Business Journal Interview with Peter J. Engle, President of Joy Communications,
November 8, 2005
1. Where are you originally from?
I was born in Accra, Ghana, West Africa but consider myself from Vermont. My father
was a career U.S. diplomat and a U.S. Ambassador.
2. How long have you been in business?
23 years
3. What inspired you to start your company?
I purchased the business from the original owner five years ago. I had worked my
way up corporate America but had always wanted to own my own business. Since we
purchased the business five years ago, we have purchased competitors in Tampa and
Miami, so we now service all of South and Central Florida.
4. Describe some of the obstacles you faced along the course of building your company.
How were these overcome?
Our industry is going through rapid change with the conversion from Digital to IP
formats and most of our competitors will not be able to survive the transition.
We have placed an enormous emphasis on getting all of our employees trained on this
new “data centric” world. The pace of technological change requires us to be much
more proactive in terms of our offerings to our customer base. We also face the
challenge of continually trying to communicate with our existing customer base of
6000 customers of all the new technologies that they can use in their business.
5. What are some of the best experiences you had as a business owner?
I really enjoy being able to run into a business owner in the supermarket who will
come up and say that the solution we offered really helped out their business and
that the service we provided was with knowledgeable and motivated employees.
6. What are the “hottest” trends in your industry today?
Our industry is transforming itself dramatically from a digital “standalone” voice
format to being a part of a company’s data network (LAN/WAN) so we have integration
issues in combining voice and data on a single platform.
7. What are the services offered by your company?
We sell and service Business phone systems, voice mail systems, surveillance and
security cameras, data and network services.
8. What is your greatest competitive advantage?
We offer a complete suite of telecommunications products and have certified locally-based
technicians.
9. In your opinion, what makes a terrific entrepreneur?
A terrific entrepreneur has got to have a vision of what he/she wants to create
and the drive to make it happen in spite of all obstacles.
10. What memorable mistakes, if any, have you made in business? What did you learn
from them and how can they be avoided?
11. Do you have any advice for new business owners?
Aim high. Always have very high expectations of what you can accomplish and write
them down. If you write out one, five, and ten year goals and review them periodically,
it is amazing what you can achieve.
Treat people right. Be honest and straightforward in your dealings with customers
and your employees and they will reward you with loyalty.
Spend a lot of time in bringing the right people into the company. You can only
grow and be successful to the extent that you have good people, in the right roles,
to help you out.