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Matt - Entrepreneur
67 Plays1 year ago
Matt is an entrepreneur with multiple businesses under his control and has found success in all of them. Marketing, SEO, printing, website design, this guy does it all!
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Music by: SnoozyBeats - Song Title - "Keep It Calm". Please check out SnoozyBeats on PixaBay for a ton of awesome content! - LINK
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:11
Speaker
Hey folks, you're listening to the jobs podcast and I am your host, Tim Hendricks. I'm not going to waste your time by babbling on endlessly. We're going to go ahead and get right to the interview today. We've got Matt with us. Matt is an entrepreneur that has multiple businesses. He's been successful in all of them and he's got a ton of irons in the fire and hopefully he can share some great information. How are you doing, Matt? Hey Tim, I'm doing great, man. Thanks for having me.
00:00:36
Speaker
You bet, but so let's just start off. Let's get right to it. You were born. You were telling me before we started the, uh, the podcast that you are from Texas. Yes, sir. Born and raised. I assume born and raised. Yeah. Yeah. Went out to California for a little while, went to college out there. That's where you and I met. and Yeah.
00:00:56
Speaker
I had a great time, and but I always spent seven years in San Diego enough to finish a school, have a job out there and get married and then move my wonderful bride back here to Dallas.
Origins and Future of Business Ventures
00:01:14
Speaker
Right on.
00:01:15
Speaker
My mom is from Texas. And so I was raised that the air in Texas is better. And of course, everything is better in Texas. And I've been there a number of times and it's a pretty amazing place. I certainly enjoy it. Plus you have in and out. So you can't go wrong with that. That's right. That's right. Yeah, I mean, we got, we got, we got a lot of cool stuff that started here, you know, and now got like raising Kings and, uh, I don't know, it's getting, it's, it's, it's a pretty cool place. It is people are, people are cool. It's a, it's a nice place to raise a family. So yeah, love it.
00:01:45
Speaker
Good. Well, let's get into the meat of what I typically do on the jobs podcast, which is talk about your job. Now you don't have just one job, you've got multiple irons in the fire. Tell me about your businesses and your ventures and kind of where they started and where they're going. Sure. um Yeah, i'm I'm not a typical person. I don't think I haven't met many people that do what I do from day in and day out, but I i am the owner of two businesses and I manage a third for my father.
00:02:25
Speaker
So my day to day is kind of crazy, but oh one business I inherited from my father, it's a printing business. My dad started in 1973 and so we are over 50 years old now. Wow.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, and so I took over that business as a 100% owner in 2014, so 10 years ago. My second business is a website development in a search engine optimization and online marketing business. so Very nice. Yeah, so if you ever did a Google search and you wonder how those websites pop up to the top,
00:03:07
Speaker
That's me. If you've ever been to a website and then you later on go somewhere else and you see an ad for that website that you were just on, that's me. If you've ever been to a website and thought this thing runs really cool or this thing runs really sadly, that's me.
Business Operations and Management
00:03:28
Speaker
Now, the first business that you were talking about that you got from your dad, he built that, I'm assuming from the ground up, and then kind of raised you and and formed you and taught you all the ins and outs of that type of career. You said it's a printing business, is that right? Yes, sir. Yeah. what When you say printing business, what what give me some examples of things that you would print.
00:03:50
Speaker
So the easiest way to describe it is we print anything on paper. okay So being anything from business cards to postcards, to you know big posters, to pocket folders, to flyers, to postcards, or I don't know, envelopes, on and on. If it's on paper, we print it.
00:04:12
Speaker
If it's not on paper, we might print it, we do some signage, we do some vinyl banners, um you know yard signs, so cordless and things like that. But but yeah, and mostly for businesses okay in the Dallas area, but some of it is individuals, but I'd say 90% of our businesses commercial.
00:04:39
Speaker
Sure. Well, that probably keeps you pretty busy that Dallas is a pretty large town. What's the population roughly? Do you know of Dallas? I don't know. i Dallas proper is over a million, but I can't remember like, like, you know, what's the DNA and you know, Charles Fort Worth. Sure. The city of Dallas is over a million. Yeah.
00:05:01
Speaker
So are all of your businesses under one roof or do do you have people working in different locations and you're going from building to building in the Dallas area? Yeah, good question. No, all of them are in one roof. So yeah, run them here i here. I do have some employees that that are remote, okay hybrid, things like that.
Career Journey and Influences
00:05:31
Speaker
But yeah, all under one roof and allows me to. So my bookkeeping, I have like one bookkeeper who helps me with all three businesses. And so that's right here and that that makes it convenient as well.
00:05:44
Speaker
and Okay. Now you said you went to college in San Diego. That's where you and I initially met. But I don't recall, was your ah degree in business or how did you, what kind of training did you get that would help you with, with your current business ventures? Yeah. I did get a business degree at Point Loma Nazarene University. Okay.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah. Best campus in the world. It is a nice campus. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you doubt me, I just pull onto that campus, right? Well, my problem was that I was, the ocean was right there and I was too busy going boogie boarding and going to the beach to go to school. So I didn't get very good grades my first year, but you and me both brother, you and me both. Yeah. And, uh,
00:06:33
Speaker
I'll never forget coming back after my first year, and my father telling me, well, you know what, man, college is not for everybody and it just might not be for you. I'm like, okay. Well, if I go back, I better study. Yeah.
00:06:49
Speaker
I always said that those first, that first year socially was the best thing I ever did. And academically was the worst thing that I ever did. some no doubt yeah But, you know, I mean, since we're talking about the jobs, you know, we're on our, on the podcast here, you know, what I did was, um,
00:07:11
Speaker
You know, I was in college. I determined that I wanted to be a stockbroker. That's what I wanted to do. I met a guy who was a stockbroker. He was very successful out of Chicago. And long story short, I went back to San Diego and and decided, you know, I want to be a stockbroker. So I got my Series 7 license before I graduated college. I didn't know that. Yeah.
00:07:40
Speaker
And so, yeah, that's that's what's the route that I went down immediately. And I got that job. I was willing to do anything. I was like, hey, I'll be an intern unpaid intern. I don't care. They ended up I.
00:07:57
Speaker
A lady who had graduated from our. College had had a job as a stock broker got me an interview and then they hired me just you know kind of a part time person just to come in and handle paperwork. And from there, I you know became a broker then I became.
Career Development and Leadership Advice
00:08:16
Speaker
a manager. And then I decided, you know what, I i don't want to be a stockbroker. I wanted to do marketing. And so i they moved me over into the marketing department. And I did that and did all of these things before I was 25. Wow. And whenever I was 24, that company, I was employee number 143. At 24, we had 650 employees. And We were bought out by what was then TD Ameritrade. And the TD Ameritrade is now Charles Schwab, but they they purchased us. And so then I started doing marketing for TD Ameritrade and and my
00:09:05
Speaker
area was, uh, San Francisco, Washington, um, you know, Seattle area, so on and so on. And, uh, uh, but I, you know, I, I mentioned that to say, you know, if it's something that you want to get interested, you know, if there's a ah career that you want to do in life, you know, find a way, meet somebody, you know, get involved and, you know, take the lowest position that you have to. And, and, um, you know, if you love it,
00:09:33
Speaker
They'll see that love and you'll work right up the ladder. There's always those people that walk in the door and you can tell they've got a fire in their eyes or a passion and they just hit the ground running. And those are the folks that if you follow them for a few years, they usually have risen up to to higher levels. Yeah. so Yeah. Yeah. And never, and never be afraid to say what you want to do. Like, sure whenever I became a manager there, I was called a regional service manager or something like that. And, and I did a ah great job at that. And the position came opening for marketing. Well, I went straight up to my boss's boss and said, Hey, Peter, I want to be in the marketing department.
00:10:17
Speaker
And he said, well, Matt, you're doing great as a you know service manager. I said, yeah. I said, I hear you. But I said, if you think I'm doing great there, wait until you put me in a position that I really want to do. And so he heard that and made the change. So too many times, I feel like even my own employees don't tell me what they really want to do, where they really want to go. and And you know do they want to be in front of customers more? Or you know do they want to be behind the scenes more? What yeah what would make them happy? Because you know your boss, your manager is going to want to do that if they can.
00:11:01
Speaker
yeah Yeah. The worst thing they're going to say is no, if you ask, but yeah you know, you may get what you want. So yeah. Good point. Exactly. Yeah. It's funny. I've known you for a long time, but I didn't, I didn't know that you did the stock broking thing. So that's kind of a, that's, you know, another layer to the onion that is Matt.
00:11:20
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I was on Wall Street there for a while whenever we were purchased. we yeah was ah It was an interesting time in my career, no doubt. so is that Is that a stressful line of work being a stockbroker? No, I didn't think so. Exhilarating maybe? Yeah, it it was fun. The only time it got stressful was days where the stock market was literally going crazy whenever it was going up and down.
00:11:50
Speaker
because, yeah, the phones would ring off the hook on those days. People would be in a panic. so yeah But every other day was... Yeah, pretty chill. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. So you did the stock market thing, then you got into marketing. um Talk me through how you went from marketing to taking over your dad's business and kind of what was the journey there. and Sure. So when my company was bought out in San Diego,
00:12:21
Speaker
I realized that if I was going to be a stockbroker, I really needed to move to New York city
Transition to Digital Marketing and Strategies
00:12:29
Speaker
in order to have a quote unquote highly successful career. So that's something to consider is, is, you know, do you want to be, you know, a boat captain or something like that? Well, you know, Florida is probably where you're going to end up. Right.
00:12:48
Speaker
So, you know, you want to, you want to think about that. And and I didn't, and, and, uh, I did not want to live in New York city. I love visiting New York city. It's awesome. But do I really want to raise a family there? And the answer was no. So I moved back to Dallas and when I did, my dad had the printing company here.
00:13:10
Speaker
And this was 99, 2000, year 2000. And so I started doing sales for my dad's printing business. And so that's how I kind of started that. And as I was working that business, the long and short of that career was, well, the print business, even in the year 2000, is not a growth industry.
00:13:39
Speaker
you know your you can make a great living doing the printing business, but you know if you're in, I don't know, let's just go the complete opposite. If you're if you're in Bitcoin, you know then yeah there could be a lot more opportunity growth opportunities in an industry that is new versus an industry that's extremely mature. and So after,
00:14:10
Speaker
Well, after a few years, in 2006, I decided to open up my own business and what I thought about was synergy. um Who was I selling to in the printing business and what do those people buy?
00:14:31
Speaker
And so what I did was I got into the copier sales business. I thought, well, you know, I'm talking to the exact same people. So on the side, I opened up a copier sales and within 18 months, I was like, oh, this is the worst job I've ever done in my life.
00:14:56
Speaker
salesmen's and i I do not want to be a used car salesman, this is the level. Yeah. I wondered where you were going to go with that. Oh my gosh, it was so bad. it's So bad. So I just remember sitting down thinking about what I want to do and a buddy of mine had had, a sailing buddy of mine had had an advertising agency at one point in time.
00:15:18
Speaker
Uh but at the time he wasn't doing anything really he was just kind of working some odd advertising jobs. And so I said well you know I've done marketing in the past for the stock broker.
00:15:34
Speaker
What if we kind of created this marketing advertising business and so in 2008, that's what we started the 2 of us and started doing marketing plans for businesses because.
00:15:49
Speaker
You know, I realized I understood like what a s SWOT analysis was and I was pretty good at seeing people's opportunities and in that, you know, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I was really good at identifying opportunities for businesses. And so I would create marketing plans.
00:16:08
Speaker
And very quickly, I realized that these business owners that I was selling to, yeah, they wanted the marketing plan, but they really wanted somebody to execute the marketing plan, create it and execute it. I didn't want to work for somebody. I liked working for myself. It's nice. When you work for yourself,
00:16:32
Speaker
nobody's going to fire you. brain you know And the other thing is you eat what you kill. you know yeah So if you're hungry, you need to hit the street and you need to go sell something and get some more business in so that you know got money. right So I wasn't lining somebody else's pocket.
00:16:52
Speaker
and So then you know these creating these marketing plans d morphed into actually executing them, which meant mostly online marketing, especially back in the year 2010. And so I just started training myself on how to build a website and And I realized within a year that I really ah really sucked at building websites. So so my first employee was a web developer. There you go. Play to your strengths. There you go. yeah So that's that's how the journey kind of happened. and And I still lean into that whole strength of like meeting with the client and saying, hey, yeah, you've got
00:17:39
Speaker
A website or hey, yeah you've got digital ads rolling. But where you're missing the mark is over here. And, you know, with this amount of budget, you know, I'll create the plan and I'll. execute it and we'll go out there and and kick some online butt and get some get the phone to ring or get the e-commerce store to happen or get butts in seats if you're a restaurant, whatever the industry is, that's the idea.
00:18:12
Speaker
I, this question may depend on the type of business that you're dealing with, but is there a certain type of advertising that is the most effective across, across the board? I mean, everything's so online nowadays, I would assume naively that online marketing would be where most everybody would find some sort of success. Yeah. Yeah. um Great question. ah On the printing side, it's absolutely online marketing. We rank very high for any kind of you know print services, postcard printing, and printer near me, whatever the keyword might be. And so and what I mean by advertising work, last month we received 70
00:19:02
Speaker
quotes from our website, meaning, yeah, these are just not inquiries. We probably, we get well over a hundred a month. And so, you know, a solid 30 of those are people that are like, they call us up and say, Hey, you know, can I have, you know, 10,000, you know, pocket folders by Friday? And we're like, no, sorry. Click, you know.
00:19:28
Speaker
But so if we do a quote, we did 70 quotes last month from the internet alone. And you know those mean that, okay, you need a thousand business cards by next Tuesday. Yeah, we can do that. So we'll get you a quote. And if you wanna roll with it, there you go. So online marketing would be number one. And you can see that I kind of put,
00:19:57
Speaker
but my money where my mouth is there.
Managing Multiple Businesses
00:20:01
Speaker
On the you know websites and online marketing business, that marketing business, my number one field is networking. I'm a part of a couple of networking groups. I'm a part of one, a business networking group that is, you know it's very small. We have like 50 people max and,
00:20:26
Speaker
I receive a dramatic percentage of my business through connections I make through that networking group. And they are out there introducing me to other people. I literally just had the realtor in our group just sent me his roofer and his roofer. I just went to that guy's website. He's got a horrible roofing website. Yeah.
00:20:53
Speaker
And it's like, yeah, well, no wonder you're not getting any leads off of online marketing because your website sucks. So yeah, so just networking and then people introducing me to people. Yeah.
00:21:07
Speaker
It really makes sense, like that roofer example that you used, he probably does really good work and he he you know he's a craftsman in his trade, but not everybody can be an expert at everything. And so it makes total sense to hire somebody like you to just come in and go, my hands are full. I've got a lot going on. I'm good at 90% of this, but this 10%, I'm not good at.
00:21:27
Speaker
you make it work and you can step in and work your magic and then everybody wins. you know Yeah, and you have to you have to identify that as an entrepreneur. If you're going to be an entrepreneur, you have to identify what you are not good at.
00:21:43
Speaker
And those are the positions you've got to fill. Like I can do every single job in the printing business and in the marketing side. Okay. I mean, I grew up running a printing press, so I can totally go back there and turn on the printing press. I can get into InDesign and change something. I can go into WordPress. I can do all these different things. Okay. But I can go into QuickBooks and manage the books. Okay.
00:22:13
Speaker
But I am, I'm not the best at those things. There are other people that can do them better, faster, more efficient than I do. So that's immediately where I'm looking to, you know, hire somebody to come in and fill that spot as I'm growing my business and let me- Yeah, time is money.
Entrepreneurial Challenges and Rewards
00:22:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And let me do the thing that I really like to do. Sure.
00:22:41
Speaker
um What would you say is your most favorite part about your occupation as an entrepreneur? Because I know that you own businesses, but at the root of it all, you are an entrepreneur. I mean, the American dream kind of thing. Yeah, the money. Yeah. ah Well, hey, man, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That is the American dream, is to have a good living. And if you've accomplished it, I'm happy for you. Yeah, it's great. i I like to look at, to me, my favorite part of the job is looking at different projects or different businesses and looking at the margins that I'm making on that, that my hard work created
00:23:31
Speaker
you know, literally this dollar moving from my business account to my personal account. And that's the coolest thing about being an entrepreneur is, you know, I, you know, I can see my efforts changing my life just depending on what I want to do. And right. And, you know, right now I'm, you know, I'm you know I've got this massive goal of you know owning a big sailboat and so on. And so, man, I'm working hard to try to try to make my you know my dream a reality. Nice. Yeah. but Well, I hope you get your boat, but I'm seasick, so you don't need to invite I'd get seasick. You don't need to invite me because I'd probably run your day.
00:24:24
Speaker
What would you say, ah we just talked about what you like about your job, but every job has a con to it or cons to it to varying degrees. What would you say is something that you don't like about your job, but it's maybe just a necessary part of it? Yeah.
00:24:41
Speaker
um you know and Employees are great, but employees are also the bane of your existence. well Yeah.
00:24:52
Speaker
um that's That's the hardest thing. i mean i know I've got great employees. in know My print manager has been here 26 years. My bindery and delivery driver, he's been here 32 years, I think. He's about to retire this year. but wow So I've got great employees, for sure. My lead web developer has been with me for almost 10 years now.
00:25:23
Speaker
Um, but, um,
00:25:28
Speaker
you know, so many times I just want, I just want everybody to show up and do their job, you know, sure that's not the way life works life. You know, their kids get sick. They, they have issues. They got car problems, you know, they, they've got a life too. And, and, um,
00:25:49
Speaker
And that's the hardest part is just managing people. Because, you know, you tell customers, you're going to get something done. Well, you need to do what you say you're going to do. Right. Sometimes difficult. and Yeah, it can life can throw a monkey wrench into things. And some people even the best employees, sometimes it's beyond their control. But um yeah, you're also driven as well. So there's that balance. But It sounds like if you've, most places don't retain employees for that long. So if you are, it sounds to me like you're doing a pretty good job as, as their supervisor, their manager, boss, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I, I, I hope to, um, you know, but I just had an employee who started with this a year ago and he just resigned and. You know, back to my previous point, you know, I
00:26:40
Speaker
I don't know exactly why he resigned. He came into this job just on fire. know He got hired through a connection.
Self-awareness and Career Success
00:26:52
Speaker
um Another sailing friend of mine was like, hey, this guy's a web developer. and you know he He's an entry level, but he really wants to learn.
00:27:01
Speaker
And so I was like, sure, let's, let's bring him on. Um, he resigned and I think bottom line is, is because he wanted, he wanted me to give him more work, but he never told me that. So, you know, it's, it's hard to read people's minds, you know? sure And, and I think that you, everybody looks at kind of like their boss and goes, well, my boss knows I want to make more money. Well, not always, you know, like,
00:27:32
Speaker
are you willing to do the things you really want to do to make more money? I mean, the most amount of money there is is in sales. If you can you could sell private jets, you can make a lot of money. You can sell Ferraris, you can make a lot of money. you know i bet um you know But some people are not willing to you learn that craft. And so they you know they feel like
00:28:01
Speaker
you know but But yet they they look at their boss and go, well, I know my boss understands that I want to make more money. But, well, you know you're going to have to expand your knowledge and become more – either more efficient or more knowledgeable for that boss to pay you more money. Yeah, there's a trade-off there. Yeah.
00:28:24
Speaker
That parlays into a question that was one of my favorite ones that I like to to get folks feedback on. As someone who's been successful in your line of work and now you're in leadership or you're the leader of your companies, what are what would you advise someone who's up and coming? Soft skills is something that I've heard is is missing from a lot of folks nowadays in the job market. But what kind of skills do you think Separate someone if they step into your office for a job What are the skills that may be the intangible type things? You know, we all understand you need to be knowledgeable and a hard worker and stuff But what are the things that separate candidates in your mind if you're interviewing people?
00:29:14
Speaker
If this rarely happens But if if somebody knows themselves then then I can find a place for them. And I know that's a weird thing to say.
00:29:36
Speaker
What I do whenever I interview somebody is I give them what's a test called strength finders. And it's a personality test, right? you know okay and We've heard of different ones. you know Are you an otter? Are you a lion? Oh, sure. Strength finders is like 32 or 34 different strengths that yeah each one of us has. We're all good at something.
00:30:03
Speaker
And, and so what, um, sorry, if you're hear in the, phone rain that's all right. Well, ah o well I appreciate you taking the time out of making money to talk to me. Oh, somebody answers that and takes a credit card. i don't yeah hello know ah So String Finders just says, these are the things that that that you are really good at. And so you should lean into those. So if somebody were to come in and interview with me, and even after I hire them, I come back and talk to them about their strengths. So, for example, my strengths, okay? I am a...
00:30:48
Speaker
I am a communication person, so I like to talk. If you haven't figured that out, then I don't know where you're at on this podcast, but I love to talk. okay so Communication is one of my strengths. okay I'm analytical, meaning that I can look at a problem and figure out an answer.
00:31:06
Speaker
um May not be the right answer, but I'll figure out an answer. And and I'm also like a woo, which which stands for like winning others over. It means whenever I walk into a crowded room and I see a hundred people in there and I see Tim standing on one side and on the other is somebody I've never met before, I want to go talk to the person I've never met before.
00:31:27
Speaker
um've already talked him <unk>s awesome right a lot too you know, your story, brother, you know, I don't know this person at all. So I'm um'm a woo. So those are like three of my top strengths. And so somebody that can come in and understand like, this is who I am. And this is what I'm really good at. but You know, my lead developer, he's a learner. ah He loves to read and learn things. So now that I know that,
00:31:57
Speaker
Like, I'm like giving him stuff like, you know, Hey, Michael, would you research this? Would you figure out what the deal is on this? He's like, Oh, yeah, let me, let me add it. You know, where I'm like, learner is way down on me. Like, I don't like to read all that. I'm like, Oh, just give me the high level information. I'm analytical. I'll tell you that what we need to do with that information, but I don't want to go research it.
00:32:23
Speaker
So, you know, that would be the thing I would tell somebody is, is that if you could take some of these tests, strength finders is one of the best, just Google it. Then you're really gonna find what you are good at. It's like 35 bucks and you get like your top five strengths. And what I always tell people is, is that, you know, LeBron dreams or, you know, name a name another Michael Jordan,
00:32:52
Speaker
You know, Tom Brady, they are one of the, Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks statistics wide that has ever played the game. I bet that man would they would make an amazing golfer. I bet he can make the PGA tour. He's just a natural athlete, you know? And he can make the PGA tour, but guess what? He is a better quarterback.
00:33:17
Speaker
So he can go make the PGA tour working or he can win Super Bowls as a quarterback. you know yeah Like do what you're really, really good at. So if you figure that out, lean into that because nobody else is as good as it's you are at those few items.
Handling Workplace Failures and Employee Relations
00:33:40
Speaker
it's I think sometimes folks, and maybe it's a confidence issue, but sometimes they don't quite feel comfortable accepting, I'm not good at that. And so but I am good at that. And so I need to lean into that. There's nothing wrong with not, you know, you're not going to be good at everything. Yeah. um Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses, and you just got to figure out what those are. And it doesn't mean you're a failure if you're not good at something. It just means you need to focus on what you are good at. Yeah, yeah. And, you know,
00:34:12
Speaker
But don't worry about your weaknesses in my opinion, especially from a job, from a career standpoint. Like why are you beating me if you don't like to work with your hands? Why are you taking a job as a mechanic? That's crazy, right? right why Well, I need to work on my weakness. you know Do that on your on your weekends then. So you're going to make yourself miserable. Got it. Okay. right you know That sounds you know a good way to spend the next 10 years of your life. you know It's just ludicrous. Figure out what you're good at. Don't worry about your weaknesses. Lean into the strengths. I've got an employee and one of her strengths is positivity.
00:34:52
Speaker
Well, guess who I have leading the client meetings whenever we're getting status updates. She is. Sherry does all that. Why? Because she's going to look at every single number and go, well, your website is looking amazing here.
00:35:07
Speaker
and look at the social traffic here, oh my gosh, we're killing it over here. Everything is positive in her eyes, you know? right so So she fits wonderfully talking to clients about how great of a job we're doing. Right. yeah like The silver lining employee. Yeah, yeah I don't put the the you know the person who's like, well, I just tell it to you as it is. And I tell you the real stuff.
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, they're not the person I put in front of employee or in front of customers, you know, right? Those are the people that I want to tell me the real answer, but I don't want to tell them the customer. you got me super yeah One of the realities of business or or just being a human being is that, you know, you get things right sometimes, but sometimes you get things wrong, you make the the wrong decision, or you fail in some aspect.
00:36:04
Speaker
um How do you basically coach people if you have an employee that makes the wrong decision and makes a mistake? what How do you help them deal with failure? Yeah, that's tough. That's very tough. Okay, so again, I go back to the strength finders. That's what I do. um Because
00:36:33
Speaker
because when you go to someone that is someone that's a relater, okay, instead of a woo, you know, I'm the person that walks in and talks to everybody, okay? So you can tell me something negative that I did horrible in this podcast and I'll go, okay, thanks, I appreciate it. Yeah, i I won't do that next time.
00:36:53
Speaker
Appreciate it. See you later. You tell a relater that same thing. Hey, your podcast was horrible. That answer was ridiculous. They take it personally, you know because everything about them is is you know deep relationships. you know My wife is a relater. I can't tell her what she did wrong.
00:37:11
Speaker
so I look at who I'm dealing with first, you know, as to how I can either, you know, shoot it straight or whether or not I've got to be gentler. But the bottom line is you can never, you can never run, you can never manage anybody or anything by using the management style called hinting and hoping.
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna hint that Tim, you should do this and I'm gonna hope that you pick up on my hint. You know, I'm gonna kind of dance around it. Whatever you want to call it, I call it hinting and hoping. You know, I'm gonna hint that this is a problem and I'm gonna hope you're gonna do something about it. Well, and that doesn't work. you Ultimately, you do have to just come right out and say,
00:38:07
Speaker
Hey, you screwed it up. And, you know, how can we not do this again? Right. Yeah. I've, I've had some, you know, I've made a career in the fire service and I've had some captains in the past that use that approach you just talked about was hint and hope. And we missed each other constantly. We were frustrated with each other. And I finally just had to sit down and say, this isn't working. What's, what do you want from me?
00:38:33
Speaker
And they would tell me exactly what they wanted. And I said, okay, I didn't know you wanted any of that. I'm glad to do it. And so now moving forward, now that the lines of communication were forced open, then you know, okay, I know exactly what he wants now, and and I want to be a good employee, so I'm going to do it. And then things improve tenfold. So communication, it always comes down to that, I think. Yeah, um yeah it does. It does. and and you know And it's got to be a two-way street. The fact that you went to that boss and said, what's going on is very important. you know The employee that just resigned, my senior web developer was like, oh, man, I loved him. He was great. It's like, yeah, well, I guess he just never told us what he really wanted.
00:39:26
Speaker
you know and So it's like, okay, well, you know, and maybe what he wanted was to stop working on computers and start working on cars. I don't know, you know, that's, yeah, that's fine. But, uh, sure.
Mentorship and Financial Management
00:39:39
Speaker
He went and took a job is doing, uh, statistics. So looking at.
00:39:45
Speaker
Working for a construction company, uh, compiling all their numbers. So, okay. It's definitely, that's definitely more, you know, left brain than right brain. So maybe that's what he wanted, you know, say okay.
00:39:59
Speaker
yeah but But he never told me, so that will remain a mystery forever unless i unless he shares it with me one day. Maybe he'll hear this podcast and call me. I sure hope so. I hope I get big enough to where everybody in Texas hears it. That's right. so That's right.
00:40:19
Speaker
Um, in your, in your career, as you've gone along, you've mentioned a few folks that, you know, like your dad had the business and, and I'm sure he taught you a lot, but have there been any mentors that. You, you really, every time you think about your growth and, and your improvement and your success, like this man or woman or this person was really influential in in your success. Yeah. Yeah. You know, in every.
00:40:47
Speaker
In everything that I'm doing, I'm looking for someone to mentor me. So I mentioned I like to sail. So guess what, guys? i You know, anytime I meet somebody that's a better sailor than me. I'm kind of like, you know, trying to kiss but and say hey yeah you know you're really awesome how'd you do that, you know, and I'm always looking for that. So in business.
00:41:17
Speaker
It's the same thing. Yes, I looked at my father for a lot of, you know, what he was able to give me. My grandfather was an entrepreneur. And so I think back to how he handled some things as well and learn from there. But, you know, you know, on the on the other side, they don't. They.
00:41:42
Speaker
They were very, very conservative in the way that they handle money, which is fine, which is great. But I never really got a view of, you know say, debt. They were always like, hey, don't buy anything on debt. Everything is cash first, cash first. And I think that's wonderful. I really do. But I was very curious about how you know, how these other people operated always with lines of credit. So I sought out a business coach. I've had a business coach now for the past seven years, and she is a ah teacher here at one of the local colleges here in town. She's a finance professor.
00:42:30
Speaker
And so now my business coach who I run all sorts of different, and you know, well, this employee or this customer did this or whatever it may be. But when it comes down to, okay, my P and&Ls or my balance sheets and like, I don't really understand how the balance sheet would work and why would a bank give me money, you know, she really can help mentor me and explain those things. So I'm i'm looking for,
00:42:58
Speaker
anytime, even my networking group. I found a mentor in my networking group, this older gal who had been networking forever. And and I was like, you know Peggy, tell me how tell me how to make this work for me. And if it's worth your time, then it's worth finding somebody to help you you know as a mentor.
00:43:24
Speaker
the the finance coach that you were talking about, there is a strategic use of debt that I'm sadly not as informed as I should be, but I can see how. Well, yeah, I mean, and you but see, you recognize an area that you could improve and you wanted someone who was an expert in that. And so you reached out to this financial teacher and that's her area of expertise. So it seems like that that's a smart thing to do is to talk to an expert and let them teach you, not just tell you what to do, but you get an education as well as, you know, you get the guidance. Yeah, yeah. And and it doesn't mean that you have to take their advice either. I mean, I, right you know, I still pay cash for my cars, you know, i don't I don't like doing the loans. And, you know, I can understand why people do it.
00:44:17
Speaker
But to me, it's a very simple process. I learned from my in-laws in which you know if you got a $300 a month car payment, that's great. After that car payment is done, you keep paying yourself $300.
Personal Passions and Alternate Dreams
00:44:29
Speaker
But instead of it going to the you know loan company, it goes into your savings account. And okay you know three years later, guess what?
00:44:38
Speaker
you know you've got I gotta do the math but you got you know a lot of money 12 15 grand I don't know yeah something like that yeah that guy didn't know numbers at all yeah no you're a marketing guy remember exactly yeah Dave Ramsey would love your advice maybe I'll get him on the show one day yeah that's right that's right yeah So um if you were not in the career that you're in right now, is there a an occupation or you know if you want to be a rock star or where, if you could choose to change careers, anything in the world, what do you think it would be? I'd probably be a boat captain down in the Caribbean. Oh yeah? Yeah.
00:45:22
Speaker
very nice. That's that's what I'm trying to work toward is uh is maybe getting a little uh a little charter business going down there and um and just kind of living in the dream um you know island to island and and again you know I'm a woo I like to meet new people so great new people come on board terrific you know let's let's spend a week you know sailing the islands and uh and enjoying life but yeah that that would probably be my uh my My career, i i I nearly did it, Tim, him in college. i yeah Right after we graduated, I wanted to quit my stock broker job and move to Palau. I met, long story short, I met a guy. I had a connection.
00:46:12
Speaker
yeah I was going to go down there and basically be like a ah dive assistant and and start that journey and nearly did it. But then, I don't know, I fell in love. Oh boy.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah, women will change things, won't they? And usually it's for the better though. Amen. That's true. Amen. Yeah. If they change it, it's difficult for the better. Well, she didn't eliminate the dream. It's just got delayed by 25 or 30 years. That's right. That's right. And she she probably would want to go with you. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we're we're trying. Good deal. So one of your hobbies, you said you're into sailing. um You don't hear a lot of folks that are into sailing. I mean, ah I guess you maybe not in my circles, obviously, because I'm in the middle of the United States. but Dallas is kind of a little too, yeah. Well, yeah, I suppose.
00:47:11
Speaker
Is there a big lake somewhere there where you do most of your sailing close to you where you live? Yeah, there's ah there's a few lakes around Dallas. okay There's a large one about a little over an hour north. and But there's a small one right here inside the city ah city limits. and And there's a lot of sailboats on it. Yeah, it's it's so there's quite a few lakes around Dallas, actually. Yeah.
00:47:38
Speaker
Yeah. Do you when you sail, do you typically do just leisurely sailing or do you like to get involved in races or both? And I'm a racer. I'm a racer. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this past Saturday, I was on White Rock Lake here in Dallas, and it was a one man boat. and I was racing and one race I came in first and the next two I came in last. So you know, God humbles you.
00:48:06
Speaker
Yeah, the the wind's going to be there. It's not. so yeah yeah you know You start feeling good about something. You're like, I'm pretty good at this. you know There's some business advice there as well. You better stay humble or you know life will humble you. That's right. That's right. yeah yeah don't don't Don't spend all your money. you know right their their Winter is coming. You never know. yeah I think I know the answer to this question based on what you just said about sailing, but where is ah either a favorite vacation destination that you've been to or somewhere that you would love to go? Yeah, yeah well, it is around the water. That is true.
00:48:45
Speaker
Yeah, my my favorite destination I've been to is Tahini and Bora Bora. Oh, nice. Yeah, just amazing. Love Bora Bora. Just phenomenal. And the place that I am that's next on my list is it's both Phuket, Thailand and Croatia.
Admired Figures and Professional Achievements
00:49:06
Speaker
So, wow. Those are my next two. um I'm trying. We'll see. ah Cool. Well, I hope you accomplished it. Yeah, thanks. excellent what's Is there anybody famous that you may admire, or they don't have to be famous, but maybe someone that the listeners might know of, like Elon Musk or somebody like that? Yeah, you know probably. I'm not big on
00:49:31
Speaker
putting people on pedestals. sure you know Everybody's going to let you down. I go to church every weekend and I love it whenever my pastor stands up there and says, hey, welcome to Northwest Bible Church. We're glad you're here. We're going to let you down. you know like you know We're all people. you know and so you know Every church and every person and every political party in every country is going to let you down.
00:49:59
Speaker
yeah and so You know, but I think that, you know, I listened to their message. I know that, you know, there's certain people out there in the world, and a person's message that I really like is, you mentioned him earlier, is Dave Ramsey. Oh, sure. Yeah. I really like his message. I like, you know, what he preaches. You know, I don't always agree with every single thing, but But yeah, I mean, if if you're in debt or if you want to get a hen life, if you are worried about you know paying for something, start listening to his stuff and reading his books and you'll you'll be there within a few years. And yeah, you'll look back and go,
00:50:47
Speaker
And Bora Bora was awesome, you know, so, but yeah, you know, I've got a vacation account and, you know, and so I look to put money in there so that I can get to Phuket, Thailand. So, yeah.
00:51:01
Speaker
You know, you were talking earlier about how you deliver, excuse me, information to employees or whatever and and the different personalities. Dave Ramsey is one of those rip the band-aid off kind of a delivery guy. He basically tells you exactly what you need to hear, whether you want it or not. true Yeah, don't call his radio. so You're right. he'll he'll oh yeah He'll tell you how it is.
00:51:24
Speaker
He's going to be blunt, but sometimes that's what needs to happen. That's true. Well, Matt, one more question for you, and then we'll wrap things up, and I really do appreciate your time today. What is the best compliment that you recall ever receiving? Oh, wow. Man. I'm handsome. I'm intelligent. Let me see here. Which one can I go with? I mean, besides the obvious, Matt. Yeah, yeah. Which one can I use?
00:51:52
Speaker
so many of them to go through. I know you got a big rolodex there. Exactly. um No, I Yeah. You know, since, since we're talking about jobs, you know, uh, and in what we're doing there, you know, I think, you know, so, so on most of my compliments, I'm thinking about, you know, business type stuff. And so yeah, you know, appliance, uh, appliance store, high end appliances, you know, uh, Mila, Fermidor, Sub-Zero, Gaggenau, those type brands. And, and, um, you know, we,
00:52:30
Speaker
helped them dramatically with their business and ultimately they were able to sell that business to a ah large organization called Ferguson. They're nationwide. right And so yeah, he complimented me on you know, on just helping him take the business to another level and and helping him sell it. And that was, you know, it was a long conversation, but it was a great compliment. And, you know, that's, you know, I said earlier, oh, the money's great, the money's great, but, you know, helping people achieve their goals, even if i if there's something in this podcast that I helped, you know, your listener achieve you know
00:53:20
Speaker
ah goal in the future. that's That's one of the cool things about being an entrepreneur and having employees that you manage and are responsible for. And you know you just want people to set goals and achieve them. Sure. Well, getting paid is one form of reward, but then also when someone gives you a genuine expression of gratitude,
00:53:45
Speaker
That is very rewarding um and you know the currency is different, but the value is still there. Yeah, so yeah for sure. For sure. I was i was humbled you know ah you know that that he would realize that our efforts helped him accomplish his goals you know because sometimes,
00:54:05
Speaker
you know, um, people that sell their businesses are just, you know, they're on to greener pastures, you know, and I did it. I'm done. I'm out, you know, and, and, uh, yeah, I was humbled that he, that he remembered and complimented. So yeah, it was nice. It was a nice, it was a really nice afternoon.
Conclusion and Closing Remarks
00:54:25
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I bet.
00:54:27
Speaker
Matt, thank you so much. You've given a lot of solid information and and sharing your your experiences and stuff, your success. I think anybody listening to this could be able to pull something away that they can apply to their job search or their career or their even their personal life. If they want to go down the Dave Ramsey road, that certainly would help as well. But I thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to speak with me today. man so Absolutely. Thanks for having me. and And thanks for doing this. Very cool. Very cool of you. Thank you. Well, thanks, folks, for joining me today. As always, we wait till the end of our interviews before we ask for any likes, shares or subscriptions. We want to make sure that you like what you hear and hopefully you can take it and apply it to your life. We will see you on the next one. Have a great day.