Interview with Matt Lebris – Starting a podcast, personal branding, & how to start a speaking career – Episode #13

Full Episode Transcript:

 

Kenny Soto  0:00  

One. Hello everyone and welcome to Kenny Soto’s Digital Marketing Podcast. Today I have a very special guest, his name is Matt. And today we are going to be talking about all things digital marketing, and podcasting. So Matt, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself? And also, just for our own clarification, how do you pronounce your last name?

 

Matt Lebris  0:27  

Les. I love it. First of all, let me just say that I’m grateful for the opportunity, Kenny, I appreciate you reaching out I love what you’re doing. I know we’ve been connected for a few years now from some mutual friends. And I just wanted to say thank you express my gratitude for you sharing your platform. 

 

I think that’s I’m actually getting chills saying that because I love opportunities like this. And I’m grateful for this one. Last Name, by the way, it’s French. It’s pronounced libre, you don’t pronounce the s, the great French. But to give you some brief background on myself, for the past three years, I worked with Daymond John of Shark Tank, that was my first job out of college, once in a lifetime opportunity that I took. But I also got to a point where I felt like I needed to take that leap of faith and pursue some passion projects. While I don’t have the wife and kids while I don’t have the mortgage. 

 

While I don’t have any of those, you know, overhead costs, per se that life, you know, seems to give you from time to time. So I ended up pursuing speaking engagements throughout the country. And this was in 2019, I thought I was going to be the world’s best speaker and speak 100 plus times my first year going into this. And I got to a point where I spoke about 25 times by March or locked in 25 engagements by March, I realize it’s not exactly what I wanted to do the rest of my life traveling left and right. 

 

But on top of that, I launched my podcast decoding success hosted a ton of amazing individuals, which I’m super grateful for. And I also launched a branding agency called one B branding, which is, you know, two of the things that I have going on. Mainly right now, especially with COVID, you know, not doing much speaking but absolutely love branding, I credit a lot of my personal connections and success to the way that I’ve been able to carry myself. And I know personal branding is thrown around very loosely these days. But I’m sure we’ll get into all of that at some point.

 

Kenny Soto  2:13  

Perfect. Thank you so much for that quick introduction. I know our listeners are gonna love it. And let’s just get started with the the meat and potatoes. Right? I want to know, and we want to know, how do you start a podcast? And more importantly, how do you grow it?

 

Matt Lebris  2:36  

Right. That’s a great question. So I was given the idea to start a podcast by one of my former interns, then coworker and really, really good friend. His name is Matt great guy. He was my intern while working with Damon and to say he was my interns really a downgrades, This guy’s like, you know, one of my really, really good friends now. Super smart individual. And he was like, Dude, you need a podcast. 

 

I’m like, Nah, I don’t like this is back in 2017-2018. And, you know, it got to a point where I realized that I didn’t need one. So to answer your question, in short, Kenny, how did or how do you start a podcast, it’s as simple as having the idea and actually doing it, right, because it’s one thing to have an idea and never do anything with it. It’s another thing to actually put your pen to the pad and start taking actionable steps and listing what those steps are.

 

 So for me, I just really what I did personally was reach out to people that had podcasts because although I was working on Damon’s podcast, we were literally about to launch as I left. At that same time, I didn’t necessarily know like the back end aspect of it. I didn’t know what a host site was. I didn’t know what distribution channels were I didn’t know what questions to ask on the interviews. 

 

And then I said to myself, if I keep thinking like this, I’m never going to launch this podcast. So what I personally did again, was just put it out in the world new project coming December 4 2018. That’s exactly what I said. Then I said, you know it got closer to that date. And I actually did this probably two weeks out. So I put the pressure on myself to actually get this going. And I said December 4 Podcast coming out. Here’s my podcast art. I just started teasing and teasing and teasing it. 

 

And the next thing you know, I launched I told myself, I put it out in the public, I’m gonna have to do it because I don’t want to look like a fraud. I don’t want to look like someone that talks and doesn’t do anything. So that’s the way I personally operate. But when it comes down to growing it, man, that’s something I’m still trying to figure out myself, right?  I think when you are dedicated to a specific niche, and I absolutely hate that word, but it’s so true. 

 

When you are dedicated to a specific niche it becomes a lot easier, right? Like if you’re dedicated to college students that are looking to get a career which is a good friend of mines podcast, I feel like it’s a lot easier. Me on the other hand, I talk about success success is broad as fuck. Like, it’s very, very broad. So for me personally, I do find that challenging but what I find myself doing is based off of the guests I have I doubled down on how I promote that week. 

 

So I kind of take it on a weekly step by step basis, I’m not just doing it from a grand scheme of things. I go, I go very, very micro when it comes to growing it. But to sit here and say that I have this blueprint to share with you, I’d be absolutely lying because I’m still trying to figure it out myself. And I’m sure there’s tons of podcasts out there that would say exactly the same.

 

Kenny Soto  5:23  

Got it. And as a follow up, you have a lot of big name guests on your podcast. And one of my favorite guests on your podcast was Scott Adams. And I am personally interested in knowing what is your process for picking and reaching out to and ultimately getting someone of that caliber on a podcast on your podcast? What how’s your How does your process work for that?

 

Matt Lebris  5:53  

Right that I could tell you because that I have a step by step for and I absolutely love sharing this at first, I probably would have, I didn’t have the mindset to share this. I was probably greedy with it. But now I’m just like, You know what, there’s an abundance of shit in this world, man, we could all eat. So for me, I obviously always like to say out of the gate, that we’re all different. 

 

You know, it can’t be cloned, like what I say right now cannot be cloned. It needs to be tailored to everyone that’s listening to this and their own way. And this is even beyond podcasting. Right, this is business too. So for I know what my past experiences are. So I know how to sell that. I know how to sell myself, I could obviously help you, Kenny, sell yourself, If we talked for like a week straight and I got to learn about you, I can help you craft the pitch. But outside of that, like Kenny, you can’t take my pitch and use it right like it needs to be tailored to you. 

 

So I always say that as a disclaimer before anything. Now, when it comes down to me reaching out to someone of Scott Adams caliber or Grant Cardone, or Dan Locke or Dean Graziosi, or any of these guys, what I always do is, number one, I structure it, well, let me backtrack, why do I reach out to these guys, I reach out to them first and foremost, because I know they have something going on, such as a book release, such as a product release a course release, or something of that nature where they want some publicity behind their, you know, their new venture, right? 

 

Like, I know that. And that’s an advantage to you as the person with the platform, you don’t have to have a gazillion listeners to reach out to one of these people, right. And you don’t even need to disclose the amount of downloads or listeners that you have on a podcast to even you know, in an introductory email, just say like, Hey, this is my podcast, these are my past guests, etc, etc. Like, you need to know how to sell that. So that’s why I reach out to them. Right?

 

 I reach out to them because of that now, in my actual pitch, and I’ll tell you how I reach out to them as well. In my actual pitch number one out of the gate, I create credibility, because everyone now knows that you need to add value to someone else’s life before they could add value to yours. Right like give give give Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, that type of thing, right? We already know that. But now that everyone’s throwing these value coupons around, like, are you going to take value from everyone? Absolutely not, man, you’re not. 

 

So what I do is establish credibility. And I’m not saying that my credibility, meaning my value is better than anyone elses. But there’ll be more intrigued off of my credibility, knowing that what I’ve been able to do, versus if you took my credibility and tried selling it as yours, right. That’s why I’m saying it’s very unique, right? So in my pitch, I’ll always start off with my credibility, always, then I’ll go into the value and then I go back into credibility, credibility, and then I go back into value again. 

 

Now what that looks like is me kind of giving like what you asked for, you know, what you asked for Kenny a two to three sentence bio type of thing. I always pitch that out there, then I’ll I’ll go into the value, hey, this is what this looks like. Then I’ll go back into credibility saying, hey, this person was on my show, this person was on my show, this person was on my show, etc, etc. 

 

Now, when it comes down to the how, how do I get in contact with these people? I have to say I do have an advantage when it comes to this. Right? I worked for someone that’s on national television that has a very large reach. I can’t say that everyone has that opportunity. And I’m blessed for it. Again, everyone’s opportunities are unique. 

 

But I will tell you that you can get in touch with absolutely anyone you want to get in touch with. If you are resourceful. There’s a difference between having a resource and being resourceful. Yeah, right. For sure. If, if you have a million dollars, that’s a resource. But if you’re resourceful, you know how to make that 1 million into 10 million. You get what I’m saying? So there’s a big difference between the two. Now, everyone has the resource of getting anyone’s contact information they want. 

 

There’s platforms such as Rocket Reach, reach out to them Kenny they’re going to have to you know, give you something for this. You’re promoting them now. You know rocket reach lead Leaper The list goes on. Even better. Their website, simply their website, I guarantee you if you want to get in touch with Lewis, Howes Marie Forleo, Scott, Adams, Daymond, John, all of them have a contact form. 

 

All of them have an email listed on their website. This is so overlooked. And I think it’s overlooked because of fear, to be honest, you know, hesitation. And because they’re scared of being denied, right? I’ve heard no more times than I’ve heard. Yes. And then when you look at my rolodex, or my directory on my podcast, and you’re like, you’ve heard no more than you’ve heard, yes. And you look at all the names, you’re like, holy shit, how many people did you actually reach out to if you got all these names, right. 

 

And it’s crazy. I actually, I’m working with a client, her name is Nellie Golan. She’s the former president of Telemundo. And we actually just did something last night for her. She, she put out a story. And she says, that cold calling and this is kind of hand in hand cold outreach, in a sense. 

 

Yeah, she said, cold calling is exactly what changed her life. She was like, if I didn’t cold call, I would have never got XYZ opportunity and XYZ opportunity led to 1,000,000 and 1 different things. So it just really goes to show the power of man, that’s exactly how I do it. That’s the science behind it the quote unquote, science behind it, there’s no more secrets. It’s literally that simple.

 

Kenny Soto  11:21  

Got it. So it’s really just leveraging credibility, establishing value, doing that again, and then just not being afraid to be rejected, because the answer is automatically No, unless you ask.

 

Matt Lebris  11:37  

the answer, you just hit the nail on the head, dude, the answer is already NO if you don’t ask. And I absolutely love that. Right. Like, if if you don’t take action, nothing changes. And that’s in every area of life. You know, if you don’t do something about it, it’s just never going to change. So, you know, when it comes down to that email pitch, man, it’s gonna differ for everyone. 

 

For me, I kind of go credibility, value, credibility value, and then I ended off, I give them some sort of flexibility as well. I said, Hey, listen, you know, I’m open for an interview throughout this period of time, we could do 10 minutes, we could do 10 hours, you know, like, it’s up to you, whatever you want to do, I just want you on my show. At the same time, you do kind of have to put your foot down, in a sense, because you don’t want to see like, Oh my God, I’m such a fanboy. 

 

You know, I want you on my show, you got to put your foot down a little bit, you got to be a little firm. You know, there’s been people that have reached out to me to reschedule three times in a row. And I’m like, you know, what, on the fourth time, you know, I’m not down with that. You know, that shows that you’re you’re either not prioritizing me or you don’t respect me. And, like, I don’t care if I don’t have this massive name behind me yet. I, you know, I think we all need to be treated equal to a sense. So yeah, man, it’s different for everybody for sure. 

 

Kenny Soto  12:47  

Got it. And you mentioned something that has piqued my interest. What is your definition of personal branding?

 

Matt Lebris  12:54  

Personal Branding is the art of differentiation. Cannot elaborate. Yeah, so that’s what that’s what branding is. Now, I love this question, dude. Thank you for asking this. I’m still learning this myself, man. I’m a human being I’m 27 years old, I gave you my highlight reel before dude, I failed 1,000,00o and 1 times I got kicked out. I got kicked out of two high schools. I failed out of college, I tore my labrum and last D1 scholarships for baseball, like the list goes on. Right? 

 

Sometimes what we end up doing is we try to fit in because it’s primal. Right? Like we love being a part of a pack. And what that does, too, and that’s, that’s okay, right? Like, I don’t want it to seem like that’s a bad thing. It’s okay. You know, you want to have a tight group of friends. I love my friends. I think we’re all very similar. But with that said, there are instances in my life and in many individuals lives where we try to be someone that we’re really not just to fit in. 

 

Now, personal brand and what I said the art of differentiation, the most famous doctor in the world, one said, there’s no one in the world that you were then you, his name was Dr. Seuss, by the way. So there is no one in the world you are the new there’s no one that has your same experiences. There’s no one that has your same DNA, your same build. 

 

Literally, there’s someone that might be had the same height as you but they might not have the same receding hairline as you you know, like the list. The list really goes on man. And when it comes down to personal branding, it’s just like, all you got to do is own who you are. Like you do not have to be anyone else. So if someone’s listening to this, they’re like, Yo, dude, like, I want to start a podcast. I want to reach out to Scott Adams, but I never worked for a shark. 

 

That’s okay. Like, that’s a good thing. Like that’s that’s a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. And I think that’s what people get caught up on. Me when I first started speaking around the country, I had to realize I needed to convey my story in a sense where I say it’s okay that you don’t have my experience. Right? 

 

Like, that’s a good thing that you don’t because then if we were all copies of each other, this world would be bland as fuck, it’d be like this. It would be so boring man. You know, like we would all be painted black, white and gray. Like that’s it’s so mundane, right? Like, it’s just like you look at it’s like black. You know, we’re colorful, we’re a splash and like, you need to own that splash. So that’s how I defined it. That’s how I live in man.

 

Kenny Soto  15:26  

Perfect. I knew I should have asked you that question. I’m glad I did, as a segway, because I do want to get more in depth in this experience that you had working for Daymond John, how did you one get that opportunity? And what did you learn from that opportunity Man?

 

Matt Lebris  15:45  

That’s a good question. I love this story. Because this story always like boost my serotonin levels. Like it’s something that I’m really proud of And I think it really allows people to understand how to seize every moment of their life, like even if you’re in the grocery store, right? 

 

Even if you’re just like riding your bike past a park, and you have an opportunity to do something good. Like seriously. So for me this opportunity came about I was CUNY student as well as I know you are aware as well, Kenny, I want to your college which is in Jamaica, Queens. Now, personally, when my advisor after Queensboro Community College told me to go to York instead of Baruch. 

 

I said, I’ve never even heard of fucking your college. Like, I literally never heard of it. And I don’t mind saying that. So it got to a point where I was like, You know what, like, I’m being guided there. Let me just go do my thing. I’m born and raised on the other side of Queens, like this side of Queens. I just never been before. You know, I’ve been to the airport. 

 

I’ve just never been over there. So I ended up becoming the president of the school’s entrepreneurship club and really understanding that my experiences were a lot different than the students that were going there. And I felt compelled to make an impact. And that’s why I started doing these services for free like becoming the entrepreneurship club president because dude, if you met me back then you’d be like, Matt, you’re such an asshole. 

 

Like, all I cared about was money, man. Like, that’s it. And we can get even deeper into that. But I was the president of entrepreneurship club. I was on spring break in sunny Dominican Republic with two of my friends. We were sitting by the pool, drinking some Mojito, margaritas, whatever we were doing. And I remember looking at my phone, and it said, CUNY your college, I was getting a call from my school. 

 

And the first thing that popped in my head was why the hell are they calling me I paid my tuition myself. Like I literally paid my own tuition. So I was totally unsure of why they would be calling me. And I answered, the woman on the other end of the line is like, Hey, would you like to meet Daymond John, and honestly, the woman knew me. 

 

And I’m saying to myself, you know, me, in my head, I’m saying this, you know, me so well, why would you even call to ask like you already know the answer is yes. Yeah. Just set it up. So Damon was coming to my school one day after I arrived back from Dominican Republic, literally one day after. So I was just like, Dude, this is this is crazy. So I get back to the States. 

 

He was coming to my school to promote his book, The Power of Broke, which is probably like right over here somewhere. And I was one of three students that had the opportunity to meet him. I was in the green room, I brought my mentor with me, right, very good friend of mine, one of my best friends, one of my mentors, amazing individual business partner, etc. 

 

And I brought him with me, but he wasn’t a student. So he didn’t have access to the green room. I went to the green room, I’m with the two other students who I knew very well. And we were the last people to meet Damon, like this guy. Like I seen it on his face. Like, he was just ready to get on stage. 

 

You know, like, he’s the best. Like, he’s literally the best. Like he goes through. Like, he provides value to everyone he meets, you know, and he takes time for every single person. So we were the last people, I was the last person to shake his hand. He looked at me now I’m six foot five, he’s five foot five. So he looked at me, he’s like, What the hell do they teach you here how to break people’s hands. So it was kind of like good vibes off the bat. 

 

And with that being said, we had a five minute conversation by the end of it. I said, Listen, Damon, I’m going to work for you. I literally just said it like that. And he looked at me like I have 20 heads. Now I know I have one big head, but like when someone looks at you, like you have 20 heads, you know, I was just like, oh shit, what did I say, you know? So, he went on stage, he did his thing. And I was really impressed by his responses. It was a fireside chat. 

 

I was really impressed by his responses, and I appreciated them. You know, like, we may not have had the same upbringing, but I resonated with a lot of what he said, kid from Queens, etc. So by the end of it, I was I met my mentor. I was sitting in the front rows, my mentors kind of sitting in the middle We met in the middle. 

 

And we were like the last people to leave the theater. So we thought, and along the left side of the theater walking on others, it’s a pretty big theater. Walking out of the theater was this heavyset gentleman who look like Santa Claus. And I started laughing. I’m like, yo, what do I know this guy from? Like, he just looks so familiar. And my buddy Phil is like, I think that’s this guy, George. George, he was in I was in nightlife for seven years, Kenny, I didn’t give you that information. 

 

I was in nightlife for seven years. And the guy George just so happened to be in nightlife as well. So my buddy Phil, the mentor that I brought, he was like, That’s George. Let’s go talk to him. So we went outside, we started talking to him. Long story short, George just so happened to work for Damon. And I reached out to George afterward. And I’m like, Hey, man, like, what can I do for you, like, I want an internship. 

 

Literally, two months later, I was interning for him. And I had this amazing opportunity to intern for a for a semester. And I just told myself, like, I had one more semester left after my internship of school, and I said, You know what, like, if I want to work here, I need to put in another full semester of not getting paid, and just hustling, you know, and that’s exactly what I did. And that turned into a full time job, I was there for a total of like, three years, maybe a little bit more, give or take. 

 

And ultimately, what I learned my biggest takeaway was that, like, there’s so much more to this, there really is so much more, but I you know, I want to keep it short. Businesses and brain brain surgery. Again, business is not brain surgery. And I see it in myself. I don’t live that advice. Every day, there’s times I get really worked up my anxiety spikes I get, you know, I get frustrated, I get headaches, I get this, I get that my heart races my I get chest pain, you know, and I’m just like, you know, do business is not brain surgery, there was one day we were in a meeting. It was me, Damon, and two other individuals. 

 

I was on one side of the table with one individual and other individuals on the other side, and Damon was in the middle. And both sides had clashing opinions on something on a project we were working on. And I see Damon just chillin there. And I’m, like I said to him after I’m like, bro, how do you like, give a fuck less? 

 

You know what I’m saying? I’m like, I’m over here getting worked up. And you’re just chilling. And he’s like, dude, this isn’t brain surgery, is like, no one is going to die no matter what decision we decided to go with. And that just stuck with me. So whenever I get asked that question, that’s the first thing that came to mind. 

 

I can give you a million things that I take that I took away from it, you know, like the, it’s endless. But that really stood out to me, because I admired that a lot. You know, and I think it takes doesn’t happen overnight. But it’s really interesting to see.

 

Kenny Soto  22:48  

I Like that. And it’s important to know, like, just imagine what would have what would have been different if you never asked George for the internship.

 

Matt Lebris  22:57  

Crazy man. It’s in St. George’s, a very, very good friend of mine, mentor of mine, and I love the way George conducts himself. I think he’s another one. He’s very calm. And I’m like, yo, how are you so calm? Like, I’m not saying I’m a frantic person, but like the way and I guess it’s just with experience, right? 

 

Like, you know, it has to come with time. It has to come with time, man. And that’s why I try not to get hard on myself because or be hard on myself, I should say, because they’re a lot older than me. And I think that’s one thing that I personally do is compare myself, right. It’s like, alright, they’re, they’re in season 45 of their life. I don’t know how old both of them Damien’s a little over 50 George’s probably in his mid 40s. And I’m like, Alright, they’re in season 45 and 50. I’m in season 27. You know, like, that’s a big difference. You know what I’m saying? 

 

Kenny Soto  23:56  

Yeah, you know, for sure. Speaking of time, right. How long have you been working through the life of speaker? Right. And if someone wanted to become a speaker, what advice would you give them in? Mainly just marketing themselves as a speaker and getting more opportunities to speak.

 

Matt Lebris  24:16  

Right. I personally, dude, I didn’t even want to speak. I had no interest in it. What I had an interest in was knowing that I had a story to tell. So I started blogging about it on LinkedIn. I was like, You know what, I’m just gonna use LinkedIn. It’s free. I’m just gonna write articles. And I know you’ve done some blogging yourself.

 

 I’ve seen some posts. I just, you know, I literally wrote an article that was titled like, three, three things to turn your internship into a job. That’s, I think that was like what I what I wrote. And I got reached out to from an individual at Nassau Community College who asked me to speak to his club. I told myself all right, cool, let’s do Do this. And I went back. And I was just like, why are they asking me to do this? Like, I failed out of college. I got kicked out of high school. I’ve been arrested. Like, why are they asking me to speak I had that impostor syndrome, but I did it anyway. And I told myself going into it. I was like, You know what, that was my first engagement. That was in 2017. So again, I didn’t even ask to speak. 

 

But I realized how much I loved it. And I realized I was guided to that. It’s not so much that I loved being up in front of a room having everyone’s attention, I don’t care for that. I care more about the impact aspect of it. So I don’t even have to speak to make an impact, right? I’m sure someone that’s going to listen to this will feel some sort of impact and you know, knock on wood, I really hope so. 

 

But with that being said, how do you get started as a speaker, man, I always tell people speak for free, people love free, you cannot go into that realm expecting a $5,000 paycheck, a $20,000 paycheck, it just does not work like that. Especially if you are working with schools, I will tell you schools, I don’t care if they have a $60,000 a year tuition. They do not pay that Well, for speakers, they do not know. That’s just the truth. So for me, what I did was I just spoke for free, genuinely because I enjoyed it. I also liked to post about it on social media, to kind of impact the people that were, you know, viewing my stuff. 

 

So I always say number one, let’s break it down in steps. Number one, reach out to people telling them you’ll speak for free. Right now, obviously, we’re in this whole COVID thing, I highly doubt there’s any public speaking engagements, it’s probably over zoom or something like that. If you reach out to whoever it is that you want to speak to, I guarantee you, if you offer it for free, you reach out to 100 people, you’ll get at least one. Now that sounds like a real shitty ratio. 

 

But ultimately, like if you want to start start there. And then how do you market that you need to take that content, you need to make sure that there’s some stipulation where you’re allowed to record it, you’re allowed to do whatever the case is, have a photographer, people need to see that you’re a speaker, right? It’s one thing to have it in your Instagram bio, it’s another thing to actually be doing it, right. It’s like the people that put entrepreneur, I don’t even think I’m an entrepreneur, right. I think I’m a businessman. 

 

But with that being said, it’s as simple as that man, like people wouldn’t know I was a speaker unless I had the content from that first time around. I’ve spoke all over the country man, I’ve spoken Florida, Houston, Jackson, Mississippi, Fargo, North Dakota, I’m a boy from Queens County, I never thought I’d be in Fargo, North Dakota. I’m saying like, dude, the snow is over my head, I’m six foot five that shit was crazy, you know, but I think it’s as simple as that man.

 

Kenny Soto  27:47  

Alright, so it’s really just making sure that you’re not only reaching out very similar to what you mentioned, when it came to your podcast guests is mainly just reaching out. But in this case, we’re speaking specifically, you also have to offer your services for free. And make sure you have the ability to capture content, bring someone to help you do that, whether that’s someone recording audio, video, or both. So that way, you can get more opportunities based on how you distribute that content afterwards, correct?

 

Matt Lebris  28:15  

That is correct. Except let me just tweak that a little bit. I would not necessarily throw in that you’re willing to speak for free on that first email. Because if you have the opportunity, if you have the opportunity to get paid, get paid, right, get that check. We all love money, who doesn’t? 

 

We need money to survive. So get that check if you can, but if they’re if their rebuttal is, hey, we don’t have a budget for something like this be like Well, honestly, my, my desire is mainly to impact if you can afford this service, I’m sure one day in this in the future you will, I would love to show you what I can bring to the table for the students that you have at hand or for the audience you currently have at hand. You know what I’m saying?

 

Kenny Soto  28:53  

Yeah, okay. So basically, don’t put your foot in your mouth, like, wait until the offer actually starts happening. Okay. And another question I have is, why did you start one be branding?

 

Matt Lebris  29:09  

That is a question I do not know the answer to. When I left working with Damon, it was in November, I had two jobs with him. I left one in November of 2018. I left the other one in April of 2019. 

 

When I left my main job, which was in November, my full time, you know, nine, quote unquote nine to five. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I really didn’t. And I really left out of ego more than anything. I didn’t I wasn’t making that decision out of my heart, or out of my soul or out of my spirit. Not to be spiritual, but I made it out of ego. 

 

And I’m aware of that now. Right and I’m not saying I regret it, but I should still have been there I could potentially still be there right now. With that said though, I didn’t know what I wanted. Do I left my last day was Halloween I had a Tony Robbins event coming up in November, I had a speaking event coming up in November that was paid. 

 

And I just told myself, I will get through 2018 Going into 2019 Like this, no prom, the holidays, were there. Like, I won’t stress it, then I thought that I was just going to make a living off of speaking and I very much so could have. But I hit a bump in the road. And that bump in the road really shook me up. I’m still even dealing with some of the After Effects now in full transparency. 

 

My trip to Fargo, North Dakota, which is not one that I even want to remember, it was awesome. The engagement was awesome. But the trip was a trip from hell to say the least. And I really felt like that was a greater power. Telling me like do like this. This is something you can do. But this is not something you’re going to do at the capacity and level you’re doing it on right now. 

 

Because the reason I was doing it, again was out of ego. I told myself if I can, I wanted to prove something to someone other than myself. Right, I wanted to show the world that Matt Labrie was this global speaker at 27 years old, I was 25-26 years old at the time. And due to just it wasn’t meant to be that way, you know, and I realized that now that I’m removed from it. 

 

So I had my podcast going and then I got to a point where I’m like, I had Patrick, but David on my show, actually. And after that I was just like, dude, like, just start a business. Like that. That was what I was telling myself, like, just start a business. Like, I know that I love branding. I don’t know, I didn’t know at that time. What area of branding. I love, though, right? I really didn’t. 

 

I told myself, Oh, I’m gonna be I’m gonna do design work, do it. I’m not a graphic designer. I didn’t go to school for design. I don’t know how to design, you know, and I even still do some of that work today. But that’s only because I have amazing individuals on my team. I started one B because I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. 

 

And that sounds crazy. I wouldn’t suggest anyone that’s listening to just start a business because they don’t know what they want to do it. That’s that’s the complete opposite way to go about it. But over the course of time, I realized that this is what I want to do. Right now in this present moment. I can’t say it’s what I’m going to want to do and 20 years from now. 

 

But right now, in this present moment, we’ve shifted what we currently do into something different. And it’s something that I really enjoy. It’s exactly what I did for Daymond, essentially. And, you know, we made this shift literally about a month ago. And it’s been awesome, man.

 

Kenny Soto  32:39  

Got it. And as a segway, I wanted to know, because I saw this in your LinkedIn that you did community management. And I wanted to know, your definition of community management and how it falls into marketing.

 

Matt Lebris  32:54  

Yeah, so when I was with Damon, as you can see this plaque right here, this is for his New York Times bestselling book called Rise and grind. I was the project manager for this book. And that entailed managing a community of ambassadors who were individuals that were willing to support the book by promoting it, etc, etc. 

 

So I got certified in community management, just because that was a number one, it was an opportunity given to me by my workplace at the time, I think everyone again, you seize all opportunities that are given to you. If you you know, if you’re given an opportunity to level up in your career and add something to your resume, do it if it sounds right, and that sounded right. So I did it. 

 

And essentially, man, it was really just and I don’t want to categorize it, or I’m trying to find a way to verbalize it. It was really just being a friend to 1000s of people. That’s what community management was to me. And it was difficult. It was not easy, because, you know, being a friend or you know, being there for these members of a community that you’ve never met before, is rather difficult. 

 

Now, if I wasn’t there for them, and this is how it’s going to tie into marketing, if I wasn’t there for them, or if we weren’t supporting them in them supporting us. They wouldn’t support us, right? These types of relationships are symbiotic. 

 

That’s like if you asked me Hey, Matt, can you come on my podcast? And I tell you, Yes, I will. But I won’t promote it. That’s not supporting you. Right? Like that. To me. It just comes down to relationship management. That’s what that’s the best way to frame it is relationship management. And that’s really all I was doing. And yeah, it was challenging because it’s on top of my full time job. But it was a part of my full time job at the same time and I met a ton a ton of amazing people.

 

Kenny Soto  34:42  

I like where this is going. So it’s relationship management. That’s the best way to put community management this the best way to verbalize it. What are your not only with one B? But also your podcast and any other projects you’re focusing on right now? What are your current Your marketing challenges? And why do you think they’re challenges right now?

 

Matt Lebris  35:08  

That’s a good question. Um, so ultimately, I’m going to sound a little woowoo with this answer. My answer is, in this current moment, I do not believe I have any problems or challenges. And that’s business. 

 

That’s personal. That’s everything. The reason I say that is because my life isn’t at risk. And I would only categorize something as a problem or challenge if it was an emergency. And if it was an emergency, it would be totally, you know, I wouldn’t be here doing this with you right now. So that’s me trying to believe that every single day, I credit Eckhart Tolle with that one, but that’s something I truly believe. And that’s something I’ve been asking myself more and more even I was just on a bike ride. 

 

As I mentioned to you, I was working out, I asked myself, do you have any problems right now? And I was like, Nope, I don’t. But to give you more insight, to answer your question, more human like, I feel like everything for me comes down to time, and bandwidth. I’m a solopreneur. But I have contract workers. 

 

With that being said, these contract workers get paid to do certain projects, and I’m not necessarily paying people to do my marketing, or whatnot. Right? So for me, it comes down to time because I still I have a lot of stuff on my plate, a podcast, as you know, as a full time job, dude, like, I have 18 episodes pre recorded on my Dropbox right now that are unedited, you know, like, that’s, that in itself, I can’t even imagine how much time will take, right? That’s a full time job, I have my business, that’s a full time job.

 

 I have people that I work with a broad I have people that I work with on the West Coast, like, I get pulled in so many different directions. So ultimately, I just feel like it comes down to time. And it’s not that I don’t have enough time in the day, but I can’t sit here and say I’m the most productive person. You know, like I check my phone, I go on Instagram, I go on LinkedIn, I, I sent snaps in the middle of the day, if I’m working from home right now. So if I really want to at 2pm. If I feel a little tired, I might even take a little cat nap. 

 

You know what I’m saying? Like, that’s just the aspect of being human. So again, I don’t really try and hold that over my head, because that would really be detrimental to myself. But ultimately, I just feel like as mentioned in short time and bandwidth.

 

Kenny Soto  37:29  

Perfect. And my last question for this interview is, right now today in 2020. It could be business news, or preferably, specifically with marketing news, what is one thing that you’ve been hearing over the social media and everything else that you think is something that’s under utilized or not being paid enough attention to that you think our listeners could benefit from?

 

Matt Lebris  37:58  

What do I think is being underutilized? The first, I can tell you, the first thing that pops in my head, which I think is the most organic response, without me thinking about is what we talked about earlier, I feel like a lot of individuals, and I feel like a lot of businesses are doing things that aren’t necessarily them. 

 

I feel like they’re doing things that they see are successful for other people and for other brands. And they try and run with that. It’s one thing to imitate to innovate. It’s another thing to just imitate. And I feel like I see this over and over and over again. 

 

Specifically with people, not so much with businesses. But for instance, if someone wants to be a coach, if someone wants to be a speaker, if someone wants to be a podcaster, they’re going to do what Gary Vee does, they’re going to do what this person does. And that’s not an I. It’s not them, and it’s not them. 

 

And listen, I can only say that because I was the same exact way. And I get caught up in it still, you know, I really do. You know, we love attention. I love attention. We do things for attention. We do things for whatever other reasons. And ultimately, I think that that’s not a piece of news. Obviously. 

 

I know you’re asking for a piece of news, in a sense, but I think that shouldn’t be news. I think that should be something that spoke about a little bit more like it would do like, be yourself, you know, be you. If that doesn’t give you the same results as Gary Vee, that’s okay. You know, and it’s nothing against Gary, Gary’s a great guy. But I think that’s what it really comes down to is just, you know, if you’re going to imitate at least innovate, you know.

 

Kenny Soto  39:41  

And with that, we’re going to leave the podcast right here. And I’m definitely going to use it as the opening quote, because I love what you just said. Again, thank you so much for being on the podcast. And if our listeners wanted to connect with you, where could they find you online so we could put in the show notes.

 

Matt Lebris  39:57  

Yeah, man, Kenny again, I appreciate the opportunity. So let me express my gratitude for that again, I appreciate your questions. I appreciate you know, the way you conduct this interview. I you know, it’s awesome and I’m glad that I was able to be a part of it. In regards to finding me, I think the easiest thing is just going to my website, all my social links are there you can just go to Matt liberty.com ma TT le b r i s.com. You’ll be able to find my social links. I’m on all the platforms, not so much Twitter anymore but still on there if you want to connect and I follow back if that helps anyone.

 

Kenny Soto  40:26  

Perfect. And with that, thank you again for everyone listening right now. Thank you to Matt and we are going to sign off, peace.