Though he’s technically president of his company, Matt Slack bills himself as “CXO” on his business card, as in “chief fill in the blank officer,” because he handles so many aspects of AV Solutions’ operations.
As he explains in the latest Entrepreneur feature from Business Report, the title likely applies to most entrepreneurs, but it fits a problem solver like Slack especially well.
“At my core, I love to solve things—especially complicated things,” he says.
Audiovisual solutions are complicated; so is running a business. For 11 years, he has done both—although he says for a long time he did not think of himself as an entrepreneur. But Slack has done alright for himself—AV Solutions brings in about $2 million annually.
AV Solutions creates easy and simple audiovisual experiences for customers and users in meeting space environments.
Slack gained AV skills doing sound for friends’ bands and ministry-related events as well as working for a couple of years with an AV integration firm. The entrepreneurial impetus came from a proactive silent partner (who he has since bought out) and a dream his wife had that clearly signaled it was time to take the leap.
Before setting up shop, he considered more schooling than his associate’s degree in art but decided against it after a revelatory call to the University of Phoenix.
“They basically said, ‘Most people get degrees to access opportunities like you already have,’” Slack says.
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