Franchise owner overcomes setbacks to lead Detroit’s water dept.

Welcome to the Degrees of Success Podcast 0:00 - Hello and welcome to the Degrees of Success podcast. Introducing Matthew Phillips 0:15 I'm your host, Frieda Richards. And today we have an incredible guest, Matthew Phillips. 0:21 Matthew is the Chief of staff and customer service officer at Detroit Water 0:28 and Sewage Department. He's also a 2023 grad from the University 0:34 of Phoenix. Please help me welcome Matthew Phillips. - Thank you for having me. - Absolutely. 0:40 So we wanna just jump right in and learn more about you right away. So first things first, tell us about your background Matthew’s Early Life and Background 0:46 and like the, where you grew up and how you grew up and what kind of kid you were. - Wow. I'm not sure I can tell the honest story on that one, 0:54 but, no, just kidding. No, I grew up in a suburb of, of Detroit, Michigan, 1:00 and I've lived in Michigan my entire life. You know, I I, I think I just had a regular childhood 1:08 as far as my upbringing. I was very close to my family and my cousins as far as sports go. 1:14 I played ice hockey almost all my entire life. So I kind of have that, that, and I still do that today. 1:21 And, oh, let's see. I probably the most exciting thing that I think most people are like, wow, Meeting His Wife in Sixth Grade 1:28 that's an interesting piece, is that I actually met my wife when I was in, we were both in sixth grade, so elementary school, 1:35 we knew each other and we were just kinda, I don't know, I don't wanna say best friends, but we were just friends. 1:41 We knew each other all through junior high and high school. And our senior year in high school, we got really close 1:46 to each other and I asked her to prom. And from then on we were completely inseparable. 1:54 We ended up starting our, I guess our, you know, our university or college careers together. 2:01 We went to the same university just so we could be together. And yeah, I mean we're, I, I've been married to, to Jenny 2:10 for an awfully long time. We have two beautiful, lovely children 2:15 that are three years apart, and they both go to the same university together here in Michigan. 2:22 In fact, they're now roommates. So my oldest daughter is now starting her master's degree 2:27 and my youngest daughter is a sophomore and they live together in the same apartment. And so that's very comforting to know. 2:33 So that's probably kind of the inside track on who I am and kind of what, what, what I'm all about. For 2:42 - Sure. It sounds like you have a really great foundation, like a, a wife you've known since the sixth grade, who can say that? 2:49 That's amazing. And you have two awesome daughters, both in college and roommates. 2:56 - Yes, very. - That's - S - Incredible. What, what are your daughter's degrees gonna be in? Family Life and His Daughters' Careers 3:01 - So my oldest daughter is going into higher education administration, so she wants 3:08 to be like an admissions counselor or recruiter of some type. She, she works for the dean of, of the English department. 3:16 So she just, she's really kind of fallen in love with that aspect. She was, she wanted to be a secondary math teacher, 3:22 but she really fell in love with like University of Life and what it's like to try to help individuals find their way. 3:30 Young adults find their way into a career and whatnot. And so she's really kind, she's kind of put her hat into 3:37 that, into that ring, I guess. And my youngest daughter wants to be in communications 3:43 and marketing, so both of them were in marching band and both of them were drum majors. 3:50 So they both led the band. They're actually the first sisters or siblings that were leading the marching band 3:59 of 150 students. So they do have a leadership, I guess, in their bones. I guess I, I always say they're kind 4:04 of following in my footsteps. So yeah, it's, it's great to kind of watch 'em, see 'em, 4:09 watch 'em grow and find their way through life and make decisions. 4:14 It's, it's very interesting and, and I've been very supportive of, of any decisions 4:20 that they've wanted to make or any changes that they've wanted to make in their, in their schooling. So it's, it's been fun. 4:27 - Oh my goodness. Your daughters sound amazing. They, it also sounds like they have a really great 4:33 mentor in you and definitely probably following dad's footsteps. 4:40 What does that look like for you as you were going through your career and your educational journey? 4:46 Who would you say influenced you the most and how? - Well, I, I would say that my influences likely came from 4:54 my father who was, you know, very, very rigid and very structured and, and, and home and family life. Influences and Pursuing Happiness 5:00 And definitely wanted me to do whatever it was that made me happy, 5:08 but was relatively rigid in the structure that you have to have a college degree. And yeah, I'll, I'll just tell you how old I am. 5:16 I'm 52 years old and, and I think growing up in, in the eighties very much from the counselors in, 5:25 in high school was, you know, if you don't go to college and you're not on the college track, you know, you likely, 5:33 you likely won't be successful. And one of the things that really interested me in school 5:38 was probably more of the trades. So I was really excited in, you know, wood shop, metal shop photography. 5:45 I was not equipped from an artistic standpoint 5:50 of being a painter or something like that. I think that's the way most of us think about it. But definitely hands-on creative 5:56 and I really liked instant gratification. And when I, you know, when I got 6:02 to college in my first kind of stepping into that world out of high school, having instant 6:09 gratification just wasn't there. And so sitting in classes in, in the traditional type 6:14 of classroom setting, I will just say I was probably the student that was most likely looking out the window and, and, 6:22 and kind of dreaming about what else I could be doing besides sitting here. And some of the courses that you take in college are some 6:31 of the courses that for me was, where does this get me? Where will I ever use this in, in, in real life, per se? 6:38 And most of that just didn't resonate with me, and I had a very difficult time keeping my grades up. 6:44 And, and I was not the, the individual that was like, oh, I'm gonna go off and do other things. I'm not gonna study. I'm not gonna put time in. 6:52 I definitely put the time in it, just the amount of time that I was putting into it 6:57 and what I was getting out of it just wasn't there for me. And so, you know, spending the time at, Career Choices Over Traditional Education 7:03 at university was something I just couldn't see the end result for. It just wasn't there. And I was looking 7:08 for the instant gratification. And I always tell people the, the trades were, 7:14 were probably something that I, I probably would've succeeded at a young age into because of that instant gratification 7:22 and having something that was hands on. So I was constantly looking for something that I just wasn't getting. 7:27 And so for me, starting, I guess a career became more important 7:33 to me than finishing college. And I, I don't want anybody to get the wrong impression and, 7:39 and everybody has a different path in life, and you have to find what that is and what makes sense to you. 7:45 And starting a family, you know, settling down, I guess, whatever that means, that that means a lot to different people. 7:51 But settling down, starting a family and, and having a job right away, 7:56 and then seeing kind of the fruits of that, right? Which is, I have a job, I've got a full-time job, I have, 8:02 I'm no longer on my parents, you know, medical benefits, right? I've, I've got my own medical benefits, I wanna save money, 8:07 I wanna get a house, I wanna start life. That seemed to be the most important path for me. 8:13 And that's, that's the path that I took. I mean, I really wanted to be an elementary school teacher. That was really the path that, that I wanted to go on. 8:21 And I really, because when you're in front of students, you can start to see that, but sitting in those classes 8:28 and waiting for that to happen just wasn't there for me. And because of my, my sports background 8:36 or ice hockey background, I was running ice hockey camps for kids in the local area. 8:42 That was like, I guess that was my entrepreneurial start was I can do this in the summertime and make money for college to, to go away 8:50 to university, but the, the, it was the gratification I to have, you know, 50, 60 kids in front of me 8:58 for four hours a week and watch them grow and watch them flourish. And I could nurture them and teach them something 9:05 and they could walk away and use it right away, which, wow, that was me, right? I wanted to use whatever skill I was learning at university 9:12 right away, but you can't do that. You've gotta wait four or five years to graduate and then make that happen so you can kind of see where all 9:19 of that was forming for me and why it probably didn't work for me in, 9:24 in, in the right way. That traditionally, for a lot of people it probably went, but I mean, by time, five years went by of, 9:32 I'll just say dabbling into college or university life. I mean, I'd accumulated 70 or 80 credits. 9:38 I mean, it wasn't like I wasn't doing something, it just wasn't everything that I was looking for. 9:44 So I started, I guess a real career. So I, that's probably like where your next question is gonna go is how did that progress? Starting His Career in Customer Service 9:50 Like what did that look like? You know, where, where were you going? - Are you trying to steal my job? 9:56 - I'm not trying to steal your job - Because you're excellent that, I mean, honestly, you just, 10:02 you just knew that that where the conversation would naturally lead. Honestly, I would love to know more about your career. 10:09 What I'm hearing you say is that you are passionate about serving 10:15 and you have a great desire to be impactful in other people's lives. 10:22 And I heard you say that your daughter is looking into higher education for something similar. 10:27 So that seems to be a, a vein that runs through the family. That's excellent. So Matthew, in your 52 years, 10:37 you've had a multitude of experiences that led you to where you are now, one of which is being an entrepreneur 10:44 and running your own franchise. Tell me how that led you and shaped you in leadership. 10:50 - Yeah, so, you know, I I, I really, I got my start kind of in the, you know, I guess my career start 10:56 after going to college or university just didn't kind of pan out for me at the moment. 11:03 And so I, I got a start in customer service and, and so working in customer service was something 11:10 that really, I guess filled the vacancy that I was looking for. 11:16 And, you know, at the end of the day now, I see it as being a public servant is something that is, I guess 11:25 that runs through my veins is that I, I do get a high amount of gratification 11:31 or satisfac satisfaction out of being a public servant. And there's multiple ways that you can be a public servant 11:37 and, and customer service kind of got me into that dabble. And I mean, there was, or able to dabble into that area and, 11:44 and customer service can mean many things, but I, I really got my start in, you know, quote unquote call centers. 11:50 And it, it didn't take very long of getting into that where somebody recognized that, hey, you know, you've, 11:59 you've got some leadership, you take initiative, you're a risk taker, you know, you, you've got strong ethics 12:05 and you've got an ability to talk to people and to show emotions and be empathetic at the same time. 12:13 And while not all of those are, you know, leadership traits, but a lot of 'em, it serves you very well 12:20 to have those types of things to work in leadership. So it didn't take very long that I was working my way up in leadership positions. 12:27 Of course, it takes a little bit extra to continue to, as they say, 12:34 work your way up the ladder. It takes a little, a lot longer when you don't have a college degree 12:41 to go along with that. And so, yeah, I had to work extra hard to prove, I guess, 12:47 my worth and, and to prove that I belong in, in that area, which I will just tell you, I, I talk a lot. 12:54 So I think you guys have kind of already kind of seen that and you know, I, it's taken me a while to kind of unpack 13:00 that and say, you know, why does that happen? Why do you talk so much? And it's, it's likely because I needed to prove 13:06 that I belong, that I belonged at the same table as everybody else. And you talk, I tend to talk a lot to try to prove to people 13:14 that I do have the knowledge, I do have the skillset, I do have the ability to be there, but customer service really shaped me. 13:21 And having that ability to give back, whether that's to a customer on the other end of the phone that's looking 13:29 for, let's just face it, people don't call customer service or don't interact at a, at a customer service level Transition to Leadership Roles 13:34 because they believe that everything is great, they have a problem, which again, hey, wow, that makes me a problem solver 13:40 and solving problems gives me a purpose and keeps me engaged and keeps me excited. 13:45 So again, that's the kind of that, that instant gratification that was always there. I could get somebody on the phone or somebody face to face 13:53 and hear what their problem is and say, I can help solve that problem for you. It's, it's, it's very challenging. 13:58 It's very engaging for me. But yeah, there was, you know, after, you know, 20 years of kind 14:04 of working in customer service, I said to myself, I can probably do this on my own 14:10 or do something that was, you know, more on my own. And I was looking to start my own business. 14:16 And one of the areas that I had never worked on was, was working in the restaurant industry. 14:22 And again, restaurant industry is something you're face to face with everybody every day. 14:27 It takes a lot of leadership, it takes a a lot of initiative. There's a lot of planning 14:33 that goes into owning a restaurant. I probably had no business owning a restaurant, never have worked, whether it was, you know, busing tables 14:42 or washing dishes or working as a waiter or, you know, front end, back end of a restaurant. 14:47 I had no experience whatsoever. Probably didn't belong in. And somewhere along the way I convinced somebody 14:54 that I wanted to be a franchisee and went to this, you know, franchisor and said, you know, 14:59 and it's not like, you know, somebody just plunks down a chunk of money and says, I wanna be a franchise franchisors, don't want 15:06 to have a franchisee that's a failure, because that's on them too, right? That's their name, that's their brand. 15:13 They're in the community serving the community in some type of capacity. They don't want that either. So there is a, 15:19 there is an interview process that you have to go through and they're, you know, in, in this case, the, the actual owner of the franchise wanted to talk 15:27 to me personally before they would even allow me to even go forward in the franchise process. 15:32 And so, you know, I met the, you know, the, the, the franchisee that was, you know, that was offering, 15:39 you know, and it's, it's not as simple as I think as people think. And I will tell you that out of all of that, that was one 15:46 of the things that really shaped me further in my career as a leader. Because, you know, when you're working for somebody else, 15:55 you know, the money comes from somebody else, or, you know, when you want to open up another location 16:00 because you're expanding the business, you're doing that on somebody else's dime, or they have to go and get a business loan. 16:06 And when you're asking, well, it doesn't seem like a lot probably to a lot of people, but when you're putting your house 16:12 and your, your own 401k your retirement plan up as collateral so that you can get a, you know, $400,000 loan 16:22 to open up a restaurant, which, oh by the way, 50% of every restaurant fails within the first 12 months. 16:29 That's a statistic that that exists. And you have to, you have to go to a bank 16:35 and say, Hey, I need a loan to go forward, and they're asking you for collateral. 16:40 I mean, my family, my wife, whatever is saying, so you're telling me if this, if 50% of every restaurant 16:46 that opens fails, and that means our house could be taken from us. I'm not sure that's a risk that, 16:53 you know, I'm willing to take. So not only was it selling the person that owns the franchise to say, Hey, I wanna be part 16:59 of your brand, but you're also convincing your family that we're gonna be successful. 17:04 I would say that we got part of it's luck. A lot of it is a lot of hard work. I could not quit my job. 17:12 That was just something that you don't realize. And I think a lot of people think, oh, you own a you own a business, you must be rich, you know, 17:19 life must be great for you. No, I didn't make any money from it. 17:24 Realistically, at the end of the day, you're paying back, you know, this isn't a, a house loan 17:30 where you're buying a half a million dollar home and you've got 30 years to pay it off. The bank wants to pay off in 10 years. 17:35 So everything that you quote unquote make as a profit is going to pay back the loans that you had 17:43 to take to do it, because most people just don't have $400,000 sitting around that they can just take 17:48 and open up a, so it's a lot of work. So I was working a full-time job as the chief operating officer of a nonprofit that was one 17:57 of the largest nonprofits here in the state of Michigan. So I, I was doing that 12 hours a day Franchise Ownership Challenges 18:04 and then literally in the morning before, and I don't want to give away exactly what the franchise was, but you guys know it's a restaurant, 18:11 but the, you know, as they say, the donuts have to be made in the morning, and it was not a donuts, but I mean, the bread has to be baked in the morning, right? 18:18 So if, if the person that shows up at six 30 in the morning to put the dough in the oven doesn't show up, guess 18:24 who does the b the buck stops with the business owner. So I had to either, I had to make sure, so I had 18:30 to go first thing in the morning to make sure that that's happening. And at the end of the day, somebody's gotta come in, 18:35 you know, into the business and make sure that everything's getting done. So, you know, 12 hour days was, I mean, that's 18:42 what was my normal job. And now I have to either show up in the morning or, you know, in the afternoon, or at least watch cameras. 18:49 I mean, you're traveling in your normal job, you're watching cameras, you're making sure that things are happening within the business, making sure 18:55 that the orders get done. Because if, you know, if food doesn't show up and can't serve your customers, 19:00 then you're not making any money. So it's, it's a lot of work. I would just say that it's very gratifying. 19:08 And there is a lot of things that I learned about, you know, again, like I've said, how do you get a loan? How do you write a bus? I had never written a business plan 19:15 before I've been in business. I mean, I was running Fortune 500 companies, 19:21 I was running their customer service. I was opening up call centers or contact centers across the country, 19:28 including one in Montego Bay, Jamaica. So I guess you could consider that international. 19:34 So I mean, I had a lot of experience, but how do you write a business plan to a bank and prove to them that this is gonna be a profitable 19:41 business and I'm gonna be able to pay all this off in the next 10 years and be able to hire staff. 19:46 I mean, I had the staffing part of it down, but some of that other, other things, you just, 19:52 you just can't have that unless you do it. And it takes a lot of work to do it. I got really lucky that I was ready to expand 20:00 to five other locations here in Michigan. And my mentor in the restaurant business just happened to, 20:07 I was, I would meet with him every quarter and, and, and tell him what was going on and ask for advice, 20:13 and he would give me advice, and I was ready to go open up four more locations in Michigan. 20:19 And he was just like, Matt, you, if you are not going to quit your job, if that's your passion, is 20:27 what you're doing now along with this, you have to pick one. You can only do one or the other. And, you know, 20:34 and to be honest with you, he made an offer to me that I just couldn't refuse, which was six months before Covid hit. 20:41 And, and I just, I, I have to count some blessings along the way, 20:46 and I had a lot them that just said this was the right time to do it. 20:51 I sat down with my family and talked about it, and as much as I believed in where I was going with this business, and as much 20:57 as it's still successful today and, and, and, and it's absolutely fantastic. And, and, and that, that individual that, 21:05 that bought it from me, he is super successful in the franchise business. And, and he's taken it to, to a place. 21:12 And I, I'm, I'm, I'm proud of what I did. And I have zero, as they say, zero regrets in what I did, 21:18 but it was, it was likely killing me at the same time, physically and mentally. 21:25 And, and I'll share with the group as, as kind of a public service message, is that listen to your body. 21:30 I will tell everybody that, listen to your body, listen to what it's telling you. And I could feel myself being run down, 21:37 being in too many places at one time. And I literally went to my doctor at the same time that all 21:42 that was happening, that covid was happening. I said, something doesn't feel right within me, I don't know what it is. 21:48 My dad passed away at 57 years, young of a massive heart attack, 21:55 and I just felt something was in me. And I will just tell you, listen to that. The short story of it is, is that in October of 2020, Health Journey and Open-Heart Surgery 22:04 in the height of the Covid pandemic, my body really told me something. 22:09 I went to my doctor, he listened to me and said, I'm gonna send you to a cardiologist. I had no other symptoms other than what I felt was in me. 22:18 And some people say heart related issues, you get the stabbing in your back, the pain in your left arm, shortness of breath. 22:24 I had none of that. I was still playing hot ice hockey twice a week. I didn't have any of those symptoms. I went to a cardiologist 22:30 and he said, I don't see anything either, but you have great insurance, so let's check into what's going on inside of you. 22:37 And ended up finding out I needed open heart surgery. And so October 8th, so I just had my four year anniversary, 22:44 October 8th, they went in and took a look and said, you have three blockages. One of them was 95% blocked. 22:50 I probably would've ended up like my father with zero symptoms and just walking down the street and dropping dead. 22:56 I hate to say it so bluntly, but that was it. So I had open heart surgery, I had a triple bypass, 23:01 but safe to, so today I can say, in fact, I just had my, my annual physical and cardiologist appointment this morning. 23:08 And so I've got a clean bill of health and all my, all my results are are down to 23:14 where they're supposed to be. And I still play hockey twice a week. So I I I, I'm, I'm good. 23:19 But please, my, my public service message is, is it's to listen to what you're, to what's happening. 23:25 But sorry, I'll get us back on track. Is that, - No, I think that that was excellent. 23:30 That actually is the very next track. You were starting your own franchise, 23:38 or excuse me, having, having a franchise that you were growing 23:43 and then you also were, you still had a full-time job at the exact same time, meanwhile still doing hockey, 23:50 still being a family man and still getting your associate's degree, right? - Yes. So that actually, that's a great segue. 23:58 So, you know, I had sold my franchise. I was working, I was five years 24:04 as a chief operating officer at one of the largest nonprofits that was serving the public, helping low income families in the state of Michigan 24:13 with their heating and electric bills in your neighborhood. It's probably cooling, 24:18 but there, there's a, there's a large federal program that that helps low income families. And, and again, I was getting a lot of satisfaction out of 24:26 that, and it just, all at the same time that that was happening, I was headhunted 24:32 for the first time in my life, I was headhunted. Somebody came to me 24:38 and said, we have an opportunity that sounds like it fits you. And, and I'm gonna tell this story 24:44 because at the end of that first couple of interviews, I got a call from the recruiter, 24:53 which is a story that I had heard so many times over 25, 30 years, was, 25:00 wow, Matt, they really like you. Or Matt, we looked at your resume, man, that's impressive, 25:07 but you don't have a bachelor's degree. And it was just that sinking feeling 25:15 that I had received several times over. That was, you know, in my jobs, in my roles that I had, 25:22 I was progressing. But again, like I said before, I had to prove myself. I had to constantly work harder than 25:28 everybody else to prove it. But if I, I knew that I just couldn't go out and apply for any job that was out there, 25:36 because when they would look at my resume, I probably didn't get the phone calls that some other people would get. 25:42 Or again, I'd go through the, get through the door, get to the interview, and then Matt, you don't have 25:48 that bachelor's degree. And this was one of those cases where I was headhunted, I was super excited, I knew what the job opportunity was 25:56 and I knew who it was with, which is where I'm at today. And the recruiter called me and said, Matt, we're at a, we're at a, 26:03 we're at a standstill because it requires you to have a bachelor's degree. I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. 26:09 I just assumed with your background and your resume that it was there. 26:15 And I was sitting in my car in a parking structure just thinking to myself, 26:21 here we go again. Right? And luckily enough, 48 hours later, I got a phone call. 26:28 I said, Matt, they're gonna move forward with a final interview. You're gonna meet with the director who is the CEO 26:36 and, and the COO. You're gonna meet with those two individuals. They've agreed to meet with you because of your resume. 26:44 And, and again, I I, I was going into it still thinking to myself, kind of the wah you know, 26:50 this will probably be just another, another one of these times I got lucky. 26:55 I got really lucky that the, the individual, the, the, the director, the see and anywhere else and, Pursuing Higher Education Later in Life 27:02 and city government, it's the director of the department, but anywhere else it would be the CEO of the water department actually knew me 27:09 through somebody else and said, I know you, I, now I know faced with a name 27:15 and at, at the end of the process, I got the job. And so, and that leads me to kind of where you were going 27:23 with this was within my first 60 days on the job. 27:29 And, and I'm gonna tell you his name, his name is Gary Brown. And he sat down with me and, and he said, you know, Matt, 27:36 and at first I'm like, I'm only here for a couple months. And oh my God, now the, the big guy wants to talk to me like I did I do something wrong? 27:42 Of course, that's always, you know, everybody's kind of first thought, right? Going to the principal's office. And Gary sat down with me 27:48 and he told me kind of his, his story, which really resonated. He said, Matt, you know, I, I graduated from high school 27:55 and I became a bagger at a, at a, at a grocery store. And was kind of like, well, where am I gonna go from here? 28:03 And I joined the military. He went to Vietnam, had a good, you know, good and moved his kind of way up a little bit in the military, 28:10 came back and took that background to become a police officer. And he really wanted to get into some 28:17 of the other specialized areas, you know, whether that's, you know, internal affairs or the narcotics, narcotics department, that type of thing. 28:24 And he was told along the way, Hey, look, you've got a great career going for you, but in order to get into these other areas, you have 28:31 to have, you know, an extended, you know, education, you have to have a bachelor's degree, whatever. 28:37 And he was like, I'm just not sure that's me. And he fought through it, did all those things. He became the deputy chief of the city of Detroit. 28:44 So I mean this, there's a guy and ended up becoming president of city council with the city of Detroit. 28:49 So thi this, Gary was from a military background to, you know, law enforcement to becoming, you know, 28:58 a government public servant, right? And he said, Matt, I trust that you will deliver everything 29:05 that I've, that I need you to deliver in your position. And here comes the, but, but if you wanna, 29:11 where I see you going and where I think you can go, I'm sorry to tell you, 29:17 but same thing somebody told me, if you wanna go continue up 29:22 through the leadership ranks and continue on with this career with the city, 29:27 you're gonna have to have a bachelor's degree. And so that's when I started, I said, okay, 29:34 what do I need to do? Where do I need to start? And again, kind of that, you know, you make the phone calls 29:39 and you know, I around and it was like, oh, you gotta start over, and you're how old again? 29:45 And you know, oh, we can't accept those credits here. And yeah, your credits are, you know, 25, 30 years old that can't happen. 29:53 And so my first step was getting my, getting my associate's degree, and I went back to my, you know, my, 29:59 where I had the most amount of credits. And I went, asked that university, Hey, can I come back to school? They said, Hey, you only need two more classes 30:06 and you can get a, an associate's degree in, in pre-teaching elementary. 30:11 And I was like, Hey, two classes, I can do that. So I got done with those two classes, but I gotta tell you, those two classes were really hard. 30:19 They were 15 weeks long a piece, and it was kind of a traditional classroom setting. 30:25 And I was having deja vu of, oh my God, I don't, this is really, really hard for me to do. 30:33 And it was on their time, not my time. So again, I'm trying to balance my career in school, 30:42 and when that was done, I got my associate's degree, I was on a high, I will tell you, I was like, I did it. I got, I got the piece of paper, 30:48 I have my associate's degree, but that's, that's not what I need to have done. 30:53 And I called around there, the, the city of Detroit has numerous partnerships with multiple universities and where you can go, Finding Flexibility with Online Learning 31:01 and I will, and this is, you know, I know this will sound like my endorsement of University 31:07 of Phoenix, but the recruiter that I talked to was so engaging 31:12 and so exciting, it probably, it matched my energy. And I got excited, I got really excited by it. 31:19 And, you know, her words were, when I was, you know, that first conversation was, Matt, 31:25 let me do the work for you. Let me give me the permission to look at all of you. 31:31 And I had two community colleges, two community colleges, 31:37 and two universities that all my credits were coming from. So that's four that this individual had to look up from 1990, okay. 31:46 For probably 10 years worth of credits where I dabbled in going back to school at some point in time, had to do all that work. 31:53 And I got a call back within a day or two and said, Matt, I've got some great news. We can transfer almost every single credit you've ever 32:01 taken, and your journey is not gonna be another four years. 32:06 It's not even gonna be another two years. And oh, by the way, you can do this all on your time, 32:12 and the classes are less than two months long. And I will, and she, and I think the thing that really got me was that news, I, 32:20 she probably told me another 10, 15 minutes worth of stuff. And I was, I have no idea what she said because I was just like, what, 32:26 I can do this in less than two years and the classes are short and I can do it on my time, whether that's my lunch hour 32:34 after work on weekends, whatever it has. And I'll let you know the secret, if you can sneak in getting your homework done 32:42 and doing the study classes and you know, studying and replying and all the things that are required, 32:48 if you can do that on your lunch hour and stay an extra hour or two after work every day while you're already in your 32:55 groove, you're already sitting at your computer, everything is set up that, at least for me, 33:00 that was my secret. And I can eat my lunch and I can read, 33:06 and the, the thing with University of Phoenix was, is that there's even an option when you can, you can hit a button and it will read the chapters for you. 33:15 So I could eat my lunch and listen to what was going on. And to me, it was ex it was just, it 33:22 provided that path to say, I don't have to set aside all this time, I can do it while I'm doing other work. 33:28 It was, it was almost, I hate to say it was like a game, but it was like a game. It was like, I can listen, eat my lunch, 33:35 and still stay at work and I don't have to do this on Saturdays and Sundays. I, and I knew my deadlines 33:41 and the recruiter put together the plan for me to say, you know, from January through February 15th, this is 33:47 what you're gonna do, and then starting on this date, this is your next class. And then I got the phone calls and, 33:53 and I will tell you, I took this learning, and this is what we do today, is that every time I got done 33:58 with the class, I got a text message, Matt, you did it. And there was this confetti that fell from the screen. Key Lessons and Reflections on Education 34:03 And, and, and I take that now when my customers make a payment 34:09 and say, I paid, we do a text message that gives fireworks or something else, or just, Hey, congratulations, 34:16 you did it to me. That was like instant gratification to say, I did it. I, this is an accomplishment for me. 34:22 So I've taken some of these learning experiences that I got from University of Phoenix and, and applied this. 34:29 And I will tell you that I think, look, I I, I do have the experience. I'm not bragging, it's not that I'm special 34:35 or anything else, but I have a lot of experience. So I could provide a lot of experiences to other 34:42 and to my classmates in class and say, Hey, these are the things I literally experienced today. 34:50 And I got to share that with them. And of course, there was individuals, my class, there was my, some of my classmates were much younger than I 34:58 am that didn't have some of the experiences, but had experiences from their level 35:04 and experiences from what they're facing day to day, which, oh, by the way, are some of my customers, those are, some 35:10 of my employees are that I'm hiring, that I'm trying to recruit. 35:16 It gave me a different perspective that I know I would've never had in a classroom setting, 35:22 because in a classroom setting, it's, you come in, you sit down, you do what you gotta do, 35:27 you take your three hour lecture, God forbid, right? Take my three hour lecture and I'm up and I'm out the door because now it's nine. 35:33 And this is what I, this is where I was at, it was, my classes in the classroom were for some six to nine at night. 35:39 So at nine o'clock I wanna get home, I wanna see my kids, I wanna say hi to them, I wanna see my wife, I want 35:44 to eat dinner and then, you know, go to bed, right? And so the University of Phoenix takes that 35:50 to a completely different level where not only am I doing this on my time, so I do get to see my kids. 35:56 I get to go to their, you know, marching band events, the football games where, where they're doing their marching 36:01 on the field, that's their thing. I get to do all that because that stuff happens after work. 36:07 I don't have to be in a classroom from six to nine a night. And even my wife, my wife went back to school just 36:13 before I did because her employer was the same way. Hey, you're a contractor with a major automotive manufacturer, 36:20 you can pick one of the three. And they told her the same thing, you, we cannot hire you on full-time 36:27 until you get your bachelor's degree. So she went to, she went back to school, but the university that she picked, which 36:34 did not have had traditional type of classroom settings, so on Saturdays and Sundays, once a month, she had to drive to another city 36:43 that was almost two hours away and stay at a hotel and, and sit all day in a classroom to get the time in. 36:51 And she missed the events that our children went to that I got to do because she had to do that. 36:59 And University of Phoenix 100% allowed me to still have time with my family still, I will tell you 37:07 that my boss and my boss's boss had no idea that I was doing this. 37:14 Although I, I mean, as far as taking classes, you know, and, and they knew I was taking classes 37:19 and they knew I was getting my bachelor's degree because they were completely supportive of it, but they didn't know that I was doing it on my lunch hour. 37:25 They didn't know that I was doing it right after work. They just assumed it was a traditional classroom where, you know, after work I had to get somewhere to, you know, 37:33 have a classroom setting. So it, it was, it, I was the University of Phoenix. 37:39 Just the, the opportunity for working adults is absolutely fantastic. 37:45 And now that I see my kids, it's interesting how the univer, 37:51 the traditional university setting has started to pick up, I think on the learnings that University 37:57 of Phoenix has been doing for years. And, and so they now have, they call it flex learning. 38:04 I, I think they come up with some new names for it. But, you know, I, it was kind of like, wait a minute, you're at school, you're away from school in a dorm setting 38:11 and you only have to, you're, you have three classes, you know, your what your one class meets three times a week, 38:18 but only one of those classes in person. The rest of it is online and it's when you want to do it. 38:24 I thought it was very interesting that, wow, this is, this has already been going on from a university that's, 38:31 I guess probably perfected it. - Absolutely, absolutely. 38:36 I'm a little biased, but I'd have to agree. - I'm sure you're, I'm too, 38:42 - I do know as you speak about your boss and your boss's boss, that they were instru instrumental 38:47 to you going back to school and believing in you saying, you know, I, I know 38:53 that you're young and I can see that you're a leader. You have all of this incredible experience, but there's this one thing that we need for you to qualify. 39:01 Tell us the story about when you got the email with the confetti that your degree had been confirmed. 39:11 - Yeah. You know, that's it, it, it, it was one of those, I think I, I call 'em twinky dink moments, 39:20 but yeah, I, I, I received the email that said everything's gone. You know, everything's been, I think they call it the 39:25 audit process. So the audit process is complete. All your classes are there, you know, you, you, 39:32 you officially have done it. Of course, that excitement was, was fantastic. I literally, as soon as the, the ability to print 39:39 that letter, that email or what, however it comes through, as soon as it came through, I took it right to my boss. 39:45 I took it right to Deb and I, and I said, Deb, I said, I did it. And, and I mean, the tears that came out of her eyes, 39:52 she gave me a huge hug. That was the moment that I knew like this hard work 39:59 that I had put into it had paid off. And, and that, you know, we knew you could do 40:05 it, that type of thing. And I should add that along the way, you know, of the journey at University of Phoenix, it was interesting 40:12 to hear the feedback that I was getting to say, Matt, you seem way more confident. 40:18 You know, you, you, you are taking more risks than, than you took before. You are leading in a different way, the confidence 40:27 that you have and how you present yourself. And at the moment, I was hearing those things going, 40:32 all right, that's pretty good. You know? And now that I look back on it, it was because not only going back to school 40:40 and knowing what I was going to accomplish was there, but it was also, I was learning things 40:45 that I hadn't been exposed to before through my coursework 40:50 that was giving me that confidence. But back to your, back to your original question, I I, i, 40:57 it always takes me a while to get there. Is that, so I just had that, it, it only been a few days, 41:03 and I had recently been promoted, not Gary, Gary had not asked me that, my, my boss's boss, right? 41:10 That's, that's Gary. He reports directly to the mayor. He's the big guy. And, 41:16 and he was the one that really sent me on this journey and gave me that story that I just told you. And he had just recently, within the past few months, 41:24 had promoted me to chief of staff. This is a position that did not exist within the water department, and it was something new. 41:31 And I think we can all put together what a chief of staff is. And in fact, I was kind of, he, he told me that in front 41:37 of a bunch of, in front of the executive team, because there's 11, 12 other people in this room. And he says, I just wanna let everybody know 41:44 that I've made Matt, my chief of staff. And I was kind of like, like me, 41:49 like you didn't even have this conversation with me. And, and I said to him afterwards, I said, what's going on? 41:55 And he was like, I believe in you 100% less than a month later, I have confirmation 42:02 that I've had this degree. Gary comes in to talk to me, I don't even know what it was. He comes in my office 42:08 and, you know, I just gotten these hugs and, and everything from Deb and I just hadn't had a chance to, to tell Gary yet. 42:14 And I don't, again, I don't even know what he was coming in for. I'm, I know it wasn't this. And I said, Gary, hang on a second. 42:21 I have to share this with you. And I, I had the, I must have had four or five copies, not gonna lie to you of it, 42:26 so I could show people, but I said, Gary, I did it on and on July 31st, I will get the official degree, 42:35 but I have officially graduated and I've completed all my coursework, and now I have a bachelor's degree in business management. 42:43 And he literally stopped in his tracks. He hadn't even sat down, he was still standing there. 42:49 And the, and he's, I mean, he's not a very emotional guy, 42:55 but he is a very sensitive guy. But the look on his face, I've never seen him embrace anybody, 43:00 but he, he, I was like, ready to shake his hand and he put his arms out and I was like, he gave me the pat 43:07 and he said, I'm so proud of you brother, you know, and, and I was like, oh my God. Like, those types of terms from this guy just was not 43:14 what I expected. And, and he was like, he said, he's like, I'm so proud of you. 43:20 I, I just am. And he said, this could not come at a better moment. 43:26 And he just kind of like stopped and stared at me for a few minutes and he turned around and wa and, and walked out. 43:31 He never told me what it was he was coming in for. I do know, you know, through the background 43:38 that I think there was some, some people that were like, how did this guy get chief of staff role? 43:43 How did this guy move up in this organization? We know he doesn't have a degree, you know, blah, blah, blah. 43:49 I, I, I'm sure those people were out there and, and maybe rightfully so, but I think Gary now had, in his heart, he was saying, 43:58 I made the right decision, you know, and, and it's not you, you know, look, it's not easy. 44:04 It's not easy to have a career. It's not easy to be working the hours that that, that we all work regardless of what position you're in. 44:10 You have a full-time job and a family. It, it, it's a lot of work. And then you add going back to school 44:18 and taking these courses and, and having to be diligent about what you do. It's not easy to do. 44:24 It's not easy to juggle all those things at a time. And I'm sure Gary recognized that he had gone through it himself 44:30 and to know that, you know, in his heart, he knew he made the right decision. I'm, I'm glad that he did. 44:37 And so, you know, I think this kind of solidified what he had done and, 44:42 and gave him the everybody you can all just kinda, you know, you can all go away now because the guy did what he was supposed to do 44:49 and what I asked him to do, and he did it, and he did it with flying colors. And look, I'm, I'm not a genius by any means, and, 44:57 and I struggle with everything that I do, but I put my heart and soul into it and, you know, I got, 45:03 I got great grades at University of Phoenix stuff that I just totally did not expect to have 45:10 all the extra things that come along with that and, and the accolades that you get. And it was, it was a, a super gratifying experience. 45:19 I hopefully you can see that in my facial expressions. I, it, it, I am proud of myself. 45:25 I, I, I did, I put in the work and you know, I I, I can see it. I, I can see the payoff, the benefit is 100% there. 45:33 I have zero regrets about, about doing it. There's other things in my life I do have regrets about, 45:39 but this is one that stands out 100% of one of the best things that I've, I've done in my life. So, 45:45 - Well, it's so incredible that we had the opportunity to be a part of this, this part of your journey 45:55 to be able to help you have more confidence 46:01 and what it is that you were already excellent at. You've already been an excellent service leader. 46:06 You've already had a, a substantial amount of experience in business going from nonprofit 46:15 to, to owning your own business and now being able to utilize those same experiences 46:23 and to do so with a degree. How pivotal has it been 46:28 to have such a great support system? You have your incredible family, you have bosses 46:35 who don't just believe in you, but they literally push you and put you in and give you a position you didn't know about 46:43 and announce in a meeting with, with you finding out at the exact same time, right? 46:50 And then just to, to see him come alongside you and just be so happy for you 46:56 and accomplishing that goal. What that type of leadership, do you think that receiving 47:04 and experiencing that type of leadership, does that affect how you actually lead as well? 47:11 - Oh, I would say a hundred percent because it gives you, it gives you that perspective 47:18 that I, I mean that's, not everybody's gonna go through the same experience, right? But it now, so I have, 47:28 I'll give you two real life, and that's probably the best way to do it, is that I've, 47:33 I had two other individuals that I had worked with, 47:39 I would say at least 12 or 13 years that I had mentored them. I had brought them up along the way that didn't, 47:46 they did not have degrees either. And so when I started this journey and, and we don't work at the same places anymore. 47:52 We work together for 10 to 12 years together, but we don't, we no longer work together, but we stay in contact and, 47:59 and I knew they still did not have their degrees. And when I started with University of Phoenix, I actually, 48:05 and you know, we try to catch up with each other every three or four months just to see what's going on. And these two colleagues, I actually said, 48:12 Hey, guess what I'm doing? And they were like, what? Like, you know, I didn't think that was you. 48:17 And I was like, well, I, I didn't think it was either, but you know, I have to do this. And oh, by the way, I'm actually having 48:23 a little bit of fun with it. Don't tell anybody, but I'm having fun. And both of those individuals, they both now go 48:31 to University of Phoenix based on my, I guess my experience with university 48:37 before I even finished and got my degree. So this was just something I was sharing with them along the way. 48:43 And there's another individual that I work with today that I know does not have a degree, 48:49 that does have a pretty high level position. And one of the things that I took from that experience 48:57 with, with my leadership staff and how they encourage me was I'm going to encourage her. 49:03 And I know that it was something that she had on her list and things, you know, that she wanted to do. 49:10 It just, and, and I, I've now given her the encouragement to say, you can do this 49:16 and I will support you along the way. Tell me what you need. You know, how can I be accommodating to your journey 49:23 and let me know if there's something that I can do. And, and you mentioned another thing too, which is, 49:28 you know, your family, you can also lean on your family. I will say that, you know, my my oldest daughter when I was starting my journey, 49:35 had just graduated from high school. She was starting, you know, 49:40 her higher education journey. My youngest daughter was just starting high school 49:47 and I leaned a lot on them. I look, I, I'm not, I, I struggle with math. 49:52 It, it's, it's difficult for me because I'm trying to figure out, you know, how 49:57 to integers and everything else. How does that, how to, where am I gonna use that in my job? That's, I, I don't use that, so it doesn't make sense to me. 50:05 And so I had a difficult time relating to it. I, I leaned on my family, 50:11 I leaned on both my daughters to say, help me out with this, help me understand these concepts 50:18 because I, I'm, I'm struggling with it. And so there are things, it's not just support 50:23 that you can rely on your family with, but there's other things that, you know, you, you don't know, maybe your spouse or significant other, 50:30 or your children have some experiences that they can help you at least give you a little bit of guidance or even just, you know, Hey dad, 50:37 we know you can do it. It's, it, it was interesting. And when I graduated from University of Phoenix, 50:46 you know, I was like, okay, I did it. And, and, and my, my, both my daughters and my wife were like, well, do you get to walk? 50:52 Do you get to do? And I'm like, I don't think that they do that. I don't think that that happens. I did find out that they act, there actually is a ceremony that happens, 51:00 but it's in, it's in California, I think was the one that was happening in 2023. 51:06 And I was like, well, I can't, I just, you know, I can't fly to California just for this, and I would want my family to be there too. 51:13 It just probably wasn't in the cards. But I did find out that you can order a cap and gown and you can get cords and you can do all those things. 51:21 And my kids were like, dad, you gotta do it. You got, and I was like, I don't know if that's, 51:28 you know, is that cheesy? I don't know. So I ordered my cap and gown. It's not that expensive. 51:33 I got the cords to go along with, you know, my GPA and you know, and so anyways, I, I got all that. 51:41 They had me put it all on and they took pictures of me outside with it on. 51:46 So it was, that part of it was, was kind of neat. So you can make it part of your family 51:52 and your family will celebrate your successes with you and you should celebrate those successes. That's a, it is an achievement. 51:59 And there's, you know, it gives you a lot of confidence that you never thought of. 52:05 And you know, now when people ask me, I don't, I don't beat around the bush, you know, when, when you're talking 52:10 to other colleagues. In fact, I had my first opportunity, not that long ago, I was, I was invited to go to San Diego to, they paid for me 52:19 to fly out there to a waterworks organization that supports affordability 52:28 and water conservation, which are two things that are near and dear to my heart that I, that I do here in Detroit. 52:34 And they invited me out there to be a keynote speaker. And so I'm like, me like, wow. 52:42 So I got to go, they threw me out there and I got to do that. And it was one of the things when I was meeting with the moderator 52:48 and some other folks that, that were leading this, this, this conference was, so Matt tell us, you know, where'd you go to school? 52:54 Where'd you graduate from? And I was like, I graduated from University of Phoenix and it just rolled right off my tongue. 52:59 And, and they said, wow, how long ago was that? And I was like, well, it was about 12 months ago. And so they were like kind of looking at me like, if, 53:07 if I had hair it would be gray. But they were like, wow. Like just a year ago. And I was like, yep. As a matter 53:13 of fact, it was just a year ago. And so proud of what I accomplished. So at the first of the year, 53:19 I'll be starting my master's program with University of Phoenix. - Congratulations. Thank you. That's excellent. 53:24 Was just going to tell you, you know, you can still walk. I believe we have one here in Arizona coming up fairly soon. 53:32 So if you still want it to walk, I'm confident we'd be able to work that out for you. So talk to the family, see if 53:37 that's something that you wanna do. But how exciting your master's degree is. It also gonna be in business? 53:43 - It is. Makes sense. - Well, early congratulations. It completely does. It completely does. Tell me more about the affordable 53:52 program that you created. - Yeah, so one of the things I'm really passionate about is, 53:59 is is helping low income families be successful? 54:05 And it's, it's difficult to do on a low income and, and you have a lot of competing priorities, whether 54:14 that's medical issues, keeping food on the table, 54:20 to, to, you know, helping your kids, you know, with their homework. You know, there, there's, there's all kinds 54:25 of resource issues that happen with homes. And I have a real big, you know, passion about it. 54:30 And it's, it's something that's near and dear to my heart. And, you know, I've worked in a lot of different areas 54:37 around affordability issues in the, in the heating and cooling space. We sometimes we call that gas, you know, natural gas 54:44 and electricity and that type of thing. And, and being with the water department, that's just it. It's something that, you know, the basis of it is, is 54:52 that you cannot live more than your organs start to shut down in your body after three days of having no water. 54:59 That's, you can ask the World Health Organization, you can look it up anywhere you want. And, and most people will, most humans, 55:07 after five days of no water will, will die. That's just the way it is. 55:12 I mean, you can live days, weeks without food. Most of us can somehow find a way to, 55:22 you know, not have electricity in their house for weeks at a time. And in fact, that that, that was one of the kind 55:29 of catalysts was, you know, I was, I was sitting watching, you know, your typical, you know, shows 55:37 that they have on TV about homesteading and that type of thing where, you know, what's the first thing that they do? They, I, I gotta, I gotta find water, find a source 55:44 of water, and I gotta find shelter. Those are the two things. And so they make TV shows out of this stuff, right? 55:51 And I'm watching this going, how is it that we can allow a family 55:58 to go without water and, and what can we do? And they have these competing priorities within their home. 56:04 And one of the things, you know, I, I was trying to figure out was, you know, how do we make, you know, 56:11 how do we make water affordable? What other things are out there when I say things, what type of resources are available? 56:18 Whether that's, you know, at a state level, a, a local level, a, a federal that can, 56:24 that we can couple, right? And, and how do we, how can we take some of these financial resources together 56:30 and still make things dignified within the home? People want to pay their bills. 56:37 People want to contribute to the success of their household, and people have pride 56:44 and people will go without so that they can keep pride in other things at the forefront. 56:51 And so one of the things we looked at is what would be affordable? And, you know, what, what, what are the percentages 56:57 that people could afford to pay within, within a household? And we found that if you live at 57:03 or below the poverty level, paying $18 a month towards your water bill is affordable. 57:08 So we had to figure out how do you, how do, how do we supplement the rest of the bill, right? 57:14 If, so, if the typical water bill is, you know, 80, I'm making up numbers, but $80 a month and you can afford to pay $20 a month, how, how can we, 57:22 how can we find ways to supplement through, through other means? 57:28 So once we accomplished that, that it was, now, how do we take other people that don't have this line 57:35 that they can draw with their paycheck to say, I'm living below poverty level, I need assistance. 57:42 How do we take the rest of us? And I say us because there's the rest of us in the world that have the same competing priorities, 57:50 but are now juggling. It's, it's, it's a matter of, well, I can pay my water bill, but I can't afford to pay my, 57:57 my electric bill right now today. So how do we find different ways? And, and I, and, 58:03 and I was like, literally, how do we make things easy? And somebody else, one of my colleagues said to me, well, 58:10 how do we make it easy to pay? And so we, we kind of put that together and we came up with easy pay. 58:16 How do we, how do we take? And, and we had all of, we had, we had a large percentage 58:23 of our customers within the city that were behind in their water bill, but they didn't necessarily qualify for 58:31 what we would truly say is a, an affordability program where income-wise, they weren't eligible for some type 58:38 of benefit, you know, federal, late federal, local, 58:43 state type of benefit that would be there for them. But they've gotten behind because we didn't turn people's 58:49 water off during covid because they needed to wash their hands. That led to you. But you still need to cook, you still need 58:57 to wash your hands. How do I, how do I turn off the water at someone's home knowing that their 13-year-old daughter was gonna not be 59:04 able to take a bath or cook and, and go to school the next day? 59:09 As teenagers, we all know what our bodies go through and what type of smells come from our bodies when we're teenagers. 59:16 How do you allow that to happen? It's just, it's not from a hygiene perspective, from a cooking perspective. 59:22 H how do we just allow that to happen? And, and I really fought for coming up with a program 59:27 that said, how do we take someone's bill that they're behind on, and how do we spread it out over 36 months 59:33 with no interest? Just put $10 down and we'll get you onto a program 59:39 that over the next 36 months we can spread out your payments. And, and, and there's no, it's easy, right? 59:45 You don't have to have any income requirements. You don't have to prove to us that you're, you know, we, 59:51 we know that you're behind. We don't need you to approve anything to us. Let's just take your past due bill, put $10 down 59:56 and we'll just spread it out and, and we'll make things easy for you. And, and that's what we came up with. And we implemented it very, very rapidly. 1:00:03 Which again, is one of those things that, you know, I had colleagues of mine that I was working with here that were like, whoa, you know, slow your role. 1:00:10 We gotta really think about this. And I'm like, there's nothing to think about. We just need to do this for the people, for, for our people. 1:00:16 We need to do this. And, and we made, we need to make things easy for them. Let's, let's get 'em back on track. 1:00:22 Let's not have them worry about things. Let's, let's, let's make this, you know, 1:00:28 some people say it's really not affordable. It's not an affordability program because you didn't give them anything. 1:00:33 Well, I did. I gave 'em the benefit of spreading out their payments, not not having any interest. And I would, I would venture to say, 1:00:41 I would challenge anybody to say, tell me any other utility in this country that's doing the same type of things that we're doing. 1:00:48 And we have two different programs. We have a lifeline program, and we have the Lifeline program, I'm sorry, pay and Lifeline. 1:00:54 We have two different programs for two different groups of people that puts them back on the right track 1:01:00 and keeps their water on. Which to me, that is my success. I found a way for you to pay your bill on a monthly basis 1:01:07 that's affordable, that you can afford, and your water won't be turned off. 1:01:13 And you can still keep the hygiene in your house. You can still keep clean, you can still cook. 1:01:19 To me, those are all the important things. And I'll work with just about anybody. And the, the EasyPay program, you know, 1:01:27 I had, you know, I was looking across the country, talking to other colleagues in other states and other cities that were like, you know, 1:01:33 we've tried stuff like that. We've had a couple thousand people in it. We have 10,000 people in the program after the first 60 days. 1:01:39 It's a huge success. It's been all over the media and, and I'm just, I I, at the end of the day, it's not 1:01:46 because I did anything, it's because it's successful. Because 10,000 people in our city 1:01:52 and growing every day are able to, a thousand people, little over a thousand people every single week 1:01:58 are getting on the program. They're keeping the water on, it's affordable. They're making their payments, they're being successful. 1:02:05 Success. - It takes my breath away that your 1:02:12 measurement of success is helping others. 1:02:18 This program has to have been so impactful for those people who couldn't pay their bills. 1:02:26 But to your point, you brought up something that I feel like I don't hear often 1:02:31 from people in your position. These people have pride. They want to pay their bill. 1:02:40 They, that's what they would desire to do. They just don't have the means. 1:02:46 And some are choosing between eating and feeding that 13-year-old or giving her the opportunity to take a bath. 1:02:53 And you opening up the opportunity for them to be able to do both and still having respect for themselves 1:03:01 and their, and their children to be able to benefit from that is so powerful. And the fact that that is 1:03:08 where you find success is helping others succeed and to find pride in, in a way 1:03:16 to move forward in, in a way that's achievable is just, it's mind blowing to me. 1:03:22 And, and admirable. - Thank you. - Absolutely. Yes. Well, thank, thank you. 1:03:29 Because like I said, there's not many that I know in positions like yours that think that way. 1:03:36 I did have another guest that said something that I think aligns with you and your leadership style. 1:03:43 She said it's, it's, it's not just hard work, it's heart work. 1:03:49 Because she was so passionate about what it is that she was doing. She said, you know, it's hard. It is, it's a challenge. 1:03:56 The things that she sees, the, the, the, the, the late nights, you know, it, it's a challenge, 1:04:02 but it's worth it. It's the hard work. And I think that that aligns too with the, the way in which you're moving. 1:04:08 - Yeah. There's, there's multiple ways that people can see things. And I think our society in general sees things from a, 1:04:17 from a title perspective, the, the, the job title that they have, or what people might think about 1:04:24 what they do or what their paycheck says. At the end of the day, there is so much more to life 1:04:30 and so much more to success than just those things. And, and knowing that, you know, for me, you know, 10,000 1:04:39 households in our city are, they're, they're achieving success in their own household. 1:04:47 That to me makes that, that's, I go home at night saying I did the right thing. Right? That that is the right thing to do. 1:04:55 And, and to the, the person you were, you know, you, you spoke of you, you said one word, the passion, right? 1:05:01 So what you're doing on a daily basis, you know, and, and I say that when you're looking for candidates 1:05:08 and you're looking for people to join your organization as well, look for the passion that, that those people have 1:05:15 or what passion you think they might to your organization. That's what, that's what's uplifting, right? 1:05:21 It's, it's, I i I, I don't know if this is, this has been said to me numerous times, but you know, it's not about giving people a handout. 1:05:30 It's about giving people a hand up. There's a difference between the two. 1:05:35 - Absolutely. Not about giving people a handout. It's about giving people the hand up. 1:05:41 That may be my next quote. There you Go. That was that. That's a very good one. Oh my goodness. 1:05:48 What I've learned about you today is that you are a humble servant leader with a great passion 1:05:54 for helping other people. You have an awesome family, a wife you've known since the sixth grade, 1:06:00 which is incredible. And she's been a, a, a driving force for you 1:06:06 and achieving your goals. And you've gotten your degree here at University of Phoenix, 1:06:11 and you are on your way to your masters, and we are so excited and excited to have you back on the show once you graduate. 1:06:19 I wanna see you walk across that stage, though. - All right. All right. - Okay. It's a promise. 1:06:25 - It's a promise. I, I'm, I've, I've, I've got, I've got all the regalia to go along with it, so I have no excuse. 1:06:31 - You know, there's a different robe for masters. - Oh, really? All right, well, - I won't, I won't. 1:06:36 I'll, I'll let, I'll let you, I'll let you have the surprise. I won't tell you - The, - The new special thing, but you get a new robe for masters 1:06:42 - Now I'm even more excited 12 months from now, should 11, it's 11 month program, right? 1:06:48 - That's right, that's right. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited to see you walk across that stage. 1:06:53 - Thank you. - So now I have rapid fire questions for you, 1:06:58 uhoh, and these are so much fun. - Okay. All right. I love fun - All. Yes. I don't 1:07:03 - How much more fun could have gotten so far? - It has been so much fun. It has been a blast. 1:07:09 And this is your wrap up, so I'm excited about it. Okay, so first, first question, book that changed your life. 1:07:16 - Book that changed my life. Wow, that's a big one. 1:07:25 Z for Zacharia. Okay. - Early bird or Night Owl. - Oh, I am neither. 1:07:32 So I know that's, I know that's a weird answer, right? So I believe, I believe in what your body tells you to do. 1:07:40 So when it's time to wake up, it's time to wake up, get up with a purpose, and when your body tells you it's time to go 1:07:46 to bed, it's time to go to bed no matter how much fun you're having. So, because I believe your body tells you what to do. 1:07:52 So yeah, I'm, I'm kind of neither I can go either way. So sometimes I'm, I, I wake up early 1:08:00 and when my body says it's time I'm up. And sometimes Saturday I woke up at six o'clock in 1:08:06 the morning ready to go. And on Sunday, I didn't wake up till 10 in the morning. So there you go. 1:08:11 - Listen to your body. That's a good one. I'm gonna have to add that in there. That's really good. Your go-to productivity hack. 1:08:18 - Productivity hack. You've got some questions. These are just, I thought you were gonna, like, I thought 1:08:24 for sure, like rapid fire was gonna be like, what kind of candy bar do you like? I'm like, I just say Butterfinger. That's easy. 1:08:33 Productivity hack. - I think you actually gave it away earlier you said, 1:08:38 and correct me if I'm wrong, but when you were getting your degree, you actually used your lunchtime 1:08:44 and a little bit of your time before you went home to do the majority of your homework, 1:08:49 so you weren't stuck on the weekends. - Yeah. You know, I, I am a procrastinator, so my productivity hacks are, are few and far between. 1:08:57 But yes, I, i that I, I will take what you just gave me is that just use every opportunity you have to, 1:09:06 and I call it sneaking in to sneak in the things that you need to do because it it, if you try 1:09:13 to do it all at once, especially as a procrastinator, that's what triggers you to say, this is just gonna take forever. 1:09:20 But if I can do 45 minutes at a time and just come back to it, it makes it so much easier on, 1:09:28 I think the stress level that you have of what I need to accomplish. If you can just take little bites at a time, that, 1:09:34 that's definitely, that's definitely my productivity hack is little bites at a time. Make it easier. It reduces the stress level. 1:09:41 - Absolutely. And we could use less stress. - Yes. - What's the best advice you've ever received? Plan 1:09:49 - Your work and work your plan. - Plan your work, and work your plan. - My dad said that to me. I don't think he's the 1:09:55 one that came up with it. I don't, but that was his, that was his motto was plan your work and work your plan. 1:10:01 And that has always stuck with me. If you have a plan, you can work it out. - Well, I've never heard it before, so we're, 1:10:08 we're gonna go ahead and credit it to dad. - All right, good. Thank you. - What's your go-to karaoke song? 1:10:15 - Oh, I do, you do not want to hear me sing at all. And it drives my kids and my wife absolutely crazy. 1:10:23 But the weird thing is, is I have a, a weird knack of remembering weird trivia questions, 1:10:33 which also makes me keep in my brain lyrics to songs. 1:10:40 And so it doesn't matter whether, and I like all kinds of genres of music, but I can sing along out loud to all kinds of music 1:10:49 and from all kinds of different artists. And I know the words from all long time ago till today. 1:10:56 But you do not want me to do any karaoke. I do not. I do not sing and I do not dance, 1:11:02 and I do not, I can, I am not musically inclined in any way, shape, or form. 1:11:09 - And then your last one is simply your personal motto. - Well, my personal motto is really just plan your 1:11:14 work and work your plan. But, you know, at, at the end of the day, my, my, 1:11:20 my motto is just, it's, it, it's cliche as it may be. It's just no regrets. 1:11:26 Live your life with no regrets. Make decisions with no regrets. 1:11:31 - That is, that is excellent. I completely agree. And the floor is yours. These are your closing thoughts. 1:11:38 If there's anything you want our audience to know, or if you have any, any other advice that you wanted to give, feel free, 1:11:44 - Create a bucket list as, as much as I know that became a cliche statement, and I know there was a movie that was made about it, 1:11:51 but create a bucket list. Write it down. What are the things that you want 1:11:56 to do in your life? And, and the bucket list will change. It will, it will migrate and you know, things will fall off 1:12:05 and new things will get added. But definitely create a bucket list and work your way to checking things off the list. 1:12:13 And it doesn't always have to be, you know, oh, I wanna travel around the world, I wanna go to Europe. But I've had a bucket list of, of going back to school 1:12:22 and giving my bachelor's degree. It was always on my list. It just may have been at the bottom of the bucket. 1:12:28 And so, but keep it there and, and always look at it and, and reflect on it. 1:12:33 And I read this once somewhere that said, always continue to write your own eulogy. 1:12:45 I know that sounds kind of sick, but what would you want? What always work towards never give up 1:12:52 writing your own eulogy. So what is it that you would want when it's your time to go? What is it that you want other people to say about you? 1:13:00 I'll leave that for everybody else to kind of decide what that, what that means to them, but - Absolutely. 1:13:05 Well, I know that you have a lot more to accomplish that you're gonna be here for a long time. 1:13:11 What I would say I've learned about you is that you are gonna continue to serve 1:13:17 and change lives in your community. And we are grateful for you. We're excited to watch you walk across that stage 1:13:24 with your master's degree and to, to watch those two incredible daughters and your awesome wife cheer for you as you do so. 1:13:31 - Thank you, - Matthew, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your incredible journey with us. 1:13:37 That brings us to the end of this episode of Degrees of Success. Don't forget to like and subscribe. 1:13:43 I'm your host, Frida Richards, reminding you that your next chapter might just be your best one yet. 1:13:50 See you next time.