A new blog, to keep you updated and informed about the changes in technology in our world today. I have been struggling with the idea of starting a blog for various reasons. I’ve had clients and customers ask me on numerous occasions, “how did you learn that?” The answer to that question is simple yet also complex. I like most people have learned through trial and error. However, I am a firm believer in a good education. Because of that I will generally take as many courses, and training sessions as I can feasibly fit in to my schedule.
Over the years starting with my time as an Integrator for Templeton Sound, there were lots of things that I just didn’t understand. Especially why some things worked better than others. Working with my mentor Michael, I learned that just because you don’t know how to do something now, doesn’t mean you can’t find someone else who does know how to do something now. Templeton taught me that one thing that always works better than the alternative is quality of work. He drilled into me that I need to always to do things right the first time, measure twice and cut once, get your bearing and verify your bearings, neat and tidy shouldn’t only apply to my home, but also my work.
I took to heart his golden nuggets as he calls them, and I apply them in my business today. It may cost a little more for me to pull your wiring but at the end of the day, I will not be ashamed to show anyone my wiring. I have literally been in multi-million-dollar homes, where people have paid a small fortune for Integration and Audio Video work, yet you open a closet door and out falls a bundle of wires, some secondhand amplifiers, and some network switches that looked like they were being strapped up to a return line of someone’s HVAC unit. I am a stickler for a beautiful, finished product. You work hard for your money and if you are going to spend it with Palmetto Integration, you will get hard work back, and a product that you don’t have to lock the closet door on.
You see, it’s not always about having the most expensive or most technologically advanced products, it about having the right products, to do the job right. By taking my time and researching each of my preferred vendors one thing that I always look for is a company that has good tech support, and a good warranty. See, I don’t always have all the answers, and in this constantly evolving world you have to surround yourself with good people. Each of my preferred partners is good people I surround myself with.
Literally just the other day I hung a beautiful new television for a client that was part of a much larger integrated AV system. When we got the TV setup and installed, we seemed to be having an issue with one of the sources, a satellite box. After hours of troubleshooting the satellite box and swapping from $20 HDMI cables to $200 HDMI cables we still weren’t getting the results we were looking for. So as a last-ditch effort I contacted the TV manufacturer. This is one of my preferred partners, and they were able to help me diagnose what was going on and within about 10 minutes on the phone we had the situation resolved. There are literally so many different options for integrating things that we were told that it very well may have been the first time this combination of TV, and satellite receiver were used together. I don’t know that I would have ever figured this out on my own, but by surrounding myself with good people and good partners, we were able to resolve a simple handshake issue between the two devices.
Sometimes the best way to learn is to throw yourself in headfirst. Although the story I just told you I didn’t realize I was throwing myself in headfirst, I thought I had all the knowledge I needed to perform the task at hand, I really didn’t. You see that TV manufacturer has Product Knowledge meetings on a regular basis, and I generally will sit through all of the webinars they offer but the one I needed I missed. Fortunately, they were able to give me a crash course, on adjusting the speed of HDMI synchronization. You can’t be afraid to fail.
“Don’t be afraid of failure. Learn from it and keep going. Persistence is what creates excellence.”
Anonymous
Palmetto Integration 