Unstoppable: How Matthew Gagne of Flock Goods Has Redefined Success While Navigating Society With Spinal Injury
It can be uncomfortable engaging with people with physical limitations, but you should do so anyway because a simple interaction can really make someone’s day just by helping them feel normal if even only for a moment.
As a part of our “Unstoppable” series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Matthew Gagne Founder & CEO of Flock Goods.
A seasoned professional with over ten years of success in marketing and in driving various types of business, I have recently decided to develop my own Brand. The brand, known as Flock Goods, offers a wide variety of high-quality nutraceuticals to the consumer market. Given my experience in the world of marketing and direct sales, I am eager to bring my skills, expertise, and exceptional products into this 37-billion dollar industry.
Beginning my career at the age of eighteen, I have excelled in both the b to c and b to b marketing industries. I gained experience in Direct Sales Marketing as an Account Executive with Entercom Boston -a division of Clear Channel, which at the time was the Nation’s third largest communications company. As a licensed realtor and property investor, I purchased my first of two rental properties in 2010. I am still in possession of the properties, which are rented year-round.
In 2012, I became a full-time skydiving instructor and training officer for the UAE Government. I maintained this role for over three years before sustaining a severe spinal injury. For personal rehabilitation, I turned to the nutraceutical industry. My extensive knowledge of this industry is a result of research, personal inquiry, and a substantial professional network within the industry. Equipped with this knowledge and my business management experience, I am prepared to generate tremendous growth for Flock Goods.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! It is really an honor. Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I started off as an indoor skydiving instructor back in 2007 and that job changed my life trajectory forever. It was the first place and time in my life that I was exposed to skydivers. These were and are people that live life on their terms. Had fears, but faced them anyway. They chased their dreams and had passports full of stamps to prove it. These are the people that would eventually inspire me to take charge in my own life and be tenacious in my actions. Because of these influences I was encouraged to leave my home town- every one and everything I’ve ever known in order to seek adventure and live life to the fullest.
I realized that on the other side of fear is paradise and I wanted to live in paradise. Once I left home I traveled all over the US and then the globe but in 2014 just days before joining a fully sponsored skydiving team I became a spinal cord injury survivor due to a car accident as a passenger. That day would be the beginning of my next transformation in life.
Do you feel comfortable sharing with us the story surrounding how you became disabled or became ill? What mental shift did you make to not let that “stop you”?
July 23, 2014 I became a spinal cord injury survivor. My neck was broken in 10 places. I was internally decapitated at the c5/ c6 level and my dreams were effectively stolen from me by the actions of another human being. When I woke up from surgery I made a very conscious decision and that was to accept, forgive, and to move forward, in order to use my trauma as a learning experience and a catalyst for personal growth. The car accident wasn’t my fault put my future was my responsibility. In my mind it was either become a victim or be a warrior.
Can you tell our readers about the accomplishments you have been able to make despite your disability or illness ?
A year and a half after my spinal cord injury and despite all advice and warnings from surgeons and medical doctors I made my return back to skydiving. It wasn’t easy, in fact it was the most difficult and scariest thing I’d ever done in my life, but it was about having a goal. And dangling that goal like a philosophical carrot for me to get back to my sport was the motivation I needed to attack all dimensions of physical therapy and personal development that I could influence within myself to enhance my rehabilitation.
We are all constantly evolving. After getting back to my sport and working as an instructor my physical limitations eventually caught up to me and I was forced to again put away the sport that I loved so much.
I haven’t given up the sport fully but I no longer earn a living as a skydiving instructor. In 2018 I launched my own lifestyle enhancement brand based around nutraceuticals, specializing in CBD.
The name of my company is Flock Goods. By definition Flock means community and movement and those are elements of the skydiving world I’ve now taken to the supplement industry. It’s taken several years but now my company is in a place where it is turning a profit and more importantly affecting positive change in the lives of many.
What advice would you give to other people who have disabilities or limitations?
Fuel your passions, fuel your ideas, and you’ll transform your world. It’s that simple. You don’t have to know all the answers you just have to be truthful with yourself and others in your process and you will find your way. Consistency plus action overtime equals results. Stop procrastinating and face your fears!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?
One thing that I’ve learned along the hard way is that no one can help you except for you. Like Jaco Wilkins says it’s about taking extreme ownership.
My company is based around community but it’s the individual pursuit of each of our community members that makes us strong as Flock! When I was in the hospital I had to take extreme ownership in order to withstand the magnitude of the trauma that had hit me, but without the community of friends and family that supported me when I needed them the most I don’t know if I would’ve had the internal strength on my own to put in the hard work daily. That’s why I based my company around community. I know wholeheartedly that when life hits you hard enough you may need a helping hand to get back up,I but it’s up to you to stay up!
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
In addition to events and community outreach Flock Goods donates a portion of proceeds from every sale directly to spinal cord injury survivors so they can be powered by flock, on us.
Can you share “5 things I wish people understood or knew about people with physical limitations” and why.
- We are no different than you! Even those of us that look different, move different, or even act different are all human. We all have the same feelings, emotions, and the capacity to love or do harm.
- Pain is the best teacher so many individuals with physical limitations grow wiser because of it.
- Physical limitations aren’t always obvious. Just because someone can hold the weight doesn’t mean that it’s not heavy.
- Rehabilitation and physical therapy is a lifelong process not a program with a scheduled end date.
- It can be uncomfortable engaging with people with physical limitations, but you should do so anyway because a simple interaction can really make someone’s day just by helping them feel normal if even only for a moment.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”?
‘Fault as in the past responsibility is in the future’
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this 🙂
If I can have a private breakfast or lunch with one individual reading this column I would definitely have to pick Gary Vaynerchuk. I believe that man is hugely inspirational and perpetuates a positive impact on the lives of so many. His energy is infectious and his love of entrepreneurship is extremely respectable. His approach to bringing empathy, responsibility and self-awareness to business is something that I hope has a trickle effect on his peers and mine.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Unstoppable: How Matthew Gagne of Flock Goods Has Redefined Success While Navigating Society With… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.