Matt Wahlstrom: [00:00:00] you know, everybody's different and not everybody wants to take the crazy life, an entrepreneur, but the idea of like somebody else dictating my time and my schedule and all of that just doesn't work for me. You know, life's too short
Riley: Today we have Matt Walstrom on here. Uh, Matt is, he's the owner of www.EpicRoleBJJ.com. Um, just a well-known Juujitsu apparel company and also just a, a serial entrepreneur, um, athlete. And man, Matt's done all kinds of stuff. [00:01:00] He. Has raced the Baja 500, um, 25th anniversary, I think is what you told me.
He has been a restaurant owner. He's a high powered, high octane realtor. Um, he's a jiujitsu black belt. There's accolades upon accolades here. So Matt, welcome to the show, my friend.
Matt Wahlstrom: Hey, thanks so much. You may just made me feel
It's like,
Riley: Dude,
Matt Wahlstrom: you know what
Riley: I,
you're cool, dude. I mean, that's just it. That's why I have you on here.
Matt Wahlstrom: I love it. I love it. Well, I'm so glad to be here, man. I appreciate you taking the
Riley: Yeah. Well, honored to have you on my friend. Um, Matt, talk about, talk about you a little bit here. Talk about life growing up. Um, where, where'd you come from?
Matt Wahlstrom: Uh, so I was born and raised in Southern California. So I grew up, I was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Simi Valley, 8,000 Oaks, Santa Barbara. Um, you know, kind of had an awesome childhood growing up in California in the eighties being, you know, 30 minutes from Malibu [00:02:00] Beach. So I was kind of a, you know, beach and skateboard, like cliche California kid. Um, and you know, that was great. That was an awesome, uh, time I had super loving family. I've got two sisters, um, that are both younger than me. So, uh, we, we were in, uh, California for a while. quick year or two in Arizona, and then found ourselves in northern Virginia, um, where we've been ever since. So I kind of went from like Malibu and, you know, California girls to like cows in people's yards and. and stuff here. So it was a bit of a culture shock. You know, at first I was like, I don't know, know if I fit in here yet, but, um, but yeah, it's, uh, you know, it's Northern Virginia's great. It's a great place to raise a family and, uh, so been here ever since. And with the hopeful soon goal of moving to Florida, you know what I mean?
Trying to get back to that ocean lake water that just does it for me. Something about that just as like a soul cleansing. So [00:03:00] I think the sunshine and the water are calling me and hopefully we'll be back, uh, back down there in the next like couple
Riley: That's great, man. There's, uh, there's more gators there than there was in California there. Right.
Matt Wahlstrom: Totally, but there's a lot of sharks and the water's freezing in California, so it's like, you know, you could at least get a little bit warm water. I'm not, I'm not out there in the ocean. We actually, I did a trip at, uh, [00:04:00] to, we go to Hawaii a lot and there was a spot up in North Shore where we all, you know, like, you know when you see like an a little island away from the shore and it, it looks like there's confidence there in you.
You're like, I could swim to that. It's not that far, you know, and then like 10 minutes into the swim, you're like, that shit is much farther than it looked from the shore. Now. Like we took a, so we had to, you know, we did this whole swim with me and my dad. My brother-in-law sister across there. We're on these little rocks area and this is kind of like a la touristy thing that they do.
And as we swam back, literally a week later on the news dude got attacked and killed by a great white shark there
in that
Riley: Holy crap.
Matt Wahlstrom: Like, yeah. So I was like, you know what? I'm done with all that. I don't need to be out in the ocean unless
Riley: ocean swims get old quick when you start thinking about, you know, I'm, I'm floating up here on this surface and there's all this water below me, right?
Matt Wahlstrom: Oh.
Riley: Yeah. Yeah. I remember the first time I was in a lake and my, we had a, our [00:05:00] boat as, as our, our family boat, you know, and it had a, a depth finder on it.
And this was a, a big reservoir over in eastern Idaho, over 900 feet deep in the spot we were at. And all of a sudden I feel really small. It's this little floating bobber up there, just so you know. I, yeah, I felt like fish bait, you know,
because we know there's monsters in there.
Matt Wahlstrom: phobia.
Riley: I,
Matt Wahlstrom: Yeah. Well there's, there's like some phobia where you, like, they're not seeing below you, you know, being in water. There's something, I mean, it just, it, yeah. I don't know what's going on down there, bro. And I don't, I don't, I don't want know, so I try to, I try to keep it above.
I love the water. I love being on the water, but I would like, you know, jet ski a boat, you know, doing something. Something motorized
Riley: it's so funny 'cause I, the first time I, uh, got the experience, uh, with, you know, we always had you stick our little face mask on in the pool and we swim around and we think it's so cool. And I always thought scuba diving would be amazing and then I got to do it. In a lake one time and then again in the ocean down near, [00:06:00] uh, near Los Angeles.
And when I went under there and I looked horizontally acro like out, that all changed it all of a sudden wasn't cool anymore. 'cause I thought that just fades off into the distance. And I can't tell how far away that is. And some great white sharks gonna come through that. I know they're, you know, there's nothing I'm gonna be able to do.
Matt Wahlstrom: No, I have a good buddy of mine also. Juujitsu Blackball, my buddy Dan, who's just a fanatic about diving and, and all this stuff now. And he, you know, he'll nerd out the second to talk to anybody about it and he is his pressure and he is trying to explain all this stuff to me and he is like going down there and I'm like, I, I just. I don't want to do.
that at all. Like, I've gone down and I've done the thing, but I just, no, maybe it's too many movies I've seen or something. I'm like, good for you, bro. It's all you. You go down into those mystical water caves and around. Do whatever you wanna do. I'll
Riley: Yeah, we, I think we all have those things that.
We can do just fine that some people think are extreme and then [00:07:00] other things that, yeah, I'm not having any part of either. Yeah. I, I like it. I like It
Matt Wahlstrom: a wild thing because I've done so much crazy stuff in my life too. So like things shouldn't be, know, that outlandish for me. But I've got my limits just like everybody else.
Riley: Hey Phil. What, what other phobias do you have, man? You got, do You
Matt Wahlstrom: Uh, I'm not a fan of heights. I, I have real trouble with heights and I think that was something that developed, like as I got, older. You know, I don't, I don't that, I don't remember that being a thing. 'cause like I would go on roller coasters. I loved all that stuff. And I'm like, I don't, I don't wanna do any of that now.
Like, I don't want to be on, you know, like I'll get on top of building when I, uh, I went to, uh, Zoe and Heather and I went to Dubai, um, and we went to the Birch Khalifa and you know, you take this things and go all the way up to the top and you like above the clouds and you're there. And I'm just looking over and I'm like, I feel like my body's gonna volun involuntarily, like throw itself off.
Like something's gonna, I'm gonna [00:08:00] catch a gust of wind. I'm just like, I can't. So I get, I get real bad with that. I, you.
know, I had a buddy of mine who wanted, uh, us to go skydiving for his groomsmen party the day of his wedding. And this was down in Florida at a place where it's the highest place in the country where you can skydive.
It takes you up like 18,000 feet. And, and I, again, not a fan of heights, I don't wanna jump out of any planes. I'm like, I can't believe that I'm agreeing to this for your stupid wedding. This is, this is crazy. we're sitting there and I look up and I'm seeing the people that just jumped out and they look like specks of, of pepper.
Like, it's like a little tiny speck. And I'm like, that's 18,000 feet. I was like, okay, I, this is terrible. And right before I was about to just bail and be like, you know what, bro? We we're friends, but I'm out 'cause I'm not, I'm not doing this. The, the instructors, all people are like, guys, you know what wind is so gusty today, it's pushing everybody over.
We're just gonna have to pause it. Can't do any more jumps the rest [00:09:00] of the day. And I was like, damn. I was like,
Riley: That's the bullet.
Matt Wahlstrom: a bummer. Like that sucks. Yeah. So I just, that's a, that's a big one for me that I just, I don't really want any part of. Maybe when I'm like 75, 80 and I'm just like, I don't give a shit anymore, you know, then I'll jump outta the plane.
But, for now I
Riley: Yeah. There's a point in life where, yeah, you just don't care anymore. That's actually something that, um, it's funny 'cause hindsight, I used to do construction. I'd climb ladders all the time. I'd be up, be up high all day long, didn't bother me a bit. Um, I remember there was a little bit of a learning curve to that, but now it, it's tough for me to get up on, on a ladder, you know, just that bounciness the sway.
But man, I could jump out of an airplane and not even think about it. It's just not the same in my mind.
Matt Wahlstrom: It's crazy, right? Like, I, I don't, I know, I, I get it. I'm a, I'm just not a fan of them all. Consistently, roofs, ladders, planes, you know
I
Riley: Oh my goodness.
Well, [00:10:00] listen, Matt, what,
as you're growing up, man, and you're, you're over there in LA and you're playing, you're having a good time as a kid. When did the entrepreneur bug first bite you?
Matt Wahlstrom: um, so, you know, I thought a lot about that because my, my dad. Has pretty much always been a very corporate guy. So as far as like seeing an example of like, so it wasn't like my,
they were out,
Riley: I.
Matt Wahlstrom: know, kind of having all these different jobs. However, through the course of my life, they did, my parents did own businesses.
They did have a kids' clothing company when, uh, we lived in California, which my mom had with like her friend. Um, and we had a series of, uh, smoothie and juice bars inside a chain of health clubs in the dc, Virginia America. 'cause I used to manage, um, and consult for health clubs all over the country. And so we had a one at one point when I was working with this one chain around here, we, we opened up a few of these smoothie bars in it.
So I, you know, my mom, God bless her soul, not the greatest manager, [00:11:00] shouldn't be a business owner like that. My dad is an amazing, uh, you know, business guy, but he, he loves working for a company, likes having his, you?
know, his thing. And it's a big, you know, huge company. So they, they take good care of him. Um. I've had so many jobs throughout my life, like growing up, like I didn't realize that it was not normal to have like 40 different jobs, like in the course of your life because I, I just, you know, from, I started working from the time I was like 13 or 14, like delivering newspapers and then working in restaurants and being a bus boy and like working construction and building, putting, you know, courses.
Like, just the most random stuff ever. And, uh, through doing that, I, I started to recognize that like, I didn't necessarily thrive in these corporate environments. Not because I was always trying to go against the grain so much, but, um, maybe I had a little bit too much independence or a little too much creativity in the way that I would maybe conceptualize or wanted things to go.
And you're kind of confined to the rules [00:12:00] of the organization and which is, you know, understandable. So I just, I was in that for a long time and I think. You know, as you grow up, you kind of hear these narratives, uh, about going to college and you know, what it means to be successful. And, you know, my, my dad always points out that when he was growing up, you know, there was like eight things you could do.
It
whole
Riley: Hoping.
Matt Wahlstrom: you know? And so, you know, getting into a trade or getting into whatever, and now we, we live in the most opportunistic time that's ever existed, right? There's like, you can do literally anything. Um, and so, uh, so I think as I got older and was in these corporate environments, I started to recognize that this idea of, um, like job security is kind of a, a fallacy.
It's kind of this thing that we say, and we think that if we work with some company that we just have job security, and for the next 30 years we're gonna work with them and they're gonna give us bonuses. And at the end we get all this, you know, money and we're just gonna retire. it's just, I saw. I would [00:13:00] go into some of these.
I remember going into one of these health clubs and I replaced a guy who had been there 17 years and he had like three months of just like lower numbers. And as a VP of this, you know, whole chain of like 17 clubs and they're like, listen, it's gonna be, you know, it's gonna be a little weird 'cause he's been here 17 years and you're replace him.
And I was just like, what, years? And you're just kicking this guy to the curb? Like, that's it. Like just a wrap. I mean, and, and it became just a, you know, that became a stark reality that like, that's, that's how the corporate world operates. You know, it's, it's like if the business owners have to make a financial decision to sell or, or, you know, whatever, the close up shop or whatever, I mean, they're always looking out for themselves.
Like, that's how it goes. Right? So I kind of started just to understand that the only real security that you can have is in yourself. You know, at least for me personally, like that's, that resonated more than anything was just this idea that if I was willing to work really hard, if I, if I didn't accept failure. it was on me. So quitting and failure was gonna be [00:14:00] on me. And if I was betting on myself, you know, then I didn't necessarily have anything to worry about. And, you know, that's a big, it's a big leap of faith, um, self-discipline, time blocking. I'm terrible at all of it, you know, but I try, I try to do the best that I can.
I always try to get better. I always try to, you know, because I'm, I'm grateful for the position I'm in and the companies and the things that I'm doing in life. Um, so I want to keep those going. And so obviously it requires, you know, a certain level of dedication. But I, yeah, I think more than anything, maybe I subconsciously saw that a little bit as a kid, but I don't, I don't think I sat around going like, oh, my parents have their own business and what's that like?
Or maybe I should have a business or anything. I think it was just, this is what they're doing and hang out at this place after school sometimes. And, and that's it. Um. So I think it probably had more to do with just going through growing up, you know, and doing different jobs and being in a bunch of different industries and seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly of it.
And just recognizing that at the end of [00:15:00] all of that, I decided I wanted to just bet on
Riley: Yeah, I, uh, that resonates with me for, for real, you know, is that I, I watched that kind of thing too. I, I talked in an earlier episode about my father was part of the railroad, he was a union worker, and they always had this saying where they would say, you, you spend all this time trying to get hired by the railroad and the rest of your life, trying not to get fired.
Be, you know, and Oh dude, that just,
was never an appealing place for me. I'm like, I don't, I don't want to work like that. Um, Matt, you mentioned in, in your
talking there, that you, you weren't the best at maybe time blocking is the way you, way you put that. That is a challenge for, for anyone who's self-employed, right?
Is, is managing time and blocking out certain areas and, and kind of guarding your time. What,
what tips do you have there? What, what kind of things do you do to manage that? I.
Matt Wahlstrom: first I think [00:16:00] people have to and really be self-aware of like how they operate, right? Because everybody's different. Like it's obviously very easy to get distracted by picking up your phone and getting on social media. Like if you don't have a boss telling you to do this or do that, or take your lunch at here, whatever. gotta, you know, you've, you've gotta engineer that schedule in a way that allows you to still be productive. So like, if you want to get up late or if you want to take a longer lunch, like you can do that, but the that you're always in tune with what needs to get done. And, uh, and then making adjustments from there.
Like, I don't, I don't know that there's a, a set formula that works for everybody. I think what it comes down to is that. As an entrepreneur, you don't typically have a roadmap for things. And know, the more you try to control everything around you, the easier it is to get, you know, uh, to, to find yourself at, at immovable obstacles where you might want to quit [00:17:00] and you get overly frustrated.
So you kind of can only affect what you can do. And, and I think that's just a matter of like. If you're passionate about what you're doing, if you believe in what you're doing. 'cause I think that's at the heart of anything. Like, you know, you're not gonna do the hard work, you're not gonna make the sacrifices, you're not gonna organize your schedule in a way that? supports these, these dreams or these, these goals if you don't believe that it's possible.
So I.
think once you have that, you can just take things in little small chunks. Like, how can I how can I be a little bit more productive today? You know, it's, it's just constantly, like a little bit better each day rather than you can make some drastic changes. You know, I've done lots of different programs and I've done different, um, you know, things that are, help develop your, you know, self-help, uh, programs and, and all this kind of stuff.
And, and at the heart of it, like. think entrepreneurs, they have to have this sort of like childlike belief in themselves and what they're doing because the environments that we're in typically are [00:18:00] very contradicting of that idea. Like they're not, you know, we don't live in an environment that's really necessarily promoting entrepreneur system.
If you look at how the school systems were created in the first place, and you look at some of the things that we teach kids, like, there's obviously a lot more value that we could give them and a lot more real world concepts and things and credit and all this kind of stuff. So I, I think that part of it is you have to be able to seek out that stuff.
Um, and, and once you find something you're passionate about, wanna put in the time. know, it's just about being realistic. Like nothing good comes easy. So it's gonna require sacrifice and discipline, you know, among everything. Like, everything in my life has required so much time and so much discipline that this idea of patience and universal timing, God's timing, whatever people want to call it, like, that's kind of a real thing, right?
Because I don't have a roadmap. I can't, I can't foresee what's going on. I can only just get up and go one foot in front of the other. I can try to do this today, get this done, get this done, get this done, and just take steps forward. And usually I've found personally [00:19:00] that when I'm doing that, when I'm in my sort of like zone and, and, and doing things that resonate with me, that, that are fulfilling to me as a human being, um, I don't mind making those sacrifices because I consider it like a privilege to be able to do.
this stuff and not have to sit in a two hour commute, you know, to go into the city and sitting in a cubicle and, you know, hoping that I get some time off once in a while for a vacation, like. I, I get that it's, you know, everybody's different and not everybody wants to take the crazy life, an entrepreneur, but the idea of like somebody else dictating my time and my schedule and all of that just doesn't work for me. You know, life's too short to, to do that. So I'm like, if I'm gonna be a character here on Earth and I get to try to, you know, go and, and live where I have freedom and I can kind of do what I wanna do and just spend the time and, and work with the people that I wanna work with, That, you know, then I have no problem putting in effort and discipline to do that. [00:20:00] So I think it's just a, it's a really long ass answer and very convoluted, and I apologize, but my main thing is just to say, do a little bit every day. You know what I mean? Just try to get better every day a little bit, because you can't put so much weight on yourself.
It's a process, it's an evolution, right? The journey is like where you learn what not to do and you refine things and you get better. So if you find yourself distracted, you have to be, as an entrepreneur, smart enough to go, oh, I'm getting distracted. I keep picking up my phone, I'm spending too much time doing this. me put some action steps in place to, to, you know, mitigate that distraction. Like, and if you're not gonna do that, it's like anything else. You know, you, you want to be in shape, you want to, okay, go to the gym and eat healthy. I mean, you could choose not to, but like, you're not gonna get the results. So it's the same
you
Riley: Yeah,
man, you, you kind of nailed it there, that, that idea of being able to recognize when you're being distracted, right? Uh, that just happened to me today. I was going through in my, in my other business and, and I'm making some calls, some, some follow up calls with some quotes [00:21:00] and things we put out there.
And, and some of those calls were cold calls, right? And if you've ever made cold calls, people freaking heart, you gotta, you just gotta press through that. My phone beeped and the text came up and the next thing I know, I'm checking Instagram real quick. And then I realized I'm 15 minutes into scrolling, you know, looking at Matt on epic roll stuff that he's been doing, and I'm like, had that exact conversation in my head.
It was like, oh man, I just burnt 15 minutes, you know? And there it went. So,
Matt Wahlstrom: I know.
Riley: So.
Matt Wahlstrom: it's a, it's a constant, it's a constant effort. So for the people that have mastered that skill and can really have that discipline to, you know, time block. Eventually you're faced with, you know, challenges and, and, and, you know, growth in a business where it just requires a certain amount of time.
So, you know, again, how big do you want it to be? How small, you know, all of that's gonna probably determine how flexible you can be with your own [00:22:00] schedule and your time management and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, epic role was like a thing that was just a, not intended to be this whole other business, and was just like a thing for me and grew into a whole separate, you know, so, so then it was like, oh, now I'm trying to grow a whole brand and then also do all these other things too.
So it was my mind and my brain. It's like if I, I was talking to McDo Life Rob about this recently. We're like, if, if we're just working on one thing, I think we'd lose our minds. Like we, I don't know how to just work on one thing. Like I, I have to have multiple things that I'm working on. I don't know if it's the a, DD in me or like what it is, but, um, it's such a normal thing for me to just have like, okay, now I'm doing real estate stuff.
Okay, now I'm doing the bottle stuff. Okay, now we're doing epical stuff. Like it just. um, you, you segment and compartmentalize it because I think, again, as an entrepreneur, you recognize that diversification is important, right? Like, you're gonna have ups and downs in different businesses, and if you have all your eggs in one basket, like, you know, that's, that's a [00:23:00] lot of leverage to put in one thing.
And, and sometimes that can be fine, but I think, um, depending on the industry and stuff that you're in, obviously we've seen like jobs or, you know, the economy has been down, there's lots, you know, a lot of people are struggling and all that kind of stuff. And it, it really helps, if you can, no matter who you are, if you can find a side hustle, if you can find a little something that you can do on the side that's like a passion project.
I think it's really healthy for people too, because it's like an outlet, you know, something that's not just a grind of work, like something you can actually enjoy a little bit and maybe is a stress relief. And then can also, you know, over time, potentially turn out to be something that like financially helps your family a little bit, or you to, you know, reach your goals like. No one's coming to save you, right? Like the, and, and, and the resources and tools are out there. So what I say to people that, that don't follow a normal, conventional life or schedule, they're trying to be an entrepreneur, do this other crazy stuff. Like that path exists and it's there, you know, and people have done it.
So all you really have to do is just one foot front of the [00:24:00] other and try it. It's just that I think that analysis paralysis and people's fear of being judged and what other people think and all of that stuff comes into play and you start to doubt yourself and you know, and then, and then self-doubt is like the biggest killer of dreams, right?
Because. At the end of the day, we're, we're the ones that have to pick ourselves up on the hard days and have to ourselves motivated and positive self-talk. And, you know, for the same reason, I'm very protective of the content that I consume, and I'm very easily affected by, you know, energy, by bad, you know, content by negativity.
And so, like, I really, I, it's like that's that self-awareness of understanding how I am. Some people, it just bounces off of 'em. I, I'm, I feel like more of like an empath in a sense that's, that I can, I can sit there and I can feel these emotions a little bit and it affects me. So, uh, not to be delusional, but try to, trying to be, again, protective of, of what's out there.
Because for what I'm doing in my life, I have to be positive, I have to be motivated, I have to be, you know, [00:25:00] on the up and up. So, uh, you know, being caught up in all this other stuff is not, you know, that, that just is not gonna help me at all. So.
Riley: That's, man, you brought up some good points in there. You know, protecting your time, protecting what goes in your ears, man, and in your eyes. You, you know, that's a, that's a big deal in a lot of, a lot of ways, , the. The idea of taking in some negative, uh, bull crap, you know, and, and then it's stewing around in there and distracting you from your goal or discouraging you from your goal.
That's, that's beautiful.
Now, um, you, you talked about as your career path kind of went, there was a time you, you owned a restaurant. Um, can you go into that a little bit? Talk about what that was, what that was like, what changed that You can kind of tell us that story.
Matt Wahlstrom: Yeah. So, um, when we lived in Arizona. guy who my dad ended up getting a job with and, and we moved to Arizona to so that he could work with their construction company, was [00:26:00] this, was this guy, um, Steve Kovac. And, uh, Steve had this big, uh, construction company that his dad had started and then he kind of grew and so they were pretty well known and, um, his company got the commission to do the music city center, some big work on the music city center in downtown Nashville. And when he was down there, um, there was a building that was for sale on Second Avenue. Now he's a big off-road racer. So he's, you know, got this like million dollar a year budget racing trophy trucks and down there. And, um, I grew up on dirt bikes and, and uh, you know, four wheelers and all of that. So. Naturally, we were like, well, we should obviously be racing these things too. And so we'd, we, we were all racing Baja, we raced, you know, um, Steve's son was, would race with us on our team. And um, so being down in Mexico a lot, a big fan of the food and, you know, the cuisine and all that. So Steve had the idea like, what if we [00:27:00] opened up a restaurant in Nashville?
Because as he was down there doing construction, um, at that time there was not a lot of, uh, late night food options. So it was just like these dudes on the corner with like hot dogs, you know? And, and Nashville is a huge, you know, party area. Everybody's going there. It's, it's a, you know, bachelor at Party City.
And so we kind of saw like, oh, there's, there's like a space for this. So, this building became available. It was like a hundred year old law office. And so I flew to Nashville. We went and checked it out and, um, within a couple months, um. there and spent a year renovating this building. So we basically put A-V-R-B-O that slept about like 12 to 15 people on the top floor.
We had a full music venue and bar on the middle floor. And then we had a full from scratch, quick service, Mexican, like Tex-Mex restaurant on the bottom floor. And this was right on Second Avenue. So for people that don't know, like Second Avenue is, is um, [00:28:00] like right at the end, right With Broadway is like the famous road, right in Nashville, right?
Where all the, the bars and everything are. So Second Avenue's another, you know, uh, famous part of, of Nashville. So we, we did that. We opened up, it was called Nashville Street Tacos. Um, it rocked. We loved it. Uh, it was super cool. Um, was an awesome place 'cause I was actually there. Before it like really, really blew up.
And it was, uh, such an interesting vibe. 'cause you go there and there's like celebrities but zero paparazzi, you know, like people are just chill and cool and it's just like a whole different vibe. I started listening to country music a little bit, which is crazy. Like, you know what I mean? I felt like I had to kind of like, you know, like hop on board a little bit. Um, I, I, you know, to be accepted by the, the locals. Uh, but, um, but yeah, it was super cool. It was fun. I did, uh, I I did some acting while I was there. Um, I did some growing up and, and so I, I did some episodes of the Nashville TV show, um, there and kind of did it more to [00:29:00] network, but ended up making it on the show.
And, um, one of the guys that I met, Adam Wakefield, who was this really talented musician, actually hired him to paint our restaurant. And it turned out he was a musician there and he actually ended up getting on the voice and was, uh. The second place. He was on Blake Shelton's team and won second place on, on The Voice. Um, yeah. And his girlfriend Jenny Lee. And so we all became friends and it was just a, just a cool place to be. But, you know, running a restaurant, especially in Nashville is no joke. And especially when you have a, you know, the, the rental business up on the top floor and you've got a bar, so you have the drunk people and coming in and dealing with bands, I mean, it was cool 'cause we had the, we had the whole stage set up with, instruments and everything, so people literally walk in and just start playing.
And, um, so, uh, it was, it was a lot. And I remember being out with, you know, my boss at the time and, and he kind of was alluding to, uh, maybe I'll just sell all my stuff and kind of move, [00:30:00] you know, back to San Diego or whatever. And, and I'm sitting there like, I just relocated to Nashville and we're about to buy a house. do you mean? Like, what are you talking about? And so, uh, so I was kind of faced with the decision, like, do we. Do, do we stay here and do I stay in this or, or do we, you know, piece out, come back and regroup? And
[00:31:00]
Matt Wahlstrom: so that's what we decided to do. And coincidentally, this really famous ice cream spot that was on Broadway called Mike's Ice Cream, they lost their lease.
And so they actually approached us about buying the building, uh, to take over. So we ended up selling on the building. Um, and the process opened up two more. Um, little spots, uh, were like these little gastro pubs. Um, downtown Steve went on to open up more restaurants and more things, and that was a big part of like, what he's kind of doing at the, um, like with his life now.
But, um, but yeah, I moved back and it was like kind of at that time where I looked at, um, I had kind of had interest in real estate before, so it seemed like a good time to kind of pivot and, and get involved. And so that was when I kind of transitioned back into real estate. But Nashville was cool. It's fun, it's a great [00:32:00] town. Highly recommend it. But, uh. Restaurant life, not for me.
Riley: But you, you mentioned something there is, it's really interesting about five things that are really in interesting to me. But one of them is that pivot, right? That, that recognizing, uh, as you mentioned before, God's timing in, oh crap, boss is about to sell everything, but all of a sudden this other company comes across the street and goes, Hey, can we buy the building?
You know, so there's that, that timing that happened there. Um, but then for you to make it just a career pivot at that point and recognize, man, it's time. But that's some scary stuff, man. Did you deal with any fears in that? You know, realty. Realty is not easy to get into, right? That takes some, that takes some grind.
So talk about that.
Matt Wahlstrom: Yeah, yeah. Um, I think my mindset early on was always climbing the ladders and always looking for opportunity. Like I really [00:33:00] believe that psychologically. If you train yourself to be positive, if you train yourself to be optimistic, if you train yourself to, um, to operate like that, much more likely to see and be exposed to opportunities.
Right? I think it's people that are very closed off, that are negative, that have this like negative self loop that they won't even notice the opportunities that are around them. I tried to train myself to, to, to be like that. Um, so that I was always aware, like I kind of got early on that networking was so important that, you know, your, your network is your net worth and like who, you know, helps and, you know, oh, I knew this person, so I got this job and I got this opportunity.
And so I always sort of had this climb the ladder thing because in my head, the vision for my life was, was not to live an average normal life. Not, not in a materialistic sort of a way, but to say that like, I believe the world is an abundant place and I, and I think there's opportunity for everybody out there. [00:34:00] And I believed that if I worked really hard, I could, you know, reach certain financial goals that would allow me to live the certain lifestyle and for my family and things that I, that I wanted. And so I just looked at these, these jobs as another stepping stool of the ladder. Like I tried to make sure that these were always vertical moves.
I, I remember getting my first job, um, you know, I was a personal trainer for years and worked in the gym industry. Then I became a general manager of health clubs and I started consulting for health clubs and I was a VP of a chain of health clubs. So I worked heavily in that industry for a long time. And, and again, progressing up, you know, through every facet of the, the gym world. and then when that came to a spot where I recognized like, okay, well there's certain patterns, there's certain financial limitations. see what else, you know, and, and real estate always was one of those things that I remember one of my friends' brothers who I hope he never hears his podcast because was the most like bland, just. [00:35:00] I, I mean his, I don't know where his personality went, but this guy was a realtor and he would make like 300 grand a year when I was 25 years old. And finding out that this guy was making 300 grand a year as a, as a realtor, I, I was baffled. I was like, I thought you had to have a personality and be like, cool.
And people like you, like, like you're telling me this magoo here. It's like making all that money. It's crazy. So it really motivated me. I was like, I'm nice as hell. Like I'll, I'll get along with everybody. I can definitely do this. You know, all I have to do is learn the stuff. Um, I saw that and I was like, that, that seems like, you know, there's more opportunity and, and I'm coming from a pivoting of, of, of, you know, like working in the restaurants and then, and then working in the, the fitness industry. And doing the numbers and just going, I would rather spend the next five to seven years, like typically they say in real estate, if you've, if you, you know, five, seven years and you're nurturing your network and you're kind of, you know, um, you're still there, that you should have a fair amount of referral business at that point, that it kind of keeps the wheels [00:36:00] turning and you can kind of keep going. So in my head I was always like, okay, after five, seven years I should be, you know, kind of good. And we really, you know, um, had been doing it. And I never had to do any kind of like paid advertising. It was always like word of mouth from our, you know, from, from our, uh, our current customers. So, um, I. I just tried to, uh, I just tried to, to progress a little bit and put myself in another spot where I was more reliant upon my actions and I had opportunities.
Like I wasn't gonna be, I've seen, I'm sure people know that there's those corporate environments where you're giving goals, and if you hit 'em, it's almost like the company freaks out and they're like, well, shit, we didn't expect you to actually hit those goals, so we don't really want to pay that commission.
So what do they do? They just keep raising the bar, making it more unattainable. And in a lot of these industries, you're like, as good as your last month's sales. So the, you know, I, I just said, man, let me see if I can just do this myself. Um, So much [00:37:00] of real estate is, is relationship, you know, based, uh, you learn all these crazy facts and use this information that you never, ever use and they never even teach you like how to get clients, like how to actually be successful as a realtor and how to, you know, what it takes to get clients.
That's like, that's not in the curriculum, it's just a get licensed and then figure it out. Good luck. Um, so yeah, so for me, I think there's, there's always a little bit of nerves involved in these, these changes, especially if it's a whole new industry. But I'm, I'm a very like, resilient person, so I feel like I can go into these environments, you know, and figure out through the people and through relationships, like what's the culture?
Like, what's the, you know, what do I need to do to be successful in this environment if it's not my environment that I own how, you know, like I'm, I'm patient, I'm, I'm kind of those things that allow me to go in and mesh with a lot of people, which makes very low friction. Usually lends to people wanting to help you, right?
And support you and, and [00:38:00] help you grow. So that was always sort of just an like an innate thing that I, I, um, kept inside of me as I was kind of navigating through all these different jobs and careers and things like that. Um, so, so yeah, I think it's scary, but again, it goes back to like, I believe that if you took everything away, I could rebuild it doing something else, Like it's the same, the same principles and things that people need to have to be successful. Like, if you have those in you restarting or, or, or pivoting or whatever, that's just, you know, that's just life. Like the not, you know, if, am I gonna be more concerned with like, people, like somebody finding out that, oh, my job went, you know, south here, or I lost all this business and I had to do something else.
Like, where am I gonna take care of my family? You know, it's just like you, you kind of become immune to it, you know what I'm saying? Like, you just. Eventually you get hit so much and knocked down that you just, like, I always had this saying [00:39:00] that, that other than the end of the world, nothing's the end of the world.
you can
Riley: I love it.
Matt Wahlstrom: yeah.
Riley: you know, you, you're talking about that if you had to start over, you could do it, you know? Um, I had an experience where I crashed a business and went through a chapter 11 bank, or chapter seven bankruptcy, excuse me, the big one. And, uh, had to start over, man. I was 32 years old and, and had to do that.
And I remember the fear of starting over was not, I wasn't afraid of that. 'cause I had already been self-employed for long enough. Um, I was the shame and the other parts came with that really sucked. But that fear of starting over, it would never, I was immune to it, you know, I kind of hit the ground and was like, oh, got the wind knocked outta me for a little while, but knew, man, I'm not gonna have, have trouble here.
We're gonna go do a different thing and it's gonna be okay. Love it.
Matt Wahlstrom: hundred percent.
Riley: Total, total switching gears here. Um, no pun intended to racing. [00:40:00] Okay. We, uh, you, you talked about Baja racing. You mentioned something to me, man, uh, yesterday about an accident you had. But I want you to tell the listeners about this. 'cause one, it's exciting.
It's really, it's quite cool in hindsight, um, but quite scary the, the way, the way you explained this to me. I, I, I'm just not sure how, how I would've handled that. So talk about your racing career out there in the Baja.
Matt Wahlstrom: yeah. So for people that don't know, the Baja races that they have down in Mexico, um, are multi-class. Races. So sometimes they're, they're usually under a time limit. There's professional racers and then you can just enter it as a normal person. But you have to understand, these are long races. So in order to do it, like we had to have a, a chase team.
Like you have people, you know, like where I start a, um, a leg of the race and I have like a three hour ride. My, the second I leave my chase team's already taken the next rider to that checkpoint. So I switch off, they drive me to the next point. [00:41:00] And it's this real coordinated effort to go through, unless you're a complete savage and you do the whole race by yourself, like some, you know, some of these pro riders and things like that, it's, it's super gnarly.
So it are, these are races. People die in them every year because you have. You have a lot going on. You have landscape through the desert of Mexico that is very poorly marked with these little ribbons. So as you're flying through the desert and you're trying to figure out where to go and stay on course, you know, uh, it's, it's challenging.
Um, people booby trap stuff on the roads all the time. They'll dig potholes at the end of like a little jump so that you're front hits it and you fly off. So any, like, we would know anytime you're going through a town and you see crowds of people around always slow down, like go very slow around them because they probably booby trapped it.
They're trying to take photos, they're trying to mess with you.
Riley: They're, they're, they're trying
to cause a crash for, for photo op.
Matt Wahlstrom: Exactly.
Riley: crap.
Matt Wahlstrom: uh, yeah, it was wild. And then you have the cartel. So you have people that like, you know, there was a guy out there that, that broke [00:42:00] down and left the vehicle to go walk to this other thing.
It was probably like a 30 minute walk came back. His thing was on cinder blocks, like the, the, they come and just stripped the whole thing down. Um, you know, we, so. To just give the context. It's a very intense offroad race of multi vehicles. They give you a certain amount of time to, to finish. So we thought do this race, uh, and we'll do it on a quad, let's do it on a quad, let's do it on a dirt bike.
So we did that. It was the 25th anniversary of the Baja 500. Um, and I was, uh, on my second leg of the race. I think that this race was, they give you 16 hours, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, to finish like this, this race to get a, a legal finish. Right? And so I'm out on my second leg of this race and um, probably going about 50, 60 miles an hour. I am, I'm coming up to this like ravine and all of a sudden I just hear this like chirping of brakes behind me. And there was a [00:43:00] big two person buggy. These are like half a million dollar, two person massive buggies, right? And he smashes in the back of my quad. So it sends me over the handlebars.
I'm still able to hold on, and then the bike goes over into this ravine and threw it into these bushes. Now we have a big contingency meeting the night before the races, and we talk about safety and all these different things because people get real, you know, really hurt. This guy hit me and took off. So what happened when he hit me is it, I had a GPS system on the back of the quad. My wife was at home in Virginia sending the coordinates of where I was to the race team so that they knew where I was. And I had, uh, we have satellite phones right in our bag, so that way if we break down or something out there, we can't use a cell phone. So we had a satellite phone and we had like a list of numbers that go with it.
Well, somehow when I got hit, flew off, the numbers flew out of the bag, [00:44:00] no idea where they went. The GPS was smashed, the back brakes were out and the taillight was out. Now I had about three, uh, it was actually about, probably hours to the next checkpoint my dad was waiting, um, because he was gonna hop on and he was gonna ride the next leg. So I was kind of faced with a decision, like, what am I gonna do? Like, I had a moment where I'm like looking around and it was the trippiest thing, because I'm sitting there in the desert in the middle of Mexico and there is nobody around, like, literally nobody. And I'm like, this is crazy. You know, nobody was there.
I couldn't get help from anybody. So I had kind of like, my only choice was hop back on the bike and try to make it to that next checkpoint. But I'm doing so without a taillight. So like, you know, people can't even tell if I'm hitting my brakes. So if they're coming behind me and they don't see my taillight, they might think that I'm, you know, still going.
So that was a problem, not having back brakes. That was another problem. And then, no GPS my dad later, he was [00:45:00] like, man, I thought he goes, I didn't know. Where you were. He goes, I, I, it was either call the emergency services and have them start to look for you or wait it out and pray to God that you get there.
It took me three hours, uh, to get to the next checkpoint. I had these guys in this little town that actually were able to help me get the back brakes, uh, working a little bit. after you get hit, you know, you're like, my nerves are like shot. So I'm riding and you have a helmet on and you know, a trophy truck will come flying past you at 125 miles an hour out of nowhere.
You don't hear it coming or anything. And now you're in a cloud of dust. So like now you have to be careful, like, where are you going? You know, you could run into something. Um, so constantly riding, just looking behind, looking behind, trying to like keep eye on the, on the road, but also look behind me so I'm not getting hit. It was extremely nerve wracking. We went, we had to ride through the night. It was insane. And we actually finished the race was 16
Riley: [00:46:00] Seconds.
Matt Wahlstrom: finish. got a pin that's this big, it's in my little watch box right over here. Now, uh, that's what you get for risking your
Riley: That's your trophy. Huh?
Matt Wahlstrom: that's your trophy, bro.
A little pin that you
Riley: That is so wild.
Matt Wahlstrom: we, yeah, so we did a few of those races, Vegas to Reno, which is like a three day race, a thousand miles over and uh, goes through Las Vegas. And, um, we've had a bunch. It's, it's gray, man. I love it. I think at this point in life, like they're super dangerous.
I don't think that I would ever do 'em again on a quad or a dirt bike. Um, I could, you know, in like a two person vehicle, something with some coverage, some, 'cause the train out there is gnarly and it's, it's no joke, man. There, you know, there was a really famous, uh, KTM writer who, um, know, professional guy and he broke his neck
Riley: What was his name? Because I, I, I was just thinking about that and I, I, it's been a few years ago, the one I'm thinking of, but I, yeah, it's, [00:47:00] it's, it's escaping me.
Matt Wahlstrom: Yeah, so it's, it's wild dude. Like I had to stop and help somebody that that crashed too. And, um, know, my, one of our riders flew off, fractured his hand. We had, you know, people, somebody fractured their, broke their femur in half. I mean, there's just like, it's, it's no joke
Riley: Yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: you know, I, I don't know what my deal was with like saying, Hey, I should raise Baja and fight MMA and do bodybuilding and do all this kind of stuff. I just, I had some itches inside that apparently I couldn't, uh, scratch without doing some
Riley: Yeah.
Well that, that sounds both fun and, and kinda terrifying at the same time. You know, I, I rode dirt bikes and, uh, I never did any racing, but I did dabble in, uh, being kind of the support crew for a buddy of mine who was a racing, some desert races, some, uh, Haing hound, I think they call 'em, you know, where they Yeah.
Where you've got this lineup of 200 motorcycles that all leave at the same time. And Yeah. [00:48:00] That was wild. Um,
Matt Wahlstrom: Yeah, there's some great
Riley: yeah. That is super cool. So you've,
you've gone from restaurant to
to, uh, you know, Baja Racing and you've got some patents you've been working on. Um,
tell us about that.
Matt Wahlstrom: Yeah. So when my son was born, we had to bottle feed him a lot. So I would be walking around for people that you know, have kids. I'm sure you understand, like if you're gonna bottle feed your kids, you have the formula and water mixes and it spoils after a very short amount of time.
So you have to refrigerate it or you have to carry out all this stuff. So I'm like at the mall or going around places and I'm carrying around formula and bottles and water, and it was just a pain in the ass process. I was like, this sucks. Like what? You know, there has to be something better out there like this.
So I go home, I'm looking, there's not so. I start kind of sketching out this idea for a, [00:49:00] bottle that allows you to keep your water and the formula separate in the same bottle and just has a mechanism, what we call the click collar that's in the middle that keeps it separate. And when you want to mix it, you push a button, you twist the top and bottom in opposite directions internally in that little click color holes line up and allows the, the, uh, water to fall down into the formula, shake it, and then you're good to go.
So you could set these up, keep 'em in your purse, put 'em by your nightstand. They don't have to be refrigerator. Keeps it separate. So I have. I have two fully granted utility patents on how that works. So, um, because the baby industry is very volatile and, you know, there's a lot of like household names out there.
Um, I actually did a presentation for Johnson and Johnson years ago that, uh, they loved the idea, but they stopped making, um, bottles and there was some stuff with Playtex and, but they were very encouraging and they were like, you know, this is a hundred million dollar company we believe and you just need to get with somebody who is a, you know, who makes bottles.
And over the years I had Dr. Brown and [00:50:00] Phillips and different companies approach me wanting me to send them my r and d and my patent stuff, and, I didn't and just held strong with it. And, um, so I've reverse engineered it. And now we are launching the fitness bottle first. So, um, if you imagine you, you have a functional fitness bottle, like a, a water bottle on the top. You've got the click collar in the middle, and in the base is where you put your protein, green smoothie mix,
Riley: Electrolytes, I mean, come on.
Matt Wahlstrom: electrolytes, right? Already packed in there, ready to go and twist it, shake it, you're good to go. It's got a space for, uh, uh, supplements at the bottom and, um, it's called the one Bottle. Uh, and so that process was nuts because again, I had to like, this was another example of like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I just invented something and I don't, you know, I went through the normal process of like calling the stupid patent online, you know, commercials and, uh, all these companies.
And, uh, the patent attorney that I hired first was a scumbag. I had to get rid of [00:51:00] him. And I have this amazing, uh, woman in DC now. And so, uh, that was, that was a crazy process because getting money, getting investors, getting, you know, trying to, to build that up from, from nothing with no budget or anything was crazy.
And what's wild is I, I got those two patents that took years, but. I have stopped a lot of people from moving forward with these kind of bottle concepts. Like you can go and actually check, our attorney is like, you stop like eight to 10 people a year from, from, from, you know, moving forward because my intellectual property is so good.
And, and this is really not geared towards patenting a, a bottle. It could be used towards anything. It's just the utility function of how, you know, this works. And the engineering, my bro was not easy for this. I, you know, it's a whole different thing when you just sketch stuff out on paper and then you're trying to like, make it in a manufacturing facility and you have to, you know, we're talking like $200,000 for just the molds to make the, the couple of parts.
Like I, I've chosen [00:52:00] some very difficult paths in my life. I don't know why I didn't just go work for Geico and sell insurance or something, but I, I decided like, let's just do everything. That's the hardest stuff ever. Let's go, let's go, let's go do
Riley: I love how you brought that, that up, that you didn't know what you were doing. Right? There's this, this thing that really holds people back. 'cause there's, I don't know anything about that, but the reality is, if you want it, man, you just, you can learn, right? The information's out there.
Matt Wahlstrom: information. I don't recommend being an entrepreneur if you're not the type of person that understands that. Like you, you have to be a good learner. Like you have to. It doesn't, there's, you could learn from YouTube, you can learn from, you know, whatever. There's so many resources, like guaranteed everything you want to do, somebody has already done really fricking well.
So you, you know, you can go on and, and find the people that are doing the thing that you want to do and, and just, just emulating them and, and, you know, [00:53:00] putting your own twist on it and forward. It's, it is, it's kind like that analysis paralysis, you know, this, this idea that people are gonna look at you and tell you you're crazy.
I mean, bro, do you know how many people. Would be like, oh, that's cute. Oh, you invented a bottle. That's adorable. Like, that's cute. And now people are like, I, I wanted to invest. Can I still invest? Can I, can I get, you know, like it's, it so everybody sees the results, right? Like they see the results online and it's such a false sense of reality because the amount for most people of the grind and the hours like it, it's, it's, it's just doesn't, it's not even comparable.
You know what I mean? Like, no. And, and I think that's the, that's the unsexy part. That's the gloomy days, that's the difficulties. All that kind of stuff that people don't want, you know, you want to just work for yourself and do your own thing, and have your own stuff and like, that's cool, but be prepared to just be, be beaten down, you know, physically and mentally along the way.
And I think what I realized is that, [00:54:00] you know. As, as the years went on, there was a lot of people, whether it was real estate mentors or you know, self-help mentors, just different people, that their stories were really inspiring to me. Like the, the difficulties and the things that they went through were super motivating for me because these were people that were uber successful and you'd listen to their, their failures were monumental way, way more di you know, difficulties and bankrupts and stuff than I, than I was dealing with, you know, but your perspective's, everything.
So when you're in your own, you know, involved in your own stuff, sometimes it's hard to see. And so I'd really listen to these stories and it, and it really helped me move forward and be, you know, optimistic and recognize it like. wanted to utilize my platform eventually to be able to inspire other entrepreneurs to go and take risks, calculated risks, and, and try to, you know, accomplish their, their dreams and go after these things.
And so I thought if I can share my story with [00:55:00] people, like maybe that would help them, give them a little boost of confidence. Like help them not feel so alone in it. Because, you know, sometimes it feels very alone out here in the world of entrepreneurs and building businesses and, you know, uh, and so, um, I think that's, you know, I think that's something that you have to just And the inspiration comes from overcoming the obstacles. Nobody's impressed by some trust fund kid who just had everything handed to him.
It's like
Riley: For sure.
Matt Wahlstrom: a regular ass dude. I'm not, I I, I was a c and d student in high school. I, I failed out of my first year of college. I didn't get a degree like I had, you know, just all the things, like multiple jobs.
Like, I, I just, so, I was committed to, you know, the, the discipline. Like, like I, I recognize that life is so short that I, I wasn't willing to spend my life doing work to make money doing it with [00:56:00] things that just don't fulfill me as a human being. Like, not that we have to attach our entire identity to what we do for a job or for our career, but, um, in my case, I found myself. You know, with these opportunities. Whereas it was like for Jiujitsu, you know, with Epic role, something like Epic, like Jiujitsu is such a huge part of my life, right? I can't imagine my life without Jiujitsu. And so to have a business in the Juujitsu space to be able to provide for my family and, and also have it in a thing that I'm so passionate about, like, that's amazing.
Like, that's, that's so cool to find that opportunity.
having those things, you know, eventually you kind of convince yourself, like you can, you can do it, and you just kind of keep moving forward. Um, can't care what people say. You just, you just can't. 'cause I've never met one person that's really successful that talks shit about other people that
aren't
Riley: It.
Matt Wahlstrom: they're too busy doing their thing and making money.
Like, the only haters are the people that they hate [00:57:00] you because they, it's, it's a self-reflective thing, like seeing you succeed, seeing you struggle and, and, and overcome objections. For a lot of people that, that, that have, you know, big mouths online or they have, you know, stuff to say it, it's because they're faced with their own demons.
Like they weren't willing to take the risk. They're, they weren't, you know, courageous enough to take those steps. And so it's a stark reminder of their own, usually their own insecurities, um, about their own life and what they do. So
Riley: Well said, man. Well said. Well talk about Epic, man. It's in.
How Well start here. Start here. What originally got you interested in Jiujitsu? How long have you been doing it, and then how did that morph into Epic role and what it is today?
Matt Wahlstrom: So I started Jitsu in 2005, um, I got into Jiujitsu because I think the Ultimate Fighter, when that show came out, I was in my, you know, [00:58:00] twenties. I'm like, this is awesome. These guys are badass. You know, super cool. I did. TaeKwonDo growing up, but never, like, wasn't like a martial arts guy like at all.
I didn't wrestle. I was on the golf team briefly in high school. Like what a nerd. I played in bands. I was always playing music, you know, played guitar my whole life. And so I was like, yeah, like I, I, you know, that, that's why I was playing video games and guitar. Um, and so saw that and I think I started to really, went, well, I wanna get back into martial arts.
'cause I'd love to know how to defend myself. For whatever reason. I started to kind of just realize that self-defense as a life skill is kind of like a non-negotiable. I, it's like learning how to swim, right? Like, you should just know how to swim because if you fall into some water, would, you
swim, right?
Riley: Beneficial.
Matt Wahlstrom: life skill that it's beneficial, right? And, and, and although we live very comfortable lives and although [00:59:00] we're not, you know, faced with adversity every single day. It's not a problem till it's a problem. I, I've had to use Jiujitsu in real world situations before I, I've seen people who, obviously you see these ridiculous videos of cops on, on the internet that just have clearly never had any experience with hand-to-hand
just
Riley: Yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: around.
Like, it's, it's absolutely wild. So that idea of self-defense as a life skill was just like a non-negotiable for me. And I didn't really know Jiujitsu Muay Thai. Like I didn't really know anything. I just saw, you know, I was a fan of the UFC, I saw the Ultimate Fighter. I was like, this is cool. And, um, thought, let me try that.
So I googled, uh, you know, juujitsu and at the time was doing graphic design and web
And so I
Riley: Okay.
Matt Wahlstrom: at the, the websites and I go, website's the best. So probably they care more about their business than these other guys. And that was the frame of reference for me, judging like what school to go to.
Like obviously now. [01:00:00] It's the, the sports exploded. People have a lot more options, you know what I mean? But back then I got into the Jiujitsu school and the academy where old school mentality, like you don't cross train, we beat the shit outta you when you get your belts. We do warmups that make you want to quit jiujitsu before we even go into the technique, like like, it's like I tell people now, I was like, you guys are like, this is like butterflies and rainbows for you guys we're so nice and accommodating.
Like this was kind of like buds, you know? Like it was like buds like for, for jiujitsu. Like if you didn't make it like, cool man, see ya. Weak ass. Like go like it was bad. So, um,
[01:01:00]
Matt Wahlstrom: that was my introduction. I was at that, that school for 10 years. I started fighting MMA, uh, I had my first MMA fight the day after I got my blue belt.
So I was the trained jiujitsu for two years and then I got my [01:02:00] blue belt after two years and I had fought MMA for two years after that. And then at the time I was training, like with Kenny Florian, I had a, a Jiujitsu school with his cousin. And so I spent a lot of time with him and talking to him about the whole process and everything with D ooc.
And I was like, this is not, I don't think the life for me, because I kind of wanted to do it to just see how, I would see how I could fight, like against another trained fighter. And I didn't want to go to a bar and go, you know, beat somebody in a bar. I wanted to see like a real fighter, like how would I do. But after I did that for a while, you start to recognize, like, I had a boxing coach and wrestling coach and jiujitsu coach, and doing sports and conditioning training, all of this. And I'm an amateur fighter, like, what am I doing? I'm spending all my time. I just had a kid. I'm like, this is, you know, it's so much time for, for, for what?
And then I, I get hurt, you know, and then now I can't work. So clear that that was not a, a smart path for me to go down. Um, I checked that box, did it, uh, and, but I fell in love with Juujitsu and so that I was like, well, I wanna do this for the rest of my life. And [01:03:00] so, yeah. So I've been training since 2005, first degree black belt. Um, under, well, my, my black belt came from a guy named Sean Sudman. We're under Tom de Blass, um, in the hens of Gracie Association. Um, and um, I, I love it. It's, it's amazing. And, and been super cool to, to have epic role come as a byproduct of that. Um, so yeah.
Riley: I find, you know, with my electrolytes business, I, I do a lot of marketing in the jujitsu world because that's what I love. Right? And, but I find it so cool when people in the industry realize that you're one of them, you know, you talked about your network as your net worth earlier. And, and it's kind of that same thing.
We know you walk around with a black belt strapped around your waist. People know that you've been doing this juujitsu thing for a while, and so you're not just a Juujitsu brand who stuck some cute little [01:04:00] logos on some, some shorts. It's like you built products that are usable, right? We've all had that crappy rash guard or that pair of shorts that freaking the Velcro teals off and now they're worthless.
Everything else is okay, but the Velcro's gone. So you can't even use the shorts. Right? Or, or that, gee, that tears 'cause it's just. A flimsy piece of crap, you know? And, um, you know, I've seen that over the years with you where this, your stuff is usable, right? It's, it's, you know, what works because you've done it.
Speak to that a little bit in, in, in the, you know, just the business aspect of, of Epic roll.
Matt Wahlstrom: Yeah. Well, so, you know, when I started that I, I started because I wanted to make t-shirts for myself. Like, I wanna make juujitsu t-shirts because at the time, like you could go on and get like Choke Republic shirts or you could get a couple of these, but a lot of them were like the corny. with the Juujitsu or the Starbucks with the jiujitsu, sorry, to anybody who has those shirts.
But you know what I'm
we, I think we
Riley: You, you.
Matt Wahlstrom: but, but I, I was like, this is, I was a designer, so I was like, [01:05:00] this is corny. I don't want a Etsy brand, you know, like juujitsu, like witty, you know, type of a thing. I didn't, I don't, I don't want to make a t-shirt company. I wanted to create a lifestyle brand, right?
Something that wasn't so in your face. Something that people could wear. You could be a fighter, but it was a little bit more subtle, right? It wasn't so in your face. Like a lot of these fight brands are very aggressive. They're very like, fucking kill you and, you know, tap you out and all this stuff. And I'm like, I just, I, I wasn't, yeah, I was like, I wanted to have like a little bit of a different vibe.
So, um, so I found out about drop shipping, like around that time where I was kind of looking at, you know, what could I do, uh, to diversify, to just kind of have some other revenue streams. And I actually had some really good research and thought. You know, let me start a women's clothing brand, like a, like a fitness clothing brand, because I had all this research and all this stuff about why it would be good and I'll do a drop shipping thing.
And, um, and so I actually started with that and went through and, and launched that whole thing and put it out [01:06:00] there and it was all drop dropship women stuff. And, uh, that didn't work out so well. Uh, I was sitting there, it was just crickets. And I'm like, I don't know why I'm not selling all. I don't know why Lululemon's stealing all the business.
Uh, but um, but I remember hearing this person on YouTube about how it's, it would be better if you're passionate about what it is that you're selling, even if it's drop shipping. 'cause you see some people, and it can be very confusing, like, people that do Amazon or, you know, they're, they're doing these things where they're, they're selling like coat hangers or some widget and they don't give a shit about that, but they're making a
from it.
Riley: Yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: I cool. Like I just don't have the bandwidth to do it. I couldn't, the SBA thing and that whole system and everything, I just, it was not, you know, it was not, not for me. So, um, so I thought, okay, well let me just see. I can make some juujitsu, stuff like that. That'll be like, for me. And as I, I made it, I, I came up with the, the, the name and the brand and um, uh, and [01:07:00] start making t-shirts.
And then I had some people that were like, Hey, that's really cool. And then I'd get the question, Hey, do you make rash guard? Or do you make GI or do you make shorts? Or whatever. And it just evolved by, by nature of like, people wanting that. It's kind of a thing in business, like, right, if you have a good product and customers like it, typically they're looking to buy other products from you, right?
They want, what else do you sell? I like all your shit. Lemme buy some more stuff from you. Expanding That was nice. Uh, due to the nature of drop shipping, you know, that was a really, that was a game changer as far as the, the business side goes, because then you can, you can put a bunch of designs on, and if it doesn't sell, like, great.
Now I know that people don't like that design, or I can, I can shift and I can see what people do buy, but it doesn't cost me anything more to have five shirt designs versus 25 shirt designs. So that was really nice having that and sort of developing it. And because Epic role was a passion project in the beginning, it wasn't something that I was using to, to support myself financially. So I was very [01:08:00] casual as I was growing it. Um, the plan for the growth was just a constant e evolution, right? Like, I didn't sit back and go, oh, I'm gonna, I'm become like a big manufacturer of jiujitsu, you know, apparel for academies of, I like what I'm doing now. Like, I, that wasn't the, the plan. It was just like, let me just let make some shirts.
And so, um. As that evolved, I would just reach out to people on Instagram. Like I'd see a famous person that had something with Jiujitsu and I'm like, send 'em a message and be like, Hey, this is my brand. Uh, you're super cool. I'd love to send you some stuff. Like no strings attached, you know, and, uh, you don't have to post anything.
You don't have to pay for anything. Just tell me where to send it. That approach worked out really well. 'cause as, you know, like in the beginning, like you end up giving away a lot of products in the beginning to get it out there and get exposure, but that's, that's the nature of doing business. Like, I would rather give people products to wear than to just pay for $15 worth of a Google ad or something like that.
I'd rather see somebody wearing it and get them into that. Right? [01:09:00] And so that was, uh, I'd send them and then lo and behold, you know, people liked the brand, they liked the product. Um, I obviously time, because I was dealing with so many influencers and celebrities and musicians and all these like important people. made it very clear that I had to have a really quality product to back that up because I, I knew that for these folks, like they're not gonna post stuff and help promote the business if It's crap,
Right.
Riley: Right.
Matt Wahlstrom: and, and I, I really respected their position and appreciated their support. So I wanted to make sure that we had the best possible products.
Now things happen, you know, sometimes tears, something, whatever, but it's such a, you know, customer service. If you have that mastered, there's always a way to make something better for people. And a lot of times if, if you make a mistake and you make it better for somebody, they're a bigger fan than, than they were before 'cause they saw you solve a problem.
Right? So I just was so in tune with that and I didn't really have any [01:10:00] issues and I had really good products. And as a lifelong grappler, I kind of, you know, I was like a stickler about. The, the cut and the fit and really went through a lot of different patterns and adjustments to make our own stuff so that we weren't just like white
you know,
Riley: Yeah,
Matt Wahlstrom: from another company, right?
Like, that was one thing I didn't wanna do. I was like, don't give me like hyperly skis and then just put epic roll on it. Like, no offense to 'em, I love them. Uh, and they're, they're really good people. But I just, you know, the point is, is that I wanted to
stuff.
Riley: sure.
Matt Wahlstrom: Um, and, and so that became huge because as a, as a small business, I didn't have some crazy budget to go buy all these athletes and pay all these people to, you know, you can pay anybody to do anything, right?
[01:11:00]
Matt Wahlstrom: Like it, there's a very different brand loyalty when people promote you for free. Like I have friends that charge thousands of dollars for Instagram posts they post about epic roll for free without even saying anything, like all the time. I, I don't pay anybody to do anything to, to wear anything or, or anything like that because, not because I didn't value people, but like I recognized that I got enough, uh, emails and phone calls from people that were like, Hey man, I was sponsored by this company.
Like I won't use any names, but I was sponsored by so and so company and now they don't wanna pay me anymore and they don't want to do. And I was like, well, yeah, no shit, dude. If you get like 15, 20 athletes, you're paying 'em all 2,500 bucks a month. Like are these people selling you $2,500 a month worth [01:12:00] of gear?
Like the answer is no. The answer is no. So, you know, I appreciate that certain grapplers need to make money, but I was like, man, until somebody, until they can really hone in on their social media, promoting their sponsors and really get in tune with that and be proactive. Like, I could put that money into
double it
Riley: Sure.
Matt Wahlstrom: sales, right?
So just financially it didn't make sense to start here. Everybody here take my money, take, you know, promote Epic role. I was like, let me just make a great product that sells itself, right? A brand that that's like kind of neutral isn't too aggressive, super easy to remember, like, you know, resonates with people as like a cool thing.
And so taking that approach, because I wasn't under the gun to like, oh, I gotta have this thing making money tomorrow. I could do it very organically. And it really was a beautiful thing because over those years it, it allowed me to grow our social media and to grow the network. And I have the most incredible. Network of people, uh, that, you know, if I have a [01:13:00] question about YouTube or if I have a question about business or whatever, I have these amazing people that I can call and, and lean on for that. And, you know, juujitsu is such a special community because for the most part, a lot of the people that I know and a lot of people that I associate with now, everybody's kind of on their own journey.
Just how you are with your company. Like we're all on our own little journeys of, of evolving, but we're all there to support each other along
and
Riley: Yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: I've found more prevalent in the Juujitsu community than anywhere else in life, is that it's like this mutual respect no matter what you're doing.
They're like, oh, you do
Riley: Yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: you know,
Riley: Yep.
Matt Wahlstrom: we'll probably get along well, you know, and, uh, so yeah, so I, I think that, um. I think that just because of that, it was able to, I was able to do it organically and um, turned out really well. And, and as that's evolved now, a big thing that, that I do is, uh, is I work with academies all over the country and make them custom, uh, gear for their academies because a lot [01:14:00] of places they're under utilizing that.
A lot of places don't wanna hold inventory. I have some schools that have full blown retail shops in their clubs, but a lot of schools don't. And you know, the. These guys will order t-shirts and then they're just boxes sitting in their club and they're not
I
Riley: Yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: where we can build out stores for them online, uh, where they can have a presence.
They can offer products that are drop shipped to where they don't have to hold inventory, but now we can create a whole collection of stuff for them that is out there because, you know, no matter what your school name is or where you're located, the people that train there, they wanna rep their brand.
They want to, you know, they want to promote it. So, so if you have that stuff available, they're gonna buy it and they'll wear it around town and more people are gonna see it. So while maybe it's not driving 20 people into your gym every single month, it's certainly a leg of the business model that is important to include and helps with the overall branding and marketing, and can be used as an ancillary service for them to generate income, you know, over, over the years when you do new drops.
We do limited [01:15:00] edition stuff, you know, all that. So I really honed in on that process to try to be a solution for, um. These academies and I have some two partnerships that, um, are being solidified now that are gonna put us in touch with hundreds of these, uh, clubs. So that really, my kind of goal is I want Epic role to be the largest manufacturer of custom, uh, gear for academies
So, um, I still wanna grow my brand, we'll still do that, obviously. Uh, but, but that, that was a obvious niche part of this industry that, you know, I was getting contacted just organically from people like this every week and I thought, man, if I actually put effort into, to growing this, this would be, you know, really beneficial.
'cause the cash flow and then it helps us just to reinvest more money and keep getting the brand out there. And, you know, I've sold Epic roll in 26 countries. In all 50 states, and so I want to keep that
keep
Riley: That's amazing.
Matt Wahlstrom: so,
Riley: That's [01:16:00] amazing, man. Well, hey Matt, this is called the Go Earn Your Salt Podcast. And when, when you hear the term go earn your salt, what does it mean to you? I.
Matt Wahlstrom: You know, I remember hearing that at the PGF, the last PGF, and I remember, you know, thinking about that and what, what comes to mind immediately is just hard work and grit. It's sort of just, I can't, I can't disassociate them, you know, like you say it, and immediately my head just thinks like, this person who is gonna go out in whatever it is they're trying to accomplish with just determination.
Like, just, you know, not gonna quit, not gonna let the, the, the average things in life hold them back from what they're trying to accomplish. And, you know, I'm sure the words that are put together could be used, uh, in a bunch of different ways. But, but when you say it, that's sort of what, what you know, comes to mind.
And what I think is just hard work, dedication and, and going out and, and, and earning, right? Earning what you're, what, you know, getting out of whatever you put into it.[01:17:00]
Riley: That's beautiful, man. I, uh, yeah, that's where, that's where, for those of you who don't know, where Matt and I met was at A PGF, um, professional Grappling Association event, and it was number seven. And, um, and it was just a, that was an amazing experience being there. That's so cool to see that that level of athleticism in person was, that was rad.
That was so cool.
Matt Wahlstrom: super, cool, super excited to be part of that. And I love all
Riley: Well, Matt, tell us, uh, switch gears here a little bit, but what is, uh, something quirky about you that most people don't know?
Matt Wahlstrom: Ooh, okay. Let's see. Well, I don't know if it's that interesting, um, but really love cooking. I'm like, I love like pastries and baking and these very non manly things that. Don't get it [01:18:00] twisted. Right. I'll still choke you out. But I love, like I, I, I think it's like the artistic side of me. Like I, one day I saw this, there was this girl on Instagram think her thing was like SoCal cookies or something, just this like blonde chicken California that makes these cookies and she sells 'em out immediately and they're just these incredible looking things. And I was like, damn, those look amazing. So then I just got, you know, I put like three months, I'm just. recipes and making cookies like every day my family's like, what the hell are you, you're giving us diabetes? Like, what are we doing here? Uh, and you know, I go all in. But it's, it's like a creative artistic side.
Like food to me is, is sort of like the, it's an art, right? There's like a technique behind it. And I think that that resonates with me because technique with jiujitsu, technique with art, I've always been art design, you know? So that, that didn't seem like too strange. It seemed like a very, you know, like a lot of crossover in that with just making, presenting, you know, like I had a lot of fun making, uh, birthday cakes for my kids over the years and just, you know, being a little extra with that kind of stuff.
So, [01:19:00] um, yeah, I don't, I don't, you know, sit there like year round. I'm not on some quest to be. baker, but, uh, but I, but I do, I do dabble and I'd like to, I'd like to know, like, I like to have, you know, a, a few things like in the, in, um, the arsenal that you could just pull out and be like, oh man, grandpa's cookies are
Riley: Heck yeah. Heck yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: got a couple of awesome card tricks or like, what, you know what I mean? Just a, just a couple little party tricks you like to keep in your pocket. Helps you be relatable and, you
Riley: I love that man. More than you know. Um, listen, if you, if you have pizza, is it okay to have the sauce above the cheese?
Matt Wahlstrom: I think that's very strange. Uh, I'm not gonna judge people's pizza 'cause I also am like, I, you know, there's like a, there's kinds of pizza people. There's those who like pineapple on their pizza and then there's everybody else. I'm a pineapple on
guy. I
Riley: Yep.
Matt Wahlstrom: And it's funny 'cause that's like. This is like Democrats and [01:20:00] Republicans like type of fighting, you know, that that goes on with that. People fi I've seen some people get physically angry. They're like, what do you mean you put pineapple on your pizza? Like, it's like blasphemy. I'm
Riley: Understand.
Matt Wahlstrom: pizza. I I love a good Hawaiian pizza.
I don't know what
Riley: Oh my gosh.
Matt Wahlstrom: yeah, so, so I guess, hey, I mean, you know, if you wanna be crazy and weird, I, you know, I'm not sure. I remember being in Ocean City. My wife and I went to go see our buddy Michael Kroger with Nickelback play at this huge festival in Ocean City not long ago. And we're like there and it's super late and I don't if you've been to Ocean City, but it's the worst place ever.
You don't need to go at all. And we're like there and there's just like a Papa John's that's opened up and, and so I'm like, I'm gonna go get a pizza. And I, I go in there to order it and it was, it was like the, everybody was fighting and the, the employees were pissed off. Somebody put in like a 50 pizza order.
It was pandemonium. I called my wife, I was like, listen. I'm, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna be here for a while 'cause I gotta see how this plays out. I feel like the cops are coming soon. I gotta see what's [01:21:00] happening in this pizza restaurant. It's 1:00 AM shit's getting crazy. And then I hear the lady yell. She's like, who the fuck orders pizza without sauce on it?
And she just like made this whole thing like, 'cause these people had just ordered like, like cheese, no sauce. Uh, or no, I'm sorry. It was, it was sauce and
That's what it was. They just wanted on the thing with no cheese. And she was losing her mind of why she had to make a cheese list pizza, which I actually understood.
I was like, yeah, I don't know
Riley: who would do such a thing?
Matt Wahlstrom: who, I don't know what, you even pick a whole different food if you're gonna cut off 50% of what the
Riley: The best part, right? Jeez, man.
Matt Wahlstrom: A hundred percent. Like I weird diet you're
So
Riley: Holy crap.
Matt Wahlstrom: me think of that.
Riley: Matt, what's a, what's a book that you would recommend everyone read?
Matt Wahlstrom: Well, I, I know it sounds super cliche, um, 'cause it's all woo woo, but my favorite book is Think and [01:22:00] Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
Riley: Good one.
Matt Wahlstrom: good to Great is another good one. Um, I, I, think I have like this, you know, such a deep rooted belief in visualization and energy and manifestation and all of that. And I know that's super, like turn off to a lot of people who, you know, like it gets into that woowoo category, but there's a lot of science behind it.
And I think just the idea that you can navigate life, you know, optimistically or pessimistically, you can, you can wake up and choose to be negative or choose to be positive and. back to kind of what I said, like of this psychology, of like conditioning yourself to, to, to be positive, to see opportunities like your, your self-talk. I think I didn't realize how negative it is until you actually put effort into making it positive, right? Like until you sit and consciously put effort [01:23:00] into being positive, you probably won't recognize how negative you actually are. Like how, how negative people typically are and they let things, you know, kind of come in and out like that.
So, um, so the concepts in that, in that book, um, of him going around and, and talking to all these successful people. And although the industries changed and this was obviously written, you know, so long ago and people might not find it as relatable. There are like updated modernized versions of it, you know, where the writing is a little bit easier to digest and, but the concepts of that are, are important.
And so I was just like. I tell people, no matter their religious beliefs, you know, whether you believe in God or you don't, or you're what, whatever, it, I, I kind of separate the two things and I just look at it on a fundamental level of just like choosing to be positive because the process of all of the struggles that come along with life are miserable if you decide to make it miserable.
You know? And it's really the only thing you can [01:24:00] do. Like you can't many people, you see more people being affected by other people's opinions, like, I'm angry at this person for posting this, or I'm mad. And you put this energy into that and it's like you can't control what people do. You can only control yourself and your own energy and the way that you respond to situations.
So I think some of those for people that are entrepreneurs, just some of the concepts in there I think are super important for you to get if you're gonna step into this world. Because as I said before, you have to take yourself on this journey. And if you doubt. The results. If you doubt, you know your capabilities. Not to say you're not gonna have imposter syndrome once in a while and have to give yourself a pep talk, but in general, you have to really have this like delusional belief in yourself to kind of move forward and to be positive. And so this book really, I think just early on in my life, help me. Believe in that.
And, and now years later, like I can look [01:25:00] back and see retrospectively so many times where I wanted something to happen in the this timeframe, but it didn't. And because it didn't, I met this person who opened up this opportunity and it was like kind of a, a butterfly effect of, of those things happening.
And that's where I think I just, I let you know the universe timing sort of unfold as much as I can and relinquish that. And it's actually a very big breath of fresh air when you can do that. And you don't have to take on the burden of trying to figure out everything, like trying to control everything.
You know, especially as an entrepreneur, you're like, I gotta do this, I gotta do that. I gotta control these things. And what if I lose this? What I, I mean there's so much and so many moving parts that I think at the fundamental level of it, you really have to have self-belief and you have to be positive because negative and self, you know, uh, not believing in yourself are will like kill your dreams and your progress before they even
Riley: Yeah. Speaking of dreams, something on your bucket [01:26:00] list that you want to get done in the future.
Matt Wahlstrom: Um, well, I, I think my, my, one of my bigger long-term goals is to finish, uh, uh, writing my book. Um, so I think getting that book published and having that out there, um, I'm kind of writing it in real time as things are happening in my life. So it's not so much of this like, oh, here's what happened. Like, later. I'm kind of like letting these things evolve. So I take time to like, write little stories, keep the journal, you know, kind of putting it together because ultimately I want to, I wanna put together a book that's comprised of stories of experiences in my life, but centered towards the, the things that I've learned from those challenges and from those obstacles and those situations that apply to, you know. success in life and trying to, whatever it is, it does, it's not specific to an industry, it's just about, you know, these were the situations in my life that helped mold me and have the level of [01:27:00] resilience to not quit and to keep kind of going. So I think ultimately that's, you know, a big part of it.
Um, and being able to move into that. So a lot of my momentum behind my businesses are, are to achieve a certain level of success that, um, you know, the, the platform to have that kind of influence with, with people. So, just because I think that there's not too many other more noble causes than just helping people, like whatever that looks like for you, whether it's helping homeless people, whether it's helping give back to your community, whether it's helping, you know, a friend, whatever it is, like just. it more about, you know, people like than just yourself. And I think when you can do that and if you can find something that aligns with you and your business and your goals, like that's a beautiful thing. That's like a gift to be able to have, you know, to, to, to have that kind of influence with people and use it for good and, you know, try to
Riley: Yeah, man. I always think that the better you are at something, the more helpful you can be in that area. Right? You know, you [01:28:00] can't be a good jiujitsu coach if you're not good at jiujitsu. We could, we could open a can of worms on that, but let's don't,
Matt Wahlstrom: my God,
Riley: well, what's next, man? Where you going from here?
Matt Wahlstrom: Um, well, you know, we've, we've got a, a few little trips the rest this year. I think. I think right now my focus is really growing, uh, continuing to grow, um, role. Keep, you know, anybody who's got a, uh, academy out there that looking for custom gear, you know, please reach out.
I'd love to, to to talk to you and see if we can. Um, help you out with that. That's, that's a big part of it. Obviously I'm putting a big push on trying to get our bottle, um, launched, you know, this year we're, um, one or two small bills away from getting that, uh, completed. Uh, everything, everything costs a lot of money, so we're, we're close to getting that finished up. Uh, continuing to grow epic roll and get our academies, you know what I mean? Launched, uh, get more and more academies under the belt for working with them for custom gear [01:29:00] and continue to grow this, I mean, I want Epic roll to be, you know, one of the largest Juujitsu brands on planet Earth.
And, um, uh, I'm, I'm prepared to put in the work to make that happen and. I really think our bottle, you know, we're gonna launch the fitness bottle and then we'll move into the baby bottle right after. And these are this, it's a product that I genuinely think will help people a lot and is actually very useful.
So that's, that's very fulfilling to, to have something that, you know, came from my mind and was a sketch and now is like gonna become a real product out there helping people. I think it's incredible. Um, and, uh, yeah, I mean I, I, at this point in my life, man, I'm, I'm kind of at like a precipice. I'm kind of at these tipping points with, with my businesses where, um, we're, we're close to hitting a, uh, a, a new stride, like a, a new milestone and being able to kind of, you know, continue the, the leap and moving up
Riley: Beautiful
Matt Wahlstrom: my effort into [01:30:00] that and continuing to connect with, uh, great people and, you know, spread the love and word about jiujitsu to as many people as I
Riley: elsewhere. You can be found, man. Tell us some socials in your, your website and all the goody goodies.
Matt Wahlstrom: So website is epic roll bjj.com. If you just Google epic roll, it'll probably come up. There was this company, I think it's still out there, but I remember I couldn't get the, the website just epic roll because of this company. It's some I don't know, like a magic, the gathering, like little board game, some bullshit thing that drives me
Riley: I like a role playing game instead of different, different connotation.
Matt Wahlstrom: just ridiculous. I was like, damn it. But now, because, uh, after all those years of content and stuff, like if you type in Epic roll into Google, you know, it'll, a bunch of stuff will pop up, um, for it. But, uh, yeah, you can go on there.
So we have tons of, tons of, uh, uh, gear to check out. I highly, you know, recommend checking out those. Our t-shirts, everything are awesome. Um, Instagram is a [01:31:00] big one, so Epic roll. Uh, BJJ, that's pretty much the handle on most of our socials. YouTube, Twitter, uh, or x. Um. uh, TikTok. Yeah. So come follow us.
Send me dm. Love to connect with people. I try to answer as many messages as I can, and, um,
Riley: It's wonderful, man. I, I, I think your, uh, online pro shop idea that has just got to catch fire. 'cause that's a burden if you have to carry inventory in your school. And you know, again, some schools can do it, very few can. Right? So that online, that's really, that's appealing. So, but.
Matt Wahlstrom: Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's really great. I'm looking forward to growing that and you know it, and again, it helps us, like it's great brand recognition for us and solves a problem for the So
tell these guys like,
Riley: For sure.
Matt Wahlstrom: sell apparel. You just start a, you know, a Shopify side and then hook it up to on demand and then build out the collection.
It's like not doing
So
Riley: Yeah.
Matt Wahlstrom: to make it a hands, you know, off like [01:32:00] super easy process and um, you know, hopefully a
Riley: That's. Well, Matt, thanks for being on here, my friend. It was a honor talking to you and just that your willingness to come on here and chit chat with me. It's been a blast.
Matt Wahlstrom: Absolutely, man. Thank you. And you guys make sure you check out salt, they have amazing electrolytes. Uh, I've tried all the flavors. Love them all. Um, I, you know, you gotta, you gotta do it. Support. Support the small businesses. Support our people. us out. Go on,
yourself some
Riley: Well, my. All right, my friend Matt, go in your salt dude.
to you soon.
[01:33:00]