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Empower vs. Employ

I’ve spent most of my adult life employed by some great companies. Guitar Center, TekWorks and AVI Systems to name just a few.

The benefits of working for these companies were significant as they provided health care, 401K plans and vacation pay. I am forever grateful to the founders of these companies and what working for them has taught me. We are hardwired from birth to go to school, get a job, work your way up the ladder and use your experience to negotiate better pay and benefits. However, I do have to say that for me, it’s hard to get out of the mindset of working for someone else. Do we all want to climb that ladder to the top? I don’t think so.

If we’re all honest with ourselves, we would much rather have the job of Elon Musk than the salaried middle-management desk job. Unfortunately, most people don’t think beyond their immediate needs and just surviving. And I have to wonder why. When we were kids we dreamed. We wanted to be astronauts, the president, a professional athlete or a doctor. What happened to those dreams? I think the challenges of life can sometimes beat us into submission – where we’re waving a white flag with the hope of just paying out bills. This isn’t the way it should be.

On a recent trip to San Francisco, as I was looking at the high rises and thinking about all of the successful companies, I had this epiphany:  every great company, think Apple, Tesla or Amazon, started out as nothing but an idea. A small seed in someone’s mind. A desire to do/create something significant, or at the very least step out of the rat race and do something they’re passionate about.

So, what’s your idea? What’s your seed? Why can’t YOU be the next Elon Musk? What do you know and what have you experienced that is unique and could add value to other people’s lives?

I believe that every single person on planet earth has the ability to answer that question. We all have significant value to offer, it’s just taking that first step. So, where does AV HERO fit in to this?

AV HERO was big idea. My concept of how to positively change an industry that I believe was and still is in need of change. But AV HERO also exists for another important reason – probably the most important of all. AV HERO exists to EMPOWER people. AV HERO is a platform that empowers customers to get the help they need in a fast, simple and cost-effective way and empowers AV technicians to work less, make more and be a HERO. Sounds grandiose right? To salesy?

Please let me explain:

My dream is that the AV HERO platform would empower AV technicians to create a better life for themselves – a life where technicians can make better money, work flexible hours and have a positive impact on people’s live – do jobs that have a high satisfaction level.

Sounds like THE dream, right? Too good to be true? I don’t think so. With a little initiative and a willingness to think outside of the box, I believe that thousands of AV techs across this country can have this experience. Who’s with me?  Who’s willing to step out of the boat and try something radical? Tell people about AV HERO, share your HERO Code, sport the swag and Save the Day!

In the words of the late, great Mark Twain, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

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