The Quiet Work

Matt Wis
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  • Entrepreneurship

Welcome to The Quiet Work — where I sit down with founders, operators, and quiet builders to explore what it really takes. Honest conversation about the work that matters. If you’re building something of your own, you’re in the right place.

  1. Jun 23

    EP. 99 | They Call Him Mr. Strategic

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/richerich/ https://richerich.com/ Richard Richardson runs five businesses at once. Brand strategy, logistics, 3PL, distribution, and hospitality. He's been doing it for over 20 years and the nickname that stuck — Mr. Strategic — wasn't something he invented. His clients gave it to him. We talk about how he learned to sell by fitting into his customer's plan instead of pushing them into his, why he never calls for orders, how he divides his time across multiple businesses, what the "tour of love" actually costs you, and why he'd change nothing about the road he's traveled. Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome + Richard introduces himself and RicheRich LLC 0:43 – Serial entrepreneur, logistics, distribution, hospitality — all at once 1:49 – How "Mr. Strategic" was born (his clients named him) 3:41 – Corporate world lesson: fit into your customer's plan, not yours 5:07 – Why he never called for orders — and always hit his number by month 5 8:04 – The "tour of love" — what clients show you vs. what's really happening 9:53 – Why knowing the bad stuff matters before you market anything 12:05 – How he divides his time across five businesses 14:47 – 100 hours in your own business vs. 100 hours for someone else's 17:00 – Supply chain as a strategic truth-teller 20:00 – How logistics reveals what's actually wrong in a business 25:00 – What brand equity actually means (and why most companies get it wrong) 30:00 – The lean machine: why he doesn't keep every expert on staff 38:00 – Bringing in collaborators when they're better suited — and not hoarding business 43:18 – "We become part of the team, so they gotta win" 43:43 – What he'd tell younger Richard: change nothing 45:31 – The filing cabinet in his head — and what's useful vs. bar talk 45:54 – Nietzsche, the Knicks, and closing thoughts

    50 min

  2. Jun 20

    EP. 98 | She Moved to France at 16. Built a Business in 5 Languages.

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-chamberlin-the-bilingual-lantern/ https://www.thebilinguallantern.com/en Jennifer Chamberlin went to France at 14 for a 10-day homestay. The family gave her a ring when she arrived. She's still friends with them today — and the host mom is turning 80 this year. That one family changed the trajectory of her life. She moved back at 16 to become fluent, then again at 22 permanently. Spent 15 years as a bilingual executive assistant. Got made redundant from a job she loved. Then built The Bilingual Lantern from scratch — a virtual operations and delegation firm supporting entrepreneurs in English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian, with clients from Paris to Singapore to Australia. We talk about what virtual assistants actually do that AI can't, why companies firing their support staff are actually just transferring the work to their managers, the shoemaker who finally got shoes (after 10 years), and why finding your people is the most underrated business strategy. Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome + Jennifer introduces The Bilingual Lantern0:43 – Wait, do you actually speak all five languages?1:19 – How it started: a 14-year-old flying alone to Toulouse to stay with strangers3:37 – The ring in the bowl — one gesture that changed her life6:11 – Why homestays matter more now than ever7:04 – 15 years as a bilingual EA, then made redundant from a job she loved8:47 – The network she'd already built made launching the business possible9:53 – Who she works with: solo founders to large organizations12:12 – Clients in Singapore, Australia, and how she handles time zones14:38 – The client journey: discovery call, audit, action plan17:26 – Can AI really replace what a good VA does?19:00 – What virtual assistants can do that AI still can't22:45 – Matt's own EA story from Poland27:10 – How do clients know you're working if they can't see you?27:36 – WhatsApp, Slack, and the Friday update channel29:05 – The shoemaker's shoes: 10 years in, just built her own Notion hub31:36 – The ABC system: Acquisition, Business, Client32:56 – The biggest challenge of running a business like this33:38 – Her husband: 22 years married and her anchor34:36 – Would you do it all over again in 2026? Her answer.35:51 – AI is pushing middle managers down, not elevating them36:14 – "See you next year" — the best client feedback she ever got37:22 – Matt's suggestion: a Skool community and an afternoon tea in Paris40:18 – Closing thoughts

    43 min

  3. Jun 3

    EP. 97 | He Bought a 70-Year-Old Factory with Leaking Roofs — Then Built a Global Niche

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-smith-725508b/ https://www.vonco.com/ Keith Smith grew up doing paper routes and cleaning strip mall shops before eventually finding his way into flexible packaging at 18. Thirty years later he's the president, CEO, and owner of Vonco Products — a medical device contract manufacturer he acquired in 2013 from a 75-year-old founder who had no exit plan. The roofs leaked. The docks flooded every winter. The safety record was bad. And Keith bootstrapped the turnaround anyway. Today Vonco operates two US manufacturing sites, serves clients globally, and is 80% focused on medical device — an industry they never even marketed to. We also talk about how they're using AI to replace logbooks on the production floor, why US manufacturing has to automate or die, Keith's morning routine (sauna, cold plunge, journaling, COIL tracking), and his daughter who just landed with the Chicago Bulls dance team. Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome + Keith introduces himself and Vonco Products 0:43 – From paper routes to flexible packaging at 18 — how it started 1:56 – Watching a company get sold, then deciding to buy his own 2:18 – Finding Vonco: a 70-year-old family business with no exit plan 3:50 – The first week: leaking roofs, flooded docks, broken equipment 5:24 – Bootstrapping a turnaround while trying to grow at the same time 7:37 – How they accidentally became 80% medical device 9:09 – Three more acquisitions since — what they've learned 10:12 – Manufacturing talent: the hardest part isn't finding people, it's keeping them 12:01 – AI and automation: why US manufacturers have no choice 14:11 – How Vonco is replacing logbooks with AI-powered knowledge search 16:55 – Their products ship to Europe, Asia, Australia — including a world-leading COVID specimen transport product 18:30 – What Vonco actually makes: bags, pouches, containers that hold fluids in and out of the body 20:00 – Tariffs, reshoring, and how trade policy is actually affecting their business 22:07 – IV drip lounges, nutraceuticals, and the compounding pharmacy trend 26:23 – How Keith manages his day: it all starts with managing his energy 27:55 – The morning routine: sauna, cold plunge, journaling, Bible, COIL tracking 28:14 – Book recommendations: Good to Great, The Obstacle Is the Way, The Expansion Sale 29:26 – Date nights, future trips always on the calendar, and journaling with his wife 31:18 – The four pillars: health, love, wealth, and faith 32:08 – Stoicism, Ryan Holiday, Epictetus, and box breathing 33:32 – What he's looking forward to: automation investments and his daughter joining the Chicago Bulls 35:43 – Half marathons, Ironman, and why he'll probably do golf this summer

    38 min

  4. May 27

    EP. 96 | Hard Skills Get You the Job. Human Skills Keep It. (w/ Mike Miles)

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-j-miles/ https://www.milestone-leadership.com/blog Mike Miles spent 20 years at Microsoft. Led teams of 700 people across 11 countries. Helped launch Bing in 75 markets. Held two patents. And nearly burned out trying to take a company public before 9/11 ended that dream. What he walked away with wasn't the stock options. It was a question: is that really the leader I want to be? Today Mike runs Milestone Leadership, coaches executives and impact-focused founders, sits as board chair at Watson Institute, and runs 90-mile events in his spare time. We talk about the Blue Task vs. Red Task framework, how to build the line out your door, why AI is making human skills more valuable than ever, and what 20 years at Microsoft taught him that no business school ever could. Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome + Mike introduces Milestone Leadership 0:39 – Three things he focuses on: new skills, balance, delegation 1:48 – From IPO to sold for pennies: the pre-Microsoft burnout story 3:54 – The line out your door — the best leadership measure nobody talks about 5:47 – Why coaching leaders wasn't a thing at Microsoft in the early 2000s 6:30 – Hard skills vs. human skills — why we don't value what we can't measure 8:48 – How he works with clients: the 4 assessments (360, DISC, balance, energy) 12:52 – The running question — and why endurance is a leadership lab 13:21 – Stepping outside your comfort zone in another dimension 15:18 – 90 miles in Park City, Utah — and a 100K coming this September 16:48 – Nature, thinking, and what the desert is missing 21:27 – The patent cubes on the shelf — what Microsoft gives you for innovating 22:54 – What gives him the most fulfillment now vs. leading 700 people 26:10 – The Blue Task vs. Red Task framework explained 29:07 – How to delegate, defer, or delete your red tasks 30:44 – The four things you can do with any email: respond, delegate, defer, delete 32:57 – How Mike keeps his workweek under 40 hours on purpose 33:50 – The business manager who's been with him for 25 years 38:30 – Why he blogs without AI — and why that matters 41:55 – Bring Back Blogging — a new hashtag is born 42:57 – What he'd tell his younger self: invest in human skills earlier 45:14 – You can't learn to swim by reading about water 47:15 – The reps that count — and why presence is the rep 49:05 – Running without headphones — and why being alone with yourself is hard 50:06 – Closing thoughts

    53 min

  5. May 26

    EP. 95 | You Carried Your Burnout Into Your Business (w/ Candice Van Dertholen)

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/candicevandertholen/ https://heal.me/candice Candice Van Dertholen spent years building other people's businesses — launching a YogaSix studio from four walls and a concept to 400 members, managing Anytime Fitness to 1,500 members, creating communities where people felt at home. Then she burned out. And when she started her own business, she realized she'd carried the exact same energy patterns with her. Today Candice is the founder of The Warrior Within Healing, a speaker, retreat facilitator, and private advisor to conscious business owners. We talk about why most entrepreneurs unknowingly duplicate their burnout in their own companies, what energy work actually is (without the woo), how clarity of self always comes before clarity of strategy, and why the best growth tool she ever used was just being herself in conversations. Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome + Candice introduces herself and The Warrior Within Healing 0:37 – What a "conscious business owner" actually means 1:20 – Who she works with: high performers leaving high-pressure industries 3:36 – How it started: franchise work, Anytime Fitness, and launching YogaSix 4:37 – From four walls to 400 members — how she built community from scratch 7:12 – Why burnout patterns follow you into your own business 9:29 – How to explain energy work to someone who's brand new to it 10:04 – We all carry energy — and everything we put in our system affects it 12:49 – The boomerang effect: what you give comes back 13:42 – What transformation actually looks like: from burnout to first launch 16:07 – Human Design and how it helps identify where your energy has been displaced 19:00 – The identity crisis moment that comes before real clarity 22:14 – The Jerry Maguire exit — and what really happens in business year one 26:17 – The best visibility strategy: get really good at being you 27:43 – Why AI is pushing everyone back toward in-person connection 29:20 – How she built referral partnerships just by showing up as herself 30:43 – Reputation takes time — put in the reps 31:00 – How to hold space for people at a four-day retreat without burning out 33:12 – In New Hampshire: asked the Divine for guidance before a heavy talk 34:40 – Going back to a contract job in 2024 — and what she learned from it 35:04 – What gives her the most fulfillment 36:20 – Matt's personal takeaway: energy habits follow you from career to career 40:19 – It's a constant evolution — and that's the beauty of it

    42 min

  6. May 17

    EP. 94 | The FBI Said He Was on an ISIS Kill List

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkirkham/ https://www.kirkhamirontech.com/ Tom Kirkham has been in cybersecurity for 26 years. He's seen everything from bragging rights hackers in the late 90s to an industrial-scale trillion-dollar criminal industry. But nothing changed his perspective quite like the day an FBI agent showed up at his office and told him he was on an ISIS kill list — because a company he signed an NDA with got hacked. Today Tom runs Kirkham IronTech, a managed security services provider ranked in the top 250 MSPs globally for four consecutive years. We talk about how hacking became a $10 trillion industry, why 95% of breaches are caused by human error, how AI is now scaling personalized attacks to target anyone, what ransomware actually looks like from the inside, and why your coffee machine might be your biggest security risk. Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro: What Kirkham IronTech does1:01 – 26 years in IT and security — top 250 MSP globally2:06 – Starting the company from a dining room table on January 1, 20003:02 – When hackers did it for bragging rights — and when that changed4:11 – 95% of breaches are caused by human error, not technical exploits5:00 – How a ransomware campaign works — the math behind $10M paydays5:26 – The FBI showed up and said: you're on an ISIS kill list6:19 – How he ended up on the list (a Sun Microsystems NDA got hacked)9:14 – Stoicism helped him make peace with it in weeks13:31 – The number one threat to every business: ransomware14:33 – Hacking is now a $10 trillion industry — third largest GDP on the planet16:39 – AI now scales personalized attacks to everyone, not just high-value targets17:05 – Matt's real experience: CEO identity stolen, employees sent to buy gift cards18:14 – Proactive vs. reactive: how Kirkham operates19:07 – Gas pump skimmers, phishing, and cybersecurity beyond the office20:17 – Why traditional antivirus (Norton, McAfee) is no longer enough22:59 – Chinese cyber warfare and the greatest IP theft in human history26:10 – The three pillars: technology, training, governance27:28 – Why old laptops are costing you more than new ones28:48 – Why Tom replaced every Mac in the company within 6 months of Apple Silicon30:22 – They qualify clients as much as clients qualify them32:36 – Clients who've been with them 20+ years — and why churn is minimal35:29 – From a dining room to a radio show — how he built regional brand awareness37:50 – AI in the company: privacy governance comes first42:49 – Executive intelligence briefings — what's coming next46:55 – What Tom would tell his younger self: trust your gut, embrace failure50:17 – MSP 4.0: managed intelligence providers and the AI governance opportunity53:09 – Closing thoughts

    54 min

  7. May 16

    EP. 93 | One Lawyer Running Seven Ventures at Once

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcsnyderman/ https://npoint.ventures/ At 17, Marc Snyderman and his brother rented a bay at his dad's dealership, made business cards that said "Exotic Care," and started picking up people's cars door-to-door to detail them. He says it would have been a nine-figure exit if he'd kept going. Instead he went to law school, interned at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, ran operations at a defense contractor from $15M to $60M ARR, burned out, rebuilt, and now runs seven ventures at once — including a subscription-based law firm, a creator marketplace, a lithium-ion fire extinguisher company, and a coffee brand called Teddy Outdoors. We talk about how he flipped the law firm model on its head, what 26% annual growth for five years actually looks like from the inside, how to spot the wrong business partner before it's too late, mental health as a founder, and why vibe coding a full app in a weekend is now completely normal. Timestamps: 0:34 – Age 17: Exotic Care, door-to-door car detailing, and the nine-figure exit he missed2:23 – "That would 100% be a nine-figure exit today"3:41 – How he ended up in law: a Hansel and Gretel mock trial in second grade4:09 – Paying his way through law school from day one4:48 – Interning at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange5:06 – From corporate lawyer to COO — and 10 years running a defense company5:58 – 26% annual growth for five straight years — what actually drove it7:19 – Would he need fewer people today with AI? His honest answer8:02 – Excel didn't kill accountants — and AI won't kill lawyers10:17 – Legal as a Service (LaaS): flipping the billable hour model upside down12:14 – Are other law firms copying the subscription model?13:32 – ChatGPT hallucinated a case citation — a lawyer got disbarred14:48 – The private AI tools built specifically for lawyers16:00 – Next Point Ventures: the airport analogy17:03 – The only thesis: "We don't work with assholes"17:22 – Ukreate: a creator marketplace for travel brands and hotels18:58 – VendOnBoard: vendor compliance automation19:55 – The lithium-ion fire extinguisher — why your regular one won't work22:13 – Teddy Outdoors coffee: step outside, put the phone down23:46 – Performance coffee with mushrooms — trying to make it taste like coffee24:34 – Matt's Milton Hershey story and the Switzerland recipe25:40 – Entrepreneurial ADHD: open, focus, move — one window at a time26:37 – Vibe coding a full app with audit capability in a weekend28:11 – How to spot the wrong business partner before it's too late29:26 – Business divorces: the ugly reality of startup partnerships30:05 – The Warren Buffett / Charlie Munger restaurant test for CEOs31:47 – Matt's never held a real pager32:05 – Health, burnout, depression, and the semicolon tattoo33:41 – What Marc would tell his 17-year-old self35:03 – Why failure has one root cause, but success has 10036:53 – Neuroplasticity, individuation, and why talking to younger people is mission critical37:58 – When we all became uncomfortable with our own thoughts40:32 – What gives Marc the most fulfillment

    43 min

  8. May 8

    EP. 92 | This AI Answers Your Phone at 3AM and Books the Job — CallTex Co-Founder

    Connect with Casey: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casey-purington-537103ab/ Website: https://www.usecalltex.com/ Casey Purington has spent 15 years obsessing over one thing: what happens when a customer calls a home service company. Most of the time — especially after hours — nothing good happens. The phone rings. No one answers. The customer calls the next company on the list. And the HVAC company just wasted $300 in marketing to get that call. Casey built CallTex to fix that. An AI voice agent that answers in under a second, pulls the customer's history from Service Titan, quotes the right price, books the job, and logs everything — without a single human involved. We talk about how AI voice agents actually work behind the scenes, why transparency with callers matters, how Casey cold calls companies at midnight to prove his point, his plan to land private equity groups, and why he's betting everything on AI. Timestamps: 0:00 – Welcome + Casey introduces himself and CallTex 0:55 – From the car business to call centers at 18 2:30 – His first day in a contact center: a chair, a headset, and a notepad 3:40 – What great call handling actually looks like — and why most companies miss it 6:04 – How AI pulled him out of consulting and into building 7:00 – Three buckets: inbound, outbound, and proactive follow-up 8:00 – Happy check calls, tune-up campaigns, and the CRM integration 9:55 – Playbooks, tagging, and how the back end works 11:16 – Who's adopting AI fast — and who's still talking about it 13:39 – The Yellow Pages moment: early adopters win, resisters get left behind 14:36 – Should you disclose the caller is talking to AI? 17:00 – Transparency, hallucination, and the hybrid approach 20:09 – What happens to the call center agents he trained? His honest answer. 22:09 – The full customer journey with CallTex — demo to live 24:47 – Tagging, routing, knowledge base, and advertisement integration 27:12 – This is not an answering service — what makes CallTex different 29:23 – Onboarding takes days, not weeks — but you need one owner 30:18 – Why every home service company needs a call center manager 32:38 – Can the manager role be remote? Yes — and Casey plans to offer it 36:01 – How they find customers: calling companies at midnight 37:00 – The leakage report: Casey records missed calls and sends them to the owner 39:27 – The private equity play — scaling dozens of locations at once 41:00 – "We couldn't get the big players to do what you did" — a client this week 43:22 – Where is AI voice going over the next decade? 45:28 – Why off-the-shelf AI won't cut it — the builders vs. the plug-and-play crowd 48:19 – Matt's take: AI is the direction, human in the loop stays 49:46 – Closing thoughts

    46 min
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About

Welcome to The Quiet Work — where I sit down with founders, operators, and quiet builders to explore what it really takes. Honest conversation about the work that matters. If you’re building something of your own, you’re in the right place.

Information

  • Creator
    Matt Wis
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Matt Wis
  • Show Website
    The Quiet Work