Gary Vaynerchuk's Blog, page 27

Is College Really Worth It?

I remember sitting in Mr. Mulnar’s 4th grade science class when I started to figure out if college was really worth it.

That day I got an F on a science test.

A straight up F, it was really terrible. To make things worse, I had to get it signed by my mom.

I was definitely not interested in being punished, so I hid it under my bed. It sat there for two days, but my conscience still had too much power. I got scared and told my mom about it.

Three years later I was flushing every test and report card directly down the toilet.

But no joke. I distinctly remember sitting down in my small bedroom, crying and debating in my own head trying to make sense of why I was having such an intense reaction to this test.

And then it hit me. The thought that changed everything:

“Screw school. I’m a businessman.”

From then on I decided to just punt school and take punishments four times a year when report cards came out. I decided to fail almost daily at school for years.

I went to Mount Ida College (which closed down in 2018). It wasn’t the greatest school out there, to say the least. I was viewed as a loser by my friends’ parents — a kid who didn’t have a shot at anything.

But I knew what I was meant to do. I saw something different in myself, and I had enough self-awareness to recognize it.

It’s not that I didn’t care. It was actually the opposite. I honed in on my skills, to concentrate on what made me happy and what fulfilled me. I learned more about selling baseball cards and then wine. It led to me building Wine Library, VaynerMedia and everything else that I’m so proud of today.

I decided to fight what society expected of me and deliver on what made me happy.

And that’s ultimately what I wish for all of you — to do what makes you happy.

My intent is not to stop everyone from going to college or tell everyone that they can fail school and do what I did. That’s just not true and it’s not what I’m saying at all.

I’m saying kids need to be self-aware and have a difficult conversation with themselves about whether a college degree would really put them in the best position to succeed.

Here are some of my thoughts and POVs on how to decide if college is worth it:

1. If you’re collecting college debt to be an entrepreneur, that’s probably a bad idea

If you live, breathe and sleep entrepreneurship, and you have shown that ability before the age of 18, you should really consider whether or not it makes sense to go to college.

Entrepreneurship takes execution. You get good at it by “doing.”

It’s like tennis. You can read all you want about how to hit the ball, but until you actually start practicing, you’re not going to get any good. You’re not going to find out whether you truly have the talent to be great.

On top of that, there are many new ways to get the information you might need to know about business at a fraction of the cost. The information is out there and likely free.

The problem is getting society to accept and validate that truth. This might be a reason why it could be valuable to get a degree – it could be useful in getting a job somewhere. Especially at more old school companies and institutions. But when you’re an entrepreneur, the market doesn’t care where you got your degree from.

(And even if you’re going for a job, there are many companies that don’t care if you have a degree. Google doesn’t require a degree. Apple doesn’t require a degree. VaynerMedia doesn’t require a degree).

So many people think they want to be entrepreneurs. Then they go to college, collect $100,000 in debt, then start over at 25 once they realize how hard it really is.

That’s why I push so many entrepreneurs to “do.”

If they want to consume information and learn about business, I push them to do it through resources online that are free or much, much cheaper than a college education. Or better yet, go work for free for an entrepreneur they admire and learn by getting close to him or her.  

I understand how college can be beneficial for those in certain fields and how it can provide ROI, but I just don’t see that for entrepreneurs.

2. Pressure from parents is not a good enough reason to collect enormous debt

This is the one that really bothers me.

Parents are out here forcing their kids to collect debt just so they can feel good about their kids going to a “brand name” university.   

We saw this in 2019 with the college admissions scandal. Parents were buying their kids’ way into colleges because they wanted to use it as a way to fix their own insecurities. Many other parents come with a similar mindset, pressuring their kids to go to school and collect debt just so they can brag to their friends at the country club.

If parents are paying for their kids to go to college, I get it. But pushing kids to take on crippling debt that they can’t even declare bankruptcy to get out of is just not something I believe in.

This leads to a much, much bigger conversation that needs to be had around parenting.

3. The brand of college will collapse in the next recession

I genuinely believe that student loan debt will tear down this economy.

There are so many kids out there in tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt on insane interest… making $34,000 / year… and still getting big loans to buy cars and apartments.

The math just doesn’t add up. I really think it’s just a matter of time until everything collapses.

When it hits, it’s going to hit hard.

And just like the 2008 recession when everyone blamed the banks for tearing down the economy, next time people are going to blame colleges.

I believe that my generation’s kids will be the first generation of parents that doesn’t blindly believe in college as a whole.

Ultimately, it’s not a conversation about whether college is “bad” or not worth it. It’s about collecting enormous debt if you want to become an entrepreneur. If you’re taking on college debt to eventually start your own business, you are not in a good place.

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3 Marketing Opportunities to Take Advantage of in 2019

The biggest issue for most Fortune 500 companies today is that the majority of their marketing opportunity and dollars are going directly down the drain.

Many still hold on to the idea that Facebook advertising won’t work for their business, or that “only kids” are on Instagram. They don’t recognize how big the marketing opportunity it is.

The truth is we’re living through the single greatest attention shift of our time. Attention is shifting from the television to an increasingly mobile world.

And the problem is most businesses don’t actually know how to adapt their advertising to social platforms.

It’s similar to what happened when attention shifted from radio to television.

What happened was, businesses started running TV commercials like they ran radio ads.

There would be an image on the screen with a narrator in the background narrating the image. The ads weren’t native to a television environment. People didn’t understand what a good television commercial looked like until much later. They were trying to market in the “new world” as they did in the old world.

Same thing is going on today as we’re transitioning from a TV commercial world to a mobile world.

Companies have some understanding that you can’t just copy and paste a commercial on Facebook and Instagram.

But people still don’t fully understand what’s going on, or how to actually take advantage of the incredible opportunity that’s sitting on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Here are some ideas and strategies on how you can:

1. Leverage LinkedIn’s organic reach

LinkedIn’s organic reach is really high – similar to where Facebook’s organic reach was many years ago.

Linkedin has a pricing floor, which means the ad product isn’t as cheap as it is on Facebook or Instagram. But the organic reach is so high that you really should start thinking about how to create and distribute content there.  

Here are a couple of things you can do:

Add your profile link to your email signature

If you’re someone who sends a lot of email from your personal or business account, add your LinkedIn profile to your email signature.

It’s a quick way to get more exposure for your LinkedIn profile and get more followers. As you acquire more and more connections, it could be the match that starts the process of your content getting higher reach.

Use the $1.80 strategy

The $1.80 strategy is a concept that works really well for building an audience.

Search LinkedIn relevant hashtags to find “top posts” in your niche, and then add your “two cents” in the comments. Do it 90 times a day, and you’ll start the process of building a community and a brand.

I talk about it more in detail in this article.

2. Create contextual creative on Facebook and Instagram  

I’m creating 100 pieces of content around my personal brand per day, and I’m still probably 4,000 short of what I should be doing.

At the same time, there are big businesses out there creating three or four pieces of content for the year and putting a ridiculous amount of budget behind those pieces.

The problem is, the broader you go, the more diluted your message has to be.

It’s a lot more effective to break down your customer base in, say, 200 audience segments and create content specifically for each one of those segments.

For example, if someone tried to sell me peanut butter with a piece of content related to the New York Jets, I’d be interested. Same thing applies to consumers in general – you’d be much more likely to get a reaction if you create content specific to the interests of your market segments.

The reason businesses are afraid to go narrow on targeting is because it increases CPMs.

But the broader you go the more vanilla your messaging needs to be.

It’s why brands like Coca-Cola and Skittles have used slogans like “Open Happiness” or “Taste the Rainbow.” In the old world of marketing, it wasn’t possible to go narrow. You only had a few pieces of content that millions of people would see – so your slogan had to be vanilla.

When you go narrow you might pay higher CPMs, but your creative has a much better shot at converting because you can tailor your message to your segment.

Too many companies are thrilled to pay lower cost for higher reach, then get confused when their creative doesn’t get anyone to do anything.

3. Run YouTube pre-roll ads based on Google Search queries

This is an advertising capability that most companies don’t even know about.

When it comes to sales, Google AdWords is an incredible ad product. The problem is, it’s largely overpriced today. In the early days, I was buying broad search terms related to wine for rock bottom prices and building Wine Library on the back of that.

Today YouTube pre-roll ads are a great way to get similar results.

YouTube has an ad product that allows you to target people based on their Google search queries.

For example, if you’re a plumber, you can produce a video ad starting with “Hey, are you looking for a plumber in Boise, Idaho?” And you can literally run it against people in Boise, Idaho who searched for a plumber on Google.

It’s a great intent-based ad platform that a lot of companies aren’t leveraging.

Please let me know what you thought about this article on Twitter

5 Principles for Landing Your Dream Job (Without Experience)

When it comes to landing your dream job, I have some advice and POVs that go slightly against what most people talk about.

But I really believe in it. If you read and execute on these five steps, you’ll put yourself at an advantage to level up your career and land your dream job over time.

1. Give value for free

This is something that some people push against, especially in the freelance world. But when it comes to landing your dream job, I think it’s a very effective strategy.

The best way to start when you’re building a side hustle, business or career is by giving value for free.

Even to this day, I get an enormous amount of compensation for my time and effort, and I’ll still do things for free for people. I’m still going on podcasts that have a handful of followers. I’m still taking meetings and giving free advice to people who don’t pay me anything.

Why?

I’m building value and leverage. I’m also building my reputation – so you’re more likely to say good things about me behind my back.

Same thing applies when you’re trying to build your career or your side hustle.

When you do free work for people, you build relationships that could lead to other opportunities. You never want to give with expectation, but it’s okay to ask. And those asks could lead to bigger and bigger opportunities that let you eventually charge a lot for your work.

It’s not an easy process. But nothing great should be easy.

"Nothing great should be easy" – @GaryVee
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2. When you do free work, do it strategically

It’s one thing to do free work for anyone.

It’s another thing to do strategic free work that brings you opportunities.

If someone asked me to speak in front of a million people for free, I’d say “yes” because it’s an opportunity to build my brand in front of so many people. A big reason I take so many meetings with rappers and hip hop artists and bring them value now is that I want those relationships.

I want that exposure.

Getting exposure can give you leverage

So many people push back hard against getting exposure. People say that you need to “pay the people” and “pay for the quality of the work.” I agree.

But the truth is, money is not the only way to pay people for their efforts. Short term money is not always the most valuable thing for someone, depending on where they are in their career and what they are looking for.

Simply giving someone an at-bat to prove themselves or exposure for their work on a grand scale can be a great way to compensate them. That exposure can be leveraged to land their dream job later.  

For example, there are a lot of people on Team GaryVee who work for me as creatives or videographers who get hit up for other opportunities after they start working with me. If they want to go work for another celebrity, influencer or even start their own business, the brand association of working with me could be incredibly valuable to them.

Be smart about choosing who you work for

Like I said, you never want to give with expectation. But at the same time, it’s okay to ask.

In this live stream call, Aubrey Marcus and I took a call from a guy who wants to build a side hustle sharpening knives for restaurants. I told him to start by sharpening knives for free for five of the biggest restaurants within a 30-mile radius to gain some experience and results.

And if the vibes are feeling good, he could ask a restaurant owner to shout him out on Instagram, give him a testimonial or send other referrals.

My only reservation with choosing who you work for and hitting people up is that many of you are going to turn into spam bots.

That is, you’re literally going to press “copy”, go into your DMs, and just start spamming random people.

So I’m going to quickly talk about how you can bring them value:  

For many people trying to sell their services or work for someone, their entire strategy is predicated on, “what can I get out of this?”

Of course you could DM The Rock, Tyra Banks, or some startup founder you love, but if you don’t consider what that person actually wants, you’ll never get through.

Here’s a better way to do it:

Step 1: Open up Instagram Direct Messages.

Step 2: Find someone you’d be interested in doing free work for.

The key is to find someone who has a solid following or presence that can give you the exposure you’re looking for. For example, if you’re sharpening knives, it would be smart to hit up some of the biggest restaurants in your area. It would be smart to hit up some of the kindest restaurant owners you know who might reciprocate and give something back.

But at the same time, it won’t always be practical to target the biggest.

If you’re a fashion designer, you might not be able to get the attention of Gucci or Armani, but you could hit up early to mid-tier companies and influencers to get your foot in the door.

Step 3: Direct message them.

Send them a message like:

Hey Gary – I love your work. I do social media and marketing. I would love to make 5 – 10 videos for you for free? Look at my account and lmk. Much love

— [your name]

The message would be tweaked based on what you’re trying to accomplish, but you get the idea.

Step 4: Do it consistently

You’re not going to get a “yes” on every DM. But the best part is, you really only need one “yes” to build your foundation.

Do this 100 to 500 times a day.

Step 5: Deliver

Once you get an opportunity, you have to deliver.

These DMs and offers for free work are just to get your foot in the door. At the end of the day, skill and execution are everything.

3. Make the most of every opportunity you get  

When you get an opportunity, it’s super important to really, really crush it.

If you’re working for free, the benefits you’re getting are mainly coming from the results of your work.

Take the time to perfect your craft so you can deliver.

4. Don’t underestimate the value of long-term connections

People always get caught up in this idea, “what if I do free work, and I get nothing back?”

I get it.

Let’s go back to the “knife sharpener” example. If you’re hitting up restaurants and sharpening knives for free, there might be a time when you don’t get anything in return. You might work for someone who’s just happy to get the work done for free and move on.

But here’s the thing:

Someone is always watching.

Even if the restaurant owner doesn’t give you exposure or referrals that lead to your dream job, the chef might have seen how hard you worked. And when he or she opens up the number one restaurant in town in three years, they’ll remember you.

Think in terms of years and decades, not months or weeks

Why You Might Need to Fire Your Most Talented Employee

Most businesses really need to adjust their mindset when it comes to hiring and firing employees.

So many are obsessed with short-term performance, “numbers” and quarterly targets. But to build a real long-term business, it takes much higher level thinking.

It’s about focusing on overall culture and continuity over short-term financial performance.  

Why good performance doesn’t make up for bad behavior

What a lot of people don’t understand is, speed in business comes from great internal culture. The biggest things that will make your company go fast is 1) continuity and 2) lack of politics.

That’s why it doesn’t matter how “great” an employee’s numbers are if he or she makes all the other employees miserable. If they constantly spread negativity or drag other employees down, it doesn’t matter to me how good they are on paper.

If you’re the CEO of a company, it’s imperative that you go audit every single employee in your company, and figure out which ones make the other employees miserable.

It doesn’t matter if it’s your number one salesperson, your best developer, or even your co-founder.

Cancer spreads.

And if you have people in your company that are cancerous, you have to get rid of them no matter how much revenue they bring in.

It comes down to a couple of reasons:

1. If you don’t fire employees who are toxic, they will slow your company down

In a world where competitors are so quick to copy product features, the speed of product output matters over everything else.

And if you have toxic employees within your organization, you’ll have other employees who are scared to have meetings with them. You’ll have people who are spending time navigating discussions with those employees than actually executing.

Your people will be spending time on politics. Not on execution.

When you build a culture where people feel safe and excited to come to work, they won’t worry about dealing with other employees as much.

When they’re not spending any time worrying, they’re spending time executing. If they don’t have to spend 15 minutes a day bickering or figuring out who’s trying to “ruin” them, they’re free to come up with new ideas and actually do the job they were hired to do.

2. Emotional intelligence is way more important than technical skills

We are at the dawn of an era where emotional intelligence will become a very, very important trade.

Technical skills are being commoditized more and more every day. To me, the differentiator between employees in the future will be how they’re able to work with other people, and their level of EQ.

EQ is hard to measure and quantify, but it can be a disproportionate advantage in business. For me, it has helped build leverage with my customers – whether they’re buying a bottle of Wine at Wine Library, or whether they’re clients at VaynerMedia.

EQ can be the differentiator that leads to continuity within an organization. For example, if someone’s performance is constantly bad on paper and they have a high salary, most managers and leaders might think about letting them go.

But what if that person is the emotional support for three other people in the organization who are driving most of the sales? What if that person is someone who other employees can come to when they have personal issues or problems?

These are the types of employees that make the entire engine run, and most business just don’t recognize it.

“But shouldn’t bosses think about WHY toxic employees behave the way they do? What if their personality is just a reaction to the overall company culture, which is also toxic?”

If you’re an employee in a company where the overall culture is toxic, then the best option is to leave.

There’s sadly not much you can do to change the culture of an organization when you’re an employee. Culture is something that’s dictated from the top down.

If the CEO and upper management aren’t building the right culture, there’s unfortunately not much you can change.

“If an employee is toxic, shouldn’t you spend time trying to correct that behavior first? Why would you fire them outright?”

Sure, I’m a huge fan of giving people more than one chance.

We’re not in the one, two, or three strike policy at VaynerMedia. I always try to sit down with people, give feedback on their performance, and break through to them and penetrate any lack of self-esteem or negative upbringing. I try to get them to a place where they can perform well and get along with the other employees they work with.

But my biggest concern is, what happens if the employee fails again? What if they fail a second, third, or fourth time? What if they continue to make the other employees they work with miserable?

Do you “look the other way” because they’re bringing in revenue or because they’re a key part of your organization?

If you’re a CEO who does, then you can’t say that you value good culture.

Because you don’t.

If you liked this article, please please share it on Twitter! Really want more CEOs and leaders to read this.

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Why the TikTok (formerly Musical.ly) App is So Important

I’ve been watching the TikTok app (formerly Musical.ly) closely for a few years now and I’ve seen its progression. 

TikTok is an app that allows you to create and share short videos, usually featuring music in the background. At the time of this writing, it’s a top-15 free app on the App Store with massive adoption worldwide (especially India and Asia).

In the recent months, I’ve started to get more and more active on TikTok because really I believe in its potential. 

I see it as much, much more than just little kids dancing and lip syncing on their phone. 

1. TikTok’s app is “training wheels” for future influencers and content creators

TikTok provides a framework that makes it easier for people to create — especially if they don’t know where to start.

And these creators are starting younger than ever before.

When TikTok was still Musical.ly, it was the first real social network that reached an audience of first graders. It makes sense, since devices like iPhones and iPads have started reaching younger and younger people.

But the fascinating part is, TikTok is making it easier for them to become content creators. It 1) allows them to create content that they would not otherwise be able to make as easily on their own, and 2) gives them a framework they can play or create within.

For example, the TikTok app gives people tools like filters, control over video speed, access to professional audio and more. Even if you’re not the best lip-syncer, you can still create something fun on TikTok with a music background.

It’s similar to what Instagram did for photography — through filters and other photo editing settings, Instagram made it easier for people to create and distribute photos.

2. They’ve captured a new demographic

TikTok’s success with younger audiences reminds me a lot of Facebook and Snapchat. Facebook first started as a college-only platform and later gained popularity in other age groups. Snapchat did something similar by capturing a younger demographic first, then aging up.

Snapchat captured the “tween” and teenage audience because it understood two factors that are very important when it comes to teens: (1) it’s not cool to hang out at the same place as your mom and (2) you want to lock your room.

Like Facebook, Snapchat’s app and strategies eventually started to skew older and become more appealing to a much larger demo. Like every platform, TikTok will eventually do the same.

Think about when Facebook turned into “your mom’s” app. In many ways, TikTok is making Snapchat “someone’s older brother’s app” and owning an even younger gateway.

But even though it skews younger, it wouldn’t be smart to ignore it. Because eventually, it will age up.

3. It could pave the way for other platforms that give creators a framework to “create”

I’m fascinated by apps that act as “tools.”

A big part of Instagram’s value came from the fact that it made it “easier” for people to become photographers. It gave people the option to take pictures from their mobile device, edit it, and share it with friends. Instagram started by building something that was a utility, and then became a social network after building that initial audience. They started by building an app that people could us to express themselves first.

TikTok could be an interesting preview of other platforms that could provide people with a framework to create.

For example, what about a platform that makes it easy to express yourself through written content, or other types of content that haven’t been touched by Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok?

I’m fascinated by other apps that could act as utilities first, and then build a social network on top of it.

I’m testing, learning, and becoming a practitioner. Ultimately, if you want to reach teenagers (or younger demos) in America or Asia, TikTok could be a really interesting way to do it.

If you found this article interesting, it’d mean a lot to me if you could share it on Twitter! Let me know what you thought.

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3 Ways to Overcome Fear of Failure

I want to change the conversation around fear of failure and adversity.

You might not want to hear it, but I genuinely believe that your adversity and your “losses” are your biggest strengths in today’s environment.

The internet is creating a more “even” playing field in every industry — so if you’re not entitled or soft, you’re going to have a massive advantage over everyone else in the coming years and decades.  

Why your adversity can be your biggest strength

A few decades ago, things were different. Adversity really wasn’t as big of an advantage because of one main thing:

Gatekeepers.

You’d have a handful of old dudes in the media who controlled what everybody heard and thought. In the music industry, you had a handful of executives who decided who got signed and what songs they could have on their album. If you wanted to start a business, there were a lot of costs involved in building one or growing one. Rich kids had a real advantage over people who didn’t come from privileged backgrounds.

Think about it … when I was in my 20s, it was so much harder to break into an industry like music. You had to go on the street corner, hand out CDs, and pray that Run DMC or another huge artist heard your tracks.

Today, the internet puts everyone on a more “level” playing field.

There are still a ton of problems in the world, no doubt. But I really think that people coming from struggle and adversity have an advantage in this era with the internet.

Here are my thoughts and POVs on how to understand that and make that mental shift:

1. Stop worrying about other people’s opinions

This is really what it comes down to 99% of the time.

People are scared of other people’s judgement. People say they’re scared of losing money or failing in business, but if you dig to the core of it, they’re worried about what other people would think about their loss.

They’re worried that their mom or brother would tell them they should’ve “stayed in school” or taken a safer path.

Personally, I make a bunch of mistakes every single day. I deal with adversity constantly, and I’m always under pressure.

But I love losing.

I love losing because I don’t care about what you think about my loss. That’s why navigating the business world is so easy for me.

The truth is, no one has 100 percent context on your life outside of you. That’s the reason I don’t value other people’s opinions over my own – not even my own wife’s or mom’s. It’s because they don’t have full context on my intent.

It’s why I don’t fear failing in front of them.

I have empathy for their opinions because I understand how they could come to their conclusions with limited context. But I never take those opinions to heart.

2. Give the future more credit than the past

The thing that fascinates me the most about people is that they put the past on a pedestal, and underestimate the current and the future.

It’s like they’re looking dead in the face of getting results, yet the fear of the replication of something that happened in the past is stopping them from “going.”

When you look forward to the future instead of dwelling on the past, you get faster at making decisions.

To me, the past is over. It doesn’t exist anymore. I’m only living in the current and the future.

I don’t know how to be anything other than grateful and optimistic in a world where the odds of becoming a human being are 400 trillion to 1.

The only time I look to the past is when I’m using my story to my advantage.

3. Redefine what it means to “win”  

People get envious of others and fear failure because they define the “game” in the same way the world tells them to define the game.

The reason I have no fear of failure is because I don’t have the same “indicators” of success as other people do.

For example… when people ask me which entrepreneurs I look up to, my answer usually surprises them. I don’t answer with the cliche “Steve Jobs”, “Elon Musk”, or other billionaires.

I’m inspired by people in the dirt – normal people in average jobs who decide that they want to build something for themselves, people who don’t “get” Facebook or Instagram, but are determined to figure it out or people who have humility to put in work in the face of judgement.

I don’t care if you have a Rolex. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a fancy house. I don’t care if you’re on vacation in Ibiza.

That’s why it’s easy for me to not get jealous of people.

Let’s take LeBron James and Michael Jordan, for example. People love to debate who’s the “better” player. If you take it at face value, LeBron James has 3 NBA championships, but MJ has 6.

But what if you changed it up? What if you asked who’s the better human? Or who’s done more for people? What if you asked who’s a kinder person?

LeBron could probably win those debates real fast.

The reason it’s easy for me to stay in my own head is because I’m able to contextualize. For me, success isn’t about having the most money or taking the most vacations. I’m playing a different game.

Contextualizing is really important when it comes to focusing on what actually matters.

For example, a lot of parents feel like they have to be financially successful to set their kids up for a strong future, but I don’t think that’s necessary. I’d much rather have parents who were homeless but instilled the right values in me than parents who were “successful” on paper

You don’t have to play by the rules that other people set.

And when you create the game in your own head, you can rig it in your favor every time.

If you want to know more, see my video ‘What Are People Going To Think If You Lose?’ where I expand on these topics more:

The post 3 Ways to Overcome Fear of Failure appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.

The Biggest Problem With 360 Performance Reviews

I’m fascinated by how performance reviews are conducted in companies.

In my point of view, the methodology behind “reviews” and feedback in most organizations is flawed at best. 360 performance reviews usually don’t give full context on what’s actually going on in a company.

Why most performance reviews are flawed  

Reviewing the people you work with and giving feedback is a great thing to do. It’s something I advocate for at all times.

But what I’m concerned about is, a lot of people take feedback blindly during 360 reviews. Managers and bosses who are evaluating the feedback just look at the raw statements or “ratings” without thinking about the context around it.

For example… if Karen says Susie is a bad employee and gives her a low rating, you can’t accept that feedback as a manager or CEO on face value. You can’t accept it without understanding where that feedback is coming from.

Is it coming from a pure, well-intentioned place? Or is Susie rising up the ladder, and Karen’s afraid that Susie might take her spot one day? Did something bad happen in Karen’s life, and she’s just taking it out on Susie?

I see this happen all the time. Many managers or directors get to a certain spot in their careers where they get comfortable with a $200,000 / year salary, and then try to “tear down” everyone around them who might be a threat to their spot.

Because of that, they might try to suppress their direct reports or their understudies.

I believe people should be “reviewing” each other at all times – not just quarterly or yearly.

How to give better feedback to your employees

Giving feedback to employees who are underperforming can be tough, depending on how you’re wired.

Personally, I deal with them the same way I deal with any employee. Someone might be a very hard worker, but lack talent. Someone might have insane talent, but struggle with work ethic.

At the end of the day, if you have the luxury of being the “judge and the jury” (i.e. a CEO or a leader), the pressure is on you to give the right type of feedback and manage employees the right way.  

There are some employees at VaynerMedia that are highly talented but underperforming, and it’s entirely my fault. It might be because I haven’t created the infrastructure that allows them to shine. Or their bosses might not be “clicking” with them and that’s making them less passionate about their work. Or we haven’t asked the right questions around what interests they have and where they want to be working.

There’s a lot of serendipity that comes with where you work within a company and the situations you’re in, so it’s super important to have a lot of communication around that.

The way I come at it is, “Hey Rick, I noticed you’ve got talent oozing out of your eyes but you’re not delivering on the hustle – and that’s an important variable there. When you’re a leader, you’re creating the rules of the game.”

If you don’t like it, you’ve got full freedom to change the rules.

How to give better feedback to your boss

It can be hard to navigate the dynamic of giving feedback to your boss. We’ve all been there: you’re saying “I hate my boss” because you’re pretty sure they’re messing things up.

But no one wants to say anything because, well, they’re the boss. But as the situation progresses, giving feedback to your boss seems more and more like the right thing to do.

How do you tell your boss they’re wrong without jeopardizing your position or sounding like a jerk?

The first step really here should be this:

Checking over and over that you are sure they are wrong. Giving feedback to your boss is one thing, calling him or her out incorrectly is something totally different. It might sound like a cliche, but you really don’t want to get caught looking like an idiot in this type of situation. That can backfire majorly.

But in the end, I truly believe this: if your boss is a great boss, they will welcome performance feedback, and they will listen to you.

If your boss is good at being the boss, they will take your feedback and actually listen to what you have to say. Period. An enormous part of being the boss is about learning to be a better listener than speaker. You help the team out by being aware of what is going on at all times.

What does that take?

Listening.

The key to performance feedback is respectfully pointing out things you disagree with. If you go down that route, it’s a win win situation.

Think about it: if you give that information to the boss, and the boss agrees with you, you’ve won points and hopefully the situation will be dealt with. If they don’t, and they completely disrespect your feedback, then now you know what kind of person you’re working for.

So, with those two points about talking to your boss in consideration, to me there is no risk in giving feedback to your boss. As long as you keep your cool and are diplomatic about the situation, the two outcomes we outlined above can only end well.

If you are putting your future into the leadership of an individual, don’t you want that person to be respectful of feedback? Or learning from their mistakes? This could be the question that determines if you are in the right place.

So if you have something to say, don’t hold back.

Be respectful and approach it from calm ground. But don’t stick around if they won’t take you seriously.

It’s not worth your time.

The post The Biggest Problem With 360 Performance Reviews appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.

4 Parenting Ideas No One’s Talking About

In the past year or so, as I’ve been exploring the topic of effective parenting in more detail, I’m noticing that my POVs on the topic are ideas I don’t see others talk about. 

The truth is, many people are parenting their kids from a place of insecurity, and treating their kids like “products” instead of actually doing what’s best for them.

But before I get into it, I want to clarify that I don’t want to tell other people how to raise their children. I don’t have the context. Raising kids is super personal, and I don’t want to give blanket advice.

I’m just sharing my opinions and perspectives as someone who was raised by two incredible parents.

The difficult conversation parents need to have with their kids

Your kid’s life is your kid’s life. They’re the ones ultimately in charge. Sure, there are a lot of other important people (like parents) that surround them, but ultimately, it’s their life.

It’s why I’m pushing kids so hard to do what they want to do, even if it goes against what their parents want.

My intent is not to get kids to be disrespectful to their parents, it’s actually the exact opposite — I want kids and parents to have incredible long term relationships. And if a kid is living their life to win on his or her parents’ terms (instead of their own), they’re going to have resentment later in life once they realize they’re not actually happy.

And that’s going to destroy happiness, for both kids and their parents.

1. Allow your child to feel like they can achieve what they want – without handing out “eighth place trophies.”

It doesn’t matter if your kids want to be music producers or basketball players or anything else.

As a parent, creating “permission” is an important idea. If you as a parent, say “yes, you can do this”, it’s a big deal and will make a huge difference in how much they believe in themselves.

It’s how my mom treated me, and it’s how I treat my employees. When I hire someone, I’m incredibly positive and blindly believe in their potential. I’ll trust them to execute. I’ll hype them up and encourage them as much as I can.

But at the same time, I balance that with not handing out “eighth place trophies.”

If your kids want to be producers and they put something out on YouTube and everyone says it sucks, you look at them and say “the market said you suck — let’s try again.” It’s a balance between having blind faith in them and their abilities, but at the same time, letting the results be the results.

It’s stunning to me how many parents do the reverse. So many tell their kid that they probably won’t be a great soccer player,  but tell them they “did a great job” when they go on the field and lose 8 – 0.

Many parents don’t understand the idea that you can hold kids accountable for losses and mistakes without making them feel bad about who they are. For example… my mom never made me feel bad about not being good at school. I never felt like I sucked for not being a good student. But I did get grounded every time my report card came out. My mom made it clear that there was a price to be paid for not delivering good grades. And if I didn’t deliver, I had to pay that price.

It was encouragement balanced with practicality. It’s important to create “friction” between the two to put the kids in a good position to win.

2. Stop using your kids’ successes to fix your own insecurities.

We saw this with Hollywood parents in the college scandal that happened – parents paid for their kids to get into the best colleges.

There are a couple of huge problems with this:

When you do something like that, you mess your kids up. A lot of people talk about how bribing a college to get a seat for your kid takes away seats from other kids (which is true), but the kid who got the seat through a bribe also gets messed up for a lot of reasons.
They’re creating a “fake environment” for their children. When you reward people for behavior not based on their own merit, you create a huge vulnerability for them later in life.
They’re showing that they care about what other parents think about their children more than their actual success of their children.

When you use your kids’ accomplishments as the source of your own self-esteem, you end up treating them like “products” more than children.

Please let your kids win on their own terms, not your own.

3. “React” Instead of “Force”

My parents were unbelievably supportive of my ambitions.

But they never “forced” me down any path.

There’s a big difference between the ideas of “reacting” and “forcing” that a lot of parents don’t get. Reacting means giving your kid permission to explore. It means giving your kid rope.

If your child is selling shoes or lemonade and they’re young, all you need to do is react to the fact that they’re already entrepreneurs and give them a lot of rope. Same thing applies if your kid is really into baseball, soccer, art, or anything else.

Reacting is about giving your kid encouragement and support around something they’re already drawn to — and building up “steam” around those actions.

When I was young, I would rip flowers out of people’s yards and sell it back to them. I was making thousands of dollars every weekend selling baseball cards.

My parents’ idea was to encourage me to explore that side of myself.

You can enroll them in theater class, or violin class, painting class, or something else to see if they like it.

But there’s a BIG difference between doing that vs forcing them down a path because it makes you feel good as a parent.

My kids are still young. So right now, all I’m doing is listening. I’m watching. I’m seeing what they’re drawn to, so I can create a supportive infrastructure around whatever they’re drawn to later.

I have absolutely no intention of imposing anything on them. Not even entrepreneurship.

4. Stop judging micro-moments that don’t matter

Many of the things parents overemphasize or judge themselves for don’t actually matter.

Parents tell themselves they’re going to go to every little league game or never miss their kid’s recital, yet they undermine their self-esteem and happiness in other ways.

Personally, I know I’m not going to be at every recital not at every little league game, nor do I feel I need to be.

I care a lot more about being there for my kids when they really need me. I care more about turning my kids into emotional “ninjas” who have enormous self-esteem, empathy for others, and know how to use adversity to their advantage.

For two excellent videos on this topic, check out The Reason People Are Struggling With Parenting and Let Your Kids Be Who They Are.

The post 4 Parenting Ideas No One’s Talking About appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.

4 Ideas for Effective Parenting

In the past year or so, as I’ve been exploring the topic of effective parenting in more detail, I’m noticing that my POVs on the topic are ideas I don’t see others talk about. 

The truth is, many parents are parenting their kids from a place of insecurity, and treating their kids like “products” instead of actually doing what’s best for them.

But before I get into it, I want to clarify that I don’t want to tell other people how to raise their children. I don’t have the context. Raising kids is super personal, and I don’t want to give blanket advice.

I’m just sharing my opinions and perspectives as someone who was raised by two incredible parents.

The difficult conversation parents need to have with their kids

Your kid’s life is your kid’s life. They’re the ones ultimately in charge. Sure, there are a lot of other important people (like parents) that surround them, but ultimately, it’s their life.

It’s why I’m pushing kids so hard to do what they want to do, even if it goes against what their parents want.

My intent is not to get kids to be disrespectful to their parents, it’s actually the exact opposite — I want kids and parents to have incredible long term relationships. And if a kid is living their life to win on his or her parents’ terms (instead of their own), they’re going to have resentment later in life once they realize they’re not actually happy.

And that’s going to destroy happiness, for both kids and their parents.

1. Allow your child to feel like they can achieve what they want – without handing out “eighth place trophies.”

It doesn’t matter if your kids want to be music producers or basketball players or anything else.

As a parent, creating “permission” is important. If you as a parent, say “yes, you can do this”, it’s a big deal and will make a huge difference in how much they believe in themselves.

It’s how my mom treated me, and it’s how I treat my employees. When I hire someone, I’m incredibly positive and blindly believe in their potential. I’ll trust them to execute. I’ll hype them up and encourage them as much as I can.

But at the same time, I balance that with not handing out “eighth place trophies.”

If your kids want to be producers and they put something out on YouTube and everyone says it sucks, you look at them and say “the market said you suck — let’s try again.” It’s a balance between having blind faith in them and their abilities, but at the same time, letting the results be the results.

It’s stunning to me how many parents do the reverse. So many tell their kid that they probably won’t be a great soccer player,  but tell them they “did a great job” when they go on the field and lose 8 – 0.

Many parents don’t realize that you can hold kids accountable for losses and mistakes without making them feel bad about who they are. For example… my mom never made me feel bad about not being good at school. I never felt like I sucked for not being a good student. But I did get grounded every time my report card came out. My mom made it clear that there was a price to be paid for not delivering good grades. And if I didn’t deliver, I had to pay that price.

It was encouragement balanced with practicality. It’s important to create “friction” between the two to put the kids in a good position to win.

2. Stop using your kids’ successes to fix your own insecurities.

We saw this with Hollywood parents in the college scandal that happened – parents paid for their kids to get into the best colleges.

There are a couple of huge problems with this:

When you do something like that, you mess your kids up. A lot of people talk about how bribing a college to get a seat for your kid takes away seats from other kids (which is true), but the kid who got the seat through a bribe also gets messed up for a lot of reasons.

They’re creating a “fake environment” for their children. When you reward people for behavior not based on their own merit, you create a huge vulnerability for them later in life.

They’re showing that they care about what other parents think about their children more than their actual success of their children.

When you use your kids’ accomplishments as the source of your own self-esteem, you end up treating them like “products” more than children.

Please let your kids win on their own terms, not your own.

4. “React” Instead of “Force”

My parents were unbelievably supportive of my ambitions.

But they never “forced” me down any path.

There’s a big difference between “reacting” and “forcing” that a lot of people don’t get. Reacting means giving your kid permission to explore. It means giving your kid rope.

If your child is selling shoes or lemonade and they’re young, all you need to do is react to the fact that they’re already entrepreneurs and give them a lot of rope. Same thing applies if your kid is really into baseball, soccer, art, or anything else.

Reacting is about giving your kid encouragement and support around something they’re already drawn to — and building up “steam” around those actions.

When I was young, I would rip flowers out of people’s yards and sell it back to them. I was making thousands of dollars every weekend selling baseball cards.

My parents encouraged me to explore that side of myself.

You can enroll them in theater class, or violin class, painting class, or something else to see if they like it.

But there’s a BIG difference between doing that vs forcing them down a path because it makes you feel good as a parent.

My kids are still young. So right now, all I’m doing is listening. I’m watching. I’m seeing what they’re drawn to, so I can create supportive infrastructure around whatever they’re drawn to later.

I have absolutely no intention of imposing anything on them. Not even entrepreneurship.

5. Stop judging micro-moments that don’t matter

Many of the things parents overemphasize or judge themselves for don’t actually matter.

Parents tell themselves they’re going to go to every little league game or never miss their kid’s recital, yet they undermine their self-esteem and happiness in other ways.

Personally, I know I’m not going to be at every recital not at every little league game, nor do I feel I need to be.

I care a lot more about being there for my kids when they really need me. I care more about turning my kids into emotional “ninjas” who have enormous self esteem, empathy for others, and know how to use adversity to their advantage.

6 Music Marketing Ideas for Artists in 2019

Music marketing has changed so much in the past several years.

Before, it was much harder to “breakthrough.”

A handful of music executives would decide the fates of so many artists. They would listen to your CD or demo tape, decide whether or not they liked you, and sign you based off of that.

Even if you somehow got in front of the right people and got signed by a record label, you would still have to pray that they put actual marketing dollars behind you to promote your music. And you’d have to hope that they selected the “right” ten songs to be on your album.

Because one of those 10-20 songs didn’t “pop”, you’d be finished.

Things are different now.

Now, we have so many social media platforms, and there are so many opportunities for artists to get noticed. You don’t have to wait for some executive (aka “gatekeeper”) in an office to notice you.

A lot of artists complain about how “no one pays for music anymore” because everything is so freely (and cheaply) available. But the truth is, there are so many more artists that have built a fanbase because of streaming services and free platforms like Soundcloud or YouTube.

If you’re an artist, here are some ideas you can use to grow your fanbase and get more ears on your music.

1. The real money is in brand, not in the end consumer

More and more artists are starting to understand this now.

In the “old world” of music, you would have a handful of artists making millions and millions of dollars by selling songs and CDs. But the internet has democratized everything. Instead of having a handful of artists making a ton of money, you’ve got thousands and thousands of artists making $30k, $50k, or $100k+ / year from their music.

But most of them aren’t making it by selling songs.

They’re doing by building brand.

Brand gives you the option to monetize in a variety different ways — you could do live events, private hangouts for your “top fans”, and more.

2. Eat caviar with a 40 oz

This is a concept I articulated in my meeting with Juicy J.

What I mean by that is, stay true to your roots even as you get bigger and bigger. A lot of artists completely flip and change their music to match the environment when they move from their hometown to a big city like LA.

But the way I think about it is, when you move to a big city or start to get more successful you should still keep 80% of your “street” vibes while mixing it with 20% of your new environment.

Faking or being inauthentic is a bad idea no matter where you are. But mixing styles makes you unique.

3. Interact with your audience

You know why people tend to make fun of trendy pop songs?

Because they’re fleeting.

Artists like Michael Jackson, Grateful Dead, and Madonna are so popular because they built a community around their music. Of course they had unbelievable talent — but there are a lot of people who had their level of talent that didn’t achieve the level of success they did.

The reason they did is because they built a community around their music. It’s why people wear Grateful Dead t-shirts or Michael Jackson gloves.

For example, I gave A Boogie some advice on doing a random popup show for his fans.



4. Do music collaborations outside your genre

Collaborations are huge because they allow you to “trade fans” with other artists. Especially when they’re outside your direct demographic.

If you’re a rapper, one of my biggest pieces of advice for you would be to do a collaboration with a country star tomorrow. Get a Latin trap artist to sing the hook of your next track. Hit up R&B stars that used to be huge 10-20 years ago.   

People grossly underestimate how much this matters.

Think about it… the entire genre of hip hop took a massive step forward when Run DMC did a collaboration with Aerosmith. Most people don’t understand how much Kendrick Lamar’s collaboration with Taylor Swift mattered to his career.

There’s only one asterisk:

It has to be authentic. You shouldn’t do collaborations just because you think they’ll get you more awareness. You should do them because you like the music.

5. Produce a higher volume of music

The number one piece of advice I have for artists is to put out music every single day.

Most artists hedge against this because they don’t want to dilute their craft. But here’s the thing:

People only remember the hits. They forget the other stuff. If you put out 100 songs in a row and 70 of them don’t get traction, there’s no loss. People will only remember the songs that hit.

So if you’re a talented artist, the upside of having 100 “at bats” is enormous. All you need is one song to reach the right person to take your career to a whole different level.

The downside is practically zero.

6. Promote your music through vloggers and influencers

Remember all the artists who got huge because their songs were always playing in the intro of Madden or NBA Live video games?

Same thing applies to vloggers.

DM every major vlogger that has over 100,000 views on their videos and give them your music for free to put in their vlogs. Having an influencer listen to or promote your music is the ultimate word of mouth.

There were so many artists (like Good Charlotte) that got famous because their music was playing in the background of Madden when you were picking your team.

Figure out who the top 500 – 700 Twitch players are. DM them and ask them if they would play songs to your music. It would give you new reach with new people.

Three years from now, some random person (who just so happens to be the executive at a major record label) might discover that episode where your music was featured, and that’ll change your life forever.

Here are some of my meetings with artists that you might get value from:

Meeting with Young Jeezy:



Meeting with Juicy J:



Meeting with Jessie Reyez: