We recently connected with Michael Matos and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michael, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience is built by experiencing hellish circumstances and telling yourself “This won’t be enough to stop me.” Personally, my drive stems from a combination of dedicating myself to a cause and asking myself: “If I don’t accomplish this task myself, am I comfortable leaving it to chance in the hands of another?” That’s honestly the simplified version of how I do the work that I do now. My time outside of being a toddler dad is divided into serving two purposes: to protect communities that are often targets for hate crimes and to advocate for my veteran community at all levels of government. I consider these both to be “no-fail missions”, which essentially means no matter what obstacle comes my way, it won’t last very long. I’m the proud son of a strong father who raised me to defeat any challenge that presented itself and whose lessons I now pass down to my son.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My current work can honestly be summarized by my brand: “Father, Founder, Advocate”. I’m the proud dad of a wild little boy who I do my best to raise with love, care, and strong ideals. He’s the driving force behind everything that I do both in my work and my personal development. Besides being a dad, I’m the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Personal Protective Concepts, a personal safety education firm. Our focus is to create an inclusive and accessible standard of personal safety education, keeping communities at risk of experiencing hate crimes and violence at the forefront. I have an excellent team of community advocates and military veterans to help guide the company to both success and meaningful impact to create positive change throughout our society. Finally, being a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, I serve as an advocate for the veteran community both here in NYC and down on Capitol Hill. My focus has been on fixing the ongoing problem of an unsupported military-to-civilian transition process, but I also advocate for educational opportunities, access to mental health services, and equitable practices throughout the VA system. I’m happy to say I have incredible support from the non-profit I began my advocacy journey with, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
When you decide to follow your path, different from the journey that society expects you to take, you’re going to find resistance. Friends and family, who you would expect to be your biggest supporters, may turn out to be your biggest critics. To face this successfully, you’ll need resilience. If what you’re pursuing is what you consider to be your purpose or your life’s work, double down on it. Limit access to yourself, especially from people who will do nothing for you other than drag you down. It’s going to be hard putting boundaries on people you may have known for years, but you need to sit down and ask yourself: “Is my connection with this person worth giving up my dream?”. If the answer is no, wish them well and close that door.
Beyond resilience, you’ll need flexibility. Life is ever-changing, with new trends and ideas coming to fruition consistently. You need to be open-minded, and willing to pivot how you operate to meet demands and do right by your target markets. Embrace the individuals who stand by you through the chaos and listen to their recommendations. Those who pursue entrepreneurship have the pesky habit of thinking that we always know what’s best for our ventures. Drop this mindset and be committed to learning new perspectives and ideals. Test these theories out and keep what works.
Finally, above all else, value integrity. Along your journey, you’re going to make mistakes. Learn from them and use these lessons to continue to better yourself for those around you and your personal growth. Stay true to the values that guided you when you first started the journey and never give them up for any circumstance you may face.
Keep these three values with you and you’ll have a good foundation to conquer whatever obstacles that come your way.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
This happens a lot to me. I’m deeply dedicated to my work, which can be a double-edged sword. I easily get lost in hitting every avenue to ensure both Personal Protective Concepts and my work with the veteran community are successful, and I burn out a lot. It’s a blessing and a curse to find something that you care about so much to the point where “work” doesn’t feel like work. My advice? Remember what matters most, first. For me, that’s my family, my health, and my peace of mind. I can’t succeed in my work if those three aren’t taken care of. So when you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a moment away from what’s in front of you. Go for a walk, preferably without your phone or anything else that may distract you. Having a background in search and rescue has helped me to develop a simple mantra to help ease my mind: “Will lives be lost if I don’t finish this project today?” The majority of the time, unless you’re in the public safety field, the answer will be no, so take time for yourself and your family.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.personalprotectiveconcepts.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michael.anthony.matos/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelAnthonyMatos
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-matos-9b4384143/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Michael_A_Matos
Image Credits
Gary Dean Clarke Adrian Childress Beare Flores Ian Herbst
