We recently connected with Matt Rosa and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Some of the most unexpected problems that we’ve faced in our business was life events that you don’t always plan for.

We started our business in 2019, and things were going pretty well. We had a pretty good following right out of the gate (around 150-200) consistent listeners per episode we put out. About halfway through the year I took a trip overseas, and that really changed things. I decided to move out of my parents house and that took attention away from the business because I didn’t have a set plan on how I wanted to manage things.

Then in early 2020, before the COVID lockdown, I found out that girlfriend (now wife) was pregnant with our first child. Again, because I didn’t attack the situation with a plan, the business was put on the backburner until I came back around almost a year later. Then in late 2021, my wife and I found out that we were expecting our second child, I had taken on a new internship at work, and the business got side tracked again. In late 2022, I received a job offer that took me from the east coast to the west coast, and we made the move in 2023, which again put the business on the back burner.

We tried started picking things back up later that year, but I was doing a lot of traveling for work, and was still adjusting to live in Washington State. Late 2023 the company that I worked for did massive layoffs, impacting many people that I was close too, and that took a lot of the wind out of my sails, and impacted my motivation.

Fast forward to the end of 2024, my business partner and I sat down and had a heart to heart about if we still wanted to build this brand that we dreamed back up in 2019. We both agreed, created a plan with clear goals, and have consistently been putting out content since. It’s been a slow grind back to where we were when we first started, but the trials we went through helped us build something that we both feels is better and more resilient than ever.

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?

As avid sports fans with a deep love for football and basketball we started the podcast “Infamously Speaking” because we would always talk about sports and culture at work. We figured – why not start a podcast? If anything, it could be an awesome time capsule that we could look back on and have some laughs at while listening back to our crazy takes.

As we started to put out episode, we were able to see the impact that the podcast had on our listeners and how much they enjoyed our perspective on different topics. We aren’t the normal sports analysts that breakdown box scores, we talk about what we see and try to relate it to everyday live because we believe that sports reflect life in a way that few things can.

What sets us apart from other sports and culture podcasts and what we are most proud of is that we don’t say things for the sake of going viral or trying to spark debate. We say what we believe to be true and if it turns out that we were wrong, then we come out and admit that. Our brand connects to the audience because it’s authentic, honest, and relatable.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met my cofounder at work. I had been hired as a part time sales rep at the company we both work for and my cofounder as the person who had been given the “lucky” task of getting me up to speed and training me and that was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to me.

I was 18 when I first started and really didn’t know much about anything. My cofounder took me under his wing, often times giving up his own sales opportunity and passing them on to me so I could learn was he was teaching me through action instead of just watching him do it. Even on the days he was off, he would call me to ask me why my performance for the day wasn’t were it was supposed to be.

At first, I hated it. I felt like I was getting pushed more than anyone else, even though I was the newest and youngest employee there. But what I learned was that he saw potential where I didn’t. And in this business, he continues to do the same.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson that I had to unlearn is that losses aren’t really losses if you know how to grow from them. Growing up playing sports I had this mentality that if you didn’t win, then you lost and that was that.

But one thing my cofounder shared with me was “L’s are for Lessons, not Losses”. What can you learn through losing something? Sometimes losing can be a bigger gift than winning because it is a great moment to stop and reflect on what you can be doing better.

I think about our entire business journey up this point and all of the unexpected things that I used as reasons to not stay consistent. I could’ve just taken the whole business as a loss, gave up, and moved on. But instead I turned those losses into lessons and learned from it. We created a plan to ensure that we are covered even if something unexpected happens. We became more intentional about how we market, and what platforms we post to.

I know that without those “losses” I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @infamouslyspeaking
• Facebook: Infamously Speaking
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@infamouslyspeaking
• Other: TikTok: @infamouslyspeaking