We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matthew Giordano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

The path to success takes the willingness take action even when you don’t know if it will produce the intended results, over and over and over again. And when you find success, you will need to continue doing the same in order to remain successful. Success is a path of discovery not a destination. Chances are if you are not willing to take action without receiving immediate rewards than you are on the wrong path. Those that are successful typically don’t need a pep talk about doing the challenging things, they just do it. Those that are successful usually are willing to burn out because like an athlete that gives it their all, they know they will recover and can do it again. Success is a mindset of determination.

My senior year of high school I formed a band. We were as determined as they come. We played as many gigs as possible for 8 years. We played shows to just the bar tender, or staff, and we have played to massive crowds of thousands of people. We toured with bands like One Republic, Lifehouse, Hanson, George Clinton and The Parliament Funkadelic, and many more. We also played at every dive bar on the east coast. Our idea of success never came to fruition, but when I look back on the memories of an 8 year adventure, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. While we made it on the radio a couple times, played Venus as large as Giants stadium, and gained a thriving fan base, we never got signed to a label, nor did we sustain any significant commercial recognition. In our eyes at the time we had failed, 20 years later, I only remember our success.

Throughout the final years of being in the band “Stealing Jane”, I had taken up the practice of yoga to try and find inner peace. While I loved touring, I struggled mentally with the lack of sleep, low quality food, long days of sitting in traffic, and the highs and lows of being on and off stage. I felt on top of the world in some moments and buried in the dirt in others. Yoga provided me with a way out, a way to find a greater sense of calm through the highs and lows. The physical, breathing and meditation practices game me tools to enjoy and appreciate life. The band took a hiatus in 2009 while our lead signer worked his way though American Idol. During that time I taught yoga and fell in love with a new lifestyle. By the time the band was contemplating reuniting, I had already established a full time career with health insurance and a pay check. For the first time I could afford my own apartment and sustain myself without the support of my family. This felt like success compared to being in a band trying to “Make it”

Like with music, I didn’t think twice about dedicating my entire life to it, every hour of every day was filled with teaching as much as possible. I said yes to every and any opportunity until I had no time left to give. I taught for free, and even lost money on many occasions just to gain the experience and/or exposure. I burnt our time and time again until I reimagined a better way. Every step into greater success required another level of grinding, and it still does. There is a cycle though, the initial grind is like biking up a hill, when you get to the top you cost down for a while effortlessly…and eventually you run out of momentum and have to pedal up the next hill. The sooner you embrace this process the sooner you will enjoy your success. Look around you, everything in life goes through this again and again. We see it in the seasons, or in a flower that sprouts and grows tall, only to drop seeds, and die. Those seed, if they make it through the grind of the winter become flowers and repeat again and again.

Success is a path of discovery, and you must be willing to put the effort into uncovering what you need. The learning happens in the grind, the feeling of success happens when you are coasting down the hill. The feeling of failure only happens when you are not willing to pedal up the hill, OR you are not willing to pedal up the next hill. On the flip side you might pedal up the hill, cost down the other side and decide to change your path, maybe it’s not music, maybe its yoga.

And what happens when you find success? Are you a different person now?

for me, I am, and I am back at the grind of music. The unfinished path has called me back, and im climbing a new hill. This time I am grateful that I have the opportunity to play and share artistically in a. format that I love. The success is getting to write songs and sing them for people. I am happy to keep climbing this hill, and I have no idea when the downhill coast will come but I am enjoying the ride.

Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the founder of the global system of yoga called Chromatic Yoga. Chromatic Yoga teachers are trained in anatomy, bio mechanics and philosophy and seek to provide highly informative and transformative yoga classes, workshops and trainings. Practicing Chromatic Yoga means you can expect to learn physically and intellectually with a higher level of efficacy. You can trust that your teachers have done the research, done the practices, and will provide you with a clear path that is healing, empowering, and life enhancing physically, mentally and emotionally. I have spent the better part of the last two decades building this system and training teachers. I initially became known as a teacher through touring the US, Europe and Asia, and later found an online community on Instagram on @theyogimatt. During Covid, my online community along with the folks I had taught in person pressed me to offer online classes, courses and trainings. Theyogimatt.com became a place to practice yoga from home, get certified as a Chromatic Teacher, learn anatomy and more.

As a Yoga teacher I have been featured in magazines like Martha Stuart, Yoga Journal, and more. I have made appearances on TV shows like Live with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan.

Currently I am touring internationally teaching as “Matt Giordano aka TheYogiMatt”, and performing music under the name “Matthew Dylan”, my full name being Matthew Dylan Giordano (@matthewdylanmusic) hence the two identities. I teach at Yoga Festivals during the day, and play music on the main stage at night. I also tour as a Yoga Teacher and Musician separately as well.

As a singer songwriter, I release music on all streaming platforms under the name Matthew Dylan, and I write for other artists as well.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting is one of the most important skills to have. It requires the ability to reflect and assess what’s working and what is not. It also require honesty, and asking your self “What do I truly want”.

March of 2020 my year touring was canceled…all foreseeable income was gone.

For years I “wanted” an online business but didn’t see how it could be financially viable. I dragged my feet, but still chipped away at it for about 5 years before finding success in 2020. The five years of chipping away at it was crucial because when I needed it the most I already had built my online platform, had all. the technology (and knew how to use it), all of the skills required to create online courses, accept payments, and generate sales. For 5 years I felt like I was wasting my time making online courses that made very little income, and YouTube videos that no one watched. When the timing aligned I didn’t need to think, learn or panic, I was just ready to pivot.

This wasn’t the first pivot in my life, the previous ones looked more like leaps of faith, falling on my face or hitting rock bottom.

What I have learned is this. Be honest with yourself, point yourself in the direction that you want to go even if it seems impossible. Keep working in that direction even if nothing seems to be going your way. It’s ok to reassess and go a different direction if your vision has changed, but stay the course if your desire remains the same and you simply aren’t getting the outcome. Results are simply a matter of the right actions at the right time…we can’t control the right time but we can keep searching for the right actions over and over again…knowing that when its our time we will be equipped with the skills we have learned from all the failed actions.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I sell on my website (WordPress/woocommerce/learndash courses). I provides flexibility and freedom. It also provides a better profit margin. It is however challenging, stressful and not easy to use. I don’t recommend it unless you are tech savvy and willing to learn, or you pay someone to run it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theyogimatt.com
• Instagram: @theyogimatt @Matthewdylanmusic @chromaticyoga
• Youtube: @theyogimatt @matthewdylanmusic
• Other: www.matthewdylanmusic.com
  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/78IPf7LBSQjgUFRvFgRa8t?si=mkCvNWptQECfYHc9q1Kcyg