How We Found Our Strength!
Hi, I’m Ryan Mathias, the owner, and creator of the Mathias Method and STRENGTH WORLD Brands.
I created these brands to help people from all over the world, no matter their fitness level, find and show their strength. I have always had the goal of changing the world, and I know I cannot do it alone, which is why I try to help as many people as I can to change their world through strength because we are all stronger together.
It has been a hard road to develop these brands, with many challenges, and I surely did not do it all on my own, so here is our story…
The Beginning
“I was less than a year away from graduating college with a Degree in Exercise Science…but I was unsure of what I wanted to do.”
The idea and goal of creating the Mathias Method began on December 25th, 2015 (Christmas Day). I was sitting at home thinking of what I wanted to do with my life. I had my Personal Training Certification, but after doing some training I found it did not fulfill me.
I was less than a year away from graduating college with a Degree in Exercise Science, and a Minor in Business, but I was unsure of what I wanted to do. My Financial Aid that paid for College was racked up to nearly $30,000 at this point. I wanted to find a way to invest $2,000 I had saved up, and turn it into a way to pay my loan.
“I had been searching for answers as to what I wanted to do in life for a while…”
I had just finished reading the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, a few months before (which taught me to save the $2,000 while still going to college) in an effort to learn more about how to be smart with my money. I looked at a few things to invest in, but none felt right. I had been searching for answers as to what I wanted to do in life for a while, and all I could think of was “Change the World”.
The Decision
“…if I’m going to invest in something it should be an investment in myself.”
That’s when I decided that if I’m going to invest in something it should be an investment in myself. I believe in myself more than anything else, so if it went anywhere, it should go towards helping me follow my dreams. At least then I knew I truly was in control of my future and what I could accomplish. I wanted, and still want to, change the world, but at the time I did not have a “how”.
“It was like an idea just dropped right in my lap and told me what I needed to do.”
How was I going to change the world that is changing on its own so rapidly?
I had already accomplished a lot at this stage of my life, as I was soon to earn my 3rd Degree Black Belt in Martial Arts, after over 13 years of consecutive training. Still, I had no plan of how I was going to utilize my knowledge and experience. I began doubting myself and was not sure that I had the strength to change the world.
I wanted to help others by sharing with them my knowledge of how to get stronger, and make a difference in their lives! Then it hit me!
The Great Idea
It was like an idea just dropped right in my lap and told me what I needed to do. Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do! What I was meant to do. I wanted to help others change their world in order to change the world. With that in mind, the plans for the Mathias Method were born! I quickly grabbed a note pad and started writing…
“I dove in head first as soon as the ideas popped into my head and have never turned back.”
I began by writing down all the different programs, that you see as Levels 1-8, which teach people how to get stronger from a beginner level, all the way through competitive strength sports.
That same day I also put together the Daily 30 Bodyweight Exercise Routine, which teaches people to commit to themselves every day, and always be moving forward towards their goals.
I have now done the Daily 30 every day since! I even did the first drawings of our Mathias Method Logo with all of its colors that same day, alongside the help of my family. I dove in head first as soon as the ideas popped into my head and have never turned back.
“All of the knowledge that I learned from my personal experiences enabled me to create the Mathias Method Strength System.”
I based everything off of the knowledge that Strength is the basis for all other fitness goals. We all have to develop a base of strength in order to improve more efficiently and effectively. All of the knowledge that I learned from my personal experiences (Read “My Strength Journey”), enabled me to create the Mathias Method Strength System which can be applied to any training regiment in order to optimize your results!
Hard Work
“I worked on developing and improving the Mathias Method every single day.”
From that day forward, I worked on developing and improving the Mathias Method every single day. I forced myself, no matter how late it was or how tired I was, to do at least 1 thing every day to build up the Brand. That made for many late nights, as I was still driving back and forth to college every weekday, and teaching Martial Arts many days a week as well.
I took the $2,000 and invested it towards paying for my new found Business, which quickly turned into a $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 investment of my normal income.
I would get up at 5:15 am every day, to leave by 6:00 am, drive 2 hours to school, drive back in the afternoon, then either drive 20 minutes to the gym to work out for 4 hours, or drive 30 minutes to my job of teaching martial arts and do that until 8 pm before driving back home for dinner.
I didn’t sleep much, but I was enjoying what I learned at school and creating the Mathias Method was fun, though tedious at times.
“It was finally becoming real.”
I was also in the midst of preparing for my first Powerlifting Meet during this time. It was scheduled for March 5th, 2016 in San Diego, CA. I flew in with my mom, aka my designated camera woman, after getting my first 2 t-shirts made in a rush order from a lady that worked out of her barn. They were dark and ugly with my logo on the front and said “MathiasMethod.com, Available March 16th, 2016” on the back.
As ugly as they were, I was excited to see my Brand in full color. It was finally becoming real.
I had a few people talk to me about it, but no one really knew what it meant. I wasn’t even sure what it meant. As I said, the idea was just put in my head and I just learned as it grew, never truly knowing where it was going to end up.
My first Powerlifting Meet went well overall. I weighed in 7lbs under what I expected and took 2nd in my division, plus I got some PRs.
MathiasMethod.com
“On March 16th, 2016 I made MathiasMethod.com available to the world.”
After my first meet, I did exactly what I said I was going to do… on March 16th, 2016 I made MathiasMethod.com available to the world. Though I still had many things to add, it had most of the content you see on the site today, starting with the Daily 30, available to start helping others grow stronger.
I continued to work on the site every day trying to put out the best information I could for FREE. I had learned so much during my experiences, but I also got a lot of FREE help along the way. Having the site be FREE, although nearly everyone advised me not too, was one of the main purposes of what I was trying to do.
I wanted the information about how to get stronger to be available to everyone at all times. I feel everyone should have access to learn how to free their internal strength to change their world, and so the site was, is, and always will be FREE.
Though we do have to make money somehow in order to grow, we provide way more FREE content than we sell here on this site!
The Next Steps
Building The Brand
“On July 7th, 2016 Mathias Method became an official Business.”
Over the next few months, I continued to add content and develop new ways of teaching people through social media platforms. The Brand was slowly building and on July 7th, 2016 Mathias Method became an official Business.
With this new business came new advancement. I began making apparel that I could sell to friends, family, and followers. It started with t-shirts and slowly grew to hats, sweatshirts, sweatpants, bumper stickers, and so on, as everything was sold by hand.
There was little money made, but I was getting the Brand out there so it was not a total loss, and I stayed optimistic, despite the struggles of a minimal profit business.
“I put all the “extra” time I had into building my Brand even more.”
Finally, in December 2016, I Graduated from CSU-Sacramento with a Degree in Exercise Science (Strength and Conditioning, Health and Fitness Concentrations). I put all the “extra” time I had into building my Brand even more.
The Strength Warriors
The first big step from there was creating a Strength Team, named The Strength Warriors. The point of the Strength Warrior Team was to create an awesome group of motivated individuals that wanted to help both themselves and others around them to get stronger, just like me. We all had the same goal of strength and wanted to share that with others by spreading our wisdom of The Mathias Method.
The first training session was on January 16th, 2017 where we had a little Deadlift Party with about 6 people who were interested. We started training 4 days per week together and making YouTube videos of our training which you can see today. We were on a roll and it was time to take another big step…
An Online Store
On March 16th, 2017, the one Year Anniversary of Publishing MathiasMethod.com, I created STRENGTH WORLD Online Store to sell my increasingly popular apparel. Everything was going great for about a month, but with new progress comes new challenges.
Major Setback
“We were told to shut down our store and destroy all products…I was back to nothing.”
About a month after opening the online store I received an email from a very large and well-known company in the fitness industry that believed we had copied one of their products, and we were told to shut down our store and destroy all products.
Being that I am just an individual with little knowledge, experience or money towards the situation, I was quite shocked and somewhat terrified from the situation. We did have an original design on our products that resembled one of theirs, but the difference was very easily distinguishable; as ours had our logo and brand name written on it, while theirs was written without any logos or distinguishing marks. We simply had the same common dictionary word written on our products as one of theirs.
None the less, I had no desire nor ability to fight them and we came to an agreement to where I was allowed to donate all of my products to charity. However, after months of no sales and losing all my products that I spent the last of my investable money on, I was back to nothing.
Defeat Drives Success
Yet through defeat, we find a new way to succeed, as I see every challenge as just another opportunity for greater success.
“I took a risk…knowing that I had to make things work this time, or I would lose everything for good.”
So I changed things up with the result being even better products than before!
I took a risk and put myself into the hole of credit card debt, knowing that I had to make things work this time, or I would lose everything for good. I did this without a backup plan, and I made sure that everything I got was better than before using my Brand logo as the staple.
Then some amazing things started happening…the products were selling even better than before! I was quickly able to come out of debt and start to build the business even better with every new product. Everything I get from sales goes right back into the business to continue the growth of our motivational brand line!
We were even able to start producing products for charity, which was a goal of ours from the start! We are far from perfect, but now we know that even when knocked down we can get back up, no matter the challenges that lie ahead!
Keep Moving Forward
“You can be successful as long as you keep moving forward.”
So no matter where you start, whether you are a broke college student that doesn’t know your true path yet, or you are making your way along and get knocked back to square one, know that you can make it. You can be successful as long as you keep moving forward.
Every day, just keep moving forward and don’t stop until you make it all happen. Now go out and Change Your World!!! And thank you for helping to change mine.
Strength to You,
Ryan J. Mathias
If you want to help support our Mission to Change the World please check out our store:
STRENGTH WORLD
