Matt Ebert was an average teenager from the Midwest when he wrecked his parent’s car, learned how to fix it, got hired to work in a garage, wrecked another car, fixed that one, opened up his own garage, and went on to launch Crash Champions, a national chain of auto-body repair shops in 38 states with over 650 locations currently worth $3 billion.
I met Matt last year in Atlanta, where I was speaking at the annual Skills USA competition. Matt was there to recruit the most promising competitors right off the competition floor and get them started with an AI-proof (for now, anyway) six-figure job. (He employs 11,000 and could easily hire hundreds more today.) He was not there to buy me and my crew dinner, but when he saw us in the hotel restaurant, he couldn’t help himself. He left before I could thank him, but I tracked him down the next day and expressed my gratitude.
“It’s the least I can do, Mike Rowe. I loved Dirty Jobs, and I appreciate what you’re doing to reinvigorate the skilled trades.”
He said some other nice things, but I was already sufficiently flattered and invited him to come on the podcast anytime. It took a year, (Matt’s busy building an empire,) but the schedules finally lined up, and we were able to sit down for a proper chat last month, which I think you’ll enjoy. It’s a great American success story, but it’s also further proof that opportunity is alive and well in these United States, and available to anyone with a modicum of ambition, a refusal to take no for an answer, and a relentless work ethic.
Our whole conversation is here. https://bit.ly/TWIHI480MattEbert
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