We recently connected with M-T Strickland and have shared our conversation below.
M-T, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Patience, Grit, Determination, and Impatience. Success does not come fast, cheap, or easy. Well let me rephrase, the success you WANT, does not come fast, cheap, or easy. In no universe. For No One. That does not man that being content with the wait is the only way to the destination. I constantly feel like I have to pee and I’m stuck in traffic. I have to wait, but I REALLY don’t want to. If I don’t wait, everything will be a mess. So I take that energy from my patient impatience and instead of doing the pee dance or humming a song real hard, I make cool things.
M-T, 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?
I started my first business at 15 modifying cars and installing sound systems. Atlanta in the late 90’s early 2000’s, all you heard was bass in trunks and trap drums. That trade helped me survive through college and started my journey in entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur is a process. The journey is the reward and the ability to take the wins and the lessons to better your chances of success lengthen and sharpen your sword. I have taken setbacks and made them come ups. One of which was the opportunity to Co-Found Metric Mate. We are working to improve the systems of data acquisition and analysis when it comes to the human experience. Our endeavor into the fitness market with the Metric Mate SMART Pin allows for any person to collect, store, analyze, and share the data from their strength training. Whether you workout with Barbells, Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Machines, or other resistance equipment, our platform can seamlessly track, store, analyze, and share your workout data.
Elite Athletes use data to make their workouts more efficient and now you can too.
With this technology, we will change the way people interact with fitness and take the work out of working out.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Hire slow, Fire quick, and Be the hardest worker in the room…
That’s it.
That’s the post…
Hiring should be a process no one on your team wants to go through again and it should be very selective. You will be setting the culture of your team with the first people you hire. If this is a business’s first hires, you will be setting the culture for the entire organization. Culture change is hard once it is set in. Do it right from the beginning and if you do have an issue with an employee and the culture. Culture wins, fire the employee.
You will not get the best out of your team if you are not showing them what the best is. You want the position. You want the pay. Put in the work. Know your team. Know your customer. Know your product. Produce.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Before I was the boss, I was still a boss, but I was not the boss.
The confidence and bravado that comes with being an entrepreneur, a job creator, a world builder is not conducive to corporate hierarchy. Some of the humility demanded of workers in corporate can be used in the business building world. Taking a step back and understanding that you can learn so much about being a business owner working for a company that has existed for more than 50 years, without the struggle, is useful. Once I took that step back and surveyed the landscape, I began to plunder that treasure trove for everything.
Contact Info:
- Website: TheMetricMate.com
- Instagram: @Emm._.Tee. @MetricMate.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metricmate/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtstrickland
- Twitter: @Emm0_0Tee @TheMetricMate.com
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCz328vi4wpNF59DlRj2I7Iw
- Other: The Metric Mate Podcast – https://www.themetricmate.com/podcast From Idea to Invention – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JCRa6S9KPFY ASBN Interview – https://www.myasbn.com/small-business-shows/the-playbook-mark-collier/how-mt-stricklands-data-analytics-company-is-changing-health-and-workout-tracking/ AUCC – https://aucenter.edu/marcus-tor-strickland/ Missouri S&T – https://discover.mst.edu/2012/03/08/marcus-tor_strickland/ Georgia Tech – https://www.ece.gatech.edu/news/638997/ece-alumni-honored-inaugural-40-under-40-program USPTO – https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/SUCCESSAct-Davis.pdf Bloomberg Law – https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/diversity-woes-in-patent-field-lead-lawyers-to-try-new-ideas Bloomberg Law – https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/joining-forces-with-meta-to-diversify-patent-law Georgia State – https://alumni.gsu.edu/40under40-profile/braxton-davis/ IP Law summit – https://lawdaryl.com/blog/ip-law-summit-beyond-geopolitics-contending-with-usa-china-intellectual-property-relations-for-fair-gains/ NSBE – https://www.nsbeap.org/executive-board/ Adventures in Syncopation – https://www.adventuresinsyncopation.com/post/perfect-pitch-braxton-davis-ecleamus-ricks-jr-m-t-strickland Hypepotamus – https://hypepotamus.com/startup-news/metric-mate-atlanta/ Outcomes rocket – https://outcomesrocket.health/metricmate/2020/11/ Shoutout Atlanta – https://shoutoutatlanta.com/meet-m-t-strickland-engineer-entrepreneur-co-founder-of-metric-mate/ Washington City Paper – https://pr.washingtoncitypaper.com/article/Morehouse-Athletics-Trains-with-Metric-Mate?storyId=621ac55e7cb4e4f1a64c2c8a News Unseen – https://www.newsunseen.com/2022/02/27/morehouse-athletics-trains-with-metric-mate/ Southern Laced – https://www.google.com/amp/s/southernlaced.com/2022/02/27/morehouse-athletics-trains-with-metric-mate/amp/ Voyage ATL – http://voyageatl.com/interview/meet-braxton-davis-m-t-strickland-metric-mate-midtown/