From Michael Meza, Cartunes of Santa Rosa, CA
After more than four decades in the mobile electronics industry, I am retiring from Santa Rosa Cartunes. I started the business in 1984, and we will close the current Santa Rosa location on September 30. But my longtime general manager, Jeff Lesser, who has faithfully and loyally served me and Santa Rosa Cartunes for 20 years, will continue Cartunes under his ownership at a different location.
People may ask how I structured the deal. I made it simple for Jeff because, for many years, Jeff made life simple for me. I was largely an absent owner for more than 25 years. I would come and go from the business, but Jeff was always there taking care of what needed to be taken care of, keeping me informed and earning my trust year after year. When it came time to pass the business on, the financial details were the small part as far as I was concerned. There was honesty, loyalty, trust and belief in each other. I never gave up on him, and he never gave up on me.
My ability to eventually become an absent owner goes back more than 30 years to an owner’s quorum through the Mobile Electronics Retailers Association. One of the key speakers was Bob Graham, a two-time Retailer of the Year and formerly of Breakers Stereo. I asked him, “I have all this money coming into my business, but at the end of the month I don’t have anything left. What do I need to do?” He gave me this compassionate smile, and said, “You need consulting.” I listened. When I returned home, I hired a consulting firm for approximately $33,000. Three men spent 30 days teaching me how a retail business really operates, and that experience changed my life.
The consultants taught me to operate according to the numbers and to stop being a fireman who spent every day putting out fires. They taught me about chain of command, established policies, accountability and financial controls. One of the most important systems was open to buy. I began using Excel spreadsheets that showed me where the money was coming from, where it was going and exactly how much we could afford to spend. If we had $8,000 available for purchases and had already written $7,800 in purchase orders, we had $200 left. It did not matter how persuasive the sales representative was. The numbers made the decision. I learned that when you do not know something, there is wisdom in seeking counsel from somebody who does.
Years later, one of the greatest compliments of my career came from Pete Bobsin while he was working directly for Alpine Electronics. Pete had heard things about me over the years and eventually, but after doing business with me for about a year or a year and a half, came into my store and said, “Michael, I owe you an apology.” He had listened to things other people had said about me and but after actually doing business with me, he said wished everyone ran their business the way I did. That meant a lot to me.
The mobile electronics industry Jeff is inheriting is dramatically different from the one I grew up in. It now belongs to the people who understand the technology. Jeff evolved with that technology. He understands processors, integration and how these vehicles communicate, and he has an unusual ability to diagnose problems. I have heard stories of people struggling with a vehicle for days or even weeks, calling Jeff, and having him help solve the problem in 20 minutes over the phone. When the new Ford Bronco came out and people said you could not properly put a sound system in it, I told Jeff, “Go for it.” He did, including selling a system to the general manager of the local Ford dealership. Alpine Electronics has even brought vehicles to us for tuning. That reputation belongs to Jeff. He earned it, and that is why I have such confidence in his future.
Over the years I watched more than 30 independent mobile electronics retailers come and go in our area, along with approximately six mass merchants. Through all those changes Santa Rosa Cartunes survived and consistently averaged approximately $1.2 million annually because we continued to evolve. But my family’s story in car audio began long before I opened Cartunes. Around 1960 my father and some partners operated gas stations in San Francisco. He began selling AM radios over the counter, fell in love with that side of the business, sold his interest in the gas stations and opened Auto Audio on Sickle Street near Mel’s Drive In. This was an era when people were actually installing record players underneath automobile dashboards.
To date, Santa Rosa Cartunes has worked on nearly 200,000 vehicles. Behind every one of those vehicles was a customer, and behind many of those customers was a story. That is why I like to say we created miles and miles of smiles. I also believe the way we treated people mattered. Our employees received benefits, including medical and dental coverage, and were treated as equals and with mutual respect. I tried to recognize the good that every person brought to the business and work with it. Nobody builds a successful business alone, and whatever legacy I leave belongs in part to all of the people who helped build it.
I still remember the day I bought my business license in 1984. It was a happy beginning, followed by a wonderful journey. There were certainly ups and downs, because every business has them. I sometimes compare business to a heart monitor. The line goes up and it goes down, and that is how you know you are alive. What matters is how you handle those lows because those moments help define your character. Now I get something many business owners never experience. I get to see the legacy live on. I get to pass the baton to a man who stood beside me for 20 years and watch him take what we built together and make it his own. There is no sadness for me in that. I am lifted up by it. My career had a happy beginning, a wonderful journey and now a happy ending, but what makes the ending so special is that it is also someone else’s new beginning. Thank you, Jeff, for 20 years of loyalty, friendship, hard work and service to me and Santa Rosa Cartunes. You’re the best. Now it is your turn to create miles of smiles.
