P46: How Exceptional Customer Service made Bel Air Internet a Leading Provider (🔐 A Continuation of EP 210 🔓)
Video & Audio of Our Call:
Background:
This interview continues where we left off on the first part of Terry Koosed's story. Terry Koosed is the Founder, President, and Owner of Bel Air Internet (“BAI”), the premiere boutique provider of Wireless High-Speed Internet service, Voice, and DIRECTV in Southern California and Las Vegas. BAI services more than 40,000 residential customers across more than 180 MDU properties throughout Los Angeles and Las Vegas. BAI services over 300 commercial internet accounts and is the industry leader in providing temporary live event broadband solutions for high-profile events such as the Grammy’s, Academy Awards, and Golden Globes.
It all started when Terry couldn’t get high-speed internet at his house, so he created his own internet company. Today, Bel Air Internet has thousands of loyal customers all over Los Angeles and has earned millions in revenue. Terry is also a business speaker and he is currently planning to write a book about the valuable lessons he has learned in his forty years of experience in the entrepreneurial world.
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- [2:50] After selling HW Electronics, Terry decided to invest in his brother-in-law's school business.
- [4:17] The school that Terry invested in was bankrupt so he helped his brother-in-law fix the problems within the school and recover the losses.
- [11:22] According to Terry, when facing tough problems in business, the worst thing you can do is freeze and do nothing. There is also the common habit of many entrepreneurs when encountering failure to keep doing the same thing even though it doesn’t solve the problem.
- [13:03] People confuse activity with accomplishment is a quote from a famous UCLA coach that Terry considers as one of the best sayings he has ever heard.
- [14:36] In business, especially in startups, you always have to be quick. This is another lesson that Terry imparts to everyone.
- [18:06] Terry gives a great example regarding sales reps and how they usually develop their leads.
- [21:59] Some people have asked Terry to come back and run a business but he did not want to.
- [25:43] HW Electronics was successful because of their business model and their exceptional customer service. When Terry sold HW, the new owners had their own model that focused on acquisitions, which led to failure.
- [31:18] When he started Bel Air Internet, he thought that it was too good to be true.
- [33:48] Within 4 to 5 months of starting Bel Air Internet, they had $45,000 to $50,000 in revenue.
- [36:00] Terry shares in detail the technical aspect of starting his internet business in 2001.
- [43:09] Pitching his idea with AT&T, Terry was surprised by what the AT&T guy said to him.
- [48:33] Being an authorized dealer of DirectTV was a smart move for Bel Air Internet and really got them going.
- [54:46] During the 18 years of Bel Air Internet, Terry never took out any profit from the company. Instead, he invested it back in Bel Air Internet.
- [1:00:06] Built into the Bel Air Internet model are 18 little things that gave them a big strategic advantage over the competition.
- [1:07:12] In 2008, Terry knew that a huge financial crisis was coming. This foresight eventually helped the company grow in the following years.
- [1:14:30] Learning from the credit crashes in the 80s and 2,000s, Terry knew that he should never get hit by the credit crash of 2008 to learn that lesson again.
- [1:17:15] Terry manages the family money, which means managing their stocks and bonds. He begged everyone to sell their stocks before the financial crash of 2008.
- [1:21:13] Bel Air Internet was created to honor the legacy of Terry’s grandfather.
- [1:23:09] Hiring someone to take over Bel Air Internet failed miserably for Terry.
- [1:25:31] Because of COVID, it gave Terry the opportunity to sell Bel Air Internet.
- [1:27:20] Terry is planning to write a book about the lessons he learned to become successful in business.
- [1:29:53] When Terry started having his first few DirectTV contracts, his main competitor in LA offered to buy him out. This was the start of the battle between Bel Air Internet and Consolidated Smart Systems.
Key Point from the Interview:
- “When you’re having problems, doing nothing is the biggest enemy. Getting frozen with fear and doing nothing to fix it and then that whole thing about insanity, you keep doing the same crap over and over again thinking it’s gonna get fixed, that is a very common thing when an entrepreneur is failing, or anybody is having a failure in life. It’s the fear freeze that comes up and oh my goodness, you don’t do anything.”
Resources Mentioned:
- Email: [email protected]
- LinkedIn: Terry Koosed
- Facebook: @belairinternet
- BelAirInternet.com
- A Private Equity Firm Acquires Bel Air Internet
- Bel Air Internet Donates High Speed Internet Service to Help Bridge Digital Divide for Homeless Children
- Bel Air Internet is the First to Offer Guaranteed Symmetrical Internet Speeds
Secret Resources:
