Freeman’s Car Stereo

Cornelius, NC

Freeman’s Car Stereo has seven locations, and is headed by CEO David Wall, who has been in the industry for 28 years. Wall aims to continue growing the business in the coming years. “We have some big ideas we’re working on,” he said. “I see us having more stores and covering more area, while continuing to improve our alignment with our core values and mission statement.”

As a young installer, Wall felt inspired by technicians and competitors such as Richard Clark, Mark Fakuda, Gary Biggs and David “Fishman” Rivera. But two of his biggest influences were Freeman’s founder John Freeman, and David Richardson, who was managing the store when Wall worked as an installer there in the 1990s.

“John was a pioneer in the industry and David was a visionary who used his banking and computer background to revolutionize the way Freeman’s was operated and expanded,” he explained. “David was also very involved in the industry and served on the MERA board. They both made their mark doing things that no one had done before them. I aspire to be innovative as they were.”

AUTOSOUND & PROCESSING

AudioControl

JL Audio

SONY ACCESSORIES & MATERIALS

AAMP

Automotive Data Systems (ADS)

Metra Electronics

INFOTAINMENT & MULTIMEDIA

AAMP

Kenwood

Sony

Next Level, Inc.

Orlando, Fla.

The owner of Next Level, Inc., Steven Paul, has been in the industry for 20 years. He said he sees the company continuing to grow well into the future.

“I see myself and my shop as having ‘no competition’—I will help and work with all local shops together in the same way,” he said. “We are a small, tightly-knit community. Working together, rather than seeing each other as competition, allows all of us to provide a better service to the end user and build each other’s shops up.”

In its local community, Next Level also gets involved in charity events. While they’ve completed numerous projects for celebrities and other high-profile personalities, Paul said, “We continue to provide services to every customer in the same way we’d service the higher-profile clients.”

SECURITY,

SAFETY & DRIVER ASSISTANCE

Firstech (Compustar, Drone Mobile)

Metra Electronics (iBeam)

Voxx Electronics

Mobile Toys, Inc. College Station, Texas

Chris Pate, CEO of Mobile Toys, Inc., said the business began as a single store in College Station. “Fourteen years later, we’re one of the most recognized and respected companies in our industry,” he added. “Our three companies share a 30,000-square-foot facility on four acres.”

In its early days, the business made about $250,000 a year—today, he noted, it’s gone up to $6,000,000 per year. Pate feels the team is designing and building “the coolest audio systems in the world,” adding that Mobile Toys is also a manufacturer, a high-end custom interior shop, an e-commerce vendor and a brick-and-mortar retailer.

MARINE

JL Audio Rockford Fosgate Wet Sounds

MOTORCYCLE & POWERSPORTS

Diamond Audio HKI USA

Kicker OEM INTEGRATION (NEW FOR 2022)

AAMP (PAC)

AudioControl Metra (Axxess)

LIGHTING (NEW FOR 2022)

Lucas Lighting Metra (Heise)

Race Sport Lighting

Nick Apicella

VANGUARD

Automotive Designs

Stony Point, NY

Nick Apicella, co-owner of Vanguard Automotive Designs, said he anticipates growing all of his business ventures in the near future. He hopes to see Vanguard in a newer, bigger building. When it comes to sales, he said he’s best at “being able to guide a client to exactly what they need, without feeling pressured or upsold. My specialty started in selling sound systems, and getting our clients the most for their buck, and from there I was able to apply my style of guidance to other categories.” He also prides himself on his ability to integrate aftermarket sound systems seamlessly into OEM systems without any sacrifice in quality. There are many in the industry whom he admires, he said: “The guys at MSC pretty much set the standard in how I want things to be. Nalaka Adikari at ORCA is also an influence in how he conducts business as a whole and in sales. But in sales specifically, Elias Ventura was the very first person who was willing to guide me on sales, and most listen to me about what I needed help with. I think this stuck with me and it shows because this is exactly how I go about sales. Listen, inform, guide, execute. So, Elias, I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, but thank you.”

Finally, he named Frankie Mark of 12 Volt Marketing, who introduced Apicella to a lot of people at his very first KnowledgeFest: “He continues to provide support, knowledge and insight in business and everyday life.”

As store manager of Speakerbox, Alex Stowe said she feels her biggest strength is the ability to multitask. Stowe has been in the industry for 15 years. It took her years, she said, to understand that “I cannot please everyone,” adding, “I believe in overcoming the notion that the customer is always right.” She explained that, often, “our hearts are tied to our customers and how their experience affects us in the sales field.”

Striving for perfection can affect a salesperson emotionally, she said, noting, “This can affect your work, make you question your abilities, or leave you feeling like you weren’t good enough for them. Our job is to make their experience the best possible. We do not get a second chance to make a first impression.”

She recalled an experience with a previous customer, from which she learned to adopt a mindset to only provide simple facts to clients: “I had a customer whose vehicle had mechanical failure, not due to us. I provided this client with entirely too many details which turned into a city-wide game of he said / she said,” she explained. “I also chose to build a personal relationship with a lot of the dealers and mechanical shops around town, so that now we all work together in getting accurate facts to our clients.”

Stowe said she sees herself growing and exceeding her goals. “I plan one year at time and discipline myself to top that goal,” she said. “The next year, I set my bar higher and strive toward killing it. Knowledge is power and ever-evolving from year to year. If I fail, I pick myself back up, ask what I could’ve done different and catch up.”

Dan Bowman TITAN MOTORING Nashville, Tenn.

As a client specialist at Titan Motoring, Dan Bowman feels he is best at product application. He has been in the industry for almost 25 years. Over the years, he’s learned not to work himself to exhaustion, he said, adding, “It causes health problems and damages relationships. For what? It’s not worth it. There’s no glory in working yourself to death.”

Bowman said he was fortunate to grow in his career around others who’ve had so much experience—even those relatively unknown to the industry who “delivered cutting-edge installations day in and day out,” he noted. “[I’ve learned] in a shop where quality of workmanship is paramount, and we had 84 zip codes we serviced to show for it.”

He feels most inspired by Matt Figliola at Ai Design. “Being from the northeast, we would hear about this shop doing things few others attempted while cruising under the radar,” he said. “Imagine the ability to indulge in a relentless pursuit of perfection backed by clientele with the budget and time to back it up.”

Bowman added that in the coming years, he intends to continue his growth in the automotive aftermarket.

Currently the store manager of Mobile Sound Systems, Justin Red hopes to one day own or co-own his own business. He has been in the industry for 14 years. He is most inspired by Jorge Grijalva, Nick Williams, Paul Rivera, Phil Cantu, Jayson Conner and Shawn Malins. “They helped me grow and always help teach me things,” he said. “They have all been a big part of my career. They showed me that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything.”

The person who has most influenced him, he said, is Nick Williams, who has been working at Mobile Sound Systems for over 20 years. Red noted that he admires him because he “fought many battles and worked his way up to owning the company. He’s shown that you can get what you want if you’re willing to work hard and put in the time.”

Red said he learned from Williams that “we have to continue to adapt and change in order to grow.”

He looked back at a mistake he made as a technician while pulling a large truck into the bay. The truck hit the wall, “and I put a very nice crease in the back door of the truck.”

Outside of work, Red said he enjoys “spending time with my kiddo, listening to music or shooting pool.”