Meet Matt Schwartz

Matt Schwartz is the founder of Inspry, an 8-person agency based in Atlanta, GA, that’s been delivering creative WordPress solutions since 2011.

From running lemonade stands as a kid to building his own SaaS platform, CheckView, Matt’s entrepreneurial spirit has always been front and center. Inspired by early advice from his dad and shaped by lessons learned along the way, Matt has honed his approach to focus on efficiency, niching down, and building a business that supports both his team and his clients.

In our chat, Matt shared his thoughts on the importance of working on your business (not just in it), how niching down has transformed Inspry, and why focusing on what inspires you is key to sustainable growth.

What got you into WordPress and how long have you been using it?

I began exploring WordPress in 2009 during my transition from static HTML site development to a more dynamic PHP-based CMS so that our clients could quickly make content edits. At the time, I was already working with Drupal on my university’s website but found its steep learning curve excessive for our needs. This led me to evaluate both WordPress and Joomla. Back then, WordPress lacked features like custom menus and felt very blog-like to me, so I chose Joomla, which also appealed since it had community-driven elections.

Although Joomla was my focus for several years, I kept an eye on WordPress. By 2011, as WordPress evolved into a robust CMS, I began using it for smaller projects and training others on its use. Early in 2012, I built my first WooCommerce-powered site and attended my first WordCamp in Atlanta. 

By 2016, we fully transitioned from Joomla to WordPress as our primary platform for all new site builds. This shift was driven not only by WordPress being faster to develop and manage but also by market demand. More clients and referrals specifically requested WordPress.

What motivated you to start your own business, and what keeps you going when things get tough?

From a young age, I was drawn to the idea of running my own business. I have vivid memories of wearing my dad’s work hat and swag, pretending to run my own business. Like many kids, I ran a lemonade stand and dabbled in small ventures like selling pogs (remember those?). By 2002, I had already created several basic websites for school clubs, but that year marked a milestone: I sold my first website. As a teenager, one of my friends was already running a successful business so I wanted to do something similar to help businesses bigger than just myself.  During college, I stayed focused on my studies, but I knew deep down that I wanted to start my own business after graduation. I took a job after school with the clear goal of staying for one year to gain experience while moonlighting on smaller projects. True to my plan, I left on my one-year anniversary. Looking back, it feels a bit cringy, but the company held no hard feelings and they became my first major client (and we still work with them today!). I remain deeply grateful for that first big break.

When things get tough, what keeps me going is remembering the impact our business has on our clients. Impostor syndrome is real, but I remind myself that it’s just that, a syndrome. The value I bring is real, and I have a responsibility to my team to continue.  One of my favorite things is knowing that I can help support my team.  We’ve built a talented group and I owe it to them to push forward.

I’ve also learned to embrace the natural ups and downs of entrepreneurship, much like life itself. Tough times don’t last forever and better days are always ahead. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I go for a run, it’s my reset button.  It works every single time.

What’s a hard lesson you learned running your business that’s changed the way you operate?

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is the value of creating a specific vision for my company and limiting our offerings accordingly.  For years, I focused on delivering excellent work, constantly learning, and finding solutions to nearly any problem clients threw my way. While this approach helped me gain a broad range of knowledge, it ultimately held me back from building a business that was both scalable and mentally sustainable long-term.

The turning point came around 2016 when I began seriously considering adding employees as the mental burnout of managing everything on my own was catching up with me. A few years later, I joined TAB and began taking courses with Kristina Romero.  These resources shifted my perspective and helped me adopt a process-driven approach to streamline our service offerings and stick to them. 

This is a bit off the wall, but a great example of sticking to your offerings is the restaurant, Raising Cane’s.  For over 20 years, the brand has remained focused on a very limited menu despite calls for more options, they offer chicken fingers, fries, Texas toast, and coleslaw and nothing else. This has made them the second most profitable restaurant chain per location, trailing only Chick-fil-A, another business known for its limited menu.

To me, this demonstrates the power of limiting offerings and honing in on a specific niche. By mastering a narrow set of offerings, businesses not only become more efficient but also position themselves as market leaders in their field because nobody has put as much time or marketing in their specific lane. Specialization leads to efficiency and the market tends to reward it. It’s something I aspire to fully embrace as I grow in my business.