Interview With Matt Handshakin Holmes
Sotiris -Hi Matt thanks for taking some of your time today to join us.
Today I would like to ask you a few questions to get to know more about you and your business.
Matt –Â Sounds great Sotiris, let’s get started then.
Sotiris – Okay Matt firstly I would like to ask you?
Q1. What is your short and long term vision for your business?
A short term goal is to get Mark Cuban, a shark from Shark Tank, as a Handshakin Guest on the Handshakin Video Series
Q2.What inspired you to start your online business?
 I had been an aspiring entrepreneur for 5 years and had never caught any traction or satisfaction with my career until I put the emphasis on personal relationships and shaking hands.
Q3.When it comes to adding value for your readers/visitors, what benefits can they get from visiting or sharing your website with others?
Well, right now all of our videos are free while we collect feedback. Later this year, we’ll likely pivot to a premium subscription model. So, if you’re interested in how today’s most successful entrepreneurs go about personal relationships, go to handshakin.com/videos to hear them talk about it.
Q4. Is this the first online business you have had and if not would you like to elaborate on your previous ones so we can get an idea what is required to start your own online business?
Yes, this is my first online type business. And let me tell you why: My first business was in the automotive industry. I flipped a few cars and motorcycles, and learned how to do the typical “buy low, sell high” concept people talk about in business. I then moved on to residential real estate in 2011 while obtaining my MBA, and realized it’s better to invest in appreciating assets. Plus, I could rent out real estate while buying low and selling high. In fact, Holmes Real Estate Group (www.holmesreg.com) grew slowly and was built as passive income. It’s what’s paying my bills while I launch this video series.
The main reason I launched an online business was because it can scale. With real estate, our market was the ~3M people in Denver, CO. Creating content online, the market is everyone who can access the internet. Plus, you don’t need a new video for every x amount of people. I’m providing a value that can be shared, where tenants can’t share their house with an unlimited amount of friends.
Q5. Did you make any mistakes when starting your online business and what where they?
I think failure is simply R&D. Executing on your ideas is the fastest way to get the best feedback. I think we published a video that had a typo on it–that’s one way to get feedback quickly. But it costs a lot less than paying someone to edit the video. Oh, and it happens much faster.
In fact, mistakes are so normal in entrepreneurship you’ll hear startup accelerators preach that founders should ‘fail fast.’ It’s very important to fail quickly rather than stall and keep preparing (or not executing). Ironically, I was recently talking about that on the Embrace the Suck Podcast, launched by Michael Kilcoyne. Additionally, one of the past Handshakin Guests, Andrew Turner, Founder of Staff-iq.com, said that it’s important for a decision maker (founder) to go ahead and make a decision. If it’s the wrong one, at least you can move on and keep pushing forward. If a decision is not made, you can’t move forward typically.
Q6. If you had your ideal outcome in 5 years time where would your business be?
My biggest goal would be to have President Barack Obama on the video series, and we’re already scheduling US Senator Cory Gardner. So, I think we can get that done well before 5 years. Another goal would be to be on Jamie Tardy’s Millionaire Case Studios, I just have to make a million dollars first 🙂
a. How many subscribers
Although a large number of subscribers is of course sexy, I’m more interested in making a quality difference for those interested in launching their business. They need to put the emphasis on personal relationships first.
b.Monthly income goals
My only goal here would be to make enough to invest back into the community and people who help me.
c. Hours required for you to spend in the business.
Right now there’s lots that I do that I’m not good at. It would be great to be able to hire people who are far more talented at many detail oriented tasks. I’m good at getting quality guests scheduled, and interviewing them and would like to have more time to do more of that. Of course it would be great to work less than the 80-100 hours a week I’m working now, but I love what I do!
Sotiris – Thanks Matt For Answering those questions for us today. Â Would you like to tell our audience how they can find out more about you?
Matt- Â Yes I would thanks Sotiris,
To find out more make sure you check out our videos at handshakin.com. If you’re an entrepreneur you’ll like them. We also launched a pre-accelerator for Coloradan entrepreneurs to launch their business. I strongly recommend it from the bottom of my heart!