14

It might be considered odd "celebrating" 14 years, but me being slightly mathematical, and having been around for a while, I see trends.

For example

9 - 2 = ?

22 - 15 = ?

15 - 8 = ?

8 - 1 = ?

Yes, 7 to all.

The numbers represent years: turning point years, the first in the above series is private, but the remaining three can be prefixed 20.

Although "GSPaudio" started in late 1998, 2001 marked "dealer acceptance year", but then we were plagued by negativity from forum trolls. So in 2008 I set up our own forum to which several decent types from the troll infected forums migrated. Turning point one.

The 7 years between 2008 and 2015 saw the introduction of the loaner program, and the sluggish start of our roadshows - "Hearing is Believing" being the motto (thanks Bob).

These were initiatives suggested by the membership, and I listened and followed it up.

We did the unthinkable, and let the people decide if our products were any good, rather than trusting in one individual - a reviewer - telling you what you should buy. We had noticed the connections between magazines and brands, and/or reviewers and brands, even if the average Joe hadn't.

The support from members on here was incredible. Four members had been so impressed with our products, and knowing they were designed and made by real working people no different from themselves (that's us), volunteered to help. It humbled me, and I'm still massively grateful to them.

Since then, life changes have seen loan coordinators "retire" and new ones volunteer, and we now have five in "the four corners of the world".

The short lived roadshows started in 2014, and Aylesbury was a great success. The editor of What Hi-Fi attended, but we never got a write-up, but never mind, a good time was had by all - group photos centre top of forum home page.

We did another for north Midlander's in 2015 - photos left and right of forum home page banner.

But very soon another turning point beckoned and put paid to the events. A political clanger had occurred and seen on TV, but I was still to realise the consequences. The "children" Angela, John Mac, Vladimir and Viktor were playing games with the great gates of Kiev, and the resulting sanctions stripped us of 70% of our turnover. That's the sort of thanks you get for being an exporter.

But for a clever and completely legal restructuring plan, we'd have been out the door. So clean and legal that HMRC and many of our suppliers were too suspicious to play, but everybody got paid in full and we did it anyway, for which I was "fined" £12K. Honesty doesn't pay!

That and a personal illness saw the 2015 turning point, and under the renamed HiFi System Components Ltd we soon recovered. One thing the suspicious never saw was that Graham Slee Projects Ltd was re-registered by me shortly afterwards, and in company law is something that isn't allowed if what HMRC accused me of were to be true. Companies House and HMRC being one and the same. I never got my £12K back.

So, here we are in 2022, another 7 year time slot. What will the next turning point be? 

Lucky 7s

+1, I just don’t know how it survived as long as it did without me! 😂

I’d love to know what’s happened to some of the old regulars.