Talking A/V Karma With Mainline Marketing’s Clinton Muntean

In this episode, Clinton discusses why the podcast is called Sound Connections and how the name itself was part of what made him and the rest of the team here at Mainline Marketing so excited to get this project off the ground. Making connections is part of what Mainline Marketing does every single day. We connect our brands with resellers, resellers with end-users, and end-users with brands that have the products they might not even know they need.

Clinton also dives into his backstory. After attending Full Sail University, Clinton got his dream job working for a studio editing sound for the entertainment industry. Only, he quickly realized that his dream job wasn’t all he had hoped for … After wondering what his next steps would be, he ended up getting hired at Mainline Marketing. And from there, the rest is history!

Finally, Clinton explains his philosophy of A/V karma. It’s not about winning at all costs. Rather, it’s about doing your best to help others. And that philosophy has lead to Clinton having great relationships, even with competitors.

Listen and subscribe to the Sound Connections podcast on your favorite podcasting apps including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts!

Pat

Welcome to another episode of Sound Connections. We are here with the man, the myth, the legend, the president of Mainline Marketing, and the reason that we are all here. Clinton, welcome to your own show. How does that feel?

Clinton

Weird, thank you.

Pat

Thank you for your honesty. I appreciate that. So I guess I just want to start with why sound connections? What is, what does sound connections mean to you? What do you want it to mean to other people? What do you envision it being?

Clinton

Wow. Well, I think, you know, part of what we do as a firm, our rep firm is, is connecting people, connecting our manufacturers with our resellers, connecting our manufacturers and our resellers with end users. And you know, for a lot of people call me a connector, you know, I know, you know, just through my network of friends and colleagues, you know, I love connecting people. And, you know, you know, today, just today, the guy that built some cabinets in my house needed a masonry guy. And I'm like, “Hey, I happen to know a masonry guy.” Just coincidental, nothing to do with sound connections, but it's just kind of how I'm wired. And, but, you know, I think, you know, so, so Mainline Marketing is, is about making connections. And so Sound Connections, the podcast is kind of the same thing. It's, it's just connecting people in our community, connecting like-minded sound people, whether you're making a podcast or, or you're, you know, like Zach, who, who works with us, you know, has a Twitch account and, you know, he's, he's out there streaming. And so he's got a story and his story might influence or he might be able to connect with other people that are doing similar things. So whether it's, you know, we, we had another woman that reads audio books and records using a Shure microphone, I think. And so it's really just, the podcast is really designed to bring our users, right? The people that, that are in the industry, whether they're, maybe they're not all technical people either. Some of them might be front house engineers on tour with big bands. Some of them might just be resellers that, that sell technology. You know, it might be somebody that just records an audio book that's not techie at all, but they use our products that we work with and promote. So that's what it's really about. And you know, where it's going to go, I mean, who knows? It's really, we're kind of really doing it for fun and, and to bring, like I said, to bring the community, just bring people together and connect them.

Pat

So what brought you, speaking of connecting things and bringing things together, what brought you to Mainline? Because you are not the OG president of Mainline, but you have kind of made it into something that it wasn't prior to this.

Clinton

Well, I mean, so, I mean, there's a whole story, I guess. The, I, I mean, I guess if I went back on how I got in the business, because that kind of led me to Mainline. But I was working as a sound editor at a studio, and we were making sound effects for movies and for theme parks. And that's some of the projects I was working on at the time were specifically for theme parks. And it was kind of a dream of mine to be an editor. And so, you know, I went to school, I went to Full Sail for that and became this, you know, and, and had some internships and landed, you know, landed this gig and kind of realized my dream. And then about a year into it, you know, after my internship ended and I became a full-time employee, and worked in these editing suites, cutting sound effects by myself in a very dark room, I kind of realized that it wasn't for me. I, you know, I'd work 12 hour days, and staring at a computer screen, cutting sound effects. So the creative side of me loved it, and I still do, but the extrovert in me really didn't enjoy it. And I don't think I 100% realized that when I was going into it. And so just a series of events happened. The studio I worked for was getting bought by a larger conglomerate that was buying studios all around the country. And, you know, I kind of thought about that, and realized that, “Hey, I'm, I'm the only guy they hired in the last five years and I'm the junior person on the team. And it's likely they're doing all this consolidation that I might not have a job at the end of this.” So it just got me thinking. And there was a guy, I want to say his name was Gil, who worked for a company called DigiDesign who made, you know, the products that we use to, to mix our, our effects with, you know, with, with, you know. So, so DigiDesign makes DAWs and, and hardware for us to do our job, the tools for us to do our job. And the great thing about that guy is he would come to our studio and show us all the latest and greatest tools. And, you know, really what he's doing is he's trying to, you know, the owners of the studio, the managers of the studio, he's trying to sell these products and get them to buy them. So by influencing us, the users, and how cool and how much easier to make our jobs, you know. So anyway, long story short, I'm like, “Man, I want that guy's job. What a great job that would be.” And I get to talk to people, like, it started to come together for me. And at the same time, I'd have my own rig and I could just do like mixed bands and record bands on the weekends or something. Well, so anyway, so being a graduate of Full Sail, I went back to Full Sail, and I met with a guy named Darren Millar, great guy. He was the industry relations manager. So he was dealing with all the manufacturers, the people that make all the equipment and liked to design. I told him the story. He was like, “Man, you'd be great at that.” And he gave me a number and I called them up and because I was like, I think email was just happening back then. Anyway, dial up AOL.

Pat

Couldn't be on the phone and send an email. So it was one or the other.

Clinton

No, no, no, no. You had to do one or the other.Yeah, you know, and I had these—I went through this interview process and they actually offered me a job. And but it was like, I think it paid forty five grand a year and I had to move to Palo Alto, California, and work my way up to that job that Gil had. And that just really wasn't in the cards. And so I went back to Darren and Darren suggested that he's like, you know, really you should work for a manufacturer's representative firm because they represent multiple brands and and a few of them are local. You should call Mainline Marketing and you should call this other one, which I won't mention.

Pat

We don't talk about that.

Clinton

Yes, exactly. So I did. I called both, and the one we won't mention didn't call back, and at the time the Mainline was founded by and owned by a guy named Doug Swan. And he's like, well, I really don't need anybody but you know, you know, I forget. I like your attitude. I don't know what it was. Something I said got his attention. He's like, “You know, I'm at this trade show next week. It happened to be in Orlando. Why don't you stop by?” So I stopped by and we had a chat and he's like, man, I really like you but I really don't have a gig right now. But he goes, “Just stay in touch with me.”

Clinton

Well, so I did and I pretty much pestered him as much as I could without trying not to be a pest for about three months until he hired me. And that was, I don't know, 21, that was like year 2000, right? So, early like February of 2000 is when I think I officially started. And yeah, and that show I went to, it was in the fall. So that's probably about right. So yeah, he hired me and gave me a very small handful of accounts, and there was just—all the planets were in alignment. I think I just happened to really just, it was my calling. It was what I was meant to do. So, and because I loved it and because it was what I was meant to do, I excelled. And then there were also other things that were in alignment like one of our big manufacturers at the time came out with a sort of a groundbreaking product that took off. So all these things worked in my favor and I was super successful and to the point where, you know, the program he had me on might've been a little too aggressive and he's like, “Well, you know, instead of me paying you all this money, what if I made you a little small partner?” And anyway, and then he started to have, and you know, probably even at that time, Doug felt that, you know, maybe it was time for him to do something different. So over that couple of years period, you know, fast forward a couple of years, he came to the realization that yes, indeed, he did want to do something else and transitioned me into a leadership role within the firm. And then, you know, so that the manufacturers would be cool with me running it. And, uh, here we are, you know, I think I've been running it solely for, you know, 15 years and, um, and we've grown quite a bit since then.

Pat

So, you know, it's funny that you say, so we obviously have, have started this podcast, that's Sound Connections, and it's connections based, and you want to connect with the community, but it seems like you were always destined to do something like this because connections from Full Sail got you what you was your dream job. And then your connection to other people back at Full Sail got you the opportunity for another job. And it's a really very cyclical thing that kind of happens. It seems to you that the stars aligned based on who you knew, based on the connections that you made. And I think that that's very appropriate, I guess, for what this is. And it's kind of a very interesting thing in your life that connections have played such a big part. And now you are in the business of connections.

Clinton

Yeah, I think, so I don't believe—well, it's a hard thing to say, but I don't typically believe in luck. I believe that you make your own opportunity. So I think when you work hard, and you love what you do, the people around you recognize that. So when they do, the opportunity comes. So, I don't know. So I think the connections like where the people that are around me recognized by making a recommendation or pointing me in a direction that they wouldn't regret it. Right. So, so and that's what we do. So, I mean, honestly, you know, the example I gave earlier with the Mason and the cabinet maker, if I didn't think that they would be a good fit, I certainly wouldn't make the make the connection. Right.

Pat

Well, that's a sell in my opinion.

Clinton

Yeah. So, I mean, you're, you're gonna, you know, and so over the years I've made lots of connections, you know, and, you know, there's another person in our industry named Corey Schaefer, who's a big connector. She's known for that. She's very well known in our industry, hugely respected. And you know, one day I forget who I was connecting, but somebody with her or, but, you know, she kind of pointed out to me that, “Hey, you're a fellow connector,” you know? And, so, and this was, I don't know, this is years ago. So in my mind, it's there and I kind of realized, yeah, maybe I am. And it kind of ties back to this gig. I'd been doing this gig before I even realized that, but that's kind of what reps do. You know? I mean, yeah, I mean, we have to sell, but we do it in such a way where, you know, we're making these connections and bringing value to the people that are being connected. And by doing so, you know, they want to work with us. And, you know, so I have this other thing that I say that I call it AV karma, which kind of just really is like karma in general, like being a good human being, but just helping everybody you can, doing the right thing by people and it comes back, you know?

Guest

So I got a question.

Pat

Do it.

Guest

Because he said something that like resonated with me. You said your dream job at the time you thought you had it, you got it. It was the SFX, it was all that stuff. And then you realize when you're in the dark room, oh no, maybe not. What then became the dream? And do you know where that took you? Cause you said something super powerful there that like, that was my dream job and I got it. That was 21 years. That was a go. And you've taken this somewhere, where do you see it going?

Clinton

Oh, wow, man, I don't know where I see it going. I mean, that's a hard one but, you know, I didn't know that this was my, I didn't know that this was really my dream job. Even at the time when I gave that example of Gil, I thought it'd be cool because I'm still in the industry, still, you know, like I think when I went to Full Sail to become a sound effects editor, you know, I've always had an interest in music, you know, my sister played music and I was always into music and I used to try to manipulate my dad's reel to reel to record tracks, whether it's her or overdubbing, recording vinyl records onto a 8-track, onto a four track reel to reel. I don't see the value in that now, but the...

Guest

Nostalgia's in, nostalgia's back, this is eight tracks.

Clinton

So anyway, so I always had this interest, and I think the whole sound effects, you know, working in a recording studio, and then once I was at Full Sail, I realized that's super cool, but I really enjoy this post-production side of it better. And so I kind of went along that track. But I think, you know, just because you enjoy something, maybe as a hobby doesn't necessarily mean it's the best career choice. And then also I think, and this is something I say to young people, is try not to make your decisions based on the glamor of the job, right? So I think I was quite, I guess for lack of a better, like proud to say, you know, that I worked in the movie business, you know. And, you know, so I don't think I knew that this was my calling until many years later, even after I did the job. So I started at Mainline, and, you know, did well but it's a feeling you get inside about fulfillment and happiness from what you're doing versus working in the studio, we have all this glamor but coming home with headaches from looking at a screen all day, which by the way, fast forward 21 years, most of what I do now is look at spreadsheets and come home with headaches, but so—

Pat

It’s a big circle.

Clinton

But anyway, so, but I certainly appreciate, I think as we get older, we learn and some of us that are lucky maybe learn early and some of us, it takes a little longer, but when you learn what really energizes you, and how you can put that into your work, and get that fulfillment. And, you know, so, so I learned, I didn't know that when I went into Mainline, but I learned later that this was what I was meant to do. Now, as far as becoming an owner and I would have never predicted that that's, that was luck, right? Sort of, right?

Guest

Calculated luck.

Clinton

Calculated luck. If I hadn't been successful, maybe I wouldn't, Doug wouldn't have offered me the opportunity. It would have gone to somebody else. So, however, what if that other firm did call me back, and I worked for them?

Pat

Right. Yeah, but we hate them.

Clinton

So by the way, I love all my competitors. I get along with all of them very well, actually. And they're a competitor now for me, but, and I do, I, you know, they'll all tell you so. There's enough business for all of us, and I help them anytime I can. And I feel that's, that's paid me back in spades.

Guest

Is that the AV karma though?

Clinton

That is the AV karma.

Guest

You're not trying to compete that way.

Clinton

No.

Guest

Your focus, it seems like your focus is more on the brands you need to represent and how you need to get them out rather than what they're doing.

Clinton

Yes. We don't necessarily pay attention to what they're doing.

Guest

The competitors.

Clinton

Yes. Like at the firms, maybe the brands we have to pay attention to. But no, we really listen. I don't even know how I come up with this stuff, but I think there's like a, that's going to sound totally corny, but that whole compass thing. Like it just…. Over the years, our firm has evolved. Like what we were doing 10 years ago is very different than what we're doing today. And you know, we pick up pieces, some of it we learn from other firms around the country. Some of it we make up as we go along and we try stuff, and some of it works, some of it doesn't. At the end of the day, we need to bring value to the manufacturers we represent. So that's part of our mission statement, which we used to publish on our site, but we no longer do. But, I preach this in every meeting. We have company meetings like official company meetings and sales meetings and our one on ones. We do one-on-ones with all of our team members twice a year. And the first thing we talk about is our mission about bringing value to our stakeholders and our stakeholders and the manufacturers we represent. The customers we service and those customers include both the end user and the reseller. So. Everything we do revolves around that. So if we're looking to bring value or new ways to bring value because what was valuable yesterday may not be valuable tomorrow. Right. The world changes. I mean, Covid is a great example of that. So. So I think that's really—like this podcast is a great example. Are any of my competitors doing a podcast? They might be. I have no clue because I haven't paid attention. But we feel that this podcast, I hope, will bring value to the people listening. And, you know, and I hope that a good number of those people are the people that we work with. Right. The end user and the resellers that we service and our manufacturers that we contract with. So if that's bringing value to them, we'll continue to do it. The moment I feel like it's not bringing value to the people, we'll stop, and it's OK, you know, because things change. So, yeah, so we're always looking to find new ways. And I think that's driven our success. I truly believe that.

Pat

Is that why you've been able to maintain the love for this position for that long? Because it's not just staring at a screen every day. You do get to activate the the business side of your brain. You get to access the creative side of your brain. You get to literally come into a new problem every day but get to think about a way to solve it.

Clinton

Yeah, I think. Yeah, yes. So, you know, I think being a business owner…. Just there's new challenges every day, so I think any business owner will tell you unless they've got a really boring business, I'll tell you that.

Pat

Sweet accounting firm.

Clinton

I don't know. I bet they have their challenges.

Pat

I'm sure they do.

Clinton

You know, like this new math. I don't even know how to do the new math that my son brings home.

Pat

Hard pass.

Guest

What is going on with that? They're not doing it the right way.

Pat

Math is broken.

Guest

You have this many fingers. How is it? I don't get it.

Clinton

Exactly. So, but as a business owner, I might have a plan of what I'm going to do, what I was going to do today. I have a long list. It's probably still on my desk. And it didn't go to plan, right? Like so many things come at you that just so just by default, some of those things involve my creative brain. Some of those things are my math brain. Some of those things are working with people. I do get to do a lot of different things. I made the joke about spreadsheets, and I just stare at a screen all day. But of course I can choose what things I decide to do on any given day. So it's not all spreadsheets, but I get to interact with customers. I get to interact with my team. I go out and see customers, stay in the office. So it's nice. It's nice. Sometimes I do wish I was just a rep again.

Guest

Why?

Clinton

Because that's fun.

Guest

What's fun about it?

Clinton

That's the fun part of the job because it's like this. It's like really, I'm on the phone quite a bit with customers because if anyone hasn't noticed I like to talk. But it's just the interaction like the—talking to them, and sometimes it's just personal stuff. Ends up being stories or what you did last weekend or the connection, right? And then sometimes it is truly business and they're talking about a challenge they have with a project, and I might have the solution. And then when that happens, I get, you know, sometimes I got to bring it down a level. But you know, so that's the fun part of the job. Like the fun part of the job is, you know, as being a rep for me, the challenging part is as a sales rep organization, you know, we have quotas and things and you know, I don't like to be last. You know, I want to be first, I want to be the best, I want to have the best firm in the country. And if I'm when I'm when I was a rep, I wanted to be the best, and you know, once I don't know if we want to publish this either, but one time, one time at Bandcamp, I can't publish that.

Guest

It was a flute to it. I made a friend.

Pat

So flutes, it's always the flute.

Guest

I played an F flat, and it was over at that point.

Clinton

But I was at this really large account, which will go unnamed because it wouldn't be fair. And I worked for a large manufacturer, and the manufacturer said, “I bet you can't get a million dollar PO.” And this was back in the days when million dollar POs were really rare.

Guest

That’s lot of microphones.

Pat

It's a lot. That's a lot.

Clinton

Or I don't know what it was. I won't say what it was. I do know what it was.

Pat

But it was a million dollars.

Clinton

If it's a million dollars of something that costs, you know, 250, 000 dollars each, that's not a lot. But let's just say, let's just say for this company, a million dollar PO had never, ever happened. So anyway, so they challenged me to get a million dollar PO from this customer. And I did it. I got it done. It wasn't easy, and we got it done and it made no sense at all because there's a whole other story behind why it made no sense at all. But they challenged me to do it. They wanted it. I got it done. And by the way, it worked. I'm also a big believer it's got to be a win-win. The manufacturer I worked for wanted it. But just because they want it doesn't mean it's right for the customer. But we worked it out where it was a win-win for everybody involved including my firm and the reseller and the manufacturer. And we got it done, and of course then I was the first and then of course everybody had to try to outdo it, and they did. But yeah, that's a whole another story about why it makes no sense at all but that's really like rep talk. You know what I mean?

Guest

Like—15 minute episodes, rep talk. Only for reps, only for reps because no one else would want it.

Pat

So you've been pushing out a lot of AV karma, a lot of good connections, positivity. There has to be a conglomerate, a group of individuals at least on the other side of that coin. And how do you deal with reps, other marketing firms, other stuff that doesn't believe in your AV karma? Because again, from where I'm sitting and from where he's sitting, and I'm sure from where you're sitting, things look pretty good. But I'm sure that there's another side of the coin where there are people that have that negative connotation. And how do you deal with that?

Clinton

We just don't work with them.

Pat

Cool. I like that.

Guest

It's so direct, but he means it though.

Clinton

Yeah, I really do.

Guest

I could tell he means that. It's like—

Clinton

It's just, I say we do have a choice, but we choose to try to work with everybody. If we're talking about a competitor, so I mentioned I get along with all my competitors.

Pat

Right.

Clinton

If one of them wasn't cool, like just did anything disparaging to our firm, I mean, I wouldn't help them, of course. So oftentimes what happens when it comes to my competitors is a brand will call us up that wants to work with us, and for one reason or another, it doesn't make sense. It's not a good fit or we don't have the bandwidth or whatever the case. But every time one of those calls, I tell them about AV Karma and that there's, you know, it's unfortunate that we can't work together but the good news for you, Mr. Manufacturer, is Florida is full of good firms. Like there's some really good ones here. My buddy Bert Tonks, you know, is great. The guys at Benzik are great. You know, Bobby at Salesforce is awesome. And the guys at Quest are great. Like so, I look at their brand and I'm like, you know, who would be a great fit for you is, you know, this firm.

Guest

Yet another connection though. It's like even in your own moment where that's an opportunity that could have been again business or choices to make, you're letting the positivity lead for you.

Clinton

Oh yeah. Because I believe that, I truly believe that by helping my competitors, somehow it'll come back to me. And I believe it has. I think that's part of why we've done well. I mean, we're friendly with all of them. They're friendly with us. You know, there are some firms that have gone a little long, get along. So, and then with manufacturers, so if a firm, they don't even have to reciprocate, but if they just didn't respect it or just if they were just not cool without using any negative terms.

Pat

Right.

Clinton

You know, just maybe I wouldn't.

Guest

If they weren't on your AV car level.

Clinton

Yeah, then I wouldn't recommend them, right? And then same thing with a manufacturer. So, if a manufacturer, more importantly even with a manufacturer because I represent them. So, if a manufacturer, if we choose to work with one and it turns out that after we start working for them, they have questionable ethics or just, know, you we're just, we're gonna resign quickly. And that also goes, you know, over the years, you know, we've been in business a long time now, you know, it happens to every employer once in a while you get a bad apple that you thought interviewed really well and, you know, you thought they were a good fit, and they don't fit our model, right? They don't have that same belief in doing the right thing by everyone, and you know, so some salespeople, salespeople in general actually, right? If you think about it, just there's lots of movies and how horrible salespeople are, you know? We're all used car salespeople, you know? And we're all out for that dollar and some salespeople—I think it's a small, small percentage—are out for the short-term win and to make the dollar today. That's not what we're about. So, if we were to hire somebody that sort of had that attitude, they wouldn't last here because for us, it's the bigger picture and the whole AV Karma doing the right thing and so that customers want to work with us because they know that we've got their back. They know that we're not going to put them, recommend something that's not right for their customer or their business or so, you know, that's, you know, it kind of comes back to that adding value thing. If we're not bringing value to your business, to your customers, then why are we here, you know? And then it's a short game, you know, if you're not doing that, if you're not bringing value to them every day, we won't be in business five years from now, you know? So, anyway.

Guest

Do you have any idea what seeded this? And it could be a go. There's a positivity about every bit of what he's saying, right? We're talking AV karma, but only from a positive. Negative people, we're going to keep that. We may resign that. We may say no to money, right? What was the origin of that? It may not have been a business thing, but do you even, do you know? Is it something that, because not everyone is positive. I got to be very, very blunt about that. And especially in a business sense, you know, that I, myself, I deal with a lot of different business owners. Not everybody has a positive approach. Your whole, everything you're bringing into what you do, yes, you are connecting people, but you're doing it in a way that's like, how can I make sure these two are going to do something and grow from it? It isn't like they're going to cannibalize one another and go away. You're making connections to grow. What was, do you have any idea what started that in you? Was it a young man thing? Was it a kid thing? Was it a parentage? Any of that? How did it get that you became this positive outlook person?

Clinton

There were these little people with pink hair. No, I'm just kidding.

Guest

They came to me in the night. They had a gemstone in their belly.

Clinton

They're saying like, it's like Justin Timberlake or something.

Pat

It's weird. It's always Justin Timberlake.

Clinton

Yeah. No, I have no idea. I was born this way. So—

Guest

Were you always a positive person just even as a kid?

Clinton

Yeah. Like overly—

Guest

Helping people like—

Clinton

Overly optimistic. Yes. Too much. Well, I see. Where people say like, “Hey, will you help me move?” And I say, “Oh yeah, okay, sure.” And then I overextend myself sometimes even now, even though I've learned as I get older, much older, that—

Pat

Can't help and can't lift the couch anymore.

Clinton

Exactly. It's not a good—I have a bad back. But I don't make excuses like that typically. I just, if I don't really have a real excuse, like I call it excuse, but—

Pat

A reason.

Clinton

A real reason would be a better idea, a better word. I'll typically just say yes. So when my son's school asks for help, even though I don't have the time, I'll say yes. And if you said, hey man, will you come and check out my studio? It sounds like crap. I'll probably say yes.

Guest

I do need to move a couch like tomorrow. Yes. Will you come over?

Clinton

Yeah. No, actually I'm in Treasure Island tomorrow. I can't make it. I'm leaving at eight. So that's real.

Guest

I believe you.

Clinton

So anyway, I was just born that way. I was just born that way.

Guest

I love that though because like not to make it about me in this one instance, and then you can cut it. I wasn't, right? I had to get there.

Pat

He was not. I can confirm that.

Guest

No, and he knew me. I was not always super positive but it came to me in a moment of like, is that something that came from his parents? Self, like where did you just, you do not, no one has to help anybody. These are all choices we all make.

Clinton

I don't want to talk crap about my family but not everybody in my family is…

Guest

They suck. They suck.

Clinton

No, they're all cool but not everybody's positive, right? I was just, that's why I kind of look at like, I just look at my family unit and my friends that I grew up with and like it's a mixed bag, right? Some are positive, some are negative, pessimistic, optimistic. I was overly optimistic. Like, oh, don't worry, you know, like it'll be better tomorrow, you know? And however, as I've gotten older, I've also become a bit more realistic and as a business owner too because early on in my career at Mainline, a manufacturer might hire us or want to hire us or interview us, and I'm like, “Oh yeah, we can get that done in 18 months or a year or whatever.” It's like, no, it takes like three years. But you know, so, but I've learned, you know, that's just, you know, you just get excited and you get, you know, so, but in general, you know, optimistic, positive, not to say I don't have negative days, everybody does, you know. Yeah, that's just, I was born that way.

Guest

Well, so I'll say this too, is that one of the things that I think is very interesting about that is that the business you are in is typically perceived as being very cutthroat. And because you've started this AV karmic process and you pay it forward and do all those good things, you're in an unconventional position of power. In that sense that people will come to you and now trust you and now push forward all of this good karma because of what you do. And that's something that I find very interesting in business in general, because I feel like if you have a bar across the street from another bar, their goal is to put one of them out of business. And your goal is to, if I can build you up, you can build me up, and then we can come together and be raised further.

Clinton

I wouldn't say that I would necessarily build up a competitor, but I certainly wouldn't put anything in the way, right? So by recommending a manufacturer, then at the end of the day, it's still up to them to convince that manufacturer to hire them, number one. And then execute, if they get hired, execute it and do a great job, right? So I think if I owned a bar across from another bar, I would like to think that my bar would be different, right? So in my mind, my bar is going to be different than your bar. Therefore, I'm going to have a different crowd. I'm going to have a different demographic. So I don't care about your bar, I don't want to say I don't care about your bar, but I don't care that they're across the street because that's a different crowd.

Pat

They're both different.

Clinton

It's a different kind of a bar and then when I found opportunities that match their bar, I would send those opportunities their way because those opportunities aren't right for my bar. And so I guess in that way I would be building their bar up. And I would like to think that when they run into opportunities that don't fit them, that look might be a better fit for me, that they would send them my way. So that's how we operate when we work with our competitors, and I think if you talk to them, if they were here today, you know, Bert or Bobby or Chris from Benzik, I think that's probably what they would say about us, right? And their firm is different than mine. In fact, we all have different strengths and weaknesses, right? So we're not the end all be all in the rep business. My competitors happen to have some strengths in places where and you know, and typically, if we're not strong in a category, we don't represent products in that category. So I'd like to maybe expand those categories but it's just the timing has to be right, you have to have the right people like maybe one day we will but until then, when those opportunities come my way, I pass them off until it makes sense for us to do it, right?

Pat

So what is an opportunity that's been afforded to you by this position where you kind of sat back and you were like, oh wow, this is awesome. What's an experience you've gotten to have because of where you are because of the position you're in that you're like, this is so cool.

Clinton

Oh my gosh, I don't know.

Pat

I'm sure there's like a million but give me one.

Clinton

I don't know. There's so many like early, earlier on, especially I say BC, which is before Colin, before Colin, my son, he's about to turn nine. But back when, before, you know, we were able to do cool stuff like, you know, some of the manufacturers we work with endorse artists and, you know, maybe we're able to score tickets to a really cool show and meet some really cool people. So we've met some really great, like really famous artists.

Pat

Like you should definitely name drop right now.

Clinton

Well, this goes back some time. So like Sarah McLaughlin was a big one. Tracy Chapman. Oh man. The Goo Goo dolls I got to hang out with. That was fun. Oh my gosh. There's, there's a few others, but so that, so that was cool. I mean, so those are cool things, and I kind of almost grew out of it. Like, you know, I probably still could score tickets for things like that from time to time if I paid attention to it. I think part of it is I'm too busy to pay attention to who's where and when they're in, when they're in Florida or when I'm willing to fly somewhere. And then, and, you know, just part of it is even if they were, there was a show where I could get to, could I really like family and time and running the business. You know, one of the coolest experiences for me is as we became a bigger firm, and we had more resources, I was able to put together a trip for customers where I, so basically I went, I had this idea where I would take six customers to Europe. Now, part of that was selfish because I was already going to be in Europe. So, my wife is from Germany, so we spend some time in Germany every year and Shure has an office in Germany and Barco, who we also represent, has an office in Belgium. So I was like, what if we took six customers to Germany to drive Porsche—and I like cars. So, Porsche 911s through the countryside and on the Autobahn. So, we put together this amazing trip, which was a round table discussion. So, we picked some really smart customers that are connected to the market, that are super connected to the markets, that could give our manufacturer some great product feedback. Like, hey, this product should have this new feature or feature in a menu that you're missing. So, we kind of had them sign NDAs and they got to see what was coming and give the manufacturer some valuable feedback. So, we had a meeting. So, we flew everybody out to Europe. We had a meeting where they got to give Shure some feedback and Shure a little bit of feedback. So, we had six Porsche 911s. They were GTS4s and we had this, we had a Jen arrange this knowing—she knew Germany, and she did all this research on these driving routes and we had six Garmin GPSs, even though the cars had GPSs, but we programmed six Garmin's with waypoints of exactly where we're going to stop. Like these little legs that were about an hour, hour and a half each and she arranged all these, like the lunch and the coffee and where we're going to get ice cream.

Guest

That's awesome.

Clinton

Like in all these historic places and our customers. So, we had six customers and then there were six, what I call hosts, right? So, I was one of course, and then some two people from Shore, two people from Barco, actually three people from Shore, so they're 12. So, we had a host and a guest, one of our customers in each car and it was a trip of a lifetime. And so, we did the Porsches all day, we had lunch in a castle and had ice cafes at this little tiny place and there was like this marching band that came through this little village at the time. It was like—

Pat

Out of a movie.

Clinton

It was out of a movie. Yeah. Yeah. So, then, from Heidelberg, we rented two vans and drove to Korchic in Belgium to visit the Experience Center for Barco. And along the way, we had lunch in Luxembourg and that was just a trip. And it was just so much fun, and we visited these catacombs, and the lunch that we thought was going to be like an hour turned out to be three hours because the service was so slow but amazing food and wine, and there was just funny things that happened along the way with people's luggage getting lost and some dude had to borrow shorts from me and one of my customers. So, we made, so it was great because—

Pat

It's a tough ask. It's a tough ask.

Clinton

Yeah, it was. And there was another instance where we were in two vans, and we were making a left turn up this hill at a stop sign, and the van in front of us being driven by, I won't say who because I don't want to embarrass him, but he decides to peel out. He's got like four or five people in his van. I got like six people, I guess, and I've got six people in my van, and he decides to peel out to try to beat that, the traffic coming from the right. And as he does so, the back, as he's going uphill, the back doors of his van fly open and the luggage goes all over the street. So anyway, but the best thing about this was, like I said, our manufacturers got valuable feedback from these really influential and smart customers and we all got close to each other and made some of these really great friendships but we had the most amazing time. So as far as my career at Mainline, as far as like, you know, what you're saying about experiences, I mean, I can't imagine how else I would have done that otherwise. Like, so we're doing it again by the way, but we're not doing Germany. So this year, so we were supposed to do it last summer, of course, but COVID. You know, yeah.

Pat

Yeah.

Clinton

So it was all planned. I was ready to call the people we were going to invite in February, late February, I had to go to a conference. So I come back from the conference and I'm like, oh yeah, I better get to that. I better get it done. I better start calling people. And then of course our country got shut down. So we ended up, everything was actually already booked, paid for, and we had to, you know, undo all that. And that was a challenge. So here we are again in 2021, I'm going to knock on wood, but I just heard today. So England was supposed to lift their restrictions. So this time we're doing London and Belgium because Shure has an experience center in London. And I called all of the guests that were intending on bringing, and it sounds like they're all in.

Pat

I think my phone was off for that phone call. I must have missed that.

Clinton

So we're going to, but instead of Porsches through the countryside, we're going to drive Land Rovers over rocks and mud and on this closed course. We do that all day. Same format, um, you know, mostly a different group and a different city. So we're going to do that in London, but I just heard today that they're under quarantine right now. They're orange, whatever level orange, and they're supposed to lift the quarantine by mid June. I just heard that they might extend it to August.

Pat

Well, we will keep our fingers crossed that that does not happen.

Clinton

So, um, I'm going to be doing some great things about doing what we do and trying to build these connections, right? So that part of that trip is building connections as well with really great people because we only invite great people on that trip by the way, and not just because of the amount of business they do, but just their human-ness. They have to be really great people. So, um, uh, that. I forget where I was going with that. I forget what I was saying.

Pat

Those connections that you make.

Clinton

Oh, the connections. Yeah. So, that's—part of it is building connections. So those connections we built on that last trip, there are people I of course already knew, but you know, when you're spending six days with somebody driving a hundred miles an hour in a port, you kind of get to know them.

Pat

Sounds awesome.

Clinton

And they might've heard some words out of my mouth when, especially when I'm not driving that, uh, you know, anyway, so it was awesome. And, um, hopefully we'll do it again, but this time in Land Rovers at a much slower pace.

Pat

Well, I hope that that gets to happen. Uh, we will keep our fingers crossed for you. Thank you for coming on your own podcast and explaining kind of what Sound Connections is and what it means to you. And I think anyone that watches or listens to this is going to really understand how big a role connections play in your life and hopefully put forward some, uh, some AV karma.

Guest

That'd be awesome.

Clinton

I think if everybody did that, we'd all be better people.

Pat

Strong agree. But again, thank you for coming. I appreciate it. And, uh, this was another episode of Sound Connections, guys. Thank you so much for watching and listening and we will see you guys all back here next time.

Thanks for listening to another episode of Sound Connections brought to you by Mainline Marketing in Winter Park, Florida. We hope you enjoyed everything you heard. We hope you enjoyed this sound connection guys. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe if you're on Youtube or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. We appreciate it and we will see you all back here next time.