How did Ryan Herd, a guy who loved cars and cooking, end up owning two smart-home businesses? His unconventional path to success is full of twists and turns, but he traces the beginning of his journey back to the example set by his family.
Herd’s mother and uncle each owned their own businesses. “Entrepreneurship is in my DNA,” he explained, crediting his mom in particular for lighting the fire in him.
What is a Smart Home?
Although he had a strong work ethic and a natural curiosity, Herd struggled with academics. “I have dyslexia and I have a hard time reading,” Herd said. “So I’m self-taught in everything because my form of learning is hands-on. That’s where I get interested and excited.“
After barely passing high school, he started at culinary school, having developed a love of cooking while working in the kitchen of a senior care facility. While Herd still enjoys cooking, he ultimately decided that culinary school wasn’t for him and left the program.
Herd chose not to attend college, but continued to pursue business opportunities in a variety of fields that allowed him to earn money while also following his interests. “I always did things I loved, and I always loved to find out what made things tick,” Herd said.
Herd’s first business tapped into the custom car craze of the 1980s. “I was the first person to put a TV in a car and neon lights underneath one,” Herd proudly notes.
This earned him a reputation among high-net worth individuals in northern New Jersey and across the Hudson River during Wall Street’s boom years.
Herd’s New York connections soon landed him work installing intelligent light and sound systems for high-profile clubs in the city, including Limelight and Webster Hall.
These gigs in the New York club scene grew into opportunities building elaborate in-home theaters, and led Herd to rebrand his business with its current name, 1 Sound Choice. These amenities were still rare in the 1990s, and he tapped into an exclusive and lucrative market.
Not long after he built his home-theater business, Herd could see that smart-home technology was on the horizon and would fundamentally change how we live.
He remembers that moment. It was in 2006, and home-technology provider Control4 was promoting this idea of making homes smart. In teaching himself the fundamentals of smart-home technology, Herd could see the real-life benefits for families. Recalling his days working at the senior-citizen facility, Herd understood how technology could help older people live more independently through online connectivity to their families and caregivers.
Inspired to spread the word about the many benefits of smart-home technology, he wrote a book about it called Join the Smart Home Revolution. A few years later, he founded Caregiver Smart Solutions after his own dad’s cancer scare.
Herd believes that smart-home integration is still in its infancy. He thinks the next frontier in the smart-home revolution will be in bathrooms, focusing on health and wellness. As it continues to grow and evolve, it will impact nearly all design and construction jobs. He encourages electricians, plumbers, carpenters and designers to keep up with advances in this sector so they can help homeowners identify the best uses for smart-home tech.
How to Start a Smart-Home Installation Business
If you’ve got the entrepreneurial bug like Herd, he shared three tips to help smart-home entrepreneurs of tomorrow launch successful careers:
- Get Training
“The Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) offers training that is invaluable,” Herd said. “You spend about $5,000 and learn in the real world. I can hire you if you’ve been through their classes.”
- Get a Job
Seek out a smart-home business in your town and offer to help out. “Even if it’s sweeping floors for $15 an hour, get your foot in the door and start learning,” Herd said.
- Have a Curiosity Around Living Environments
Smart homes don’t start with technology, they start with people. “As a professional in this field, you need to understand the habits of humans in their homes to know how and where technology can improve their lives,” Herd said.
Above all, it’s the ability to foresee and adapt to the opportunities on the horizon that sets successful entrepreneurs like Herd apart. They’re always learning, always looking ahead, and always curious about what’s coming next.