Gary Vaynerchuk's Blog, page 35

How to Build Resilience at Work

In today’s episode of the AskGaryVee show, I talk with Beth Comstock — former vice chair of GE and author of Imagine it Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change. 

Beth is an all time executive and a really, really kind person. We share a very similar philosophy on the importance of patience, fake environments, how businesses can hire the right people, and more.

Over the years, I’ve heard SO many people say amazing things about Beth behind her back.

In this episode, I think you’ll see why

5 Strategies for Personal Branding Online

For years, I’ve been talking about how important it is to build a personal brand.

But let’s not get confused by the semantics:

Your personal brand is your reputation. And your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career.

Your personal brand is your reputation. And your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career.
Click To Tweet

People don’t understand this. Playing the long game and building your reputation always plays out.

But the issue is, people see others getting ahead in the short term at the expense of their long term personal brand. And so, they get tricked.

Instead of being patient, they go for the quick sales. They keep trying to convert customers on the first interaction. They try to extract money, instead of creating an experience.

Brand is about how someone feels in the moment when they interact with you or your business.

You all have emotions you feel in reaction to names like “Coca-cola”, “IBM”, or “McDonald’s.” Whether good or bad, you have a reaction. When you hear my name, you probably get a feeling too (which I hope is positive).

For example, if you had to put into words — I hope you’d say “Gary Vaynerchuk, the guy who gave more than asked”, or something along those lines. I want you to think of me as someone who gave massive amounts of value.

The best companies in the world don’t sell. They brand. For example, Apple never tries to “convert” you into buying an iPhone. Instead they paint a picture of the “iPhone experience.” They focus on branding.

I do the same.

Not saying you should never sell. But personal branding is a disproportionately valuable factor that most people just don’t focus on.

In this article, I’ve put together a mashup of strategies, tips, and advice on building a personal brand I’ve talked about over the years.

Hope you get a lot of value from it

How to Deal with Pressure From Parents

Dealing with pressure from parents is such a big topic for so many young people out there.

They love their folks and don’t want to upset them, but at the same time, they want to go out and do what they love.

I have empathy for people in this position because they love their parents. They appreciate their sacrifices.

But the truth is, your parents will be proud of you in the end no matter what.

You’re better off having problems with them now (in the short term) than for the rest of your life.

Having some disagreements with your parents in the beginning is better than having 60 years of problems from the resentment you’ll feel for them down the road.
Click To Tweet
 

Because that’s exactly what’ll happen if you live your life for them.

The following segment is an excerpt from AskGaryVee Episode 239: Charging Clients, Personal Brand or Business Brand & Advice to a Senior in College. The caller is a soon-to-be college grad who wants to spend 18 months going and doing what he wants to do. He wants to go discover himself, but his parents want him to get a safe job.

Check it out below:

Gary: Nate, how are you?

Nate: Dude, this is awesome!

Gary: You’re on the show baby.

Nate: Sweet! Okay so this is what my question is, and I think I’ve tweeted at you a couple of times. I’m a senior in college right now, and I’m finishing school because I want to give my parents and my grandparents [satisfaction].

Gary: It matters to them.

Nate: Yeah, it matters to them.

But how do I tell my parents that I just want to go do for 18 months?

Gary: So what, they want you to get the safe job after college, is that what you’re saying?

Nate: Yeah.

Gary: Just tell them. You’re a big boy. It’s time.

Nate: Okay. Okay.

Gary: I mean really. Listen, “easy for me to say” because your dad might punch you in the mouth, right? I get it. But here’s what’s interesting about a lot of my advice: It’s black and white. Like, you know your parents. Clearly your signals and nuances haven’t worked because they continue to want you to go down that path.

They’re not responding to you. They’re responding to what they grew up with and what they believe religiously. Right?

Nate: Yeah.

Gary: So that means the soft way of “hey, maybe… “ is not working, right?

Nate: Yeah, yeah that’s totally right. I keep getting these lectures from them.

Gary: It’s time for you to lecture your parents back. One of you is gonna be right. Let me promise you one thing: You really, really don’t want to be 47 and hate your parents.

Nate: Okay.

Gary: Because you’re not actually hating your parents, you’re hating yourself for not having the balls to do it. You want me to come over and have that talk with you?

Nate: (Laughs)

Gary: You think you got this?

Nate: Yeah, I’ll give them a call right after this.

Gary: Dude call them right now, and tweet me how it went. Let me pump you up a little bit more, I’ll be your corner man.

You start with “Mom / dad I love you. I’m 23 years old. I did [college] for you. Now I have to do something for myself. It’s high risk / high reward, but when you’re 23 that’s what you do.

I’m not going to be able to do this when I’m 47 and it’s not practical. It is practical, Mom / Dad for me to go 18 months and just do and discover myself. I’ve been doing the thing for you my whole life, and it’s time I do something for me. And if you can’t support me in that, that’s fine. I prefer you do, but I’ve got to do this as a man.”

Nate: Okay, yeah.

Gary: You don’t sound pumped enough. Talk to me, what are you scared of? This is why I’m doing a call-in show.

I’m telling you right now I don’t think you’re going to do it, and if you do do it, you’re going to do it half-assed. So help me understand what you’re scared of, tell me the truth.

Nate: Yeah well, it’s just because of the pedigree, the education, and how much they’ve sacrificed, I don’t want to disappoint them.

Gary: Let me help you here: Disappoint for 18 months, and then make them feel good again.

I love you for that. It means you’re appreciative and you love your parents. Tell them the truth, start with that.

Either 1) your parents love you and will respond to you, or 2) they love you but they’re so deep into their structure —  it’s been religion their whole life that they’re incapable to break through and see it in a different way.

The problem is, it’s your life and it’s going to end up one way or the other.

Nate: Wow, yeah.

Gary: Like, you just gotta tell them “I don’t want to let you down” and remind them that it’s only 18 months. For the next 60 years, you can do the safe thing that makes them feel great. You just need 18 months, all you want is 18 months.

Nate: Yup, and I wrote down the date.

Gary: Sign a contract. Give yourself 18 months and then show them.

Nate: Okay.

Gary: Are you gonna do it now?

Nate: Yup, I’m going to hang up and call them right now.

Gary: Tell me, who’s more scared of this move?

Nate: My mom.

Gary: Go there man. Tell her, “Mom I love you with all my heart. I’m so thankful for your sacrifices, all I need is 18 months — I can’t live with this regret in my 30s, 40, or 50s because I’m going to crack and be a broken man. I need 18 months, and I promise if I can’t get traction, I’ll go wherever the hell you want me to work.

Navigating family pressure

So many kids out there are struggling with balancing the expectations of their parents with what they want for themselves. 

The truth is, appeasing your parents is a long term vulnerability to your relationship. Because eventually, you will resent them. 

It’s tried and true. 

That might not feel “real” to you right now. But when you’re 29, when you’re 42, when you’re 61, you’ll realize that that the thing you were doing to make your parents happy is what ultimately will destroy your relationship with them. 

If you need to have this conversation with your parents, I hope this article pushes you to go do it. 

Check out the full video clip below: 

Don’t Get Tricked By Your Late 20s

A lot of people feel anxiety when they hit their late 20s.

When you hit 27, 28, 29, or 30, more and more of your friends will be getting married. Having kids. Buying homes. On the surface, it can seem like they “made it.”

It’s easy to look at them and start auditing where you’re at in life, wondering why you haven’t made it yet.

It’s a tricky stage.

But the truth is, if you’re under 30, you’re just barely getting started.

A lot of people don’t understand how long life really is. Many young people today will end up living beyond 100 years old — with most of those years being good, healthy years. That means if you’re 30, you’ve got about 60-70 more years of execution left.

That means you could start from zero at 30 and do nothing right for the next two decades, you’d still have an entire lifetime worth of execution in front of you.

If you think about life like a football game, you haven’t even started the first quarter yet. You’re still playing the national anthem.  

Even I feel like I’m just getting started, and I’m 42.

Here’s some advice I have on how you can get to that same mindset:

1. Redefine what it means to “win”

People get anxious and envious because they define the “game” in the same way the world tells them to define the game.

The reason I don’t get caught in “keeping up with the Jones’s” is because I don’t think buying more stuff is the indicator of success.

The reason I don’t get caught in “keeping up with the Jones’s” is because I don’t think buying more stuff is the indicator of success.
Click To Tweet

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. People who have humility to put in work in the face of judgement.

I don’t care if you have a Rolex. I don’t care 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? What if you asked 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.

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.

2. Develop patience by setting bigger goals

Too many people are trying to become millionaires by arbitrary ages like 25 or 30.

Goals like that lead to short term behavior. If you’re in a rush trying to become a millionaire by 30, you’ll take shortcuts and chase fast money — which means you won’t be doing the right foundational work for your future. Or worse, you’ll hurt your reputation with the things you try to sell.

And when you don’t hit your financial goals “by 30” (or whatever age you set), you’ll have to “reset” at 30 all over again.

Your self-esteem would start messing with your head.

Instead, my advice for 20-somethings is to go bigger.

My goals are to buy the New York Jets and become the most impactful entrepreneur of this generation. That’s going to take me my whole life.

That means I have to be patient. I have to go slower. I have to be more thoughtful and careful with my reputation.

And most of all, I have to work hard and enjoy the process — whether or not the results come.  

3. Cut out negative people

One of the most painful things for people in their late 20s to do is cut out negative people.

That might mean cutting off your friend you’ve been hanging out with since first grade. It might mean breaking up with a partner. It might mean talking to your mom less often.

A lot of people understand this logically, but they don’t really “get” it.

It’s a difficult thing to do.

But one of the fastest ways that I’ve seen for people to build confidence is by hanging out with winners who fire each other up — and cut out people who are dragging you down.

If you’ve read this far, watch this video. I think you’ll get a lot of value from it:

 

How to Find Easy Products to Sell on eBay (even if you have no money)

In the early part of 2017, I created the “2017 Flip Challenge” to push people to sell products on sites like eBay for profit.   

So many of you complain about not having money to start a business, invest in ads, or build your personal brand. But at the same time, you have things laying around the house that you could sell online.

You could take the time you spend watching House of Cards or Game of Thrones, and use it to find out what products are worth on eBay. You could out what your clothes are worth. Find out what your old electronics are worth. Find out what toys are worth.

And you could use that data to start selling products you already have, flip stuff from thrift stores, or sell stuff from the “free” section of Craigslist.

In one of my earlier DailyVee episodes, I drove to a thrift store in New Jersey with my brother-in-law Justin Novello, and showed you how we buy and sell stuff from garage sales. We’ve been doing this for years.

And even though it’s 2018, the flip game is still more real than ever.

So I want to eliminate every excuse people have for not getting started. 

Today, Justin will show you how to start selling online

How Young Entrepreneurs Can Build a Personal Brand (aka a reputation)

In this video excerpt, I talk with a young entrepreneur who’s early in the process of building his personal brand.

It’s advice that about 65% of my audience really needs on building a brand when you’re first starting out.

The video was one of my most popular ones of all time on YouTube. I think you’ll get a lot of value from it.

I hope you enjoy it!

Gary: How old are you?

Guest: 32

Gary: Perfect. You know the point now is to just take three years and just do and see what that tastes like.

Guest: Mmm.

Gary: I think one of the things that really works for me is I’m not worried about the micro but I think about the macro.

Like, what the fuck am I doing with you right now? There’s a lot more to do with showing up to the funeral than it has to do with the bank account. And you know what’s funny is, if you actually live your life like the funeral you end up making stuff from a bank account by accident.

It’s so crazy, when I think about like how I invested in Twitter and made all that money it was more about giving shit about my funeral. It was doing the right thing by a bunch of people which is what led me to go to the South by Southwest which led to me meeting the Twitter guys.

Guest: Yeah, like follow your passion, follow your bliss.

Gary: I think one of the things that people feel like struggle with is actually being very real with themselves.

Guest: What do you mean?

Gary: The difference between understanding who you are versus who you wish you were.

That’s something that I’m always very fascinated by when I have a meeting like this. Like, what kind of read do you have on yourself? I think I would struggle a lot if I didn’t really genuinely know who I was. And then once you know who you are you get more comfortable with what you’re up to.

So if I asked you right now — and I think it ebbs and flows when you’re 28, 32, when you’re 57 — if I asked you what you want to have happen, what would you say?

Guest: You mean like what would happen with my creative projects, or life?

Gary: Sure.

Guest: I want to have a life where I can create with a team. I want to put out content that affects people’s lives for the better. I want to travel with my man and have property, international property, and travel for fun. With also having time for work. But impacting people for the better in the process.

Gary: That’s cool.

So, what are you hoping [to accomplish] as you’re rolling up to this office? What are you hoping for, for real?

Guest: You know shit that I do not know. So I just want to pick your brain about a couple of key things, and ideally get in a place where I can hit you up.

Gary: OK. Let’s start with this. Listening to what you said, the first thing I will tell you is, don’t front. The number one mistake that people that aspire to the sentences that you just spit out of your mouth — the number one mistake they make is they try to over sell themselves because they think they need it to have people’s attention.  

So let me give an example: Whether it’s life coach, inspirational figure, business coach, whatever form it takes… I think it’s much smarter for you to talk to the world about your process of going through this than the advice you think you should be giving them.

And that’s where people are struggling.

I got real lucky. I’m not sure that if the internet was around in its current form, that I would be a successful. Because at 22 and 23 I knew I was special, and I might have not been patient enough to first build a business first get experience.

I didn’t start talking to the world until I was 35. And I love to say to you to be patient. I’m not sure if I would have been.

I love to hear myself talk. And it’s nice, there’s nothing wrong with that. It just sounds bad. It’s funny. A lot of what I deal with now is being okay with not being politically correct — work life balance, cursing, etc.

Did you see that I was on the Breakfast Club?

Guest: Mhmm.

Gary: So I don’t know if you watched that interview or some of the content that I’ve been building on. I’m on a hot “no excuses” kick. I have a lot of female entrepreneurs. I have a lot of fans that are African-Americans. I spent a lot of time in that community my college years. I just think I’m giving the best advice to women and minorities in business today which is: Tough.



And it’s crazy. In my body right now, it doesn’t feel great. It feels a lot better going somewhere else. The problem is, it’s the truth. The market just doesn’t care.

And what’s cool is when you actually say fuck it, you start betting on your strengths.

Do you know I was a businessman in a world where going to smart colleges was the only thing that mattered for businessmen? You were only a good businessman if you went to Harvard Business School, but then I reversed it. Like I’m like I’m a D and F student. I curse. I don’t dress the part. I do me. And then you know what happened?

The world came to me.

I would tell you that the best thing that you’re gonna walk out of here with is something that took me a long time to really realize: If you want to pull this off, and you want people listening to you, there’s only one thing. The truth.

It’s unbelievable how much that’s the reason I’m winning.

And I think it’s easier when you have a level of success and it’s harder when you’re climbing up the ladder. But I think that there’s a lot of people who, if they talk about the journey of the climb, could win.

I think it’s the best piece of advice I can give right now to a bunch of 20 to 30 year olds who feel that they should be talking to the world and bringing value. Talk about your journey of trying to find that voice and synthesize it properly.

The problem is, if a 30 40 50 year old is listening to your one minute rant video on Instagram, there’s a level of cynicism like “what do you know?” And I think that that’s fair. And look, you could just be a whiz kid about the world and that exists. But I do think there is a smarter way to context it. You know it’s like the difference between starting the sentence with “you should” vs “my intuition says.” Right now I can say “you should” because I built so much.

But if I was at 20, it would’ve needed to be “my intuition says…” And that changes everything. Or “when I look at…” Or “when I met with Gary today the takeaway I got was…”

Guest: What’s your perspective on cultivating relationships with people who not only believe in your ideas but can actually help point you to some funds? Because right now, all my friends are broke and trying to create some stuff. Like, I can’t borrow from your negative bank account.

Gary: The market will give you money. I’ll give you money. You just have to tell me what you want it against.

Finding money is not the problem. It’s really not. I’ll explain.

It’s how you’re looking at the world.

There’s things like AngelList and Kickstarter, etc. You know much harder it was for your mother to get money? Do you know that the 1973 version of you if he was sitting here would punch you in your fucking mouth? Because money is the last thing you have to worry about. AngelList, Kickstarter. The world can give it to you. You start a Kickstarter campaign. You know why most of them fail? Because most shit is wack. Because most stuff isn’t good. Because most people don’t give a fuck.

You can go to AngelList and hit up all the angel investors. People always say to me, “Gary, I can’t find money.” And then I tell them, “cool, I’ll give you money. What do you got?” And then they don’t know.

So tell me, what am I buying? Your brand? In perpetuity? There’s a really interesting time in the world right now, where art and science and business are colliding and they’re all very different.

So what am I buying? Buying into Gary Vee would’ve been a really good idea for a lot of people. But It wasn’t for sale, and I don’t even know how to sell that. Like what you sell? Like what, are you going to make 20 percent of my speaking fees, or my book deal, or my TV deal? I guess you could do that actually. I do think that plays out over time. But if I said to you cool, I got money for you. What do you say to me? What’s the business here?

Guest: So what I’m hearing from that is, create more content that allows people to see what they’re investing in?

Gary: No. What’s the container I’m putting my money in?

You can have unlimited content. You could have 4000 episodes of a podcast, and the greatest Instagram account I’ve ever seen, and the funniest Snapchat stories I’ve ever seen. Great.

That lets people know a bit more about you, but what’s the vessel?

So when I meet Fuck Jerry, or when I meet The Fat Jewish, I know they got attention on Instagram three years ago that really matters. But what am I investing in.

Oh, Fat Jewish you’re making a Rosay? Oh I can put twenty five thousand dollars into that and own 8 percent? Now you’ve given me something to put the container in. Oh Fuck Jerry you want to become BuzzFeed? You’re gonna build a website and have traffic and sell ads?

You got to come to me and say what am I investing in. You have to put your thing you have to put your thing into a container that’s investable. Nobody’s writing a check to a person. And then it gets hard because once you package it, you have to be able to explain it in business terms.

And that’s not necessarily what everybody does.

This is where it gets into partnerships. One thing I would tell you based on the vibe I’m picking up: If you and I both grew up in Milwaukee, you know I would’ve been a great partner for you because I could have been the business man to the art Maybe you are the business part but it’s not what you’ve been bringing up yet.

Guest: I don’t know, I’ve been in a position where I’ve had to do both right now.

Gary: Well look, you should be putting out content on a very regular basis. You should start a pillar show — vlogging I think it’s very fascinating. You know you should be doing Instagram stories and Snapchat stories at scale. You should be putting out 7 to 25 pieces of content on both those platforms a day.

Guest: A day?

Gary: And let me explain how. Don’t go fancy. Document versus create. It’s a big shift. When I say seven to 25 you say my God how do I produce seven to 25 meaningful things that will have me respected. Versus, document.

Guest: See, that’s the thing: Meaningful that will get me respected. I feel like anybody can put out shit. And I don’t want to put out shit.

Gary: But shit is subjective my man.

And I got good news for you. You’re fully in control.

Who makes the final call like productions? The producer? Great, you’re the producer my man.

But you gotta put out stuff. I still can’t believe how many people that live in New York don’t use New York people. Like, go back to your basketball roots, stand outside the garden right there and be like “what you think about the Knicks upcoming season?” One person gets into a thoughtful conversation, he was the former ballboy in 1957, it’s a nice story, and boom.

You see where I’m going?

Guest: Yeah.

Gary: People aren’t starting. They’re thinking. They’re pondering. They’re strategizing. They’re debating. The difference between people like me and the far majority is I’m just doing it all times. I’m doing so much that I’ve decided to have a man walk around with a camera and follow me because who knows when it’s going to happen.

And you know it’s so funny. I’m going to say to him, I want this whole thing cut. The whole thing. Like what I’m giving you right now, so many need right now. So I’m like fuck it let’s just put it out. Right.

 

Guest: So you’re saying you have to put out content all the time. I personally go through these periods of extreme creativity, and extreme chill. How do you motivate yourself? How do you continue this process of “go go go go go” and balance it with self care?”

Gary: I do what feels right to me. So if I got a check out for a week, I check out for a week. I don’t punish myself.

Guest: That’s really hard for me right now. Because I feel like I’m not doing enough. Like I’m not doing shit.

Gary: I agree.

Guest: (Laughs) Alright Gary.

Gary: See where I’m going?

I don’t know. Life. I don’t think you. I don’t I don’t think you should squander it. This is back to you know yourself, or do you aspire to be something you might actually not be.

This is the toughest question of it all my man. I mean if you want to be respected, and really known, so show the fuck up. Are you fucking kidding me with going a week without doing something?

I always say nobody you’ve ever met got there without the hard work. Nobody It’s just real. You know do you know insane DailyVee and the Snapchat stories has been to everybody? They didn’t realize how hard I was going at it. You know many fucking people used to say the word “luck”? Nobody has the audacity to say that to my face now. And I love it. 

Document over create.

Document over create.
Click To Tweet

I mean there’s so much magic going on in New York City.

Do you know how many people are sitting in a place that’s not New York City? You got a billion stories out there. You don’t feel motivated to tell a story today? Go let somebody else do it. You have so much charisma. You could walk up on anybody in two seconds and get them to feel comfortable.

So you can’t create? Distribute. You can’t create today, facilitate.

There’s no excuse for not talking to the world. It just doesn’t have to be your thoughts and words every time.

Guest: What about building a team?

Gary: Don’t even think about that. You’re not even close to that right now.

Let me give you a real good answer, since I got a feel for you right now. You need to work on you before you worry about a team. You got to get your shit together. I can tell you you’ve got to have certain things that you need to do before you worry about a team. Get your thing in place.

Create. Distribute. Interview. There’s so much creative shit man. I’m way more creative then I realized because stuff comes so natural to me. Like, go take a picture on every odd Street in New York in Manhattan.

Like I don’t know, go start at 113, then 111, then 109. Like call it “Odd corner” and just literally do an interview every everyday on Instagram for a minute starting at 113th all the way down. That’s the show. Every fucking Monday you go to fucking 113th the next week 111th and literally stand there until somebody walks by and you interview that person. And that’s the fucking show. I think what I’m good at is building a pillar up top that creates content below. DailyVee, AskGaryVee show.

One thing people struggle with is they think it needs to come from them, and it instead it needs to come from the structure down. You know how hard it is to manifest that kind of original creative thing from the bottom? But think of yourself as like CNN or MSNBC.

Monday is Odd Corner. That’s it. If you’re white boarded now on mini shows that you could do — Monday’s Odd Corner. Tuesdays like Subway Shots. Wednesdays like Suburbs. You just literally going out and interviewing. And Suburbs clicks and all of a sudden Toyota is hitting you up and say hey we’ll pay you you’ll drive a Toyota to New Jersey. See where I’m going? But you’ve got to put yourself in that position. You know why podcast have worked for a lot of people? Because they interview people.

So they don’t have to do the work. My version of that is answering people’s questions. It brings value to those individuals and to the entire community.

The Best Business Strategy No One Talks About

Over the past few months, I’ve been pushing kindness more heavily than anything else.

For me, it’s a crucial part of the legacy I’m building. I want to build big businesses and buy the Jets, but I want to do it by being a good guy. I have zero interest in building the biggest building by tearing other people down.

The problem is that most people see kindness as a weakness. They confuse it with being passive or being a pushover.

The truth is, people who view kindness as a negative are just insecure themselves. You can only be kind if you feel that you’re coming from a place of leverage.

That’s why I see kindness as a massive advantage, not a passive trait — especially if you’re a naturally “tough” person.

As I go through my own life, I’m realizing more and more how kindness is such a big part of the equation. It’s not just about sales and negotiation. It’s not just about doing what you love. It’s not just about hustle.

That’s why It breaks my heart that so many people think “nice guys finish last.”

People don’t get that kindness is the best business strategy.

Here’s why:  

1) Kindness builds emotional capital

If you give value to someone else first in business, you have the leverage. I truly believe that.

It’s why I give 51% of the value in every relationship. It’s why I deploy compassion when people are mean. It’s why I make time to interview for small podcasts and blogs (even though people tell me it’s stupid).

But let’s be clear: I’m not Mother Teresa.

I just think it’s a smart thing to do, both in business and in life.  

The more I give, the more emotional capital I build, and the more my reputation grows. If I want to, I can cash in on that — like when I have a sneaker or a book coming out (even though I prefer not to).

Secondly, you never know where the people you impact are going to end up. As they get more opportunity in their own lives, they might end up as the CEO of a big company, or some other influential position — and that connection could end up being super valuable in some way.

Even if they don’t have a “high status” job, that “karma” from being kind could come back to me in a different way — like someone sharing a piece of my content or telling their friends to buy my wine.

You never know what opportunities you’d get behind your back by being a good person. You’d never know what kind of opportunities you’d lose by being a bad person.

2) It creates stickiness with employees

The biggest issue for most is they see bad behavior get ahead in the short term. They see mean people in corporations getting promoted. They see entrepreneurs who built big companies being rude to their people.

And based on that, they get tricked into thinking being a jerk is how you win the whole game.

A lot of companies get tricked into this too.

They get caught up in maximizing 90-day numbers at the expense of how their employees are treated.

But if you’re using negativity to control people who are working for you, they’ll build resentment that’ll affect your business long term.  

At VaynerMedia, our Chief Heart Officer (aka Head of HR) sits 2nd from the top on the org chart. She’s the 2nd most important person in the company.

And if there’s ever any debate between what’s good for our people and what’s good for our bottom line, she’ll win that debate 9 out of 10 times.

3) It’s always rewarded

Kindness always gets rewarded. Somebody is always watching.

People take notice when you deploy kindness and at some point, your life will be affected because of it.

Even if you’re in a confined space, talking to only one other person, that person will know when you’re being kind. Especially if they’re not expecting it.

Even if they’re mean to you in the short term, you never know — they might change their character 10 years later. They might become a different person. And when they do, they’ll remember what kind of person you were.

The reality is, the amount of opportunity gained by good people because of their kindness is enormous.

Think about it. How many times have you done something that’s affected a person’s life entirely based on how you felt about them?

It happens all the time.  

Counterintuitively, the biggest reason I’m able to be so kind and generous to other is because I have zero expectation of getting anything in return. I don’t expect anyone to reciprocate, and that’s exactly what allows me to keep on giving.

And when come from that place, you’ll get more opportunities than you know what to do with.

Announcing 2018 Annual Wine Library Super Tasting

Hey guys

I’m On Roku

One of the things that has always been true about my presence on social is being able to identify key distribution channels and executing within them. I never want to limit the upside of where I’m seen – if there are eyes willing to watch – I will always deliver.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/gv2016wp/wp-content/uploads/20180905230950/context-video.mp4

Roku has established itself as one of the key players in the OTT space and I think my content living there just makes sense. I’m super excited to be on Roku, I think they’re making the right moves in terms of marketing and execution,

There’s a few ways to get my channel on your Roku device – For all of the below, make sure you are signed into Roku and have an active Roku device. Keep an eye out for the channel poster below:

Via Roku Quick Link

Open this link: https://garyvee.com/roku
Select the + Add Channel button.
If you protected your Roku account with a pin, it will prompt you for that now. If you forgot your pin, click HERE to reset it.
That’s it, you should now see my channel on your home screen.

Via Your Roku TV App

Navigate to Streaming Channels.
Select Search Channels.
Input “garyvee” in the search bar and select The GaryVee Video Experience channel.
Select Add channel.
If you protected your Roku account with a pin, it will prompt you for that now. If you forgot your pin, click HERE to reset it.
That’s it, you should now see my channel on your home screen.

Via The Roku Mobile App

On either the Channel or What’s On tab, select the magnifying glass in the top right of your screen.
Input “garyvee” in the search bar and select The GaryVee Video Experience channel.
Select Add channel.
If you protected your Roku account with a pin, it will prompt you for that now. If you forgot your pin, click HERE to reset it.
That’s it, you should now see my channel on your home screen.

 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/gv2016wp/wp-content/uploads/20180905150651/mobile.mp4

 

Via The Roku Website

Navigate to https://roku.com in your browser.
Login to your Roku account.
Navigate to Channel Store.
Input “garyvee” in the search bar and select The GaryVee Video Experience channel.
Select the + Add Channel button.
If you protected your Roku account with a pin, it will prompt you for that now. If you forgot your pin, click HERE to reset it.
That’s it, you should now see my channel on your home screen.

 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/gv2016wp/wp-content/uploads/20180905150652/website.mp4

If you’ve made it this far and are still having trouble, checkout this video tutorial from Roku HERE

Protected: I’m On Roku

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password: