Doug McCraw is the owner and founder of Encore Entertainment, a sound and lighting business based in Marion, North Carolina. Encore does sound and lighting for many events, from birthday parties and car shows to larger events such as concerts and street festivals.
When asked about his reasoning to start his own business and to choose the one he did, he said that he “just always wanted to do something like that.” He started with a company doing sound and lighting for night clubs all over the south east and eventually began to be approached about private parties. “This could be an extra few bucks,” he said was going through his mind. The business started off slow, as it was only on the side while he worked other jobs.
Before the business could grow any more, there were some difficulties, primarily expenses. Professional sound and lighting equipment are expensive, and in order to compete in the business one would need to have just as good equipment as the competition, if not better. However, once the investment was made, more opportunities came. The goals of the business stayed the same, but the operations changed. Advances in technology helped out tremendously. Before cell phones were common, he spent a lot of time having to hunt pay phones to get directions. Before the internet was a mainstay, it was difficult to do contracts. While he could work out deals with clients over the phone, it took forever to do contracts and other paperwork over standard mail.
Marketing was also affected by the advent of the internet. Web promotion, particularly using Facebook, is an excellent way to get customers. However, it was still more important to build a reputation with the customers. “You take care of them, they refer you to their friends,” Doug states. “Word of mouth is what makes or breaks you.” However, it is more difficult now to get new customers due to the state of the economy. People just don’t have enough expendable income now. However, he doesn’t regret the decision to go out and start his own business. If the economy picks back up, he expects for things to go smoothly again. When asked if he had any regrets about starting his own business, he only gave one: that he would have made the investment faster.
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