Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matt Nemetz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Matt, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe in order to be successful, we must define what success looks like through our own lens and metrics. From there, it’s a matter of reverse engineering the steps to ‘attain it and maintain it’. Success isn’t an end destination that you just end up at, rather, it’s a journey of consistent efforts over an extended period of time.

Matt, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Matt Nemetz, a 31-year-old logo & brand designer located in southern Wisconsin. I began doing freelance graphic design work for creative entrepreneurs over a decade ago and have worked at various print shops throughout my career handling everything from marketing & print ads to large-format printing/ installing vehicle and bus wraps. In 2019, I saw a growing need to bridge the gap between the freelance designer and creative agency worlds. I founded FocalFuse LLC as a result where I offer tailored design and branding solutions to high-flying millennials. FocalFuse is a fun and focused company that eliminates unreliable freelancers and overly expensive agencies while helping business owners go from being confused to confident about their brands. I value focus, service, and craftsmanship and pour that into every customer that I have the opportunity of working with.

One of the projects that I’m most proud of is for a tech company that I co-founded with two of my childhood friends called Boppr®. Boppr® is an App and product that allows you to instantly and effortlessly share your contact info, website, social media, and anything else that you want- all in one place. This company has since gained momentum and traction across the globe and is helping people connect better everywhere. Seeing this initiative go from the conception and development stage to helping people across the world is truly a blessing.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I’ve had a love of art, skateboarding, and music since I was really young and always searched for new outlets to create. I started designing flyers and cover art in my bedroom back when Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 first came out so that I could save up money to go to design school. After graduating in 2013, I explored the spaces of photography, cinematography, video editing, marketing, advertising, vinyl graphics, and so on. After getting my feet wet in a variety of creative professions, I started to take a specific interest in the power of logos and visual identity design. From there, I learned everything I could and applied it to the work that I was doing hoping to get better with each project. I fully embraced the concept of failing forward. Developing processes and systems to manage and fulfill the work at a high level was my saving grace.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When I founded FocalFuse in 2019, I didn’t have any investors or outside capital to work with. I was working 50-60 hours a week at a full-time design job plus freelancing during my nights and weekends. I learned how to shoot and edit photos and videos at a high level and offered music videos, product videos, and wedding videos as additional services. Once I had earned enough capital, I set started checking things off my to-do list like setting up my LLC and business bank accounts, getting fully insured, and investing in tools, software, marketing materials, and so on. The journey wasn’t an easy one but it was definitely rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website:www.focalfuse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandingmatt/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/focalfusebrand?mibextid=9R9pXO
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-nemetz-260b2672/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/branding_matt?s=21&t=tUwRgN6tAGTr77YkH8OKDw
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUreqVP4Q8tBGU9GSzFuHzA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/focalfuse-janesville
• Other: https://boppr.me/matt

Image Credits
Designs courtesy of FocalFuse, Photos courtesy of DHVNSEN