Gustavo Serafini has constructed a dream enterprise across the work he loves. He’s co-founder of Pure Audio Video, a reseller of high-end house theater tools primarily based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The film buff and his co-founder and brother Marcelo create lavish house leisure experiences for individuals who love know-how, motion pictures and music. Serafini can be the host of the Enabled Disabled Podcast, which goals to alter the narrative round incapacity and empower folks via sensible recommendation and tales.
Based in 2005, Pure Audio Video has grown to roughly $2 million in annual income and at present employs 9 folks. This provides the duo to a small cohort of entrepreneurs whose small companies obtain annual gross sales of $1 million or extra.
Serafini constructed his enterprise whereas residing with a incapacity. He was born with a proximal femoral focal defect (PFFD), a uncommon, non-hereditary situation that causes the femur to shorten, which is why he wears a custom-made prosthesis; he’s additionally lacking his proper arm. (He’s amongst a number of entrepreneurs who will talk about entrepreneurs and disabilities at a free neighborhood occasion on the New York Public Library subsequent Thursday, June 28 at 12 p.m. EST; I would be the moderator.)
Gustavo Serafini introduced his ardour for the cinematic expertise to an organization that installs … [+]
Pure audio video
What has propelled Serafini via the ups and downs of entrepreneurship is a perception in “selecting for your self” — as in “That is how I would like my life to be.” That is the trail I am prepared to take. These are the sacrifices I am prepared to make,” he explains. “If we do not have the braveness to make our personal selections, nothing will occur.”
Serafini adopted this mindset early on. “The primary time I bear in mind actually getting on my toes and selecting myself was once I was taking part in basketball,” he says. “I selected the eighth grade group. I used to be smaller than everybody else [who was trying out] and slower. Everybody was mild and mainly advised me, ‘Gustavo, you are not going to make it. I do not suppose that is the perfect thought you have ever had.” My response was that it would not matter if I make it or not. I need to take a look at myself. I need to see what I am able to.”
He made the group that was undefeated. Though as an adolescent he by no means requested his coach why he was chosen for the group, he suspected that the coach had two causes: to encourage others on the group to work more durable and to attain factors like everybody else.
“The coach modified his offensive system once I was taking part in,” he remembers. “It did not matter if we had been 20 factors, 30 factors, 50 factors forward – if I wasn’t performing, he pulled me immediately. I used to be given the chance to make me and him look good. If I did not, I used to be taken out of the sport like everybody else.”
This expertise was very motivating for Serafini. “I noticed for the primary time that no matter limitations I assumed I had had been improper,” he says. “The true frontiers had been a lot, a lot additional away and far murkier than I knew. Simply increasing this world in entrance of me has modified my life.”
In the end what taking part in on the group mentioned to him, he says, was, “I could make it on the earth. I’ll should work more durable. However folks will give me the chance to do one thing.”
This expertise led him to function a coach at a basketball camp the place the top coach noticed that he had a radical understanding of the game. “It was a pleasant expertise once more,” he says. “I discovered lots about self-motivation, group management and camaraderie. All these issues led to entrepreneurship.”
As well as, teaching was a possibility for private development. “It was all the time a pleasure and motivation to defy expectations,” he says. “If somebody advised me, ‘You possibly can’t try this, I took on the problem of proving them improper.'”
Serafini attended school on the College of Chicago – impressed by an English trainer who wished him to be a author and liked the English program there – after which went to the George Washington College College of Legislation. He found that he had no ardour for regulation as a occupation – “I used to be deeply allergic to it,” he says – however he persevered. Nonetheless, when it got here time to use for jobs after faculty, she felt the decision of entrepreneurship. Asking your self, “What can I do to take management of my life and the issues that curiosity me?” He concluded, “I ought to personal my very own enterprise.”
His brother Marcelo shared an identical need. “We liked the movie music expertise,” he says. They did their analysis and determined a 12 months and a half later to discovered Pure Audio Video – and have by no means seemed again. They first began advertising their service to audiophiles after which refined their enterprise mannequin. Along with working with shoppers to design the theaters and sell the audio and video methods, the corporate additionally handles the related electrical work and cybersecurity. Over time, they targeted their consideration on catering to critical audiophiles with house theaters.
“This was an train in persistence, self-inquiry, determining who we wished to serve and who we had been there for,” he says. “We realized we wished to interrupt into the high-end luxurious house market, which is basically onerous to get to. The builders management a whole lot of this work.”
They did all the pieces they might to seek out their first clients and the enterprise began to take off in 2007. However in 2009 the nation was in recession. “We had this second the place we did not know if we had been going to make it,” he remembers. “We have now determined whether or not we’re high-end or shut.”
Ultimately, a builder they knew gave them the chance to bid for a job at an NFL participant’s house. They gained the bid, and the contractor threw a barbecue to rejoice the deal. “As quickly as folks knew we had been engaged on this job and he was joyful and able to inform folks, the alternatives began,” says Serafini. By taking every undertaking to the very best attainable level, they constructed constructive phrase of mouth that helped the corporate develop.
“The artistic stuff we’re doing with pure audio/video is known as a credit score to the artists,” he says. “If you create an auditorium that exceeds the expectations of individuals within the business, it reveals that you’re doing one thing proper. Personally, I simply love sitting in a terrific theater with associates and watching one thing that I do know is as shut as attainable to the artist’s intention. 1000’s of individuals work on a giant price range film. How typically can we recognize these nuances and particular results? At greatest, it is transformative.”
He and Marcelo at the moment are aiming to construct the corporate to $4 million to $6 million in annual gross sales. “I positively see the advantages of doubling or tripling in dimension,” he says. “However we do not need to sacrifice the expertise of working with us. We do not need to really feel like an organization.”
For Serafini, a giant a part of the enjoyment of constructing the corporate has been the training course of. “This concept of mastering one thing and spending a very lengthy time doing it for its personal sake, to see what you are able to do, actually motivates me,” says Serafini. “What am I able to if I put my thoughts to it?”
He began his podcast a little bit over a 12 months in the past. Since then, he says, he is felt rather more comfy opening up and speaking about his incapacity. As soon as he was working with an aged couple the place the person seen his incapacity and requested him, “What occurred?” As Serafini associated his story, the person’s spouse shared her personal story of shedding two kids. “A deep human connection and belief was constructed,” he says. “If I hadn’t been open about being susceptible, this would not have occurred.”
Serafini has discovered that whereas incapacity is a part of their identification, everybody is formed by many alternative experiences and completely different ones come into play in numerous conditions, each of their enterprise and in life exterior of it.
“Incapacity is a part of us,” he says. “Generally that half can dominate the remainder. Generally it is there within the background. It depends upon the place you might be and what you do in life.”