Hello faithful Integrated Lifestyles followers! My name is Jonathan Kramer, I am the Operations Manager her at “IL”. I am a Dallas Metroplex native. I grew up in East Plano and now reside in West Richardson with my wife Nicole. We love spending time outdoors and if we can have a dog alongside us, we are in heaven. Traveling, Sports and the Arts are our favorite things to do outside of the office.
My time in Audio Video has been a long road… I started right out of High School at Circuit City. I initially learned the industry from a big box retailer perspective. In my time at Circuit City I was exposed to many different job roles, culminating in a position that allowed me to travel from store to store as a Sales Trainer. This was a huge moment for me, as I realized that I have a knack for creating culture and providing guidance to young burgeoning Sales Managers and Sales People. It was also the moment that I realized, with much help from some key mentors, that sales has nothing to do with “selling” and everything to do with quality relationships and a client first approach, that involves listening as the key ingredient.
As the economy started to shift away from the standard big box retailer model, I decided to change industries. I spent the next 8 years in the Banking, Insurance and Finance world. I learned many different aspects of these industries that have helped me in becoming a very strong support for not only our day to day business needs, but our long-term strategic marketing needs as well. One of the most important things I learned throughout my time in that world, is what it takes to truly and consistently deliver high-quality client management.
As I began to make the transition back into the Audio Video World, it was a relationship that was formed many years prior at Circuit City that led me into the exciting field of Custom Integration aka, high end/commercial Audio Video. The Company I landed at held a great reputation in the market, and fortunately the owner at the time was very receptive to taking their client management to the next level. As with most things, change does come. That company went thru some changes and with that a re-birth of sorts took place.
Now we are a new company! Integrated Lifestyles is a combination of both experience and hard work. Our Owner Paul Lopez, fosters an environment where relationship-based client management can truly thrive. I sometimes joke that my title should be “CHO- Chief Happiness Officer”. I take it upon myself to make sure that not only our employees are well taken care of and happy on the worksite, but of course our clients as well. We want to be a place where someone can come into a showroom that simplifies this ever changing, ever growing world of home automation and tech. We want to be a place for people to come in and form a bond with us that extends beyond whatever products and services we can offer. We want clients and hopefully, if we have done our job correctly, a family member for life.
Our goal is always to get the details right. What does that mean? That means that we always communicate clearly, we always double check our work, we always strive to find the right solution for each and every one of our clients needs. Most importantly… We always do what is right, even when it is very difficult to do so. Integrity is what ultimately sets us apart.
I know that if you spend time with us, you will see the difference. You will be the next member of our big happy audio video family. Let us be your guide as we traverse the mountains that is Audio Video together.
My name is Kristopher Quaale (kwah-lee), and I take care of sales and design here at Integrated Lifestyles. I have such a great time working here, and I cannot imagine a better group of individuals with whom I would want to surround myself. I am the newest member of the IL team, and from Day 1, I knew that not only was I going to be incredibly successful here, I was going to have a lot of fun!
I am relatively new to working in A/V, as I was a musician in my previous life. I earned a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from TCU and a Masters Degree in Conducting at UNT, which provided me a ton of wonderful opportunities and experiences. I taught middle school and high school bands in Texas for 9 years, educating hundreds of students about the importance of music as well as how to be a successful contributing member of society. I always firmly believed that if I could help a couple of students a year realize their potential (even if it wasn’t in music), then I would have helped make the next generation a little bit more confident and capable of making their way through life.
I left the teaching profession just over a year ago for several reasons, but one of the biggest reasons was that I have always enjoyed being around electronics. I consider myself a life-long learner and someone that always looks for a challenge, so I thought this Audio/Video industry was a perfect fit for me. Fortunately, the team here at Integrated Lifestyles agreed and had confidence in what I could bring to the table. Now working here for just under a year, I am so grateful for this opportunity and I love coming to work!
While I had a decent level of prior knowledge about A/V, I knew I was going to face some difficulty in understanding how the Custom Integrator world exactly worked. I can remember my first several months being incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of technology that I did not know existed nor how it all worked. Being surrounded by my co-workers here, however, has brought me such a sense of relief and calm when I have questions about why certain equipment works the way it does. While they may not love answering the same question for the 100th time, they provide me with the confidence to be able to explain how all the A/V magic happens, so I can help our clients feel great about their purchases. I think that this relatability is one of the reasons we have such success with our clients.
As a company, we have a wonderful combination of understanding our clients and their needs while knowing exactly what to provide for them to give them the A/V setup of their dreams. A lot of companies claim to be team-oriented, but that is exactly what we have here! We are all very good at different aspects of working in this industry, and all those strengths mean that you are getting the very best experience possible. I think that is what makes us the best A/V company in DFW!
There are a lot of differences between the teaching world and the A/V world, but at the heart of both industries is being able to help people which is one of our biggest goals at Integrated Lifestyles. We are here to make your interaction with all of this sophisticated technology simple, enjoyable, and lots of fun! I can’t wait to work with you on your next A/V project!
