Matthew Saline is an experienced advisor, consultant, operator, and coach specializing in small to mid-size businesses. For more than 25 years, he has successfully owned and guided companies from concept to funding, launch, profitability, and sustainment. Through his starting and building companies, Matthew is an expert in business strategy, value creation, culture development, mission/purpose positioning, marketing and sales.

Currently, he is the owner of The Alternative Board – Philadelphia West (“TAB”). TAB facilitates peer advisory boards bringing Business Owners/CEOs/Partners/General Managers together on a monthly basis to help each other address the challenges and opportunities they face in running and growing their businesses. TAB Board members also benefit from an additional hour of private coaching each month, TAB’s proprietary set of strategic business tools and TAB’s global member network spanning 26 countries. It all combines to help members be more strategic and better stewards of their businesses.

In addition to TAB, Matthew’s consulting company Big Door Open, advises B2B and B2C companies on positioning, commercialization and monetization efforts, and marketability. Through Big Door Open, Matt enables B2C/B2B companies to go to market confidently and quickly achieve a triple-green bottom line – benefitting people, profitability, and the planet.

His passion for business innovation and service to others extends to his community involvement. Matthew mentors local early-stage businesses on how to accelerate their path towards success, providing advice on business operations, strategic marketing, revenue growth, and pitfall-avoidance strategies.

Matthew has been a Guest Lecturer at Drexel University’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship. He currently serves as an Advisor for Drexel University’s Food Labs. He is also a member of the Bar Associations of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and State of New Jersey.

Key Moments

[00:00:57] Entrepreneur advises companies, focuses on Philadelphia west.

[00:04:41] Smaller store, owner and partner started business.

[00:07:37] Alternative board offers strategic tools for small businesses.

[00:10:12] Rewards from being an entrepreneur are satisfying.

[00:14:43] Sales expert with small business experience.

Find Matt Online

https://www.tabphillywest.com

https://wwwbigdooropen.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsaline/

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Transcript (Provided by CastMagic.io)

Seth [00:00:00]:

Entrepreneur’s Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, so the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs, how we learn from adversity. Every week, I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneur’s Enigma. Let’s get started. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneurs in the Podcast.

Seth [00:00:35]:

I am your host as always, Seth. Today, I have a good buddy of mine, Matthew Salin. He is an experienced advisor, consultant, operator, and coach specializing small to mid sized businesses, for more than 25 years. Yes. 25 years. He looks good for his age. He has successfully owned and guided companies from concept of funding to launch to profitability and sustainment. Woo.

Seth [00:00:57]:

Through his he has his own business, and he also has his own franchise cohort of the of the alternative board, and he’s Philly West. He’ll talk to the Philly East if he want if if it’s interesting enough, But, generally, he sticks to the west of Philadelphia. He is based in the west of Philadelphia, so it makes sense that his business is over on that side of the world. He is his consulting company, Big Door Open, advises b to b and b to c companies on positioning commercialization and monetization efforts and, of course, marketing. And he’s just a good guy, very friendly, very outgoing, always gives good handshake, good hug at these events I see him. Hey, Matt. How’s it going, buddy?

Matthew [00:01:38]:

It’s It’s going well today. Thank you for having me on.

Seth [00:01:41]:

Oh, it’s it’s so much fun. I like having my buddies on here. It it’s good.

Matthew [00:01:44]:

Well So Thank you.

Seth [00:01:46]:

Have you always been an entrepreneur? Well,

Matthew [00:01:50]:

I came from an entrepreneurial family, and my company parents are are still with us. Yeah. My mother, although she’s She’s a very successful journalist and book, author. She was affiliated with Philadelphia Magazine for many, many years, but Built her own brand and did many things outside of that. She was on TV, radio, stuff like that. Oh. And He puts the

Seth [00:02:11]:

3 feet to step into.

Matthew [00:02:13]:

Yes. And my father, he was a very successful car dealer in South Jersey. So kitchen table was a lot of from my father, we were talking learned a lot about business. My dad didn’t go to college, And he said has sent both his children to graduate school. And so I learned a a tremendous amount from my father who Just instinct, experiences gained, things like that. And my mother talking about the different things she did and how she branded herself and

Seth [00:02:46]:

Yeah.

Matthew [00:02:47]:

That so the funny thing is my career did not start as an entrepreneur. I started as a lawyer.

Seth [00:02:53]:

Oh. And

Matthew [00:02:55]:

yeah. It was the, back in the early nineties when, the real estate crunch hit and everything else, it was like, I’m not sure what I wanna do. And it was like, go to law school.

Seth [00:03:06]:

So you can always use it for something. Yeah.

Matthew [00:03:08]:

You know, you can. Ed, I’ve talked history degree. Well, actually, I was a history major in art history minor. So there you go.

Seth [00:03:16]:

Exactly. What the hell are you gonna do with it? Go to law school or teach? Exactly.

Matthew [00:03:20]:

Exactly. Exactly. So chat

Seth [00:03:21]:

with PT prompts.

Matthew [00:03:25]:

So I practiced for a couple years, and it was not for me. I was I was doing environmental and corporate transactional work, and I was much more interested in the companies I was meeting And interacting within the practice of law itself. So I went out and, one of the companies, an investment adviser, Asked me to come with him, and he would train me in how to be, do investment banking and VC work. And I lasted about 6 months in that Before it was clear that was not my calling.

Seth [00:03:58]:

You tried it. You tried it.

Matthew [00:04:00]:

Then I I did try to So Just I’d always been someone who was very interested in brands and other things. So I had a mentor of mine who has since passed, but he said, I think you’re ready to do something where you’re kind of the one in charge. And and so We start I came in with an idea that I come up with that my, my wife at the time, my first wife I’m still on my 2nd marriage. It’s going great. That, she was a vegetarian, and my mother was in the homeopathy. My sister went to Brown and was living at Berkeley. So that whole Kinda feeling of things. I was in a local health food store.

Seth [00:04:41]:

And

Matthew [00:04:41]:

they were smaller than Whole Foods wasn’t in our area yet. And they I was talking to the owner just kinda I was, like, in between jobs in a sense. And so she was talking about different things, and I had this idea about how to educate this audience And then in incentivize them because teaching them about things without giving them, like, money off or promotion or something was not gonna stimulate them. So Yeah. Long long story short is I found someone who became a a partner, a minority partner who had Background in marketing, she had worked with Candles and Nabisco. Oh. And we we found I went and raised some money, and we Then built our own database. We went out.

Matthew [00:05:22]:

We were the 1st ones to do this. Started with direct mail, then went to in store, and it kinda progressed as Things went on. So we were we were one of the early companies to do experiential marketing, rapping bands, going to concerts, stuff like that. And then we got into email. We were one of the first people that, get email databases going because

Seth [00:05:43]:

Yeah.

Matthew [00:05:44]:

Up until about maybe 2012, brands really didn’t have a way To build their own audiences, and then social media changed that. So we we had the audience. And then so we did research because we had the database, so we were helping people with product Development, labels, things like that. And my clients were Whole Foods, Sprouts Farmers Market, Annie’s Homegrown, Cliff War, I guess, tea. Well, they became the big dogs,

Seth [00:06:10]:

and they was a small at one point. Yeah.

Matthew [00:06:13]:

Well and so, Basically, Whole Foods sells to Amazon, I think, in 2016. And at that point, a lot of these smaller brands had been absorbed by bigger companies. So That means I was then talking to brand managers who were 30, and I’ve been doing this for a while. And and then or we were being sent to their agency It is. To work with the agency, and I just wasn’t into it. So, I I got out of that In 2018, they said it was time to take a break. So, took what was going on then and then got into Really, people I’m a marketer, but I’m really much more of a business person because I have a real I still have I don’t do a lot with it, but I had a real estate development company I started back then, so there was some things going on there. Yeah.

Matthew [00:07:02]:

And so, basically, Got into strategy, mission, purpose types of consulting because I was used to working with those types of companies and had experience in it. Mhmm. And then from there, Got into coaching, and then the alternative board came along. And as you mentioned earlier, it’s a franchise, and Philadelphia West just means that although I have some things in Philadelphia, I go out on the main line to the suburbs Out here and then out to Newtown Square Media. Oh, that’s fun.

Seth [00:07:34]:

And for

Matthew [00:07:35]:

well, for me.

Seth [00:07:35]:

It’s all it’s all relative.

Matthew [00:07:37]:

It it is. And so it it’s a nice bolt on to what I was already doing, and it expanded my capabilities as well because there’s now A suite of proprietary, strategic tools built for the audience that I like to work with, which is small to mid sized business owners. Sweet spot of, like, a1000000 to 15,000,000. And what the alternative board does as well is in addition to coaching, it’s a membership Organization, and it’s global. And what we do also is a big piece of it is we’re bringing small to mid sized business owners who are noncompeting Together in a small group setting, kinda like a board of directors, alternative board of play on that. These companies don’t have boards of directors, and so we’re bringing them the same strategic advantage. We keep them small, 6 to 8. And then together, we’re working on the Challenges, opportunities, and issues we’re all facing in our individual businesses.

Seth [00:08:31]:

So who’s the mastermind the most?

Matthew [00:08:34]:

It’s a mastermind group, And then it’s supported with the 1 on 1 coaching, the suite of tools, and the global network. So together, it’s a package. And The time commitment is 4 hours a month for the board meeting. And the reason we keep the group small is because everyone gets a chance To talk about their stuff. It’s a structured meeting. I’m a trade facilitator as well, so that allows the meeting not to be a free for all of, like, you and me and 4 of their owners getting together and, you know

Seth [00:09:03]:

Can you imagine? Jeez.

Matthew [00:09:05]:

Yeah. No. We would never get anything done. And Tip it in all the

Seth [00:09:09]:

time. Yeah.

Matthew [00:09:10]:

Exactly. So, so, yeah, that’s that’s it. It it’s great. And, you know, I took over an existing Franchise in this area and moved it a little bit out to where I am because the area where it was is not as, It it it’s not as thriving as it used to be. It was more in the northeast, and so we moved it over to this area. And, yeah. And I have a I think we we’re up to, like, 24 members now. And yeah.

Matthew [00:09:38]:

I have a I have a facilitator who works under me who has his own group and coaches as well, and that that’s it.

Seth [00:09:45]:

We’re gonna take a quick break, hear from our sponsors, and get right back to the show. That’s fantastic. So so in your mind, what’s the best thing about being entrepreneurs? You did the law. You did the you kinda did investment banking. You had tasted investment banking for a little while. Even, you know, then you’ve done the branding, the marketing, all that stuff. So what’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur?

Matthew [00:10:06]:

Yeah. Great question. I think a lot of people will say the autonomy.

Seth [00:10:11]:

Yeah.

Matthew [00:10:12]:

Yet that’s also one of the hardest things about being an entrepreneur. Mhmm. So I would say the thing I like the most about it is the rewards you get from being an entrepreneur are directly related to how much hard work you put in and the way you you choose to operate your business. Whereas when you are working for somebody, how hard you work, and the choices you think are the right choices are not Often listen to when you’re not rewarded, in the way that you would. When you’re an entrepreneur, you know, You’ve heard it before, but, you know, you do eat what you kill no matter what industry you’re in. And, you know, the My mentor said something very interesting when, about being an entrepreneur. Mhmm. Everyone eats first, but the big dog eats last.

Matthew [00:11:09]:

And That that’s, I think and so another thing I think about being an entrepreneur is that’s hard is often in companies, Like, where you have where that are sales driven companies. You’re not the highest paid person in your company if you’re running a good company. Your salesperson is.

Seth [00:11:26]:

Yeah.

Matthew [00:11:27]:

And But you’re building equity. You’re getting things they don’t get. And I think so, I will say that probably the one of the hardest things I’ve had for being an entrepreneur is how to check my ego. Because all entrepreneurs are hard. It’s hard to deal with. Yeah. It is.

Seth [00:11:41]:

And You already checking question. Exactly. Yeah.

Matthew [00:11:44]:

Yeah. I mean, I get it’s checked at home every minute by my Oh,

Seth [00:11:47]:

yeah. Yeah.

Matthew [00:11:48]:

Or my son.

Seth [00:11:49]:

Boss checks it out.

Matthew [00:11:50]:

Like,

Seth [00:11:50]:

Dan, no. No. No. No. I’m in here.

Matthew [00:11:52]:

Yeah. Exactly. You’re not at work.

Seth [00:11:55]:

At work, you don’t get to have an ego here. So I I get that too. Yeah. So other than, like I mean, so what keeps you up at night? And besides worrying about your daughter and all that stuff.

Matthew [00:12:03]:

What keeps me up at night is the fact that I’m responsible for A lot of things. I’m responsible for my own earning and then to keep my family, in the lifestyle that we wanna have and have some of the flexibility to do certain things. The other thing that keeps me up is I am, I wouldn’t say responsible, but I have, a relationship with all my members, and I am there to help them. So If they’re not doing well or they’re struggling, I I am thinking about that. And then a lot of the normal business things, How to market, how how to prospect, and then how to keep up with business. As we’re getting bigger, I I’m going to have to bring on another facilitator at some point. That’s exciting. It is.

Matthew [00:12:53]:

Yet it’s And terrifying. Going yeah. And then you have to go through it’s an investment, training, and more management. I mean, one of the reasons I was happy to get out of What, the marketing area in my company was I was tired of managing people. Mhmm. And, you you know, The other thing I wanna say about being, an entrepreneur so I hear this a lot as well. I don’t have to answer to anybody.

Seth [00:13:13]:

Yeah.

Matthew [00:13:14]:

And that is, I think, a misconception as well. You always have somebody to answer to. If you have clients, you’re answering to them. You know? If you have, like here, I have a I’m a franchise owner, so I don’t I’m not getting put on the carpet, but at the same time, I do have to answer to the franchise.

Seth [00:13:34]:

They wanna they wanna see doing things and using it and you know?

Matthew [00:13:38]:

Yeah. And and TAB is The alternative word, the acronym TAB, it’s it’s a great organization, and the strength is much like in companies, It’s the people I work with, the other owners that I have engagements with, and we have our own peer boards internally and mentors and things like that. Yeah. That’s really what makes it such a wonderful organization from the top down.

Seth [00:14:01]:

So you found so you found a good franchise to work with, which is kind of it’s hard to do. There’s there’s many times that are really tough.

Matthew [00:14:08]:

Well, I think for what we do, I wouldn’t call The alternative board tough, I would call them

Seth [00:14:13]:

No. But there’s others that are tough.

Matthew [00:14:14]:

Sort of yeah. Yeah. Well, there are like McDonald’s or Subway’s. I mean, you you’re making those burgers the same way, and there’s this and there’s that. And, No. That is not this franchise at all.

Seth [00:14:24]:

You got that? That’s good. So what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Matthew [00:14:34]:

Other people don’t work Other people don’t work on your timeline.

Seth [00:14:38]:

Oh, it’s so true. Oh, god. I wish they would. I really wish they would.

Matthew [00:14:43]:

Sure. I mean and, you know, I mean, I’ve done sales for 25 years, because when I built my company, I was doing all the business development, then we got bigger. But still when you get bigger and it’s a small business to an extent, You’re the face people wanna talk to you. Yeah. And even now, as I’m looking for members and having relationships, They work on their timeline and it’s, you know, the the the reason and another owner within tabs, I respect a lot said to me. Remember this. You’re in an essence an employee Of the people who are your members because Mhmm. As much as they love you and want and wanna talk to you and wanna include you in things, they’re paying you.

Matthew [00:15:27]:

So there’s a mindset that’s different, and never forget your place in the petting order.

Seth [00:15:32]:

Oh, it’s so true. It’s so good. So they can so people can find more about you. I mean, you’re on LinkedIn. So, I mean, like, that’s your that’s like your social media thing of choice, I assume.

Matthew [00:15:42]:

It is. You know, and we’re expanding, the brand. We have some events coming up that we’re doing, and we’ll we’ll be, Having video and interviews, and so we’re gonna start augmenting the website more and more. And, Yeah. I think, Yeah. I’d say LinkedIn is my big one.

Seth [00:16:00]:

It’s a big one. Then also go to tab Philly West and big door open. What no. Tab Philly west .com that helps giving them the suffix that helps. And then also bigdooropen.com is is your other venture, which is cool. Matt, this has been so much fun.

Matthew [00:16:18]:

Well, it’s great, and, I wanna be able to, buy you a free drink at our next event.

Seth [00:16:24]:

Sounds good. Exactly. Our free events. Very funny. Alright. Thanks, buddy.

Matthew [00:16:31]:

Alright. Thank you. Take care.

Seth [00:16:32]:

That was a great show. If you’re enjoying Entrepreneur’s Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. If you’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, look no further than the Marketing Podcast Network at marketing podcasts .net. Goldstein Gia hopes you have enjoyed this episode. This podcast is one of the many great shows on the MPN Marketing Podcast Network.