This is the first of three blogs about AJ Littrell, son of Twisted Audio partner Del Littrell.
Andrew “AJ” Littrell, aka ” Jester,” is looking forward to Twisted Audio taking off. As a Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, helicopter mechanic, and as a Huey crew chief (door gunner) weapons and tactics instructor, he’s experienced take-offs and the breeze-in-the-face rush of helicopter travel across all parts of the United States, as well as through Afghanistan and Iraq during six deployments. Now, he’d like to keep feeling that kind of rush, not only on his bike, but with his dad’s business.
Having enlisted in 1995, the 35-year-old veteran is due for military retirement in 2015 and “I can’t think of a better retirement job than riding around with my dad selling motorcycle radios,” he says. He has other options in mind as well, but Twisted Audio is first on his list and he’s working on a business and sales degree to prepare.
AJ calls the Twisted Audio partnership of his father Del, David Gordon, Kendric Haithcox and Al Foris “a great group of guys. It’s just guys meeting together having a good time. It’s all about family and friends and just enjoying life. It’s not about making millions of dollars as it is about making other people happy.”
“Sure we want it to be a successful business, but that’s not what were in it for … we want to make something that’s nice and affordable, so you don’t have to break an arm and a leg off to get it.”
AJ has already played a major role in the business that Del and David started in 2008, when the two long-time biker buddies put their first radio together and found other bikers talking about it at the 105th Harley anniversary celebration in Milwaukee. Since then, AJ has gone with his father Del to different bike shows promoting and selling the radio, and on his own has managed to sign up dealers in North Carolina, Texas and other places across the country where his helicopter duty has taken him.
It was also AJ who sketched out the initial logo concept for Twisted Audio, working to finalize it with the computer help of a Marine Corp friend (now retired) Master Sergeant “Smitty” Smith and Del’s input while stationed in Iraq. And it was at the V-Twin Bike show that AJ got the attention of a “Hot Bike” magazine editor, who eventually ran a tech report article about installing the radio.
And how did he come by his nickname, “Jester”? It was while he was walking around the V-Twin Expo with his Dad, Dave and Kendric. People kept asking why their shirts all said “Three Kings” when there were four of them. “Now being the Expert Smartass that I am,” says AJ, “trained by my dad of course, I said that I was the ‘Extra Guy’ and they left that off my shirt! So Dave, Ken, and my Dad started calling me the ‘Little Jester,’ which is why my nickname is ‘Jester.’ ”
AJ’s ready for any kind of company duty, but clearly he gets most excited about selling the Twisted Audio radio and sound system. He notes that whereas other sound systems tend to be way out of the price range of the average guy, the Twisted Audio radio “looks great, sounds great and it’s right price” at around half or even a third of the price of competitive systems.
“There are guys trying to make a radio like we make, but no one has the single unit like we do and the easy installation and the sound that we have for the money,” says AJ in his fully enthused selling mode.
And don’t get AJ talking about the sound quality. “I’ll put its sound up against any radio system on the market. All day,” he says. “I’ve won bets over and over again on people who didn’t think our sound system would be good or loud enough. I’ve even bet a guy a $100 that if he put on his full-face helmet, and his wife on the back with her full-face helmet on, and run down the road without hearing the radio, I would give him the radio for free. However, if it was loud enough, he’d give me $100. As soon as they came back, his wife put a $100 bill in my hand.”
Now that’s something to bet on! Keep it rolling AJ!
Next: Wars and family.