Episode 4: Unlocking Entrepreneurial Success: A Mentor's Perspective with Matt Heath

Host Murali Balasubramanian interviews Matt Heath, a veteran executive and SCORE mentor, about his journey from corporate America to mentoring Houston’s entrepreneurs. Matt shares practical advice on building a broad skill set, finding your business niche, and the importance of sales and mentorship. Discover how to build your skills, find your niche, and succeed with support from SCORE Houston. Hear real stories of client success and learn how SCORE Houston can help you grow your business.  

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Mentor Conversations at SCORE Houston, where we bring you insights and stories from our mentors. You'll hear from senior executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals who volunteer their time to guide small businesses. SCORE is America's largest network of volunteer business mentors and is supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration. In Houston, we provide free, confidential mentoring and education to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and succeed. Now, let's dive into today's mentor conversation.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Matt, thank you very much for volunteering to for this podcast. Let me start with a quick introduction. Matt has over 30 years of corporate America experience, everything but HR, IIT, marketing, sales, consulting, finance, strategy. The last role that he did was in Malaysia, turning around Hewlett Packard, Asia's organization in the accounts receivable space from the poorest performing organization to the top half in two years. Nonprofit, he helped found Genesis Works as a board member and then joined as a CEO in 2013 to help grow revenues from 10 million to 30 million in seven years. He's also been a business owner. A variety of small IT consulting companies early in his career. Significant real estate investment starting in 2009 that led to financial independence by his early 50s. He has been mentoring through his career. At TL Pecard, he mentored over 30 entry-level managers. 29 were promoted within a year. And he created a company-wide mentoring program at Genesis Works that positively impacted the culture and contributed to the growth and consistency of delivery across the organization. Now he's been with SCORE for the last five years and he's been mentoring a number of entrepreneurs. And the primary clientele base is on the nonprofit organizations. The mentoring focus for all the clients has been sales, leveraging best practices, and industry experience. Thank you. I'm going to go to the top first question for you, Matt. When you reflect on your career, what stands out most for you?

SPEAKER_04 2:51

The biggest thing is it's not a straight line. So there's always ups and downs. And I was, as I look back, the things that were really important was to always be adding value because you never know when you've helped somebody in a position that can help you down the road. So making a positive difference. A specific kind of small example is when I would bid in meetings, I would take all the meeting notes and then be able to talk with that and go talk to the senior manager, make sure we got that right. You could really kind of craft a lot of so if you're adding value all the time, which you know we'll talk about sales later, but you know, there's always be selling. But I think if you're always adding value, you're going to find that good things will happen to you. But it's not a straight line. And so sometimes I've taken positions that actually were a small demotion in status in the corporate America, but they opened up a lot, a much wider group of opportunities down the road. And then I think one other thing is to be really just be optimistic. We have a tendency, it's kind of cool to be pessimistic at times or kind of look wise. But if you're really positive, how are we going to solve problems? People want to be around positive people.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Thank you. What kind of advice would you give to young members in your family or others just starting out?

SPEAKER_04 4:07

So I think the one thing that, and I it's nice that I have several cousin or nephew nieces and nephews in this boat, so I'm able to tell this is exactly what I'm telling them is really focus on the Scott Adams talent stack. And what that is, is it's very hard to be the top 1% of some skill in the world. But if you it's pretty easy to be the top 20% in reading comprehension and sales and marketing, your product, finance. And if you're at the top 80 or the top 20% in four or five categories that are critical for whatever, you can be a top performer without trying to be the very best. It's much easier to have a broad range of skills, and especially if you're going to be an entrepreneur, to find that you need to do a lot, wear a lot of different hats. So building a broad range of expertise and the same kind of thing, so being optimistic, build good relationships. And then the one other thing is I would suggest to them that they think about a focus on how do I use the internet and all the powers of online with real-world results. So I've a gentleman that follows founded like 50 businesses. And his, he has a really nice model, which I share with a lot of entrepreneurs, about understanding where you would want to do something. So for one of the examples he uses is figure out all the college students that have a, that don't necessarily have a washing machine or a dryer in their dorm rooms or in their apartments, loan it to, you know, rent it out to them, but go find them online and then deliver in person. And that mix is kind of a unique environment. So it again ties to that talent stack of if you're really good online, but you can do things, so the dirty jobs of Mike Rowe, I think that opens up a tremendous opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

Excellent. I'll move to the next question. What drew you to score? What what was your motivation to start mentoring in score?

SPEAKER_04 6:10

So I had planned to retire and retired in February of 2020. So what I didn't realize was that the world would shut down with COVID after that. So honestly, I was bored. I was looking for a network. And you know, I've always volunteered and and helped organizations. So it was really kind of connecting with people and something to do when felt a little bit like I was trapped inside my house.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

And was there a moment you felt that this is why I joined Score?

SPEAKER_04 6:42

There's been several. The it was interesting, it took a while to kind of get started as you were mentoring people. My skills weren't as good as I had maybe thought they were. And you know, it takes time to help somebody start a business. So that first couple of years, you had good meetings, but the real big impact's been over the last couple of years. So after I have several clients that I've worked with for three or four years now, and those clients have more than tripled their revenues. Have one guy said he's made more money than he's ever had. And he he's really he's an ability to work six months of the year and then work on his his art six months of the year. Another woman, you know, starts crying when she gets together and we talk about how it's been allowed her to dream her, achieve her dreams. So those are really the kind of when you make a positive difference for folks from that. And I recently had a client which, for the reason, I'm not going to share her details, but she's had some horrific experiences, but she's found a way to kind of make a positive difference in that for people that have had those similar experiences. And we're in the way of almost making her starting to be profitable in that. And so really helping people achieve their dreams has been for every mentor, folks come in there, it doesn't have it's not one phone call and it's uh it doesn't take two weeks. It takes a period of time and a long relationship.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Thank you, Matt. Just coming to the topic of small business landscape and Houston, what are your observations about small businesses in Houston or Texas today?

SPEAKER_04 8:09

So I think there, you know, we're we're really blessed to be in Houston, or in Houston as well, but in Texas, as opposed to areas where the population's leaving, where there's not growth. So I think there are opportunities. But for people that are starting out, the thing I tell a lot of my clients is the riches are in the niches. People want to come in and they want to solve world hunger, and we talk about really narrowing the focus. So I have a client, Jeff, who has a company called Bridgeway International. And what he's done, he's been in the training business for years, and over the last several years, he has created a training program for young people to teach them really how to be successful, all the soft skills or the power skills, how to shake hands with people in the eye, do a lot of the things that they were taught before. I was able to, because of my nonprofit work, connect into some people that would be interested in that work. He's now done some pilot programs with them, and they were successful. So they're they're in the process of finalizing new contracts that's going to make that happen. But but when he has that first contract, now we've talked about he's got a plan that he can open the doors up for probably 10xing his revenue over the next few years. But it's because he had a very narrow niche, he focused on doing really good with that, and then he found a way to kind of do give that away for free to prove it. And now that he has that proof, it looks like it's going to be successful. So I think it's it's really understanding where the money is, who can pay for things, and really focusing on being the expert in a small area.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

And let me move to the next question. As of 2025, uh where do you see the big opportunities in the small business arena?

SPEAKER_04 9:48

You know, I believe it really kind of what we talked about here is what I would share with my my nieces and nephews that are starting out young people is you know the same thing, is that really if you can find a way to have a mix of using the best practices from the online world and in the real world, of find that there's a there's a real gap there. People have a tendency to divide, and I'm really good online, or I'm really good doing uh uh work in the real world. And I think being able to blend those skills together, or you know, like if Jeff is doing is finding these niches. But it's really important that people spend the time to understand the details of their industry. Too many people I cut come to me and kind of want to talk about, I want this or I want that, I want to do this or do that, but they haven't done the details of the industry. And there's so much tacit knowledge or specifics about finding that industry that it's really important to dig into the details and find some mentors who have that detailed industry experience.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Thank you. I'm gonna move on to the next topic of mentoring experience. You worked with a number of clients. What was your experience like so far?

SPEAKER_04 11:01

So, you know, it's it's been very positive. There are always a few clients that aren't very serious and you need to chase them down a little bit. But you know, I think the the threshold is usually 10 to 20 percent of my clients are willing to that I've gotten have really been made the effort to be successful. And and some of the successes have just been, hey, I need to go work in a corporate job because that's the business is hard. But I think the the big thing I see from folks is not enough focus on sales and not enough focus on where the revenue is going to come from. So in my first calls with everybody, we spent a lot of time talking about you got to be comfortable selling to people. You got to be able to talk with folks, you got to ask their questions, and you really need to understand where the revenue is going to come for your industry and for your business. And we talk through that quite a bit. The thing I've seen from the people that are the most successful is they have a real passion for what they're wanting to do, and they're willing to make the effort. And you can kind of almost see it in the first 10 or 15 minutes. Ladies I've I've worked with, her organization is called Cuts for Christ. And they give free haircuts to homeless people and have developed a program that is every church, organization, school can just pick them up and they can come and bring 10, 20 barbers, do haircuts for the homeless, have a whole package. It's really nice. And she's done that. But she's really somebody who's super passionate about what she does. And she's really good at giving haircuts, teaching people how to make a haircut, outreach, and social, but she's had to learn the finances, she's had to learn the marketing, she's had to learn the sales, she's had to be operationalized. We get together every couple of weeks, and when she looks back, and sometimes we have an at the end of this last year, she just started crying about how impactful she has changed. She's almost like a different person. And I think one of the things that if you're going to really grow and become a business owner, you need to recognize that you're going to change. It's going to, you're going to have to shed your sk your shell in some of the things and do things that you would not believe are that were possible. This doesn't happen overnight, but over the course of a couple of years, you're going to grow. And growth sometimes is not always fun, and it's usually a little bit painful.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Okay. What do you think makes a mentoring relationship successful?

SPEAKER_04 13:17

I think it really builds on trust. So I always, when I start with folks, I recognize that it can be a little bit of a risk to come in and ask for help. We had a mentor who was someone who had been a client first. And she said it took her three times. She canceled meetings before she met with somebody because she didn't want to kind of admit her weakness. So spent a lot of time really asking people at the beginning, tell me your story, how'd you get here? How can I really help you? What are your goals? They're really trying to understand the person, where from my corporate background, it's much more about numbers and that type of thing, and why those are important. I think you got to build that relationship first with people. And so I think it's really building that and then building that trust and then focusing on their real problems. So I have a client who's he's created a number of PBS films. He he has a program now where he can help classrooms from third grade to K to 12th grade in groups of 20 create a whole movie in over in a 10-week period. And it's a you know it's a 20-minute film, but really impressive work. But what he's done is he's needed help figuring out how to sell. And because he people loved him, they would come to him. So he has a meeting. In fact, tomorrow, there's an annual meeting with HISD where they bring all the people who provide artistic service to the schools, and the vendors are all there. And he, and then all the people in the schools can come in and talk to him. And so I go with him every year, and I have the person out front helping him teach. I've taught him how to sell now, so he's out selling, but I'm out there, and it's amazing to me is because he has a steady line at his uh booth because I'm out in the middle asking people what they want to do and directing them to them. And people else are just the other entrepreneurs are sitting behind their desks, kind of almost making it difficult to approach. And so I think it's really his big problem was sales and understanding that and being able to say, I'm not just gonna tell you, let me go show up with you, and it's a lot of fun to go out there and sell people and see the success and the happiness. But I think you have to really be involved, and I I don't get that involved with every client, but once the client's made the commitment, they've shown they're willing to do the work, I'm willing to help them sell or do what they need to be successful and model it, not just tell them.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

Okay, very good. Moving on to advice to aspiring entrepreneurs. If someone is thinking of starting a business in Houston, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_04 15:42

So really jump getting to know your industry. So, you know, we have uh this amazing mentor, Jerry Hoffman, works closely with Raj on uh doing mentoring. But his has a model that I've adopted for everybody that says, go find 20 people doing what you're doing, ask them how did they get successful. The majority of them won't talk with you, but three or four of them will, five people who aren't necessarily on the competitive side, but really dig into that detail and start to know that about the tacit knowledge about your industry. Figure that what is it that's key, where the gaps are, build that network. So you really you don't want to start spending the saddest thing that I've seen for with clients is they've spent their life savings, in many cases,$10,000 to$20,000, and they're broke or they have a bad franchise, and then they're like, help me. And it's really hard that, and so I would tell them is go to go, you know, there's an old saying about doing carpentry, measure twice, cut once. And I would say, you know, measure 10 times, get become an expert, spend a lot of time learning before you put your life savings in on something and all the time. So become an expert on the industry, build a network, ask a lot of questions, find a mentor who's living it right now. The score mentor can help you, but they're not usually going to be in that same industry. And then the other thing is to really focus on where the money comes from, understanding who your clients are and what problem you're solving, what's your value proposition? You really can only do that if you really know the industry. So, you know, I have a number of folks that I get a lot of the folks that want to do housing for veterans, homeless, a variety of folks. And we always spent some time talking about it there. I had one lady who was very passionate about helping homeless people who with mental mental challenges, schizophrenia and other things that are on the street for homelessness. And I was like, I think that's great. Those people really need a lot of help, but how are you gonna get paid? I said those folks, just in general, are not gonna be able to hold down a job, and you've got to go figure out where the funding comes from. So she went down to Texas Department of Health and Services and she spent some time and realized that those are folks she she's got to find a different group of clients who they can really help with. So, you know, I it one of the areas I a lot of folks like that, I suggest that they look at the students that the foster kids that have aged out from 20, from 18 to 22, there's a real demand for that. And there's they those kids need it. They've they've been dealt with a tough situation in life, and there's government funding to allow them if they want to really make a difference. So it's really understanding the details of the funding flows and how you're gonna get paid. It's not just providing the service but making sure that you can make a difference.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

Thanks, Matt. Any watch out or words of encouragement for the aspiring entrepreneurs?

SPEAKER_04 18:32

So the the words of encouragement is are there's a lot of people that have done it, and people that maybe don't have your skills, that type of thing. So it is possible, but the watch out is it takes a lot of work and you have to make a real commitment to it. And it's really spending that time up front, learning, getting that background, and really trying to manage your risk. So one of the things that I talked about, Jeff from Bridgway International, who's on client, who's on the process of really starting to grow his business, but there's probably a six to nine month lag before the revenues will start coming in. So he's decided to go back to work and do this part-time. He spent the last year and a half building it up, but he's recognizing he needs that cash flow. And so I think that we need you really need to be honest and understand the financials of things in a variety and in really excruciating detail, and be honest with yourself. I mean, and I think that's where having a mentor is really helpful for entrepreneurs is somebody who can who spent the time with them, been on the journey, knows, and they've built that trust relationship that can ask them the tough questions. Because there's times at night when I know when I started business, I wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. How am I going to get through it? Having somebody that can help me there and I can turn to and ask makes a huge difference to being able to make the right decision.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Moving on to personal satisfaction, how has mentoring enriched your life or professional journey?

SPEAKER_04 19:56

Well, there's just been some great people. I mean, and uh both clients and mentors. The mentors groups that I've met, the people I've had a chance to operate and interact with and co-ventor with, some of the best people I've ever worked with had the opportunities. I'm really in awe of some. So Jim Nordhaus, 92 years old, Stella co-ventored with him last week with the on a food isn't food service industry industry expert. He, I mean, he just blew away the person that was trying to grow, get their business in there. His depth of knowledge is so amazing and so wonderful that it's made a huge difference for this person. They said they'd been calling around for three months trying to find answers. He was able to solve those in less than an hour. So we, you know, just the people like that that really make a huge difference. I've built some close personal relationships with a number of my clients that I've worked with for three or four years. Probably will be in a relationship, you know, for the next 10 or 20. It's really about the people that make things happen. And it is interesting. You learn about tons of different industries and finding in and out about that and the power that score allows you. And I don't have to be an expert on everything. Co-mentoring allows me to bring the experts to the table. So it's been a very rewarding experience. You know, any volunteer organization, there's always, you know, a certain amount of admin that needs to happen, which is not my favorite, but the people really gets me excited and makes me feel like I'm making a positive difference.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Thanks, Matt. Moving on. Uh, what keeps you going year after year?

SPEAKER_04 21:24

You know, I think again, just having those relationships. And I built over time with a couple of the fellow ventures that we get together quarterly with our spouses and we become family friends. And over as over time, um, I hope to continue that and kind of broaden that with a group of people. There's a number of folks that started about 10 years ago that get together during the holiday season every year on that kind of thing. And so it's it's really having those making a positive difference in in life, the relationships you have with others, that kind of learning, being going to turn 65 here soon, and I hope to finish strong. so that I can have a lot of time with my grandchildren and others. And I think being involved with score helps keep me physically, mentally, and emotionally moving in the right direction. It's it's been a real huge win for my life.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

Thanks, Matt. One last question though. How do you think score can help aspiring entrepreneur? I mean, we talk about your experiences.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

So I think the big thing that score helps the entrepreneurs for is somebody who cares about them and really give them that objective viewpoint. So and give them almost a template on how to go about solving doing things. So more my expertise is more on the nonprofit side. But I really work with folks and I'm amazed at how few understand the side of contributed income versus earned income. And so like the lady cuts for Christ, one of the things we really worked on was she was just looking for donations. And donations come and go kind of like the restaurant industry that they're things get trendy and you get$20,000 and the next year they're on to some different thing and so you don't get any money. And what she was able to build was an earned income model like the hospitals and the Salvation Army and other groups. And by that model someone showing her that works she's been on a a steady revenue stream and she can achieve her goal. So I think it's really opening people's eyes to best practices and then help guiding them through that process. You know we were working on uh her submitting a big grant that could be double or triple the size of her organization early this week and someone that she can really work with or who's who's gotten those grants before and it's it's the kind of thing that that score brings to the table for entrepreneurs.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Thank you very much, Matt. Thanks for all of this. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Thanks for listening to Mentor Conversations at SCORE Houston. If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner we'd love to support your journey you can reach us at 713 4876565 or visit us at 8701 South Gessner Suite 1200 Houston Texas 77074. Our office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m to 2 p.m except for federal holidays walk-ins are always welcome to learn more to request free mentoring or to register for workshops visit us online at score.orgslashhouston until next time keep learning keep growing and remember at score we're here to help you thrive