Back in ‘94-’95, Rob Smith was working on cars at dealerships, trying to work his way through college. He developed a real passion for electronics and dabbled with gagets even back then, and finally he had a chance to pursue his passion full time.

“It was pretty tough starting out, he was 24, had no money, and when the banks wanted to know about my experience...he was a little short on that also. He ended up putting the house and both the cars up for collateral, along with a lot of help from his father-in-law.

He put everything at risk for just a chance to pursue the dream of owning his own company and doing something that challenged him. He came up with $60,000 and, by the time he filled out a retail space agreement, had $1,500 left for operating capital. He didn’t have any idea how or why it worked. But it did. There was a lot of peanut butter & jelly, and Ramen noodles involved. He was taking home about $800 a month. That was in 1999. Then, for some reason, in 2006, things took off. In that year, we went from having one employee to having eleven....and since then, it’s been great.

Home theatre systems, remote controlled lighting, programable heat and air, pretty much anything electronic can be integrated in to our control systems. With systems like these, people often ask, why would you ever even consider going to the movies. Simple, “I want to get out of the house with my wife. Plus, there’s no better popcorn than movie popcorn”. But, on the other hand, a few good reasons to stay at the house are: You don’t have to worry about kids kickin’ folks in the the back of the head or getting interrupted and you can have the family movie experience seven nights a week for less than going out to a movie one night. “It’s also a good baby-sitter -- especially for teenage kids. They love movie theatres at home. That’s a cool thing. And most parents would rather have their teenagers doing that at home, rather than being out somewhere and them not knowing where they were.”

“We install a control system that has a seven or ten-inch touch screen. That controls your audio system, thermostat(s), set your alarm system, lock and unlock your doors, or view any security camera - - or you can do that from any TV. If you get hot during the night, you aim your remote toward your TV screen and adjustyour temperature. You can use your cell phone to call your house, fire up the jacuzzi so it’s ready when you get there. I can be out of state and pull up all my security cameras at my home on my i-Phone. We can do some real simple things that are inexpensive -- or we can go completely over the top and do things that are really wild.

FOR EXAMPLE: You can start your shower, start your jacuzzie from your cell phone. You can fix your lights so they come on automatically when you enter the room.

I have one client who has little plasma televisions down one wall of his home. Each of them displayed artwork. He gave his friends pre-programmed cards that displayed their favorite art when they inserted their cards into his system.

“We actually had a client that we do business with who also has a house at Grand Lake. I thought his boathouse was a marina. After driving around the Grand Lake area, we were amazed. We definately install more smart homes than theatres. It’s less money and people are looking to make their lives simpiler. Basic systems can control lighting, security cameras, heat & air systems.