We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matt Morizio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matt below.

Matt, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

In my former life I played 5 seasons of professional baseball at various levels in the Kansas City Royals’ minor league system. I learned a ton about life in those years, but I’d have to say the most important lesson I learned was:

You are always replaceable.

We were just getting home after a long road trip. It was four in the morning when we pulled into our home stadium parking lot.

After road trips, the bus always dropped us off at the stadium so we could unload our equipment, get in our cars, and drive home to get a few hours of sleep before we had to be back later that day.

This time, before we got into our cars, one of my teammates was called into the manager’s office. He was given a plane ticket home and was released, just like that, at 4am.

Later that day, a new name was in the starting lineup playing at his position, and a new player’s nameplate was hanging over his locker. Think about that – less than 12 hours later my teammate was gone and I had a new one…and the train keeps chugging, never missing a beat.

He wasn’t the first guy I saw released, but for whatever reason, this one got me. It made me realize,

You are always replaceable.

What an incredibly humbling lesson. In that 4am-moment, I learned that I couldn’t afford to give anything but 100%, all the time. The game didn’t owe me anything. Life didn’t owe me anything. Nothing was guaranteed to me.

I am now keenly aware that someone out there is smarter than me, more talented than me, better connected than me, has better genetics than me, etc, but nobody can outwork me, and my work ethic is completely within my control.

I know I am always replaceable, but I will make it tough to find the replacement!

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?

I reluctantly became a financial advisor. I say that because, as a pro athlete, I was wooed by a number of advisors thinking I’d be rich one day and have tons of money for them to manage (jokes on them now lol). During that courting process, I tried my hardest to understand what they did that was any different than the next, and quite honestly, I couldn’t figure it out.

So when I was presented an opportunity to become an advisor, my mind went right back to those days. I didn’t want to be another one of those guys.

Thankfully I’ve learned an investment strategy in stocks, not funds, that clients 100% understand. And the combination of educating clients and having an ACUTAL STRATEGY to follow turns out to be a real differentiator in my industry. I refuse to take the “set it and forget it” approach for my clients’ hard earned money.

And today my role feels a whole lot more like a calling than a career. I’ve been named godparent of clients’ kids, been asked to be named in the trust to take other clients’ children, and have some of my closest relationships in life with my clients, because money is personal, and it’s a sensitive topic.

Financial advising as afforded me to have a depth of relationship with clients I never could have imagined, and that’s my favorite part of what I do.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I used to think that more work was always the answer, and that’s been a tough one to unlearn. I’m wired pretty hot, hard charging is in my nature, but sometimes that would backfire on me. Here’s an example from my old baseball days.

I remember times when I’d hit in the batting cage and feel GREAT. Everything felt in sync, and ball after ball peppered the back wall of the cage.

What did I do? I kept hitting. In my mind, if some was good, more was better.

What ended up happening? I got fatigued, my swing got worse, and then I got frustrated with the results.

How did I fix bad results? I worked harder. So I stayed in the cage, hit more, got worse, got angrier, and eventually I got frustrated enough to pack it up and head home feeling like I made minimal progress that day.

What I realize now is that I should have shut my hitting session down when things were feeling great. More wasn’t more. More was less, but I was too hardheaded to believe it. I felt like I wasn’t working hard if I stopped, but in fact I was just being stupid.

The same is true in my business career. A classic sales manager says something like this, “Great, you just hit your goal for the week, now let’s see if you can double it. Get dialing!”

What happens? I’m frustrated that my success isn’t recognized, and I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel. More isn’t more.

So, today, I am keenly aware of what works and what doesn’t, and I do my best to pivot quickly when things aren’t working.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are SO many books I could recommend, but the book I’ve probably recommended the most to other business owners is Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. To me, it’s the holy grail on effective communication.

Miller’s motto is, “If you confuse, you lose.” Effective communication is all about speaking in a language your customers understand, not “wowing” them with fancy industry lingo that goes over their heads. And to take it a step further, the customer should be the hero of their story, not the product or service y0u provide.

He puts it like this: You need to be Yoda, and your customer is Luke Skywalker.

And if you’ve been spammed by random sales people online, the message most likely revolves all around their capabilities and how great their product or service is. It almost never addresses your needs and how it makes your life better.

Yet we buy based on results, not capabilities. Put differently, we buy Maui, not the plane flight.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mattmorizio.com
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