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Matt founded Warmfront in 2005 a product to keep athletes and people with active lifestyles warm in cold conditions. He also still works a full-time job at Furos Amazon Web Services consulting. What made Matt go off on his own? (0:53) Matt explains that years ago he was traveling and tried to use his laptop but didn’t have a table to work on, came up with an idea and wrote it down in his journal. The next time he traveled he actually saw the exact thing he was thinking about in a shop, someone else had the same idea. He decided that he was never going to have an idea on a piece of paper again. While riding his bike in the mountains in Colorado he was getting cold. Matt thought of an idea to keep his chest warm and came up with a product called the Warmfront. How does entrepreneurship combine with your day job? (11:24) Matt’s dad is to thank for his organizational skills. He admits that he is obsessed with organization and priorities are extremely important to him. The motivation behind what Matt does, whether it is work or his own business is a genuine accomplishment. At the end of the day, Matt looks at what is going to make him feel like he made a difference and those are the things he wants to focus his attention on. Warmfront is as automated as it could possibly be and doesn’t require much of his attention, allowing him to focus on Furos. How long did it take you to get that point with Warmfront? (17:52) Matt says that he is a developer and not an implementer. The moment he is done developing a product it has to be automated. He explains that automation has to be built in from the start. The product doesn’t have to be perfect, it has to be functional. Anything that Matt could automate, like store emails, he would automate and have it running in the background now. What is Matt’s morning reading list? (22:45) Every day Matt reads a chapter from the daily stoic by Ryan Holiday. In the mornings he writes in his gratitude journal where he looks back on and captures what happened the previous day. Matt was talking to a friend of his who’s been looking for a job for a long time. His advice to her was to write down 3 things that happened the previous day that was cool. According to Matt, doing so trains people to look for the better that’s out there and eventually, you will find what you are looking for. Matt says he also has books that have 2-page chapters and he has about 15 of them with audiobooks for when he is traffic to go through. He’s not trying to have an impressive library but rather focus on a few and master those because his list of 15 books he rotates through constantly will end up teaching him a new skill. Could you give us a few tips on how to have a job, a business and still be happy? (30:38) Get organized, use something like Trello and a free CRM to get organized. Realize that the universe is indifferent, it may feel like everything is lining up against you but the universe doesn’t care and it will not get in your way. Do your best and be optimistic. Matt says there will be times when it feels like you are the only person on the face of the earth that cares. Have systems in place for when the motivation wanes so that you can do what has to be done next. Ask for help and criticism and not for validation, for every Warmfront that goes out Matt encourages people to tell him what sucks about it. Build your systems before you build your brand. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.