Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Capo.
Hi Tom, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
KPODJ started back in 2002 as a DJ and event company. I was 14 years old, loved music, and was fascinated by big speakers. I helped out at some school events and quickly decided I wanted to start DJing myself. Since money was tight, I networked with other DJs to put together bulk orders and get discounts from stores.
As I learned more about audio and lighting gear, I became obsessed with all the different products. I rolled most of my DJ earnings back into equipment upgrades, so I was constantly buying and selling gear for myself. I learned a lot about different gear and enjoyed talking about it with fellow DJs. Eventually, a small network of DJs began turning to me for advice and for help getting deals on gear.
It didn’t take long before I developed direct relationships with manufacturers and distributors in the industry. I traded two turntables to a guy in Canada who set up a super simple HTML website for me with basic graphics and instructions on how to generate new pages. I listed gear for sale and used the same site to promote my DJ services. I’m sure it would have worked better if I had two separate domains, but I was young and only had two turntables I was willing to part with.
Through high school and college, I took retail calls between classes and DJed on the weekends. Both the sales and services sides grew steadily. During my college years, it became too difficult for me to handle both sides of the business while studying, so my father, who had sold his Meineke business years before and was semi-retired, offered to join the business so I could stay in college. With the extra help, the business began to grow even faster. My father soon realized he had signed up for a new career, not just a side gig. And I soon realized my college degree wasn’t going to get much use.
Eventually, the sales side started taking up so much of my time that by the weekend, I was exhausted. Before I burned myself out, I began scaling the services side back so I could focus more attention on sales.
Focusing more attention on sales helped a lot. We were able to grow into larger and larger warehouses over the years and develop more and more partnerships with customers and vendors.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There were plenty of obstacles and problems through the years, and there are just as many today. That’s business.
I guess the most unexpected obstacle for me was my first experience with credit card fraud. It’s a scary thing because the merchant is fully liable for returning all of the money, even if the credit card company approved the transaction and the goods were shipped. It is extremely difficult to protect yourself from fraud, and your business can be completely wiped out by a handful of high-value purchases made with stolen cards.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
KPODJ is a discount retail store for pro audio gear, stage lighting, and DJ equipment. Our staff is made up of event professionals, DJs and music enthusiasts. We carry over 200 brands and we do our best to educate ourselves on as much gear as we can, so we can better explain the gear to our customers.
What does success mean to you?
Beating our last record.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kpodj.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kpodjcom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kpodjconnect/
- Twitter: https://x.com/KPODJcom
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KPODJvids
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kpodj-lighting-and-dj-gear-hopatcong?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
- Other: https://www.resellerratings.com/store/KpoDJ
