Matthew Sgherzi's entrepreneurial journey is marked by a keen sense of foresight and a relentless drive for innovation. Armed with degrees in Computer Information Systems—a journey that began with an Associates of Science degree and culminated in a Bachelors of Science from National University in 2013—Matthew has consistently demonstrated a capacity to navigate and excel in dynamic fields.
His professional trajectory is a testament to his ability to anticipate and capitalize on emerging trends. Before immersing himself in the world of cryptocurrency, Matthew successfully managed Amazon FBA private label businesses, showcasing an aptitude for getting ahead of market shifts. In recent years, his focus has shifted to the decentralized realm of cryptocurrency, driven by a belief in the potential for individuals to democratize their wealth outside the traditional banking system.
Beyond his professional pursuits, Sgherzi is a devoted Christian and a stalwart figure in his local Church. Serving locally, he combines his IT background with a commitment to the well-being of the community. His dedication extends to philanthropy, where he actively supports the James Project, an organization providing shelter, faith-based education, and retraining for battered women and children in Central America.
Recently nominated and inducted into the National Society for Leadership and Success, Matthew Sgherzi’s approach to both his professional and personal life is defined by a contrarian philosophy. He consistently challenges conventional wisdom, opting for paths less traveled. This perspective has not only defined his entrepreneurial success but has also shaped his engagement with various endeavors, from weightlifting—where he has dedicated over a decade—to his thoughtful involvement in nonprofit work.
Could you walk us through your typical day, highlighting how you infuse productivity into your routine?
As an entrepreneur, there isn’t really a ”typical” day. However, infusing productivity, from my philosophy, comes from a book I once read called “Organize Tomorrow Today”. The book goes through how our brain works similarly to a freeway, and we have only so many lanes where we can focus and memorize needs, events, desires, wants, etc. They determined, through various studies, that we only focus and memorize in groups of three, hence phone numbers and social security numbers being in groups of three.
Further, they stated that it was best for humans to have a set of three tasks to accomplish for the next day. The top task is the “must” and it’s called your “one thing” that if there is only one thing to get done tomorrow it would be this top task. The middle task is the “need” thing, where you need to get it done but it isn’t yet a “must”. The last is the “want” to accomplish for the day, where it could theoretically be put off, but acts as a tertiary accomplishment that moves you forward in a small way.
This, combined with Paretto’s principle of accomplishing the 20% of tasks that get you 80% of the results you’re looking for (80/20 rule), allows me to organize my day, in advance, with the three main tasks to accomplish in the 20% realm that allows me to get 80% of the way to where I want to be.
How do you create and implement your best ideas?
I do this by thinking. Thinking is said to be a $100,000 per hour task, but very few of us do it. I know certain activities that are passive in nature that allow my mind to explore ideas and come back to me with results. These results then allow me to know the “where”, I then have to put forth the effort into going about the “how”, which could include the implementation and timelines of such results.
Tell our audience about a trend that excites you.
Utilizing Web3 and digital assets to connect the real-world (known as “off-chain”) to the blockchain world (known as ”on-chain”). This can be accomplished by utilizing financial instruments, real world items, property, real estate, etc and allowing the access, ownership, usage, or transfer of them via smart contracts and distributed ledger technology. This provides a real-world utility behind tokenization and Web3 accessibility in a manner which provides a real and true value.
If you could name one habit that helps you be more productive, what would it be?
Learning to ignore “noise” and say “no”. Noise can be things that you know are happening but you choose to intentionally ignore them. One such example is, you know that there may be someone on social media, at this very moment, who is bashing you or saying something you might disagree with, which would normally cause you to be unable to focus and instead want to go and engage with strangers online whom you’ve never met. Another example could be you know there are people writing you trying to get in touch with you, maybe even blowing up your inbox or DMs, but the “thing” they’re contacting you about isn’t all that important. By “important”, I mean it doesn't fit into your 80/20 top three tasks for the day.
Rather than becoming distracted serving others (or your own fleshly desires by arguing or disagreeing),you must learn to “ignore” and say “no”, whether that is saying “no” to them, or to yourself when you feel an urge.
Your tasks are a matter of life and death, and you cannot be distracted in life and simultaneously accomplish your dreams.
You get to choose which one you would rather have: The last laugh, or the fulfillment of your destiny.
If you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be?
Two things: Know 100% what it is you want, and focus relentlessly only on that.
So many in life don’t know what they want, and therefore they have no idea what to focus on.
You see it in the gyms, whether it’s on January 1st or any other time. You can instantly tell who is there seriously and who is there half-heartedly. Ironically, their bodies will usually tell you the story, as results never lie about the character you put forth.
If you have an expensive car, and you get in it, and have no idea which coordinates to put into the GPS for your end destination, you’re just driving around, albeit in a nice car, drifting about with nowhere to go.
In life, you must have a crystal clear picture of where you want to be. With that picture, you will be able to see and build the vision. Once you have that vision so perfectly clear in your mind, and you focus exclusively on that vision to the degree that you cannot accept not having it, you will find that you take the necessary steps to accomplish that vision by default, almost automatically.
One day, you essentially find yourself there, and you will have difficulty recounting the steps. Like a magnet, you will find you magnetize yourself to that vision only once it’s crystal clear in your mind and you focus on it as if you cannot live without it.
What’s something you believe strongly that almost nobody agrees with you on.
A lot of things can be written here, but I’ll stick to only one.
I believe many systems that have been set up in society are designed to create a specific person for a specific result that those in power ultimately want on a large scale.
One such example is the educational system. Originally, the educational system ended after Jr. High. Kids would go and get jobs and contribute to their families and society. However, to fight homelessness, the Government created additional schooling grades to put kids back into the system, and they called it “High School”.
Then the idea was to create even further schooling where you could study specific topics and earn specialized training with the end result being various certifications and degrees, they called this “College”. Of course, trade schools and various educational systems were rolled out, but I’m speaking in basic high level terms for now.
They took this concept and attached heavy costs to it. They set it up in a mortgage system.
The entire goal of the mis-educational system, in my opinion, is to create happy people who have the “feel” that they’re accomplishing something, get them into the massive debt system (this is key for control), keep them on a hamster wheel and waste some of the most valuable time in their lives. This ultimately gets them into jobs where they instantly have a mortgage so they are destined to exchange a lot of their valuable time for little money just to service their debt which got them into that position in the first place. This ends in them becoming a happy retail consumer.
This distances them from starting businesses, creating jobs, life-changing products and services, and chasing goals and dreams because of a debt that has been placed on them that they took on in exchange for knowledge that pays them very little.
Many see this in their family, so they get on the exact same hamster wheel that their parents and grandparents jumped in because “It didn’t work for them, but it is likely to work for me!”.
If the goal is to attain wealth, it cannot be done in a job. However, I feel the mis-educational system is designed as a hamster wheel to turn the population into debt carriers and ultimately slaves to a 9-5 underpaying job so they ultimately receive little wealth and pay their debt on taxed money that they then finally use to participate as the happy retail consumer the system designed them to be.
If you could cite one thing that contributes to your success, what would it be?
God’s favor. We can have the 80/20 tasks, we can have the vision and focus on it exclusively, along with all of the personal development dos and dont’s. At the end of the day, if you are not aligned in God’s Will, none of it will matter.
We see examples of this in Scripture where others tried to force a square peg into a round hole, and then God stepped back to let them fail. God allows us to fail in one area so He can guide us to the one He wants us ultimately in.
It is our job to take all of the personal development and suggestions made, implement them, then align it all with His Will. That’s how you achieve ultimate success in any area of life. That doesn’t mean immediate success, that means eventual success.
God’s Word tells us explicitly to trust in the Lord and not to lean on our own understanding, but on His understanding. This isn’t just a nice verse to quote and memorize on Sunday at Church, it’s a part of God’s Word to put into practical use, as is the rest of His Word is.
When you feel overwhelmed, what do you do to get yourself back on track?
It depends on which of these two categories being overwhelmed falls into:
- Is it something that I can control the outcome, right now, by my actions?
- Is it something that I currently do not have any direct control of the outcome of?
If it falls into the first category, then the way I handle being overwhelmed is by taking massive action. This allows me to get closer to the desired outcome that I want, and not only makes me less overwhelmed, but eventually gets the end result that totally eliminates it.
For example, when I begin cutting body fat, it can be a bit overwhelming when I’ve bulked up to a higher weight and I see the big drop that I must take over the next 6 months. However, I know that there are a series of steps that I must take, one at a time, in order to achieve what I want and remove the stress factor. Therefore, this is something entirely within my control.
Another example might be when you or a loved one is sick. There may be things in your control to get the outcome, or there may not. In instances where you can do nothing but wait, you must be still and know that He is God. That verse does not say go about your day, stay busy, go do something and know that He is God, it says be “still”.
There is a reason why every word is included in God’s Word. All words have a specific meaning. Being still AND also simultaneously knowing He is God is difficult. As humans, we want to have control over the outcome. When we try to force outcomes, God often steps back, crosses His arms, and lets us try to solve the problem, and lets us fail. When we are still and trust in Him, that’s often when God goes to work.
Please name one strategy that has helped you expand your career in the past.
Staying ahead of trends.
Being able to stay ahead of trends typically requires a contrarian spirit. What is it that others laugh at, make fun of, and don’t fully understand? Those are the things you should be looking into the most. By the time the herd figures it out, they’ll be too late. The herd always gets slaughtered because the herd is always wrong.
When I went into Amazon FBA, I was told it was a fad, it would die off, and you can’t make money in e-commerce. Even though I don’t believe Amazon FBA owners are “true” entrepreneurs, Amazon is the number one e-commerce platform in the world, and being able to leverage either their platform, or your own, is not only a trend but will be the primary and exclusive way to shop in the pandemic and blockchain future, in my opinion.
When I went into crypto, I was told it’s a ponzi, a scam, and has no value. Cryptocurrency, Web3, and distributed ledger technology via blockchain will be the future standard for currency, finance, technology, manufacturing, logistics, and much more in the future. Every transaction you participate in will be designed in an easy way for the end user but will be blockchain behind the scenes. Similarly to the point-of-sale and processing system behind the easy swipe of a credit card that we use on a daily basis today.
Think of a failure you faced in your career. What did you do to overcome it, and what lessons did you learn afterward?
There are no such things as failures, only setbacks. A setback only becomes a failure if you fail to learn and adapt from it.
I’ve had many setbacks, and the way I respond always determines the future success of anything I do. Do you allow the setback to keep you down, or do you get up, analyze it, look at what you could have done better, then go out and do exactly that?
Setbacks are a part of the curriculum in God’s classroom.
When you experience a setback, it is your job, and your duty, to analyze it and be truthful with yourself. What part in it did you play? What part in it did others play? What percentage of it was your fault? Even if it’s 1%, can you own up to your 1%?
If you could do it over again, with surgical precision, how would you do it?
If a similar event were to transpire again, make a promise to yourself, right now, that you will forever remember the playbook in the above questions and will act on them appropriately. Being able to accomplish this will allow you to pass with an A in this event, but never an A+, because we’re always learning, never failing.
If you could give away one business idea for free to our audience, what would it be?
I would go back to my earlier statement: You must know exactly where you want to be, and you must focus exclusively on it with relentless passion.
For example, your goal of where you want to be must be something that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. In NSLS, for instance, many learn that your goals have to be placed in categories that allow our brains to work with them, not against them.
This includes, but is not limited to your goals being specific in that you must know the details. You then have to be able to measure progress along the way. You must then manage to know when you have achieved something and what that achievement looks like. Next, you have to know if the goal is relevant to your vision and aligns with you as a person. Finally, you absolutely must attach a timetable to it.
To make this simpler, take the goal of losing weight. People will tell you “I want to lose weight” as a goal. That is not a goal, that is a statement, and a vague one at best. A better statement would be “I want to lose fat”. Still vague, but now we know you want to lose fat, not just weight.
Let’s dig deeper. Now that you know you want to lose fat, how much? You may determine that you would like to lose 30 lbs (I won’t go into how to come to this specific conclusion). Now you know not only do you want to lose weight, but you want to lose fat, and you want to lose exactly 30 lbs of it.
It’s great to have the knowledge, but now how do you go about acting on it?
Many people miss their goals by 18 inches: From their head to their heart. They have the knowledge, but no willingness to act on it.
People have goals all of the time, but they have no idea how to get there. The journey to getting to your goal must always be part of the goal itself.
You may determine that you will get there by consuming a maximum of 2,000 calories and 30g of carbs along with lifting weights for 30 minutes and running on the treadmill for 15 minutes, four days per week.
You put a timetable on this for 6 months, which equates to 5 pounds per month, or 1.25 lbs per week.
You now have a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound.
Once you focus on this goal, you will soon realize that this goal is only the first to many others, you just don’t know what the others are yet, and that’s okay (you’ll know later).
You must be able to visualize this in your mind. You must be able to see yourself exactly as you want to be ahead of time. Once you do that, focus on it, and be relentlessly unreasonable, no matter the goal.
The difference between the people who achieve their goals vs the graveyard of dead goals that never come to life is determined in how unreasonable the person who is going after their goals is. You just never take no for an answer.
You will find that once you know where you want to go, what it is and how to get there, and focus on it, you will take the steps to getting there by default.
So many drift about and have no idea what they want in life. Know what you want, because you don’t have much time in this life to take decades figuring it out.
What is one piece of software that helps you get through the day?
The piece of software that helps me get through the day is no software.
All of the software in the world cannot help you if you’re unwilling to keep your non-digital life at the forefront.
What I mean by this is having software organizing everything, having social media keeping you in touch, email and VA software keeping you up-to-date, all of it is for nothing if your digital life supersedes your non-digital life.
Instead of posting your problems on social media, try keeping quiet about it and handle it personally, instead. You will find that you don’t need random stranger’s liking and sharing your posts about a problem they frankly don’t care about from people you will never meet.
Rather than wanting to share over email and bragging about something great that happened to you, try celebrating offline, whether that is by yourself or with friends and family. You will find that if you do this, you actually don’t need the random applause from 1s and 0s. The endorphin drip from random strangers isn’t needed, and you will get back in touch with your humanity as a result.
My point is all of the software in the world does not replace the real world. Rather than relying on software, remember that you are being programmed by software to replace your personal life with your digital one. Keep your humanity. Don’t allow that to happen.
What is the best money you spent recently? Why?
I recently came across some people who were in need. Without mentioning names and situations, there were several people who had needs that I managed to be blessed with and in a position to help them with.
One of the things that you realize on your journey to which-ever goal you’re going after is that you must eventually use your experiences and blessings to help other people achieve theirs. If you are running your race, eventually you will come across people who are in the race and tired. Pull them along with you, and you will find sometimes some of those people naturally find their 2nd wind that they might not have if you didn’t come along and help pull them to get there.
Know what you want and how to get it, visualize and focus on it, strategically plan 80/20 tasks to accomplish it, align those goals with God’s Will and His provision, and be sure you allow Him to use you as a conduit to pass your blessing to someone else who is looking for their blessing.
Do you have a favorite book that has given you a lot of value and why?
There are a few books that I have come across that have changed the way I view the world.
These books include, but are not limited to God’s Word (more specific in a bit), Rich Dad Poor Dad, Organize Tomorrow Today, and Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill.
There are also many truths and life lessons in the Bible, if only we’re tuned into the same frequency to be able to read and hear that message.
One such lesson is how God arranges events provisionally to accomplish His sovereign end goal. Many of these examples exist, but one that I find frequently comes to mind is Esther.
The book of Esther is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God by name, but has His fingerprints all over it. By reading the story, you will see the ironic “coincidences”, the crazy “oddities”, and unbelievable “happen stances” that arrange certain people in certain events in order for a future series of even more specific events to play out for an ultimate end goal of one that fulfills the sovereign purpose of God.
When we try to force things, God will often let us fail. When we are quiet, God will often go to work. When it seems like God is doing nothing, that means He is up to something. It is in those moments He is arranging events to have certain outcomes take place, even if you feel it is taking a long time.
Trust in His timing, His sovereignty, and His ability to provide the proper outcome.