Military transitions can be very difficult. There are so many unknowns, and it takes time. But if mentors are willing to educate those that come after them, to share what they have learned, and to provide advice, then it doesn’t have to be as hard.

In this interview, Mary Kate Soliva welcomes Matt Quick, a fifth-generation service member and Veteran of the both the Marine Corps. And Army.

Matt speaks with Mary Kate about:

• Growing a thick skin as a kid growing up on an apple farm in New York

• What it was like getting an opportunity to work his dream job at the Pentagon

• How Veterans can solidify their networking and project management skills

Intro/Outro (00:02):

Welcome to veteran voices, a podcast that dedicated to giving a voice to those that have served in the United States, armed forces on this series, jointly presented by supply chain now, and vets to industry. We sit down with a wide variety of veterans and veteran advocates to gain their insights, perspective, and stories from serving. We talk with many individuals about their challenging transition from active duty to the private sector, and we discuss some of the most vital issues facing veterans today. Join us for this episode of veteran voices.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:48):

Hello everyone. Mary Kate Soliva here with you on veteran voices. Thanks for joining us today. As we’ve got a wonderful conversation teed up with a veteran, pretty badass veteran and advocate, stay tuned for a great discussion. I’m gonna just do a quick programming note before we get started. This program is part of the supply chain. Now program family of programming and today’s show is conducted in partnership with our friends at bets industry. Shout out to Brian Aton and learn more about this powerful nonprofit that is serving so many folks@betstoindustry.org, an initiative that is near and dear to my heart, the Guam human rights initiative. You can find them on LinkedIn and at the university of Guam under the regional center for public policy. So without further ado, I have been waiting a while to get this guy on this podcast. So let’s introduce our guests today. Our guests today works actually, you know, we’re, uh, tag teaming buddies. I don’t know what I do without him, but the project management Institute, he’s also a Marine wants a Marine, always a Marine and an army veteran. So let’s welcome in Matt Quick, the famous veteran,

Matt Quick (02:08):

I tell you, I really want some intro music. You know, I was watching restaurant weekend and Steve Austin, the glass breaks, I was like, that’s what I want my intro music to be one day, one day.

Mary Kate Soliva (02:18):

I know like the Quentin Tarantino, whether you got the fire.

Matt Quick (02:22):

Yeah. So it’s

Mary Kate Soliva (02:23):

Cools going up in there. Oh my goodness. That’s just too funny. I, I really am. Thank you so much for joining us today. I know you’re doing a million different things, volunteering as well as with what we’re doing at PMI. And so just really wanted to pump this up cuz I know, you know what rank got out at. So I know that in your leadership position, you are all about motivating young, young service members. So you have a motivational quote that you could start us off with today.

Matt Quick (02:56):

I actually have two, if you don’t mind. No. And then one is very old from Ben Franklin. And what that is is he says, tell me, and I forgot, teach me. And I remember involve me. And I learn that is to me pretty powerful because if you’re in the weeds, if you’re, if you’re have people involved, that’s how they learn the most. My second one, it’s more current. That’s more for Richard Branson, train people well enough so they can leave, but treat ’em well enough. So they don’t want to.

Mary Kate Soliva (03:29):

I love that. I love that. And where did you end up picking those quotes up? Was was that something that,

Matt Quick (03:35):

So they were years. They were years ago. I think it was a book I read or something like that. But of course Richard Branson was very, is very popular quote, but I use them in a job I used to have as director of people and culture, which was those coachs were powerful back then.

Mary Kate Soliva (03:50):

I was thinking you were gonna end up quoting some famous general and leading off in cadence and start doing pushups.

Matt Quick (03:56):

If you want me to, I can do six pushups.

Mary Kate Soliva (03:59):

We gonna keep on going. Cause I don’t wanna have to do them with you. So we’re gonna, so I really uh, wanna take this opportunity to get to know you. I know you have a huge LinkedIn presence, but I’m sure listeners say we really curious about where it all began for Matt quick. So if you could take us, I don’t wanna say way, way back, but you know how back we’re going here, but

Matt Quick (04:21):

It’s way back.

Mary Kate Soliva (04:22):

Is it way back <laugh> but where’d you grow up? Yeah.

Matt Quick (04:26):

So I’m a, I’m an eighties kid basically. So I grew up in a small town called Rosendale New York in Highland land, New York. That’s upstate New York for the New York city or downstate from your upstate. So it’s right. It’s like an city, great area. Lot of love in the family. Middle class, maybe lower middle class, maybe port times. Uh, I remember growing up and having, we had a, we had a, we had a, uh, a supermarket next to our house. So I would, my parents would gimme some money to go get some like, uh, lettuce or bread. And I, they gave some money. It was, it was colorful money. I’m like, this is it’s like monopoly money. It’s pretty cool. I didn’t realize back then it was food stamps. No, but it was cool though. So now I own the same. I own the food stamps that I used to buy bread and, and, and lettuce with. I own it. Cause I got off from eBay one day.

Mary Kate Soliva (05:19):

<laugh> you got it off eBay <laugh> yep. Cool. There you go. Plug, plug eBay in there. Wow. Well, when, where did you end up growing up? Just in one place or did you move around a lot as a kid?

Matt Quick (05:31):

I was not a military kid. So I grew up in the same county, my whole life. We had three different houses and my house burned down when I was like 12 years old too. So I had to deal with that, but that was a whole different story. Uh, you know, kids can be mean, but house burns down and you have, uh, people take up donations and you go back to school and people ask for their clothes back. That’s hard to deal with. But you know, you get thick skin as a kid though.

Mary Kate Soliva (05:58):

Yeah. Especially at, at 12 years old. And uh, did you end up having like all your family in one place too? Like your extended family too?

Matt Quick (06:06):

We all, so my, my, my mom’s side was apple farmers. They own a lot of apple farms in New York. So that was more, it was awesome. I would go to my grandma’s house. We would just go to the apple farm right across the street, eat a apple, one bite, throw it away, one bite, throw it away. So waste. But where kids though <laugh> then my dad’s side of family was more like, you know, lower class, but you know, well, hard workers just didn’t didn’t make any money. So there was a mix. She was, it was a good to have both sides or live in the middle and uh, loved going. I loved going my grandma’s house every weekend and get to McDonald’s. That was a treat.

Mary Kate Soliva (06:46):

Oh, is this the same grandma that you found money in a card recently?

Matt Quick (06:50):

Yes. And I had the card we over there, so she gave me the card. It was like, I was like, oh six or oh seven. I just found it last week or week a week ago. So funny. She passed away in 2015. Uh, she was 84 years old, but uh, these things happened, but I found that I’m like, oh, you got made the last word is yours, grandma

Mary Kate Soliva (07:13):

<laugh> cause hiding right underneath the card. Right?

Matt Quick (07:16):

Yeah.

Mary Kate Soliva (07:17):

Yeah. I love that. You know, cause I just really have that kind of closeness with my grandmother too. But even the apple orchard that really takes me back to some of my childhood memories. Uh, one of my dearest friends had, she, her family is on an apple orchard as well. And we had one down the road and we used to just play and just stay out there all night. It’s like never mind sleeping indoors. We just wanna sleep out in the orchard. Right. That was under the stars. <laugh> the, any apples? Yeah. Apple butter. I mean, so many things you could do with an apple, but yeah. What are some, some of those anecdotes that you have from, from your childhood? Do you have any sort of lessons learned that you have from that time?

Matt Quick (07:58):

I, I guess resiliency is one of the big things. You know, my house burning down. That was a, a tough thing. Losing all my toys. I was a big Russian fan grow up. So we had these, these Hulk Hogan and, and Rick flair figures and big John stud. And they were just one glob of mess. After the fire. I had these, these sports cards, Michael Jordan, 86 FLIR cards pinned on my wall, like a dummy, but they were all gone now, you know, but resilience as a kid. But one of the things like sports, I was big into sports. I wasn’t very good. I was just big into sports. And I think it was my senior year or my junior year. I was playing basketball at a small, uh, a small school. And we traveled with one game and I had a bad attitude. I really did. I thought I was God’s gift to sports, but I was not that good. So I would try to maybe hurt people during the game for no reason at all. I had a bad attitude. So this is one of the reasons Mary Kay. I joined the Marine Corps. My dad was a Marine. My brother was a Marine. I needed the Marine Corps more than it needed me.

Mary Kate Soliva (09:08):

Wow. And I didn’t know that you had, you were a generational Marine. So you said, you said your dad was too, but you didn’t grow up in, in like the military lifestyle though. Was he out before you, as you were born,

Matt Quick (09:20):

He spent about a year in the military. It wasn’t for him. Mm-hmm <affirmative> he had a bad family life back, uh, in New York. So he had to deal with deal with things while you’re away from your family. There, they pull your strength so hard. So he had to get out at a hardship, so right. But we still respected his service. My brother joined and I joined mm-hmm

Mary Kate Soliva (09:40):

<affirmative> that’s incredible. Yeah. I didn’t, I didn’t know that. Now I know that your kids did not join, but you said you haven’t lost hope yet. Right?

Matt Quick (09:49):

So I haven’t learned, so I’m a, I’m a fifth generation service member. Uh, and I was, I was proud of that. My grandma actually served in the army women Corps back in world Wari. Oh, I love that. My grandad served in the Ellucian islands in Alaska, during world war II as a, one of those candid people lost his hearing. But, but I was hoping my kids were doing just one of them <laugh> but one, one just graduated college. So I’m, I’m talking about the space force right now. Just do something, man. Come on, make me proud. <laugh>

Mary Kate Soliva (10:25):

Even the one, one and done right? One contract.

Matt Quick (10:28):

Yeah.

Mary Kate Soliva (10:28):

Yeah. So, I mean, let’s, let’s talk about your, your time in the Marine Corps. Cause I know I mentioned earlier in the episode that you also an army veteran, but I know there’s a, a transition story there. Even from going from some people might not even call it green to green, right. Going from Marine Corps to army. But tell us about that. What, what led you to join besides the, the family legacy?

Matt Quick (10:48):

So funny story. So I spent four years in the Marine Corps. I had a great time, but I was on a ship. And then when you’re on a ship, you don’t back then there was no internet. So I had to go over to another ship to get an email. So what happened was I was on a ship. It was like September and the Marine Corps cuts off their, their what’s called boat spaces to reenlist. And I missed out on, on my boat space, my opportunity to reenlist because I was on ship. I didn’t hear about it. I would’ve reenlisted immediately. So I talked to my career planner. He was a big six foot, four EEO D guy, right? Just big guy. We’re all scared of him that plays in the store here shortly. So I, I lost my opportunity. So he comes to us. He goes, Hey, uh, you can’t reenlist unless you go infantry.

Matt Quick (11:37):

Oh three 11. I’m like, oh hell no. I’m I’m admin. These horns do not get the infantry to the life. Not at all. Right. But once a Marine was a Marine. So I took a, um, a helicopter from one chip to the other and emailed the command, the Marine Corps and laid out why I should reenlist. I get back the next day, that six foot, four EOD guys in my face. What are you doing? Are you outta your mind? I’m like, can I reenlist? Yes. As infantry. I’m like, I’m good, man. <laugh> so when I got back off shift, it was like January of next year, I got back off shift and I went to the army recruiter, signed some contracts. And as I was getting outta the, uh, the Marine Corps, I was enlisting in the army. It was, it was a smooth transition.

Mary Kate Soliva (12:27):

Now, see, you had mentioned the space force. I know there wasn’t space force back then, but why the army? I mean, you’re talking about like these hands <laugh> I still consider like army a little rough and ready compared to some of the other branches.

Matt Quick (12:41):

So why don’t you leave the Marine Corps and you do all the Marine Corps training, the Marine Corps bootcamp, right? The field training. The army is the of life. So I wanted the easier life for myself and my family. So I definitely knew it was the easier life and the air force. Wasn’t taking a Marine Marine guy. So I was like, uh, I better go to the army. <laugh>

Mary Kate Soliva (13:00):

I know. I keep jokingly say that. We take everybody over here.

Matt Quick (13:04):

It’s a big force.

Mary Kate Soliva (13:05):

Nine toes. You don’t need all 10. What gonna come

Matt Quick (13:07):

For? Yeah, we’re good.

Mary Kate Soliva (13:09):

<laugh> so, yeah, I just, so we, we got your branches, but where, where did you get to go? Did you get to go anywhere exciting?

Matt Quick (13:16):

So in the Marine Corps, you know, we did training. I spent, I spent 45 days in Italy, in the Marine Corps, in the field, in the field training. I’m like, what? So that was, that was a time that, that Tupac died. I remember getting started magazine and getting that, but listen, we had a Mediterranean float, a med float. Oh, oh wow. And we, we went around and I’ve been to Greece. I’ve been to Spain, rode to Spain. We, we went to a lot of different places, but all my years of service, I never was stationed overseas, never 25 years of service. I spent probably 22 or 23 years on the east coast. I have no idea why

Mary Kate Soliva (13:59):

The army that’s, that was like, people join the service to see the world. And then they end up, you know, like my job in the army, those guys get stuck down at, in North Carolina. You wouldn’t call it getting stuck.

Matt Quick (14:14):

We deployed, I went Tovo yeah. I went to Iraq, you know, I went, I, you know, we, we deployed, but never station overseas though. I was pretty surprised and shocked the whole time.

Mary Kate Soliva (14:23):

Oh my goodness. Well, it’s like, I, I actually really appreciate, I love the travel aspect of it. And I always, it always blew my mind that service members would just stay on base, play video games and never leave base. They’d never leave camp or wherever they’re at to go out and explore, go where the locals go. You know? It’s like, why go there and then go to the McDonald’s.

Matt Quick (14:45):

So, cause it’s good. It’s it’s good for it’s good.

Mary Kate Soliva (14:47):

I don’t believe McDonald’s is different. They have the food that’s to that area, you

Matt Quick (14:52):

Know, that’s right.

Mary Kate Soliva (14:53):

So I was just like, no, no, no, you gotta go where the locals go. So it’s just, I, I love that aspect of the military and the fact that we have folks that we serve with that are from different areas. So we always have a couch to Beaumont and you know, somewhere to stay. But with you just mentioned about your Vasic experience. So I’m really curious as to maybe one or two folks that took you under their wing, like earlier on in your career. And then maybe somebody, you know, shout out for somebody later on in your career.

Matt Quick (15:26):

So early in my career I had, and this is, this is while I was in the army. So I was in the army. This was year two in the army. I was assigned to the Pentagon. I was assigned to the, the chief of staff of the Army’s office generation. SECI I’m like, oh my goodness, I can’t believe this. I’m going. I’m going to my dream job. As a new Yorker, I would visit Washington DC every other year, Jersey shore. The other of the years I would visit every other year. And I would dream of being in a Pentagon one day. I didn’t wanna join military. I wanna work in the Pentagon work

Mary Kate Soliva (15:59):

In the Pentagon. Wow.

Matt Quick (16:00):

So, so when I got an opportunity, I’m like, this is so cool. So he had a staff of like nine people and I was one of those. My first mentor came from that organization. His name was chief Warren or five. Dan Logan look him up. This guy is, is phenomenal when it comes to the army. And this is the reason why we connected. So, so well, because he was an older guy. I admit I’m like, this guy wants to mentor me because he was a Marine. That’s why. So he took me under his way. He said, listen, you’re a Marine, I’m a Marine. I’m an army guy. Now we’re both army. But he wanted to, to make me the next him. So he encouraged me to go to warm school. Cause I always, I was 42 alpha for, I was a 71 Lima back then, which was an executive administrative assistant. Again, these hands you

Mary Kate Soliva (16:51):

Dating yourself. <laugh>

Matt Quick (16:52):

Yeah, I, I am, I don’t care. So I was a 71 Lima and as they were merging those Moss, he told me, he goes, listen, you can go to one school. You can do a lot of different things. What do you want to do? One day I was walking on a Pentagon and I saw this, this badge said, I didn’t know what it was. It was a career counselor, badge. I’m like chief. I think I wanna be a career counselor. He goes, let’s make it happen. So as Deon sec was leaving his office, people were getting assignments to Hawaii assignments and MEPS. I wanna be a career counselor. So they signed a paperwork off. I didn’t do like retention, NCO duty, and people hated me for that. But I got into school and then I made a name for myself by creating the army reenlistment website, uh, creating an armor app. I would make a name for myself all, all because chief form five, Dan Logan inspired me to do something more than just what I was doing right now. I loved it.

Mary Kate Soliva (17:53):

Well, that’s incredible. I didn’t know that that was like your foundational story for the app development too. Right? Of just creating like all stuff, like career related kind

Matt Quick (18:02):

Of thing. I’m a big old nerd. Mary Kay. I I’ve always people say I wanna take care of people. I say how, because I’ve done it my whole career. How do you do it? You gotta find your niche, but the army didn’t have a retention website. I’m like, this is 2004. Watch the website. Well, we don’t wanna invest money. Well, I’ll built it myself now. My first trial.

Mary Kate Soliva (18:23):

Yeah. I’d like to see what that looked like.

Matt Quick (18:27):

If you go back, if you go to a website called the way back machine, you can go to any website and go back and they’ll tell you what it was like. It was garbage. Oh, I didn’t know that it was my creation though. <laugh>

Mary Kate Soliva (18:40):

I was like for our viewers that can’t see your face. He just like perked up, puffed his chest out. He was very proud of it. Yeah. Heck yeah. So that’s hilarious. Uh, well, I, I really love that aspect because now I’m starting to piece together. All the things about that launched you, cuz you still do that. Now

Matt Quick (18:59):

A hundred percent. I still lead. I still lead the team, our Marine ment team. I’ve got three or four volunteers now do a wonderful job. I’m more hands off. I’m more of the face if you call it that. Right. But I give guidance and mentorship and they, they do all the work.

Mary Kate Soliva (19:14):

Well, that, that sounds like a smart thinking, working smarter and harder. But I right. I really, for again, for, because of the amount of time that you spent in uniform on active duty, both branches, do you have anybody else that, that sticks out sort of like later in your career, uh, that was there there’s somebody or was it more so you giving out all that advice?

Matt Quick (19:36):

No, no, no, listen, we don’t do this by ourselves. Mary Kay. So

Mary Kate Soliva (19:39):

A hundred percent.

Matt Quick (19:41):

So when I was a career counselor, I was, I was told to apply to be an instructor of the schoolhouse, which is a great job. So I applied to be an instructor of the schoolhouse. The schoolhouse says, Hey, Hey, Sergeant quick, you may wanna also consider working at what’s called forces, command retention, operations in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m like, that’s a, that’s a high level job. I’m not very smart. They just thought I was smart because they think I was doing so I applied for both jobs at the urging of my leadership and I got both jobs. I’m like now I gotta pick. So training the future of our field was cool, but the operations job, I can do a lot of operations and train too. So I chose to go to force com retention and I met Sergeant major, Marty Boyd, gray there. So she is phenomenal.

Matt Quick (20:37):

She was the first female to be the two wide D retention star major, the first female to be four Bennings star major for retention. So she was like, she’s actually in the hall of fame right now for recruiting retention. So she was very inspirational in my career. She propelled me to next’s career. She was very to fitness though. We worked out every day and we ate right too one day on my office. And I didn’t think she was there because we got there early. So I’m there snacking on like these donuts, these mini donuts, she come in there, she goes, what are you doing? I’m like, whoa, I didn’t think you’re here. She snatched this outta my mouth and throw it in the trash. She goes, that’s not who you are.

Mary Kate Soliva (21:24):

Oh my goodness. I’d like to

Matt Quick (21:27):

Meet her fast forward, fast forward, um, like eight years. And I was in her position. Uhhuh

Mary Kate Soliva (21:33):

I, and you still worked out every day?

Matt Quick (21:35):

No, not really eight donors mostly, but I created a retention leadership award and named it after her. And it incredible still there today.

Mary Kate Soliva (21:45):

That’s incredible. Did you, you created all the criteria to earn it as well.

Matt Quick (21:49):

Well, me and my, my operations team, Sonny Luga and, and William Shaer. We created this, the metrics, all this by named, after her, it’s called the retention excellence award in leadership. The real award that’s right. I can do acronyms <laugh>

Mary Kate Soliva (22:10):

Okay. Now this is really all piecing together. I feel like to avoid going down rabbit holes of private jokes here, but it was like, this makes total sense. Now you are like the you’re

Matt Quick (22:20):

Welcome.

Mary Kate Soliva (22:21):

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So I mean, I absolutely you’re absolutely right. You can’t do this alone and you went through different transitions throughout your military career, which I think is important to highlight as well. And along the way you had folks that they, they built immediate rapport with you based on just, and that’s what I love is cuz of how diverse we are. We all come from different walks of life, different parts of the country around the world. And, and then we bring something different to the team. But when we have that one thing, like, again, Marines, you just gotta be a Marine and they all flock together

Mary Kate Soliva (22:56):

Simplify. So sometimes I feel like I, I can’t even, I don’t even have the right to say that, but I see the, the S slash app and I’m like, oh, can’t I can’t use that. But yeah, I love that aspect. It just, we go through those transitions. We can’t do it alone. We need to seek out either seek out that mentorship or, you know, be that good mentor that, that great leader and turn around, lean back and, and pull up the one’s coming behind you. So I, I love active learning. I feel like I’m an active learner, pride myself on that and continuously learning from probably dozens of mentors that I still have now. Uh, but I really want to talk about your transition cuz you went through multiple transitions throughout your career, but you also went through the big one, retired. Yep. And you’re still not like fully retired. Obviously. You still had to find a way to enter that into the private sector. So walk us through a little bit about what that looked like for you.

Matt Quick (23:54):

So military transition can be easy or can be hard mm-hmm <affirmative> we choose by how we plan for it. Here’s mine. So when I graduated this art major academy in 2014, I, well actually in the academy I started networking and I started paying down debt because I knew the end was near whether it was five years, 10 years, the end was near, I can’t stay forever. So I graduated academy and went to Fort drum, climbing the glory in New York. And I started paying down all my debt. We had a conversation, my wife and I about how we can do this. So we, we did that. So when it comes to transition, I woke up one day. So I, I transitioned what three years at a four drum. I was at, uh, force conversion working at, at the, probably the second highest level in the army.

Matt Quick (24:44):

When it comes to retention the other one’s in a Pentagon. I didn’t want the job I get down here, give him great. Three years. One day I woke up and now my wife’s mom passed away while we were in a Fort drum, her dad was dying. Now while I was at Fort brag and force calm, my nephew was dying. Two hours away from me. I said woke up one day. I’m like, Hey Jen, I think I’m done. What I plan on doing 30 years. I’m I’m at 24 and a half years now. I said, I’m done. I can’t give a hundred percent anymore. I’m I’m burnt out. And I’ve never said it before now I’m burnt out. So I went to my leadership, which is the, now the SMA right now GSON I went to him and said, listen, I’m, I’m done retiring. He gave me a great spiel on finances, all this stuff that I was doing, but he gave me a better op better opportunities. And I, he goes, how, how much time do you need? I’m like, I need two months. I’m done. I’m I’m I’m walking away. So I didn’t take my year. I was done with me

Mary Kate Soliva (25:44):

Two months. For two years,

Matt Quick (25:46):

Five months, I was out the, I was outta the military. I was done. And this is where my second mentor comes in. He was my command start major in the, I commands aren’t major in the old guard. Jeff Stitzel. I feared him there because listen, I wasn’t on his level. But now I reached out to him because he was transitioned. He had a, a good transition. I said, Hey, what do I do? I’ve got two months. He goes, do X, Y, and Z. Don’t think about it. Just do it. I come back next debt. Next week. He goes, here’s three more things. Do these things. Now come back. That’s what it was. It was more of me reacting to what he was telling me because I trusted him. That’s what it was. So I paid down debt. I’ve been networking for years. He, he got me in Mike Quinn’s master of LinkedIn class. I learned LinkedIn in a matter of two months. And then I, I joined Mike Quinn building military. But these things all come from networking and having mentors that we trust. Yes. They’re not just relations. We build off the, off the cuff. They’re built over years. So that for me, transit was easy for one reason only I didn’t have debt. That was big for me.

Mary Kate Soliva (27:05):

Well, and, and you must have mentioned, uh, Jen, which you know, how many years has it been? I know you celebrated

Matt Quick (27:13):

25 years

Mary Kate Soliva (27:13):

Now, 25 years. I know. That’s why I want you to say it out loud because I, it is possible. I think people think like being in the military, that we all end up in divorce or whatnot, but that you just a testimony. We

Matt Quick (27:24):

Fell in love of the trial. I, I dunno how she does it. Yeah.

Mary Kate Soliva (27:28):

And she, and goodness. And she’s still like so young and good and y’all are out there doing five Ks and golf cart competitions,

Matt Quick (27:37):

Half marathons now. Crazy half

Mary Kate Soliva (27:39):

Marathons. Yeah. Y’all are crushing it. That’s why like, say hashtag power couple <laugh> the quick, the quick team. But think I really appreciate you sharing that aspect of your transition because not only is it difficult for those who for, at any point, whether you’ve done one contract you’re in three or four years or whatnot, or whether you did a whole entire career 20, 30 years. But I actually found that in my opinion, I think it’s the ones that have been in longer that are having the harder time that need to start earlier the two year mark. If, if not, like you said, you were trying to prepare that at least to pay off that debt, knowing that it was coming, it was inedible that you were gonna step out a uniform at some point, but folks aren’t thinking like that. I talk to so many service members and, and how many veterans you and I talk to every week who are like, I’m getting out and it’s next month <laugh>

Matt Quick (28:28):

With, I haven’t

Mary Kate Soliva (28:29):

Haven’t started anything with no plan. No, no. They don’t even know what they want to do, what industry they wanna work for. I’m like name your dream company. Some of them can’t even do that. So we just understand that it takes time and part, a big part of that is not only in paying off your debt and getting your, your family situated financially, but developing the rapport because even for asking for letters of recommendation or, you know, just being able to honestly say that I had been supporting this organization volunteering, or I knew so and so for two years was something, what meant something they were ready to reach out and put their name out there for me to get a job. And I know we can give, uh, Corey Burton a shout out for, for taking up for finding us off the, the corner

Matt Quick (29:18):

<laugh> she is phenomenal. And she won. She’s a recruiter that doesn’t take no for an answer.

Mary Kate Soliva (29:22):

Yeah. One recruiter that she just really understands where to, to place people, almost like Harry Potter’s magical sorting hat. That’s true. Harry Potter fans out there don’t I was like, probably not saying it right. But you know, she just really knows where to, how to properly place people and what will work for them. And, and that’s folks that you want in your circle, in your network to build rapport with and to get to know you. So I know again, you’re doing so many different things. When, when you got burnt out, was there that sense of what’s my purpose gonna be? What, what am I gonna do now? How did you handle that?

Matt Quick (29:59):

So when I was going through a military transition, I saw how difficult it could be for many people. This is why I chose to stay in this, in this space to educate, to, to share my experiences and to talk to more people, get their experiences, learn from them and share ’em as well. I didn’t get my first paying job until I was outta the military for 10 months. I didn’t need to work cause I was good financially, right. That I never had the pressure to work. So we built a, a small company that’s pretty big now higher military to, to hopefully educate those that come after us because now we are the mentors and I’m not sure how long my shelf life is for this career transition space. But that’s why I moved from just from just military transition to career transition. Because now I I’ve got a lot of experience. I’ve been laid off twice in the past two years now, C you know, underperforming, um, jobs when it comes to, uh, getting revenue. There’s, I’ve learned a lot. So I can use that experience to better educate and push people in the right directions that they want to go to. So career coach is what I am, so I can talk about resumes. I can talk about X, Y, and Z. And, and this is now my passion or my Y or more specifically my who, Mary Kay.

Mary Kate Soliva (31:23):

Oh, your who? That’s an interesting ad there. So

Matt Quick (31:28):

Who is those that those people in, in military transition and career transition now,

Mary Kate Soliva (31:34):

And I love that because I know, I know it’s not for, I know it’s not for everyone. And some folks will say that, you know, why enter the transition space to help service members after the fact, if you are still going through your transition. But I really am of the belief. I feel like a quarter, my mentors were folks that were still transitioning, but it was nice to know that, that they were going through it with me and that my struggles or my bad days, that I could call them up. And they could talk to me about how they got through their bad day and connect me with folks in their network. Because I, as those, even those who start last minute, they still end up starting with one person, one person in their network. And that person introduces ’em to someone else. And I can’t tell you how many introductory emails I have written. I even wrote one earlier today, uh, just connecting two other veterans who I felt like needed to get to know each other based on what they’re working on. So that’s what it’s all about. And I love that we’re both in, in this space and I love that you continue giving back. And I really wanna take this time to, to talk about some of the nonprofit work that you’re doing. I need to do some in the transition space, but I know you even started, uh, an organization. I’d love to hear more about that.

Matt Quick (32:49):

So before that, the reason, one, the reason why I give back to military transitions, we don’t charge money. I don’t get paid for this, you know, right. The mil, the military pays me well, not to work for the rest of my life. I feel that I can give back a little bit of my time to those people, the organization that’s given me my family so much. That’s why give back. So Mary Kay, you and I met at one of my now nonprofits that I worked with, which was suiting warriors. That one was, we gave suits away to people in, in military transition and not just mil, not just, not just men, but females as well. Cause everyone needs a good suit to feel powerful. You know, feel good, look good. You do do good. So that’s, that’s since, uh, disbanded because we could, could upkeep it.

Matt Quick (33:42):

But we, I did find well with my sister-in-law. We founded Dylan quick foundation, and this was my nephew was dying of cancer. Well, he spent five years battling. So when, when he was in his last day or so my a sister-in-law had a conversation with my brother would, would he mind if we created a foundation in his honor to Memor to, to give back to, to make sure his name isn’t forgotten. So we created that and that’s been three and a half years now that we run that do, uh, softball tournaments. We’re trying to do a kickball tournament. An award from school from his school is handed out every year in his name. We give scholarships away. And this is a small, this is a small, but powerful nonprofit is based out of Newburn, North Carolina on the east coast. And it’s, it’s doing great work. It’s a hard one talk about because it’s my brother’s son that passed away, but my sister-in-law needed this to get through what she was going through the time. So I’m glad we started this thing. And we, we, we maintain it today.

Mary Kate Soliva (34:50):

I love that. And, and thank you so much for sharing that and definitely wanna keep Dylan’s name alive and going. And I think what a wonderful way to keep his memory and legacy alive and what I really captured from that too, not only we get your sister through that time and your family, but the community support that you got as well. Like you, you said

Matt Quick (35:11):

Huge school

Mary Kate Soliva (35:12):

Got involved and you have softball tournament. So I just love the idea that the community really gathered around to support your family.

Matt Quick (35:19):

Newburn high school now gives out annual award called the spirit of the spirit of the bear, which the Newburn bears what they are. Um, and it’s now the Dylan quick spirit of the bear award. So every year, and it, this isn’t the top academic person. This is the, this is the person with the best character. There’s many, there’s so many matches to go into this, but you don’t have to be smart or, or be the best in sports. You can get in the war two. And we love that.

Mary Kate Soliva (35:46):

Oh, I really, I really, really love that a lot. And so that’s just something again with when you have the community, I think was just like the common theme throughout what you’re saying is just really having support and surrounding yourself with the right people that are gonna have your back during the good times and the bad times.

Matt Quick (36:04):

Oh, and one thing about the foundation, Mary Kay. I, I forgot about this. Yeah,

Mary Kate Soliva (36:08):

Can’t forget that.

Matt Quick (36:10):

So ever. So he passed away in Greenville, North Carolina, the children’s hospital. So every year now, for the past 12, since 2019, we have donations set up around Newburn for toys. So there’s like 18 toy drops that it’s, it’s, it doesn’t rival the Marine Corps toys for tots at all. This is a very small one, but we have, we deliver a U-Haul full of toys to the children’s hospital the week before Christmas, because he was given so much to the hospital. It’s our way of giving back. So I, I wear like a, um, a Christmas sport coat. I have one for my brother now. So we do that. So we’re kind of like, Santa’s elves delivering toys there before Christmas. So that is a big hit. Gosh. And that’s one of the things that we love giving back with

Mary Kate Soliva (37:01):

How wonderful is that? And I really love that. It’s the family too. So you got the community, but you also have, have your family, uh, doing, getting involved as well. And I’m trying to picture you, you throw on the beard, have you tried growing at your beard? You know, you can, now

Matt Quick (37:17):

I tried for a month. I hated it. My wife hated it. It looks dumb. So I’m not gonna do it again. <laugh>

Mary Kate Soliva (37:23):

Like, you still rocking the, the military clean cut here. But I feel like, again, it’s like once the Marine always a Marine that’s right. So as far as advice goes that you have for folks that maybe sort of stuck in a rut, and they’re trying to figure out how to find their purpose, get going, get motivated, get involved.

Matt Quick (37:44):

So yeah, I, I talk to people every day and everyone, everyone seems to want to shoot for the Amazons, the Walmart, the Microsoft, the apples, the Teslas. Now sometimes you have to, I’m not saying lower yourself. I’m saying shoot for a small or medium size company. Because these companies for, for me, my first job outta the military was 10 months after retired. I, my mentor and I built this job for me, you know, small and medium companies can create jobs for you if they see the value. So they saw my value. They hire me to a director of people and culture to oversee their recruiting, to oversee their training development. To, to look at that, I was let go at six months because of COVID. I get that. But right, the, the whole world changed, but shoe for a small company, that’s looking to grow or a medium company looking to grow.

Matt Quick (38:41):

The, the chamber of commerce has this information, talk to your mentors. And some people, I had a conversation today that someone that I went to the academy with says, Hey, how can I be a, a motivational speaker? So I, I Googled real quickly, got an indeed article, sent him his way. And now is on the track to be a motivational speaker. Yes, that’s an actual paying job, but you, you gotta put the work into it. But again, paying down your paying off your debt, frees you up from doing, you know, from having to work. You can do whatever you want, but you gotta build your brand. Who is Matt quick? Who is Mary Kay saliva? Who are these people? You’ve gotta figure out what you wanna do, who you wanna do it for and just go after it.

Mary Kate Soliva (39:27):

That’s gosh, almost I lost for words. Cause I was like having a quick reflection, keep my own on my own transition, but coming full circle with that, you, you hit all the points about, oh, I think that we went through during our own transition and sometimes still going through, but that financial freedom is so huge, cuz it is just freedom to be able to have that ability for not sometimes not even just the service member, but your, your spouse for your family, your spouse is to be able to take a step back and actually pursue. Maybe they had a gap in work experience. Now they’re trying to get back in it. Like you said, COVID changed everything, the world change. And so being able to think about what really matters in life and what kind of difference, what kind of impact we wanna make. And a lot of that I find we can start just in our local communities.

Mary Kate Soliva (40:19):

I talked, like you mentioned about what the, the Amazons and the Teslas, like even, just folks that veterans who are wanting to start their own business, they’re, they’re wanting to aim so high, so fast and they grow so big and they lose control. But it’s like, if you can start just even volunteering, just start with your local community, your problem doesn’t have to be trying to, to solve the world problem. But even just like you mentioned, just in your town, getting, getting the local pizza place involved and, and run a softball tournament, you know, it just, those kind of changes can really make a difference.

Matt Quick (40:55):

That’s absolutely right. I didn’t even mention if every day I forgot to talk about upskilling and reskilling through, through training. Yeah.

Mary Kate Soliva (41:06):

I was like, what are you doing now? That’s what she talking about? What are you doing now, Matt?

Matt Quick (41:10):

So what I now is, is I work with project management Institute. And one of the reason why I joined them is because they have a great brand. They have so much opportunities for growth. They have it’s it’s coaching training. It’s it’s great. But I see a lot of our military transitioners that want to be or think they are project managers. So I’m like, well, how can we figure this out? So I, I found this program called kickoff. So I, I tell everybody about it. If you go to pmi.org/kickoff, you can figure out it it’s a free course. You don’t gonna pay anything, but it’s a free course that walks you through the basics of project management. And the cool thing is about it is I can earn two digital badges, Mary Kate for my LinkedIn profile. That’s, that’s three stuff right there. So I mean, it’s, for me, I learn a little differently. I learn in small bite size content. And that’s what this thing does. Small stuff, because I’m not a fast learner, small things, no long lectures. I absorb the lessons and there’s two methodologies, agile and waterfall. The military is more waterfall because like, oh, just one thing, the agile is like, oh, change makers this. So if you’re listening, please go to pmi.org/kickoff, simple stuff, take the course, figure out if you’re a project manager or not.

Mary Kate Soliva (42:40):

Yeah. Free and 45 minutes. You can’t really

Matt Quick (42:44):

Do that over. Listen about an hour, Mary Kate, an

Mary Kate Soliva (42:49):

Hour’s no time limit

Matt Quick (42:50):

Almost.

Mary Kate Soliva (42:52):

So we start pushing out an hour. But I mean, yeah, one of the big things I know we mentioned Corey, one of the things that really drew me to PMI was just the amount of support that we have, um, within the organization, just the, the advocacy bucket that some of our colleagues say, just being able to give back and being you and I being able to do what we’re doing now, giving back to the military veteran community. I it’s like we speak to numerous spouses all the time to, to their families about how to utilize this. I spoke to, to one that, you know, she, she’s a social worker and she’s trying to pivot, wants to pursue project management. I’ve spoken to people who are entrepreneurs or who have started their own nonprofit organizations, but they’re very interested in just a plethora of different things with upskilling. So again, to go back to that act of learner thing, I don’t, it’s never too late to start. And just being, especially from the military veteran community of the numerous resources that you have available to get things for free or get support and, and funding and time, you know, a lot of it is just taking your time, taking the time to find out what you wanna do and staying committed, sticking with it till you finish, uh, cause

Matt Quick (44:06):

Can really teach you how to do that too. And what what’s good about it is not. And I talked to about careers also, PMI is, is, is hiring a lot too. And people are like, well, I’m not a project energy yet we hire way more non-project managers than, than project managers. Absolutely. So don’t think that, oh, I can’t do that. Hey, just talk to your mentors, figure out what’s out there because we don’t know what we don’t know. Just have the conversations, talk to your mentors, you’ll figure out what is you wanna do and what you can do.

Mary Kate Soliva (44:38):

And there’s nothing to say that you can’t do it while you’re still in uniform before you enter your transition window.

Matt Quick (44:45):

Yes.

Mary Kate Soliva (44:45):

Right.

Matt Quick (44:46):

Way before,

Mary Kate Soliva (44:47):

Way before nothing to say that you can up skill and learn and, and just try out new things. I, I’m a huge proponent of volunteering your time. Because if you volunteer, you not only learn skills outside of your military job, but you also get an opportunity to network and to learn other skills to grow, get that experience. And so, I mean, and, and of course it’s just for the greater good, I mean, it’s, it’s like a different type of feeling to, to be able to see the impact that you’re making on other people. Uh, and, and just by giving back. So that’s why I love about veteran voices. Matt is how do people get a hold of you if they don’t already know your name already as your LinkedIn celebrity? So listen,

Matt Quick (45:31):

Not very many people know who Matt quick is yet. And that’s fine. I’m fine with that. But listen, I’m primarily on LinkedIn. If you just search LinkedIn, Matt quick. Now, if you Google my name, you may find my link, but you won’t see this face. This Face’s only available for those people on LinkedIn with an account. That’s my setting. Sorry, everybody

Mary Kate Soliva (45:52):

Haircut.

Matt Quick (45:53):

Yeah. <laugh> but get on LinkedIn, just search Matt quick. You’ll see me. Uh, I got a banner for coaching and I, my tagline is I coach people through career transition. You’ll find me easy, reach out, connect or follow doesn’t matter to me, but learn how to use LinkedIn. Learn how to network, build network out. Your network becomes very, very valuable to you.

Mary Kate Soliva (46:17):

Thank you. Fantastic advice. Did I leave anything out? Anything else you wanted to add? Got your plugs in there. I

Matt Quick (46:26):

Feel like it seems

Mary Kate Soliva (46:27):

Out. You’re gonna say I need, I have another story to tell, but for real, all our listeners today reach out connect with Matt quick. Matt will he, he has a plethora of experience and way more stories than we had time to share today. Uh, but reach out to him on behalf of the entire team here at veteran voices, we invite you to find us and subscribe wherever you get your podcast from a big thanks to Brian Ingston and our partners at best industry. And this is Mary Kay saliva wishing you all a fantastic, wonderful day. Wherever you are, get home safe, stay motivated, do good, give forward and be the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see you next time. Thanks everybody.