By Brooke Vincent intern@wylienews.com Flipping over a page of scratch paper, Matt Mor- ton, owner of the Jimmy John’s located off of FM 544, sketches out a couple of randomly placed dots. “Have you ever heard the Steve Job’s speech?” Mor- ton said. “It was a great speech he gave at a commence- ment ceremony I think at Stanford. He said that there’s a lot of stuff in life that he didn’t know would help him later. He was making dots. He said that all of these ac- tivities and jobs we do create points along the way. He never knew he would be able to connect them going backwards, but if you don’t make them going forwards, you would never be able to build and learn from them.” Only at the age of 25, Morton has achieved in connect- ing his own twisting line of dots. He created his plan and followed with timed execution, which led him to his suc- cess in opening his own business, a dream he has held close since childhood. “I have always had a passion for working and making my own money,” Morton said. “I never really asked my parents for money. I liked to just have it on my own. When I was 14, I was a referee for soccer in McKinney. When I got a little older I became a lifeguard. Working to get better and acquire new skills has always been important to me.” Morton was in the first class to go to McKinney Boyd High School. His class of students transferred in as juniors and built their school from the ground up. Boyd was where Morton truly began to create his dots. Anything from start- ing up blood drives, to organizing dances to playing on the football team, Morton was involved in every way. “Whenever we went from McKinney High to Boyd, we really had nothing,” Morton said. “We had no danc- es, no money in the accounts, we really had nothing. At McKinney High I was just one of the mix, but when I got to Boyd I started being involved in student council. I wanted to see my actions make a difference. I started a lot of clubs, but my grades suffered a little from my participation in various things. They were just average, but the extracurricular activities are really what got me in to Texas A&M.” After graduating from high school, Morton attended Texas A&M University in College Station to major in Business Administration Management. “I’ll tell you I always knew that I wanted to start my own business,” Morton said. “I never knew what I wanted it to be. When I was a kid I did lemonade stands. I did my own yard businesses. I just wanted to start something. I chose business because I really thought I would be able to learn more about what I need to do in the future. A lot of people want to start their own business and be their own boss, but they don’t think that it’s really possible.” One prominent dot Morton scrawled out was when he came across a flyer for Koofers.com. Koofers is a website where students can rate professors, share notes, create flash cards, practice exams and look for internships and jobs. “I never liked working for others too much, not in a rude way, but I like making my own decisions,” Morton said. “I became a campus representative and marketer at Col- lege Station for Koofers. I hung up door hangers, talked to people about the website and put up flyers in classrooms.” Morton learned essential entrepreneurial steps to take when growing a business while working with the company. “Matt was one of the best campus representatives out of 150 plus people I have ever hired and was a pleasure to work with,” Co-founder of Koofers Michael Rihani said. “During my initial phone interview with Matt, I could tell he was going to be one of our impressive, standout cam- pus reps. He completed all tasks thoroughly and on time. Above other employee reps, Matt was always coming up with new and exciting ideas that would ultimately help im- prove the nationwide program as a whole.” After the school year ended, Morton headed home to con- tinue his job as a lifeguard. Morton not only had the job since age 16, but was inspired to continue by a family tragedy. “One of the reasons I always lifeguarded is because when I was 18 my cousin drowned at the age of four,” Mor- ton said. “A lot of good programs and things have devel- oped from the tragedy such as Collin’s Hope, but I always wanted to continue as a life guard. So I began my job as a lifeguard with a community pool when I came home. Af- ter one summer I climbed the ranks and became a regional manager for four pools after the next school year.” Morton says so far he has had two epiphany moments, and one happened while at the pool. It began when an employee of Morton’s locked her keys in her car. “[The locksmith] was supposed to be there in about 20 minutes, but an hour and fifteen minutes later he showed up and it was not a very pleasant guy,” Morton said. “Then he charged $80. I watched him do it and I was like ‘Wow I could do that. It wouldn’t cost me any money at all. I could set up a website, hand out some cards like what I did with Koofers.’ Then I connected those dots. I looked online and saw the kit was $60 on Amazon.” Aggieland Auto Unlock was soon underway. Morton handed out cards, claimed a spot on a flyer from the book - store and was in business the coming school year. “I learned about customer service,” Morton said. “Because what happens when you get called at 2:30 in the morning and you’re at the library studying or you’re sleeping. It’s your business at stake and your reputation.” While weaving his way through classes, balancing grades and maintaining his growing business, Morton was able to establish a large program still run by students, the Texas A&M Entrepreneurship Society. He also volun- teered with One Army: Texas Aggie Men United, Colin’s Hope, Still Creek Fundraising Events, One Army Gladi- ators and others philanthropic organizations. Finally, in May of 2012 Morton graduated and headed out into the workforce. “I was getting out of college and I wanted to start my own business, but I didn’t have the money to start,” Morton said. “I went and interviewed with a ton of companies after I sold my unlock business and moved back to Dallas.” Landing a job with Sewell Automotive, Morton be- came a car salesman, an unusual dot leading to his own business. “I have a college degree to go do car sales,” Morton said. “This one guy was like ‘Oh your parents must be so proud of you,’ you know sarcastically, but honestly I learned more about business there than I have anywhere else. You have to learn how to work with people of all ages. You have to treat the customers in all the same way.” Sewell had previously given a speech at A&M in a num- ber of classes about customer service and their 100 years in business, which left a positive impression with Morton. The “Customer for Life” philosophy was planted in Morton’s mind during one of these speeches and it stuck. “Sewell was completely based all on the customers for life. They under promise and then over deliver so that the customer is blown away. For example, if you want your car worked on at Sewell all you have to do is call them. They’ll come over pick your car up and bring it back when it’s done,” Morton said. After time spent with Sewell, Morton developed a well-rounded sense of customer service and what it meant to establish a business that is not only success- ful, but also esteemed by customers. He decided it was time to leave the car salesman role, and finally realize the dream of owning his own business. “I made some money there and saved it all. I just wanted something new. I wanted to start a business,” Morton said. “I remembered, I was given a sandwich by a Jimmy John’s sampler walking out of the library after one of my entrepreneurial meetings. Their community involvement was appealing to me. Years later I have one of my own.” Creating a feasibility study, interviewing with Jimmy John’s and continuing to reflect on his messy swirl of dots, everything clicked for Morton when he was ap- proved to open his own store. “Choosing to go into business with Jimmy John’s was my second big epiphany in life,” Morton said. “When I saw the numbers and saw how it worked, I wanted to throw everything on the line for this. I am religious, and I would say that a lot of this is meant to be.” With his own business, Morton has instilled every philosophy he has learned and made some of his own. He takes pride in measuring everything, helping custom- ers to crack a smile and providing his managers and em- ployees with their own dots. “I want to have some sort of positive influence on my customers day. That’s just my life and my business,” Morton said. “I want people to walk out the door feel- ing good. Hopefully we’ve helped their day a little bit. Customers for life are everything. The customer for life is a lot more valuable than a one-time customer, but you have to earn it.” For the future, Morton just wants to go with where life takes him. He hopes to open up more stores and support a family or even move up in the Jimmy John’s corporate world. “I’m blessed, but anyone could do what I’m doing,” Morton said. “You just have to want it and if you want it, you can do it. So when I have a happy family and live a good life, I just want to have a successful business and provide a future for my managers and employees.” Connect the dots Young entrepreneur Matt Morton builds on his life experiences to open his own business Brooke Vincent/C&S Media Texas Owner Matt Morton mans the reg- ister with general manager Josh Ja- worski during the lunch rush. Reprinted from Wednesday, September 2, 2015 Edition • C&S Media Publications THE WYLIE NEWS