Having founded awarding winning creative agency Mentored Media, and as the Creative Director of the digital-first agency, Matt whispers in the ears of kings and queens, delivering branding and positioning strategies and outcomes for some of Australia’s most well known brands and high profile people.
Matt is also the founder and CEO of Australia’s only Verbal Self Defence and Confidence Training Program, Social Kung Fu which has just made its curriculum available to all Australian schools, with a mission to positively impact the lives of 1 million Aussie kids.
Thank you for joining us here at The Corporate Escapists. Please introduce yourself to our reader. They love to know about you, your passion, and how you came to find and follow your passion.
Different from most people. Growing up, the number 1 thing that helped me make sense of the world was creativity: every concept, feeling and idea must be “fleshed out” into something creative.
I also believe every single person has value. We give life to dead things: the shirt we’re wearing, the objects we use, we give them value. Therefore, you are valuable. You cannot give what you don’t have.
Creativity in my philosophy is what separates from all other animals. That’s why I love branding, storytelling and marketing. I am very passionate about making what people stand for, stand out and making complex things, simple. It’s a real dream to have worked with some incredible brands and individuals on their marketing and brand and I do consider myself a whisperer in the ears of many kings and queens.
I’m deeply passionate about helping people. Especially our next generation.
What has been one of the biggest business ideas you have had and how did you have the trust and hope within yourself to implement it?
Social Kung Fu is Australia’s first verbal self defense training for young people. I formed this after spending 8 years mentoring youth 1 on 1 and speaking in schools. I saw the patterns and the reoccurring themes of bullying and knew that it came down to one thing: kids haven’t been taught any frameworks to deal with conflict.
No one told me to do it, it was through observation, a deep conviction that this was important, and on point that I started developing this training which has now turned into national news and it’s own entity.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own business?
What is the enormous problem your business is going to solve? Does the customer you have in mind have purchasing power? Are they easy to target and is it in a growing market?
Always keep your day job. Don’t just jump ship because you’ll run out of cash. Work on your idea outside of your normal hours and look to gradually replace your days.
