An Olympic Story

Many years ago there was a retired Spartan warrior that was eager for a seat at the Olympic Games in Athens. Although hindered by a limp and well past his prime for battle, he traveled for many days and nights to see youthful athletes engaged in the rigors of sport. Upon arrival at the coliseum, the soldier wandered for several hours looking for an empty seat, past rows and rows of Athenians resting comfortably on their pampered rumps. The Athenians whispered to one another “Someone should surrender their place for that old soldier that has protected us for so many years” but alas, nobody offered their seat. After several hours of searching, the retired combatant came across a section of the stadium reserved for Spartan soldiers. He kindly asked a young soldier to make a bit of room for an old man who had fought his entire life in the Regiment. Recognizing the crest presented to retired warriors on the old man’s lapel, the young soldier rose and bellowed from the stands “A Spartan aged in battle requests a seat!” It is said that the roar of over 1000 Spartan soldiers leaping from their chairs could be heard over 100 miles away. The moral of this story told more than 2400 years ago was "Athenians say what is right, but Spartans do what is right".

When selecting a service company, a well known retail brand name can sometimes confuse us into believing that they have the best quality service. After all, large companies have multi-million dollar Marketing Departments and expensive TV commercials that seem to say all the right things. But just because they have the buying power to offer a great price on an iPod doesn’t mean they will wall mount your TV straight and level. Large retail stores are volume driven, not quality driven, and consequently the term “Hang and Bang” was coined for their volume based installation department. On-site service is growing at a staggering rate and even Wal-Mart will be getting into the TV installation business soon. READ MORE. Cheap labor & expensive retail prices = great profit for Wal-Mart at your expense.

When purchasing a specific product, research the least expensive well known retailer and buy it. Product XYZ from company “A” is the same quality product at company “B”. It’s simple apples to apples economics and if you have any problems, here’s a great website that can help you CONSUMER HELP. When purchasing a service, remember that you are inviting someone into your home that can do permanent damage. At WestWing Solutions, all of our technicians have background checks and current drug tests. They are required to be certified, have client references we verify, and most importantly, well documented experience in the trade. Our commitment extends beyond a simple service transaction and my commitment to you is better quality technicians at lower prices. As a former Infantryman and Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, I will always do what is right.

Bring your Baby. Get Fit!

Friends,

I am thrilled to officially announce that on August 1st, 2008 I will be assuming the honor and responsibility of the Baby Boot Camp Franchise in West Plano! Katy will be bringing her commitment to health and fitness to a different organization and I would like for everyone to join me in celebrating her tenure as our coach. She's been a remarkable role model for me personally and I will always have the utmost respect and admiration for her leadership at Baby Boot Camp.

Although most of you already know me pretty well, I wanted to take a quick moment and give you a brief bio. I graduated from Texas A&M University in 2003 with a BA in Speech Communications and worked for the Department of Recreational Sports (Texas A&M) in the Weight and Fitness Room during my years there. The facility averaged between 5,000-7,000 visits per day and although I learned a great deal as a trainer, I didn't have the opportunity to establish close relationships with as many individuals as I had hoped. My interest in owning my own Baby Boot Camp started after my first few classes with Katy more than a year ago. I love the atmosphere, the opportunity to work in a more intimate environment, and obviously, the results I have personally achieved. Can you believe I lost 60 pounds since Tristin was born! Anyway, I am married to a wonderful man (Scott) and we have four kids, Tristin (15 months), Austin (9), and two older children that live in Arizona, Dustin (15) and Kaitlyn (14).

I am certified as a Personal Trainer accredited by the American Council on Fitness Education with specialized training in first-aid/adult and infant CPR/AED from The American Red Cross. In addition to the rigors of individual certification, Baby Boot Camp required their own 'Instructor Program' incorporating the impact of pregnancy on women & exercise, prenatal and postnatal exercise. The long hours of studying, testing, and training were worth every minute (and penny!) for the opportunity to own a part of the Baby Boot Camp organization.

Beginning on August 1st, all agreements, contracts, and class packages will remain in effect as they were with Katy. The courses and class schedule will continue to be structured following guidelines set by the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology and the American Council on Exercise.

I wish to thank each of you for being part of my fitness family, and the Baby Boot Camp organization for an opportunity I've been preparing for since college. If you are a current member, I will be contacting you in the next few days to discuss your individual goals and explain my vision for the future in more detail. Have a wonderful evening, and I'll see you in the morning!

Amanda B. Hall
Owner (elect) TX-NW Plano/Frisco/Carrollton Baby Boot Camp

The Basic Wall Mount TV Installation

Here are a few of the basic photos from installations this week. In my opinion, one of the most attractive parts of a wall mount installation is the absence of unsightly wires protruding from the bottom of the TV. With most of the other companies out there, concealing the wires is typically an added cost, or they will “hide” the wires in a piece of plastic track molding. First, paint-able molding doesn't look nice. Second, you (the paying customer) are responsible for painting it. So your options are either ugly track molding or ugly hanging wires. Can you imagine paying $400.00 for someone to install a new flat-panel TV and when they’re finished you have added another item to your “honey-do” list? Several times a month I am contacted by someone that paid another company to install their TV and they want to pay our company to “clean-up” the mess that was left.

$1000.00 for a HD TV.
$20.00 extra per month for and HD box with the cable company.
$400.00 for a professional installation.
Ugly wires draped down the wall ruining the experience....disappointing.

On the two photos below, note the new AV nose-plate below the TV. This is where the wires come out from the back of the TV. The wires are inside the wall where they belong...out of sight and out of mind. The cover plate was hidden behind the furniture when we moved the old TV to the garage and pushed the desk back. (Moving furniture is an additional charge with those other companies.) This is the way it should look when the installer is done.

The photos below are from a wall mount TV installation on an articulating arm and it swings out pretty far. The first photo looks like I photo-shopped in the TV so I included some pictures from the back of the TV also.

It's the attention to detail that makes me proud of what we do for a living. There is a sense of accomplishment when I leave a job-site and our customer is impressed with the workmanship. The most important part of any job is the last 20% committed to the details, and unfortunately, that last piece is often omitted. A crisp, clean, organized job pays in satisfaction for the installer as well as the customer.

The time involved with each of these installations is 3-4 hours and is less than $350.00. While others may warranty their work for 90 days or 1-year, we guarantee that TV's we install will NEVER fall off the wall. Our warranty is one of the reasons we use extra heavy duty bolts and anchors instead of the cheap hardware that comes in the wall-bracket box.

The Right Company

So here it is!
Entry #1 of the great Hallright LLC experiment (dba: WestWing Solutions & Baby Boot Camp). Let’s begin with a short explanation of the business and a ‘wee’ bit of history.

Hallright LLC
The “Hall” part of Hallright shouldn't be too difficult to identify...it’s our last name. (Go ahead and look over to the right hand side of the screen to verify if you like.) The “right” part of Hallright is there because...well...because we are the right company for your needs. Get it?

Hall-right.

There are two separate business segments to Hallright LLC that were created to diversity our portfolio. The first business unit is a consumer electronics installation and service company officially established on January 2, 2007 as WestWing Solutions. What does the name ‘WestWing Solutions’ have to do with consumer electronics? Nothing really, I just like the name. It also has some sentimental value because I aspire to work in the West Wing of the White House one day when money isn’t an issue and I can devote all my time to helping our country. Aside from the commercialized political banter we have become accustomed to, I sincerely believe that most of the people that work in the West Wing have a genuine, heartfelt desire to make our country better. My passion for government will certainly be recognized in future posts, but for now let’s stay on topic.

WestWing Solutions specializes in flat-panel (plasma and LCD) TV repair and wall mount installation, although one of our loyal customers pointed out in a recent email that we “do a bunch of other great stuff too”. We work with a handful of distributors but only charge our cost on material because occasionally, I can find the same products online for a lower price point than we can buy it for from the distributor. We provide all our prospective clients with a detailed parts list and encourage them to purchase the parts wherever they can get the best price. Our business model is detail orientated, professional installation & service and in the interest of quality, we’ll stick to what we do best. Make it work and make it look great.

The idea for WestWing Solutions came to me in the fall of 2006 while working at the corporate office of CompUSA Inc. I was developing a national program for the delivery and installation of the new consumer electronics product line and had an immediate need for honest, dependable technicians that do great work. I experimented with different business models in different geographical markets and discovered ten simple truths about this emerging labor need.

1. Employee installers (paid hourly) cost more than sub-contractors over the long-run.
2. Sub-contractors are much more efficient than employee installers.
3. For sub-contractors, every job is an interview for the next job, so customer satisfaction is much better.
4. The higher the compensation rate for the sub-contractor, the better the quality of workmanship is.
5. Compensation for employee installers (paid hourly) only influences the quality of workmanship directly before, or after, a performance review and raise.
6. Finding the right sub-contractor with the right skills, attitude, and commitment to excellence is murder.
7. Finding the right employee installer is virtually impossible.
8. Firing a sub-contractor is very easy...and they know it.
9. Firing an employee installer for poor quality work is time consuming and expensive....and they know it.
10.Employee installers that complain the most usually have the sloppiest work.

Through an exhausting search and months of trial and error I found over 150 local installation companies across the U.S. that were extraordinary. They were efficient, experts in their craft, used furniture pads to protect furniture, wore ESD rubber gloves when handling products and put on shoe covers out of respect for our customers’ homes. They actually communicated with the client before and after the work and showed them how to use the new “toys” using simple english. I was like a proud father watching his son throw a flawless 30 yard touchdown pass to win the game. Although extremely successful, the profitability of the delivery & installation (D&I) program at CompUSA was shadowed by plummeting retail computer sales, an overwhelming corporate overhead, and critical executive blunders. CompUSA was sold and split into little pieces and the profitable D&I program was abandoned.

But the need was still there! Customers were still buying flat-panel TV’s like crazy on the internet and in other retail stores. Consumers still wanted professional installation but the only alternative was computer Geeks that “kinda” knew what they were doing or a company called Fire-Dog. (I still haven’t been able to find the correlation between a dog on fire and home theater. Fire-Dog taught me that an organizations name doesn’t have to make any sense.) These retail installation divisions of large companies cost a fortune for the average customer and they spend most of their time explaining to consumers what they won’t do during the install. If you are wealthy enough to afford their “packages” plan on waiting 2 weeks for them to show up. If only there was someone with about 150 professional nationwide contacts, understood the business, and had the ingenuity to partner a customer with a great installer. Ummmm. I decided to do the actual work 100% by myself for the first year in order to fully appreciate the installer’s point of view, and then launch our nationwide program. WestWing Solutions was born.

The second business unit of Hallright LLC is a health and fitness company established in July of 2008. My wife Amanda (my other passion in life) runs a local fitness program for mothers and their babies under the franchise Baby-Boot-Camp. They are the mothers that can be seen whisking strollers around North Texas shopping malls every morning before the mall opens for business. It’s a great program that incorporates the children’s needs in their moms’ fitness goals. The intent is to give the mom’s a chance to improve their health and weight with their babies. There’s no need for a baby-sitter with this program and Amanda is a gentle, compassionate and fierce leader. She’s registered the business name “Baby Boot Camp Texas” but operates under the franchise of Baby-Boot-Camp. Amanda worked in the fitness center part time while attending Texas A&M (Whoop!) and developed a fervor for personal training. She’s a beautiful, enthusiastic, and dedicated mother that balances her time between our family and the individual goals of the moms she works with. Sounds expensive...right? If you know Amanda, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that her course runs about $3.00 a session. As long as she is helping moms in our community and breaking even at the bank, she’s delighted.

So there it is. Hallright LLC, WestWing Solutions, and Baby-Boot-Camp. I’m Mathew “Scott” Hall (“Scott” is in quotes because that’s what my family & friends call me) and I’ll be blogging from time to time about how the business segments are developing. Amanda and I are convinced that it’s important for potential client’s to understand the character of a company they choose to have a relationship with. For those that are interested, the information is available and we look forward to your input.