Stories

I quit. I was set to inherit a book of business producing $1,500,000 in revenue. Unlimited earning potential. I was already good enough to take over. Read → I was convinced you were AI. I cold-called a speaker with more stage experience than I had life experience. Hoped he wouldn't answer. Read → Why didn't anyone tell him. 3 weeks after I spent 45 minutes calming down a $5 million client who was pissed off at the bank, I get a transfer out notice. Read → He had 10,000x my net worth. Our 53-year-old $100M+ client gives me a ring. For the first time, he's asking 23-year-old me for advice. Read → Semmelweis died right. In 1847, a doctor cut childbed-fever deaths in his ward from 18% to 2%. Read → Do you know where you're going? "Matt, I deliver these long, rambling answers. I can feel people tuning out. I keep losing my point. I just kind of... end. And hope it made sense." Read → Have you ever been wrong before? She rang her company's CEO 3 years ago and pitched him on why he should create her role. Read → Seven stopped. Joshua Bell made $32 playing a $3.5 million violin in a subway station. Read → The 99-cent horse head sold for $62.95. $128 of thrift store junk sold for $3,612 on eBay. Read → It was flawless. The audience hated it. I once practiced a 27-minute speech 89 times. Read → Nobody wants to bomb at the Stress Factory. Before every tour, Chris Rock bombs 50 times on purpose. Read → Effortless requires a lot of effort. Taylor Swift spent 6 months singing her 40-song setlist on a treadmill every day. Before rehearsals even started. Read → Mumbling to myself like a lunatic. The Wednesday before Future Proof, I startled myself awake at 2:45 AM – editing my talk in my sleep. Read → Matt, sometimes I just want to talk. My wife gets home from her shift in the Cardiac ICU and the look on her face says "I've had a day." Read → No one remembers my name. Every week I walk 7 minutes to a coffee shop to write. $5.50 for a drip I call writing rent. Read → Maybe just an investment property. My wife and I have secret dreams of moving the fam to Costa Rica. Read → I am a walking contradiction. I am a 200lb bearded man who watches Spongebob (seasons 1-3, ofc). Read →