Growing
up with three sisters and his mother Elliot was the man of the house
from day one. His father nowhere to be found and his family surviving
on one income, Elliot felt like there was no other choice but to make
it big and do it fast, that is not the typical state of mind of a13
year old. This was when he discovered his strength in car audio, as
word got out of his abilities to friends and locals; he taught
himself new and different skills with each installation. With
finances scarce for furthering his education on his new found skills,
he had only the locals and friends to help him gain the experience he
so desired by working on their rides, and so he did.
All the
skills he learned by hand and all the installations he had done,
Elliot had finally made a name for himself. Becoming so recognized
that he was offered a job by the biggest Car Audio shop in town on
recognition and recommendation alone. This was his dream job,
everyone who was in the car audio installation business or starting
out would give anything to work at a place like this and he did it.
Not even going in for an interview but just by word of mouth, the
owner, whom he’d never met, offered him a job and a shot his dream
on the spot.
That
dream was very short lived, as his childhood friend being as close to
him as a brother heard about the new job and took Elliot’s identity
and took the dream job. At this crossroads of betrayal and
disappointment, Elliot had to decide “do I continue for what I want
here where my name is already out there and recognized, or do I move
on to something else?’ As shattering as this was, his own best
friend taking his job, Elliot decided to keep moving and took his
dream to the next level. He studied more hands on with new
installation systems and new items that were hitting the market each
year, from radios to TV installations and custom fiberglass in any
car possible.
With
his dream seemingly a long way away, he took on other jobs to support
himself. He worked in a commercial security and video surveillance
position for 6 months before he was promoted to supervisor. Elliot
being the young new kid on the block at 18 yrs old had a crew of 5 –
6 people working for him. Although this new job worked out and looked
to be going places this wasn’t where he really wanted to be. Elliot
turned his sights back to his true passion of car audio and auto
customizing.
There
seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel that screamed car audio
and during his vacation he saw that light shine as a car audio
installer for a major chain store that was opening a new location.
Elliot took the opportunity and soon became a supervisor there as
well. With this new job came more finances, which gave Elliot the
opportunity to go to community college and work toward a degree in
Business. As he learned more about the business side of things he
noticed that his current employer didn’t handle things in such an
ethical way and he parted ways with the company.
Again
he was now at the crossroads questioning, what do I do next, go back
into car audio working for someone or go into it by myself. So Elliot
decided to pursue what he does best saying, “if I’m going to do
it all by myself, I need to do it now.” With only a $500 credit
card he started out performing on-site installation, he bought a
business license, a work van, and insurance. Elliot would take calls
for car audio installations and work on-site at customers homes and
their jobs as well as process all payments either by cash or wireless
credit with a partner he had worked with before. Building his
clientel, his creditability, and his revenue.
Wanting
to have something more solid and guaranteed finances for his unborn
child and fiance, Elliot went back to working security part-time.
Seeing that both the part-time business of car audio and his
part-time security job was a bit much to handle on his own, he relied
on his partner, a past co-worker to help with installations when he
himself was unavailable. During this time, his small business began
to grow more and branch out and be noticed by more people. Elliot
then took his business to the next level by creating a website to
help generate more business for the company in the area.
Although
the website took him 4 months to complete, due to him building it
from scratch on his own and thru trial and error, he finally
published the website and got it up and running. Not two days after
the website was active, he was contacted by a big company for the
biggest contract to date. Elliot was to install GPS systems for the
company cars for this new client. This job was for a total of 300
cars which would bring the cost and labor to $11,000. Now the
financial side of things was starting to look up. This was his
opportunity to start over, to build bigger on what he had already
started.
When
the job was complete his “partner” recieved the check to deposit
in the business account. Elliot checked the bank and had noticed the
money from the last big job had not been deposited. Elliot asked his
so-called “partner” what happened to the funds, he told Elliot
that he deposited $1,000 and took the remaining $10,000 saying,
“That’s what the company owes me.” Obviously he knew the guy
needed the money but what he had ultimately done was wrong and was
technically considered stealing from the company. Elliot sat down
with his “partner” and had a meeting about this issue which
probably would have destroyed the companies ability to survive. Once
everything was laid out the meeting ended with Elliot legally buying
him out to the tune of $3,000 for his 50% stake in the company.
Throughout
all of this Elliot kept thinking of what happened to him years before
when his then best friend took his dream job from him. Elliot
realized that both guys were only in it for the instant gratification
not the bigger picture. But what really hurt Elliot the most with the
latest betrayal was that the guy said he took what the company owed
him. The company wasn’t a part of him as it was for Elliot, the
company is Elliot’s life not just his business, it’s his dream in
reality. Only good thing that Elliot could say about this is that at
least it happened now and not later.
Broken
again but not defeated, Elliot had to go back to working the business
part-time and take on another part-time job as well. With him being
down one man and having just bought a house, this by far was the
hardest downfall if not set back he had to experience. It had become
the either make it or break it moment of his career. So now he went
into this head on, Elliot wanted to know everything about being a
business owner, not just how to install, he took every chance he got
to learn the Do’s and Don’ts of business. Elliot learned his
clients likes and dislikes, what they need and are looking for.
Elliot
wanted repeat business; he wanted his clients to come back and know
that they can leave their car in his hands and have it returned to
them looking amazing not just great. He was able to do this by having
his business mobile and completing work on-site for each job for a
little over a year. Once Elliot was financially able he opened his
first shop, but not on the main highway, but on off the beaten path.
He wanted to be the city’s best kept secret, until he was actually
ready for the mainstream business. Being on a side road, his
business was limited to clients who had already utilized his services
before. This small amount of clientel gave him the time to learn real
ownership and business details.
After
being in this unnoticeable location for a short while, he was
beginning to get more recognition for everything he had done in the
past and had continued to achieve. As with anyone who is beginning to
see a break in the clouds of their success, he did not fall short of
having people look for him to fail. With the economy falling, people
from the past and present expected him to fall financially as well,
they just kept telling him not everyone makes it as if they were just
waiting for him to fail. Little did they know that his sales had
increased 150% within a very short amount of time. Elliot had risen
to meet his competition head on, the 4 car audio stores that were in
a 15 mile radius of his small shop didn't pay attention and now
Elliot's company, Defiant Audio, was ready to go toe to toe with all
of them in the mainstream..
Elliot
took this opportunity to expand his business by buying out another
company and move to a new location. So he went to stores that were
going out of business and bought their display products at reduced
prices and used it to build up his new store. Elliot finally was
ready to open up shop on the highway. So now with one car audio place
out of business and the one bought out, that left 3 shops in the area
including his own place, he could give his competition a run for
their money. With his new shop’s doors not yet open, his reputation
for fiberglass and high-end car audio earned him a huge client, an
exotic car installation job. Now with this project for such a luxury
car system to be installed and customized, Elliot had something big
to show off his work on Grand Opening day, beyond anything that had
been done by any of the other shops.
The
luxury car was posted out front of his shop when he opened his doors
in April 2009, and ever since then his business has sky rocketed. He
is doing it bigger than anyone in Delaware. With all that he has
achieved, Elliot is still doing this all by himself. He has guys come
in and out of his shop looking for a job, as they all want to be
apart of what he is doing. The success that he has seen throughout
the few short years of building his business he has made a
recognizable name for himself and his company, Defiant Audio,in the
car audio industry.
Elliot
has become so well known that he has clients who ship their $100,000
cars to Delaware just to have him customize them. Within his first
full year of business on the highway running full tilt, he has
brought many more luxury cars, from Lamborghini's to Porsha’s, all
from upstate New Jersey and New York then anyone in Delaware ever
has. Elliot is the person people from abroad have grown to trust and
want for their customizing and audio installation, if it’s a car
stereo, to a GPS system, DVD system, or televisions people are taking
it to Defiant Audio.
Not
only is he known in the area for his work, he’s also known at the
regional car shows as well. Every year in Ocean City, MD a car show
is held to show off the newest and hottest items in the industry.
Only the best of the best are present at this show, which brings out
car lovers across the East Coast. His first year at the show Elliot
brought six cars and brought home 5 trophies for his work. He has
made such a presence over the years that Elliot's “Defiant Audio”
booth is one of the most anticipated booths by both Vendors and
spectators.
These
car shows and other personal recognitions have brought on celebrity
connections from Hip Hop artists to Actors even Famous DJ's. Although
having a celebrity connection is great, that’s not the direction
Elliot or Defiant Audio is aiming for at this time. He has gotten
this far by himself, he feels that he can go further but does not
want to do it on the tails of someone famous. He keeps his
connections close but still stands on his own feet when it comes to
his work. His work is such high quality in this industry that the
military requested him and an other celebrity customizer to work on
one of their Marketing Hummer’s and fit them with moving television
screens and extreme fiberglass work.
At this
point Elliot feels he has achieved his goal but he’s not done yet.
Over the next year and half, he would like to open another shop in
Delaware. Also with opening a new shop would mean lightening the
load and hiring staff to help. Elliot has built an empire in such a
small amount of time and his fan base has grown not only in the local
public eye but on the social networks as well. He has a large number
of subscribers on Youtube to see his newest advice, how to videos and
check out his latest projects. He has had his worked featured in
Video's and other printed media.
To add
to his following, Over the next 5 yrs his goal is to expand with an
online show to show what he’s done over the past few years and what
he has planned to do next. We’ve all seen shows that have gone
mainstream before, and that’s his main goal to show true custom
work not the same old cookie cut work we have been seeing. The big
guys in the industry are all on the West Coast. Meeting them, trading
tips, showing off his accomplishments and being recognized as an
artist is a goal that Elliot would love to achieve. He would like to
be the front runner for the new age car systems and accessories.
