Building Bridges: How to Make Powerful Business Connections With Matt "Handshaking" Holmes [Ep. 81]

In the world of business, it's all about who you know. But how do you connect with influential entrepreneurs and mentors when you're just starting out? Matt Holmes made it his mission to find the answer to this question, shaking hands with venture capitalists, members of congress, and billionaires, in an effort to learn how to create powerful business relationships.  Using the knowledge he gained from this experience, Matt went on to create handshaking.com, a service that helped entrepreneurs connect with movers and shakers within their industry. Matt then pivoted the business into building and selling lead generation websites in an effort to help business owners make connections on a grander scale. In this episode, Matt joins us to share the secret sauce to forming long-lasting professional relationships, and how entrepreneurs should approach networking and building their personal brands. Matt also reveals valuable insights into the lead generation websites that he has created and gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the site he recently sold on the Empire Flippers marketplace. According to Matt, "Each lead generation website needs to have a true brand. It needs a logo, it needs the same business name, and it needs proper social media everywhere, just like a real business would. It needs to be a complete brand." As the world record holder for the longest handshake, Matt is bursting with knowledge on how to network like a pro, so listen in to learn how to form long-lasting professional relationships that will elevate your business! Topics Discussed in this episode: Matt's entrepreneurial journey so far and the evolution of handshaking.com (03:00) The different chapters of networking that entrepreneurs need to work through (09:03) The secret to forming long-lasting professional relationships (11:05)  How Matt developed his own personal brand (12:37) How to make contact with the people you want to network with(15:32) Why Matt transitioned away from consulting into building lead generation sites (20:07) The framework Matt used to build his first lead generation website  (22:09) Matt's experience selling his website through Empire Flippers (24:27) A behind-the-scenes look at how Matt's website has performed since the sale (26:40) Why investing in websites beats investing in real estate (31:28) Mentions: Empire Flippers Podcast Empire Flippers Marketplace Handshaking.com Boomerang Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to make professional connections that will take your business to the next level!