50 Matt Miller Owner School Spirit Vending
Matt Miller – Owner School Spirit Vending
Matt Miller grew up in the Chicago area. Matt went to the Air Force academy. He was blessed to be medically qualified and he did well enough in school to be invited to the flight training program after graduating. He flew for nine years. He was stationed in Lubbock, TX for six as a Air Force instructor pilot. He then went to Dover, DE for three years and when his commitment was up in 1998, he exited the military to join corporate America.
During his time in the miliary and the corporate world, he realized that he didn’t like people telling him what to do. After a short chuckle, Matt admitted that he didn’t like the fact that the rules were always changing and they weren’t changing in his favor. It was frustrating for him to have other people telling him who, what, why and where he was going.
Matt took to business online. He sold books on Ebay and he did some multi-level marketing, but none of these ventures produced what he was seeking. He was seeking an income that was passive in nature and offered something that he was really passionate about. One of his friends from church who mentioned that he and his young daughters had gotten started in the vending business. They were spending time together as a family and making money.
He thought this might be an opportunity for him to live the lifestyle he dreamed about. Matt bought his first gumball machine on Ebay. He drove across Houston on a Saturday morning in his 1998 Honda Accord with two of his kids in tow and that was the beginning of his vending career.
Making the Change and Succeeding
When Matt came out of the military and had to take a pay cut. He slowly worked his way up in the advertising space. He was #2 in the company out of 750 sales reps with the company he was working with. For some reason, his boss didn’t like this. She increased his quota by 96% when the average quota increase was 5 – 10%. That decision on her part ended up costing Matt and his family about $80k the next year. This caused a huge financial burden for Matt and so something needed to change.
Since Matt’s wife was responsible for home schooling her kids, the financial burden was Matt’s responsibility. This is why Matt decided to ultimately seek out entrepreneurship. Matt is a big believer of taking action.
“You can strategize your life away, but the only way you are going to move forward is to get it done, make it happen and figure things out.” – Matt Miller
The reason Matt decided to start School Spirit Vending was simple. In 2007 and 2008, the market tanked. People weren’t spending the extra money in the vending machines he had placed in the various restaraunts. Matt was frustrated. Right around that time, he had many kids from the neighborhood stop by his house raising money for the school. Matt didn’t think this was right. He thought that if he could find a way to help schools raise money and make it so the kids didn’t have to run around by themselves without their parents to keep them safe.
A couple months later, a good friend of Matt’s came by for dinner and told him about his idea. His friend, a gym teacher for a local school, thought it was a good idea and wanted to run it by the principal. Two weeks later, his friend called Matt and let him know they had an approval to bring in the first machine. Matt set up the machine and the numbers that machine did was incredible.
After testing the market even more, he found a model that was finally working. However, many of the schools weren’t willing to participate in the program as early adopters. They wanted to hear of other scenario’s that this is working in. Matt knew this was a good idea, but he just didn’t know how to get it out there.
He went online and did some searching. He found out that the Texas PTA was having an event in the Houston area. He thought this was a great idea to gain some exposure. He called a couple buddies to split the costs of the table, he got a logo thrown together along with some nice shirts. There were ten moms that totally loved the idea and Matt ended up signing up ten schools and the rest is history.
This was over eight years ago and now Matt is helping others start their own business through this proven franchise system.
FREE GIFT FROM MATT SPECIALLY FOR THE OPINERS
Live Your Dreams: Top 10 Reasons Why You Need To Start A Vending Business
If you want to learn more about or connect with Matt Miller, check out his links below and remember he welcomes all questions, comments and inquiries! Don’t forget to mention you heard about Matthew on Stop Riding the Pine:-)
Franchise Opportunity Website
School Spirit Vending Website for Schools
School Zone Podcast
Matt Miller on YouTube
Connect with Matt Miller on LinkedIn
Matt Miller on Facebook
(iTunes Shout Out) Neil Sattin
Here are the highlights of my conversation with Matt Miller if you are in a hurry:
- Who is Matt Miller? (3:39 Mark)
- Matt’s Story. (Overcoming Financial Challenges) (7:27 Mark)
- What does Matt Miller do today with regard to his franchise opportunities? (13:40 Mark)
- Matt talks about his Flight Instructor career in the Air Force – pretty cool! (22:00 Mark)
- Matt’s Break Away moment. (24:56 Mark)
Stop Riding the Pine is a lot of fun and we love sharing the shows we’ve done. We would greatly appreciate your assistance in helping us grow this show by not only downloading the episodes, but also sharing them. Leave comments and rate our show so we can make the show even better.
About Jaime Jay
Meet Jaime Jay – a man who wears many hats, and wears them all admirably. He's a master connector, an entrepreneur extraordinaire, and a published author who knows how to get things done.
Before he found his way to the business world, Jaime served his country as a brave paratrooper in the U.S. Army. But that's just the beginning of his many accomplishments.
He's the founder of the renowned Bottleneck Distant Assistant Services firm, and his book "Quit Repeating Yourself" has become a must-read for entrepreneurs everywhere.
When he's not busy building his empire, you can find him on his beloved Harley Davidson, cruising through the countryside and taking in the invigorating effects of Uitwaaien – a Dutch practice that involves facing the wind to boost health and relieve stress.
He enjoys spending his free time outside building stuff with his wife, Nikita the dog and their two kittens (for now at least) Tommy and Tater.
He is ‘over-the-moon’ happily married to his wonderful wife Sara, his amazing daughter, Jessica, who is serving our country as a United States Army soldier. Jaime and Sara are the proud grand parents of two beautiful little girls.
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