It’s episode two of season two, and Rachel keeps things moving by interviewing Matt Ward. In 2018, Matt sold his business, inConcert Web Solutions, a digital marketing agency that helps business owners improve their bottom line, gain more clients, and grow their respective businesses. Matt wanted to shift his career focus to helping businesses get more word-of-mouth referrals. Since 2002, Matt has spoken at hundreds of business events, seminars, trainings, conferences, and associations.
Matt begins sharing his wisdom and expertise with Rachel by explaining that he was influenced by Milton Hershey to value giving back and the importance of relationships, which he calls ‘the currency of life.’ Matt discusses how he brings this philosophy to his business strategies, where he has encouraged business owners to focus on referrals from other businesses, what he labels ‘centers of influence.’ Whereas the old dogma was that customers are the main source for referrals, according to Matt, the ‘centers of influence’ are actually the taproot for business connections. The discussion then shifts to the importance of finding joy in both business and life, and Matt refers to the ideal clients and elaborates on the process of building a business servicing these ideal clients. Mat then delves into how he uses outsourcing and says that ‘hiring people is outsourcing.’ Much like Rachel, Matt believes that the key to finding joy in life and running a business successfully is being able to focus on the things you do well and hiring others that do the things well you can’t do or are not passionate about. Matt prefers freeing up the time to ride his ATV rather than trying to take the time to learn something new when he can outsource that task to someone that will do it better in a fraction of the time. The word Matt uses repeatedly is ‘automating, by which he means simplifying tasks and making them more efficient. Matt and Rachel agree on the phrase, ‘If it’s hanging around, it’s got to go,’ as a sign that someone else should probably be doing the job. Toward the end of the interview, they discuss the hiring process, and Matt offers some truly original strategies for hiring, including dropping code words in the job description in order to assess whether candidates can follow instructions, as well as using tests. When it comes to hiring and outsourcing professionals to take on the important responsibilities of your business, Matt’s creed is ‘trust but verify.’ Ultimately, for both host and guess, the goal of running a business should be enjoying life and pursuing what you love, or as Matt puts it, ‘living happy, smiling, and high-fiving everyone around you.’
Thanks for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode of Rachel’s interview series!
