Matt Gerlach ’05 started in sales within the metal distribution sector right after graduation from the UCR School of Business, and as he attained a number of other sales leadership positions at varying companies, he grew ever more successful.
After a decade working for other companies (including national sales manager positions at aden + anais, OXO, and Skip Hop), he founded in 2016 his own thriving consulting service, M.G. Sales, specializing in helping consumer packaged goods companies with marketing and revenue growth.
These endeavors earned him the considerable wealth he was pursuing, but not the happiness that continued to elude him. After intense therapy and personal examination, Gerlach changed direction both professionally and personally.
“I left the consulting business I grew—which was making $1 million a year—to start a coaching and mentorship business because I realized that business and life success are totally intertwined,” says Gerlach, who lives in Hancock Park, California.
Since June 2024, he’s worked to build his own lifestyle brand: At Home with Matt—for which he is founder, head chef, head curator, and head coach—and he has married personal and professional growth with his love for gathering like-minded individuals around the dining room table in his own home. He describes this new venture as “business, executive, and life coaching for high-achieving entrepreneurs and executives struggling with anxiety, burnout, and loneliness to create authentic personal and professional lives overflowing with abundance, alignment, and fulfillment they truly love while deeply connecting over upscale and homecooked meals.”
In January 2025, he also launched The Friday Brunch Club. “I host local purpose-driven entrepreneurs and business executives—for no charge—at my home with a breakfast that I prepare,” he says. The endeavor, he adds, is not about growing a business; it’s about growing as a person.
For about a year, he’s fine-tuned At Home with Matt and The Friday Brunch Club. “It doesn’t even feel like work,” he says. “I love, love, love cooking, and I love being at home now. It’s morphing into helping other high-achievers learn to be happy at home—with themselves and their lives. I’m truly creating a lifestyle business that I love while showing others how to do it and vulnerably sharing the ups and downs from this journey.”
Gerlach candidly talks about the trials and triumphs associated with this significant pivot with UCR Business:
Why is helping others improve their professional and personal lives important to you?
Because too many people feel stuck in lives they don’t actually want. Success isn’t just about making money—it’s about feeling good in your life. Money is important. I don’t know anyone who’s done better than me at valuing myself, finding clients that will pay for my services, and setting boundaries. I feel called to help people make a lot of money while not joining the “grind” culture. The grind works when you’re young, but eventually, we burn out. That’s why I’ve found my footing in helping high-performing folks—like I am!—who have proven they can do it but need help slowing down for the next chapter in life.
What are the benefits of The Friday Brunch Club gatherings?
The other day, someone asked me if it’s a “networking” event, and I quickly corrected them. No, this is not networking. We’re not trying to sell anything; this is a community aimed at becoming a better version of themselves. It’s not even about goal-achieving—sure, that’s part of it, but if you walked in this room and said your main priority was to grow your business from $10 million to $20 million in two years, this would not be the room for you.
It’s not that the folks at my table aren’t super successful. It’s that they are coming to my home because they want help with enjoying their lives and businesses more.
Everyone tells me I should be charging to attend The Friday Brunch Club, but it’s just something I don’t want to do. I guess I can’t promise that forever, but I can’t imagine the day when that will change—it’s been so incredible for me to meet new people all the time, and I just love it.
How are you approaching the development of your own lifestyle brand, At Home with Matt?
I see so many stories about brands that sell tangible assets to folks, but I have never seen a story about someone who is starting a lifestyle brand like am; so, I’m excited to talk about it.
I’m still building the brand, and I’m really comfortable sharing the process of starting this whole thing. I don’t know exactly where it’s heading, and it’s messy, and there are constant mistakes and learnings to be gleaned.
Overall, I see three pillars within At Home with Matt:
1. Food, cooking, health, wellness, and home, but told in a super attainable way. This isn’t about chia seed pudding and kale smoothies. It’s about how to create a home that feels as good as it looks while giving people tools to do so.
2. Personal and professional development, which incorporates all that I’ve learned with the $200,000-worth of therapy and coaching I’ve invested in. Rather than just achieving goals, I’m helping others learn what they need to do to build lives they love.
3. Something to do with family: My partner and I are on our surrogacy journey right now and expecting to be dads in about 11 months. I want to do something to help parents do the best they can. My own healing work was mainly around generational trauma and learning to break the cycles of that from generation to generation. As I’ve grown and brought what I’ve learned back to my family, I’ve helped them grow.
What drove the pivot to your new career?
I had hit every traditional marker of success and still felt empty. I realized I was chasing money and validation instead of living a life that actually felt good. I wanted more meaning, more alignment, more time to enjoy life.
When I started the consulting business, I suffered greatly from anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, and it all led me down a path to where I had to address its root cause and realized that below it all were scars from my childhood that I’d never addressed.
After healing, my anxiety went away; my depression stopped; and I started making more money—$1 million—in less time—15 hours a week. It’s led me to want to help others meet their maximum potential and prioritize what’s most important to them.
The best part? By watching people finally give themselves permission to slow down, heal, and do what actually makes them happy, I’m more and more permitting myself to do the same, and my life gets better and better by the day.
What are some of the ways you have helped or guided others?
I’ve helped clients leave jobs to start their own businesses and make a lot of money while doing so and having totally free lives. I’ve also supported multiple leaders of companies scale to eight-, nine-, and even 10-digit figures—some of which are on the Fortune 500 and Inc. 5000 lists.
Through hosting The Friday Brunch Club and other one-on-one sessions, I lead folks through deep transformations, where they, for the first time, engage in conversations about what they really want for their lives. It’s just beautiful to see someone decide they’re going to take control and not accept that they have to stay in a miserable personal or professional life waiting for retirement.
What is your advice for people in varying stages of their careers?
For college students: Learn all you can, but don’t just chase a paycheck. Figure out what lights you up. I wish I would have invested more time and space in getting to know myself when I was in college. Nothing’s a waste, so I accept my journey, but if I’d have spent time traveling or in nature or even doing yoga and meditation when my bills were tiny, it would have been a lot easier.
For people five years into their careers: If you feel stuck, pivot early. Build strong boundaries now—you’ll thank yourself later. Take that break at five years if you need it—better late than never to figure out what you want. Save as much money as you can; your future self will be glad you did!
Mid-career: Don’t waste the second half of your career on something that drains you. You get to redefine success. You likely have more options, and while it might be a less glamorous life when you make a change, it will be worth it. And who’s to say it won’t be glamorous again soon? I’ve changed my career more than five times, and every time, I’ve made more money with more freedom in the matter of a few short months.
Looking back to your own time as a student, what did you gain from your UCR business education?
The biggest thing I took away was learning how to make money, and with sales, I could be in charge of my own destiny. UCR also helped me careerwise because I learned about different disciplines, and if I had learned just one, I would not have been set up as well for entrepreneurship.
What do you do to balance your life?
I make sure my work services my life, not the other way around. I love cooking and hosting intimate gatherings, bringing friends together over beautiful meals and meaningful conversations. I spend a lot of time at farmers markets, experimenting with new recipes, and creating an inviting space for connections.
I also prioritize growth—reading, writing, and reflecting on ways to live more intentionally. I’m big on exercise—yoga, weightlifting, hiking, and running. I think about it as movement for my mental health and have learned to really love being active.