In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Matthew Hargarten, President of Rival Communications. Matthew shares a pivotal personal story: after serving as Director of Communications at WhiteWave Foods—a fast‑growing, mission‑driven food company—he left his secure corporate role following its acquisition to travel the world with his wife. The experience prompted him to quit his corporate paycheck and launch his own communications firm, emphasizing that true success comes from following one’s passions. He offers practical advice on crisis management, stating that the best response is to tell the truth, act quickly, and prevent recurrence. His broader business philosophy advises focusing on adding value to customers and stakeholders rather than chasing money, which he says guarantees success. For personal finance, he recommends saving aggressively, living within means, and acquiring technical skills to maintain flexibility for risk‑taking. Matthew highlights daily gratitude journaling as a habit that builds happiness like a muscle. He credits Tim Ferriss’s The 4‑Hour Workweek for reshaping his mindset, teaching him to become the author of his own life and career. His favorite quote, “The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time,” illustrates his incremental‑progress approach to overwhelming tasks. The episode concludes with Matthew’s online contact points: LinkedIn, Twitter, and his company’s website.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Matthew Hargarten with us. He's a communications professional and president of Rival Communications. So welcome to the show, Matthew.
Thanks, Tyler, happy to be here.
Of course, thanks for joining us, uh, and we'll dive into the first question. The first question I have for you is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, just recently, my last role was as the Director of Communications at WhiteWave Foods, which was the fastest-growing food company in America for 7 years. It was one of those dream jobs. It was a small, mission-driven, nimble, fast-growing company, and I really truly believed in the roster of brands. And in April 2017, we were actually acquired by a large global food company. And I decided at that time to voluntarily leave the company and travel the world with my wife for 2 and a half months. And it's amazing what happens when you disconnect from your hectic world for a little bit and take the time to see the way other people live and truly reflect on the life that you want. and it can be a really transformative experience. I find that people just usually coast through life, letting circumstances take them wherever it leads, and we rarely give ourselves white space to think about what we want out of life and where we're heading. So, when I got back to the States, I decided to leave my comfortable paycheck of corporate America and try my hand at entrepreneurship. You know, until last year, it felt like a totally crazy idea and potentially suicide. But I've learned that the only way to become truly successful is to follow your passions. If you want something bad enough, as cliché as it sounds, you literally cannot be denied.
Yes, I agree. And actually, it just reminds me of a quote. I don't know if you're familiar with Grant Cardone, but he says, "The world will only give you what you refuse to give up on." So I think that aligns with that. Totally. Next question I have for you is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Cool. So I'm a, I'm a comms guy. So I have lots of tips and tricks for companies who want to build and protect their reputation and get exposure with customers. But when I'm talking about my profession, I found that most people just want to talk about crisis management. So I'll share something valuable there. The best way for a company to overcome a crisis is really simple. It's to tell the truth, pull off the band-aid as quickly as possible, and take action to ensure that whatever it is doesn't happen again. Sometimes people like to spin their way out of a crisis or sugarcoat it or not respond and bury their head in the sand, but just tell the truth, pull the band-aid off, and take action. It's as simple as that.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
Ah, so for that, you know, I'd say it's don't focus on making money. Focus on adding value to your customers, stakeholders, your network, whomever your sort of key customer is, and success will follow. It's literally guaranteed. Don't focus on money, focus on adding value, and you're gonna be successful.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Probably to stop spending money. The more you save now and the more you engineer your life to live within your means, the more flexibility you'll have later in life. And it's, it's hard to know it until you need it. But flexibility is key, especially if you want to take risks and follow your passions like entrepreneurship. And then I'd probably also tell myself to stop reading the newspaper so much and learn more technical skills.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Probably just being grateful. We tend to focus on the headwinds in life instead of the tailwinds. And so what I like to do is write down what I'm grateful for every single day. I find that gratitude is like a muscle. The more you flex it, the better you're going to be at it.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, probably one of the most impactful books that I've read, maybe not the best, but is Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Workweek. The writing is fine. I mean, it's It's an easy read. He's not going to win any awards for it, but it taught me that I could be the author of my life and my professional career versus going with the flow and just going in the river that everyone else is going.
Just a question for you because that book truly impacted my life. It actually got me to drop out of school. Was that a book that helped you make the decision to leap into entrepreneurship?
Totally. It sort of made me realize that, you know, throughout my life I've been sort of letting the winds take me where they take me instead of seeing that I can actually make whatever life I want and define success how I want to define it. And so when I read that book, it was super empowering to just say, you know what, there are other ways to live than than we learn in sort of traditional culture and in the traditional school system. And when I read that, man, it was like, it was just a matter of when.
Yeah, man, I literally read that book and I dropped out of school like 2 weeks later. Totally, totally.
Yeah, I mean, I know that he's had to answer a lot of questions about that, and, you know, but it's true. It's like, you know, we are the engineers of our career. And so people like Tim Ferriss, and there's a lot of other people out there that are preaching this. Once you wake up to that, it's hard to go back to that other reality.
Absolutely. Next question I have for you is, what's your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is probably— this one is really appropriate for me now, and it's, "The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time." So, I'm a very busy guy and that can be very overwhelming feeling, sometimes actually debilitating. And what I've found is that no matter what problem you're trying to solve or task you're trying to complete, if you just ask yourself, "What's the next best step I can take?" If you do this continually, before you know it, you'll literally have eaten an entire elephant. So, that's why I love that quote.
Yes, man. Thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn at Matthew Hargarten, on Twitter @MattHargarten. You can check out my company's website, which is www.rival-communications.com, or you can find us on Twitter at @RivalComms.
Awesome, man. Thanks again for coming on. We appreciate it.
Thanks, Tyler. Appreciate it.
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