With a $20 bill, a 700-square-foot apartment and a U-Haul truck, Marcell Newell found a way to create a retail-electronics-display business.
In 2002, his first year of business, AVIDWORX Productions Inc. made $400,000 in sales. It now has annual revenue in excess of $2 million.
Success, says Newell, is about creativity.
“I think for us it’s definitely being outside the box, being innovative and staying ahead of anyone else,” Newell said. “A lot of people can make displays, but very few people can do what we do.”
The company’s specialty is large electronic display areas where customers can test multiple products at one time.
Newell has a diploma in electrical engineering technology from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and he believes his education is for more than just wiring electronics.
“I think it helps me, being an engineer and having that analytical background, because it really helps me problem-solve in any situation.”
AVIDWORX is lucky enough to count Futureshop and Best Buy among its growing list of clients, but it’s not the only business Newell has tried.
In 2007, he was awarded three of the first four pilot franchises for Nurse Next Door, a personal-care service.
Newell found out that being a franchise owner wasn’t for him.
“I don’t really make a good employee or a franchisee … it just wasn’t a good fit,” he said.
In the spring of 2009, he sold his three franchises and turned his focus back to AVIDWORX.
He plans to develop a new segment of the company that will focus on the design and manufacture of prefabricated homes for the affordable-housing industry, a topic that’s close to his heart.
“I was primarily raised by my mother … growing up having a home was a challenge, so I sympathize and I understand.” •
