Our Story
Humble Beginnings
My interest in home theaters began in 2005 when I saw a theater room in a luxury, multi-million dollar residence; the kind of media room you see on the front of an A/V magazine. It was pretty obvious to me that I couldn’t afford to build that theater in my house, but that didn’t stop my curiosity. Over the next 18 months, I researched how to build a home theater and sourced the equipment that I could afford. It was very exciting trying to learn about all the details and figure out how I could pull it off with a shoestring budget. With the equipment in hand it was time to see if I could turn my vision into reality. I included a picture of my original theater room. It doesn’t look like much by today’s standards, but it was a pretty cool system back in the day!
Building the Business
I enjoyed the process of designing and building my theater so much that I decided I wanted to do it for other people. At the time, I had a handyman business, so I offered A/V services to my clients since I already had a rapport with them. As my skillset expanded and my system designs were becoming more refined, I decided to move away from handyman work and focus strictly on A/V and technology. I thrive on accepting projects that challenge my abilities; this essentially forces me to push the boundaries of what I’m capable of. Technology is constantly changing, if I don’t change with it, I’ll become obsolete.
Trinity Home Theater Today
After 15 years in business, some people ask me why the company isn’t bigger and why I don’t have employees. The short answer: I keep the business small and simple to run so I can focus on serving my clients. The more energy I invest in running the day-to-day aspects of the business, the less energy I have to design and install systems. Doing exceptional work and offering outstanding service will always come first. Profitability is a necessity, not the priority!
Thoughts and Ramblings
Scroll down through this list of core philosophies and get a glimpse into my approach to system design, service, and fundamental life paradigms that I apply to business practices.
“Success without purpose is a pretty meaningless life” - Zac Efron
I don’t know if Zac came up with that, but it meant something to me nonetheless. I often say that some people don’t care if they’re selling diamonds or diapers, they just what to sell whatever makes them the most money. I have nothing against that, but for me, passion comes before profit. Am I changing people’s lives because I mount a TV for them… probably not? If I can do my work with passion and put a smile on someone’s face, then I feel like I’ve done something good that day. There are too many people in this world that make a lot more money than I do but hate what they do. If I can live a balance family life, make a comfortable living, work for myself, and love what I do; then I’d say that’s a pretty successful and fulfilling life!
Trinity Home Theater is truly an owner-operated company. I have never had employees, and probably never will. One thing my clients seem to value is that they can work directly with me. I personally take care of the entire process from the consultation, system design and proposal, installation, and service and support. Maybe I’m a bit of a control freak, but not having a different employee to handle each individual aspect helps eliminate confusion and communication issues. Now let’s be fair, some people prefer the “big box store” experience and that’s ok. However, if you prefer a more personal one-to-one experience, then I think I have something to offer you.
If you do your work well and with passion, it will capture people’s attention. I knew that business marketing was not my strong suit. So I had to build the company on the principle of “good and honest work equals repeat and referral business”. I don’t want to constantly chase down new leads. I’d rather treat my clients with respect, charge reasonable prices, be honest in the work I’m doing, and give support in a friendly and timely manner. These principles are what make my clients want to continue doing business with me, and tell their friends about me too.
We live in a culture dominated by technology, and most of it promises to make our lives easier… when it actually works. When your tech has a mind of its own, it makes you want to throw another $200 gadget into the “bad electronics” box. When you contact me, a so-called “professional”, I’m assuming that you are fed up with do-it-yourselfer systems and are ready to have a tech solution that actually does what it’s supposed to do, and do so reliably. One of my main design philosophies is to create a system for you that is easy to use and has dependable operation.
One of the main reasons you would hire a contractor to do work for you is time savings. If you had a stressful experience with a contractor and you had to micro-manage them, did it really save you any time? I’ve been told by my clients on several occasions that I am a “breath of fresh air” compared to other contractors they have worked with. On the one hand, I’m sorry if you have had negative interactions with other contractors; I know I have. On the other hand, that inspires me to be the contractor that you don’t have to hassle with and micro-manage. It really can be refreshing to work with someone who shows up when they say they will and does the work they say they’re going to do. I want my clients to feel like “Exciting this are happening today; Mike’s coming over”!
It sometimes seems that critical thinking and problem-solving skills are a rare commodity in our culture. Sometimes a client requires a unique solution to meet their need. I thrive on creating “out-of-the-box” designs and coming up with options to meet specific and specialized needs. It’s no rare even to come across an unforeseen problem during an installation. Having the ability to quickly dissect and problem-solve that situation and offer solutions to my client is an essential skill to have in this industry. Working with technology and problem-solving go hand-in-hand. It can be a bit exhausting sometimes, but finding a solution to a problem gives me a great feeling of achievement in the end.
Meet the Owners
Who Are We?
In short, “we” are Mike and Tiffany Champion. Tiffany and I were high school sweethearts that got married in the summer of ’99. Getting married right out of high school… probably not the best idea, but we made it work! I knew as a teenager that I wanted to be self-employed, I just didn’t know exactly what that would look like. Tiffany supported me during my early twenties as I tried (and failed) at many different business ideas. A big shout-out to her for over 20 years of support and encouragement! Eventually, I started the handyman business, which was successful and evolved into Trinity Home Theater. Tiffany joined me on a part-time basis in 2018 to try our hand at running the business together. After getting through some rough patches, we found our rhythm and are now working toward achieving a full-time partnership.
Brand Image
At some point, every successful company has to decide who they are and what they want to be. A mentor of mine once told me; “Mike, if you try to be good at everything, you’ll suck at everything. Focus on what you want to do and be great at it”. I’ve taken that advice to heart and developed a certain standard of quality and design. There are many ways to build an A/V system, and in a lot of cases there are no right or wrong ways to do it. However, there are methods to build a system so that it is more reliable, gives a quality performance, and has a professional finish to it. That’s just a fancy way to say “I don’t do cheap quality work”. This doesn’t mean that every system I build has to be super high-tech and expensive; in fact, most of my designs are very affordable. I’ve just made a commitment to not cross certain lines if I believe that they will compromise the integrity of the system. No matter how big or small, when a system is complete, it should be something I would be proud to have in my own home. More importantly, is should be a system that you would be proud to share with your family and friends.