We recently connected with Matt Wahlstrom and have shared our conversation below.
Matt, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I think the foundation of success starts with self-belief. Once you have that, the second component is discipline and consistency. Along the path to success, you will likely encounter many challenges, and your ability to navigate challenges, obstacles, and failures is 99% of what ultimately helps you evolve into a successful person. Much of my philosophy on this developed from reading the inspiring stories of some of the world’s greatest and most successful people. That is what ultimately helped shape my belief system around this.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I was born in 1980 and raised in Southern California roughly 30 minutes from Malibu Beach in Simi Valley. Growing up I played soccer and like most American kids, did tae kwon do. I was always very artistic, never very good in school, and spent a ton of my time painting, drawing, and playing guitar. I played in bands from the time I was in high school, I’ve played live on the radio, performed at the famous DC music venue The 9:30 club, and was signed to a small record label out of NY. In 2005 I got married and I have two kids. Tyler (19) and Jett (14).
I graduated high school in 1998, and shortly after graduation, I started getting into working out. As a kid, I had body image issues which at one point landed me in the hospital. Shortly after I began working out and spending so much time at the gym, I decided to become a personal trainer and over the next 15 years, worked extensively in the health and fitness industry.
I eventually started managing health clubs, and then became the VP of personal training for a chain of 17 health clubs in the VA, DC & MD area, until they were acquired by golds gym. After that, I began consulting for health clubs all around the country and helped them with sales and management training, talent acquisition and strategic marketing.
In 2005 I decided that I wanted to start martial arts again, and found out about jiu jitsu through the recent popularity of the UFC show, The Ultimate Fighter. Almost immediately,
I fell in love with jiu jitsu and after 2 years of training, I began fighting at local MMA events. I have been training jiu jitsu for 16 years and I am a 1st degree Black Belt under the Tom DeBlass and the Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu Association.
In 2014, I transitioned from the fitness industry into real estate. Licensed in VA-MD and D.C., I began working in residential real estate and also flipping homes on the side. My wife Jessica and I run and operate our own real estate business called MJ Home Sales. I also work with investors looking to expand their portfolios and am licensed in VA, MD & D.C.
(www.mjhomesalesva.com) Instagram: Mjhomesales
Around 2018, I started the jiu jitsu clothing brand Epic Roll BJJ. It began with me dropshipping shirts (mostly for myself). However, the shirts gained popularity with my local network and that allowed me to invest a bit more time and money into growing our customer base. Utilizing mostly Instagram, I spent the next few years growing the brand using grassroots marketing with absolutely no budget. Eventually I got the attention of a famous musician who happened to be partners with another business partner of mine for my fitness bottle invention. I went from doing about $2,500 in sales my first year, to doing over six figures in sales annually and wehave sold items in 23 countries and all 50 states.
Our goal now is simple: to create the best, most comfortable jiu jitsu gear that we wanted to wear. As lifelong martial artists, we understood the needs of our fellow practitioners, so we could pick the best materials and custom design our products to meet your and our needs. We’ve crafted a range of federation-approved custom Gi’s that are ultra-light and fit just right (flaring where they need to and tight where they should be), and we also make arguably the most comfortable rash-guards you’ll ever find.
For us, Jiu-Jitsu is a way of life. Its core values are the driving force behind everything we do.
WHO WE ARE
Epic Roll’s leadership consists of three partners. Matt Wahlstrom the original Founder of Epic Roll is a serial entrepreneur, a Former Off-road Racer, MMA fighter, and a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt under Tom DeBlass. Epic Roll was born out of Matt’s passion for Jiu-Jitsu. He set out on a quest to fix what he found lacking with the Jiu-Jitsu gear he was using, and wanted to create the most comfortable, light, yet durable equipment for himself and his students. The quest was successful: the Gis and Rash Guards were not only a hit at home, but also gained popularity beyond his own school and became a word-of-mouth phenomenon. Top-level athletes and prominent members of the BJJ community threw their support behind the brand. From this completely organic grassroots movement, Epic Roll emerged as a prominent brand on the rise (and a turnkey manufacturer for schools and other brands in the Jiu-Jitsu scene). Epic Roll quickly grew to the point where Matt needed help to elevate the company to the next level. He partnered with two of his friends and fellow grapplers, a rockstar and a member of Jiu-Jitsu’s royal family.
Zoltan Bathory is the founder and guitarist of the world-famous rock band Five Finger Death Punch. He is also a lifelong martial artist, an actively competing Jiu Jitsu Black Belt under Mica Cipili and Royler Gracie, and a member of the Gracie Humaita Competition Team. Behind the scenes, Zoltan is a master strategist both on and off the mats. He not only navigates the career of Five Finger Death Punch but also managed the rise of other platinum-selling artists, owns a record label, a management company, and several world-renowned consumer brands. He brings his unique skill-set and worldwide platform to the company.
Heather Grace Gracie’s extensive network is invaluable for Epic Roll. She was born into the world of martial arts as the grand daughter of Carlos Gracie Sr. one of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s founding fathers. She runs “Gracie Worldwide” a management company for athletes. Her clients include Kywan Gracie and BJJ World Champion Rayron Gracie amongst others. Beyond managing careers, she also takes the fight to the poachers as a member and advisor for VETPAW, an anti-poaching organization consisting of combat veterans operating on the African continent… and If you want to experience what it’s like to kick ass like Grace, you can log into Call of Duty and use the operator “Ana Vega” a character C.O.D. modeled after her.
(www.epicrollbjj.com) Instagram: Epicrollbjj
I am the inventor of a revolutionary new fitness product called the ONE BOTTLE. I hold two fully granted utility patents on the technology. It allows you to keep dry mix and liquid separated in one bottle until you are ready to mix it, which is done by twisting the top and bottom of the bottle in opposite directions and allowing the contents to mix.
We will be licensing the technology out to some very large companies and then starting on our baby bottle variation.
(www.theonebottlecompany.com) Instagram: Theonebottlecompany
Other Random facts:
• I raced four-wheelers in off-road races such the 25th anniversary Baja 500 in Mexico, the Vegas-to-Reno ( 1,000 mile, 3-day-race through Las Vegas).
• I have competed in a bodybuilding
• I helped design, open and run a famous restaurant, bar and VRBO property in downtown Nashville called Nashville Street Tacos
• I am a huge believer in the Laws of attraction
• I am a scorpio
• I am an entrepreneur who wants to inspire other entrepreneurs to accomplish big goals in their lives!
• My favorite food is tacos
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
As a believer of the laws of attraction and the power of words, the way I met and ultimately partnered with the famous musician Zoltan Bathory is quite a beautiful story. As I mentioned, my partner for the One Bottle is also Zoltans partner in two other companies. Once my partner John found out that I was a jiu jitsu guy, he mentioned that his friend Zoltan was also a jiu jitsu guy. So he initiated contact between us so that I could send Zo some epic roll gear to wear. After a few months of him wearing it, my wife and I were invited to come to one of Five Finger Death Punch’s concerts. We were given backstage passes and were able to go on stage to meet Zo. After that concert and meeting my wife and I left the show. On our way out, I looked at my wife and said “man, Zoltan is such a cool guy, wouldn’t it be so cool if he were my business partner for Epic Roll. I said this to my wife with almost an air of satire. We both kind of laughed it off and headed home. Within 6 months of saying that, Zoltan was my partner in Epic Roll. He called me one day and told me that he was impressed with how much I had grown the brand by myself and how many people he knew that were wearing epic roll. So he proposed a business partnership with the intention of growing epic roll to be the biggest jiu jitsu brand in the world. Over the early years of growing the brand, I became friends with actors, athletes, influencers, authors, speakers, YouTubers etc. All of our celebrity support is done without paying anyone for endorsements. This is why we have a much deeper brand loyalty than other brands that have to pay people to wear their clothing.
I think this story highlights the importance of your words. Be careful of what you wish for…. it might actually happen!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Almost everything I have accomplished in my life took a tremendous amount of time and effort. Part of me knows that these tough times and exhausting journeys are what made the pot of gold at the end so special. It took me 16 years to get my black belt in jiu jitsu. It has taken me almost 20 years to go from inventing the One Bottle, finding the resources to bring it to market, patent it and ultimately get it to a point where we can now license it. Epic Roll has been an extremely satifysying business venture, but for years, no one knew about us. No one cared about our posts on social media and there were many times where I felt like giving up and just focusing on other business ventures. I am grateful that my love for jiu jitsu and connecting with people kept me motivated enough to continue on. Now we have the making of creating the biggest and most well known jiu jitsu brand on the planet. Our social media went from virtually no followers to now having 116,000 followers on Instagram alone. If you are going to accomplish anything great in life, you have to be prepared to suffer and take your licks along the way. It isn’t always about degrees, IQ and book smarts. No doubt those things help, but they are no supplement for someone with a laser-sharp focus on their spiritual vision, and the heart to work without quitting until they achieve their goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.epicrollbjj.com – www.mjhomesalesva.com – www.theonebottlecompany.com
- Instagram: epicrollbjj. / mjhomesales
- Facebook: epic roll – https://www.facebook.com/epicrollbjj / mjhomesales https://www.facebook.com/wahlstrom.real.estate/
- Linkedin: epicrollbjj. / mjhomesales
- Twitter: epicrollbjj. / mjhomesales
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@epicrollbjj
