From grieving to goodwill, Matthew “Matt” Bond turned his personal journey with the senior moving industry and loss into a full-fledged senior moving management company to help others relieve some of the overlooked, impending stressors often attached to moving a loved one after he and his family faced the reality firsthand.
Q: What was the catalyst for becoming the founder & president of Sterling Life Solutions?
My father passed in 2020, and what it left me, my brother and my sister was a space where we’re grieving, and we must deal with all this stuff that they don’t write a book for or teach you about in school. You’re just left with it. It was frustrating; it was heartbreaking. I remember sitting on my father’s living room floor with my brother and sister, looking through documents and pictures, and I said, ‘There has to be a better way, right?’ Soon after that, a good friend of mine who works in the senior living industry said she was frustrated because their clients were moving into a community and they had nobody to do these things, and it was an ‘ah-ha’ moment.
Q: What ultimately sealed the deal to make this your next business venture?
Over the years, business opportunities were brought to me, but they just weren’t close to the heart. Something about this industry just fueled the fire within me. I started conducting market research. I started speaking with seniors that went through the process, and I realized we needed to create a company that eliminates all the stress from them, not bits and pieces, but that we could just come in and they would know that we would take it from there.
Q: How did you make your vision come to life?
I can’t say enough about the team members of Sterling and how much they believe in this as well. We built this not just for the seniors, but for their families, too. It really is a one-stop shop. When a senior or their family thinks about the next steps in their life or the transition, they can call us. We will have a plan, and we will execute the plan. We don’t subcontract out to anybody like most other senior move management companies. We do everything in-house. Our trained and vetted employees handle everything so they [our clients] can feel at ease knowing who’s in mom’s house.
Q: What do you do in your free time when you are not in business mode?
I have three children, twin sons and a daughter: Nathaniel, Andrew and Abigail. We love paddleboarding, auto racing, going to races together and spending time outside. I also have two Newfoundland dogs, Mathias and Orso, and I love spending time taking them on hikes and walks. My de-stressing point is definitely being out in Mother Nature.
Q: How can Berks County get involved with Sterling Life Solutions?
Having Berks County get behind the senior movement and come out to events we partake in or the seminars we put on for communities like The Highlands at Wyomissing is very close to my heart. We owe a lot to this generation. They are amazing people, and when you start to get close to this and peel the layers of the generation back, you see everything we as a community sometimes forget about. I would sooner sit down with an 80-year-old than someone my age. They have so much knowledge and enthusiasm, and I just enjoy them.
