017 is once again shaping up to be our best year ever.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
VA is not immune from the typical challenges that face any business. But we are fortunate to have very talented, creative, and industrious team members that help smooth out the bumps in the road. They are our greatest asset.
Visual Acoustics – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We do everything. We want ours to be the only phone number the client needs to call for all things low-voltage.
When we recently redesigned our website (we bought the “budget” package) the developer explained our home page would have a slide-show consisting of four rotating slides, and asked us to define four core principles that would impart what we do.
The slides are “Connect,” “Protect,” “Control,” and “Entertain.”
With phone, internet, cable, satellite, and intercom we “Connect” our clients to each other and to the outside world.
With burglar alarms, camera systems, and access control systems we “Protect” our clients.
With control systems like Lutron, Crestron, and Savant we allow our clients to “Control” their home environments.
And with music systems, TVs, Surround-sound systems, theater systems, and back yard systems we “Entertain” our clients.
Our specialty is to provide all the LV systems in a home, and to shepherd a project from planning through completion, providing all the hardware, labor, and programming needed to turn the completed project over to the client, and then to provide ongoing support.
What we are most proud of is our people, and the experience they deliver to our clients.
Nothing brings more joy than to get positive feedback from our clients, and all team members are trained to prioritize client experience above all else.
What sets us apart can be explained by our T-Shirts. Every VA team member wears a red shirt. On the front is the VA logo. On the back there are four words: “Great Work. No Stories.”
We don’t make excuses. We show up as promised, do great work, and deliver great experiences.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Today. Right now.
I’m proud every day of how VA has grown and continues to grow. I’m proud of the people I work with. I’m proud of the systems we do and of our relationships with our clients.
Most of all I’m proud of the reputation we have built.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.visualacoustics.net
- Phone: 305-576-4160
- Email: info@visualacoustics.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Visual-Acoustics-197122933735060/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-lewin-37a35b41/
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