Mathew Knowles - Speaker, Corporate Consultant, and Advisor | Building Beyonce’s Brand

He sold over 450 million records worldwide and worked with some of the biggest names and music chief marketing officer of House of Darien and founded Music World Films and TV which oversees a $275 million fund. So imagine George Wallace is a governor. I'm in elementary school. I never went to a black school. You mentioned something. It was responsible for the successes and the failures in your life and your career. Be the best in corporate America. Transition into the music industry. Be one of the best executives and managers in the music industry to have the opportunity to manage Destiny's Child. The one integration. The only people that really integrated were black people. And it's the number one reason, Scott, why start off spale. Welcome to success story. I'm your host, Scott Clary. The success story podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast network. HubSpot has been a huge supporter of the show for over three years now and I'm a big fan of HubSpot because not only do they support the show, but they support entrepreneurs. They support founders and obviously building businesses, working with entrepreneurs has been a huge part of my career and building is never easy. HubSpot is not only tools and technology that supports entrepreneurs, but they also offer tons of resources and discounts. But first, what is HubSpot if you've never used it before? It is the platform that unites your entire front office from marketing to sales to support. It's the platform that streamlines your support tickets, it generates more leads, it increases your sales. It is the platform that scales right alongside you. Don't even get me started on the educational articles, industry reports, the videos, tips, templates, literally everything startup founders need to help scale. HubSpot for startups has it all. Building a business is tough, maybe make it a little bit easier on yourself, visit HubSpot.com slash startups to see how much you can save and see how much you can learn. Today my guest is Matthew Nolts. Matthew is a music industry veteran who has produced over 100 award-winning platinum and gold albums in multiple genres, including pop, R&B, gospel, dance, and country. He's sold over 450 million records worldwide and worked with some of the biggest names in music, including none other than Beyonce and Selange Nolts, as well as several other multi-platinum award-winning artists. He is a successful businessman, he served various roles and various organizations, including Chief Marketing Officer of House of Darion and founded Music, World Films, and TV, which oversees a $275 million fund for new film and television incentives. With an MBA and PhD in business administration, Nolts has held professorships at several universities and colleges. He also serves on over 10 boards, and is a minority owner of the 2021 WNBA Champions Chicago Sky. Take a point in your life and your career could have been when you were very young, it could have been maybe when you're a little bit older, there was a major realization, a major inflection point that sort of pushed you to where you are today. What's something that was very memorable for you that shifted your perspective, your mindset that sort of altered the course of what you were trying to accomplish? Well the least got to really happen and that defining moment, it happened for me very young. I grew up in Gaston, Alabama, and I was born in 1952, so that meant that in 1958, way before you were born, they knew a little bit. Yeah, happened in 1958, I was in elementary school. So imagine George Wallace is a governor. I'm in elementary school. I never went to a black school, Scott, until my junior year of college, which mean if 58, I was integrating elementary, then junior high, then high school, Gaston high, then university of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The defining moment for me actually was at Litchfield, junior high, junior high school. It was my first day, and my first class was English, and I went in there and said, you know, I wanted to be kind of discreet and quiet and set in the middle of the class, and then I was asked to read a paragraph out of Shakespeare, which I really bumble really bad, and all the white kids laughed at me through spitballs. That was a defining moment for me that I said that would never get happy. I would work very hard to be the very best at what I did, regardless what it was, and to get the respect deserved. How did that impact your career, what you pursued, what your passions were? Obviously, that's a super traumatic event in anyone's life, and that's something that I'll never have to experience. It would never even understand the mindset of somebody that would go through that. So I want to understand how that impacted your life decisions. Did this create a chip on your shoulder that you actually found benefited a lot of the things that you took on? How did this actually play out? Yeah. Well, what it didn't do was put a chip on my shoulder. It just wanted me to work harder. It wanted me, and you said it with a key word, trauma. I ended up going to therapy almost 10 years, and it was only until the third or fourth year when I changed therapists, and for the first time had a black male therapist. Then I understood that it was the racial trauma that was impacting me. It's interesting because my therapist said that because of that racial trauma is why I've been so successful, and because of that racial trauma is why I've screwed up sometimes in my life. And fortunately, I've gotten past that, but that's how it impacted me, and it impacted me in other ways by always being the first, for example, I was the first black to be in a medical division of zero adults, and to gratefully be the number one sales rep worldwide three years out of four. And I could go on and on the first black to sell MRICT scanners in America. So it impacted me in that way to really want to excel, and that would have shipped, but would just money to be the very best of it, idea to do the work, do the research. That's so interesting. You mentioned something. It was responsible for the successes and the failures in your life and your career, and it still is, you know, as you mentioned that, you know, you mentioned what you were born, and obviously you're slightly older than I am, but you're not exceptionally old. It's not like this where it is. You're rough. It was not like this was like in a different universe and in a different time. It's, you know, whatever a couple of years ago, which is scary as hell, it really is, but now you start to think about the successes and the failure. So what did this, this trauma create in your life? What successes were a derivative of this trauma? What failures were a derivative of this trauma? And also I'm super curious, whenever I speak to somebody who was like the first black man who's done this and that and this and that, how far have we progressed? How far have we, like, what's the difference in today's society? What's different? What hasn't changed? Super curious as to your perspective. You know, your perspective, because you lived through a lot of everything, really. Yeah. So yes, we said in question, so I was kind of, I did. I'm super curious. I'm so silly. I'm super. Okay, let's start with the one. You're right. You're right. I got you. I got you. So, so what giving one of the questions? Okay, let's say, let's say the traumas, the trauma that you experienced as a child. How did that impact the success and the failure? Yeah, well, that trauma again is what led me, for example, to be the best in corporate America to transition into the music industry and to be one of the best executives and managers in the music industry to have the opportunity to manage Destiny's Child, who are the number one female group of all time to have managed DSA with our question, the number one female artist in a goat who's won more Grammys than anyone in the history of music. It is dull type of things, but also there was a period about 13, 14 years ago where I imploded and I imploded in relationships, my marriage and I had to rectify that and I had to that's why I saw help for myself. I thought, I talk all the time about therapy. Some people get really uptight about it. Some people view it as a weakness. I don't. I view it as a strict. I view it as an opportunity. And when you asked about failure, you know, in one of my books, the DNA of achievers, I talk about the 10 traits of highly successful professionals. And one of those is learning from mistakes and learning from failure. An understanding is that those are opportunities for us to grow rather than quit. We often want to have a life free from trouble, but what we really should focus on is trying out over trouble. And oftentimes we don't look at it that way. And so then the follow up question to that because I did ask seven questions in a row. And it's just so it's so it's so it's so much ingrained in part of the DNA of your origin story. So I think it's important to unpack the reality then versus the reality now. So young black professionals are you optimistic about the changes that have happened over the last 50 years when you work with young black professionals, entrepreneurs, artists, people that are trying to build something from scratch. So I spoke and do a lot of different people and I'll give some context. I spoke into I spoke into women that are underrepresented in venture capital entrepreneurship. I've spoken to a founder of a black startup incubator. And some of the stats are actually astonishing that I've only heard second hand through some of the interviews I've done akin to the massive disproportionate amount of capital that has been funded into black entrepreneurs, something like in the history of startups, there's only been one or two black entrepreneurs that have received over a million dollars in seed stage funding. Mind blowing stats that don't quite compute. So when you hear that in 22, 2023, all of a sudden you recognize that obviously we're not where we have to be. But also, how far have we come? Well, it's a good question. You know, Scott, I, for 18 years, I've been in academia also teaching at Cornell. I teach at Pepperdine now. I teach at the London College of Creative Creative Media in London. I'm the dean at the African-American, uh, Collins Museum, a music and Nashville. Um, and so I, I work with young people and I've spent a lot of time in the black community as well. And I can tell you that it's really interesting and I was trying to think of the, the correct word to use. How you're right. When I talk about entrepreneurship, what a room full of black folks, uh, oftentimes our number, what, as you know, Scott, access to capital is number one thing for entrepreneurship. And if you don't have access to capital, it actually makes it extremely difficult to succeed. It's, so dual his sword sometimes is the lack of knowledge and in the lack of knowing how to even go about getting capital. Uh, that's why I like going out and speaking on, uh, to, to all communities about access to capital and what that means, because if you don't have that, then again, it makes it extremely difficult. And it's the number one reason, Scott, why startup failed is lack of account. Uh, so, you know, I, I, I, I, and when I look at what's happened over the years, often say that doing integration, the only people that really integrated were black people. We integrate, you know, we moved out into the white communities and now you see white communities moving into the black communities. Um, and we have to know, when I grew up, we had black grocery stores. We had plaque, you know, attorneys, adopters, it, it hair salons and nails and lines. Uh, you don't see that anymore in a black community. Uh, so that by, that's what I mean when I say the only people that integrated were, were us, we, we had upgraded and allowed other communities to come and, and thrive it economically in our communities. And I talk about that. And I think this is great, Scott, because this is the, the type of platform that I love because we can educate people often. It's time. It's a tough conversation always. It's always a, it's always a tough conversation because and I want, I didn't want to interrupt. I wanted like highlight how important it is to have these conversations because I know that it's like, I mean, you've written books on this, you speak on this, you're obviously somebody who has lived through this and overcome adversity regardless of, of all the things that have been placed on you and your family. So is there, is there potential and possibility for people who are underrepresented to succeed? Yes, but I mean, it's not perfect. And then how do we, then the question then becomes like, how do we solve it? And I think to solve all the inequity in the world, I think conversations like this about realities that you experience every single day, that's how you solve. But people shy away from these conversations. They do, Scott, because again, for most black businesses, they go to the bank to try to bar $100,000, or $10,000 even. And I share it. I always get our brows raised. It's as you know, it's easy to raise $10,000,000. Then it is to raise $50,000,000, a thousand percent. People look at me like, what the hell does he mean by that? If you know, you know, if you know, you know, bro, you know, oh, it's so, you know, I try to share that, that wealth of knowledge with folks and others helped them understand the importance of putting together business plans and really understand the marketing, which a lot of people really will have a real depth. And I hope I can come back and really get into detail on entrepreneurship and marketing. Because this is a very hot pot. No, we will. We will. Don't, don't, don't you worry, man? Don't fear it. I'm tapping into your, I'm tapping into your marketing brain and not letting you get away. They're learning a little bit because I need to listen, man. You've built some of the biggest brands in the world. I got to learn a little bit. So anyways. So, you know, you spoke about, you spoke, and this is an interesting conversation about, about trauma is trauma is in your life that have benefited, uh, benefited you and hurt you. And I think a lot of that trauma has allowed you to, uh, be the educator and the, and the advisor to people that you are now. Because if you don't experience failure in your life, you, you don't know how to teach other people how to overcome it. So, um, let's continue on your journey, your path. You mentioned traumas in your life. Um, you dealt with major traumas in terms of your health and wellness, but walk me through, I guess your mindset, your professional journey, how, uh, how you perceived success, how you perceived business success and perhaps how that changed when you were diagnosed with cancer. What does that mean for you? Yeah, all of that change. Once you, I was diagnosed with cancer and I think anyone has had any type of major illness, Scott will agree with me. What was important before those things will become as important at all. Um, it's really about saliva, survival and the quality of life because you want to have a, a great quality of life. And, you know, it was really interesting. You know, I talked about that I worked at the Xerox medical systems. So, so, for those you that don't know, I was diagnosed with male breast cancer. Uh, I call it male chest cancer. We'll get into why I call it that. Uh, but, you know, as Xerox medical system, guess what I saw? Zero radiography, which was the leading modality in the 80s for breast cancer. So, there was one day because we did a lot extensive training because I dealt with radiologists directly. Um, and when it was one day of one eye training sessions with normally at 30 day training sessions, we had a, a day on male breast cancer. And I was optional at once time if you wanted to come back or not and, um, almost all of the cells ripped were, were male. So, a lot of, the guys decided not to come back at it. So I came back and luckily I did it because they saved my life. You know, I would get, I understood at that moment that I had this nipple discharge, I knew exactly what it could be and call my doctor who had never had a man in this 50 years of practice, asked for a mammogram. And, and I said, well, sorry, I'm, they've gone, I'm not that really asking for mammogram. Well, I'd meet you that, because we found me, they killed a mammogram, because I, I have a hint that I think I know what it is. In that moment, it, I actually looked at my, my, my, my radio, radio breast. And, and I knew exactly when I looked at it, what it was. Then I had a biopsy and then I had the surgery all at the same week. Uh, that he absolutely changed my life. Fortunately, Scott, I was stage one, a, and cancer is in one, two, three, four stages in the higher the number, the, the more challenging it is, well, recovered. So fortunately, I, I caught it very early, but I've always got been on this platform, urging women to get mammograms. I've always been on this, this platform when talking about early detection, um, for men and women, the various diseases. So it, it was very, um, mind-bottling and I asked that question to my stuff, why me? Like, why would I get diagnosed with male breast cancer, all things? And, and I realized it was an opportunity that I could actually, hopefully have a platform to even save lives in at the end of the day. That's what's important. I love it. And honestly, when something like that happens, it totally shifts your perspective into, to what's important. Like you mentioned, it just changes everything. And then you start to focus on health, wellness, support systems, family. And I'm actually, you know, it's a, it's a commentary on a lot of the people listed the show are our entrepreneurs and a lot of them focus on nothing, but their business. And I'm sure for a significant period of your life, that was very much you. I'm sure there was no, there was no question of how they're well, it was probably working nonstop. I mean, I can only imagine like if you're like anybody who's built anything, your nonstop, you know, blinders on, focused, like where to next, what do we do next. And I think that this is a great reality check. Now, I'm also curious, you got to just the opposite. Really? I was just the opposite. Why? How? Explain, explain how? It knows that for 20 years, I saw diagnostic imaging. You know, I saw MRI. I know the importance of that. I was a neurosurgical specialist with Johnson that Johnson, I was the guy if I had a headache, I wanted to get an MRI. I was the guy that wanted to go get a blood test every six months. I always wanted to be because I understood that I couldn't yell out the financial wealth without my health. So I was just the opposite. I was, I was never that guy that's like, I don't go to the doctor. I was, my doctor was like, oh, here he comes again. Okay. Okay. So then I'll change it. I'll change it up right now. So you are what people should be. You are what people should be, but you're, but I don't think enough people are. I absolutely agree. Once I was diagnosed, I had to make a lifestyle change. God, you know, I had to lose weight because cancer loves obesity. I had to get in physical shape. You know, I hadn't worked out in years. And and so now I worked out, you know, I worked out today and yesterday. I reduced alcohol consumption, the other thing that that the cancer loves. So I had to make a total lifestyle change and the reduction of stress. That's why we moved to California. That's why I love waking up in the morning and looking at the ocean. I was fortunate to re-marry this amazing woman 10 years ago. It'd be 10 years in June, who's my best friend. And and and so all of these days happened for me. And and when you went through this journey, what were the what were the things that kept you positive? What were the things that allowed you to to keep going to maintain like just energy, like there's water, fever in your day to day because it's a very depressing situation to be in. So you were probably in the best position. You were primed for it. You understood the outcomes and the potential outcomes and the potential treatment. So how do you maintain that mindset? Yeah, you know, knowledge is power, Scott. And and you write most people have no clue about the medical community or how to have a conversation with their doctor or to research themselves. If someone when I get a my ankle swells, the first thing I'm going to do is Google, ankle swellings. What are the reasons why ankle swell? I mean, Google is just that simple. It is the first thing I do. I want to kind of understand why why is this happening? I've always been going back to that junior high school kid. I'm taking this back curiosity. I've always went with was very curious, wanting to learn and grow. And and also how did you pay so you have you obviously had a lot going on when this was happening in your business and your professional and your relationships. How do you maintain this? How do you how do you balance out so that your life doesn't fall apart in shambles? Because this is also a major life changing event. Well, you know, I give you an example doing COVID. Doing COVID, I was so frightened that I was going to get COVID. And thankfully I never got COVID. My wife never got COVID. I was so frightened though because I just literally six months before COVID has surgery. You know, I had my cancer scare. And still, you know, the one thing I want to say is that I, a lot of people say, well, you know, you you're a survivor. You survived cancer. And I understand enough about cancer to know that it's almost a day to day thing. I'm cancer free today. That doesn't mean I walk will be cancer free tomorrow, Scott. So I look at it that way. It was a lot of people like, oh, you know, cancer free. And I know a lot of people are cancer free for a moment. Yeah. It comes back. It comes. Yeah. So I look at it differently. And fortunately, it was therapy going back to a house of a college teacher professor. I could go off topic and then get back a little topic. I need to do it. Okay. So let's go back all topic because we were talking about COVID and the impact of COVID and how frightened I was actually for 30 days. And I hadn't talked to my therapist for years. Called him up and say, hey, man, I'm going through something here. I'm taking my temperature 10 times a day. I'm having my oxygen meter on my figure. I'm telling my wife she can't go outside. You know, I'm I'm freaking out here. I eat some. And what there was determined is that I had never come come to grip. Scott never came to grips with the fact I was scared I was going to die when I was diagnosed with cancer. I never came to grips with that. And then he shared that in a in a crisis, whatever that thing that's unresolved is multiplied 25s. So it was on resolve. My fear that I was going to die of male breast cancer. And so it was multiplied 25 times with COVID. So you you in this point in your life, you dealt with mental concerns because of this trauma that from from the male breast cancer or chest cancer that were never resolved. You had you had like physical items like physical health and wellness dieting alcohol. So this was just like a major 180. So I guess, you know, the net of this conversation is after going through all this, if somebody is is younger, say you're talking to me and I'm younger and I'm not paying attention because I am the entrepreneur that doesn't pay attention to my health as much as I should. I go to the gym, but I mean, I'm not paying as I still drink. Probably too much sometimes. I'm still young. So what what are the takeaways? How do you focus on your mental health? What's the routine? How do you focus on your health, your physical health and well-being? So that hopefully you you de-risk the chance of something like this ever happening to you in the first place because this is just a tough time. Well, the thing started to be proactive and it starts now with as we are moving in medical technology, it is really about genetics. I'm brought up to mutate it and that means one of my genes to their one of my parents had retated genes or grandparents in the triple down to me and for me that means I have a greater risk, not that I will, but I have a greater risk of prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, melanoma. Every year I get checked with those things. Obviously breast cancer, male chest cancer was one of them as well. So if my advice to anyone that's 30 and older, do you get a genetic test? Know what your possibilities are. It's a salado sample who are in a 50 bucks. It's well worth just knowing and if you are and you could do a cancer as well as cardiovascular disease, then you know you might just want to be cautious and you might want to have annual checkups much faster. Look, I've made a whole lot of money man and it does not matter. Cancer doesn't care what age you are, what color you are, any of that. I'm just telling off, see a lot of successful people go down because they didn't take care of their health. Both physical and mental, I've seen a lot of successful people, me being one of that took on so much I kept taking on more and more and then became the president of Soul My Company in 2002. It then ran a major, major entertainment company and had artists like the old days and shock of con and cool at a gang and all of my label. I took on too much. I was traveling. I had offices in the L.A. offices in Houston, offices in New York. I was in London almost every two weeks. I was on an airplane almost 65% of the 70% of the time. I took on too much and imploded. So when you're taking on that much, you really have to look at your health there. I love it and how does that change your you know now that it's sort of come full circle. It's actually interesting just a point. I ask everybody, I've had incredible people on this show. I ask everybody what their definition of success is and zero times ever been financial success. The people that I speak to have already achieved incredible things and it's never financial success. There's always another measure that they put in but I'm curious how this refocuses your priorities. So what do you focus on that? What moves the needle for you personally knowing that life is precious? What moves the needle for me is family and there was a part of that crisis in my life that I lost my family and unfortunately to say I've regained my family and I realized how just how important that is family and being connected and for me that's the most important thing is something I continuously work on. I put effort and the emphasis on working on connecting with my kids. That's really important to me. What and I'm curious like you you're the patriarch of one of the most famous music families in the world but there's a lot of other families that are trying to work through you know businesses together I know even my girlfriends who work with their two sisters and I think that from your advice given the given the level that you've played at what are some of the lessons some of the business lessons some of the life lessons of working so intimately with family. How do you navigate that relationship? The question because you know we had the House of Dairy on clothing line that made my former wife and and Beyonce will partners in you know my former wife was a stylist and then created the image of Destiny's Child did an exceptional job. I matched both of my daughters they've been on my red bracket label Kelly Wallen it would like a daughter she lived with us since she was 12 years left and 12 years old so I look at her as a daughter as well and it's difficult because the challenge is knowing when to let this go and by that what I mean I could be talking about you know what I'm gonna be on Scott's show tomorrow and somehow in my in our kitchen that would get to business it would get off the fact that I was gonna be on your show it would be like you know I know maybe the next video and so we could never set it all and with families work together they have to be able to shut it all and and just do family time and that's I just want to take a second and give a shout out to HubSpot and the HubSpot podcast network that's who brings you this show every single week if you love success story you love some other great podcasts in the HubSpot podcast network like creator science it's one of my personal favorites it's hosted by Jay Claus creator science goes behind the scenes of today's top creators they do interviews and Jay explores how creators like Tim Urban James Clear Tory Dunlap Cody Sanchez are building their audiences today and honestly by learning how these creators make a living with their art and their creativity creator science really helps you gain the tools and confidence to do the same this is where I go from my playbook on how to learn from the best creators listen to creator science wherever you get your podcasts yeah I see it I see it in in friends that work with family and whatnot and it's you know it's a it's a it's a blessing and a curse because what is working what is working with family soul for a soul for trust you don't have to worry about trust you don't have to worry about I mean God forbid you hopefully don't have to worry about the employee or the peer stealing from you are lying to you because you have that built trust but then you have it's just because you're always in each other's space and I think that there's I mean it's just a tough environment but I think that there's something beautiful to it I mean the people that build the biggest you know you look at thinking of other famous families like even like the Kardashians like look at the look at the empire they've built love them or hate them they build incredible products and they do it all together and there's a lot of discord in that family there's a lot of omelets that I'm sure not so you know cum baya and happy but I mean there's something to be said for for what you've navigated which I don't think there's a playbook for it either I really don't think there is you know it's got one of my proudest walmets was recently when Beyonce won that that Grammy that made her to win the winningest winner of all times was which and by the way congratulations that's incredible the absolutely incredible and she went up and she thought she thanked God first and then she thanked me and she thanked her mother and I thought that's just said why the who she thought to thank verse in our life and I tell you a tear fill a tear puttu fill when you when you you know when you look at everything like Beyonce and and Solange is accomplished in their careers like what is the what is the thought that comes to mind I think that's the most I don't want to there's so much to explore in like that particular conversation but like the overarching feeling of the career and the life that you've built together well you know both of both of these women are soul soul soul talent and this is their passion and again the DNA of the cheapest just talking about those 10 traits and the starts with passion and just they will we never we be in my former wife and I I used to say Scott you appreciate this I used to say hey Beyonce if you want to be a doctor just go to law school and when you finish your dad up without bought a hospital that's just I bought you know I was like any what did you got the cut you know you're not gonna work for anybody because I've come from up on a third generation entrepreneur you know most people don't know that you know my grandfather was entrepreneur my grandmother was an entrepreneur and my parents both of them were entrepreneurs so so but to answer your question know that college professor I know how to come back to yesterday question you know the thing that I'm most proud of Scott is both Beyonce and Solange would say hello and kindness to the janitor the same way they would say it to the president of United States that's what I love that they're just really authentic kind people that have never really done you know entertainment brings about a lot and when you think about both of them uh other than that it's always a funny mip moment with Solange in the elevator but other than that they've never really done any controversial stuff the society looked at and they've been doing this for 30 plus years I mean you know that's it itself what I'm really proud of yeah I love and you think about that you think about the exposure they have right I mean when you've been in the game for so long if you're a good person people know you're a good person if you're a shitty person people know you're a shitty person you can't hide it there are years no um I want to so I guess I'm gonna throw it to you I'm gonna ask which direction you'd like to go and so we sort of spoke about your journey uh some of the challenges you've overcome I think that dude I have a lot of different things that we could go into but I think that there's sort of like two main buckets so it's up to you and I'll I'll throw it to you maybe then like we'll do like another one next time so I think about performance and again like the DNA of the highest achievers in the world or you can talk about marketing brand both of those are super interesting topics what do you think is more relevant to what you're working on right now in terms of like messaging what you want to teach over you know I look you know we end on the public speaker um I all over the world speaking and that's really my focus today it really my passion uh so I love talking about the DNA of achievers what are the traits and let me tell you Scott how I that was my first of five books that I've written I was just on the plane one day of it back then people don't do it as much now Scott but no 15 years ago people in first class I finally got to move from coach to first class it hit and you know you asked somebody what do you do well people in talk to each other now because does there either watching the movie or only listening to music but you know people will be engaged and excited to tell you what they did and I started thinking man all of these people are always so excited to tell me but they are sitting basically the same traits and I thought about myself and and how my small success was and I said well so it starts with passion what is that thing that I that you've identified because that's the challenge got most people haven't identified their passion but passion is the fuel that energizes you it's it's the thing that you go to bed at night thinking about and you wake up in the morning is the thing you prepare for because you just love what you do it so so I'd realize that passion is where success all starts well without passion there's no possibility of extreme success because what in calling this with passion like a glove our work ethics and and those folks at a passionate realize when you live your passion you never work a day in your life and when you see people like Venus and Kobe Bryant God blesses all it and Lebron and be honest say these tiger woods these people that are the best in the world at it what people don't see are their work ethics no Kobe Bryant has something called I love those calls 666 and what that stood for us in the off season he would for six months on the off season that's how much time he had he would go to the gym six days a week practice six hours a day think about this it is all time that's what he did and you look at Stefan Curry he shifts a thousand three pointers every day of practice a thousand and then most people don't understand how passing the work ethics go together that's why these people are so successful this cannot like mouth of blood will it outliers and he talk about the 10,000 hours that are required you see I'm getting excited and I'll Scott yeah I got you no it's good I was my shit man this is my shit I'm all for it let's go but what you would you say that then you see those work ethics and then you understand that these people are risk takers also they take risks they they they outside the box they're not bots and thinkers they're by bots and thinkers most of us have been conditions Scott that we have to do things a certain way since childhood we will condition like someone whispering in our ear why we can't do it well you can't do it because you poor you can't do it because you black you can't do it because you part of the LGBTQ community all these reasons why you can't do and what we do is we're inside a box hitting walls all day long we just bounce and you guess walls because we believe we can't do it and if we invited someone in our box they would be just like us a bots and thinkers so the giving analogy if I'm a hater then I'm gonna want another hater in my box you know the bots and so but when you step outside of that box there's no boundaries at all so part of success is how we condition ourselves to think and not to be bots then what we think like part of I think I'm not my eyes to success is I never did it the way everybody else did it no when we came into the music industry they were in the record industry I was in the branding and a branding part of the business they didn't understand branding an endorsement and how I'm saying okay this is child marketing budget is a million dollars but if I got laurel sms song now the marketing budget is already billion dollars and so I understood that coming from corporate America you know it's only those two traits you know it's about building a team and and and then building a team you have to have amazing leader someone at motivates people someone it knows how to communicate someone knows how to listen that holds people accountable and responsible it's got you get me going and I bro I love it though no I know because I want to unpack what you experience and and the way that you look at the world and the way that you unpack passion the way that you found passion you're you know your multi-generational entrepreneur and and your parents are entrepreneurs and your grandparents are entrepreneurs and your daughters are entrepreneurs in their own everyone's entrepreneur everybody's found their passion and nailed in like zeroed in on it and then doubled down on that again and again and again that's why you're successful but I guess then the question is say everyone's bought into this concept and they should be but the question is how do they find that how do they how do they find that because you went through multiple iterations you went through you went through things that you were probably less passionate about before you found your passion I'm sure for your daughters the two I'm sure I don't know at what age I'm not as as into their life history I'm sure a lot of people are but I'm sure there's other things they tried that weren't as great as what they actually ended up doing I had to fail you're wrong on both accounts you're right we're killing I was very focused on knowing what my past it was I knew I wanted to be the number one sales rep in the world that was why I love selling I love marketing I still to this day love selling a marketing I'm selling now marketing now yeah you're right I always knew that so you're saying that passion that passion is it's it's not that the industry was the passion it's like the activity was the passion and you just pivot where you focus that energy well as sometimes you know we we we make it very complicated I'm a god of bullet beliefs and simplicity it's just because I talk about you're right most people don't know their passion how about we take a pit and a piece of paper and just write down the things we love to do how about we just start right there since the period paper and write down everything what do you love doing because what most people and you know a lot of successful people Scott their success is often in things that are not the norm not the major name type of stuff the all brand kind of stuff and people look at them like that's what she do oh yeah you know I I still this I'm making up something this type of the widget for the oil fields well that's not sexy but they could be making a billion dollars with this product right but so oftentimes people get persuaded rather than persuaded to do something because it's the cool thing and if it's not the cool thing then they're embarrassed to even tell people it's their passion they're really you're literally like I'm not telling you by I really love that because they don't look at me like I'm crazy well that thing is probably the thing that you could be most successful with because you love it so much and you'll put in them work you do the the get the research done you go back to school you go the seminars you do all of this stuff that's required to be really successful people just overcomplicate the shit out of it and they just you just spend their wheels most of most most people over over complicate stuff lifers yet can be real simple if we allow it to be no I love and I appreciate you know I just assumed that day one you didn't know exactly what you want to do because I feel like that's again I think that's more me imprinting that's day one I did know what I want to do and sometimes I'm trying to teach over the thing for the average person that isn't so laser focused on on exactly where they want to be I think that's a blessing actually and you know if the if the goal is to it's a blessing when you get it and you're focused on it but like let's say the goal of this is to like get people to that spot and feel comfortable and just hang out in that spot and that's where excellence is a lot of it those guys is parenting skills like like for example with with Salonja Beyoncé we exposed them when they were kids and I'm talking about five six seven years old we exposed them we would take them to science fairs we would take them because we're in Houston we would take them to NASA we would take them to the medical center we would take them to plays we would expose them to all sorts of things and then we would just be quiet as parents and watch what they gravitated toward and it was always entertainment was always thingy and dancing what they gravitated so once we knew that and always tell parents how do you know it's a kids passion it's very simple the day you have to tell them to go to practice or remind them to go to practice it's a hobby not a passion it's a hobby and that's okay it's okay to have hobbies a lot of people are confused about hobbies versus passion but we knew that was like his passion seeing and so then we put them in a dares truth and then they got more exposure and then someone came and said I do we like to put Beyoncé in this girl group and so you just were organically happened Beyoncé as Salonja have never ever ever ever said they wanted to do anything on there then because yes you I loved it okay so then and I was I guarantee is never said anything different as you know I guarantee is never said anything different think about it these people have never wanted to be anything other than what they are and they knew it at our early early age so my parents always is still entrepreneurship and they were you know they went highly educated but they knew sales it and so I always enjoy the opportunity to sell people on me I had to the black here at the white school I had to sell you like don't be here today I've had stuff I've had a stuff that's still the sky I I've finally understood that Julia high school man if I play basketball and this white people are treating me differently so I started really focusing on being a really good basketball player to by the time I was a senior at all the scholarships but I always do I always knew sales of marketing was what they do you think that you know let's fast forward to somebody who's later on in their in their career and they're trying to build something they're an entrepreneur and they're you know they feel like they found their passion but it's not working out like they're showing up every day and failure failure failure roadblocks failure when when do you know the something at a later stage a good parenting less you just gave it at a later stage somebody's trying to build something when do you know it's not a passion when you know it's not something that you should be doing when you throw in the towel when do you double down you know that's a really good question when do you throw in the towel you know the question is have you given it all that you can get the question is have you done the things required have you got knowledge have you really got gone as seat and soft the type of knowledge that you need to really be good at what you're doing and oftentimes oftentimes the answer is no you haven't done all you ever checked off all the things you need to do to really be successful that's more than not and yes this is always some you know times there be like this just is not going to happen I've had to have to with artists where I chip coughing up money and money and money but my kept blinders long that they just didn't have it they just weren't passionate about it they didn't want to put it at the work to be great at and that's the same type of example and so I experienced that in the record industry as an executive many times I've had to unfortunately drop artists and for those of you don't know what that means that's like when you get fired we call it we drop you you call it we fired you and so you know sometimes I had to fire up artists it is a very difficult thing but you didn't realize this decision you have to make for the best of the company uh and it often is for the best of them because they just it goes back to that passion thing I don't know because generally anybody that's extremely passionate they have to throw in a towel I really have to think about that I'm sure there are some but I have to think about it after after you know we'll we'll we'll finish up the entrepreneur conversation or sort of the the high performer conversation I guess it kind of dovetails the entrepreneurship but we'll finish up in a second but I would say the one more one more question I have for you on this is once you found that passion and you're executing then what is the the number one DNA trait or personality trait that allows that person to maintain long to is it grit is it perseverant is it resilient what is the thing you see time and time again after they've identified their passion that's the first thing and then what allows them to grow that thing and be successful over 10 20 30 years well and I think it's the tip ways I talk about I mean these successful people they build the right team around them you'd find any successful basketball player or entrepreneur earnestly have a great team around them so they find this and create the right team around them I think they're visionaries they don't go and ask Scott I have an idea what do you think about it true visionaries never do that true visionaries say Scott I'm about to start this business and this is what I need from you I don't need your opinion I need to tell you what I need from you for they help me to be successful and often most people say yeah can you give me your opinion well are they qualified to even give their opinion and oftentimes they're not qualified to give an opinion and so that visionary knowing that being a visionary is a lonely road it's a very lonely road but you accept that you know it's about strategic planning that's part of one of the traits you have to strategically plan out three years five years would you ever get on an airplane and the palette didn't have a pop maped out a plan of how he's gonna get from Houston to Boston no no I would not I wouldn't get on that damn plate we we we we we live our lives and we live our business this that way we don't have a plan though we're just by the state of our pants we're flying blind in the air as they say I saw successful people think out a strategic plan uh they understand how eagle also can play a two-failure you know what my definition of eagle skydish you never heard this this is the Matthew Knows definition of eagle eagle is the anesthesia that denies the pain of stupidity I'm gonna try to come out I love it is the anesthesia that denies the pain of stupidity very good very very good definition and often that gets in a way of success because we don't want to listen to those that aren't allowed to to share and give information so there's no one formula other than it has to start with passion and then there's these other traits I think that goes with it I love that um if you had one final thing to tell over to a young entrepreneur or somebody just young in their career that to be an entrepreneur could be an artist it could be an entrepreneur could be somebody who's just graduating high school or college what would that piece of advice be you know I I said it early and I I want to end with it that's failure and mistakes are going to happen and light in your business mistakes are going to happen in your life in your business you have to understand that that's how we learn I have never learned Scott from being the most successful person in a role as matter of fact there's all all saying you know I some people I want to be the smartest in a role or I am the smartest in the role well for me it's just an opposite I never want to be the smartest in the role I want to walk in a room where people are smarter than me that I can learn and as all that's what I would tell people is to continue to grow continue to have knowledge I speak and I do this is from a place of knowledge not from a place of emotions because if you work in corporate or as entrepreneur any aspect emotions will be equal failure because when you make those decisions they won't be analytical they won't be the appropriate right decision there'll be emotional on feelings and that always gets you in trouble so those are the things that I say to young people get that knowledge get that experience humble yourself in turn learn from other people that are success and let that be you know when I was at zoo art school operation I just had started there and I tell them this quickly I I got to use to go to work early in the branch manager with get it around step and I actually would get there about 6.45 and the Wall Street Journal was at the door and I came up with this idea like I'm gonna take the Wall Street Journal and I'm gonna make the branch manager come and ask for it and it where like nobody was there and send me to the morning people slowly coming he's like anybody seen the Wall Street Journal after three or four days and I'll say oh yeah I have it he's like coming to my office I thought oh shit I'm gonna get fired kids are stealing our newspapers he says knows why why did you take my Wall Street Journal I said well worth I wanted to understand I just read the business section I just wanted to be current on when I'm and when I'm talking to decision makers because that's who I talk to I talk to presidents so I want to be able to communicate effectively with them on transit of happen and what's going on in the business world he says I love that he says I tell you what I want you to read the Wall Street every day and then come and download me every day and so in that I one day said it worth I want to be the best sales rep ever in zeroes and I'm asking you which you please mentor me and sometimes part of success is asking for help and asking people are telling them you want to be a bit how do you say no to so what's got what they say you know I want to be the very best I'm one day want to have a podcast and I want it to be the very best and you're really good at it Scott would you please just could I enter him for you you know how you're gonna try to out there you know you can you ever listen just that easy it's just that easy success I love we make it so difficult I love amazing yes keep it simple keep it simple is like the take away from all of this because you're right we just spoke an hour about things that should be very basic but are way over complicated are way too conflated way too confusing and there there really is no need for it to be like that at all um okay let's okay so where are we sending people uh where do you want people to go check out all the work that you're doing your books social what's the website well because I keep a shuffle I send people to one place and that's to my name Matthew Knowles dot com uh and by the way Matthew it has one tiered it uh I'll I'll tell you this joke because I you know I grew up in gas and Alabama and and when I was born uh my dad name is Matthew a two T's and so the nurse came and said well Mr. Knowles uh at that second T and Matthew is gonna cost a thousand dollars he was like forget it uh what's that gonna cook this up and saw it so it'll one T although by that has two T's I want to see uh that's hilarious but it's so funny but I see there with the Matthew Knowles dot com and that's where you can book me to speak uh find out you know you can purchase the books there and I'll send you but you'll find out everything I'm doing and where I'm doing it I love it all right um and the last question I ask everyone after the incredible career you've had um and all the things you've gone through what is success mean to you wow obviously success today just means happiness man that's that's one word for me just happiness and how can I achieve and accomplish happiness and and for me it's in a number of ways I uh I get joy by doing and sharing my my wisdom my failures my successes my family connecting um my amazing wife who's my best friend that's what I I look at success today uh I don't look at you know the monetary if matter of fact people that know because of their past and they never did it for running you know they want it to make money but they did it because they just enjoy love I never heard people like I'm gonna do well I have heard people in the music industry say well I want to be artist because I want to make a lot of money I'm never seeing any of those people to see uh people that are truly successful do it because they're passionate about because they realize they have to do those other traits I just thought so for me it's finding happiness is that happiness and joy that I get every day uh by doing some of the stuff of things they're like I used to before my cancer I would never when I say never I would never look at flowers and trees and nature that's just what an important to me I was right at and gunning now I look at nature and I see the birds chirping I would get sunstest I have a hold count my camera just beautiful sunsets things that I never did before those are the things that are important today for me those are my definition of success