Gary Vaynerchuk's Blog, page 20
June 8, 2020
200+ Gary Vaynerchuk Quotes: ‘I Talk About Shit I’ve Lived’
Gary Vaynerchuk’s quotes are special. As the CEO of VaynerX, author, speaker, wine expert, serial entrepreneur ‘GaryVee’ is known for many things, but millions know him best for his unvarnished, positive, honest, inspirational quotes.
But why is that people gravitate to, memorize and wear t-shirts with Gary Vaynerchuk quotes and sayings?
“I think the biggest reason my quotes work is because of my lack of education,” says Gary. “I was so under-read and I lived in such a fucking cocoon for the first 34 years of my life, which was my family, my side business as a kid, and then my family business.”
Gary Vaynerchuk Quote from DailyVee #180
“Like, it’s really a little weird now that I think about it. I actually say things that have been said forever. I just don’t actually know the right way to say it. So I came up with my own way to fucking say it. And I think it’s that freshness.”
“I say things I mean. I think a lot of people try to build motivation accounts and tweak things or put things on Instagram that they’ve seen on another motivation page. There’s a lot of sayings that I know are good sayings, but I don’t say them because I don’t believe in that. It’s not that they’re not wrong. I just haven’t lived it. I talk about shit I’ve lived.”
“Like ‘being the bigger person’ you know … I didn’t make up that quote, but I don’t think it was that out there. I think there’s a freshness [in my quotes] because of a lack of knowing the classic way to say it. And I think there’s an unbelievable amount of oomph behind it because I fucking believe my shit.”
“I believe my shit. And I think people have a sixth sense [for that].”
The quotes run the gamut from Gary’s views on money, college, finding happiness, sports cards, and how to build yourself up without tearing others down. We hope you find some that inspire, challenge and prompt you to discover a little more about yourself. Enjoy.
1. Can’t wait for Instagram to get rid of likes. Hoping it leads to the elimination of public vanity metrics. Really believe it will lead to an explosion of creativity and truth.
2. How can you give a fuck what people think when they don’t have the full picture? And more importantly, how can you judge someone when you don’t have the full picture?
3. Your dreams don’t have to be “big” they have to be yours.
Click To Tweet
4. Fuck everything.
5. Those who spit hate out there mouth are wildly broken inside, I’m not mad at them, I feel sorry as fuck for them.
6. Give me kind as fuck and “B” skills over Complete asshole with “A+” skills. How you interact with the other boys and girls matters the most!
7. Slow down the macro (you got time in life)…speed up the micro (get more done daily).
8. Be aggressively kind! If you are really happy inside – share that shit. Cause the angry are better at expressing it and it’s time we change that 
Top 100+ GaryVee Quotes
— Gary Vaynerchuk, DailyVee #180
Gary Vaynerchuk’s quotes are special. As the CEO of VaynerX, author, speaker, wine expert, serial entrepreneur ‘GaryVee’ is known for many things, but millions know him best for his unvarnished, positive, honest, inspirational quotes. We’ve selected the best of those for the list below.
1. Can’t wait for Instagram to get rid of likes. Hoping it leads to the elimination of public vanity metrics. Really believe it will lead to an explosion of creativity and truth.
2. How can you give a fuck what people think when they don’t have the full picture? And more importantly, how can you judge someone when you don’t have the full picture?
3. Your dreams don’t have to be “big” they have to be yours.
Click To Tweet
4. Fuck everything.
5. Those who spit hate out there mouth are wildly broken inside, I’m not mad at them, I feel sorry as fuck for them.
6. Give me kind as fuck and “B” skills over Complete asshole with “A+” skills. How you interact with the other boys and girls matters the most!
7. Slow down the macro (you got time in life)…speed up the micro (get more done daily).
8. Be aggressively kind! If you are really happy inside – share that shit. Cause the angry are better at expressing it and it’s time we change that
May 28, 2020
Announcing… Tea With GaryVee Youngsters Edition
I started Tea With GaryVee a couple months ago in an effort to bring people more value during quarantine. Given that Q&A is one of my biggest strengths, the show has created an opportunity to sit down with people 1-on-1 and address a lot of topics I haven’t touched on before – in a much slower format.
Reading the feedback and thinking about some of the most impactful moments from the episodes so far, I thought it would be valuable to do a Tea With GaryVee Youngsters Edition.
Tea With GaryVee Youngsters will be dedicated to taking questions from people in their teens or younger (under 20 years old).
Here’s how to submit a question:
Text me at 1-212-931-5731. Include your question, name, number, and the hashtag #TeaWithGaryVeeYoungsters
Or if you’re international and can’t text, tweet your question with the hashtag #TeaWithGaryVeeYoungsters and tag me @GaryVee.
My team will review everything that comes in and pick a few of you in advance to be on Friday’s show!
The post Announcing… Tea With GaryVee Youngsters Edition appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
May 25, 2020
Announcing the All In Challenge TikTok Telethon
Tuesday (5/26) is a humongous day!
I am going live on TikTok from 9am – 9pm ET raising as much money as possible for the #ALLINCHALLENGE.
TikTok is matching every dollar donated during my 12 hour live stream – there’s going to be a “donate” button on the live stream which will make it super easy. This will be a fun opportunity to tune in and see what happens over the course of 9am – 9pm ET – and most importantly, it’s a great opportunity to give back to those who need it.
If you can’t give money, TikTok will be doing a fun thing where they’ll give you money to donate. There’s going to be a “treasure chest” icon in the top left corner of the screen – you can tap it every now and then to automatically send money.
Here’s a little example of what it’ll look like:
I’ve got dozens of celebrity guests lined up, some of the hottest people in culture who will go live with me and jam on a bunch of different of topics and have some laughs as I’m on camera for 12 hours straight. Gonna be a ton of fun!!
Also – you guys have heard me screaming at the top of my lungs about TikTok as a place to put out content – this is the time to finally set up your account if you haven’t already!
Would mean the world to me if you tuned in and dropped $2, $4, $8, or more – whatever you can into helping feed the hungry.
Thank you so much for your support – hope to see you there, follow me on TikTok so you don’t miss it @GaryVee.
The post Announcing the All In Challenge TikTok Telethon appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
May 20, 2020
Why I Knew Joe Rogan’s $100M Spotify Deal Was Inevitable
News has come out over the past few days that Joe Rogan signed an exclusive deal with Spotify for over nine figures!
According to BBC and the Wall Street Journal, the multi-year deal is believed to be worth $100M. Rogan’s podcast, a top-3 ranked show on iTunes, will shift over to Spotify on September 1. All previous episodes reportedly will be removed from all other platforms.
What’s crazy is back in 2019, I said in an interview I did in Armenia that Joe Rogan will inevitably do “Howard Stern 2.0” and exclusively put his podcast on some platform in exchange for $100 million. Same number that’s being reported today. See the moment here:
The reason I knew, is because attention always eventually gets monetized. Whoever has attention has leverage.
In the business world, a lot of people rely on reports, a simple ad product they can wrap their heads around, or justification why a platform is “ROI positive.” The ultimate fact of the matter is, when tens of millions of people are paying attention to something, inevitably there’s an opportunity to monetize.
It’s how platforms work – you build up traction in all platforms and if you’re at the top like Joe Rogan, you then have the leverage to go exclusive somewhere and extract big dollars.
Congrats Joe, you worked hard for this!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Gary Vay-Ner-Chuk (@garyvee) on May 19, 2020 at 4:44pm PDT
The post Why I Knew Joe Rogan’s $100M Spotify Deal Was Inevitable appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
April 27, 2020
Why Companies Need To Lean Into ECommerce Now More Than Ever
In the current environment with how coronavirus is impacting large and small businesses, putting a focus on e-commerce is absolutely essential.
I’ve been in the e-commerce world since 1996 (when Wine Library launched an online store) so I’m a huge believer.
But at this point, the cat’s out of the bag. I just can’t imagine anybody not recognizing the need for an e-commerce presence in 2020. This is a tragic event on so many levels that’s happening right now, but if it wakes up a business that would have been inevitably put out of business by not taking this seriously, then I hope that the decision maker understands what’s happening here.
I hope more businesses have finally figured out how it is literally essential if you want to sell something in today’s world.
Here’s my two cents on how the current pandemic is affecting the e-commerce world, and what retailers and businesses need to consider as they transition.
The short term vs long term impact on e-commerce
In the short term, the numbers have exploded for most companies that sell essentials, for sure. Not all e-commerce companies are the same obviously, but most people who are in a consumption-type business (i.e. grocery stores, super markets, etc) have seen their numbers skyrocket.
I think the long-term impact on the industry centers around people changing their buying behaviors. That’s what could potentially create a shift. For example, a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise buy their groceries online are now starting to get them delivered.
People who wouldn’t otherwise get basic items and cleaning supplies delivered to them are now starting to consider that option. According to Rakuten Intelligence, order volume for online grocery retailers surged 210% from March 12th – 15th of 2020, compared to the same dates a year ago.
There are some e-commerce companies that unfortunately won’t survive this time for a variety of reasons (i.e. the kinds of products they’re selling, the category they’re in, or a number of other factors) so it’s not one-size-fits-all.
But in 2019, e-commerce share of total retail sales was around 14% – I think we’re going to see that grow given how we’re seeing online purchase behavior speed up. People who might not have been as comfortable ordering things online are now getting into the market.
Companies like Amazon and Walmart are of course going to win big from this – data shows that Walmart is winning over half of all new online grocery shoppers. But when you have giant winners like Amazon and Walmart, there are inevitably going to be other winners too. For example, people said there couldn’t be another “eBay” till StockX emerged as an auction site.
We may see more brands selling all their products on their own site vs Amazon because the current landscape allows them to do so.
The other shift that I think could happen is the realization that diversifying supply is super important. Depending on where a company’s product supply is coming from and where it’s sourced, there could be more issues at play when it comes to fulfilling orders in this time. One of the other long term insights I hope businesses will take away from this is to not be one dimensional when it comes to that source.
Leverage content to build an e-commerce business
No matter what you do — no matter what industry you’re in, no matter what product you sell, you are in the media business.
Click To Tweet
That quote is how I think companies need to start thinking in order to grow a business online in 2020.
It’s the mindset behind a wine business starting a wine reviews show, a lawyer starting a content machine around golf, or the Michelin tire company starting the Michelin guide. It’s about putting out content not necessarily about your specific niche, but content that would interest the people that you’re trying to court.
It could be a content series reviewing the best products in your space that gets distributed across social in audio, video, pictures, and written form. It could be a content series storytelling around how you make your products or how you got started.
The best way to compete with other businesses that are massive and can throw money against things like Google ads is by becoming a content authority in your space in some capacity. It’s why I started Wine Library TV – I “became” a media company in the wine space.
The ideas and strategies around this might depend on what industry you’re in, what your brand is, and what you’re comfortable with, but starting the process of building content pillars in your world is a key strategy for any business building out an ecommerce presence.
The post Why Companies Need To Lean Into ECommerce Now More Than Ever appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
April 13, 2020
Post-Tea Interviews: How Jenna Stepped Out Of Her Comfort Zone After Tea With GaryVee
I’ve been spending a lot of time every morning doing live streams on Tea With GaryVee – hopefully bringing value to all of you as we get through this time!
Over time, I’ve been getting to get more and more inbound emails and DMs from people who have been on & started to take action after. I’m seeing messages from people who are sharing more of their truth, people who are finally starting their podcast, people who are finally posting on TikTok, and more – I wanted to start the process of sharing more of these post-game stories with everybody and hopefully bring some additional value.
So I asked my team to interview Jenna Malone, who was on Tea With GaryVee #4, about what she did after. Here’s our full conversation:
On the call, she asked about a few things:
Juggling different things at once and having multiple different interests…
How to balance her interest in art with her clothing business…
And the fear of spreading herself too thin by “not being an expert in one thing.”
I tried to really drive home a few things…
1. It’s OK to do a lot of things at once
2. The answer’s “yes” to everything
And 3, Life’s about perspective.
A little while after she came on the show, Jenna sent me this email – and that’s when I asked the team to interview her and dig deeper:
Jenna’s Post-Tea Interview
“How’d you feel about your experience being on the show?”
I probably rewatched the video 50 times and completely judged myself. It was pretty harsh.
I think very pessimistically a lot. Being on the show really opened up my eyes and made me realize I had to shift my perspective. I need to start thinking more optimistically, instead of thinking about everything that can go wrong, which I do all the time, I need to start thinking about what can go right.
And Gary proved that when he told me to put up a drawing $80 and I kind of laughed. I didn’t think it was going to sell. But I put it up and it DID sell, so it made me realize this is an example of “what if it goes right?”
“What changed after?”
I’ve been listening to Gary’s content for so long now, definitely a couple of years at least. It’s weird that you could listen to his content for so long and still not take action, but when you’re actually talking to him and he tells you to take action it’s almost like you don’t want to let him down in a way. I think that definitely helped.
As far as my art, I didn’t really think that I could ever make it as an artist. I had so many people, like my parents, and just society’s narrative of “starving artists” convince me that it wasn’t a thing that I could do. That’s why I went back into trying to sell t-shirts because I thought maybe t-shirts would appeal to more people.
When it comes to painting, I was like, well who’s going to buy that? Who is going to want that? It was just this negative, “what if it goes wrong” mentality instead of thinking about “what if it goes right?”
And the fact that I put that drawing up and it sold kind of showed me that you never know, you just got to do and then see what the results are. Because you never know what the outcome’s going to be.
“In terms of balancing different interests, how are you approaching that now? Still doing multiple things or focusing on one?”
I took a lot of the pressure off myself.
I was putting so much pressure on myself because when I would draw, or when I would make art, I would feel this guilt. I would feel like, “well, my clothing brand still hasn’t blown up so I should be working on the clothing brand – I shouldn’t be drawing right now.”
That’s something that I’m getting over. I’m actually doing more art now than ever, especially in this quarantine. I’m trying to get into doing custom shoes so I just bought a couple blank pairs of shoes and I’m going to paint them. And I bought some plywood, and I built a wall in my backyard, and I’m going to start spray painting it because I do graffiti.
As far as balancing things, I think it’s just about having to accept that I want to try different things right now. I have so many ideas that pop up in my head. I want to design a coloring book for adults, I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. And I’m going to pursue it! I may not get as many t-shirt sales because I’m not spending as much time on it, but I think I owe it to myself to try out these different things because I never know what’s going to happen.
As an artist, I can’t just restrict myself to one medium. That gets boring to me, so I want to try out different things and see what I like best, or see if I like doing them all. That’s kind of how I’m balancing it now.
I think talking to Gary helped that a lot because I feel like there’s such a narrative that you have to just pick one niche and go all out in that niche. The fact that Gary kind of told me that it’s okay to do different things, and that the answer is “yes.”
That really stuck with me.
“Talk to me about what you started doing on Twitter and what results you’ve already seen.”
It’s going well. I’m not doing it every day, I probably should. Time management is still something that I struggle with.
I did spend two hours on Twitter the following night, after that interview, and I gained a couple of followers. Someone sent me a message saying that they were interested in buying and so it kind of proved too that if I continue doing this, this could actually work.
And looking back on the interview, I feel so stupid for say that “I only tried it once” because you can’t just try something once and expect it to work. You gotta keep trying it for a while, at least, to see if this is going to work or not.
I think it’s just the fact that Twitter is just such a different platform. It’s not visual. I think I just had the mindset like, “well how is clothing going to sell on there?”
But it’s more than just the clothing, it’s about the message, what the clothing brand is about. And I think that Twitter’s definitely a great place for that because you could just type in a search term and find everyone who’s having a conversation about that word. You can engage with it.
“What are your plans going forward with everything?”
My goal is to step out of my comfort zone even more.
I had mentioned when talking to Gary about wanting to start a podcast, and just starting one is like completely out of my comfort zone. Again, I build up these thoughts in my mind like, “who am I to start a podcast?” “Who’s going to want to listen?” “No one’s going to listen.” These are the things that are going through my mind, but you can’t think that way. I don’t know if people are going to listen until I actually start the podcast.
Last night, I actually had my first livestream and recorded the whole thing. I’m going to post that as an IGTV video and then I’m going to strip the audio and I’m going to make that the first podcast episode.
I also did a livestream with another business owner. It was great to get his perspective on the subject, on being underpaid (the name of my clothing line).
When it comes to stepping out of my comfort zone, I relate so much with Gary’s content about overthinking things. I haven’t been posting as much on TikTok because I’ve been overthinking it. I get this perception of like, “unless I’m dancing or doing something with music, no one’s going to want to watch it.”
But I still posted one video on my clothing brand TikTok, and it got 20,000 views. And then I posted another video and it got like nothing. You don’t really know it’s going to work and you don’t know what content people are going to really drive with until you actually do it.
“Where can people find you?”
Here are my social links:
Instagram: @underpaidclothing and @jenna_jams
Twitter: @jenna_jams and @underpaid_co
Facebook: Underpaid Clothing
TikTok: @underpaidclothing and @jenna_jams
The post Post-Tea Interviews: How Jenna Stepped Out Of Her Comfort Zone After Tea With GaryVee appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
April 10, 2020
Top 5 Suggestions To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
The current pandemic causing businesses of all types to go through some challenging times.
Some are forced to reduce their workforce, cut hours and more – if you are one of the many unemployed, going through a transition, or just looking for a change, here are my top 5 tips to beef up your LinkedIn profile (written by Justin Novello, recruiter for Team GaryVee).
Are you Open to New Opportunities?
You have the ability to update your profile to flag to potential recruiters you are looking for a different job, without having your current employer know.
The setting can be made to full time, part time, remote work, contract, and/or freelance. I recommend choosing as many of these types of employment you are willing to do.
When it comes to choosing a title, be smart about it. You can actually just keep this open. Titles can mean different things at other companies, so if you leave this open, recruiters can approach you.
This gives people a chance to go through the hiring process again or feel free to say no thank you. I always recommend answering every inquiry from a recruiter, you never know if that recruiter will have a job you want later!
This is what recruiters see using LinkedIn’s recruiter packageUpdate your personal summary
This is the place you can reel potential employers in.
You’ve got their attention for a few seconds so you’ll need to make an impact upfront.
Make sure these first lines are humble, consumable to the layman (i.e. not too technical), and, most importantly, you demonstrate how valuable you’d be for those who hire you.
Make the reader feel something. You can show your career aspirations, explain your strengths, but I need to emphasize, keep it humble.
Lastly it is good to show you are also a human. Give the reader personal context so they can relate to you personally. For example, if you have a side hustle, major hobby or fanatical about something write it in here. Add your website, blog site, GitHub and or portfolios here.
For example, check out Madison Russell’s profile from ONE37pm – her personal summary is solid:
Example of what a good personal summary looks likeMake your skills specific
Get specific!
Show what you know, such as creative software, programming languages, project management software are all good examples.
Be accurate. Adobe Creative Suite isn’t enough, add each program. Add any of these skills you’ve touched in your life.
The most impactful skills should be listed in your personal statement, all others can be added lower in the profile where you can create a list. See the example above on how to integrate your skills into your summary.
If you have any other skills such as leadership, languages skills, certifications that are all relevant to what your aspiring to add everything you can. There is a language section for LinkedIn, but if its important to your next job, add it in the summary.
Remember: Your resume and LinkedIn profile are NOT the same!
Your LinkedIn profile should illustrate your work history in a manner which is digestible to the most ignorant about your field of expertise.
For example, stay away from industry specific acronyms on Linkedin, but you can be safe with them in your submitted resume.
Your resume should be reversed engineered from the job description you are applying for by using the most relevant examples of your job experience and skill sets. Never apply to jobs without adding something contextually relevant to your resume. Research the company to find context if you need to, its out there.
Your picture is more important than you might think
This is more important than people think.
You should have a profile picture, don’t leave it blank. The picture should show you in a tasteful, respectful manner. You don’t need to be in a suit and tie, but you also shouldn’t post a picture with a Snapchat filter on it. Somewhere in between is fine.
If you have more questions about setting up your LinkedIn profile, DM me @Justinnovello!
The post Top 5 Suggestions To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
April 7, 2020
4 Insights To Help Businesses In Challenging Times
As we’re navigating through this challenging time, I wanted to share some insights and hypotheses around what businesses can consider as they’re adapting and innovating in this environment.
Here are a few things on my mind:
Leaders work for their employees, not the other way around
Many large organizations are having to adjust to the work from home life that haven’t had experience doing it before. That means employees are having to work in environments that feel a little different or uncomfortable – they might be used to collaborating side by side and now are being forced to adjust. People may have their kids at home which can also create challenges.
Depending on how they’re wired, they may like it more or less, but as a leader in an organization it’s important to understand that you work for your employees at this time.
Consider getting on a call with every single one of your employees one by one if you can manage it – if you have hundreds or thousands, consider getting on a company-wide call and help them address some of their issues. It could be as simple as calling up Sally and saying something like “Hey, I know you love sitting next to Cindy and you guys collaborate that way. Try to do it on Zoom, and if you can’t or if you struggle, don’t overly beat yourself up. If your productivity is an 8 out of 10 at this time because you’re a person who loves to collaborate in-person, don’t over judge yourself.”
It’s about helping them create frameworks and holding them accountable but at the same time working with them and having empathy for the adjustment process.
This isn’t the new normal, it’s the new “temporary normal”
I think this is where a lot of people – especially business leaders – are getting confused. People are calling this time “the new normal” but in reality, it’s going to be a very, very small percentage of most people’s lives. I don’t know if it’s several weeks, several months, or if it goes away and comes back later in the year, but it will end at some point.
Calibrate your actions towards your ambitions and what you want to accomplish. But don’t overly judge yourself if you struggle to be productive during this time. Having 3 months, 6 months, or even a year where you’re not feeling at the top of your game can happen in life to everyone – happens to me too.
But it’s a temporary period of time – and if you and your family are healthy, you’ve got a ton to be grateful for.
First-time entrepreneurs: Don’t demonize getting a job if you have to
There are a lot of first-time entrepreneurs in this time who might have to go get a job somewhere.
Having to “go back” and get a job isn’t necessarily as bad as some entrepreneurs think if you can be strategic about who you work for. You could start the process of rounding out your skillsets or work for someone who could act as a mentor.
Tell stories: Now’s the time to get people to know you
I think storytime is a big concept, too. I think right now is a great time for businesses to start the process of telling stories around things like how they got started, their biggest mistake or their craziest experience.
It’s a practical concept for many right now, since we’re not working in offices and don’t have the option to create content at work. It’s a good opportunity to take a step back and start digging into that “origin story.”
Ultimately – people buy from people. And people connect with others on different concepts or subtle personality traits. For example, people follow me for all kinds of things – some people found me through my business content, others like my motivational content, others like wine, others like garage sailing or flipping stuff, others might have connected with me over something small like the fact that my favorite number is five.
That’s why I talk so much about showing different “looks” of yourself.
People might connect with you because of the way you talk, how you look, the fact that you love Call of Duty, or that you sold CDs in fourth grade.
Right now is an interesting time to tell stories and show people who you are.
The post 4 Insights To Help Businesses In Challenging Times appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
April 2, 2020
Free Content To Paid Access: A Business Model To Consider
There are different business models out there for content creators and professionals to monetize, but I want to suggest one in this article that I’m a huge fan of.
Let me explain:
When you’re a content creator on the internet with an audience, you could monetize with a course, membership products that send people audio or video content, ebooks, or other types of information.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with those things, and I think there are plenty of people that have built incredibly valuable courses and information based on their expertise. I think it’s amazing if you built a business you love that you’re passionate about that’s built on the back of that.
But a business model that I really love – that I think is incredibly valuable – is the concept of putting out free content and monetizing with paid “access.”
“Getting an hour of your time is less scalable, therefore more valuable.”
I think ebooks and online courses are stunningly commoditized, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate from people that are putting out more and more of that information for free. There’s a value in curation for sure – there’s value packaging information and advice so that people don’t have to spend time searching on Google or YouTube. But at the end of the day, what others can’t replicate is you the human.
You could sell a $19 ebook or a $19 / month membership on – say – How to train your sales reps, and that could bring people a lot of value. But getting an hour of your time once a week or once a month is less scalable, less replicable, and thus far more valuable.
When you’re talking to a closed group of people doing Q&A, somebody might ask you a question that leads to you telling a funny story about a sales team you once led, or a crazy sales call that one guy had. And that story and unique experience could lead to a breakthrough for a lot of people that otherwise wouldn’t have had that same breakthrough reading the story in an ebook.
For example, I’m doing Q&A every morning now on Tea With GaryVee. A lot of what I’m saying on the show and a lot of the answers I’m giving are the same as what I’ve given in the past, but because I’m giving so much access to the person on the other end, it’s hitting them differently than before.
The more contextual the advice, the more valuable it is.
“You’re able to react to something in the moment, and that creates even more value.”
The serendipity that comes with access is also incredibly valuable. For example, somebody might ask you a random question about how to deal with conflicts with your father, or they might ask you about your favorite wine on the way out. In this environment you’re “living and breathing”, which gives you the ability to react to something,
If you think about it, most professions today are based on this model already. It’s the business of being a doctor. It’s the business of being a lawyer. A lawyer could put out free law content all day long, but the real value comes from sitting down and consulting you in your specific situation.
As a therapist, you could put out content about parenting, insecurity, and other things but the real value comes from sitting down with a client for an hour and really digging.
Being contextual is about reacting to the moment – which creates more value for the end user.
How access puts your brand in a much better position
All of this is to say that while it’s still possible to monetize through a course, or a membership product where you’re putting out content, access can put your brand in a far better position.
For a couple of reasons:
One, the sheer value of it.
And two, when you sell “paid information”, in some cases it means that all your free content ends up driving to your paid content. It can sometimes change the intent of the free content you’re putting out – everything becomes part of a “funnel” to set up a sale instead of truly providing value to the other person.
Again, this isn’t always the case – I think platforms like Medium (full disclosure, I was an investor) do a really good job of leveraging a “pay for content” strategy.
When you sell access, you tend to put out your best content for free because that’s not where you’re monetizing. That then makes your content much more valuable because people can feel the intent.
I’ve watched so many people do such a great job of building an audience, and then all of a sudden when they started creating a $100 / month product with more content, their behavior changed to only wanting to sell that product. They think they haven’t changed, but subconsciously in the back of their mind, they’re thinking “hmm, how do I get 14 more people to sign up for my membership” when they’re putting out their free content.
People can feel that intent switch, and it makes a big difference.
The reason I believe my content is successful is because I’m pouring my heart out trying to answer people’s questions, not leave them with a “cliffhanger” that makes them want to pay $99.99 / month to be part of the GaryVee world or something.
Something to consider – curious to hear your thoughts in the comments.
The post Free Content To Paid Access: A Business Model To Consider appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
