Passion:
I spent many years in the HIiFi importing business. This was a business and an industry I was absolutely passionate about. High quality sound was something I had been seriously interested in since I was a kid.
The life long dream of owning my own business came way back in the 1980's when I secured the distributorship for Yamaha in New Zealand. I created a company by the name of Sound Group Holdings Ltd and it became very successful over the years. I had serious passion about this business and it was a fun industry. There were many people like me in those days who were just as passionate about what they were doing and there was lots of friendly rivalry between competitors.
In those days there were no Online Stores, the thought of such a thing never crossed any person's mind other than maybe Steve Jobs.
In New Zealand prior to 1987 there were some pretty dark days, there was import protection for local manufacturers of stereo equipment and there were a few importers who had inherited good businesses from their families. These companies were very strong and a new kid on the block like me had a tough time trying to carve a niche in the market place.
I believe it was this determination and passion that made Sound Group Holdings successful in those early days. Today when I look back there were no cell phones, no Ipads, no internet and a lot of interest in high quality sound.Most of the people world wide at this time in this line of business genuinely had passion and loved this business. Over the later years what I refer to as "The greed factor" stepped in. A lot of good people left the industry and in the USA some big companies were taken over by these business people who had zero passion about the business, the only important factor to them was money.
In New Zealand the same thing applies to a degree and a lot of the pioneering people from the 1980's have gone. The internet and the gadget industry has eaten into the disposable dollar and the Hifi business world wide has become very tough.
In my view it's survival requires passion and vision. People need to be creative as the internet has arrived and made it very easy for people to buy gear at great prices and do the research on products before they make their purchases.
Vision
Vision in business is something that is very rare, a lot of people have passion but vision is the key to success. In my case I know I was a visionary, I saw what was going on in the Hifi industry and I chose to leave well before Sound Group Holdings Ltd was at it's peak. The greed factor was starting to set in and over the last few years my decision has paid off. Although maybe a little premature I see the industry now in a completely different light. Is is entirely price driven in New Zealand as indeed it probably is else where. Most retailers employ passionate people who love the business but very few know how to sell. Product training is very well taken care of by the importers and manufactures but very little sales training takes place. I know many businesses making foolish decisions by the top people and it is costing them dearly. I believe the reason is lack of vision. Generally speaking they cannot see the future, they are not capable of looking at where their business could be in the next five years or so.
The internet HAS to be the integral ingredient for any business now and if they do not embrace it it will be at their own peril. The internet is a vehicle to be used in many ways, service, retail, advertising, being found and the list rolls on.
Business
There is no doubt business now is totally different that it was, it requires Passion, Vision, creativity and skill to succeed. Nothing is more true in the consumer electronics industry. One only needs to look at where it has come from over the years and where it is heading. If you are interested in buying audio Products online at great prices just take a look at Audio Products International. Created with Vision.
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