Matt Wilson Reflects on Balancing Adventure, Entrepreneurship, and Being the Best Dad Possible

Download MP3

Matt Wilson | BJT22 - Main
[00:00:00] Matt: Don't just go through the motions, figure out what do I want to do? And even if you don't have this perfect plan, just get out, get on your damn bike. book a trip. Even if it's not the perfect trip, you don't have to do a million, hours of research, just go somewhere and have some fun.
[00:00:17] Matt: And then you build that momentum. while that Nike quote is really cliche, just do it. Everybody needs a little push, especially if you're struggling with your mental health, And if you are one of these people who are listening to this, I'm like, Oh yeah, I am a, high achiever.
[00:00:32] Matt: I don't have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. then reach out to three friends who you know, do and get them on board and pull them along.
[00:00:47] Cesar: Hey friends. Welcome to another episode of beyond the job title podcast. I'm your host. Since I Romero. And in this podcast, we share the journeys of successful under-representative tech, [00:01:00] founders, executives, and professionals. whether you're seeking inspiration, mentorship, or strategies to advance your career. These podcasts Easter, go to resource. My guest for this episode is my good old friend, Matt Wilson. Matt is a co-founder of honor 30 experiences and him and I traveled the world for seven years building. Andre anthro to experiences. From scratch and. I want it to get him on the podcast, just to have a conversation and catch up and reflect on life. Career, business, travel. And. While Matt doesn't come from an underrepresented background. He's always been an ally and he's always been intentional about building a business that is focused on diversity inclusion. And. Making sure that people from diverse backgrounds. Connect and build [00:02:00] community.
[00:02:00] Cesar: in this episode, we talk about, parenthood. Embracing the nomadic lifestyle as a dad. And how his life. Mission has shifted. Since becoming a dat, Of course. The power of travel and being intentional, putting some friends. I don't the way. Getting involved into Jitsu and the power of community and so much more. And before we dive into the episode, please make sure to subscribe so that you don't miss out on any future episodes. And it's one of the best ways to support the podcast. And of course, if you have any feedback questions, Make sure to send me an email or DM me on LinkedIn. Ultimately this podcast is for you and feedback is how we continue. Refining and growing and putting the best content out there. thank you so much for tuning in. It means the world to me. I appreciate you. And here's my [00:03:00] conversation With Maddy wilson
[00:03:02] Cesar: Awesome. first of all, Matt, thanks so much for taking the time to come on the show. And I want to kick it off with, if someone were to ask you, who is Matt Wilson now and what mission are you on and what, what would you tell them?
[00:03:16] Cesar: Oh,
[00:03:16] Matt: man. before I had a kid, I would have said, I would probably like regurgitated the mission statement of Under 30 Experiences, my company, to make travel more accessible to young people. Or I used to say that my personal mission statement was to help people live. more adventurous lives.
[00:03:43] Matt: And while all that's great, my appetite for grandiosity, It's really kind of shrunk once you have a kid, honestly, once you have a kid, because it's no, I don't, I [00:04:00] like, that's really great to think about how you're going to change the world. but to me, it was really about. All right. How can I take care of my family?
[00:04:11] Matt: And this is the one way that I know that I can impact the world. I come from a startup background. And when you listen to all these inspiring entrepreneurs and venture capitalists talk about changing the world, you know, you can really get. caught up in that. And a lot of it is ego. A lot of it is thinking that,you were more important than you really are.
[00:04:40] Matt: And sure, that feels great in the moment and you can lead people and inspire people. and do a lot of things that you think are making a lot of value in the world. And, again, nothing against that. And we need that, we need that in the world and we need [00:05:00] that in the United States to continue to be the capital of innovation.
[00:05:05] Matt: But Also, now my perspective has just changed to a lot more granule things like being present for my family and making sure we have enough money and the best food to eat and. The, you know, raising my daughter with the best values and ethics and morals, and being the best influence on her. And, yeah, my perspective has just really changed.
[00:05:35] Matt: It's kind of, it's kind of a strange thing to be honest.
[00:05:38] Cesar: we're both girl dads, right? We both have daughters, Lucy and Stella, and I'm with you, right? It totally changed my perspective on what the most important thing is, and, you know, what you said about now it's making sure that they feel taken care of.
[00:05:57] Cesar: I,I think that's, a shift. Now, I'm [00:06:00] curious though, how was that transition or that shift for you, did it happen immediately or did it, did you struggle with letting go, you know, that, that previous identity and mission statement, and let, letting it evolve into what it is now,
[00:06:16] Matt: It happened for me.
[00:06:18] Matt: I say happened for me rather than happened to me. But, look, COVID kicked in March 2020. My daughter was born in April 2020. And, I had no choice but to let go of all that. You know, there were times right in the early days of COVID where we thought, Oh, God, we could actually lose the company and we don't we literally do not know what the future holds.
[00:06:51] Matt: And so that was quite a life transition. Plus, I moved back to the states during that time for [00:07:00] better or worse. And from Costa Rica, where I was previously, you know, living. Caesar obviously knows that, but your listeners may not. but yeah,it happened, we'll say. And, it was like ripping the bandaid off and I'm glad it, I'm glad it happened.
[00:07:19] Matt: Honestly, it was a, reality shock. Doesn't even. Reality shock, reality, yeah, if that's the right expression, doesn't even begin to describe it. it happened immediately and, yeah, glad it did, to be honest. Yeah, you
[00:07:35] Cesar: know, it's you know this better than anyone, it's almost like starting a business, right?
[00:07:38] Cesar: You just jump in and... Figure it out as you go. I remember those stories, you share with me about, you know, building under 30 CEO back in the days and just to make ends meet, you know, working with the construction guys, you know, just, you get very rugged and you figure things out as you take action, right?
[00:07:58] Cesar: I think the same can be said about [00:08:00] being a dad, right? You're just like, you have to figure it out and you're forced to see a different side of things, right? Like a different perspective. now, I'm curious, you know, are there elements of, you know, the adventurous life that have remained with you?
[00:08:16] Cesar: sure, you shifted things and now you have a different perspective, right? But are there things from, let's say, from the old Matt Wilson that are still, top of mind for you in terms of... You know, your lifestyle, entrepreneurship, you know, what are some of those elements that are still,
[00:08:36] Matt: resonating with you?
[00:08:37] Matt: I can't seem to shake the nomadic lifestyle. The, fact that we took a month long road trip across the United States when my daughter was four months old. that, you know, is, that was a challenge in a lot of ways, but also it's super easy at that age because [00:09:00] they sleep in the car for the most part.
[00:09:02] Matt: Yeah, I mean, like even now that my daughter just turned three, I tell her stories, which she still can't quite totally grasp that when she was four months or we'll show her pictures of when she was tiny and us hiking through,Yellowstone National Park. And having to make noise and bang, water bottles, as to not scare any grizzly bears, along the trail, or no, as to not sneak up on any grizzly bears, right?
[00:09:36] Matt: To scare the grizzly bears away. When she's in like a front pack at four months, it's, yeah, I guess it's a little wild, and I think I'm derailing a little bit, but we were at Arches National Park on that same trip out in Utah, and, we took this little hike, which was no Big deal to my wife and I, but, to these other [00:10:00] people who are along the trail and saw us with a four month old.
[00:10:03] Matt: And I guess it was pretty hot, but we were coming from Austin where it's hotter than hell. we didn't think. Too much of it, right? We were only out there for an hour. and the, we were totally being judged by other people on the trail for having a child of that, age out in the desert.
[00:10:21] Matt: But yeah, I get it. People listening right now. Probably I can feel the judgment there. They're saying, oh, yeah, you know, babies can't regulate their body temperature. you know, that's why they don't sweat, et cetera. Yeah, we know that the kid was fine. And, I don't know. Yeah, that's still with me for sure.
[00:10:37] Matt: We've lived in 3 different states or spent time in 3 different states. And, yeah, now we're headed out to Puerto Rico soon. I mean, my daughter's been to, I don't know, four or five different countries at this point. And she was born during COVID. I'm sure she would be a lot well, but better traveled if she was born, yeah, during normal times.
[00:10:59] Matt: But, it was a [00:11:00] blessing and a curse, right? It was such a drastic change of lifestyle. because we couldn't go anywhere, but thank God we couldn't go anywhere. Thank God we, there was no, there was no FOMO at that time. We had a kid, we couldn't do anything. We were holed up where we were quarantining and, yeah, it sucked.
[00:11:23] Matt: It sucked for everybody, but we had this blessing. And yeah, it was a little hard to see. In the moment, right? Because I would have liked to go to a cafe. I would have liked to go to the gym. I would have liked to go to jujitsu. You know, there are things that I would like to, I tried to sit down. Don't get me going on COVID.
[00:11:43] Matt: I tried to sit down at the public library at their computers and just do a little work and they kicked me out because I was using my own computer instead of their computer. I was like, Okay. Wait, I'm sitting here on my own computer touching my own computer and that's not allowed, but [00:12:00] other people come here and use your computers.
[00:12:02] Matt: It was, yeah, just anyhow, I'm rambling at this point. But, yeah, it was again. It was a tough shock. to the system, but that is still alive and within me. That's for sure.
[00:12:17] Cesar: I love that. I love that you continue to keep that as part of your core values. you know, and there's always going to be people that either judge you or admire what you do, right?
[00:12:26] Cesar: Like you, you can't shake those things off. just how the world operates. But,Why is the nomadic lifestyle important to you and why is travel important to you and what advice will you have for parents out there that want to incorporate that into their own lifestyle?
[00:12:44] Matt: to me, it all comes down to dopamine.
[00:12:47] Matt: It's just getting that hit. You know, getting that head of adrenaline, getting that head of dopamine, all the neurochemical reactions that go along with your brain. we were whole, we were holed up [00:13:00] and, quarantining in Narragansett, Rhode Island, in this, off market beach house that we had all winter long.
[00:13:09] Matt: And, you know, I was surfing during the winter, that was. but I really needed to, yeah, like when you're used to being nomadic and seeing new things and going new places all of the time, right? You get addicted to that. And then all of a sudden you have to stay home. and. I know I'm talking about COVID and having a child interchangeably because that's exactly the timeline that happened with us.
[00:13:38] Matt: but someone asked me the other day, oh, does it get harder as your child grows older? And I said, I'll tell you the first 18 months were the most difficult because. Be really honest. It was a little boring with a child that starts off almost like an inanimate object. You know, like people [00:14:00] said, people would say to me, Oh, once they start get their mobility, just wait, it's all over.
[00:14:05] Matt: I love to run around. So maybe that's just. Within me, maybe people listening no, I just, you know, to, I like to be stationary, but that's not me. And and I know that about myself and, I was daydreaming on the, you know, on my walk, with my daughter this morning about. Some far off place.
[00:14:26] Matt: I can't even remember, I can't remember what I was thinking about, but I was like, okay, no, you can't just go off to, I don't know. I don't even know if I was in this time period, where I was daydreaming of traveling to, but that's the point, like you can go and do things and see things, all over the world and if you can set up your life.
[00:14:48] Matt: To be able to do that, then go have at it. But as I, started this tangent on, it's about dopamine. It's about seeing new things and having that rush that you [00:15:00] get, that you don't get when you're in your normal routine. So even if you can break up your normal routine in little ways, I highly recommend it.
[00:15:10] Matt: Yeah,
[00:15:10] Cesar: and people don't have to go far, right? They can travel within their own city, state, wherever they're at, right? And just find that sense of adventure. don't have to do it Matt Wilson style, right? And go to Patagonia. But, yeah, you know, it's important to, to keep things fresh, right? And as you said, I think that's, A healthy way to get your dopamine hit.
[00:15:31] Matt: I mean, I found a new path near my house the other day, two or three days ago. And, you know, I'm pushing the stroller along this path and it's, you know, it's not what life was like. previously, but now I get to give these values to someone else and see them light up by seeing new things and teaching them things.
[00:15:58] Matt: this path goes along this little [00:16:00] creek and, you know, my daughter asked if she could go in the creek, but the creek was moving a little too quickly. And, so these kinds of things that you can. Passed down to future generation and just the love of nature, to me, you know, and how to, I told her,the Greek is a little too powerful.
[00:16:20] Matt: You would get swept away in that. And she said, I'm powerful. I said, yeah, we've taught you that too, but, we have to have proper respect for mother nature and she's starting to grasp that. So to me, that's incredibly gratifying.
[00:16:33] Cesar: It's amazing how kids, they have their own logic and reasoning, and whenever you tell them something, they're like, Lucia does the same thing.
[00:16:42] Cesar: And one last question here on the topic of parenthood, and then I want to shift gears into travel. Let's say Estella is 30, you know, 40 years old,what would you like her to remember [00:17:00] the most about her
[00:17:01] Matt: dad? I hope I'm, sure as hell hope I'm still there, but actually, my father passed away three years ago today.
[00:17:08] Matt: So I, was actually doing some reflecting and, thinking about that myself. actually I was just... share what I said about my dad and, yeah, special that Caesar, you got a chance to spend a little time with the guy, back in the day, but, look, I,said this morning that I was grateful for the values that he brought me up with.
[00:17:32] Matt: for coming to and being present to my baseball games, my basketball games to Boy Scouts to take taking me, on the boat for bringing me fishing. These types of things were just. It's so incredible, because so many kids grow up without that. And, certainly growing up in that type of environment in a, stable [00:18:00] family, I mean, granted, my parents got divorced when I was 14.
[00:18:04] Matt: So maybe that there was certainly a large amount of instability at that point, but, Look that if I didn't grow up doing those things, I wouldn't be teaching now a third generation those things. And my grandfather, you know, was, would take my dad fishing and that kind of thing. yeah, these are just.
[00:18:26] Matt: ways that I can, pass that down to things that I can pass that down to, my daughter. And, I don't know that my dad, I don't know how much my dad thought about his parenting style. I think it was very innate to him. And. I am thinking very deeply, right? I went to public school because that's just where you got sent as a kid.
[00:18:52] Matt: but I'm thinking very deeply about things like homeschooling and Montessori education, et [00:19:00] cetera, for my kid and right? just thinking about I've probably read a couple dozen parenting books at this point, right? Counting the baby books and the pregnancy books, a couple dozen. That's probably a couple dozen more than my dad ever read, right?
[00:19:14] Matt: and it's just probably not what you did in the 80s and 90s. and I understand that not many people read dozens of, books, but my point is that, I'm thinking deeply about the topics and hopefully my daughter comes to appreciate that I really cared and gave it my all because, yeah, I might only have, yeah.
[00:19:38] Matt: One kit and, I'm going to put all my energy and effort, into being the best dad that I can and, that I'll make one aside and say that also means having more of a, you know, I really want to have a hands off approach as well, right? I just want to make the point that my child is not a startup [00:20:00] where you give, you fund them with.
[00:20:03] Matt: Resources and, you know, hope that you see a return on investment. That's not what I'm trying to do here. yeah, just to, I don't want to come off as a super dad or something, or looking at my child, like a venture capitalist would.
[00:20:18] Cesar: Definitely not. I think I saw somewhere, I can't remember the quote, but it was along the lines of, you know, parents, mom, and dads are more of a travel guide. than anything else, you know, for their kids. It's you know, we kind of like show, show a bit of a path, guide them, but they have to make their own decisions, right?
[00:20:36] Cesar: They have to pull the trigger on things that they do on their actions. and what you said about, yeah, man, there's way more resources now than back in the eighties, seventies, right? It's like books, podcasts, YouTube videos, you name it, like it's there and all it takes is being intentional. what you're doing, right?
[00:20:59] Cesar: You're being [00:21:00] intentional, you're really doing the work of doing the research and what makes the most sense to you. You know, and I hope more parents do that because it's very easy to say, Oh, I feel like a victim, right? I, nobody told me to do this, but the resources are out there, right? All you have to do is just honestly look him up.
[00:21:20] Matt: Absolutely. I think intentional. That's a great. Yeah, that's a great word for it. Yeah. All right, from Derek Silver. So I will give credit where credit is due, but the stakes are so high. in parenting because you mess it up and as he said, this can be,he, I don't think he said it like this, but I will hope I can swear, this could be a multi generational fuck up if you do this wrong.
[00:21:48] Matt: Otherwise, this can create a massive ripple effect for generations. If you do it in a thoughtful manner. Yeah, 100
[00:21:58] Cesar: percent agree with that. [00:22:00] Now to shift gears here, I want to talk a little bit about, you know, the travel industry in general and specifically how, you know, 2020 was a tough year for, especially for travel, right?
[00:22:12] Cesar: everything came to a halt and, you know, things were not, they're not working out in the travel industry. And I'm curious to learn, you know, how, what's your take on the travel industry now, and how were you guys able to navigate, you know, those challenges, you know, to the point where, you know, like there was a high possibility of the business not making it.
[00:22:35] Matt: Yeah. I mean, look, you read everywhere. Travel is back. Thank God. we're. We're doing great now, and, we learned to do a lot more with a lot less resources. We thought that the way that we were operating the company before was, was the proper way. We thought we had the formula [00:23:00] because we were doing, we were doing fairly well.
[00:23:03] Matt: But now post COVID, We just were able to restructure everything and rethink everything. And now we're a super tiny, small lean team, and we want to stay that way. And, you know, it's the whole world is going through this,Not just the travel industry, but everybody's looking at this. I don't know how long the bull market was at least.
[00:23:30] Matt: 12 years or something, right? the tech companies are getting clobbered and everybody is. Everybody had layoffs and are learning to do less is more because we're going into really unstable times continuing to do go into unstable times, inflationary times, et cetera. So when you don't know about the future of the economy, then.
[00:23:57] Matt: You have to be really conservative. [00:24:00] yet we are in this position where travel is booming again because of all this pent up demand. And even though, you know, fuel prices are really high and, flight prices have gone through the roof. Yeah, sure. all of these things are absolutely true. Inflation has hit everywhere.
[00:24:20] Matt: All of our vendors. but it's looking more and more it's looking more healthy. I would say the industry looks more healthy in the way that 2019, you could almost feel that it was a bubble. The overtourism in places, and I think a lot of these places, like Venice and Barcelona, who you always hear are so over touristed, but Machu Picchu, etc.
[00:24:48] Matt: A lot of these places are rethinking what they want there. Local townships to be
[00:24:56] Matt: travels back where we're really lucky. And I [00:25:00] think as far as sustainability that companies are rethinking and rethinking how they're going different places, but also that it's, it's not back everywhere, right? Places of in Southeast Asia, right? Like a Cambodia or Vietnam. We're still not seeing the bookings for those places that we did pre COVID and there are still small towns and economies where the money has not trickled back down to.
[00:25:33] Matt: Peru being a great example, right? I think Peru will always be fine because Machu Picchu is such an amazing sight to see and there will always be generations of people who want to see it. But they had such a tough time with COVID. They were so strictly locked down and then they had a huge string of political unrest there where they've had four presidents in five years or something like that.
[00:25:57] Matt: Yeah, it's not. It might be [00:26:00] rosy here in the United States and the travel industry. and speaking of, you know, you still had to be vaccinated to, to come to the United States. So I'm sure that was still hurting inbound tourism. So there's a lot going on there, but I hope that kind of summarizes how we're feeling and under 30 experiences, of course, super positive looking forward with the reality that there are still a lot of challenges, that we face on a macroeconomic level and, with the, you know, with the awareness that, It's not, you know, travel is not back everywhere yet.
[00:26:45] Cesar: Yeah, you know, despite all the challenges, I think people at the core, people still want to travel. They want to connect, you know, especially after COVID. you know, loneliness is the highest [00:27:00] it's ever been. I recently saw,I think the surgeon, the U. S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, came up with, basically saying that.
[00:27:10] Cesar: Loneliness is in an all time high, so I think travel is one vehicle to, in my opinion, to reduce that feeling of loneliness, because as we all know, travel, you can connect with other travelers, connect to the place that you're traveling to, so yeah,I'm positive with travel.
[00:27:28] Cesar: You know, I think this, despite,you know, what's happening with the economy and all that, I think, people want to connect more than
[00:27:36] Matt: ever. I think so as well. but you got to feel for the people who are so damaged after these last few years, of being locked up that they're so depressed that they can't get out from themselves.
[00:27:52] Matt: And, I've met a lot of people. Like that. And, yeah, it's really tough. but that they can, you know, [00:28:00] get themselves to get out and connect with other people because sitting there scrolling, you might feel a little bit connected. But really, we all know that it just decreases the feeling of disconnectedness in a lot of
[00:28:15] Cesar: ways.
[00:28:16] Cesar: You said you met a lot of people like that. And what stood out to you? What was surprising? about these people that feel disconnected,
[00:28:24] Matt: honestly, it wasn't very surprising. I just know so many people are struggling with their mental health. Maybe it's something that I'm attuned to, but specifically here at home in the jujitsu community. I've seen people, just coming back to jujitsu now, and if you were concerned about COVID, that ended a little while ago, for the most part.
[00:28:50] Matt: I get it. You're grappling with other human beings and very close contact. So I can, I can't think of too many ways to. better [00:29:00] ways to get COVID. but that being said, I've had conversations with people who literally told me, Hey, I pretty much went crazy during COVID or, there's a ski buddy who is really a friend of a friend, but we've been trying to get this guy out skiing.
[00:29:15] Matt: And,He just, you know, people come back to these sports and they're overweight and they're just not mentally there and, they don't feel like they can do the things, that they used to. I have a family member, who just COVID was tough on them and they're older and That kind of put them over the hump from being active versus being inactive and, you know, before they lived a fairly active.
[00:29:47] Matt: Lifestyle for an older person, and then you lock them up for a couple of years. and again, this is not a, I'm not trying to harp on criticisms about lockdowns. My point [00:30:00] is, we got to try to this was an unprecedented thing. We got to try to get people out there. So if you have, if you are listening and you have one of these friends, invite them places, go to their house and try to get them out.
[00:30:13] Matt: we just know that the statistics on alcoholism and drugs. I know of people who've overdosed, recently, like kids I went to high school with, right? yeah, mental health in, in the United States is, whew, it's in a rough spot at the moment. And, certainly. Travel can be an amazing thing to get out and see new things and, start rewiring the brain in a positive direction.
[00:30:41] Matt: Just getting yourself in these positive feedback loops, as is jujitsu or skiing or any, anything where you're being active. but a lot of people can't bring themselves, to do that right now, unfortunately.
[00:30:55] Cesar: why Jiu Jitsu? why do you decided to
[00:30:57] Matt: pursue Jiu Jitsu? Oh God, [00:31:00] you are opening up a huge can of worms.
[00:31:02] Matt: Wow. So kind of the joke in the Jiu Jitsu community is once you're hooked, like you can't stop talking about it. I'm not to be that person, but I'll, I guess I'll tell my story. I've always been interested in self defense. Caesar, you and I have spent, you grew up in Central America and, you've been robbed at gunpoint.
[00:31:25] Matt: you know what it's like. Okay. It's never happened to me, luckily. but. Yeah, you think about these things. It could be in any city. God, San Francisco, New York, all these places, there are robberies and assaults and all this stuff all the time. Even in the town, little town that I, am living in at the moment.
[00:31:46] Matt: And as a traveler, I enjoy putting myself in precarious situations, getting way off the beaten path where, I don't know, I don't know how welcome I am right now, or probably I [00:32:00] am welcome, but. I don't have any friends here. That's for sure. but with jujitsu, of course, the, the long and short of it is a great self defense system, where you can defend yourself, but.
[00:32:17] Matt: You don't have to, decapitate the person. I don't think decapitate is the right word here, but you don't have to, you don't have to seriously injure the person. You can put someone to sleep and that's it. It took me six seconds. That person went to sleep. They're no longer a threat. but I didn't smash their head against, a brick wall, right?
[00:32:41] Matt: Where they're going to have permanent damage. No, they're just going to wake up and say, Ooh, what the hell was that? That was the wrong guy to mess with. and yeah, we were talking off camera a little bit about UFC, and Caesar wanted to talk about pro wrestling. I said, do just go to a jujitsu class.
[00:32:58] Matt: anyhow, [00:33:00] yeah, the self defense, all of that, is amazing. You punch the, this is a little easier for somebody to understand. You punch somebody in the face. Okay. You might be getting a lawsuit. You might actually. knock the person out, right? Not put them to sleep gently in a rear naked choke, right?
[00:33:16] Matt: you might knock the person out. They hit their head on the ground and you kill them I didn't want to use deadly force. So and there are times right during a social violence where if there was a true predator you that you need to use more, use more, violence than jujitsu. however, it's a really good base, a really good system.
[00:33:39] Matt: and then, once you start training with the group, once you start training with your team, you get addicted to a learning, learning the sport, or at least I did the, the pheromones and everything that you get,you know, you hear that you're supposed to actually have contact with other [00:34:00] human beings and get hugs and physical contact, how important that is.
[00:34:04] Matt: you can sign up and pay. To do that with other people. And yeah, sure. it might not be cozy, When you're getting locked in a joint lock, Or they're strangling you, but, you certainly feel that after and it's, yeah, it's an amazing feeling. And then just the camaraderie is so great.
[00:34:24] Matt: And I'll add one more thing. speaking of my father. He passed away from a neurodegenerative disease. Neurodegenerative disease, unfortunately, runs in my family. And one of the most important things that you can do to fight off neurodegenerative disease Is learn new things. If you don't use it, you lose it.
[00:34:45] Matt: And anything that, combines that so called mind body connection where you're actively learning something playing an instrument, right? that's a really good example. but also, [00:35:00] boxing is something that, that they do for Parkinson's patients. my dad, yeah, my dad got into bark, into boxing when he was sick.
[00:35:10] Matt: And so that type of thing is really great. however, with jujitsu, There's no head trauma. Okay. With kickboxing, there's only, you can't go 100%. You can't just get kicked in the head. I want no part of, concussions, of traumatic brain injury. However, with jujitsu, you can basically go 100 percent against your opponent in a controlled environment.
[00:35:37] Matt: And as long as The other guy stops when you stay, stop, right? Respect the tap, then you're good. you know, what it's like if a big dude, like Cesar Romero grabs a hold of you, I'm going to, I'm going to know what to do because I've trained it, you know, several times a week,
[00:35:54] Cesar: you're going to make the tap man,
[00:35:56] Matt: anytime.
[00:35:57] Cesar: Come pay me a visit. No, thanks. [00:36:00] Thanks for sharing right as an outsider because it's on my list of things to do right now. We're in the middle of a move, but once we're in the next city, I really want to dive into it for the reasons that you mentioned, right? Great workout, great community. but the most important thing to me is that it seems to me that it humbles you, right?
[00:36:19] Cesar: Like, when you think you have things figured out, when you think like you know it all, it's like you are forced to tap, right? yeah. thanks. Thanks for sharing that.
[00:36:30] Matt: You will get tapped when you begin by women, by people way smarter than you, by the nerdiest looking people in the world. The best, some of the best jiu jitsu players are incredible nerds.
[00:36:47] Matt: Because they know the technique and the fine details, and it's not about just punching each other in the face as hard as you can.
[00:36:55] Cesar: I love that. one, one more question here, Matt, and then I want to do a rapid fire round [00:37:00] to, to wrap up the episode. but I wanted to get your take on, you know, you see it everywhere.
[00:37:05] Cesar: The rise of AI, right? and technology. And I want to get your perspective on How do you foresee it impacting the travel
[00:37:15] Matt: industry in the travel industry? I was all ready to go on my rant about New York State outlawing chat. DPT would be like us out getting Google outlawed when we were in high school when it first came out.
[00:37:30] Matt: But I guess I'll save it. The travel industry. I mean, look, my core belief, and it ties back to the, how I was jokingly, not jokingly talking about New York State outlawing chat GPT in schools, we have to co evolve with AI. We program these things. Yes, there's lots of scary things about that, about them.
[00:37:55] Matt: All things aside. We need to co [00:38:00] evolve with AI. We need to use them as tools and the influencers, right? That's the first thing that comes to me. These travel bloggers. Sure, it's a shame that a lot of them are not going to be able to write as well as AI can or they're not going to have the depth of knowledge that this computer does.
[00:38:25] Matt: But if you can harness these tools, if you can use these tools, that's why school's outlining it is so silly. You have to learn how to use the technology and either keep up or be scared of it. And this happens with every technology that comes out. People are scared of it. So they try to bury it. They try to.
[00:38:45] Matt: Outlaw it. And then it becomes a little bit more widely accepted. And then eventually, yeah, eventually people, right? Imagine when the first time you wanted to put your credit card into a computer, people are [00:39:00] like, Oh my God, don't do an online transaction. That's the best way to get your stuff stolen. Now it's ubiquitous, right?
[00:39:05] Matt: in the travel industry, yeah, it's going to become ubiquitous and I'm playing with this many tools. as I can, mainly for content creation, blog posts, helping form newsletters, writing, you know, also kinds of social media stuff, helping us generate ideas. So that's where I see it specifically in the travel industry, making the most immediate impact.
[00:39:37] Matt: And beyond that. I'm not so sure, but the way to sell travel,has been done through the, since the beginning of the real industry, right? With National Geographic and,the guidebooks and all that now, AI can take The best of all of those [00:40:00] things and give it to you immediately. These travel advisors are coming out like a matador has one, kayak and Expedia have them now that you can, these chatbots that you can chat with.
[00:40:12] Matt: And they are your personal travel advisors. So I don't think it's going to replace humans. I think it is going to. generate huge amounts of wealth for the entire economy, but it's going to totally restructure things and it's going to happen really quickly. And the people who are not up on these things, yeah, sure.
[00:40:36] Matt: They're going to lose their jobs. But then there's going to be new ones created. So I'm not so worried about that. I'm excited. Although it will mean pain in the short term for some people. But such
[00:40:51] Cesar: is life. Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's about, as what you said, evolving with AI, right? Evolving as your business, [00:41:00] your professional career, your creativity as, you know, with these tools.
[00:41:04] Cesar: I think that's, at least that's decided. I want to be on
[00:41:07] Matt: exactly. Yeah. get used to them now. Befriend AI and, don't put your head in the sand.
[00:41:15] Cesar: Yeah. Is there a specific,source where you know, monitor AI? is there someone you follow?
[00:41:22] Matt: I mean, I've ingested content in the last couple months, of course, from Gary Vaynerchuk.
[00:41:28] Matt: The All In pod has done a couple in depth. Podcasts about it. These are venture capitalists, things that I've been playing with specifically in the travel industry. I mentioned a few of them already, but kayak and Expedia Bing has chat GPT for integration. There are content creation tools like Jasper.
[00:41:54] Matt: and then I downloaded, Replica, where you can have a, it's literally just this little friend [00:42:00] that you can talk to, kind of like the movie Her. And, it doesn't know much about travel because I've been asking him things, but, it's just fun to, to play with these type of tools. Yeah, I've just been reading if you're specifically talking about travel, skiffed, is a really good industry resource.
[00:42:19] Matt: but yeah, just make sure you're reading the news. And when I wanted to do a deep dive, I just Googled Best, best tools. best AI, current best AI tools. And I got all sorts of articles. and I, you know, I sorted the Google News by latest and, and just, yeah, use Chappy GPT as much as you can pay the 25 bucks for the upgrade, to four.
[00:42:47] Matt: And, yeah, make the investment in yourself.
[00:42:50] Cesar: Yeah, I agree with you. I stick with Jason Calacanis, you know, from, All In and This Weekend Startups. Typically, he's on top of that. yeah, man, thanks for sharing. all I want to try this [00:43:00] with you, you know, as a way to wrap up the episode. I call it the rapid fire round and basically, ask you a question.
[00:43:05] Cesar: You give me what's top of mind for you.
[00:43:08] Matt: ready?
[00:43:09] Cesar: I'm ready. All right, let's do it. Number one, one book that has greatly influenced your life.
[00:43:16] Matt: What if five books popped in my head?
[00:43:19] Cesar: You don't have to share them all, but if you want to, that's fine too.
[00:43:23] Matt: All right. The first, I'll just share a few really quickly. one that I read when I was like 18 was rich dad, poor dad, that just got me. Thinking about, yeah, I mean, it was a great time to, to read it and,all right, this is a rapid fire.
[00:43:38] Matt: I'll shut up. the four hour work week, of course, many different books, on health, but, yeah, I'll stop because I can't. Control myself talking about books.
[00:43:49] Cesar: No worries. I'm a big book by myself, so
[00:43:52] Matt: I
[00:43:53] Cesar: get it. next question. one of the most worthwhile investments that you've made [00:44:00] recently. and when I say investments, it could be financially, it could be a physical thing, or it could be a friendship, right?
[00:44:06] Cesar: Whatever comes to mind.
[00:44:08] Matt: I bought a 50 plastic. tub for doing ice plunges and I am on a 12 day streak.
[00:44:21] Cesar: Dude, that's amazing. I'm still here taking cold showers, but I think I need to level up. I'm getting a tub. Yeah. All right. next one. quote that you think of often or, a model that you live your life by
[00:44:34] Cesar: Nike
[00:44:35] Matt: Phil Knight. Just do it.
[00:44:38] Cesar: That's like the best slogan ever, right? Just do it. Just do it. Just do the damn thing.
[00:44:43] Matt: Make the leap. Yeah, there's so many ways to say it, but, yeah, you just got to do it.
[00:44:48] Cesar: Yeah. Awesome. Next question. In the last 12 months, is there a specific habit that you have implemented that has had a profound impact [00:45:00] in your life?
[00:45:01] Matt: Ooh, there's a lot.
[00:45:03] Cesar: or beliefs too, right? Like habit or beliefs.
[00:45:06] Matt: I have started doing zone two steady state. cardio every single morning and I've always been an exerciser but you know, four or five days a week and now I do cardio every single morning and I just get on this Again, very cheap, 150 Amazon, old person's stationary bicycle. And I just pedal away.
[00:45:38] Matt: I don't need it. I don't need a Peloton. I just need to get my ass on the bike every morning and pedal for. 30 to 90 minutes, depending on how early I woke up that morning. And, yeah, I can't speak highly enough about the health benefits, the mood benefits, and just stringing along [00:46:00] a habit every single day.
[00:46:02] Matt: That's one of the most qualifying parts is that I know I said before that I'm on an ice plunge streak. I'm also on a, pretty nice tear with the cardio, among the other things I'm doing. But just making that a non negotiable has been awesome.
[00:46:17] Cesar: And for those listeners that might be wondering, you know, what is zone two cardio?
[00:46:21] Cesar: can you explain that to them?
[00:46:23] Matt: Yeah. So just, I honestly, I don't want to go too deep into it, but if you Google Peter, Dr. Peter Attia and zone two cardio, they found that cyclists who just do zone two cardio, meaning You're doing exercise, but you could just still barely have a conversation. if I was on this bike, I could probably do the podcast, but it would sound horrible because I would be, pretty out of breath, but I could still breathe through my nose.
[00:46:55] Matt: I have a conversation. If I needed to, I take our, daily Monday [00:47:00] huddles now on the bike and, I don't think anybody minds too much, at least when I have something to say, I make it short and sweet and I can get it out, but I'm still there riding. And, anyway, it's amazing for building a base of cardiovascular.
[00:47:18] Matt: energy, helping increase your VO two max, By building a really big, wide base, it's great for mitochondria, et cetera. but yeah, Peter is the resource I've been using for that. That finally convinced me to do it.
[00:47:34] Cesar: Love that. Yeah. he's one of my favorites along with Dr. Same, same.
[00:47:40] Cesar: Awesome, Matt. thanks so much for coming on the show, man. And, you know, as last question here, what would be your, one of your takeaways from the episode, that you can leave the listeners with in terms of how to. Add more adventure into their lives.
[00:47:55] Matt: I mean, couple things, couple takeaways that we [00:48:00] mentioned. One is what you said about living intentionally. Don't just go through the motions, figure out what do I want to do? And even if you don't have this perfect plan, just get out, just get on your damn bike. Just book a trip. Even if it's not the perfect trip, you don't have to do a million, you know, hours of research, just go somewhere and have some fun.
[00:48:27] Matt: And then you build that momentum. while that Nike quote is really cliche, just do it. Everybody needs a little push, especially if you're struggling with your mental health, as we were talking about earlier. And if you are one of these people who are listening to this, I'm like, Oh yeah, I am a, you know, high achiever.
[00:48:46] Matt: I don't have trouble getting out of bed in the morning. then reach out to three friends who you know, do and get them on board and pull them along. I love that. And
[00:48:58] Cesar: isn't that how under 30 [00:49:00] experiences got started?
[00:49:01] Matt: Absolutely. It certainly is. We just roped in some friends soon enough. We had this guy Caesar, applying online to come to our trip to his own country and just like you said, be a tourist in your own country.
[00:49:17] Matt: You were flying back from Miami to Nicaragua. And, yeah, I met you back at the airport and the rest of history. Yeah, come a
[00:49:25] Cesar: long way, man. thanks for always, showing up, being a friend, above everything else and, sharing your experience on this episode. We appreciate it. last thing here, huh?
[00:49:35] Cesar: What's the best way to Reach out to you, you know, where can people find you so you can
[00:49:40] Matt: see all of my, updates on Instagram, Matt Wilson, TV, Facebook, Matt Wilson, travel. Tick tock is Matt Wilson travel. We've got 3 brands now under 30 experiences. Over 30 experiences in digital nomad trips. So you can, put any of those in Google or [00:50:00] put the little, letters.
[00:50:02] Matt: com at the end of those, and you will find us.
[00:50:07] Cesar: Love it. We'll make sure to include those in the show notes. but yeah, thanks Matt. Thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate you. And, yeah, looking forward to catching up
[00:50:14] Matt: down the road. Always a pleasure. Thank you, Caesar.
[00:50:17] Cesar: all right. I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you so much for listening all the way through. I appreciate you. And I hope that you get some valuable information that you can apply to our personal and professional life. If this story resonated with you and you would like to support the podcast.
[00:50:40] Cesar: Please make sure to subscribe. So you don't miss out on any future episodes. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I appreciate you. And I look forward to serving you in the next episode.

Creators and Guests

Cesar Romero
Host
Cesar Romero
Helping startups and SMBs build strong customer relationships that drive product adoption, reduce churn, and increase revenue | Community-Driven | Podcast Host
Matt Wilson
Guest
Matt Wilson
Co-founder at Under30Experiences | Author of the Millennial Travel Guidebook
Matt Wilson Reflects on Balancing Adventure, Entrepreneurship, and Being the Best Dad Possible
Broadcast by