Is it Really About Who you Know? 

​You've probably heard the phrase "It's about who you know" when it comes to looking for new opportunities. Though there is truth to that, today this isn't fully the case. This is because social media and professional networking sites like LinkedIn have helped bring strangers together and sometimes allowed them to cultivate new business relationships. This is where personal branding comes into play though because if you don't have a brand, most people will pass you by.

It's about who you're socially connected with, not just who you know.

Personal branding helps people who don't know you get a better impression of you. When personal branding is done right, new audiences will associate you with messages that you communicate to them.

​Messages such as marketing expert, technological visionary, or even comedic social commentator can be gained by purposeful personal branding. And this is important to invest your time into because most people won't spend their personal time researching your entire background. 

The Popularity of Personal Websites

Today's workforce is evolving quickly and leaving many people behind. When the recession gripped the country millions of people lost their jobs and not all have climbed back from that event. Those that did were the best in class and needed to take extraordinary measures to have their resumes stand out against the rest.

The most advanced job candidates didn't just rely on resumes though. Instead, they used modern technology to supplement their professional profiles and one of the most effective ways they did so was by creating personal websites.

A major reason why personal websites saw a great rise is because the software needed to create one advanced tremendously. No longer do you need to know how to code or be proficient in HTML to launch a website.

Drag an Drop website builders allow users to create bold websites that stand out and are very easy to update and manage. The cost of having your own site have also become much more affordable than in years past.

The Benefits of a Personal Website

When you have a personal website, it says to others that you are a creative individual and are technologically advanced. Often times professional resumes and networking sites don't always allow users to show their creativity.  Having a personal website though gives you an opportunity to separate
yourself from the rest of the pack.

A personal website shows you're serious about what you do since it's independent and separate from your job, and that you're not just interested in a job for the salary.  

Plus, 56% of hiring managers think a personal website is the most impressive branding tool. And since only 7% of job seekers have them, by launching a personal brand site, it really could be the most effective way to land your next job. More people are learning this though so the time to create your site is now before more and more people develop their own. 

Personal websites also give you control to promote whatever message you want to spread about yourself. Job applications don't really give you this luxury since they are standardized forms that all look the same.  
Branding sites also give you a chance to write blog posts where you can comment on topical issues. This is important because if you do have a site, you should want it to seem topical and relevant, not static and lifeless. 

Our clients enjoy interviewing industry experts on their blogs, learn more about that here.

We Can Help

At Handshaking, we specialize in branding through a comprehensive suite of services. Targeted growth on LinkedIn, Instagram growth, and monthly blog posts are the main services we provide to our clients in addition to personal branded websites. 

​If you would like to learn more about having your own website, or our other personal branding offerings, don't hesitate to contact us today. We also provide regular tips and resources through our video series and podcasts so even if you are not ready to commit to personal branding, we encourage you to visit our site and learn more for yourself on why branding is critical in tomorrow's workforce.

About 90% of them were obsolete because we had already dealt with the issue.  Another 5% were low priority for me and ignored--I couldn’t write down anything while driving. (And honestly, who wants to write anything down. Just text me a number I can click to call, or send an email or text where it's already written down!) The remaining 5% I would have liked to have gotten to sooner, but, months later it was certainly too late.

So, what’s the next logical step after dealing with unhelpful cries left by voice to a number that ignored them for so long?  

Cut out the bullshit.  I instantly made the decision to update my personal and business line voicemail message to say the following:

“Hi, you’ve reached Matt Holmes, Founder of the Handshaking.com.  I don’t check voicemails, so please shoot me a text message or email me at matt@handshaking.com (and spelled it out). 

Before I tell you what will happen moving forward, you should know about two tools I already had working to my advantage.

1. My personal voicemail box had been full for a while.  It’s unprofessional.  Don’t do that.  However, one perk of that was that people would email me saying “Your VM was full, but I was just calling about XXXX.”  This still accomplished my goal of obtaining information in the most convenient and efficient way for me.
   Update in 2023:  People no longer email.  There are simply companies that have outdated processes and they DON'T email and it's a big savior of time for all of us.  
   
   
2. My business line is actually just a Google Voice phone number--therefore it texted me automated transcriptions. I could usually get the picture of what the message was about.  So I wasn’t 100% out of the loop with voicemail like I plan to be in 2016.
   Update in 2023:  I now rely on google voice more than my US number that is still tied to a SIM due to extensive travel. Due to traveling for the last 6 years and even picking mulitple destinations to live in for the last 3+ years, I have realized data is the one thing that ties us all together.  Phone numbers are a thing of a country, so once you start to switch that up, things can get complicated, but data and internet are sure ways to connect long term with people who gain enough wealth to visit various places outside of their home country for longer than a quick trip. So, yea, google voice is data based and an app that can stay on my primary phone. Meanwhile, my US number that 'doesnt accept voicemail' is now on like an iphone7 or super old phone that I try to check once a week, but it's probably less.  Real online businesses and owners who I do business with, and of course, my staff, can reach me in dozens of ways via data, instead of SMS or Voice.  That is soooo outdated!! 
   ​

I wish I would have abandoned voicemail sooner!


These two things had helped, but weren't enough and didn't come across to the level of professionalism I hold myself accountable to today.  

As my business grows I realize more and more that time and network are the most valuable resources. I do not want phone calls or voicemails that can be answered in literally 2 seconds via text message or email. Get straight to the point when you communicate with me, please. I'm sure a number of you out there feel the same way!

I'm working towards being a better communicator with everyone I interact with professionally and personally by setting expectations up front, even if it’s not traditional.  I encourage you to do the same so your friends, for example, don't text you when you never check your texts.  Get crazy!

Oh, I'm also big on Twitter & Quora. So get at me there.  Youtube is where i'm super active, now in 2023, too. 

First, here's an example we created for our lead generation site: Denver Concrete Contractors who specialize in Staining and Stamped Concrete.

2. Running online advertising campaigns: You can use platforms such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads to target potential customers and drive them to your website.

3. Offering valuable content: Providing valuable information such as e-books, guides, or webinars can help attract potential customers to your website.

4. Implementing lead magnets: Lead magnets, such as free trials or consultations, can help attract potential customers to your website and increase the chances of them making a phone call.

5. Creating strong call-to-action: Make sure your website has clear, compelling calls-to-action that encourage visitors to make a phone call.

6. Leveraging your existing customer base: Encourage your current customers to refer friends and family to your website, by providing them incentives.

7. Leveraging offline marketing: Promote your website and phone number through traditional marketing channels like billboards, flyers, brochures, etc.

​
Get more qualified leads today. Get in touch with us and learn how to grow your sales, close more deals and increase revenue.

1. The barriers to entry are low. 

In order to get started with rental properties, you generally need a fair amount of capital. You also need to be prepared for a lengthy and complicated approval process from the bank.

That's not the case with lead gen sites. You can get started with just a few hundred dollars, and there's no approvals or loans necessary. Just buy a domain, build out your site, and start ranking in Google!  Well, you might need to get 'approved' as a verified business on Google, but that's a lot easier than getting 'approved' from a bank. 

2. The ROI can be massive. 

With rental properties, you're looking at a solid 8-15% ROI on average. But with lead gen sites, you're looking at the potential to make 3-5X that! We've seen clients make over $100,000/year from sites that they've invested less than $2,000 into. Typically, you can buy a currently profitable lead gen site, and if you don't mess it up, you can make your money back within 2 years.  

That's unheard of in real estate.  See how a buyer of a lead generation websites made a 70% ROI in their first 12 months of owning it. 

3. They're much easier to scale. 

This is one big reason that pushed me to building lead gen sites, and to stop pursing the acquisition of more real estate.

Once you have a lead gen site that's making money, it's relatively easy to replicate that success by building out more sites in similar niches or locations. It's much harder to do that with rental properties. 

4. You don't have to deal with tenants and contractors! 

This one is pretty self explanatory; with lead gen sites, you never have to worry about late night calls from angry tenants or having to fix broken toilets! All you need to do is focus on ranking your site and collecting your checks each month :)

Well, I guess the 'tenants' would be the service providers that pay you for the leads, but there's no hot water heater that goes out during winter.  Worst case scenario is you see a drop in leads and you can't collect payments as fast from your website renter.



Conclusion: 

If you're looking for a new investment opportunity that has the potential to earn high returns without the hassle of traditional investments like rental properties, then "rank and rent" websites may be exactly what you're looking for. With their low barrier to entry and massive earning potential, these types of websites are quickly becoming the new hot investment for savvy online investors.

So, what are you waiting for? Get started by buying one today that is already generating leads. 

Or, if you wanted to see our previous real estate venture, visit Holmes Real Estate Group.  Want to see one of our lead generation websites?  Check out Denver Concrete Contractors, or San Antonio Window Tint. 

​

Within two months, we found two gals from Michigan who moved into the basement, and that almost eliminating expense the house caused me.  

The next month the house appreciated about $5,000 and I realized, "Wow, this just appreciated equivalent to what some of my friends were making working full-time."  Without having to pay rent, I HAD to get more houses!

Eventually, I went back to school for an MBA, borrowed $100,000, and started full-time (no salary) on my real estate company in 2012 after graduating.  I couldn't pay myself more than a few hundred per month for 12 months, but I had the faith to keep going (maxing out almost $85,000 on credit cards) because I had acquired a second property, and that one, too, was appreciating $4,000-8,000 per month.  

Now I realize not all of you are ready to buy your first house, and I have great news for you. 

Here are some recommended strategies to get into residential real estate in order from Novice to Expert:


Consider your options
1. Look at your current living situation and simply ask yourself the following questions.  No action required.

-If you were to tidy the place up, and rent it on Airbnb, google how much do they estimate you'd make?

-Look at zillow and start learning how fast your house is appreciating each month.  Do this by creating an account, saving your house, and making sure you have a checkmark to receive monthly updates.

-Consider how much time it may take to message back and forth with prospective guests as well as clean up after them or ensure the person you're paying cleans up neatly after them. 


Become an aspiring landlord
​2. Lease a 2 bedroom apartment, and register as an airbnb host.  


Purchase your first buy-and-hold
3.  Purchase a inexpensive condo or townhome (under $250,000) that you find using Zillow and make a financial goal of what type of cash flow you want to make in the next 12 and 60 months.  

-Your big expenses will likely be the mortgage (principle, interest, homeowners insurance, and property tax), utilities, average cost or repairs, and water.  There will likely be other small expenses, like if you choose to include wifi for your tenants. Research Craigslist and Airbnb and other similar sites to get an idea for what it would rent for.

-Make sure you research historical appreciation and are familiar with what you hope it to appreciate at each year.

-Sunpan.com/usa is where you can find additional end tables from contemporary to modern styles that are brought to life using quality materials within your budget.

-Research the Homeowner's Association (HOA) carefully, many HOAs might ruin your investment if they're run poorly.  Yes, look at their financials and meet the people in charge while you're under contract.


Fix and Flip a single family home
4.  Use Zillow to search for and find a single family home that you can add 1 or 2 bedrooms to.  Bonus if you can also add a bathroom.  
For financing, you can get a traditional loan if you qualify, but many real estate investors with many properties might search for "Hard Money Lender" to close on the house quickly.  

​Airbnb hosts:  If you're already making airbnb income, Check out a company like Clearbanc in order to get a great loan to expand your business--no credit check, and totally reasonable fees, you qualify based off of past airbnb income and future plans with the funds.  I've been a customer for coming up on a year.

-Create a budget. Get bids on the work (take lots of pics since contractors can't come by).

-Make a offer.  Don't be afraid to lowball. Negotiate with other things besides price like how fast you can close, promise to be easy on inspection, tell them you can buy with cash or a cash equivalent instead of relying on a traditional bank

-Before closing, confirm budget, and reconfirm all of your numbers, what you think it could sell for after and what you think it could rent for if you hold it.

-Bonus:  Add bedrooms.  Especially if you're trying to rent it out.  On two different occasions, I've spent less than $800 to create an additional bedroom on a property to then turn around and rent that room for more than $800/mo.  Enough said. 

So much more potential in this industry that we examined in Part 1 of Assets and Entrepreneurship in the auto industry.

Or, check out Online Assets and Entrepreneurship, Part 3.

If you'd like to see videos of my most recent single family home flip, check out my YouTube Playlist documenting the journey.

Thank you Handshaking.com​ team, you guys are simply amazing, especially everything you've learned from all of your diverse, incredible past experience paired with our own culture we've built together. I'd have no idea how to do this without you.

Shout out to the SEO team for coordinating this domain name change and shout out to the sales team for producing enough in sales to afford us a one word .com!

Not much is different on our website, just the land that it stands on, but feel free to visit us on handshaking.com.  I'm so thankful we bought the domain before Covid started, since it likely would have cost more now.  If you're not sure where to start with your branding and domain names, then read this post I wrote. 

Why did we make a change?  Now our sales team can share their email  "john at handshaking dot com" instead of john at handshakin dot com but without the g, let me spell that for you, h-a-n-d-s-h-a-k-i-n dot com. Got it?"  

Want to know the whole story? Read it on Medium or on Smart Branding here.

Any verbal communication, memory of a word you saw on a sticker, and online credibility has drastically improved.  And yes, it was worth the price of the domain, especially since we bought it ~2 years ago and only now could make the change. 

, and will still feature the same Handshaking Video Series (previously Handshakin Video Series), Local SEO Blogs, Lucrative Passive Income Assets and more that you've all come to know and love.

What is Handshaking?

The concept of Handshaking was born in 2014 when Founder, Matt Holmes, was called 'Handshakin Holmes' when caught shaking hands in photos with famous people.  This started with many politicians during a 6 month contract he had doing Special Projects on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC. Matt was not only was an enthusiastic networker, but  set out on a mission to learn how networking played into the success of world leaders. 

That's what where the conception of Handshaking was born.  We asked the top entrepreneurs and billionaires and political leaders, what's the best networking and relationship building strategy?

​It's about paying it forward.  Provide value instantly without hesitation, and strategize who you spend your time both professionally and personally based off your professional goals.

Today, Handshaking connects customers to local service providers for a quote. Have you ever struggled to get a quote to repair your driveway? Check out Alamo Concrete work, if you're in San Antonio, TX -- that is one of our 100s of websites that earns income by forwarding the phone calls directly to a contractor that pays us. 




Today, we change our domain from Handshakin.com to Handshaking.com

The domain change is more than just a move from slang to formal.

Moving to new domain is another milestone, especially after purchasing it years ago. 

And it was a painful process since we had trusted GoDaddy with our domains, but later learned they had acquired our premium domain (handshaking.com while we paid them for handshakin.com) to later hav to pay them more to purchase the domain from them.  More on that here from the Founder's personal website. 

Despite the difficult acquisition process, here's why we upgraded.  Pretend you are working as a sales representative for handshaking and say this in your head:

"Yea, no problem, you can email me at adam at handshakin dot com, that's handshaking without the g, let me spell that for you.  H-a-n-d-s-h-a-k-i-n dot com. No G."

Today, it's "yea no problem, you can email me at adam at handshaking dot com."  


What if you email adam@handshakin.com v. adam@handshaking.com? They go to the same inbox.  We own the proper 'online real estate.'


The rest of this is stuff our writer wrote.  Please email any feedback to Adam hehe. Google, this is for you: 
​

​Who do we help?

Handshaking has several approaches when it comes to helping home service providers and
local businesses. The term; virtual handshaking; is used to define the site sending quotes from leads who are contacting them. For instance, when a prospect tries to search for a particular service in a US city, Handshaking's site comes up first with a name and contact details.

When the customer calls the number, they will be redirected to partners in industries like
roofing, home cleaning, carpet cleaning, window tinting and more. Getting those leads in the form of calls is easy- there's a form to fill up on the website where you can submit your details.

Handshaking is also offering select assets for successful domains that are already getting
hundreds of leads every day. A partnership program is available for businesses who wish to
build an asset from the ground up with the help of the experts.

The online marketing aspect can be handled by Handshaking as well. You can request for a
personal website to be built, with unlimited revisions before launching online. After approval, the site is handed off and the owner given full privileges. Moreover, Handshaking  will provide the software clients can use to edit their website as needed.

If owners are too busy to post, then they can avail of Handshaking's monthly blog post services. Establishing a constant presence online is important for those who want to become successful, but there may not be enough time. You can work on starting up and grow your idea while publishing great posts simultaneously.

Local businesses can also get listings and SEO citations and register their contact information across industry directories, which helps increase Google rankings and backlinks.

Handshaking also has a full service sales management for a monthly price. This includes
contractor payment collection, sales process management, local lead generation, custom
estimates, monthly sales reports and more.

Entrepreneurs can also utilize Handshaking.com's free resources to build up their brand and
connect with high caliber advisors, clients and mentors.

Handshaking has always represented the notion of entrepreneurs networking to reach success.  I personally was able to use TECHNOLOGY, and ONLINE methods to get interviews with famous billionaires like John Paul Dejoria, Jeff Hoffman, and even Elon Musk's brother Kimbal Musk. 

Check out our Handshaking song.

**👏👏Good job writer 👏👏**

Here's the story:


​As you know we previously have charged a humble 25% commission with most of you, pay for your phone number hosting, ​and simply pass along the cc processing fees to you.  Now, it will be more simple with us paying for the processing fees, as well as keeping your website equally interesting to our now much larger sales team and much bigger asset pool (125+ sites). 

We just expanded our sales team from 2 to 8, and it was a very busy and expensive process of hiring 3 batches, many not working out, and tons of overtime + missing sales on our own sites to train.  We actually doubled our job post offering's base pay, and sweetened the commission deal to get top talent, and it's already paying off with one of our website buyers this month. But, at our increased expense, will come a higher commission charge to you, and also hopefully additional income, anyway. 


Their site recently has had one contractor paying $270/week for 9 leads, and due to our increased sales manpower, we were able to identify a new customer that has already paid $1,500 this month.  So, our performance managing sales for this site this month increased from $1,080 to $2580 due to identifying a contractor that wants specifically commercial leads.  So, you do the math:
$1080 - 25% commission = $810 (not including processing fees)
$2580 - 45% commission = $1419

Now, like everything in business there are correlations, and I suspect our growth and improvement of processes and improv ed training for our sales team MAY have contributed to this increase in sales, and is by no way guaranteed.  But, you can see it's possible for you to earn more with this new structure, which is what this is all about right? 

No action is required on your end, just keep collecting payments in between 1st-2nd week of each month for the previous month.  If you'd like to stop working with us before the change, please let us know within 3 days from now so we can properly port out your phone number to your account before the 1st so you can manage your phone calls. 

If you have a lead generation site getting 40+ phone call leads per month, we'd be willing to consider helping you monetize that, you can email the CEO your URL here.

The 1st Investor bought a concrete website from us similar to this concrete website, which we have for sale on our Assets page. 

-They found our listing on Empire Flippers (see the sold page here).

-They purchased it for $13,500 on June 19th, 2020.  We're writing this post mid July.  So, we'll have 11 months of full monthly payouts.

-Their first monthly payout was in July, but was for less than half of June (bottom transaction from these paypal screenshots).

-Their first payout after a full month was $1011.40.  This single first month payout was 7.5% of their investment.  Wow! 

-From June 19th 2020 to June 1 2021, they below payouts totalled $8873.53, minus $31 monthly service payments x 12 months (although only 11 months of payouts) equals 

$8501.53 returned in 11 months.  As of today, they have already made a return of 63% in less than a year. What happens when you average that to a year?

They are averaging a passive 68.7% return asset purchase from Handshaking. 

Edit July 16: 
​We sent their June payout of $900.48. 
This puts them at a 69.6% annual return.  

Note:  You may see some charges of $30.50.  That was a fee we charged them monthly for phone number hosting, but later we just deducted that from their monthly payouts, starting in 2021.  We took the deductions not pictured into account, which was an expense of $186 so far in 2021. 

A note on how these assets earn:  

The way these lead generation websites earn income is by selling the phone call leads they receive. 
​
This means credit card info is given to a sales team from a concrete contractor who  pays in exchange to answer the phone calls that the website is receiving.  Sites can earn from 1 or many contractors, and contractors may pay up front for a small amount of phone call leads, or they may pay in advance for bulk leads.  Additionally, our sales team  negotiates that they pay us a commission on jobs that they close from our leads if they ask for a discount on the up front payment for the phone leads.  We handle all of that for all of our website buyers at a risk free, commission based agreement.    

Our second buyer also purchased a website in the concrete contractor niche (similar to this concrete site).  I'm going to save that example for the next blog post since we've been a bit behind on blog posts! 😅

Will link to second case study when it's published here.

Good luck with your next investments, we hope you'll consider partnering with us by browsing our assets here. 

Image of the sold listing:

Partial screenshot of the P&L the buyer verified and saw.  You can see the site earns a bit from adsense which we didn't mention or take into account for this example, so the ROI might be a smidge higher!

Good luck with your next investments, we hope you'll consider partnering with us by browsing our assets here. ​

Please email our CEO Matt proof of funds or a convincing reason you're a serious buyer to receive more information. ​

Hiring in the Philippines should NOT be to reduce your payroll expense or replace your American staff!

​When starting, as a bootstrapping entrepreneur, I could only grow as fast as sales increase, without taking significant monetary risk investing in payroll.  It's possible to take a risk hiring 8 Filipinos, while that would not be possible to hire 8 Americans--I'd be risking our cash flow far too much if most Americans didn't perform immediately within the first montn.  Not to mention the additional payroll, tax, and liability expenses. 

When hiring contractors abroad, your accountant may or may not know, but there's only one tax form that we file which makes it more more simple.  You may also need an 'employer-of-record' in some countries to maintain your compliance for your non-American staff.

In the early days of Handshaking, I'd hired US based team members before, and let me tell you, that can put a big dent in your checking (and savings) account should you hire too soon, or hire the wrong professional. And that dent will not always come back quickly. 

Want to hire a full-time outsourced employee for a few hundred per month?  Just contact us here.

Not as recently updated:

​Each of my virtual team members play an essential role at the company that has helped us grow our leads list, expand our services, and increase organization.  Each new hire, back in the 2010s was paid the equivalent of  $1 to $1.50, and typically I mail them an iPhone after a few to several months of working together.  I can text them just like I have with US employees in the past.  Today, we recommend a minimum salary of at least 20,000 PHP (~$375) for entry level staff.

Before I give away my formula, you may be interested in this...

Here's some of the tasks they are in charge of.

• creating, editing, and renewing craigslist ads.
• designing websites from scratch.
• responding to 1000s of messages we get on our Instagram accounts and LinkedIn profiles.
• putting together client reports each month.
• reposting my blog posts all around the internet (all I do is push publish here on handshakin.com).
• creating leads lists.
• oh, and tons of SEO help, too.  

So if you're an entrepreneur could use some help with any of those, I know this blog is going to change your world.

Here's how to do it, and if you guys like this blog post, comment below on what you would hire a VA to help you with.​

1. Sign up for Online Jobs to find your VA.
​
Online Jobs is a community of remote workers in the Philippines and US employers.  I recommend searching for applicants instead of posting a job posting, and search based off the salary you can pay and keywords (I searched for SEO to find my most recent hire who is an SEO expert).  

Send as many candidates a message as the platform will let you (75 messages if you just go with one month), and tell them to email you back.

The last thing notable about this site, is their amazing tool called Timeproof.  It's time-tracking software for your remote workers and takes random screenshots, so although they may spend time on their phone or another computer, it does take random screenshots to ensure they're working on the tasks you assign them on.

2. Learn about previous experience via email.

You guessed it, searching for keywords to make your next hire isn't enough.  You need to learn about their previous experience.  My favorite response after their "Thanks for contacting me on Online Jobs, I'm interested!" email is, "Tell me about your tasks with the last company you worked for online." (feel free to copy and paste it--it works great).

Sometimes, I'll even challenge them to come up with ideas on how they can help the company because the response you'll get will be intense and you will likely have more candidates dying to work for you than you can manage effectively.  Here's an example of an VA who could have helped with entry level tasks.  Her follow-up was great, but I was looking for a slightly different skill set. ​

Don't dismiss VAs who follow-up, many of them I have hired in the past and they are fast learners and can make big changes in your business.  Plus, it's much easier to manage a VA that is doing tasks that you have done before (as compared to hiring an expert virtual team member who is advising you on how for example, SEO should be done).

3. Unpaid (or flat rate) project.

After their past experience impresses you, the next step is to immediately test their commitment, and get your feet wet with each other.  Email 5-10 candidates back telling them you've eliminated the rest and that you'd like to do a project with them to see if working together is a good fit.  Some ideas for projects:

-Create instagram content for your existing Instagram account (can test their english, vibe, and design skills)

-Email them the link to your blog, and have them identify relevant blogs to comment on to build backlinks (can test their english ability, SEO skills, and more).

There's lots of other projects you can do based on your business, and one other tip I'd share is that a lot of them may not want to hop on a video interview with you, not only because it can be kind of awkward if it's your first hire, but also because they don't always have a webcam and/or microphone available.

4. Set expectations

I'll cut to the chase, here's what I tell them before or immediately after the project:

We pay xx php/hr, and you are paid at the end of each month via paypal.  We use Timeproof (via Online Jobs) to track your hours and you are paid hourly until we agree on a salary.  

Each month, you most send an email titled "April 2017" with a few screenshots, your total hours, and your paypal email address.

Occasionally, I'll offer office supplies, gifts, or electronics that increase their productivity if they overperform.

One thing I've been working to improve on is encouraging them to tell me their least favorite task, their favorite task, and one thing they think the company could do better in the month-end emails.

5. The basics of hiring outsourced employees

A few other bullet points you should consider:
-own their email (pay for their google apps email address on the domain name that you own)
-end of day report (request that they send an email every day that they work with a few bullet points on what they worked on). 
-trust them, and always give more opportunities for them to earn more of your trust.



THERE'S MORE!  Perhaps you're interested in how this applies to one of our clients...

I was advising our client Dave Glaser, owner of Fit Life Champions, just last week.  He plans to hire a VA to respond to messages on LinkedIn and Instagram messaging (Hint: he hired us to do his Instagram and LinkedIn marketing)

Since he had been thinking about hiring a VA for a little while, I asked him what had been holding him back.

"The knowledge about how to qualify them."

"How do I manage someone with a big time difference?"

Dave had reached a point in his business where he had enough tasks that it could be delegated but wasn't willing to go the route of hiring a local assistant for what could easily be 5 times the price.



Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts guys.  I've found that my business has been way more productive, and got much more done with my strong remote team I stand with today.  And not only, can I afford to take much bigger risks on people I hire, but I can afford huge bonuses!

Resources you may be interested in:

-Go sign up for Online Jobs.

-Contact us for a paid 2 hours consultation to hire your first VA.  We can help hire and interview Accountants, Attorneys, and Virtual Assistants. 
​

Here's my answer to those questions, as well as a few helpful tips.  But first, let's clarify the two types of domain names that you're considering purchasing.
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1.  A brand new, never registered domain (known as hand-registered domains in the industry).

To purchase domains, I prefer Epik, as they have the best combination of pricing and features.  Other popular registrars like GoDaddy just don't cut it for domain investors that need more reliable DNS service. 

Pro Tip:  Use instantdomainsearch.com to save time before purchasing.

2.  A previously owned domain.  There's basically two ways to do this.

-Directly from the owner

If someone already owns it, you can find out who (unless they have privacy protected) by typing whois.domaintools.com/handshakin.com, just replace handshakin.com with the domain name and extension you're trying to buy.  Good luck negotiating with them-- you'll need it!

Pro Tip:  Use escrow.com for a secure transaction if you're negotiating 1-on-1 with the owner/seller without a registrar. 

-Directly from the company

Many companies (including mine) now invest in domain names as appreciating digital assets.  Although, we make our money from selling leads on our 120+ websites, we have only developed about 20% of the domains that we own. We're geared around flipping domain names as our primary source of revenue, but it's common for us to buy domain names to plan to develop later, only to realize that it might be better to sell it.

This could be for many reasons:
-An offer much higher than what we bought the domain for.
-We notice the domain is too similar to another online brand, in which case that brand should own it.
-We receive emails to the domain name that we beliece were intended for someone else or another company.  We always do our best to reach out to let others know about this issue before we develop a site.

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We want to protect assets that may be of value to us in the future, and typically aren't open to selling our domains, as they are worth much more when it's an income generating web asset (domains + website + phone number + monthly leads).

Pro Tip:  ​Estibot.com is a domain valuation website.  It is being adopted quickly in the domain industry although is still new and not always very accurate.

If you liked this article, inquire about our 120+ real estate websites to see if we have customers calling for a quote from your real estate company in a small US city.

.My Lexus GS350 AWD was very special to me.  

I bought it after getting out of my first real estate company.  I launched that company in 2012, lived off $300 per month for 12 months after graduating with $100,000 of student loans.

In 2014, I had cracked the egg, and realized I wasn't happy in real estate.  I sold off most of my equity and that was the one and only time I really splurged and bought an expensive car with cash.  It was the cleanest one on the market.

In 2016, I listed it on Turo.  It was scary.

I was more interested in the idea than motivated by the measly hundred bucks I might make each month.  And for that reason, I declined reservations for months because letting a stranger rent and drive my baby for multiple days was too stressful to think about.  

You can relate, can't you?  Comment below if you're too scared to rent out your car.  I'd love to know what cars other drivers own that are scared to rent them out.

The first reservation.

​The first reservation was in early August, but they cancelled it a few days before.  I got paid $20 for them cancelling--phew!  But the first real reservation was in December.  Someone took it for a day and I earned $28.50. 

They returned it and everything was just fine.  

Now usually I wouldn't argue or gain an interest in that number, but coming from a real estate background, I would rent each room in my investment properties for $900/mo.  Renting the car out for $28.50/day is almost $900/mo.  Plus, the car was only $15k, where for a $200k property I'd have 4 bedrooms to rent.  I raised an eyebrow and wanted more!  

Every $900/mo you can make increases your income by $10,000+ a year!  Even if it just starts with a $28.50/day reservation on Turo.  Aspiring entrepreneurs:  If you do that 3 to 6 times and you can now quit your 9to5.

The second reservation and accident

Everything was going smoothly until Dec 21st.  It was out on a reservation and that's when I got an automated email from Turo saying there was damage reported to my car. 

Soooo what the heck happens next?!  I try to contact them and the renter with no immediate luck.  I find on their website that sometimes damage must be reported within 24 hours to qualify for insurance so I submit requests.  It was super ambiguous and that was very stressful. 

I finally get a call from someone on Christmas Eve, which was comforting, but it would be another few weeks before I learned that my car had been not just damaged, but full blown totalled and then another week before I got the insurance check.  

The biggest thing that stressed me out that I was dying to know was:  

1.  Is this going to affect my insurance and am I covered 100%?  
2. Is the amount that insurance offers me going to be fair?

Fast forward to the end of the process and here's how it concluded.

I had my car for sale for $14,000 OBO before it went out on this reservation and was not getting many hits.  At the end of the day I got a check for $15,900 for it being a total loss.  My car being totaled on Turo translated to $1900+ more in my pocket.

Moving forward, now without my daily driver.

Where do things stand today? I have cashed the insurance check and plan to buy a more humble daily driver for myself and invest the rest in inexpensive, reliable cars to list on Turo.  

I would still recommend it's a better idea to buy a house and rent out the unused rooms in it to a new entrepreneur, since you're dealing with hundreds of thousands instead of several thousand (makes it easier to create a salary).  But for those not ready to make that jump, this is the perfect part-time venture.  

It's better than Uber or Lyft because you make money even while you're not spending your time behind the wheel.  You need your time to work on your startup. 

Anyway, I can't wait to purchase more cars for my Turo fleet for additional passive income.  Even after my daily driver was totalled.

Want to know why I'm not crazy to stay on Turo?  The dollars.

The $2400 Suzuki I bought brought in early December has made $546.26 after all Turo fees in the 47 days I've had it up.  That's about $4200+ per year.  However, I will admit I haven't had to invest in any maintenance on the car yet, and also didn't deduct the increase in my insurance policy (almost $400 every six months).  

It's evident to me it's easy to make monthly from services like this but here's what I want you to think about if you're considering the shared economy...

Don't forget you're paying the costs over time of wear and tear, higher miles, and unforeseen costs and time.  

I don't recommend buying a new car and renting it on Turo.  Find something used and inexpensive so it pays itself off quickly.  Think about how many reservations you'd need to pay off that $30,000 Subaru that on a good day would only rent for double my $2,400 Suzuki.

Anyway, here's some resources for you guys

If you'd like to purchase a vehicle to rent on Turo, watch my video, How to buy a used car.

If you'd like to see my real estate listings, here's Matt's Real Estate Listings.

Buy your domain name right now if you haven't.

In fact, buy your domainssss.  With an 's.'  For both your personal brand and business brand.  This is one of the smallest, yet most important investments as we enter the technology era. Whether you use your site to enhance credibility, simply educate friends on your interests, or to drive 100s of new leads to your brick and mortar store, you've got to own a great domain name for your purpose.

If you're not going to do that, just stop reading and go away. Seriously. If you can't take action, my content has no value to you. <3 

Auctions:  A couple ways to get into domaining.

Before you read this section, prepare to spend more than the typical ~$10 it will cost to register your domain.  

a) Build a 'Small Website' from Scratch: Auctions can be a great place to search for domains with a specific keyword in them.  I build a lot of websites for concrete contractors to help them with lead generations, so I love looking for a short domain that might look something like "www.tallahasseeconcretework.com"

After identifying a brandable domain name, I would look at how much traffic the site gets, and its age.  Was it registered this year or 10 years ago?  Because if it was 10 years ago, used by a Dayton Concrete Contractor, then that's going to help my SEO strategy.

c)  'Park' the domain name. Domains that aren't in a niche I'm familiar with, I would plan to 'park' them.  I use ParkingCrew.com right now, but parking has slowly declined over the last several years.  I would look at a domain that gets at least 1,000 unique visitors per month, and also something simple that the parking provider can quickly figure out so that I can monetize the traffic coming to the site.  

One of the best parked domains I bought at auction for $17,

d) Would this be worth a lot to someone else in specific?

Invest in similar (or even competitors) domain names long-term.

Even if a site has never been registered does not mean that it's not valuable.  If you can get your hands on a strong brandable domain name by hand ("Hand-registering" is the term for registering one that has not been previously owned or has never been at auction), go ahead and do it.  $100 will usually buy you 10 years of holding that domain name.  

Chances are if you're a talented domainer, you will sell that domain for much more than $100.

It's the wild, wild west out there guys, and I don't want you to not buy the land while it's at a good price.  

You can always build a house (website), but you can't always get the best land (domain name).

Wait, Matt, what about cybersquatting.  Is that a thing?  If you want more information on this, here's a great post by my friend Morgan Linton, "A word of caution to startups that think someone is squatting on a domain name."

If you're interested in how easy it is to build small websites, you can also look at these two others we own. 

Boulder Window Tinting
Concrete Edina

Hope you guys enjoy this info.  Comment below with questions or additional resources! And if you need help building a 'small website for your startup, please check out our services.

Shocking Statistics And Missed Opportunities

Here is something to think about: A 2013 article on the Forbes website states that 56% of hiring managers admit that candidates having a personal websites are highly impressive, but only 7% of them actually have a one.

The world of work is becoming both more exciting and frightening; competition for career positions at all levels is fiercer than ever before.

To beat the crowd, you will have to think like you are a business owner.

The flip side of this mindset change means that you will have to treat your employers and network of contacts more like customers too.  Whether you're a business owner or job seeker in America, your job is to be clear on what value you will provide to your target market.

Reap The Benefits Of Having A Website

The most successful workers of the future will be the ones who understand that a personal website is a vital platform on which to promote your skillset. When you have a personal website that represents your brand you immediately establish 4 objectives:

• It builds your network of influence
• Demonstrates your credibility and builds trust
• Establishes you as an expert in your field
• A platform to which you can drive leads from your personal network

Become a boss, negotiate your salary, launch your next startup with leads, and put yourself out there.  Quit hiding...

Join The 7 Percent

If you do nothing about your brand, most likely, not much will happen, but not in the right way, it means a smaller network of contacts and fewer to no job offers, precisely at the time that branded applicants are beginning to win the best offers.

The entrepreneurs, business leaders, and job seekers who start now will have a head start in regards to personal opportunity, success, and achievement. It's a scramble to compete with the crowd so launch your brand today and start improving.

Contact us if you need help writing monthly blog posts, we will complimentary build a website to represent your brand.  Learn more about our web assets for sale here.

...Establishing credibility, even on a less often visited website, requires a very special kind of attention to detail.

There are an estimated 250 thousand products launched every year, of which 85 to 95 percent fail.

New brands and products come and go. Only a few endure and stand out. These brands with the staying power to survive over the decades are the brands that have established credibility. 

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of trust and credibility, in the U.S., these qualities of trust and credibility rank even higher than product quality as a sales correlate.

Authentic and credible brands inspire customer loyalty.

Wary of scams, rip-offs and shady marketing tactics, customers are starting to see the world in terms of real or fake. They base their buying decisions on how genuine they think the an offer is.

Companies who try to build their companies around what they think people want to hear, parroting back voice of customer (VOC) information will not build customer loyalty.

Neither will trapping customers with unrealistic or temporary promises that are loaded with catches. This is how to build your business' credibility online.
​

• To build credibility, you have to define where your authentic nature lies. You have to make a commitment to a set of business values, put them in your mission statement, and then adhere to these core values. The firm commitment is the essence of credibility. The best way to kill a brand is when your stated values and promises turn out to be flim-flam.
  
  The ruse will quickly damage your reputation. A case in point is the crisis with Volkswagen, who pledged to lower emissions and were then caught cheating. It's going to be very costly for that brand to restore public trust.
  
  
• Find a way to showcase and demonstrate your authenticity. Make as public a display as possible of how you and your company stick to their commitments. Use a blog, social media, or behind-the-scenes interactions with others. Get to know your audience and let them get to know you.
  
  
• Keep your messages completely consistent, through all your marketing and promotions. Every public access to your company and brand must be completely consistent with your values.
  
  
• Prepare for detractors. Don't let them detract from your consistent message. Don't compromise to get the support of people whose values and methods don't agree with your own.

The expression of credibility can be enhanced with the online promotions that you design.
​

• Make it easy for readers to verify the accuracy of information you provide on your site. Use good scholarship practice by providing citations that link back to credible sources so that readers can check the accuracy of your statements.
  
  
• Establish that your company is real, has a real location (not a post office box or drop off point). Provide working addresses (email and brick and mortar) and working telephone numbers).
  
  
• Establish yourself as an authority by writing informative blogs and expert content on social media and other public sites. This practice of establishing personal credibility is the essence of inbound marketing.
  
  
• Make yourself available. Make it easy to contact you. Show working contact points throughout your site.
  
  
• Provide a list of your staff with simple biographies so customers can see how credible the people around you, people likely to serve them, are.
  
  
• Make sure your site doesn't get stagnant, add new content regularly so that they company looks alive. Answer customer concerns and questions online. Make sure the content is error free, proof read carefully.
  
  
• Keep your special offers and promotional content very restrained and within the limits set by the company's and your own core values.
  
  

The Handshakin Video Series interviews today's top entrepreneurs on networking and personal branding strategies.  

With hosts across the US, these free videos dig deep into stories of the most successful asking about how they went about online branding and in person networking to shift their personal networks.

Please check out our services to learn how we can help you connect with leaders in your industry.

Here are a few suggestions that you could aim to integrate seamlessly into your site:

• Social Media
• Carousels
• Countdown Timer
• Search Tool
• Live Chat
• Booking and Reservation Tools
• Online Forms

We will have a deeper look at them in the following article.

Social Media 

Perhaps that most common and obvious add-on that you can put onto your website is social media integration. Essentially, this means that people who visit your website can easily share some of the content on your site. Platforms and tools such as MyWebsite builder from IONOS. already come with this built in, which helps to make your life an awful lot easier. 

Carousels 
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Instead of just having a static website which does not offer anything new to people who remain on it for a significant amount of time, carousels serve to rotate through visual content. This way, you can convey even more information to your audience without requiring them to click on different parts of your site. Carousels also enable you to tailor your content and showcase it in an easy to digest way. To create a tailor made website for your business, there are a number of templates you can use.

There are few more exciting tools to add to your website than a countdown timer. If you have a specific product launch or an event coming up, a timer is a simple tool that can help to heighten the anticipation of anybody who comes across it. 

Search Tool 
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In the modern world, people want to find what they are looking for on a website with minimal fuss. A search tool is a simple add-on that offers the user the opportunity to head straight to their topic of choice. If you have a particularly large website, this is an especially important tool that can help to keep users on the site. 
Live Chat and WhatsApp integration

These days, website users are looking to get instant answers to their questions. No longer are they willing to wait around for an extended period of time. One of the best ways of providing these answers is with a live chat function. You will either be the one who manages this yourself, or you will employ customer service representatives to take care of it for you. 

Booking and Reservation Tools 

If you run a business that relies on bookings and reservations, this is an online tool that is bound to increase the number of enquiries that you receive. These days, more and more people prefer to make their enquiries online, so if you do not provide the opportunity for them to do this, it can result in you experiencing a reduction in bookings. 

Include Online Forms with WordPress
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Another alternative tool to add to your website comes in the form of online forms. Essentially, these allow you to gather all sorts of information about your website users.
There you have just a few of the main tools that you can integrate onto your website to improve the overall user experience, and the site as a whole.

If you'd rather skim through my slides, they're at the bottom, but I'll share my presentation with you even if you weren't able to hear me in person.

1.  Why Meet Influencers?
​
Inspiration- helps you find the motivation and ambition you want to access more often.

Expertise- learn the exact steps your mentor took in order to accomplish a specific feat.

Mentorship- ask for feedback on the specific next steps your mentor recommends for your entrepreneurial career. 

2.  World Record

If you read my blog, my breaking of a world record in January of 2016 may not be exciting news, but for many of the attendees it was.  I had everyone in the audience shake hands for almost 1 minute, so that they could image what my 2160 minute handshake (43.5 hour) felt like.

Here, check out this snapchat I took live during my presentation for your enjoyment:  
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3.  My cold meeting request with billionaire Jeff Hoffman

The presentation shifted from my world record to the audience in a quick story I experienced with the entrepreneur and minds behind priceline.com.

​I asked the audience if they knew why the billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Hoffman agreed to meet with me in person from a cold LinkedIn message.

They stared like deer in the headlights ?

Jeff said, "Because you have a strong personal brand, Matt."  He told me my blogs on LinkedIn were interesting topics and that he could see what I was like right away from my video series.

This was my aha moment!

​I instantly knew that I had to start helping other entrepreneurs blow up their personal brand so they could get cold meetings with billionaires, too!  This helps with mentorship, closing high-net worth clients, raising investment, and more!

4. Benefits of Blogging v. Instagram

But, the entire audience was not ready to dive straight into investing $1, $10, or $100 per month into their personal brand. So I went into two of the most easy ways to start growing your brand: A) a blog and personal website, and B) a free Instagram profile.

See the slides below for a checklist at the end.

​And PS, personal brands like Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone are spending well over $1,000/mo.  So don't be afraid to start investing in your credibility, network, and future today. 

5. Resources and Checklist

I only mentioned 3 resources during my presentation, but I'll save you the hassle, you can go to Social Media Day Denver Resources to see all of them.

6. Keala Kanae's story on personal branding

It was so ironic that a PR agency I work with paired me with Keala Kanae for an article I'm writing for Entrepreneur.

He had the perfect story of reaping huge monetary benefits after spending time on his personal brand for a few years.

Keala was a struggling barista when he got into affiliate marketing. Yes, he was like me and many other internet entrepreneurs trying to beat a salary, in our boxers, behind a computer screen.  

Well, after catching some traction he first did $100k one year, and then $260k the following.  He even partnered up with another sharp affilliate marketer to almost break $1m in 2015.  

But today in 2017 none of that mattered.

Keala is on track to make $30M this year, selling courses to the followers of his personal brand.  He abandoned his familiar affilliate marketing model and stopped selling to those customers because he noticed so many people who had been following him wanted education on how to become affiliates!  


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So, in conclusion:  start interviewing your rolemodels and launch your personal brand today!  Slides are below. Email us to share your goals with your personal brand!

But when we take a moment to understand its history and significance, it becomes much more than a routine way to greet others and finalize simple, verbal agreements.

Here's your history lesson:

Archeological ruins from Ancient Greece show soldiers shaking hands on a piece of 5th-century B.C. pottery.

It was meant as a show of peace; neither side carried weapons. Unfortunately, in later history, handshakes were seen as a way to determine if the other person had hidden a knife in his sleeve.

Medieval knights--covered in armor--used handshakes as a way to sort a friend from an enemy. An extended open hand was a sign of friendship, while a hand with a weapon was...well, a signal to defend oneself.

Today, we face the handshake as a threat of passing an accidental threat, Covid-19.  However, unlike being stabbed by a knife, you can destroy covid with hand-sanitizer or the common task of washing your hands, before you pick your nose, or eat your food without utensils. 


On another note, the way you shake hands is important, if you don't shake hands confidently, you might as well avoid the risk of Covid now in 2021 and moving forward. 

The American handshake is simple to do if you have confidence; it's important to perform well. Directions from etiquette expert Robin Bickerstaff Glover: "The right hand is extended, thumb up and palm flat. You grasp the other person's hand using a firm grip, with your palm on their palm. Hands are pumped two or three times in a vertical motion and then, you release the grip."

A note from the team behind Handshaking.com:

"We recommend two shakes, not three. 

The handshake should be firm and friendly; if you squeeze too hard, it seems aggressive. If you leave your hand limp or offer a weak grasp, it can signal anxiety or lack of confidence."

Of course, you should look the other person in the eye when shaking hands.

When networking, remember that your handshake is the first impression you will make. Forbes Magazine reports the results of seven studies: "A handshake can improve the quality of an interaction, producing a higher degree of intimacy and trust within a matter of seconds." 

And a Fortune 500 CEO once said, "When I have to choose between two candidates with similar qualifications, I give the position to the candidate with the better handshake."

Ready to learn more about ways to be successful through handshakes? Just check us out--entrepreneurs watch our free videos every single day.

"Handshake (Workshop Cologne '06)" by Tobias Wolter - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Matt Holmes
​
Enter Matt Holmes. Many people know him as being the person who holds the Guinness record for the longest handshake. However, Matt Holmes is a quintessence of the paradigm shift in the world of marketing right now.

Over the years, Holmes has been able to perfect the craft of leveraging one's brand to drive leads and increase sales. He has done so through a very rigid process, a sort of baptism of fire.

Origins

In 2010, Matt Holmes was employed as a sales associate at Groove Auto, an automobile sales brand based in Great Denver Area. It was there that he made sure that he had learned the basics of sales and marketing.

A couple of months before, he had founded Matt's Wheels. The enterprise's raison d'etre was to sell cars and car accessories, as the name would suggest.

This stage in his life would ultimately make him what he is today. He credits his developmental stages as being very critical in resonating with his audience and their needs.

Further endeavors

He would move on from Matt's Motors in Feb 2012. A month later, he cofounded Devium, which was an organization that created in-car hardware and apps. These products ensured that the drive would manage the information and entertainment sections of their car through their phones.

The company came to grow and employ about 50 people. Matt was also the VP in charge of Business Development.

Afterward, Matt would eventually venture into politics. He was appointed to the committee of special projects in the House of Representatives and served for about four months.

Thus, from this short time, he was able to mingle with a lot of politicians. Several photos of him and politicians circulate the internet, with the most famous being one he took with Hillary Clinton.

Founding businesses

After he left the committee, he founded Holmes Real Estate Group. He would also hold the  position of chairman. For two years and ten months, he led the company into recording profit margins that increased year after year.

During this time, he would hone and perfect his skill in marketing his brand using himself. After all, he was the company president and founder so that no prospective clientele would be converted into a customer without the proper marketing and influencing.

Thus, from 2011 to 2014, he would perfect his skill and slowly transform into marketing through influencing the giant that he is right now.

Startups and other enterprises

For about four months, between November 2014 and February 2015, he was a startup founder of the Founder Institution. Founder Institute is an organization that enables startups to meet prospective sponsors and investors and get them.

This way, he understood what both startups and investors want and how both of them can achieve the said thing. That is why most of his talks are in-depth and intricate; he understands the essentials and nitty-gritty details of the marketing world.

His longest-serving job was as a Founding Organizer for Startup Fuse, a program through which startups of a select category would engage in pitch battles. The essential thing about this particular program is that startup-up owners could know or be taught how they would arrange their ideas and pitches to attract investors instantly.

Thus, as you'd expect, to sell your startup brand, you have to be able to sell yourself first so that investors can be comfortable in investing their money in your proposed enterprise.

This is the exact reason why his company, Handshaking.com, is excelling at the moment.

People want to know how they will sell themselves and who better teach them than the person who has been doing so for more than a decade.  Thanks to Intellifluence for the opportunity to write this.  As founders grow their personal brand you can also read more from Forbes on the rise of this new phenomenom. 

Contact Handshaking here to learn more on how we can partner.