With 33 years in the car audio and security industry, John Schwartz is an icon in the 12v world. His love for the industry started at 14 years old when he was working next door to a car audio shop. He can still remember the day a guy pulled up in his CRX and turned on the bass. With every window in the place shaking, John was intrigued. He immediately went into the shop and begged for a job. He started off just sweeping floors and cleaning bathrooms, but soon got to help with installs and learned the trade. At 16, John’s family moved to Alaska, and John became the stereo guy at school. People started calling John the ‘Sound Doctor’ and so he decided to get his first business license under that name.
At 18, John got hired at Safe & Sound, but continued to do installs on the side. Eventually he went full time and rose through the ranks. With tons of other shops hitting John up to run theirs, John’s boss wouldn’t let him quit until he considered it a worthy job. That finally happened when the owner of CompuStar Auto Security asked for John’s help in beating out Viper. As head tech, John was helping to develop new products. However, his boss also owned Perfectionist Audio, and wanted John’s help to figure out why the business wasn’t succeeding. John was sent to Perfectionist to be a spy but eventually fired the whole team and started over as the shop manager.
When CompuStar moved to Seattle, John was asked to come along, but when he heard that would be the end of Perfectionist, he asked to stay. John’s goals with the company included winning retailer of the year and buying the business from his boss, all before his 35th birthday. The first few years were rough, but in 2006 he built a new building and started pushing hard for that million dollar goal. John brought the company through the economic collapse of 2009, and by 2010 was up for retailer of the year. A few hours before the awards, John’s boss told him he was thinking of selling the business. Thirty minutes later, the two had worked out a deal for John to be the buyer. Later that evening, Perfectionist would win retailer of the year. Both of John’s goals were realized three weeks before his 35th birthday.
Continuing to also work for CompuStar, John pitched the Australian market in 2015. CompuStar was so busy though, they told John he could be in charge of the Australian market. Next thing John knew, he had picked up 100 stores and was expanding into New Zealand and S. Africa. At the same time, John was developing a new sound deadening product, SoundSkins. Now, as an international distributor, retailer, manufacturer, and wholesaler, John was on top of the world. The cherry on top was winning retailer of the year for the second time. To celebrate, John’s partner bought him the first 100 tubes of SoundSkins. John decided to send one to each big installer to get their name out there. John’s plan was working, but his business partner got impatient and things started to get shady. This caused John to walk away from SoundSkins. A couple years down the road though, John would start another sound deadening manufacturing company on his own, called SoundShield.
What You’ll Learn:
Favorite Quote:
“A lot of times as business people, we forget that moment that got us into the industry.” -John Schwartz
How to Get Connected:
