Today we’d like to introduce you to Wynne Walker.
Wynne, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My passion for technology began with visits to hi-fi stereo stores as a kid. I liked to walk to our local stereo store on the weekends just to push the buttons on the CD players or watch a big screen TV, and stereos remained a hobby throughout grade school. In 2001, I graduated with a B.A. in Radio, Television & Film, from Baylor University, and founded a technology firm in Fort Worth, TX. While I knew a lot about music reproduction, I had a lot to learn about integrating technology into a home. For the next two years, I learned the ins and outs of residential construction and ultimately moved to Houston in 2004 to pursue a career as a home technology professional. As an early adopter of remote systems management, I quickly incorporated the innovation of the Internet of Things into my projects, which added the ability to triage, troubleshoot, and manage technology remotely.
As a home technology professional, my responsibilities included business development/sales, design/engineering, and account management. I spearheaded service initiatives, developed effective service plans, and managed over 20 million dollars of home technology projects. As an industry leader, my experience is invaluable for the high-end home technology consumer.
“Wynne’s vision for service and the client experience is a rare find in the industry today. His vision for developing concierge client-centric service puts him in the unique company of experienced individuals who know how to create an outstanding experience for smart-home buyers.” – Joey Kolchinsky, Founder, OneVision
In the year leading up to my oldest child entering middle school, I became acutely aware of how fast time flies. After 17 years of service as a home tech professional, it was time for a change. My wife and I started with a clean slate and wrestled with some of life’s most difficult questions. “How can we spend more valuable time with our kids? How do we enjoy and live life to the fullest? What defines happiness, contentment, and success?” These were not easy to answer.
The journey led me back to the beginning of my hobby and ultimately to question the ethos of my passion. Why do I do what I do? And I realized that the technology was simply the means, not the end. I’m not sure I could have articulated that earlier, but I was now convinced that the end was always about serving others. How could I apply my expertise to truly serve others, to help them live happier and healthier lives?
The Wynne Walker Group was born from this struggle and subsequent awakening. As a lifestyle technology consultant, I work with families to help them get the best and the most technology, for the least expense, and with a minimal investment of their time. I allow families to enjoy the benefits of modern technology, without the hassle and headache that technology can often cause.
Has it been a smooth road?
Starting a business is rarely easy, especially when there’s so much on the line. There’s a moment when you take a “leap of faith” and it feels like you’re jumping into an abyss. The funny thing is that once you are on the other side, it feels much less like of a leap and more of a step to the other side. In the beginning, I intensely focused on branding and marketing, built a modern website, and produced topnotch physical media, including business cards and brochures. I chose not to skimp on the quality of these items. This continues to pay dividends because people don’t expect refinement so early in the startup phase. It provides instant credibility when someone can literally feel the quality of your message.
I engaged a number of business coaches and advisors along the way to mitigate common challenges. I’m a numbers guy, so I made spreadsheets for everything; proforma income statements, cash flow forecasts, and process flowcharts, which helped to stay on track and accountable. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
Overall, it’s gone pretty well, but we’re just getting started. We continue to do our best to anticipate future challenges.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Wynne Walker Group – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
We are an experienced and trusted service-oriented smart-home consulting and coaching firm. As a consultant, we manage the design, budgeting, and construction for home technology projects. As a coach, we help families use technology to empower their lives and reduce stress, allowing families to stay focused on what matters most. Like Simon Sinek, we start with “why” we do what we do. Our “why” is to manage the technology in your life, thereby increasing wellbeing, health, and happiness.
Like it or not, there are more connected devices within the home than ever before and with more options comes confusion and misinformation. Our job is to cut through it all. To figure out the most intuitive way to bring technology into your life. We’re able to remain objective because we don’t sell or install the hardware; we’re technology agnostic. We don’t sell products, we provide solutions. This is an elegant solution to a complicated problem. As Ray Eames said, we want our clients to have the best and the most, for the least.
At our core, we are problem solvers. We ask forward-looking questions, forecast industry change, remain agile as changes occur in technology or client expectations, continuously learn, and focus on innovation. Most importantly, we do all of this through our belief that everything we do must have a positive impact on our client’s wellbeing.
We are at the intersection of architecture, interior design, and technology. We engage architects and interior designers at the early building stages of schematic design and design development. We know how to manage technology within a building to increase wellness, where it becomes an invisible part of daily routine. We believe technology should enhance, compliment, and simplify our lives. Since we spend a tremendous amount of time using technology, a thoughtful empathetic, design-centric approach is necessary. A home is not truly “smart” if it’s not healthy.
The time and cost involved to provide due diligence for home technology professionals and the technology they recommend can be significant. In Houston alone, there are dozens of home technology professionals to choose from. While approved vendor showrooms provide some validation, if anything, it reveals a bias towards specific vendors. The consumers understanding of home technology is naive at best, which places them at the mercy of these professionals. How do they know if a certain brand is the best solution, whose recommendation should they trust, and what criteria do they use for evaluation. When a firm claims brand “XYZ” is “the best” and another swears by “ABC”, how does the consumer know where to place their trust?
Our services are essential for a number of reasons:
We oversee the most sophisticated systems in the home.
From schematic design to construction administration, our methods follow familiar architectural standards
We interview and vet the best installers for each project, applying our 17 years of experience to the due diligence process.
We facilitate competitive bidding and “apples to apples” price comparisons.
By planning early, we provide the design and construction team with the right information at the right time, mitigating wasted money, project delays, missed opportunities, and haphazard implementation.
We make an unpredictable cost and outcome predictable.
In summary, we are proud to be one of the only wellbeing-centric independent technology consultants in the country. While technology will undoubtedly change, our purpose couldn’t be more clear. We are laser-focused on serving our clients as a trusted resource, managing their technology, for a happier and healthier life.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
This question is particularly poignant this year. Defining success and happiness has been a lifelong struggle of mine, and until 2018, I did not have a clear answer. Interestingly, I think I’ve been perpetually and perhaps purposefully unhappy by focusing on my failures. Along with my 60+ hour work week, I wore my discontent as a badge of honor. I was intentionally hard on myself, fretting every mistake made. Thankfully, I experienced a paradigm shift with during some downtime in early in 2018, prior to starting Wynne Walker Group. I found this recalibration as a direct result of spending time on contemplative and meaningful endeavors, such as reading and meditating.
I think a fundamental delusion of the human experience is the idea that we exist separately from each other. Often, trying to manipulate the present moment for personal gain. When we become aware of our interdependence and connectedness, we become grateful for everything that happens to us. In doing this, we open ourselves up to a more fulfilling way of seeing the world, and those with whom we share our lives.
Happiness happens on the path to fulfillment. Notice there isn’t a defined end point, the path never ends; we just learn to find happiness along the way. The reality is, there is no such thing as success or failure, there is only the path. I’ve found that it’s usually unhelpful to label things as success or failure, good or bad. It’s better to simply be grateful for each opportunity we’re given. Winston Churchill said it well, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Put another way, success is simply being aware of the journey we’re all on.
There’s more to being successful than just working hard, there is always an element of chance and serendipity involved. I try to continually remind myself that my focus should always be on effectively serving others. What I do must continually be filtered through why I do what do. This keeps me on a long-term path to success.
Mr. Rogers once said, “There is something of yourself that you leave behind at every meeting with another person.” I hope what I leave behind is not only a positive experience but an interaction which helps the other person find their success and happiness.
Contact Info:
- Website: wynnewalkergroup.com
- Phone: 7132602691
- Email: wynne@wynnewalkergroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wynnewalkergroup/
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