Matrix4 — or M4 for short — was originally Patricia’ Miller’s grandfather’s company. It made plastic parts. And when he turned over the business to Patricia, it was struggling. She completely turned the company around in the process, creating what she calls the first product design and manufacturing house to drive industry growth and innovation, and usher in a new era of culture, leadership and sophistication. The story of the “House of M4” is inspiring, full of great insights on taking on a turnaround situation, building a culture, and revitalizing American manufacturing!
Below is a transcript of Patricia’s interview. But you can also listen to the podcast version here, if you prefer!
Doris Nagel 0:42
Hello! And welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur show. We’re broadcasting here from the Greater Chicago Milwaukee area. If you’re an entrepreneur or a small businessperson, or are thinking about becoming one, this show is for you.
I’m Doris Nagel, your host for the next hour. I’m a crazy entrepreneur, and I love helping other entrepreneurs. I’ve counseled many startups and small businesses over the past 30 years. I’ve also helped start at least nine different businesses.
The Savvy Entrepreneur show has two goals: to share helpful information and resources, and to inspire you entrepreneurs out there, to make your journey a little faster and easier, and maybe just a little bit more fun.
To help with that. I have guests every week on the show who are willing to share their stories and advice.
This week’s guest is Patricia Miller, who’s the CEO of Matrix4. Matrix4 is, in some ways, is a startup, and other ways not so much. Matrix4 was originally Patricia’s grandfather’s company. It made plastic parts. And when he turned over the business to Patricia, it was struggling. She completely turned the company around in the process, creating what she calls the first product design and manufacturing house to drive industry growth and innovation, and usher in a new era of culture, leadership and sophistication.
And what a heck of a job she has done! The House of M4, as it’s called, was named to Inc 5000 fastest growing companies several years running. It was named a top workplace and a top manufacturer in the US plastic knit in the US by plastic news. Patricia was celebrated by Crain’s Chicago 40 under 40 and was recognized by plastic news as the most notable woman in manufacturing, as well as an enterprising woman 2020 by enterprising woman magazine.
Prior to coming back to reimagine the House of M for Patricia built a successful Fortune 500 career in marketing within the pharmaceutical and biotech spaces. She earned bachelor’s degrees from the University of Iowa in Journalism and Marketing, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University College of London.
In addition to her busy day job, she also serves as a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Manufacturers or Nam, and some people know it, the Board of Directors of mHub in Chicago, and the board of the entrepreneurial program at Prairie Ridge High School, among many other activities. When she’s not doing all that, she says she can often be found getting her hands dirty in her gardens, looking for a more intimate connection with Mother Earth.
Patricia, thanks so much for being on the show today. Welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur!
Patricia Miller 3:52
Thank you, Doris. I’m happy to be here.
Doris Nagel 3:55
Talk a little bit about your business. What does it do and what customers does it serve?
Patricia Miller 4:04
M4 is a consumer products company. We focus on consumer goods. And we have an industrial design studio and a manufacturing factory in one house. We work with companies like Harley Davidson, General Electric, L’Oreal — most of the everyday big brands that you’re familiar with. And we also get excited about supporting smaller to midsize brands as well. We focus on sustainability. We’re a durable goods company, but we don’t do anything in single waste plastic. And we’re really interested in continuing to push sustainability — not just not from a greenwashing standpoint — but from what’s really possible with this plastic material that we’re working with, or alternatives to plastic material.
Doris Nagel 4:58
I hope we get time to come back and touch on that a little more, because that is certainly a very interesting topic, and an important one for the future of our planet. But first, I want to talk about your journey, and how you came back to run your grandfather’s company. Share with us a little about the story of how that happened — what shape the business was in, and what you needed to do to turn it around.
Patricia Miller 5:28
Sure. So, I’ve never had a 10 year plan. I haven’t followed a linear career progression. But I’ve always been focused on getting engaged in things that bring joy and are also disruptive in traditional industry segments.
My first career was in politics, in both the British system in the US. Then I transitioned into pharma, which later became biotech. And at 32 years old, I felt like I had done all of the things I wanted within that industry segment. I was looking to continue swimming upstream in my entrepreneurial endeavors. But I didn’t anticipate it would be to this business.
I had come to work in Chicago in in the summer of 2014 for a cancer program I was working on. I came back and had dinner with my family to learn that the recession had really impacted this area in the Midwest. Living on the coast, I hadn’t had exposure to all of that at such a critical level. And my grandpa let me know that he was going to close the business. He was 80 years old, and most of manufacturing had left for Asia.
And back on my flight to Southern California, that set me off — really curious about what was happening in US manufacturing and if it was really dead in the US. Pulling that research together, along with curiosity and a desire to move more upstream entrepreneurially, landed me in a decision that I would come take over the factory and restart it.
I’m six years into that now. And it’s definitely been the most challenging thing I’ve done, but also the most rewarding.
Doris Nagel 7:21
I love the story. A lot of people think of entrepreneurs as people who start software companies. I don’t know why they think that. I guess it’s because they hear about Google and Amazon and Uber and companies like that so much in the media.
But I’m firmly of the belief that entrepreneurship comes in lots of different forms and flavors. Certainly, taking a business that is struggling and turning it around and transforming it is definitely a form of entrepreneurship.
What were some of the challenges that you faced when you first started out taking on the business?
Patricia Miller 8:06
I think one of the largest challenges was that I had transitioned industry segments. I wasn’t as up to speed and adept at this industry as I was in my previous one. As well, I hadn’t lived in the Midwest since I was growing up. So my network wasn’t here.
Finally, the capital intensity on equipment and technology and the multiple moving pieces in manufacturing make it very daunting to believe that it’s possible to restart a factory that had run a certain way for 35 years, and really hadn’t had the investments necessary to become sophisticated in industry 4.0 manufacturing.
Doris Nagel 8:56
Share a story or an example or two so that people get a feel for what some of those specific challenges were like.
Patricia Miller 9:07
There’s one that comes to mind – it probably sounds like a very trivial example — but by the time I had come into the business, my grandpa had already started developing dementia. So there really wasn’t a transition like in most generation to generation businesses. It really was, “Here’s the keys.” There wasn’t really any insight behind it. And so, the first day was really just digging — rolling up my sleeves and digging into anything I could find.
I had come from one of the most progressive industry segments in pharma and biotech. And what I what I found when I landed here was a factory that had kept mostly paper copies of everything back to 1976, including who got the poinsettia at Christmas or who got the turkey at Thanksgiving. There wasn’t anything in a database or any analytics to really give me the cliff notes of what was going on in manufacturing and what this organization was like. We didn’t even have high speed internet, and this was in 2014! I had to use a satellite on the roof of the business powering the internet, but all hardwired — we didn’t have Wi Fi. We also didn’t have a file folder structure, a server, or really any of the things that I had believed were instilled in businesses, at least for the last decade or so. So, one of the challenges for me was not just getting up to speed in an industry in a business I knew nothing about, but doing it in a very antiquated way – just files and folders and papers I could find.
Doris Nagel 10:57
So, I’m guessing there wasn’t a whole lot of robotics going on in manufacturing at this facility? [laughing]
Patricia Miller 11:01
No! I think that would be my other challenge, Doris. By 2014, there was such an expectation that a factory had to be as technologically advanced and savvy is possible, to stay competitive and alive in the US and elsewhere. And this was a business that had dated itself by several decades – it completely missed that technological boat.
So it was not only how do you turn the lights on, and how do you paint walls, and how do you renovate a facility that has had essentially been closed for a few years? It was also how do you also bring in a level of technology and sophistication to an entire facility while at the same time onboarding a full new team and building a strategy?
Doris Nagel
I was going to ask you about the team. I spent two summers working in a small town at a General Electric plant where my dad worked. I’m just picturing some of the people who were part of the management team from that era. And I’m just talk about some of the management team challenges, because I don’t even know was there even a whole team there? Were they resistant to some of these kind of changes? Talk a little bit about that.
Patricia Miller 12:26
There was a skeleton team in place. That was essentially what was left. When my grandpa was closing up the business or paring it down significantly, he laid off about 110 people. And what was left was a handful of people that either had loyalty to the business and hoped that it would turn around, and had been here for long enough that they were close to retirement. Of that skeletal team, most of the people were entry level or and technical talent. And then we had a few people that would have been deemed on the management team, two of which were my mom and my uncle.
Doris Nagel 13:15
I bet that must have been interesting.
Patricia Miller 13:17
Yes, it was. Overall, for the handful of people that were here, there was hope brought in that there might be someone who can lead and point us in a different direction. I think a lot of that hope had left over the few years that the business was basically sitting idle.
But along with that hope, it would require a lot of change for what I was going to do in the business. And as much as all of us as humans say we embrace change or want change, it’s more difficult when it’s put into motion.
So yeah, there was there was definitely a lot of conversations, communicating the whys: why we needed regular meetings, and why we needed a strategy, and why we needed to clean certain things. But I think in general that I was lucky. The team was super receptive, and very early on, trusted my leadership and where we were headed. They were champions to help us get to where we are.
Doris Nagel 14:26
How did you go about recruiting new talent? Is there a good talent pool locally, or was that something that you tapped into on a more regional or even national basis?
Patricia Miller 14:41
Manufacturing is definitely more local. At least from what I observed, a lot of the talent in this area had left during the recession when several businesses shuttered. So the talent pool was smaller. And we weren’t really driving a new talent pool into the area, because there weren’t a lot of opportunities that were being created.
In addition, most of the talent was already placed within other manufacturing companies. And – something you may be aware of – is, as an industry segment, we have about 2 million jobs short in the US for manufacturers overall. So, that shortage, in combination with the lack of workforce development that had happened over the last decade or two, as well as just the perception that manufacturing was seen as less progressive of a job or as desirable to go into leaves it difficult to find a strong talent pipeline.
But one of the things that we focused on from the beginning was: how do you create a culture that’s so good, and a purpose that’s so powerful, that it hopefully that helps drive an existing talent pool in our direction, if it aligns with a team member that would make sense to have on our team?
Doris Nagel 16:12
Things that have been happening because of COVID may be changing that for the better or for businesses like yours, where I think there are certainly there is certainly a pool of new talent who is less interested in living in the cities. I know that only because housing prices here in the suburbs have gone up. I wouldn’t have expected that as a trickle down effect of COVID, but it seems to be the case. And so maybe that will be a boon for some of the businesses like yours who offer a great quality of life. You know, more house for your money. People wanting to smell the roses, proverbially, and literally, too!
Patricia Miller 16:57
I hope so, too. I think that as an industry, we’re really focused on how do we drive more visibility to what we’re doing within our four walls of each of our companies? And how do we support building back up a more robust workforce, knowing that the shortage isn’t going away anytime soon?
Doris Nagel 17:20
I’m envisioning some of the changes you needed to make, and you’ve alluded to significant capital investments, how did you find funding for the changes that needed to happen?
Patricia Miller 17:34
It’s been challenging. Thank gosh we’ve had a really strong bank relationship, and I was able to put a line of credit in place in the business in year two. But most of the traditional funding was apprehensive to invest in a factory, because they had all experienced a lot of struggle with factories closing in that 2010 2014 period through the recession. So, there was less willingness to loan a manufacturing company money, and certainly not this manufacturing company that hadn’t been profitable for three years. Most of the traditional institutions like to see financials with three consecutive years of profitability.
Doris Nagel 18:26
That’s difficult for a turnaround situation.
Patricia Miller 18:29
That’s right. And so, thank Gosh, we did become profitable within that first year, but I wasn’t able to show a three year record.
So I funded the business through that first few years of growth. And we also lived on a shoestring budget as a business. It really was — and still is — a constant trade off of decisions around where do you put your capital and what’s the best bang for the buck? What’s most needed, and what will help you know raise the tide for all of the boats?
Doris Nagel 19:02
You must have had to persuade customers, too — either finding new customers, or engaging current customers and maybe past customers in conversations, to persuade them that you were serious about a new kind of partnership.
Patricia Miller 19:19
Yes, definitely. And I think that’s been one of the most beautiful parts of doing this business. It was a big difference for me, having come from a an industry that was a leader in its space, with robustness and resources and influence. People wanted to work with us.
And it was super humbling to come to a business where I didn’t know anyone who wanted to work with us at the time. And we didn’t have the robustness in the marketplace. And we didn’t have the equity that people knew us for anything. And so you know, what I’m what I’m so clear about, though, is that as humans, we connect at a human level before a business level. And I learned early that I would have to share as transparently and authentically as possible, what I was doing here at m four, and trust that my outcomes and results would validate someone working with us. And so early on, that was, you know, you had to buy into the vision of what I was creating, not just for our external clients, but also our internal clients, you know, my team, because what you saw in front of you probably wasn’t what you wanted, in ideal terms. And so, um, you know, we really had to paint the picture of what we were creating and what the purpose and what the strategy was. But then I also felt it was very important to us,
So I took a more proactive approach to share with clients, as well as with teammates — where we were headed, and a high level of detail about our strategy. Not only so that they knew, but to also validate why we were doing those things.
I think a lot of it also had to do with the goals and and strategy we put in place, as well as being able to share the outcomes of those strategies and goals, so that there could be validation that we were doing what we said we were doing. And so that we were moving at a pace that could be digestible for our clients.
Doris Nagel 20:49
You took quite a leap into this job. What skills and knowledge from your prior jobs were particularly helpful in helping turn around matrix4?
Patricia Miller 21:00
I definitely owe so much to being groomed in the fortune 500. Eli Lilly offered for someone early in their career access to so many brilliant people, structure, and examples of how things were done. Systems and processes were really important in a company that size, and so I got to see what “good” looks like, at least at a high level. I was able to take a lot of the best parts of that thinking and pare it down to a scrappy startup level, and move forward.
I learned everything from: How do you build a strategy? How do you identify needs in the market? How do you build a strong culture? What’s important to think about? How do you ask questions?
All of those things I feel like I learned — cut my teeth on — at Eli Lilly, and then was able to translate into other career roles. And there are other pieces., like how do you stay aligned to a vision and not get bogged down by the circumstances? There, there’s a really brilliant woman, Mary Morrissey, who always says, “Hold the vision, not the circumstance.” And I think that’s really important when you’re in the trenches and things aren’t going well, especially in the early days of entrepreneurship. If you can really hold on to why you signed up for this, and what you’re doing, it makes all of those bumps along the way a lot easier to move through.
Doris Nagel 22:39
I’m sure there are more than a few people listening who are in corporate jobs. They’re thinking about either starting a business or maybe buying a franchise, or maybe a turnaround type situation like you stepped into. You get a lot from being in a corporation, but there’s probably things that they can’t teach you, because they’re a big company. Talk about some of the things that you had to learn on the fly.
Patricia Miller 23:09
You know, one of the things that that sticks out for me is that within a corporation, you get to hone your subject matter expertise. You continue staying in that swim lane of that expertise, if you desire. Whereas an entrepreneur quickly becomes a generalist, especially in those early days.
That was challenging for me, because I really loved my background of building brands, and focusing on marketing and marketing strategy and marketing campaigns. And I had really awesome teammates to lean on it for finance, and HR, and all of the other areas of a complex business. Whereas an entrepreneur, especially early on without the ability to build the team out the way that I wanted to, I had to become the leader in all of those areas. And so, I definitely had to become a generalist, and I probably wouldn’t have received that experience in my corporate career.
I think the other thing is that within the corporate world, while you still have to align on budgets and expectations, there is a buffer behind you. In a startup, especially early on, there isn’t a parachute. I was very calculated about all of those early moves, but I also had to learn at a certain point to let go of some of that fear. I think I had gotten adjusted to an organization that if I didn’t meet a target or didn’t meet a goal, the business wouldn’t fail. We would maybe have had to pivot or become more aggressive in a certain area or something. But I definitely felt here early on that each one of those decisions I made was really monumental to the outcome of the business.
Doris Nagel 25:04
Was your family supportive of all this? Or was some persuasion needed there, too?
Patricia Miller 25:11
They were super supportive. I think that when you grow up in a family business, there’s something about the identity attached to it that most of them had known. Either from working in the business or just having it within the family. I think in general, though, the consensus from my grandparents was: “Why would you leave a progressive, highly lucrative career living in all of these modern metropolitan cities to come and move back to the middle of America and take over a dead factory in an industry that was really in question?” It was more like, “Have you gone crazy? Are you having a midlife crisis early?” But I think they had gotten used to the fact that I had led a career that way. And so it wasn’t out of the norm that I would be interested in doing something challenging.
Doris Nagel 26:17
I think that’s a generational thing that is definitely changing. And I think it’s a good thing in many ways. People from our parents’ and grandparents’ era worked for big companies and stayed there. My dad, for example, worked for General Electric his whole career, and that was viewed as a really good thing. You stayed with the company out of loyalty, that company was good. And that was viewed as the good life.
And I think that that is that is changing. I mean, you know, as waves and waves of people get dumped out on the streets and organization, large organizations are, you know, there just isn’t loyalty. And I don’t I think On the flip side, there’s just not as much sense of, of, of loyalty. And, and a sense of, you know, that that taking on new challenges is a is a good thing. It’s a, you know, it’s a it’s validating, right.
Patricia Miller 27:08
Absolutely. Gone are the days of pensions and staying at one company forever. But I also think, you know, you can’t rule it out. And it’s brilliant when you can stay at one for your whole career as well. But I think being able to stay open to possibility and make sure you’re driving a level of satisfaction and joy out of what you’re doing.
Doris Nagel 28:11
I agree. Talk about where the company has traveled and grown since you since you first came back in 2014.
Patricia Miller 28:26
I came back at the end of July, 2014. I always love to reflect on this, because I think as entrepreneurs, and especially for someone who likes to move quickly – for a visionary, I think time always moves 10 times faster than it than it should. But I sometimes forget to remember all of the things that we’ve done. So I love speaking about this — thanks for the question.
Those early days were difficult. It was all about: How do you get a machine running? How do you get a client? How do you make a part? How do you build out the systems and processes to train and document and make sure quality is built into the system? What do you look at from a culture standpoint?
But six years in, it’s really awesome to see what we’ve done. And I’m really excited about where we continue to go. We run 24 hours a day, mostly five days a week. Although through the pandemic, it was quite a surprise that we were doing mostly six and seven days a week for some of the clients, so it was great to offer overtime to the team as well as to see that much productivity coming through.
We are also in the midst of a full renovation on the factory. We’re in a building that that is quite old. But we want to honor it and the industrialiness of it, but we are definitely interested in continuing to optimize it for current workflows and activity. And so that’s a really fun project that we’re kicking off this year.
One of the things that we look at in any of our plans is being as sustainable as possible. We continue to drive to be a zero waste factory. And that means, what can we do to optimize energy? How can we take advantage of solar panels? How can we buy machines and equipment that are more energy efficient? This renovation will allow us to continue moving in that direction, in a much stronger way.
And we continue to grow with existing clients, as well as add additional clients. It’s been really fun to see the product mix that goes through the factory. We brought industrial design inhouse two years ago, with the intent of being able to design products for our clients and have a turnkey solution, moving from design to manufacturing, as well as being able to design some of our own products. This year, we will launch a consumer facing product brand that will be our own, and will focus in in sustainable materials,
Doris Nagel 31:06
Great! How has COVID has affected your business and your clients? And I am delighted to hear that it’s been an unexpected boon for your business. How did that come about?
Patricia Miller 31:21
I think a few reasons, Doris. And just to clarify it from the “boom” standpoint, we hit all of our goals that we had set in place for 2020. But we also had some stretch goals that were more difficult to achieve, just because of the pandemic and what that meant for the business. I was really reluctant to put investment in certain areas, just with so much uncertainty in what we were dealing with. And I can’t say that the pandemic has been positive for all of our clients or for all of us. There’s definitely been some struggles. For some of our clients, their volume and demands went down. But for several, they went up, and it was dependent on which industry category they were in, and what the consumer was doing in terms of buying choices. So any of the products that we make that are more kitchen oriented or home oriented, increased. More people were home, more people were doing renovation projects. And that definitely lead to an increase.
Doris Nagel 32:28
Looking back, what has been the best part about taking over the family business and rebuilding it?
Patricia Miller 32:38
I think the best part for me is shaping it in a way that I’m proud of, that is highlighting a responsible business in the US and in the Chicagoland area. By responsible, I mean not just in terms of how we lead and how we drive a culture and a strategy, but also in terms of what are we doing to be champions of what we know is right behind COVID. And that’s climate change.
We wanted to make sure that, especially since we work in plastic and have a history of working in plastic for four decades, that we help shape that narrative and provide an opportunity for clients or businesses that are working in physical products to do it in a more meaningful and sustainable way. .
Doris Nagel 33:30
And the flipside of that question: what’s been the hardest part?
Patricia Miller 33:35
I think not being able to move at the pace that I would like to. And that’s driven primarily because I’m the only investor in the business. I really wanted to remain in that position early on, because we were charting a course that was a bit more unknown and may be perceived as less effective to an early investor that was looking for a return. I definitely wanted to create a business that was going to be sustainable and profitable, but to also take the risk at where I felt a plastics manufacturing company needed to go.
Doris Nagel 34:14
A lot of the people that I talk to and counsel are people who are they have a corporate job, or a more typical nine to five job. And they’re interested in starting their own business. You’ve done both. What are some of the biggest differences, and what are some things that people should think about as they’re considering making the leap?
Patricia Miller 34:38
That’s a great question. You know, I did an entrepreneurial program through college. I loved the classes because they felt very real world and applicable, but I didn’t think for a minute I would be an entrepreneur. I really loved my corporate roles and working in the businesses that I did, what I found was that I probably have an entrepreneurial spirit, but that I was in businesses that were receptive to new thinking and ideas and would advocate for them if they were solid. And so I found that I could be very “intrapreneurial” within a large organization.
The big shift for me, I think, was being able to build something and know that the buck stops with me. Oftentimes in a large organization, you may find that you would like it to move a certain way. But it’s a much larger ship that has to turn, and it turns much slower. I was interested in being able to influence things and in a quicker, more agile way. But that also had big impacts for the team we were building and for the community that we were in.
But I think for anyone that’s interested in doing it, I think Simon Sinek did a great job when he wrote his book, “Why?” I think you always have to start with the “Why.” And if it makes sense, and is aligned to your spirit and your interest, and you’re in that place of life where that feels the most appropriate next step, do it.
But I think it’s really important to make sure that the clarity around the “Why” is there. And also not just the upside of all of those “Whys,” but also what are the things that I’m going to have to forego as a result of these benefits?
Doris Nagel 36:37
What advice looking back would you give to other entrepreneurs who are starting on their journey?
Patricia Miller 36:47
You don’t have to be an expert at everything. I think that sometimes it’s challenging when you’re the only one in the seat, or you have a small lean team. You have to play a lot of different roles and act in a lot of different capacities.
But I really think being able to lean on a support system and have your go-to advisors is really important. Early on, I made that very clear to several of the people that I trust most – for their business acumen, how they lead their lives, and from a value system. I told them, “Look, I need you to call me out or challenge me on things. I need you to almost serve as a board of directors for me, without the fiduciary responsibility, to let me know what blind spots I’m not seeing. That group also is helpful when I need to pick someone’s brain or to get help with their subject matter expertise on something.
And along with that vision for what the business is, I think it’s really important to get clarity on what it means in your personal life as well. I’m a big fan of living an integrated life. I like pulling the thread through all of the things I’m interested in. But I do know that there were many points along this journey where the amount of working hours was very high. And it can be possible to lose oneself within it. And so I think it’s important to take what I call “clarity breaks,” or the pauses. You’ll feel like you never have the time, because there’s so much to do. But I actually find that those pauses allow me to sink back into the business deeper and refreshed. And while I’m out in that time, things come to me and problems that I needed solutions for end up making their way into a more solution oriented form. Also, it helps me see the forest from the trees.
Doris Nagel 38:51
That’s a very Zen approach to things, Patricia. And that leads right into my next question: where you find inspiration when you have the inevitable rough patches?
Patricia Miller 39:03
I get inspiration from so many things. From a business standpoint, it’s seeing others that have gone through it, and others that have overcome adversity. Being able to share their perspective, or just getting the cheerleading connect. I think having a tribe around you is really important. Make sure that you’re you’ve got like-minded people, but also people that can call you out and have the ability to do so. People that can also champion and cheerlead in a really authentic way.
I also find such inspiration in what others are doing — other entrepreneurs and other game changers and disruptors. I read all the time — I don’t watch TV. I try to go through a few books a week, as well as just the magazines that I find really interesting. I’m a right left brain thinker. So a lot of times my inspiration comes from more creative outlets, whether that’s an art opening or exhibit—for example, I just got back from Marfa, Texas, going to the Marfa Invitational.
So any of the times that I can pull myself out of the day to day headspace, and be challenged to see something differently or creatively or inspirationally, that really fills me up.
Doris Nagel 40:23
You haven’t mentioned the fact that there aren’t that many women in manufacturing — certainly not in the Midwest. Have you found that being a woman is an advantage or challenge? Any advice for other women entrepreneurs in particular?
Patricia Miller 40:44
Yes. We still see so many less women in executive positions than we do men. And that was something I experienced in the Fortune 500 as well. And manufacturing adds another layer of complexity to that There are definitely less women there, and the ones that are in the space, I absolutely love getting to know and hearing their stories.
I think, in general, manufacturing would be perceived in a very stereotypical man’s world — mostly white men, older, less progressive. But I’ve found that I have a lot of male advocates, as well as female advocates. And I think it’s really important to surround yourself with whomever shares the same perspective and equality as you do. But it has been a large push for me within this business, to make sure we’re constantly opening our eyes and learning about what it means to be more diverse and inclusive, especially in an industry that is probably one of the least diverse and inclusive.
Doris Nagel 41:56
That seems to be part of manufacturing’s transformation, infusing it with a far more diverse set of employees and management teams. I think it has to be.
Patricia Miller 42:13
I think that’s true for any of our industries. If we’re really going to be able to derive the best of all of us, I think that’s a necessity. And I’m hopeful, you know, we can continue to push for that. I’m hopeful there are more conversations and more awareness that are continuing to be on the table. Topics and conversations that may not have been had before. I mean, I look back to in my early days in the Fortune 500. I liked dressing up for work every day and I wear big glasses. I had to wear glasses since I was younger, and I have a certain sense of my own personal identity and brand. But an executive shared with me that if I didn’t transition to pantsuits, and look more of the part of a conservative corporate leader, that it may be career limiting for me.
Doris Nagel 43:12
I worked for Baxter for a long time. I have to laugh because there, one of the most incredibly sharp, smart, sassy female lawyers I know was told that she needed to put her hair up to look more professional. And another very, very bright woman was told she needed to wear higher heels, because the flat shoes she was wearing just didn’t look very professional. Can you believe?
Patricia Miller 43:47
I know. Unfortunately, there are far more stories than we all share.
One of the things I don’t take lightly is that I am a woman business owner in manufacturing. And as much as I didn’t want to be front facing early on in this business — because I had never been in my previous industry jobs — I do realize the importance of it even more.
So now, I highlight to the girls that I do the STEM education with — whether it’s in K through five, or six through eighth grade, or someone who’s out on my factory floor, or really, anyone that we come across — that it is possible. There aren’t ceilings, and any that are arbitrarily created need to be broken. I want to keep pushing for that, because I think it’s as much about what we create from our four walls in terms of products as it is about what kind of platform and opportunity we’re creating for us overall.
Doris Nagel 44:54
You’re absolutely genius at segueing to my next question. We’ve talked about the past and the present. Let’s touch on the future for a couple of minutes. Where would you like Matrix4 to be in five years?
Patricia Miller 45:14
I would like to see M4 continue to pave the way for and be known as a responsible and sustainable design and manufacturing company, US- based and woman-owned, creating excitement and energy around what’s happening in manufacturing. Because so much good happens in this industry segment and all of the factories around the world.
But I think being able to really pull the thread through how something gets made, and all that goes into it. But also continuing to being an advocate for plastic alternatives, or more sustainable and earth friendly materials is really important to us. And I think being able to continue to see products that matter or have meaning in people’s lives, especially in the consumer space that we work in, out in the wild every day, is really fun.
And I think internally, to continue building a space and a work environment that people get jazzed to come into and want to work for. Creating a sense of joy and excitement for this small community we live in and the local economy that values having more job opportunities here and is excited about things that get made locally.
Doris Nagel 46:45
It sounds like you’re well on your way to achieving those goals. Do you think you’re ever get tired of what you’re doing today? And if so, what else might you do?
Patricia Miller 46:57
Oh, I don’t know. I think in general as possible. I mean, this is my fourth career. And it may be possible.
But what I hope is that if that happens, I’ve achieved the things that I want to here. That I’ve put in place a company that is sustainable and long lived and continues thriving, whether or not I’m in this seat or not. But I feel clear is that that’s not going to happen anytime soon. I feel like I’m mid into things and only now starting to find the traction and opportunity to shape and build this into my vision.
I think with the things that are going to come in the next few years — doing our own products, working at a national level around climate change, working on material research and development, and continuing to champion clients and the brands that they that they’re behind — I don’t see ever a dull day in manufacturing. So it keeps me on my toes and continues to keep me really excited.
Doris Nagel 48:04
How should people reach you if they’re interested in learning more about the House of M4 and its products, or maybe just something you said today sparked their interest, and they’d like to reach out. What’s the best way for them to connect?
Patricia Miller 48:20
I appreciate that. I’m always open to connect and really love hearing from others that are in this space, or from fellow entrepreneurs. Our website is Matrix4.com. And all of our social handles are on there as well. You can find me via my name or the business on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook. Feel free to also to request information through our website. And that that will get directed to me.
Doris Nagel 48:54
Patricia, thanks so much for being on the show. This week. I really enjoyed hearing your story and getting to know more about you and your company.
Patricia Miller 49:06
Thank you, Doris, for having me. I really appreciate it. And thank you for creating this platform for others to listen.
Doris Nagel 50:13
That’s very kind of you!
In the few minutes we have left today, let’s talk about market research. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that 42% of startups fail because there is no market need for their products or services. I’ve since had a couple of listeners comment that this is not surprising, since most startups don’t have the cash to do market research.
If you mean hire an expensive market research company, this maybe true. But there are usually ways to do at least SOME valuable market research on a budget, especially if you’re creative and persistent. Here are some suggestions to get your juices flowing!
- Use the internet to research your competitors. See how they position themselves, how long they’ve been in business, and where they market themselves.
- Use surveys – there’s survey monkey, and a paid version of Survey Monkey that’s actually not very expensive. Be careful that you’re actually surveying your customers. Some people will put surveys out on LinkedIn and social media sites, but do you know if YOUR future customers actually on there much or make their buying decisions there?
Also, I’ve had people tell me these don’t work – everyone is surveyed to death already! And yet, the lack of survey response can be telling right there. A colleague & I had an idea to create a whole training course on a topic, but we couldn’t get anyone to respond to our requests for feedback. We dropped the idea – if no one cared enough to give us feedback, we figured it would be mighty hard to sell.
If you do a survey or request feedback, consider making it fairly provocative. Maybe take a devil’s advocate position or make a controversial statement & see if that improves the response. People ARE surveyed to death, so you need to grab their interest!
- Make sure you’re asking the right questions. Don’t just ask: would you find my product/service interesting? the answer might be Yes! But make sure you ask: at what price? With what features/guarantees?
- Number 1 suggestion: chat up people.
Some suggestions here:
- Your existing network – really look at all those LinkedIn & Twitter connections – you may be surprised at the resources there
- trade association folks, or editors of trade publications. These people know lots about their industry and have their finger pretty firmly on the pulse of their industry.
- Call up or talk to potential customers. I recently helped a client with a new veterinary product with some market research, and spent several days just calling up vet clinics of different sizes and types, asking them about their purchasing & use decisions.
I’ve had some people tell me “I don’t time to do that!” Well, actually yes, you DO! What you DON’T have time for is dumping your whole life savings or the money given to you by friends & family & charging full-speed ahead with an idea that may not have any traction.
I’ve had people tell me that they don’t feel comfortable doing that – calling perfect strangers, and maybe getting hung up on. Well guess what – if that’s you, you may not be cut out to be an entrepreneur. Because you’re likely going to be spending a fair bit of time once you’re up & running doing just that!
Also, when you’re chatting up folks, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT try to sell them. I recently listen in on some conversations an entrepreneur had with potential customers for a new medical device. And it was clear he was trying to persuade them on the product. Naturally, they told him all sorts of positive things. What you want with all of these folks you’re chatting up is HONEST feedback. You won’t get that if you’re trying to sell. You might almost consider the opposite – ask them to poke holes in your idea & make sure you LISTEN – look to clarify, but don’t push back!
That’s it for this week — Thanks for listening, folks! And thanks again to my guest this week, Patricia Miller, the CEO of Matrix 4, who joined me this week to talk about how she’s turned around her grandfather’s struggling manufacturing business. .
You can find more helpful information & tools on my website, www.globalocityservices.com. And I’d love to hear from you—your comments, questions, or just to shoot the breeze – dnagel@lakesradio.org.
Be sure to join me again next week at 11 Central, noon easter.
But until then, I’m Doris Nagel, wishing you happy entrepreneuring!
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