Matt LeBris is a born-and-raised New Yorker, podcast host, branding agency founder, and former team member of Damon John from Shark Tank. After spending years working alongside one of the most recognizable entrepreneurs in the world, Matt launched his own podcast — Decoding Success — and his branding agency, 1B Branding. In this episode of the Encourage Mindset Podcast, Matt joins host Ethan Van De Hey for a wide-ranging conversation about what failure really teaches you, why the same life lessons keep showing up until you learn them, and the unexpected benefits of floating in a sensory deprivation tank.
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From Working with Damon John to Building His Own Brand
Matt LeBris opens the conversation with gratitude — a theme that runs throughout the entire episode — and then drops a background that immediately grabs your attention. He worked with Damon John of Shark Tank for numerous years before deciding to venture off on his own. That experience gave him a front-row seat to world-class entrepreneurship, but it also planted a seed: he wanted to build something that was entirely his. So he launched 1B Branding, his agency, and Decoding Success, his podcast where he interviews people about the principles behind their achievements.
Matt is quick to clarify that he is not positioning himself as someone who has it all figured out. He comes on the show, as he puts it, vulnerable and transparent. He calls himself a work in progress and says he still has a lot to learn. That honesty sets the tone for a conversation that feels real rather than performative — which is exactly what makes this episode stand out.
Why Life Keeps Teaching You the Same Lesson Until You Learn It
One of the most memorable moments in the episode comes when Matt shares his philosophy on failure. A lesson in your life will continuously pop up until you learn it, he tells Ethan. It might not show up the same way every time — the circumstances change, the people change, the context changes — but the core lesson keeps presenting itself until you finally internalize it. Matt has experienced this firsthand and says that recognizing the pattern is half the battle.
His method for processing failure is simple but disciplined: he writes it down. After an experience goes sideways, Matt journals about what happened, how he reacted, what he could have done better, and what the lesson was supposed to be. He acknowledges that it sounds basic, but says that the physical act of writing it out forces him to confront the situation honestly rather than letting it fade into the background where the same mistake can happen again.
Sensory Deprivation Tanks: Matt’s Secret for Clearing His Mind
When Ethan asks about how Matt disconnects and recharges, the answer is unexpected: float tanks. Matt is a devoted user of sensory deprivation tanks — the pitch-dark, soundproof, body-temperature saltwater pods that strip away every external stimulus. He explains that floating is his absolute best way of disconnecting because it pulls you completely out of real time. With no light, no sound, and nothing to smell except faint salt water, all you are left with is your own thoughts.
Matt says the experiences he has had while floating are unlike anything he gets from traditional meditation or apps like Calm. Memories from childhood come rushing back — he recalls a time in second grade when he stuck a crayon up his nose and his mom did not believe him until he blew it out. That kind of deep, random recall simply does not happen at a desk or during a guided meditation session, he says. For Matt, float tanks are where real mental clarity lives, and he recommends them to anyone looking for a way to truly unplug from the noise of daily life.
The Go-Giver and Why Reading Changed His Trajectory
Matt admits he is not the biggest reader, which makes his book recommendation all the more meaningful. The first book someone told him to read was The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann — a short book, about one hundred and ten pages, that he could not put down. He read it in roughly an hour and was immediately drawn into its message about giving value to others as the foundation for success.
Ethan connects with this recommendation and the two of them bond over the idea that the right book at the right time can shift your entire perspective. For Matt, The Go-Giver was that book — it reinforced the principles he was already learning from working alongside Damon John and gave him a framework for how he wanted to approach his own business and podcast.
Minimum Effort, Maximum Output: The Small Habit That Changed Everything
When Ethan asks about a habit that requires the least effort but makes the greatest difference, Matt goes in a direction nobody expects: gut health testing. He talks about a company called Viome that sends you a test kit, analyzes your gut biome, and then recommends supplements — prebiotics, probiotics, and multivitamins — based on the findings. The company suggests retesting every six months as your health improves and changes.
It is a perfect example of the episode’s broader theme: small changes, done consistently, can produce outsized results. Matt frames gut health as something that takes almost no effort — you do the test, you follow the recommendations — but the potential impact on energy, clarity, and overall health can be dramatic. He uses it as a practical illustration of the mindset he preaches: you do not need to overhaul your entire life to see real improvement. Sometimes the smallest adjustments are the ones that matter most.
How Decoding Success Was Born
Toward the end of the episode, Matt shares the origin story of his podcast. He never actually wanted to start one. At the time, he was working with Damon John and had no intention of launching his own show. But the idea grew naturally out of the conversations he was already having and the access he had to extraordinary people. He realized that those conversations — about how people decoded their own success — deserved a platform. So Decoding Success was born, and it became both a creative outlet and a way for Matt to continue learning from the people he admires while sharing those lessons with a broader audience.
Matt closes the episode the same way he opened it: with genuine gratitude. He thanks Ethan for the platform and encourages listeners to approach their own journeys with the same combination of vulnerability, curiosity, and willingness to fail forward that has defined his career so far.
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Related Episodes You Might Enjoy
If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these related episodes from the Encourage Mindset Podcast:
- Dennis Yu: Adversity Builds Champions
- Eric Smith: Building a Winning Mindset in Business
- Dave Gulas: Starting Strong Is Easy But Can You Survive The Fall?
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