Tracy Matthews shares her journey from creative jewelry designer to founder of a multi-million-dollar business coaching empire, plus how scaling with intention, not hustle, creates sustainable success.
Check Out These Highlights:
If you’ve ever felt torn between being the creative visionary and the CEO of your business, this episode will resonate deeply.
Tracy Matthews opens up about her early days as a jewelry designer, the realities of building a product-based brand, and the hard lessons she learned about scaling too fast and chasing the wrong metrics. She shares how burnout became a wake-up call, and how redefining growth on her own terms led to more profit, more freedom, and more impact.
In this conversation, Tracy and Toby explore the mindset shifts required to build a sustainable business, why so many entrepreneurs underprice themselves, and how aligning strategy with values changes everything. Listeners will walk away with practical insight on scaling smarter, protecting their creative energy, and building a brand that supports their life, not consumes it.
About Tracy Matthews:
Tracy Matthews is a jewelry designer turned business strategist who helps product-based entrepreneurs scale sustainably and profitably. Through her coaching programs and frameworks, she teaches creatives how to build thriving brands without burnout.
Connect with Tracy:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamtracymatthews
🎙 Podcast: https://pod.link/1050430716
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamtracymatthews
🎁 Free Resource: https://resources.tracymatthews.com/breakthrough-map
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Toby Myles: Hey Tracy, welcome to the podcast.
Tracy Matthews: I'm so excited to be here today, Toby,
Toby Myles: I'm super excited. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. Uh, we were chatting a little bit, uh, before we press record about uh, what all has been going on, um, since we were less in touch, which was maybe a year ago, maybe even longer than a year ago.
I don't know. I'm like really super bad with time that way. Um, so before we. Dive in. I usually let our listeners know how we know each other and we go back more than 10 years. Now, at this point I was in, um. 2015 maybe. I joined. Yes. Um, flourish and Thrive Academy. I had a jewelry business back then, and I'm not sure that, um, that everybody in my audience knows that I once had a jewelry business.
They all know me as a, a storytelling coach, a ride like a girl design. That'll be a whole episode on its own. But yeah, I was, I had a jewelry brand and I really needed help with the business side of things. And that was. Like, that's your expertise, right? Um, and so that goes back quite a few years, and then I think in more recent years, um, I got the opportunity to work behind the scenes with your team doing some copywriting, some emails, um, some copy coaching, which was also super fun to be on that side of things.
So, um, so yeah, that's how we know each other.
Tracy Matthews: I, that was, it's been such a wild journey, Toby, I mean. To see you just evolve into all these different, like from, you know, working in corporate and doing your business on the side and then leaving corporate and going for your business. Mm-hmm. And then just realizing you really love to copyright and then going all in on copywriting and now storytelling.
I just, it's just exciting. I love this kind of stuff 'cause I love reinvention and I love how people's journeys just bring them on the path of life. Right?
Toby Myles: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Which is, is. Um, the perfect segue to, um, our conversation today.
Tracy Matthews: I'm like, I've done this before.
Toby Myles: Yeah, I know. Yeah. You've done a few episodes before.
Um, I would love for you to, um, take us back to, um, either like a moment in time, maybe it was like a cluster of moments, um, where you feel like really, um, kind of put you on the path today. And it could be multiple different. Moments.
Tracy Matthews: I have so many places to start because I've been an entrepreneur for 30 years and I was a really creative kid and I'm, I think back to my childhood now, and I'm like, well, this is the reason why you are so passionate about multiple things and you should be doing multiple things.
So, um, where, where's the best place to start? Well, the, the trajectory of entrepreneurship actually started, um, in a moment that was supposed to be like one of the funnest best nights of my life. Um, we were heading out to fraternity formal and we decided to make a pit stop from LA to San Diego at my mom's beach house.
Uh, she wasn't home, and I'll explain a little bit more about that in a minute. And, um, we're sitting there cracking, open some beers and getting the chicken ready for grilling and the phone rings and my friend Rich, uh, answers the phone and I look at him and he turns gray and he's like, well, let me hand the phone to her daughter.
And on the other side of the phone, it was the hospital calling saying that. She didn't make it. And little backstory, my mom had been in the hospital for elective surgery. I'd seen her 30 minutes before she was supposed to come home the next day. To say this was a shock, was, you know, an under like the biggest understatement of my life.
Mm-hmm. Um, and I was only, you know, 21 years old at the time. It was very, I was very young and being like, what? This is not how my story is supposed to go. Like my mom's supposed to be here through all these major. Milestones and, and, uh, life projects, et cetera. And so around that time, um, I found a jewelry making class at my university and.
Uh, it was, I really wanted to be an artist, but I had to work full-time because of this situation. There was just a bunch of other details involved and, um, I had found this like skill that I had of making jewelry and to put my way through college. I was working in boutiques and Nordstrom, a different stores, and I, the independent jewelry scene had just started around this time and it was in the early nineties, and so I was fascinated by being a designer.
And I decided to launch my first collection at the end of the nineties. Built an an amazing brand. We were, uh, my products were sold in over 350 stores. And, and at that time this was really important, but I had a ton of celebrity clients and, you know, publicity and all this stuff and it was fantastic. And then, you know, 2008 comes around September.
I ship like over $150,000 of orders within a two week period. And the market crashes and the bankruptcy notices start coming in. And I'm like, WTF what is happening right now as I'm not getting paid for these orders. Yes. And I'm like, uh, what's gonna happen? I can't make my payroll next month. And I, I. Was in a very, very tough situation, to say the least.
And it was in the lowest moment and in the space where I had the least amount of cash flow, where I made a, a decision that actually changed the trajectory of my life forever, which was to hire my first business consultant, which in hindsight, I probably should have done that many years before.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: And, um, through that, that engagement, um, I decided to wind down my business.
Start over file for bankruptcy because that was kind of the option, unless I wanted to it, that was the option that I, that I chose.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: Um, it was a tough period and, um, I don't need to go into the details, but it was, it was, was not an easy decision. What I really learned from this experience is that, you know, in life we are, and as, especially as business owners and entrepreneurs, and if we're not, especially if we're not trained in business, I mean, no one is, everyone needs outside eyes.
We have so many blinders on that we cannot see the things that we cannot see. And so we keep going forward, plugging along, and that outside perspective can be the shift that changes everything. And right around that time as well, a lot of people were coming to me, they wanted to pick my brain 'cause I have all the publicity and stuff that I was in.
How do you launch your jewelry business? And obviously me. Uh, filing for bankruptcy and closing the company down wasn't necessarily public knowledge at that time. So I took on some consulting clients and helped these smaller brands grow. Um, but a lot of them would come to me and they didn't really have a budget, so I decided to launch something that was very revolutionary at the time in 2012.
Launched a, an online education company where I could scale one to many consulting, or as I call it coach consulting. 'cause it's like coaching and consulting kind of wrapped up in a evolved. Mm-hmm. Um, and launched Flourish and Thrive Academy, which is where we met a couple of years later. And for the past 15 years I've been, in addition to other things I've been.
Um, mentoring jewelry business owners. The company has evolved so much. Like when you came, we had a couple of signature programs like laying the foundation mm-hmm. And multiply your profits. And then we had our, our, um, year long coaching accelerator called Momentum and we had the trainer customers to buy from you online program.
And it's been like a wild ride. And then, you know, COVID hits, like I go through a deep depression. Things shift in the market and I'm like, okay, here we are again. Like what am I gonna do and how am I gonna pivot this community? And this time it took me longer because it wasn't like the market had crashed and wipe me out.
I, I had to make a decision fast at that time. This time I spent five years trying to figure out like, what do I wanna be when I grow up? Mm-hmm. And so I've been in an interesting process of reinvention over the years and we can dig, dig into whatever you want, um, to talk about. But, um, it's been a wild ride and I think it really ties into.
How I am designed as a human being, which is to live my life, uh, through trial and error and teach other people through the mistakes that I make so that they don't make those same mistakes.
Toby Myles: I think that, um, the thing that, um, you said that I think is so, um, telling and I think. A lot of people relate is the idea of reinvention.
I was just having this conversation. Um, I'm working on a keynote speech and it's very much about, um, like we don't have to have just one story, right? Yeah. That's, that, that belief is maybe it suits some people, um, but. Um, like you, I've never been that person. I've done a lot of different things. My last boss said, I love how you keep reinventing yourself.
And to me, like I never thought of it as that. It just seemed like this is the next thing that I'm gonna do. And like, I am multi-passionate, I have a lot of interests, and it was just always like the next right thing, like this feels like the next right thing. So I'm curious, um, like for the people that are closest to you in, in your world, what kind of, what is it like for them to kind of.
You know, be by you, by your side. You know, your par partner, Jason, like all those things. I
Tracy Matthews: knew it is
Toby Myles: okay. Okay.
Tracy Matthews: They're like, Tracy, focus. Just kidding. Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I think that there is a lot of energy mixed up in that. Like, when Jason talks about me publicly, he will say, um, he's really inspired by my vision and my ideas and my ability to move quickly and how like I'm so inspired all the time, you know, behind the scenes he's like.
What I said earlier, Tracy, focus like this is frustrating. You keep changing your mind like pick a lane type of thing. And I, I truly believe that there are all different types of people in this world. I think, you know, members of my family who aren't in my immediate family really admire the fact that I've been able to do all of these things.
Mm-hmm. And they've been really supportive in the times that have been hard. Um, you know, I have to take a lot of the grain of salt advice that they give me with a grain of salt because I don't. I think, I know that when they're giving me advice, it's always in what they think is best for me, but I, it's not always best for me because I'm such a risky person and so willing to push things to their limit and the edge and just see what happens and
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: I've been through bankruptcy before and not to, I don't take that lightly. Um, yeah. Hopefully never happens again. But I also know that I survived on the other side, and it's not the end of the world. There's, there was, um, some beauty in that experience, so.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: Um. I think it's fun to kind of play in the space, but also to understand that the, the thing that makes me so genius at what I do is my ability to create and my ability to come up with a plethora of new ways of thinking and to be innovative and to like always be.
I heard on a call earlier today, I was on a, a group called in this group that I'm in, and one of the guys was talking about, um. This magician energy that some people embody. And it's like an ability to always like be reinventing or, or, um, optimizing or making things better or shifting the frame. And we need all types of people, right?
Mm-hmm. We need the people who are gonna hold us grounded and stay focused. We also need the people who are gonna be out there selling and like being so bought into their ideas that like people are like magnetized toward that, towards them. And then we need the innovators and the disruptors and the people in the world who are gonna.
You know, push the status quo. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I think for many years, I'm going a little bit on a tangent, but hopefully this, this is helpful for people. I felt a little bit ashamed that I wasn't more of the grounded, focused. Energy of like optimizing this funnel and doing all these things, but
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: Also, when I finally just owned the fact that I'm not that way, like
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: Everything opened up.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's really important too, is that like, it's okay to not be good at everything. Like that's why we have teams.
Tracy Matthews: Mm-hmm.
Toby Myles: Um, but one thing I wanted to circle back on was you talked about, um. You know, the just tragic passing of your mom, so unexpected. And then the bankruptcy and those two events really kind of taught you like what you're made of.
Like you're resilient. Right. And I do think, like you said, that kind of ties into your willingness to take risks, right? Because you've already survived like two things that a lot of people would consider, like almost like the worst thing to happen, right?
Tracy Matthews: Yeah.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: Um, it does definitely tie into that, um.
I mean, by the time I got divorced when I was 32. So that was another major milestone, uh, with the guy that I was with at that time. I think, how do I wanna say this? It's funny 'cause my human design, I'm a six three generator. The three line, if you know anything about human design mm-hmm. Is the trial and error line.
Mm-hmm. So it's literally in my DNAI feel like it's part of who I am, but also by the time I was 30 years old, I had more lived experience than most people have in a lifetime. Mm-hmm. By the time I was 40, like twice the lived experience than most people have in a lifetime. And, um, like I'm getting emotional right now.
It, it wasn't easy. Like it was a hard path.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: Um. But also it makes me who I am today and why I think I'm qualified to talk about reinvention. Like even having a program about reinvention, the art of reinvention, and to to show people like through my lived experience, like it's okay to change your mind.
It's okay to like step into something new. It's okay to evolve because that is the core of creativity. And my true belief. You know, my podcast is Creatives Roll the World is my true belief that creatives. Creativity is the core of everything that creates expansion in our lifetime. Mm-hmm. And the more that you can create even from a space of, um, like the desperate times in your life or the, the challenging times or the most, the, the darkest moments, um, in that contrast becomes the most light.
And the most beauty can come out of that.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: And it hasn't been easy. I, I'll be honest, but also I just, I take it as part of like the way my life is designed. I always wonder what it would be like to be one of those people who just floats through life and everything feels easy for them.
Toby Myles: I don't know
Tracy Matthews: the money, I don't like
Toby Myles: opportunities.
I would like to meet that person because
Tracy Matthews: they're happy all the time. It's like,
Toby Myles: yes. Yeah. Or the people that really are, are much happier just taking the safe route.
Tracy Matthews: Yeah. Well that's not me. I can't, I'd rather lose it all than,
Toby Myles: yeah.
Tracy Matthews: Go the easy route. I, it's just not who I am. I mean, you've seen me do this probably like
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: I mean, witness it, so,
Toby Myles: yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I'm always inspired by it. I'm, um, also a risk taker, um, to some extent. Um. Ride
Tracy Matthews: motorcycles. That
Toby Myles: to me, I ride motorcycle.
Tracy Matthews: That is, to me, the ultimate risk. Like that's a risk I'm not willing to take. I'm not a huge,
Toby Myles: I'm
Tracy Matthews: trying to re, that's my story. When I was single way back in the day, I mean I was single for a long time in my life, but like, I don't know, mid thirties, I was living in San Francisco and I was going out, I think it was like the emergence of like match.com and I remember going down to like way across town and probably took a cab or something and it's hard to get cabs where I was.
And I was on this date with this guy and he's like, well, I'll just give you a ride home on my motorcycle. And I was like, oh my God, I don't wanna, and we're like riding up like the big hills, like riding up Van Street and I'm like, oh my gosh, if I make it through this, God, please. So to me that is the ultimate risk.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. That is a literal, like you could die kind of a risk. I do think things like that, taking those risks like that, knowing that, knowing that it is risky and then betting on yourself and coming through the other side, it just gives you that much more, um, tolerance for the next thing. Right.
Tracy Matthews: I wanna ask you, Toby, 'cause I'm so curious, why, what is so exhilarating about riding a motorcycle?
Toby Myles: Um, well, I think part of it is that like you could die. There is a CA certain, and I'm, I wouldn't consider myself like an adrenaline junkie. Like I would never jump out of a plane. I have zero desire to jump out of a plane. In fact, um, we both know Nicole, Gary Epie. Yeah. She's done skydiving and I remember her and I co commenting.
She went like for her birthday once, like a few years ago. And I was like that. No way. I would never, and she's like, you ride a motorcycle like that is. Go dad, just as risky, if not more so. But, um, there's something really, um, you see the world differently when you're out in the open. Um, your sentence senses are all heightened so much because you have to stay so aware that you really can't, your mind can't wander to, to other things.
And so in a weird sort of way, it's actually very, um, relaxing. You know, you can't like be overthinking other things. Very present. You're present, you're focused. On all the, like all the things you'd be focused on driving a car, but like a hundred times more because,
Tracy Matthews: love it.
Toby Myles: There's people flying all around you.
Tracy Matthews: Mm-hmm.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: Maybe I'll try it someday. As a passenger,
Toby Myles: I was a passenger. I was a passenger for three years on. With my husband before we got married. And um, but I had wanted to learn to ride for quite a few years before that. I dated a guy, um, after my first marriage was over and his sister rode. And I just thought she was such a badass.
And I'm like, I'm gonna do that one day. So my first step was riding with my husband and then, um, one day I was like, I think I wanna learn how to ride my own. He was like, okay, cool. And that was that. Yeah. So, um, and so. One of the things that, because you are, um, like willing to take risks, but you also, um, like in what you, um, coach the students like in, in Flourish and Thrive is, um, a lot about like putting systems and processes in place.
And so I think like those two things are kind of like almost,
Tracy Matthews: they're so opposite.
Toby Myles: Opposite. So how do you, how does that all fit into your world?
Tracy Matthews: Okay, great question. So I am what they call on the Colby a systems breaker. I hate making systems, I hate doing it, and I know it's like the best thing for me.
Mm-hmm. And my true belief is that systems and structure help you foster creativity in your ability to take more risks. Mm-hmm. And even though I'm not great at building them mm-hmm. I know how to direct them. Mm-hmm. And I know how to educate my team on doing them. And most of the systems that the pe, the types of systems that we teach, the jewelry business owners, they're not super elaborate.
So they're fairly easy, like automated systems, different things that you can manage your workflow, better systems in your day. That my, my biggest thing is like structuring your week because that's where, um, a lot of time can get wasted if you don't know exactly what you're supposed to be doing. When Yeah, you're trying to do all types of different things on every single day, you're just gonna be mm-hmm.
A mess and not get very much done. So, um, that has been a huge foundation of the work that I do, and anytime I'm talking to a creative and they're all over the place, I'm like, okay, tell me first about how you're structuring your time. Because if you're trying to ship orders and take sales calls and create content and work on your finances and write copy all on the same day's.
You know, some of those can be batched together, but that's so much different stuff. Like it's gonna be very hard. So that's the big thing. And I truly do believe, like I just, I, I say this honestly because I've been talking about it a little bit more publicly. Like I have an internal aversion to sitting down and like even recording my screen a lot of times.
So I just. I'm like, okay, I need to communicate this idea, so I'm gonna walk through it, hand it to Victoria, she'll structure the system and like create it into something that she could follow. Mm-hmm. And so you have to find ways that work for you. Mm-hmm. And obviously I have a team because my business is at a size where I can have a team, but mm-hmm.
Also, there were times when I had to figure this out myself and a lot of the systems that I had created, even though they weren't necessarily documented, they were like repeatable steps that I would follow every single time. Yeah. So. Um, if anyone's listening and you're like, me and you have an aversion to systems, just get to a place where you can use loom or some sort of recording device and just talk through what you're doing.
Get it on paper now. It's so easy 'cause you can just drop it into AI and we'll structure mm-hmm. Things for you. Mm-hmm.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: And, um, as you're building a team or trying to bring other people on, you'll always be disappointed if you don't have these things. Captured because no one knows what's going on inside of your head.
Mm-hmm. So if you want things done a certain way and you're saying to yourself that no one can do it as good as I can, so I might as well just like let them go. It, that's a, that's a belief that needs to be shifted. And if you are at a certain point and you want to grow in your business, um, you will continually be stuck with that mindset, so, mm-hmm.
Find your way.
Toby Myles: Yeah. I, I love that because I, last year, um. Finally have a VA who actually so much more than a va. Um, she edits this podcast. It wouldn't exist without her, but she's a business manager. It's through that. She is my business manager. Yeah. She, she just got a promotion. Laura, if you're listening, you just got a promotion.
Um, yay. But, but I, exactly. But I worked with someone that helped me find her, um, and taught me some leadership skills that. Um, I didn't realize I was lacking. And it's what you were just talking about that I was not a very good leader because I just thought, why can't this, because I worked with other VAs before that did not work out.
And it's like, why is this not, why am I so frustrated? Why is she not understanding what it is that I needed? And so, um, I was missing a lot of systems in my business and similar to you, like I'm great at following system that makes sense to my brain, but actually building it is like. I, I, I just, I'm like a toddler.
I have like a little temper tantrum and I just don't even wanna focus on it. But once it's in place, it's like, yes, this is so easy and you know. For my va if I wanna promote her and hire someone else, like the system is already there and now she can train someone to do what she's already doing. And so, but that's recent for me.
Like it's taken me, you know, seven years in this business and all the years in my jewelry business when I didn't have that. Um, and someone said to me like, a team is not a number, it's a philosophy. And I, I'm like. I wish I had done it. Yeah, I wish I had done it sooner. Right. Like I wish I had believed that, you know, I could have someone even just a few hours a week.
I didn't need to be, you know, you know, multiple six figures before I could have a team.
Tracy Matthews: Well, you know what's interesting too is that I think there's so many people out there who don't want a full-time job. They just want to work a few hours a week or they're, I feel like we have this huge un, especially in the United States.
Uh, if you wanted to hire people, um, domestically and not outside of, you know, in the Philippines or something like that, which I don't see, I have people from all over the world on my team. Mm-hmm. So I don't see a problem with any of it. Mm-hmm. I think you, you find good people and you keep the good people that you find.
Toby Myles: Yes.
Tracy Matthews: That's the pride point that works for you. So.
Toby Myles: Yep.
Tracy Matthews: Um, but there's this huge mom culture out there of people who just want something to do while their kids are at school. They, but they don't have the bandwidth necessarily to work full time. Mm-hmm. And they don't wanna go to a job. They wanna be able to work remote.
And it's a great talent pool that we forget about. And yeah, I say this because like someone said to me, you know, it's like we are, I'm always, when I was in New York, I was always thinking like, ah, it's so expensive to hire in New York, but there's a whole with this remote, um, like in gig economy that we have now, there's a whole plethora of people, and I hope this isn't offend anyone, but like in the middle of the country where the cost of living isn't even as expensive.
So
Toby Myles: yeah.
Tracy Matthews: You don't have to pay like $50 an hour for something necessarily for somebody who just wants a little bit of extra cash to take her kids to Disneyland. You know, it's not
Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: That thing. So there's so many different ways to hire these days, and I feel like we're in a really interesting, fun time.
Mm-hmm. And I, even though I am, I would consider myself an AI innovator with what we're doing over at Flourish and Thrive Academy. Mm-hmm. I'm not of the belief that AI can replace your team. Yeah. No. Jason does. It can, but I do not want to do that. Mm-hmm. I want to, to delegate my AI to a person who's managing the AI 'cause I don't wanna do that.
Yeah. Yeah. It's not, uh, for me. So I think that there is going to always be a role for great people who want to believe in a company's mission and wanna help it grow, you know? Mm-hmm.
Over
Tracy Matthews: time.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm. So, um. So circling back to, um, innovation, um, yes, I wanna be sure that we talk about, first of all, um, what you're doing now with the, the AI tool.
Um, and, and I guess the broader, um, bigger picture. And you've renamed your podcast, um, creatives Rule the World, right? Which you've had that concept has been around for quite some time. Yes. You were at it, so can you
Tracy Matthews: were at the
Toby Myles: event where
Tracy Matthews: I talked about it.
Toby Myles: Exactly. So talk about that, but then talk about this, this tool that you just rolled out.
Tracy Matthews: So, um, in like 2017 maybe, I was at a Brandon Burchard event and he asked us at the event to go partner up with some random people that we don't know and share a big hairy idea. Just like let it drop in and share it. And I was like, I wanna have a Ted X talk with 20 million views. And, um, I don't know where that came in.
Then I went to look and Simonson next. Ted Talk at that time didn't even have 20 million views. I'm like way to go, way to, way to shoot for the stars. But the name that I wrote on the paper at that time was Creatives Run the World. And then I later changed it to Creative's Roll the World. I got the copyright.
Um, I started like a little side hustle with creatives Roll the World, and I was doing some personal consulting and branding, but I'd had this, I, my podcast for many years was called Thrive by Design. And in my season of reinvention and expansion, I'm like, people would say to me all the time, like, the stuff you're talking about, Tracy, is, applies to such a bigger audience than just designers.
Yeah. And there was something that was very, um, beautiful about having that podcast and that message for so long. So last year around this time, it's something that I, I wanted to launch a separate podcast, but I literally think that I can do way more than I can and I. After putting it on the back burner for like four or five years, I just decided to rebrand the podcast and come up with different ways to serve the jewelry community because I was really seeing a shift in the market and there was a moment when I wasn't sure what was going to happen with Flourish and Thrive.
I had someone who wanted to buy it. Like there was all these different things going on. Um. I was playing around with the different options for business models because my heart was really in helping creatives become wealthy. And that's not just jewelry business owners because I do realize that, uh, there are lots of types of creatives and I think that your creativity is the fastest, literally the fastest path through wealth if you are willing to step into your, um, creative and wealthy energy.
And so part of the idea behind this podcast is I wanted to interview. Creatives who are in the world doing amazing things, and they weren't necessarily just jewelry designers. Mm-hmm. So I rebranded in, in May. Um, I don't think it was too soon, but I don't necessarily know that the, like my execution of the rebrand was the best, even though I talked about it for almost like four months before I was doing it.
Um, I love the podcast. I had a great episode that just dropped today with, um, a friend of mine named Jen Po, who I've been mentoring for. Um. Gosh, about six months now, and she's just like an incredible force of nature and a, a, I consider her a friend now. She's just like an amazing human. Just, I wanna, I wanna be, um, in the presence of creative and powerful people mm-hmm.
To see how they're like using their ideas to change the world, which is like, to me, the most important thing that any creative can do.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Is
Tracy Matthews: use your ideas to change the world for good, obviously. Yeah. Change your communities. Make an impact. And so in this process and in my own internal struggle like this all kind of started in 2020, um, which is interesting because I didn't know this at the time.
I didn't really know that much about human design. But I'm a six three generator and people on the six path have three distinct life patterns. Um, one ends at 31, 1 goes from 30 to 50. Then one is like 50 plus. And when you hit 50 plus, I'm 54. Now you're on this trajectory of like your lived experience is here to like make the impact that it's supposed to make in the world.
Mm-hmm. And I'm like, why am like in 20 20, 20 21, a lot of people were like distressed. But I'm like, why am I feeling this huge need to like blow everything up again? Like it's almost like I subconsciously was hoping for another like. Bankruptcy or something just to wipe it out so I could start clean. Mm.
Um, I'm glad that didn't happen.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: I'm glad that I went through the kind of like frustration that I went through through those four years internally. That's not something that I was pop talking about publicly at the time.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: But it got me on this other side. Okay. Like, who do I wanna show up and be in this world?
And so, um, but also my people pleasing side, which is very strong 'cause I'm a seven on the Enneagram. Was like, I can't abandon the jewelry community 'cause I have so many abandonment issues, I can't do it. Mm-hmm. I can't do it. So I'm either have to, I have to pass it off or I gotta do something with it.
And it wasn't a moment where I was gonna shut it down, but I'm like, you know what? I've created such valuable asset here. Like what can I do to actually help people in different way?
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: AI was coming on the scene and so last year around this time I was like, maybe we have some AI tool. I created an AI chat, GPT assistant.
Which I love. It works great. Still works. It's amazing. It's incredible coaching tool for jewelry business owners and anyone with a physical product or actually any business, like my sister is a Catholic life coach and she's using it. Um, it's built on all like the marketing frameworks and my methodology for um.
Marketing and it's great.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: But chat, GPT talked about, and there's a whole, I love chat GPT, but also hate it 'cause there's like a whole, I feel like I don't, I don't necessarily trust the guy who's running open ai. So yes, I think there's a lot of integrity in a lot of the other AI tools, but there's something, chat GBT is so convenient, but I feel like, mm-hmm.
I have always felt like there's this undercurrent, and I'm not like really skeptic or like sinister person, but whatever. They announced that they were getting rid of assistance and Jason and I were talking about it. It's like, well, let's get ahead of it. We'll just turn this into an app. Mm-hmm. So we launched the Desire AI app two, three weeks ago, um, the end of January, early February, and it is freaking awesome.
And it's so much better than the tool, the original tool that we created, because it's basically an entire jewelry business or any business to that point in a box. And it has different assistant and agents to help you with the different. Uh, workflows in your business. And the thing that's so incredible about it, and it solves a lot of the problems that people were having using things like Chat, GBT or Claude or any of these other AI tools that they think they've trained and.
Gotten to, to work well, um, and I've been talking to a lot of coaches who have experienced the same issue, is that they need different specialized assistance, but then none of them talk to each other. Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of copying and pasting and restructuring, and especially if you're using it to run your business, it's not efficient.
Mm-hmm. So this tool basically solves that problem and we're opening it up to multi-tenant users so other people can come in and build their own version of Desire ai. And we have our first clients. Um, do you know Brendan McGowan? She's gonna be one of the Guinea pigs, so I'm excited for that. Yeah. And um, it's, it's, um, it's fun.
Like I got to this place where I'm like, oh my gosh, it's fun doing this again because
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: The number one challenge that I would see, like Chelsea and I talk about this a lot because my head coach, she's like, it's like these people haven't been in this community or heard us talk about this thing ever before.
It's like some people, they just. Wanna talk about the same problem and they're not doing the thing. Even though we've talked about Yeah. How to do it a million times. So yeah, this is for people who want to actually execute their marketing and they want to make money. So if that's you and you're a jewelry designer and you happen to be listening to this or selling any sort of physical product, then shoot me a dm.
'cause it's a great tool. And if you're just fascinated in general, like let me know. Um, 'cause I'm happy to, I just, I'm so passionate about this project 'cause it's so fun. The other thing that I, I'm so excited about this is that one of the things that we were on with Flourish and Thrive was this like ascension model hamster wheel where like one offer was feeding into the next, feeding into the next, and like I never had a minute to breathe.
Mm-hmm. And it's like people were expiring, then we had to re-up and I was like, I was, I was working basically to what felt like to pay paychecks to keep this machine going of something that. Just the industry had changed and the way people were consuming content had changed. So what can I do that's like easy to easy for me to continually talk about?
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: That actually adds tremendous value to people's lives. And the coolest part about this, I didn't mention this, is that we're creating an AI photo studio inside of it so people can upload an image with like, um, next to a ruler or a quarter or something like that. If they don't have the budget to do model photography or lifestyle, or they're just not good photographers, because let's face it, like some of the, like so bad and people are trying to make sales off of it.
Toby Myles: Right?
Tracy Matthews: And it will create like really, really good realistic AI photography that has models specific to the brand. Jason is really smart with this stuff. He's the one who built this, and so that is so exciting. We're launching that at the end of this month.
Toby Myles: Oh my gosh,
Tracy Matthews: I, I, so.
Toby Myles: I feel like that alone would be worth it for so many people.
That was always,
Tracy Matthews: oh yeah, it's gonna be
Toby Myles: a topic. Oh my gosh,
Tracy Matthews: crazy. Like, I can't wait for him. He's like, okay, just gimme a minute. So I'm like, he's like, we'll have it done by the end of the week. I'm like, no, we're having it done by the end of February because I'm not gonna have you stay up all night, try to get, get this thing done.
And the, the most amazing part about this, my partner Jason, is my partner in life, but also my partner in Desire ai and, uh, a couple of other things that we're working on. Uh, we're so opposite in a lot of ways. I'm this like wild creative person out there, like coming up with new ideas all the time. He's very visionary too.
He has a lot of ideas. He's very, but he thinks about everything in systems. So he is, so he's an engineer, so he's so good at engineering things and he also is like a great photographer. So he understands like, how do you program this thing to actually like. Work and think like someone who's using like,
Toby Myles: wow,
Tracy Matthews: f-stop of five.
I, I don't know anything about photography.
Toby Myles: Right.
Tracy Matthews: But like,
Toby Myles: yeah, yeah.
Tracy Matthews: With a certain kind of lens and like this amount of like, you know, white balance.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: And make it look good. Like it's crazy. So
Toby Myles: yeah,
Tracy Matthews: it's so exciting. And the thing that I'm also really excited about this is. I feel like it's gonna be such, not like I only do things for value.
Toby, you've known me for a long time. Like if I'm not providing value, I'm, I'm never in something just for the money. Yeah. But I like making a lot of money and I, what I want to do is be able to build this to something where it's really just. Supports like my life and then everything else that I do is fun and play.
And I really feel like when you're in that state of like creating to be in a space to just add value and have fun, that's when the hugest expansion happens and it mm-hmm will like open up space for my dream of becoming this highly paid. Um, sought after a keynote speaker and like all these other things that I want to do and
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: It was really hard to get here, but also like, I'm so grateful. Like I, I'm getting like, so emotional right now 'cause I'm so grateful for the path because it really showed me like what I'm capable of and like what I'm able to overcome because I didn't, I didn't know like what was gonna happen. Because I'm like, this might all be a house of cards that falls apart again.
And then I have to like, yeah, tell the public like, oh, uh, here I am again, like, you know, in a terrible space because I couldn't make this thing work.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: But it really just required me to think a different way. Mm-hmm. And this is the power of being able to reinvent yourself and understanding that.
There are multiple ways to the outcome you desire. Just being open to receiving that outcome and, and being in the process of being in the process and letting answers come in. And also, I think this is a really important thing because I've gone through this so many times this year. If something doesn't feel like super joyous and aligned, even if you thought it was a thing that you were supposed to do,
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: Be okay, like. Letting it go.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: And I say this because I launched a program last year called The Art of Reinvent, and I was having the time of my life, but there was something about it. I'm like, I'm building this thing the same way that I built Flourish and Thrive, and now I'm gonna be in a launch hamster wheel all the time.
Mm-hmm. And I don't wanna do that. I don't want things with start and end dates. I want things that people can continually coming.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: I love doing launches, but I don't want it to be like. Oh, if you like the cart's closed, you can't join for another six months.
Toby Myles: Right.
Tracy Matthews: It does create urgency, but like, I don't want a business that can only make money like in a start and a launch date.
Yeah. I want something that makes money all the time.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: And um, I'm having so much grace with myself to like, play inside of that container because that's really where the fund gets to happen now. It's, it's been an interesting journey, I will tell you. 'cause like there have been months when I'm like, okay, we need to like.
Figure this out. I got the team to pick, you know? And yeah, you're letting people down every second and, you know, um, the coach, like, you know, it was really sad and it's public knowledge now, so I can share it. But Dawn left the community
Toby Myles: mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: Um, at the end of January. And it was very sad, but also like, it was time, like she was ready to go.
Yeah. And things have changed, so it's like, it's okay. And I think in the beginning, like there was a lot of energy behind that. And probably a lot of anger on her side. And like I was just like, I love you no matter what. Doesn't matter. Yeah. If you're in coaching in my community or not, and I, you have to do what's best for you.
And I can, yeah. 1000% honor that. And also this is just the shift and evolution of what's happening. Mm-hmm. It's okay.
Toby Myles: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Matthews: Um. It's okay for people to change and I'm so excited to see what she comes up next. 'cause I'm sure she's gonna build like her own, I mean, she already had started building her own community, but I hope she does.
Or, and if she doesn't, like, I hope that she just is happy doing, being grandma and you know mm-hmm. Continuing with her hair styling, like, it's amazing.
Toby Myles: Yeah.
Tracy Matthews: And um, it just, when you can let go like that and just be okay with any outcome. This is a big lesson I learned from Jason. It's like. You put the effort in, but you're also okay with any outcome.
Like you can't control it, like
Toby Myles: Right.
Tracy Matthews: You have so much freedom.
Toby Myles: Yeah. Yeah. '
Tracy Matthews: cause you're not controlled by expectations.
Toby Myles: Yeah. To not be tied to the outcome is such an important reminder for everybody. Um.
Tracy Matthews: Sorry, I was going for a long time.
Toby Myles: I'm glad. No, I'm glad because, you know, I would've asked you to like, give your best advice to anyone listening, but you've already given like way more of that, so I don't even feel like I need to ask that question.
I, I wanna say I, because I have to say this because you did this for me. Like you or somebody that I've witnessed give so many opportunities to people to. To be part of your team. Um, I remember coming to you and asking you like, I really would love to do something behind the scenes, and you just, let's talk about it.
And we got on a few calls and we figured out something that would work. And I, I don't know, I always thought like. Am I really helping? Are you just being nice to, you know what I mean? Like, but it was fine. And so I've always appreciated that about you, that, um, you know, you, you're, I
Tracy Matthews: love helping people. I know
Toby Myles: I, well, and you always, and you demonstrate that and you like walk, walk the talk.
Walk the talk. Is that how it goes? Yeah. So, um, so, okay. Thank
Tracy Matthews: you.
Toby Myles: Before we wrap things up, um. Tell people, you mentioned the tool and the podcast, so where is the best place for people to find you and connect with you?
Tracy Matthews: Well, I'm in a massive reinvention rebrand right now, so if you wanna just say, hi, come find me on Instagram I'm at, I'm at IamTracyMatthews, T-R-A-C-Y-M-A-T-T-H-E-W-S.
Please, please, please listen to my podcast Creatives Rule the World. There's so many great conversations. Toby, I gotta get you on the show. Yeah, we gotta talk about your storytelling. 'cause I'm, you know, storytelling is like one of my favorite things. And uh, let's see. I should probably have a lead magnet to send people to, but I'm also developing all that depending on when this goes live.
I'm gonna be doing a sales challenge in March. I love helping people make money. So if you're interested in that, I don't have it set up 'cause we're getting the landing page set up right now, but if you're interested, you can join in at any time. I'm gonna be doing five days for free at the beginning of the month and then the rest of it will be a paid challenge for the rest of the month.
And, um, I love doing this stuff. I love helping people make money. It is. Like such a joy. Like Toby, you know this about me. Like I celebrate people making money. I'm just like, tell me your wins. Let's, let's do this. It's like so fun for me. So I'm doing it. I'm trying something new and I'm doing it for an expanded audience.
It doesn't matter what kind of business you have, if you wanna make money, let's do it.
Toby Myles: Yeah. I, I think that's a perfect way to end, because I will say, and I'm a testament to this, um. Your, your methodologies and the book, the desired brand effect that you wrote. Yes. Um, and I'm not, I know I'm not the only one that has said this.
Um, it is literally like, not just for jewelry designers or even for creatives. Yes. There's so many. Um, buy the book. Buy the book. There's so many good things in there that, that I know that I do now that I learned. Way back as a little we jewelry designer. So, um, yeah. Yes.
Tracy Matthews: My book is called The Desire Brand Effect.
Stand out in a saturated market with a timeless jewelry brand. But you could just like erase the word jewelry and
Toby Myles: 100% maybe that's like the second cover. It is like you do that, but then you draw a line through jewelry. I know
Tracy Matthews: exactly. Jewelry. A book. I will say that. And if anyone has read the book, um, I would really appreciate a, a rating and review 'cause I'm trying to
Toby Myles: Yes.
Tracy Matthews: 500. I'm only at 1 66. I got after four years of it being there.
Toby Myles: Oh my gosh. Tracy, thank you so much. I so appreciate you for coming. But also just, I just appreciate you as a human being. So thank you so much
Tracy Matthews: you so much for having me. I was so honored that you asked me.