Team Alpha 375

"More business decisions occur over lunch and dinner than at any other time, yet no MBA courses are given on the subject."

Peter Drucker

The Business of Bringing People Together
By Jason Holland

Michael Masterson was shocked.

He was at a meeting with some heavy hitters in South America - government officials and developers who were discussing a massive housing project.

When one official, Mr. X, said the project would be in the $1 billion to $10 billion range - even Michael wasn't prepared for that. And he immediately calculated what his and his associates' cut might be. Potentially in the millions, he thought.

Michael had been brought to the meeting by his friend P.E. They'd known each other since high school, and had been doing real estate deals together for 15 years. And P.E. had been introduced to Mr. X by Luis, who he'd worked with on a development deal in Central America.

Michael and his associates stood to make millions of dollars, simply because of these connections.

And that's at the heart of the opportunity I want to talk about today: being a connector, or finder's agent.

One of the best connectors out there, Matthew Adams, makes tens of thousands of dollars... just for introducing people.

Okay, so it's a little mo

Matthew brings people or companies together to do business. He collects a fee or commission if the meeting results in a deal.

And he loves teaching other people how to do the same thing.

In his first year as a "connector," Matthew made $22,000. By the third year, he was making $50,000. And it took just a couple of hours a week of his time - e-mails and phone calls, mostly.

"The best part," says Matthew, "is that it requires almost no capital to get started in this high-demand service."

One of Matthew's most recent "connections" was made at a lobster bake in Maine. He'd been invited by a friend who runs a few marinas in the area.

At the lobster bake, he met a man who imports boat supplies. They struck up a conversation, and the man told Matthew that he was trying to expand his business. So Matthew asked if he would be willing to pay commission if he could help him find new customers. The entrepreneur said, "Sure!" - and Matthew said, "There's someone I want you to meet."

Matthew introduced the importer to his marina-owning friend. The two got to talking... and before long, his friend had agreed to sell the importer's boat supplies at all of his marinas. Matthew, of course, got a percentage of the deal... and of every deal the pair made after that.

Another "connection" Matthew made involved a deal with travel websites.

re involved than that.