When Bart Berkey asks Matt Uhler what he does that most people don't, his answer is simple: "I keep my word." When he tells someone he will call at a specific time, it weighs on him until he does.

Matt learned that from the people who raised him, and from his grandfather, the superintendent of a brickyard, who once pulled up to a picket line, handed the striking workers horseshoes and games, and then walked through the gate to do his job.

At 17, with no plan for college, his metal shop teacher, Mr. Shermer, told him: you know how to clean, you need a mop and a bucket, why don't you just start a business? Matt built that cleaning company to 40 employees and sold it at 26. Selling it opened a door he didn't know existed, and he has spent nearly 29 years since helping people buy, sell and finance Main Street businesses. Along the way he has owned 40 businesses and still holds an active stake in about 20, which he calls his own mutual fund.

Bart and Matt talk about running away from something versus running toward something, why our identity has to step up to who we really are now, learning to say no with integrity, and why HUMANALITY™ will become even more valuable as so much of business moves to automation.

In this episode:

I keep my word

His grandfather and the brickyard

A mop, a bucket and a business at 17

40 employees, sold at 26

Running away from, then running toward

Identity has to step up to who you are now

His first deal: a $24,000 business

Saying no with integrity

Owning 40 businesses

HUMANALITY™ in an automated world

ABOUT MATT UHLER

Matt Uhler is the founder of Amped Success, an education and training company that teaches people how to buy, sell, finance and partner in businesses, and host of the What's Your Deal? podcast. He has spent nearly 29 years as a business broker working mostly with Main Street businesses.

Most People Don't... But YOU Do! is hosted by Bart Berkey, who spent 16 years as a global executive with The Ritz-Carlton and now builds HUMANALITY™, a system for making people feel cared for, valued, seen and heard rather than processed.

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