How my personal journey as a business owner looking for a mentor became a podcast...

In case we haven’t been formally introduced, let’s end that tragedy right now. I’m the host of Pass the Secret Sauce podcast, Matt Shields. I’m a multi-preneur, with an emphasis in real estate, construction, and more recently, the podcasting world.?

Here’s my back story. When the market crashed in 2008, like many people, I lost everything.?Quite literally.?

I was living in my van and taking showers at the local community center. Nothing creates more ingenuity than not having your own bathroom, let me tell you.?

I went through a refining process, both personally and professionally. When I emerged, I had combined my years as an electrical contractor, general contractor, process improver, and budding real estate flipper. I emerged with two separate companies - Significan LC Real Estate Investment Group, which has a partner construction company, and a digital transformation process improvement company - Virtus Technology.

Between the two companies, I’ve acquired large multifamily properties of 250 units and more, in places like Cleveland, Ohio, Atlanta, Georgia, and more. I’ve also worked with some of the largest brands in the world like Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Phillips.?

What I realized in my business journey is the importance of having a mentor. You identify someone who has already accomplished the steps you want to take. Here’s the problem with that though.?

Who do you go to for a mentor for something that’s never been done before?

I realized that just because someone hadn’t done ‘it’ before in the niche I wanted to do something in, didn’t mean there wasn’t a mentor for me out there that hadn’t done something before.

That’s the big secret behind how Pass the Secret Sauce was born.?

It’s not sexy. Not altruistic at all, in fact at first it was almost entirely self-serving. Because here’s the thing about being an entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist.?

You have to make enough as an entrepreneur, in order to be able to give it away as a philanthropist. You can’t give and serve the way you want if you’re still worried about how to keep a roof over your head…or in my case, make sure the roof never became that of a van again. That’s unsexy, unwatered down, not filtered in any way truth.

Because most entrepreneurs I’ve met in my life are pursuing their life calling with a mission… to be successful so they can turn around and give back.

Here's to you all - all those with a calling and a purpose to be more, so you can do more. Thank you for being a part of my journey!