Matt Willis

To A Million And Beyond

Business EN ↓ 34 episodes

Discovering how respected brands made their first million. Who should we interview next? Send nominations to MattWillis@WizardOfAds.com

Author

Matt Willis

Episodes

#034: Functional Medicine of Idaho - Stewardship as the Guiding Principle in Business 21.05.2026 59:03

In this episode of To a Million and Beyond, I sit down with Sam Warren, who acquired Functional Medicine of Idaho nine years ago with no medical background and helped grow it from five to over 120 employees, four locations, and care across 13 states. We unpack what functional medicine means—root-cause, whole-person care focused on optimizing mind, body, and spirit rather than treating symptoms—and...

#033: Busy, Booked, and Still Broke 06.05.2026 9:39

In this episode of To A Million and Beyond, I talk about why small business owners can be slammed with calls and booked solid yet still feel financially fragile: they’re building on the wrong foundation. I explain how profit often leaks through small decisions like discounts, low-margin jobs, and taking work out of fear, and I share a Midwest home service example where record volume still produced...

#032: What Rebuilding My Marriage Taught Me About Winning Customers 04.05.2026 9:23

In this episode, I share how a decade-long addiction and a trust-shattering lie to my wife exposed three questions that surface when trust collapses—who are you really, can I trust what you say, and are you for me—and how consumers ask the same questions of brands. I explain why logos and value claims like “integrity” don’t create belief, and how leading with declarations can backfire by setting u...

#031: Winning in Hard Times. Why Most Businesses Shrink and a Few Roar Back. 27.04.2026 8:53

Why Most Businesses Shrink in Hard Times (And How to Roar Back) In this episode, I explain how hard economic times change the rules of business and customer behavior, and why most competitors fall into a death spiral by cutting brand-building marketing, over-relying on PPC, lowering prices, and degrading team and service quality. I break down how fear makes purchases feel risky, why customers want...

#030: How Trust Fills Your Funeral Home - Win Their Heart Before They Need You 24.04.2026 39:59

This talk was requested by the National Funeral Directors Association and presented via webinar on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026. Matt Willis of Wizard of Ads explains that funeral services, like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and insurance, are “grudge buys,” so transactional, price-focused marketing drives families to compare on price and location. Using Henry Ford’s cross-industry innovation as a me...

#029: Cutting Edge Firewood: Turning a Commodity into a Luxury 15.04.2026 1:08:40

Matt Willis of Wizard of Ads interviews Leroy Hite, who built Cutting Edge Firewood from nothing into a 25-person luxury brand trusted by celebrities and prominent leaders by obsessing over details, product quality, customer service, and branding. Hite shares how growing up poor shaped his independence, how he overcame imposter syndrome, and why understanding customer expectations matters more tha...

#028: Aspiring To Go Viral Is Lazy 14.04.2026 5:54

In this episode of To a Million and Beyond, I explain why aspiring to go viral is a lazy, unreliable growth strategy that rarely moves the needle, even when it happens. I argue that real success comes from training, hiring experts, and focusing on controllable variables rather than hoping for algorithmic luck. I break down what effective marketing actually is: a long-term strategy rooted in a busi...

#027: Which Marketing Strategy is Most Effective 09.04.2026 14:55

Overarching Marketing Strategy vs. Message Strategy: How to Choose Media and Craft a Winning Message Matt Willis explains that growing a business requires two complementary strategies: an overarching marketing strategy (big-picture plan based on business realities, buyer behavior, reducing friction, and alleviating customer fears) and a message strategy (choosing words and stories that build emoti...

#026: How to Become Famous on a Small Budget 01.04.2026 3:41