Guest Post by Janice On Matt Holmes' entrepreneurial Journey

Over the last couple of years, marketing and influencing have taken over the sales world. Slowly and surely, influencing and marketing are slowly morphing into becoming the same thing. Thus, numerous brands, organizations, and franchises are looking for ways to push their brands and products.

Matt Holmes
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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.