By colby on 10/31/2016
This is our fourth episode featuring Matt Pimpkin of Speak Your Silence. Learn a bit about Matt's journey into Social Entrepreneurship and the success behind Speak Your Silence.
Transcript below:
Jason: Welcome back to another episode of decision pints . Today we've got a special guest , Matt Pumpkin , Social Entrepreneur . Extraordinary . Thanks for joining us , Matt . And we're cheersing to a fresh coast IPA of pay at ruins .
Matt: some nice long silence . Small . Now .
Jason: We're so happy to have you here today because you have done so many things in my life . It's routed back toward seeing the ignite boise live launch of 65 in your social entrepreneurial career . Right . So tell us a little bit about what , how did you decide ? I'm just going to take action . I'm going to do it .
Matt: Yeah . I was at a point in life where I just felt like it was a low point where I lost all my money in real estate and I was wondering what value I brought to the world and this big idea to break this ridiculous world record was presented to me and uh , I latched onto it attaching it to my cause and child sexual abuse , something that I went through as a kid and it was just one of those 24 , 25 , what do I have to lose sort of thing . I really have nothing to lose . So I went for it and shared my story publicly for the first time when , after this crazy idea , but which pivoted since , but really is what I have to think for getting me to where I am now . So I think
Jason: ambition that you have is , it's motivating for others . It's rejuvenating , refreshing . People love to know what you're doing and what you're up to . And I know we were all captivated sitting in the audience . Yeah , grandma sometimes and so many others were sitting there and there's these hand drawn sketches of Matt Pipkin up there talking about breaking a world record and spending 65 days in an airplane above without touching ground to set a world record to raise awareness for a great cause and breaking the stigma of child sexual abuse and having conversation , people being comfortable with it . And you are a person who drives change and we want to know more about what it is that makes you do it . I
Matt: don't know , I just think if you only live one time and I really want to make it count and I think we all do . Right ? And so I happened to start at the right time , I think in life , in life or I didn't have so much to lose . But , um , I don't know , I just , I think yeah , I just want to do well with whatever I do and I was at this place where I really needed to make an impact and see it . And I think we all have that in us where we need to see what we bring to the world . And we need to feel like we contribute something . So this was my way and pivoted from that because I realized that that was so inward focused , brought eyeballs into us using this extravagant idea . They would create conversation but short term and so we pivoted and built a real organization out of it which is focused on putting , you know , putting the burden on others to do something and put the focus on them really . So it's not about me . It makes the cost a heck of a lot more effective , I'll tell Ya .
Jason: I think he did . You talk about the big ideas are there , but the execution of building an organization that's been granted to me ,
Matt: so it's gotta be about why we're doing it and giving people a way to do it ,
Jason: which is awesome . And you're grinding every day and you're asking to meet people . You're flying to go and sit with huge heads of organizations and championing the cause and the organization . What's . What's that like ? Is there a book ? How did you decide ? How did you know that this is the way to go about building an organization ?
Matt: I don't know what I'm supposed to do this afternoon to be honest . Uh , I think it's just a matter of taking the one step in front of you that you can take and then figuring out what the next step is because the whole time I've been learning as I go and I've made a point to go seek advice from people who I knew would really know what they're talking about . It's a valuable thing , but yeah , just taking that one step , it's easy to look at the whole pie as a whole big goal and get overwhelmed because that's overwhelming for any of us , but you can't eat a whole pint when by it . So you're just take one bite at a time .
Jason: Good . Good advice . So moving into the , the , the pivot and looking at it speak your silence and the stitch . Let's talk a little bit about the origin of the stitch and , and how that fits into your cat . Hair . Just blew into my nose . Right ? And you're asked to speak your silence . Silence is the nonprofit that I started . We're focused on breaking the stigma of child sexual abuse and take it from being this awkward taboo issue and turning it into a cause that people can actually be excited to champion . And so we created this . The stitch , this was an idea I had that I ,
Matt: I knew it was either a really great idea or just one of the many that I'll never execute on it cause you just cancel it out and realized no , that's not the way , but this one's really worked . It's physically symbolic of your voice frequency when you wear it . So it's , it's a really subtle way for people to support a cause . It's actually takes a lot of guts to support this cause because it's one of those , it's not like an arm's length cause like digging wells in Africa , which is very important , but you've probably never been affected by lack of clean water . So that's when you can support without people assuming that you've been affected by where the sexual abuse , the automatic assumption is . Well if you were , that's where was something happening . He was a kid . So that's something we combat every day . But this has been our solution to spark conversations that could never be sparked by us and give people a tool to change the lives of people sitting right next to them .
Jason: I imagine it's a brilliant a step , a piece of everything that you've got going on . And I'm proud , proud to keep up with all the great things you're doing and to where the stitch the sticker now . Now there's A. There's a real stitch here today , but next time I'm gonna I'm gonna prep and have the shirt off when I'm selling . So going back to your ambition and you mentioned that you had a lot of ideas and a lot of things and I thought you know , this is a good time to do a little bit of Word Association . So I'm just going to say a word and then you come up with whatever comes to mind . All right , so paddle board paddle board was open . You'd save paddle ball . One of my favorite stories of all time is I came into the job of a coffee shop and you got a collection of people sitting around the table all intently working and you are scheduling 65 simultaneous or people different universities doing 65 hours ball . You know how effective that one was .
Jason: I should have listened to my now wife and I thought it was brilliant . I don't think so . I thought , no , no , you're wrong . You're obviously here are so I've , I've learned to listen when she automatically thinks that idea sucks . Listen to that , you know , it's going to upset me . I don't know , you know , all , all the on the other shoulder . Just trying to give you some cheers . They . Yeah . Why don't we , why don't we panel law more ? Yeah , that was a , that was a rough one , right ? It is great . And I just thought , you know , over over the years , I know there was a time when I was at another coffee shop and was meeting someone who's new to boise and I'm . One of the highlights I was talking about a boise was this map is making things happen and you were standing right there listening and uh , it's like , I know someone mentions my name below areas magic because everywhere , but , but it's great .
Jason: We love the things that you're doing and as we work to wrap up a quick show here , we like to give an endorsement and uh , it's uh , under Hashtag kind of guy who a guy trying to get . So Matt Pipkin kind of guy who it is impossible not to be smiling when you're hanging around . He's always laughing , having fun , doing great things and making a difference in the world . So cheers to you and thanks for having me on here . Fun thing out of working . And we'd also like to thank , uh , dtx creative , David , three 60 immersive tom for all the support and helping us put this together . Thank you so much and thanks to all the tuned in and we'll tune in and watch the recording . Take care .
Speaker 1: I .
