This week I’m going live with my guy, Matt Dacey. We’ll be shining some light on business plans & why they change.
Tune in for this energetic conversation atTalkRadio.nycor watch theFacebook Livestream by clicking here.
Jeremiah introduces his message of the week, “When one door is closed, many more are open”, and introduces his guest, Matt Dacey, an entrepreneur, who works with lights and purple belt in Brazlian Jiu Jitsu. Matt explains how he has worked globally in lighting, specifically discussing how he worked in Dubai in 2008. He was explaining because of the 2008 recession in the United States, there was no more work in the United States for his field, but there was plenty of work in Dubai at the time, even though they went through a similar recession the following year. The two discuss the different kinds of lighting work that Matt does, that he does work in mostly hospitality, specifically hotels, but he got his start in theatre and theatre lighting. Jeremiah endorses Matt’s work as he completed a lighting installation in his restaurant Della, and how even years after he has not needed to change a lighting strip. The two discuss the similarities and differences between music and lighting, as Jeremiah has gotten a formal education in music, and Matt points out that similar to music in how the interesting aspect is based around and created in the spaces in between the notes, the interesting aspects of lighting is created around the shadows in between the lights. Matt explains his journey through the lighting industry, and how it is difficult to break through to the upper positions in lighting in already established companies, and how he became motivated to create his own company.
Jeremiah and Matt discuss how one learns through failure, and how Matt has experienced this during the post 2008 recession, as well as the current Covid-19 pandemic, and how Matt continues to want to create new things and make things happen. Jeremiah explains how this drive to want to make things happen that he and Matt share is a drive that is often shared by people in creative degrees, as he has a degree in Music and Matt has a degree in music. Jeremiah explains how he likes to be his own boss, which is what he does currently through all of his business ventures, and the benefits of being one’s own boss. But, he also explains that being an employee isn’t a bad thing and that there are benefits to be an employee as well. The two discuss Matt’s business model that he recently shared with Jeremiah, specifically how it was mostly remote, and if you have employees within the model a third of the plan must be dedicated to core values and training for the employees, specifically within the three pillars of business, prospecting, marketing, and sales. Jeremiah and Matt continue to discuss Matt’s belief that a direct channel is one of the most important aspects of his business plan, but Jeremiah disagrees as he believes that if Matt wishes to continue to scale his business, he needs to scale his distribution alongside his intimacy he is currently scaling with the direct channel. That because Matt’s business is exponentially growing, he will reach the point where he will not be able to handle every aspect of the business personally, which is why Jeremiah believes he should put a focus towards expanding his distribution avenues and not focusing on a direct channel.
Jeremiah and Matt discuss why Matt chose the second plan out of the two business plans that he created for his lighting business. Matt explains how the two plans had two separate missions, that the first plan was based around a goal of lighting, and the second plan was based around the need for lighting. Matt explains that along with the difference in missions, the different laws in North America surrounding lighting required him to hike up higher prices for him to pay instead of the second plan is nonprofit for the lighting industry, with help from other industry members, focusing on New York laws for the lighting industry, with a focus on teaching newcomers to the industry. Jeremiah discusses how with this second plan Matt is creating and building a community around his industry with his second business plan. Matt explains how he is nervous about losing the community because of the Covid-19 pandemic, as it is based on New York designers and people in lighting, and many people during the pandemic left New York city. Matt gives the example of his friend who left New York during the pandemic and moved to Austin, Texas because he had a family and no longer wanted to live in an apartment in New York City, and could still work in his industry in Texas. The two also talk about how because of this mindset, there are many empty commercial spaces throughout New York City, and Jeremiah explains how when he goes on walks throughout Brooklyn he sees more and more empty storefronts each time. Matt goes more in depth on his nonprofit that arose out of his second business plan.
Jeremiah and Matt discuss Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Matt explains how training for Jiu Jitsu has helped him in running a business. The two discuss the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world and community, and Matt explains how he was impressed when he first began raining when he realized that improving one’s skills in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is infinite and you can always grow and improve. Jeremiah continues off of this point and how it is mind blowing how infinite Jiu Jitsu training is, explaining a seminar he recently went to that put him out of his comfort zone in Jiu Jitsu in which he greatly improved. Jeremiah compares the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community to the ClubHouse social media community, and how while it looks intimidating from the outside, when one actually tries to join the community they find that everyone within the community is very welcoming and happy to have someone new in the community. Jeremiah explains how Jiu Jitsu has helped him get over his imposter syndrome that he has in other aspects of his life, how when he first joined Jiu Jitsu he had no idea what he was going to do in training, but learned along the way and learned what Jiu Jitsu techniques were best for him to use. He continues to explain how he carries this to his professional life, and how for a long time he felt imposter syndrome in creating businesses and that he felt that they were all going to fail. But, once he realized that everyone else who was first starting a new business also felt this way, he was able to get over the feeling and learn what techniques for running a business are best for him.
