Innovation Technology and Risk

Innovation, Technology, and Risk

Julio Colon

Strayer University

Bus363

Dr. Victor Villareal

The interrelationship between innovation and entrepreneurship is like Peanut butter and Jelly on a sandwich. You can’t have peanut butter and jelly without a loaf of bread or the bread can’t be called peanut butter and jelly without those ingredients. Very simple an entrepreneur must have innovation to be cutting edge, to be new, to make it thru the dry season. An entrepreneur is a pioneer one that paves his own path, one that pushes thru when others say you’re crazy, one that doesn’t give up.

On 2010 I went to a company Christmas party, in that party I saw a man that had given up most of time making this company millions of dollars. The man was retiring, the company was not going to pay for him anymore he had to live of the money he had saved up, his social security and whatever he put away from his 401k plan. The company that I worked for gave this man a watch by Seiko, five hundred dollars and a we appreciate you making us millions plaque for the wall.

This was the first year that I did not drink in this Christmas party, I was fine-tuned if that’s terminology. I went to the restroom and while I’m in the stall the Ceo and Vp of sales enter in and start talking about replacing the gentleman and how they couldn’t wait till he leaves. I noticed that day that I was a number, another tool to make someone else rich. The man had made them millions and they felt he was a stumbling block. I walked out of the stall and the two hungry leaches looked at me with a puzzled look. I acted drunk and I overheard them saying give him more he’s next.

I took this information to bed with me and had an innovative idea to be their competition. I took everything I learned from them and in 9 months took a step of faith. Innovation is my determination and my appetite for success. I did not offer a new alarm system but I did offer a new way of getting the sale. I learned that a lease system would mean that the client would have to sign a contract and even after the contract terms were met the client would then had to give me back the equipment. With my previous employer, it also took them 18 months to start seeing a profit. They had to pay advertisement, the sales rep, the technician, the monitoring station and the list continues. My innovative idea was to sell the entire security system to my client at cost, I would not have to pay any advertisement as I paved the streets and knocked on doors. I was my own advertisement, I did not have to pay a sales rep as that also was me, I also did not have to pay a tech since I also performed those tasks.

My motto was to sell the client on freedom, my service till this day is prepaid. I’m only in the hole for 6 months, and after that the client is in a monitoring agreement with no speculations on years as terms. I have sold over 1000 alarms with this motto in the last 6 years with my other 2 brothers and my latest edition my wife who also works for us. I must work twice as hard; the big companies have time and a longer track record. We in the other hand live by the motto if you don’t take care of the customer someone else will. To be innovative you must bring something different. Its ninety percent perspiration and 10 percent inspiration.

I have met many obstacles since I opened in 2010. From getting my licenses, to getting more licenses, to getting business licenses in every city I work for, and from being at risk for 6 months since the client is technically not in contract. We have adjusted to a lot of those principles by inflating the price of the alarm by twenty percent we reduced our turnaround time to 4 months, and by selling more devices or other services we can walk away with a decent profit. For example, if I get a call about security I will engage my client in all the levels of security. Cameras allow you to see what’s happening on your property, access control allows you to keep certain doors locked and protected, network security protects you from hacking. I don’t stop at the alarm, matter of fact the alarm is the key to get in the door.

Since I started I have perfected our sales pitch, I have learned how to read the client. It’s a gift I was born with, my brother calls me a chameleon, I’m able to adapt to different cultures. Not by deception at all but bringing out a different personality, congruence’s from within.

The security business is growing now we have Artificial Intelligence mixing with I.T. I see it all the time from setting up software on a camera system that senses movement and then dispatches a drone to recover footage on site. I have also seen how a smart house can sense in what kind of mood you’re in and either turn lights on raise/lower your shades, turn your music on and even adjust temperature. It does this by access control and your body heat, with this the home automation system can remember your behavioral patterns. Matter of fact here is an easy one, the ecobee thermostat can adjust the temperature in your house by connecting to the weather Doppler and remembering your patterns. For instance, its 85 outside and you come home and lower the temperature to 72. The next time the weather hits 85 the thermostat will automatically adjust itself to please the homeowner. The thermostat can even connect to your electric company and find peak times, instead of turning on more often during those peak times the thermostat will drop the temperature to 70 this way it won’t need to turn on as often thus saving you more money. You don’t have to look far for AI, it’s all over us from your personal secretary on your phone or the ads google sends to your phone based on the searches you have looked at the prior day.

In ten years A.I will be in casinos, grocery stores, movie theaters. Robots will take jobs of human beings, humans will be faced to either work building A.I or programming. Most jobs will get cut and the human population will grow needing A.I to take care of them in nursing homes. Programs, analytics, network all tied in together to bring humans an easier lifestyle but in my opinion the entrepreneurs will be a dying breed in those days. Robots will replace human factor and less errors will be made, computer will make decisions based on data and no one will think for themselves. You see it around you already, Siri am I too fat, Siri where should I go today. There is no originality in humans anymore we have become dependent of a search engine. Siri, should I start a business, and Siri will respond with “you don’t have any saving how can you try to open up a business”. There is a point there, I did it without a penny to my name and I gambled on all that God had given me all my skills, all my experiences and the thought of quitting was not even a factor. A.I would have said that I am crazy.

The difference between my company and others is the risk factor, I have no overhead and my office is mobile. Most companies want to see a profit rite away. My first year I made fifteen thousand dollars, most people would have quit. Big companies or anyone entering in this business will be at risk. They must be able to go all in. I have a great God and went all in and I’ll do it repeatedly. This year I’m proud to say we are on course to break our first million dollars. I went from doing homes to working in Walmart, Home Depots, Cvs, etc. The risk factor for most companies doing security is the cost of goods compared to the residual income the company gets. It’s always a risky business as it requires a great deal of income. Most security companies start with a loan of five hundred thousand to a couple of millions. They must be able to survive for 18 months depending on their monthly recurring revenue. The problem is start up security companies are either giving systems away in return charge double what I charge for monitoring. They must give it away but charge less.

It’s been six years for me and now people are more internet savvy and are finding Diy systems. That is hurting our business now so we have since applied Diy to our website. The Diy option I believe is the new wave of the future. Now companies must be in competition with the online world and with companies backed by banks giving clients loans for their security needs.