0:01

okay welcome to tuesdays with kelly and

0:05

dan and today we have matt from swim

0:08

university

0:09

co-hosting with me so this should be a

0:12

little bit more interesting when i talk

0:14

by myself

0:16

hi matt hi

0:17

how are you thanks for having me

0:20

i'm good

0:21

yeah

0:23

what's that noise

0:25

i didn't say i didn't do anything oh

0:26

maybe you're liking that

0:32

like it sounded like dogs running across

0:34

maybe i don't know if it's like rudy in

0:36

the background when he can hear him it's

0:37

not it's not here i'm on carpet and i

0:40

don't have any i have one animal but

0:41

he's he's a little tiny cat and he

0:44

sneaks around so

0:48

hey whatever i have two dogs and they're

0:50

driving me nuts

0:51

but i love them

0:53

yeah that's definitely rudy it's not us

0:57

thanks rudy

0:59

anywho

1:00

so how have you been how's the life

1:02

going you know anything exciting yeah uh

1:05

life is is good um pool season was good

1:09

still is good we're still in it right

1:11

um was out at a pool today filming for

1:14

the last two days actually and i have

1:16

one more day tomorrow to film more

1:18

so we just did like a three-day

1:20

you know

1:21

kind of

1:22

uh photo film shoot for

1:25

the website

1:26

do you mind me asking what the subject

1:28

was about uh we are just getting b-roll

1:30

of everything so like today i you know

1:33

we flew a drone to get like drone shots

1:36

of brushing skimming

1:38

vacuuming

1:39

adding chemicals we got gopro shots so

1:43

underwater shots of the same stuff you

1:45

know adding chemicals brushing skimming

1:48

all that stuff so we're just kind of

1:50

getting

1:50

b-roll so that we can do our reels and

1:53

our youtube videos and stuff

1:55

you know what i think would be a great

1:57

video for homeowners is how to brush a

1:59

pool during a startup why why why

2:02

specifically that

2:03

because

2:05

i do i don't have weekly maintenance

2:07

anymore i used to and then i decided not

2:09

to so i do startups a lot and i want to

2:12

say that's the biggest question the

2:14

homeowner has is how do i brush my pool

2:17

during you know that time where they

2:19

have to brush me out three times a day

2:21

yeah two times a day whatever because

2:23

they're like oh my god i'm afraid of

2:24

scratching it you know oh and then

2:27

sometimes they'll like miss spots and

2:28

they're like well i tried getting it

2:30

it's like i know you're trying i'm just

2:31

letting you know those spots need a

2:32

little bit you know but i think that

2:34

would be great so then i could send them

2:36

that video and be like here this is how

2:38

you brush right

2:39

like a dentist or pools that might be

2:42

yeah yeah okay

2:44

exactly i like it so what's your

2:46

background i know that you have the swim

2:49

university i've seen some of your videos

2:51

on youtube i've even used your videos

2:53

when i would have my ipsa meetings and

2:55

trying to start a conversation with the

2:57

members wow

2:58

so

2:59

yeah so i've been doing this since i was

3:02

my first summer job as a 13 year old

3:03

little boy

3:05

was at a pool store and i never left i

3:08

stayed there till i was 17 went to

3:11

another pool store

3:12

worked my way up to assistant manager

3:14

went to another pool store became

3:16

manager

3:17

managed that service department retail

3:20

store

3:21

went

3:22

back and forth to different pool

3:23

companies

3:24

the same two back and forth and then

3:27

started my own all online though you

3:29

know back in 2004 2006 somewhere in that

3:32

rain in their area

3:34

i was like oh i'm gonna

3:36

basically take all of my knowledge and

3:38

put it towards the internet and that was

3:40

it

3:42

okay that was that twenty

3:45

yeah yeah i grew up in the industry

3:48

my whole life did you have it was it was

3:50

that and then i got sucked into it you

3:52

have parents that were into it and then

3:53

got into it or were you like

3:56

just a little kid in a development that

3:58

needed a summer job and

4:01

got sucked into it no like

4:03

my supply house managers have known me

4:05

since i was four years old wow okay so

4:08

literally grew up in it yeah my dad's

4:10

been doing it for 35 years wow holy crap

4:12

my mom did it for a long time she had a

4:13

route and everything yeah yeah wow wait

4:16

what part of the country i'm in

4:17

california northern california so okay

4:19

yeah northern california

4:21

a lot of i know there's a lot of stuff

4:25

yeah so i uh i'm like a sacramento area

4:29

to the capital of california i almost

4:32

lived in rockville we are different than

4:33

l.a

4:34

do you know where i almost live i work

4:37

in rocklin oh i work in rockland all the

4:39

time

4:40

so yeah so i almost got poached

4:44

by pool supply world you know them

4:48

yes they're no longer a thing because

4:50

they got bought by leslie's but i was

4:52

like

4:53

this close it's not not

4:56

it's a little close so rocklin is really

4:59

a nice area i was i was looking forward

5:01

to it it's really booming mm-hmm yeah

5:04

it's really booming it's growing really

5:06

fast

5:07

so i predominantly work out there

5:09

roseville lincoln that's where i'm the

5:12

busiest because houses are buildings

5:14

they're just doing it so fast and

5:16

everybody wants a pool and it's like

5:18

okay whatever wherever you want me to go

5:21

if you pay me i'll go yeah i do warranty

5:24

for hayward and i'll travel i'll go to

5:26

chico i'll go to casserville i'll go to

5:29

i own i'll go the bay area if they want

5:31

me to wherever you pay me i'll go sweet

5:33

so

5:34

but yeah that's that's my background

5:36

grew up in it didn't want to do it got

5:38

sucked into it i have this theory either

5:40

you get sucked in

5:42

and you can never get out or you don't

5:44

last very long oh i

5:46

yes it's like you're you're a college

5:48

kid you come in for a bit and you're

5:50

gone right or you are in it for i mean

5:54

like i'm a lifer it's just that's been

5:57

it's my whole life i'm 30

5:59

i will be 39 in like a week

6:01

and that is that is like it's been i've

6:03

been pools my whole life and so i i

6:05

don't know and i even i chose it like

6:08

it's it i got sucked into it as a kid

6:10

but then i was like well i'm just gonna

6:12

parlay this into my thing and now it's

6:14

like my thing and and

6:16

i i pushed it that way so

6:19

yeah that's uh well you're doing a great

6:21

job thank you

6:23

because i like i said i love your videos

6:25

and they're very i like that they're not

6:27

too long they're they're enough to get

6:30

you your attention and listen and give

6:32

you the information

6:33

so

6:34

i'm hey

6:36

however you can find what makes you

6:38

happy in your profession i think is key

6:41

because you're going to be stuck in it

6:43

for your life

6:45

so make sure you love it

6:47

would you say that you you like the

6:48

online feel better than you did when you

6:51

were

6:52

i guess you could call it in the field

6:55

yeah i did a little field work so i

6:57

wouldn't say like i'll be honest like i

6:59

was mostly retail boy right i'm that's

7:02

where most of my experience comes from

7:04

but did run a service department for a

7:06

bit i did have to go out and like

7:07

install safety covers and and fix pumps

7:10

and stuff like that for for

7:12

you know when when things got bad when

7:14

customers were unhappy i'm like all

7:16

right let me go out and

7:17

smooth things over but

7:19

where i am now i don't know i just

7:21

always felt like in the from the retail

7:23

side of thing like i just had you know

7:25

the way i talk about it is this weird

7:28

sense of power being a young

7:30

kid

7:31

and

7:32

your friend's parents coming into your

7:35

store because i was living in a small

7:36

town right in in south jersey

7:38

and

7:39

my friend's parents would come ask me

7:41

for advice as like a 14 13 year old you

7:45

know it's like that's a weird that's a

7:47

lot of power

7:48

you know so

7:50

and i i actively like now i'd rejected

7:53

authority i didn't go to college because

7:54

i'm like wait a minute these people are

7:56

freaking idiots like i'm

7:58

i'm i'm the smart guy in the room so

8:01

yes it's a weird power trip but i i

8:03

basically was like

8:05

it wasn't like i was looking for an

8:07

opportunity and like i was like oh no

8:08

one's talking about pool stuff online

8:10

it was just like i know about this thing

8:13

like i it was my job and then i knew

8:15

about website design because i was i was

8:18

in a band as you can tell by the

8:20

background of my

8:21

video there's a bunch of guitars on the

8:23

wall

8:24

and i was in a band and we couldn't

8:26

afford a website designer so i just

8:27

learned how to design websites and then

8:29

i was like oh what if i took the pool

8:31

thing that i do during my day job and

8:34

married it with my night job essentially

8:36

and that was kind of how it came about

8:38

okay yeah well i think that's a great

8:41

idea especially since

8:43

you know probably at that time there

8:44

really wasn't much for homeowners to

8:46

have as a resource to help them with

8:47

their pool like we're 2004

8:50

so it's like barely the internet

8:52

because was like internet was maybe 10

8:54

years old

8:56

back when we had the flip phones and you

8:58

had to push six buttons to navigate the

9:00

internet if you could even get on we had

9:03

snake and that was like that was the

9:05

that was the that was the uh big game at

9:07

the time yeah

9:09

green screens and blue screens that was

9:11

it

9:12

[Laughter]

9:14

so you figured out there was a need for

9:17

for something you would enjoy doing and

9:19

obviously educating people is a key

9:21

thing

9:22

would you say that that's what's going

9:24

to really help people when it comes to

9:26

care of their pool

9:28

or

9:29

do you think that there's other things

9:32

that are key to

9:34

make things successful you know

9:37

i like to think that education is key i

9:39

i moved into this house

9:41

and there was two existing ponds

9:44

so i would you would think like oh i'm

9:46

in i'm in the pool business like i got

9:48

ponds

9:49

i i don't i don't understand i'm like

9:52

i'm so confused and there's no online

9:54

resource that really tells me what's up

9:57

and there are pawn you know i hired upon

10:00

service to come out and like take care

10:01

of it

10:03

and even that like sometimes they're

10:04

confused and so

10:06

i don't know i i kind of feel like

10:08

education is important but it's really

10:11

like if somebody were to tell me

10:14

exactly what to do

10:16

you know every like hey every tuesday

10:18

you need to do this

10:20

and i put it in a calendar and i was

10:21

just diligent about doing that thing

10:23

that is i think what would be super

10:25

helpful for me and the same thing

10:27

applies i think to pool care which is

10:29

like if you could just give somebody a

10:31

recipe that they could follow and tell

10:33

them exactly when to do things and how

10:37

then they'll actually you know hopefully

10:38

they'll do it and if they don't they'll

10:39

suffer the consequences of that and

10:40

that's you know when you need help but

10:42

other than that like i think

10:44

it isn't just education i think a lot of

10:46

people

10:48

they don't like especially like

10:50

in like myself with the ponds and it's

10:52

my only analogy i have

10:54

i don't want to be an algae chemist i

10:56

don't want to know how it's grown i

10:57

don't want to be

10:59

this like

11:00

biochemist person who understands it and

11:02

goes like oh i'm going to invent my own

11:04

thing just tell me what to add when to

11:06

add it and i will add it you know as

11:08

simple as that and so that is my

11:10

approach to education in the pool

11:11

industry is just to be like just tell me

11:14

what to do when i just want to friggin

11:16

swim in it i don't really want to

11:19

i don't want to be

11:20

you guys i want to be

11:22

like whatever i do for a living you know

11:24

as the homeowner and i just want my pool

11:26

clear so that my you know kids and my

11:28

significant other are not mad now do you

11:31

find that you have more people trying to

11:33

learn how to

11:34

take care of their own pool especially

11:36

when there's like a recession or a

11:38

economic crisis i mean the pandemic was

11:42

huge for i believe all of us right like

11:44

that wasn't like we as a pool industry i

11:47

don't think we saw that since 2004

11:49

and

11:51

maybe 2008.

11:52

i think

11:53

and it's so funny because so many pools

11:56

were

11:57

you know and i don't know as like a

11:58

service company no

12:00

i don't think service companies are out

12:01

there like cleaning in text pools and

12:04

and stock tank pools and whatever else

12:06

people are building nowadays i refuse to

12:08

do above ground pools oh just in general

12:11

like yeah i mean that makes sense well

12:13

most of the time they don't even have

12:14

like the right filter and pump so i i

12:17

can't keep up with it so

12:19

instead of wasting my time on theirs i

12:21

just sorry that's not my cup of tea yeah

12:25

not my bag baby as uh

12:27

to quote

12:28

a movie but yeah i i that makes so much

12:30

sense because

12:32

i wouldn't want to do that either and

12:35

i think

12:36

i mean obviously like so many people got

12:38

pools during the pandemic right and

12:41

business was good

12:43

now they i feel like this year everyone

12:45

went on vacation

12:47

and

12:48

perhaps neglected the pool a little bit

12:50

but it's all going to come back and i

12:52

don't know i don't know what the what

12:54

the future holds for for the industry i

12:56

think it's good i think it's good no

12:58

matter what though

12:59

like i think we're i think we're on a

13:02

upward trend i think that the pool

13:05

industry is kind of a safe industry

13:07

compared to other

13:09

industries yeah that unfortunately

13:12

there's we're always going to need to

13:14

help them take care of their pools and

13:16

it's you with your website where you can

13:18

give them videos or if it's us actually

13:20

going out there

13:22

well what's interesting about it too is

13:23

that if there's a turnover right because

13:25

like

13:26

you know you might sell a pool

13:28

and then the gen z people are going to

13:30

come up and they're going to just

13:32

move into these homes with pools and

13:34

they're going to be internet savvy which

13:36

are you know the people that i were i

13:37

was dealing with weren't absolutely not

13:40

right like the fact that our youtube

13:42

channel even grew at all is surprising

13:44

because like my dad doesn't know that

13:45

you can subscribe to other videos like

13:47

he doesn't you know know that that's

13:49

possible so

13:50

yeah it's i think it's it's funny

13:52

because it is a it's an industry because

13:54

when you build a pool it's it's a cement

13:56

block in the ground it's not going

13:58

anywhere unless you fill it in which i

14:00

mean who wants to fill in the pool i i

14:02

don't know you have to be a crazy person

14:04

but i think it is a safe industry and

14:06

and

14:07

it is

14:09

i mean i don't know if if you agree with

14:10

this at all but i i believe it's also

14:12

like kind of stuck in a weird time zone

14:16

too it's like it's not so how many

14:18

subscribers do you have on youtube

14:22

well let's start with 157 000.

14:26

oh wow yeah we got a little plaque now

14:29

it's fun it was a fun day

14:32

uh do you find that there are many

14:34

homeowners or a mixture of professionals

14:37

at home it is mostly homeowners but

14:40

there is an audience of professionals

14:44

but i don't know how to i don't know

14:45

like you know just get comments here and

14:46

there so i don't have them segmented out

14:48

to talk to them specifically but you're

14:50

they're there absolutely yeah

14:53

okay that's great and then your website

14:55

how many subscribers

14:56

during the peak months for us right like

14:59

june or may june july we get about

15:02

a million visitors a month

15:05

and then our email list is about a

15:07

hundred thousand

15:09

yeah wow i'm just trying to get a

15:11

thousand followers on instagram we just

15:14

we just passed it like instagram is

15:16

totally new to us and and

15:19

yeah we i just hired we're a family

15:20

business so we just hired uh we

15:23

my wife and i hired my brother so he's

15:26

doing our instagram account

15:28

yeah

15:29

hey as long as he can keep up with this

15:31

yeah we're and like i said we're out

15:32

this week shooting video you know with

15:35

our phones we got a drone i got

15:38

you know all this like equipment out

15:39

there at the airbnb we had to rent

15:41

because the house we moved into doesn't

15:42

have a pool so i'm like

15:44

all right and we live in colorado

15:46

there's

15:47

very little pools here but not a lot you

15:49

could have you could have done this

15:51

there was at the swimly website where

15:53

you can rent a pool you you would think

15:55

except there are none

15:58

in colorado

16:01

yeah you would think

16:03

great name and i and i'm saying that

16:05

very sarcastically that's the it's the

16:08

it's a hilariously bad name

16:12

so i hear you have a rap video is this

16:14

about pools or

16:16

yeah i did that

16:19

i think back in 2000

16:23

maybe

16:24

yeah i did a rap video

16:26

oh my god so i thought

16:30

like

16:32

i have this you know i have this website

16:34

or whatever i also like like doing

16:37

parody rap stuff for fun you know for

16:40

like for my friends yeah and i have this

16:42

concept that i've came up with called

16:44

passion mashing which is like take two

16:46

things that you're good at put them

16:48

together and just see what comes out

16:50

right like if you like two weird things

16:52

and i thought let me just try it

16:55

it's silly

16:56

and it was and it did pretty well in

16:58

like within the industry like not no

17:00

homeowner gave any

17:03

any any thought to it but like the

17:04

industry was like wow that was actually

17:06

pretty catchy i was surprised that it

17:08

was going to be good

17:10

you know so

17:11

that's nice to hear but yeah like

17:13

that was a long time ago and it's still

17:15

up it's still up this little thing hey

17:18

you want to do one right now for us oh

17:20

my god i do not

17:22

i do not

17:24

come on i have not had enough

17:27

i have not had enough alcohol tonight

17:30

down that one and we still got more time

17:33

to go so we have enough for you to do a

17:35

couple more you know it took okay seven

17:37

years it took me seven years to write

17:39

that song it's it's it's one it's one

17:41

word one syllable a day it's for it's

17:44

for it takes forever

17:47

i'm not drake i'm not a freestyle rapper

17:49

i can't do this i'm not i'm white

17:52

[Laughter]

17:55

oh

17:56

so

17:58

i i guess eminem like i said i've seen a

18:00

lot of your stuff

18:01

well yeah but jack harlow his is a

18:04

little bit different than they're all

18:06

right they all they all write and i am

18:08

very uh i i also have to write i can't

18:11

just do this

18:12

off the top of my head well

18:15

thank you matt for coming and talking

18:17

with me today

18:18

i think there's a lot of information and

18:20

i really do think that

18:22

your site and social media would be

18:25

great for any pool professional and

18:27

homeowner

18:28

if any of you want to get a hold of him

18:31

go to

18:32

swimuniversity.com if you scroll all the

18:34

way to the bottom of the page you can

18:36

find all of his links so he has youtube

18:39

instagram facebook all of those and then

18:43

if you like us rate us we really would

18:46

love to know how you like the show can

18:48

advice on spotify apple and all your

18:50

favorite streaming sites

18:52

and if you have any questions you would

18:55

like us to talk about or subjects please

18:57

let us know so go to talkingpools

19:00

gmail.com or direct message us or

19:04

hit up any of our social media on that

19:06

you can

19:07

have a great tuesday and we will talk to

19:10

you soon