Dave Bushnell is the owner of Sound Minds, the area’s best-known audio and visual supplier.

Dave Bushnell demonstrates a talent for electronics

Periodically, 318 Forum’s Tony Taglavore takes a local person to lunch — someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential — and asks, “What’s Your Story?”

I knew it would be great advertising.”

Twenty-seven years old and new to town, he needed to make a living. In California, that living came from teaching himself how to install car and home audio systems. But here, the only people he knew were two sisters, and he didn’t really know them, since they were much older. But one of his sisters had a son in high school.

Ahhhh ... high school, where if you have something cool, everyone else wants it, too.

“I put a huge sound system in his jeep. It had mirrors, neon lights — all the stuff. As soon as I did that, of course, he was the hit of the school. Everyone was asking him, ‘Where did you get that done?’”

His nephew told them. They came, and they (or more likely, their parents) paid. Before long, he was putting audio and video systems in those parents’ homes. And some of them were business owners. Guess who they called to enhance their company’s audio and video setup?

“That’s how the business grew in Shreveport, and it’s been growing ever since.”

Dave Bushnell, the 55-year-old owner of Sound Minds — likely our area’s best-known audio and video supplier and installation company — told me that story — and his story — during lunch at a place he chose: Herby K’s. Dave had a turkey po-boy (“They have the best”), onion rings and a Diet Coke (“one of my vices”). I chowed down on a catfish po-boy and fries and had water with lemon.

Things have pretty much played out in his new town, the way they did in his old town of Rancho Palos Verdes, a coastal city south of Los Angeles. That’s where Dave, one of six children, was born and raised.

“I was always into cars. Building cars, anything to do with cars. So, naturally, I went into car audio when I was 15 years old, working in my mom’s garage, doing all kinds of car stuff. Then, I started doing home audio, because the parents of the people I was doing the car stereos for said, ‘Hey, come do my house.’” But Dave wasn’t satisfied. “Then, I got into competition car audio.

I used to build subwoofer walls for Alpine and Clarion. I did their demo vehicles. I have a whole bunch of trophies in my office from competing in car audio.”

A few years after Dave’s parents divorced (his father was president of Poly-Gram Records), his mother (a nurse) moved to Shreveport, where two of her daughters lived. Dave also came South, leaving behind his life on the West Coast.

“I was stuck in a rut. There was a lot of competition in California for what I did. All my siblings were at least 10 years older than me. I never even knew them, really. I decided I was going to try something different. I came here, and it has been one of the best things I’ve ever done.”

But Dave was starting from scratch, once again working out of Mom’s garage. However, word of Dave’s talents began to spread once again.

“I was always good at figuring out electronics. Circuits, diagrams, relays. I just always excelled in that. I could do any kind of schematics.”

That, despite having dyslexia since childhood.

“Back then, they didn’t really understand dyslexia. They would say, ‘Oh, you’re not trying.’ I was just an average student — B’s and C’s.”

A handful of years after arriving in Shreveport — he was working out of his garage after buying a house — Dave got his first really big job.

“I did a huge house (20,000 square feet) on Ellerbe Road. It was three years’ worth of work. It was probably a million-dollar project. The whole house was computer-controlled. Lighting, everything. The living room alone was suspended with rubber. It was soundproof with high-end equipment.”

Since then, Dave has equipped several homes exceeding 10,000 square feet.

And there’s his commercial work, which includes the Bossier City Civic Center, Shreveport’s Robinson Film Center and, more recently, Live! Casino & Hotel in Bossier.

“It’s amazing how the business has progressed over the years. I think one of the reasons for our success is something I learned in business school. Quality, price, service. You can’t do all three, but you can pick two out of three. We specialize in quality equipment, and we excel in service.”

However, in March 2020, like many business owners, Dave was worried everything he had built was about to crash — and crash hard. Covid hit, and Louisiana’s governor ordered non-essential businesses to close.

“Is Sound Minds over? What are we going to do? What are my employees going to do?”

Well, here’s what Dave did. He pitched Sound Minds as an essential business. Dave spent a month in limbo before the governor’s office agreed to his request.

“Overnight, our business went up 25%.

We were scrambling. It was crazy because everyone was staying home. Everyone needed better Wi-Fi. Everyone needed better cameras, a better audio system — they were (spending more time) in their backyard. That went on for at least two or three years. It was nuts trying to get all the customers taken care of.”

I was curious to know whether Dave’s home has all the latest and greatest electronic gadgets. Well, let’s put it this way: He has a 98-inch TV in his pool house. Not his main house. His pool house.

“A vendor will say, ‘Hey, we have this new product.’ Well, before I sell it to someone and have to deal with the warranty, or find out it’s crap and doesn’t work right, I bring it home, install it and test it. That drives my wife (of 20 years, Bridget) nuts. Sometimes it doesn’t work very well. But I don’t feel comfortable selling that to my customer.”

Hesitant to tell Dave I have trouble finding the power button on my TV remote, I asked my final question. As always, what has the father of two children learned in life that he thinks might benefit you as well?

“Don’t sweat the small stuff is the way I look at it. I always trust in God. He has a plan for me. Don’t sweat the small stuff. I know that sounds cliché, but it really is true. When I started my business, I remember being worried about this, worried about that. I was worried about all the little stuff.

But God has a plan. He will work it all out. Business owners are always worried about this problem or this deal. God has a plan.”

That plan for Dave looks and sounds great.

Tony Taglavore is a freelance writer with 40 years of media experience. A former television news and sports anchor, he owns Sweet Lou Media, a full-service advertising agency.