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Becoming “The Wealthy Marketer” was a roller coaster journey that spanned 25 years of my life – starting from my sophomore year in high school as a struggling teen, and leading me to where I am today as a thriving family man, digital marketer, investor, and all-in entrepreneur. Without this story, I would not have become “The Wealthy Marketer”, and I would not be in a position to help so many people in the way I can today. For that I am grateful.
Please take a few minutes to read my story. I am optimistic it will bring you hope, joy, and inspiration that anything is possible through marketing. When you use marketing the right away, it can bring so much fulfillment, success, and prosperity to your life. I am here to help make it happen for you.
Growing up… I saw prosperity
as an outsider looking in…
I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s just north of Toronto in middle to upper-class suburbia. My suburban town was home to the Canadian headquarters of the world’s largest technology companies including IBM, Xerox, HP, and AMD.
My Dad was a pensioned bus driver that suffered from alcoholism, and my Mom was a high school dropout that ran a daycare from our modest family home throughout my entire upbringing. Neither of my parents believed in the concept of “investing your income” or “starting a real business”, and as a result I was discouraged from doing both, regardless of my own personal interests.
What mattered most to my family was my younger brother’s hockey career and making every effort to get him to the NHL. Everything else including my own self development was pushed to the sidelines or at most, made a low priority. It was a confusing household to be apart of, and it had a lasting negative impact on my self-confidence.
Outside of my family’s home, I was inspired by wealthy friends, relatives, and families that all seemed to be thriving with high paying corporate careers, luxury homes, and stock portfolios valued in the millions. It was also not uncommon for my peers to have trust funds that covered full-rides through Ivy-league universities along with great starts deep into adulthood.
As a teenager, I tried to break free from my “hockey is everything” and “anti-prosperity” household, and gravitated towards the “wealthy” kids in town. This eventually led to getting intertwined with drugs and alcohol at house parties and raves, and going home to a disgruntled father who had recently hit rock bottom and was in recovery from his battle with alcoholism. It made my “coming of age” years challenging, oppressive, and then troubling. I was excluded from the “good life” that my wealthy friends came to enjoy, and while the promise of prosperity was right in front of me, I was programmed to believe I was not worthy of it in my own life.
With most of my friends bound for University, my goal was to get there too – but my Dad wasn’t happy with my behaviour and told me I would have to pay for post-secondary on my own. Trying to wrap my head around this massive expense was hard to do, so I gave up on the goal of attending University and enrolled for a “Marketing” program at a local community college instead.
I didn’t realize this at the time, but the challenges throughout my upbringing were a blessing in disguise that would put me on a path to my own meaningful destiny where I would have the chance to change 1,000’s of lives deep into the future!
I am not sharing this story to spite of my family or upbringing. I am sharing this story because if I can become a wealthy marketer coming from extremely challenging and confusing circumstances, so can you!
It was the year 2000, and I showed up to the marketing program at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada as a below average guy. I had just finished high school as a B and C student, I had fallen short on my goal for university, and I had gone years without a girlfriend. I was morally beaten by an oppressive household, binge drinking every week, and smoking weed everyday. To top things off – about a month into college, my Dad and I got into a big fight and he packed my stuff up in a box and kicked me out of the house.
At 19 years old, the prospects of me doing anything with my life seemed grim, until all of a sudden everything started to change for the better…
I moved in with my wealthy aunt and uncle across town, started getting A’s in my marketing and business courses, established positive relationships at school and work, and even found progress with dating girls. For the first time ever in my life, I realized I had the potential to be successful, while also discovering my passion for the professional field of “marketing”.
As I entered my 3rd and final year at Seneca College, things really started to come together. I continued to get good grades, while having epic fun with my classmates. I started getting involved with extracurricular activities, and even launched my own student organization. In my final semester, I met the girl of my dreams (who later became my wife), and found my dream starter job at a print marketing firm (working alongside a veteran entrepreneur). Amazingly, I came out of Seneca’s marketing program graduating “with honours” while earning a lifetime of mutual respect among my peers & professors.
At 22 years old, marketing had permanently changed me for the better. It led me to my wife, it led me to my career, and it led me to a world of opportunity.
Little did I know…
After working in the real world for a year, I realized I didn’t want to give up on my university dream. So I transferred my credits from Seneca College to enroll at Ryerson University as a 3rd year student where I pursued my Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing Management.
And that’s when life started to get complicated…
The tuition bills hit my bank account hard, the course work pilled up quickly, and the downtown commute sucked up time and money. In the meantime, I was maintaining a part-time job and dedicating time to the relationships most important to me. A big part of me wanted the complete university experience, but there were forces beyond my control pushing me towards the harsh realities of adulthood. In all the chaos, I rolled with the punches, put my best foot forward, worked hard, and juggled it all with a respectful 3.0+ GPA.
I even managed to showcase my entrepreneurial spirit by competing in Ryerson’s annual Business Plan Competition, making the finals (twice) but falling short on the $25,000 prize – of course I pitched a marketing company.
As I was navigating life as a University student, my relationship with my girlfriend and her son was getting more serious (yes, my girlfriend had a 3-year old boy). You see at the time, I needed them, and they needed me. So we just so happened to make the perfect family, and that’s what we quickly became. Going into my last semester at Ryerson University, I proposed to my girlfriend of 3+ years and became a natural loving Dad to her son.
The foundational source for my wealth became a combination of my higher education and the love and support from my soon to be family of my own.
As my full-time studies wrapped up, I landed a 12-month internship with “Thomson Reuters” at the top of Toronto’s Financial District. What felt like a big win for my career quickly proved to be otherwise. I did not fit in with the suits and felt miscalculated by management. Sometimes career opportunities aren’t what you expect them to be, and it’s OK to not feel OK. So I scrambled to make another move, and that’s when the phone rang…
“Hey Matt … I got a job opportunity for you. It’s with a publicly-traded market research firm based in Connecticut. You interested?”
That phone call changed everything for me! Within a few weeks I landed a promising role with “Greenfield Online” (NASDAQ:SRVY) as an “Account Executive”. It was time to fly high with Corporate America.
My time at “Greenfield Online” gave me my first full taste of Capitalism. I flew to America for the first time. I thrived in a professional environment with well educated people. I got promoted in record time. I got to observe how a publicly traded American company operated. I also got married and became a homeowner – while soon after surviving layoffs from the 2008 financial crisis, and witnessing the company get acquired by Microsoft.
Eventually the good times came to an end, and it was time to move on…
For 3 months, I tried my time at entrepreneurship and launched my own online business. Unfortunately, I got cold feet from not having a steady pay cheque, so I pivoted back into the online market research space landing a sales role with “uSamp”, a venture-backed startup in Los Angeles, CA.
My time at “uSamp” was rewarding. I got to travel back and forth to L.A., I got to work from home, and I got the opportunity to develop my sales skills while experiencing the thrill of driving revenue in a rewarding sales role.
At the same time, a lot was happening personally. I continued to build and monetize my “side hustles”, my family moved into a beautiful home, and in the summer of 2010, my wife gave birth to our newborn son.
And soon after all of this…
A few months after my son was born, management at “uSamp” found out about my “side hustles” and saw them as a conflict of interest. They told me I had to choose between my job and my passion projects. I was pushing 30 years old, and I had been wanting to run my own business full-time for years. With the reluctant support of my wife, I made the scary decision to finally go for it. I decided to exchange the comfort of a safe 9 to 5, and go full-force with my entrepreneurial dream of building a sustainable business.
No matter how hard things would get or how much I failed, I made the commitment to going all-in as an entrepreneur and never looking back.
My first calculated bet was to focus on monetizing a website design agency I started with a friend from college. We fully launched 365WebDesigns.com in the fall of 2010 promoting our website design services through an aggressive combination of networking, cold calling, bidding systems, trade shows, Kijiji Ads, Google Ads, and Facebook posts.
At first we were landing website deals on a weekly basis, but then the workload piled up, and Christmas hit. We quickly learned the harsh realities of the website business along with the detriment that comes with people shutting down their business growth activity over the holidays & new year.
The harsh realities of becoming an entrepreneur hit hard quickly. I went from earning a steady corporate pay cheque to scrapping together $300 a week for 6 months straight. With a new house, newborn son, increased debt, and a dependent family on my shoulders, I had no cushion and no backup. I couldn’t afford to fail, and I couldn’t afford to make so little.
Things got worse before they got better. It was one big shock to the system. With no guidance, the learning curve was big and overwhelming.
In early 2011, I quickly realized my partnership at “365 Web Designs” wasn’t going to last. The new website orders dried up and there wasn’t enough money flowing into the company to support my household. My partner and I decided to part ways respectfully – where he got to keep the brand and half the clients, and I got to do my own thing with the other half of the clients.
Immediately after leaving the partnership, I launched my own internet marketing company called “Site Boost”, where I sold a combination of website design packages and monthly internet marketing retainers. This time I was able to sustain myself. I sold dozens of website projects, converted many of those website projects into monthly internet marketing retainers, and built up enough cashflow to get an office, hire employees, and pay myself a living wage.
And then an opportunity came out of nowhere to bring on an investor…
Through LinkedIn, I connected with an active member of Ryerson Univerisity’s Angel Network. This led to an Investor / Founder deal that would see “Site Boost” incorporated and relocated to downtown Toronto. This was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. It was the best because “Site Boost” needed access to mentorship, capital, and resources in order to grow; and it was the worst because the deal turned unfair and out of my control. Moments after I signed the legal documents, unethical things were said to me, and I quickly realized I had new challenges and trouble to face ahead.
I embraced the new “Site Boost” deal as my baby and worked hard as it’s CEO to build out the brand, acquire more customers, and solidify my team. But then at the 8 month mark, my time at “Site Boost” came to an end after finding myself oppressed and then squeezed out of company with nothing to show for it.
Out of a dire need for survival, I ended up having to do consulting work for another digital agency until I could figure out how to go on my own again.
At this point in my entrepreneurial journey, I had been through the wringer 2-3 times, experienced a big pile of failures, and overcame challenges unimaginable to the average human being. Instead of giving up, I bounced back and used my unique experiences as a means to try again.
This time I launched a search engine marketing company by the name of “Grow with Search”. This company became a family business. There was no partners, no investors, and no aspirations to make it big. The goal was to build a sustainable business that could provide for my family and deliver high quality work and amazing results to a collection of high value clients. With focus solely on selling SEO and digital marketing retainers, I finally turned “Grow with Search” into the real business I always wanted.
Then the phone rang at the perfect time again… “Hey man, I am going to AdTech NYC in 2 weeks. I have a room at the W Hotel. You want to come?”
Since going all-in as an entrepreneur, the idea of travelling was deemed off limits for 5 straight years. But when my friend reached out with the NYC invite, I was in a good spot to fund the trip, so I made it happen. The trip turned out to be amazing. The energy throughout NYC opened my mind to travel and adventure again. It was a life changing experience.
In the years that followed, my family and I moved into the home of our dreams, I continued to stabilize “Grow with Search”, and I proceeded to travel solo and with loved one’s across Canada and 30 American states.
Our Canadian Dream Became a Reality!
Living the Canadian Dream was a fulfilling experience. We got the picture perfect home in a great neighbourhood. Our kids were going to great schools, and we were travelling across Canada and the USA on a regular basis. At the same time, it was also financially draining. The big house had big carrying costs, and I quickly found it difficult to take risks with my business. We had become slaves to our mortgage, and business growth hit a slump.
It was nice to live the Canadian Dream to the fullest, but it wasn’t fun paying the endless bills while suffering the limitations that came with it.
It was time to try living life from a different perspective. It was time to make our biggest move yet!
We SOLD our house & all OUR STUFF!
After much debate and consideration, we decided to join the global movement of “selling our house and all our stuff”. In the spring of 2018 we got our house on the market and sold it after just a few short, yet stressful weeks. After it sold, we began the process of parting ways with all our stuff. This involved selling items daily on Varage Sale, Kijiji, and Craigslist. It involved a series of Saturday morning Garage Sales. It involved several trips to the local dump, and a few calls to professional junk removal and document destruction companies. 98% of what we had needed to go. We were giving our family a total cleanse of all material belongings and unnecessary things. On moving day, we didn’t even even rent a moving truck. All we had left was our most prized possessions which we packed into our two sedans and moved on to our next destination where we would continue our process.
On moving day, we transitioned our family into a 2 bedroom college dorm room where we stayed for a month, as we prepared for our planned cross country trip in the month ahead. During this time we spent time with friends and family, we traded in our two sedans for a brand new SUV, and we finalized our itinerary for our 3,000 mile road trip from Toronto, Ontario to Vancouver, BC.
WE TRAVELLED ACROSS THE COUNTRY!
After packing our remaining belongs into our SUV, our family of 4 hit the road and started driving west on our cross country adventure. It was one of the most liberating times of our life. We were mortgage free, debt free, and shed ourselves of all major responsibilities. We got to see all the beauty that Canada has to offer from east to west. We explored the expansive lake superior shoreline of north western Ontario. We took in the the unique character of Winnipeg. We drove across the vast plaines of the Canadian prairies. We explored Calgary – one Canada’s largest cities. We experienced the beauty of Banff from the rocky mountains to the teal blue lake Louise. And finally, we made our way into beautiful BC.
we settled in british columbia!
People often immigrate to another country for a better life. We already loved Canada, so we decided to relocate to the west coast of the country we already called home. We arrived in the Vancouver, BC area on a major leap of faith. We had no place lined up, no family to fall back on, and no exact location in mind. The first few days were met with so much uncertainty. Where were we going to live? Where were our kids going to go to school? How would my business sustain itself? There were so many unknowns, but as the days unfolded things started to magically fall into place. We ended up finding the most perfect 2 bedroom condo in an up and coming neighbourhood that aligned us with the perfect blend of schools, parks, adventure, commerce, and restaurants all in our backyard. The universe rewarded us positively for our big bold move! It felt like everything was meant to be.
In celebration of our successful move, we topped the adventure off with a weekend in Tofino, BC – Canada’s surf capital on Vancouver Island.
WE SPENT A CHRISTMAS AWAY FROM OUR HOME…
Christmas was always a big thing for us back home. We had so many great family traditions and parties to look forward to every year. But in recent years, the extended family dynamic proved to become toxic and imbalanced. Sadly, the usual Christmas celebrations we always looked forward to were no longer a good fit for our well-being. So when we moved out west, we chose to spend our first Christmas ever away from home. We travelled to Scottsdale, Arizona and spent a week of healing and exploring everything Arizona had to offer. We spent time in Phoenix, we spent a day in Sedona, and we even road tripped to the Grand Canyon and spent a nigh in Las Vegas. It was a very liberating experience, and something that had to be done as we opened the next chapter in our lives. We got on the right path to healing and being able to pursue our dreams freely.
we built a new life on the west coast!
As the months unfolded in our new home of Burnaby, BC everything continued to fall into place for the better. Our older son got into the “Digital Design & Development” program at BCIT where he developed in-demand skills and made new friends. Our younger boy transitioned into a new elementary school and made a competitive basketball team. My wife made a big career change and got a job in commercial real estate. While I was able to to get an office, hire full-time employees, and get back to growing my business again. Everything we needed to grow was put right in front of us.
Most importantly, we put ourselves in position to improve our mental health and well-being. We isolated ourselves from toxic relationships. We cut our household carrying costs in half and adopted minimalist principles. We became less dependent on gas guzzling commutes. We improved our financial literacy. We addressed long-standing personal challenges. We improved our sleep and eating habits. We made more time for nature and adventures.
Our move out West led us to a holistically wealthy way of life with focus on achieving our health, financial, spiritual, and lifestyle goals.
My own personal journey combined with moving my family out West for the change we needed is what turned me into “The Wealthy Marketer”. I could not have become “The Wealthy Marketer” without going through the roller coaster journey I found myself on over a 25 year timeline.
I am “The Wealthy Marketer” because I earn, invest, and live my best life through digital marketing and being an all-in entrepreneur. Now I want to help more people do the same.
Being a “Wealthy Marketer” is not about being rich with cash. It’s about being rich with positive relationships, knowledge, life experiences, adventure, good health, and financial literacy.
As “The Wealthy Marketer” I truly believe that my story and life principles can bring holistic success and opportunity to 1,000’s of people across the world. I can’t wait to have an impact on each of you.
I’M ON A MISSION TO HELP MARKETING PROFESSIONALS & ALL-IN ENTREPRENEURS!
I’ve experienced life as a marketer for the past 25 years, and I have been an all-in entrepreneur for 10+ years. During this time I have experienced success and challenges in the 9-5, and failure and triumph as an entrepreneur. On the personal side, I have experienced all the systemized life events including graduating university, getting married, becoming a homeowner, raising children through to adulthood, and relocating my family,
It is through my unique life journey and diverse experiences, where I am now in a position to help others from around the world. As I continue to build my business empire, I am on a mission to help marketing professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs from around the world achieve success by delivering a combination of education, lifestyle advice, services, and employment.
Let’s find success in this world together!
My Companies
I am a serial entrepreneur. There is no way for me to get around this. It’s just who I am. This means I am passionate and committed to building a series of businesses all at the same time. I love developing business concepts from scratch, developing a brand and marketing strategy around them, and then taking them to market. I am still refining the process for how I do this successfully, but every week, month and year that passes, I am finding great success at growing my portfolio of brands and companies.
See below, to get a feel for the companies I have on the market today. They are all open for business, partnerships, and investments.
My PrinCiples
#1
WORK HARDER & SMARTER
Put in hard work everyday.
Get better at how you do things over time.
#2
BE WITH GOOD PEOPLE
Surround yourself with people that lift you up. Distance yourself from people that pull you down.
#3
BUILD TANGIBLE SKILLS
#4
INVEST YOUR MONEY
Skip the concept of paying off all your debt and saving money. Start investing your money today and for the long-term.
#5
READ DAILY
Expand your mind and learn new concepts through reading everyday. Read at least 12 non-fiction books every year.
#6
TRAVEL OFTEN
Make travelling to new places a top priority on a quarterly basis. The energy of travel will always change your life for the better.
#7
PRACTICE GRATITUDE
You must let the universe know you are grateful. Write down everything you are grateful for on a regular basis.
#8
MAKE HEALTHY CHOICES
Commit to healthy choices. Get 8 hours sleep. Drink more water. Eat healthy. Go for a walk or get exercise daily.
#9
BECOME A SHAREHOLDER
You must own a piece of the pie. You must become a shareholder of the companies you work for, own, or invest in.
#10
BUILD A SELLABLE BUSINESS
Start or be apart of a business that has the potential to scale and build sellable value over time. Build towards an exit.
#11
SELL A PRODUCT
YOU BELIEVE IN
Believe in what you are selling. You must ensure the products or services you are selling deliver fair value to the customer.
#12
CHARGE MONTHLY
SERVICE FEES
There is no revenue better than reoccurring revenue. Build your business around monthly service fees at scale.
#13
#14
OWN CASHFLOW
PRODUCING ASSETS
#15
BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Build loyal customer relationships that can last a lifetime. Loyal customers bring consistent cashflow to your business.
#16
BUILD A CORE TEAM
#17
GAIN CONTROL
OVER YOUR TIME
#18
BECOME
FINANCIALLY LITERATE
Learn how money works and learn how to invest it into different asset classes. Never stop expanding your financial literacy.
#19
HAVE A GROWTH MINDSET
#20
GIVE BACK
Get behind good causes you believe in. Contribute to your community. Help to solve the world’s biggest social problems.
#21
NEVER GIVE UP
No matter how hard things get, never give up. Wake up everyday and try again. Success compounds over failure, over time.
#22
CARVE YOUR OWN PATH
#23
BE A GOOD PERSON
#24
STAY HUMBLE & HUNGRY
No matter how successful you get or how easy life gets, remain humble with the people around you, and hungry for more.
