Gary Vaynerchuk's Blog, page 39
February 6, 2018
Gary Vaynerchuk is buying PureWow
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February 1, 2018
Post 4Ds: What Happened to TwoBlindBrothers Apparel After Spending a Day at VaynerMedia
This is an article series I have been wanting to do for a while, which is an in-depth testimonial and interview with attendees of VaynerMedia’s Daily Digital Deep Dive (4Ds).
My goal has always been to build my full-service creative agency, VaynerMedia, into a business where we say ‘yes!’ and provide value across the board. Our newest offering, The Daily Digital Deep Dive is a 1 day in depth consulting session created to do just that.
Over the past 8 years we have worked with companies large and small from AB InBev, Chase and GE to small 1-100M dollar SMB’s.
As the CEO of VaynerMedia, it has been an enormous goal of mine to be able to share this expertise and share the stories of other companies and entrepreneurs we have helped, from seasoned veterans to those just starting up.
Today’s interview is with Bradford Manning The Co-Founder of TwoBlindBrothers Apparel who attended the 4Ds on December 12.
TwoBlindBrothers is a one-of-a-kind apparel company that combats blindness through commerce, donating all of their proceeds to funding blindness research and being part of the cure. They have experienced enormous growth as a company appearing on Ellen, TED, CNBC and many major media outlets, being one of the fastest growing cause-based companies in the nation. With all of the overwhelming opportunity that has followed, Bradford and Byran have decided to go all-in on helping impact retinal disease research and fund cures. For this, they needed to leverage and grow their amazing brand.
Bradford, having consumed some of my content prior to attending the 4Ds recognized that VaynerMedia does things differently 
January 29, 2018
The Cream Rises To The Top in Coffee and in Personal Branding | Veecap
The reality of what you see in DailyVee as a vlog documenting my life is only 15 minutes of my 15 hour day. So a lot of the nuances and complexity of these meetings never actually get seen. After seeing a few comments on YouTube about my meeting with an employee bubbling up, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for this #VeeCap to highlight the unseen interactions that happen every single day as an entrepreneur.
I asked TeamGary to follow up with a VaynerMedia employee Andrea to gather more context on what was going on in order provide more value as a secondary piece of content.
Andrea has spent 3 years at VaynerMedia working as an Account Supervisor with clients like Mondelez, PepsiCo and GE.
But right now, and what you don’t know, is that she’s preparing to make the single biggest decision of her life. Andrea is leaving New York next week and her entire career in advertising. At 27, she has decided to sell everything she owns and travel the world!
It’s sounds like a crazy decision but one that is more common than you might think. As the CEO of an 800+ person digital agency, I have seen hundreds of people come and go. Some spin out to other agencies, others start their own business, and some even do the unexpected, like pack up and travel the world in pursuit of a new career.
Andrea is passionate about health and wellness with a specific interest in how to use our environment (i.e, natural foods) to heal our bodies.
After some traveling, she would love to work with people that are sick and help them make food choices that can reverse symptoms or, work with someone on the side of policy to change what kids are eating in schools.
If anyone in the VaynerNation thinks they can help, please hit her up on Insta and say hello.
She’s embarking on a new adventure and gathering inspiration for what’s next. The three minutes of the meeting you see in the episode, and the extended section below was a moment for us to say “goodbye” (although if things don’t work out I told her she will always have her position here) where she asked for some input and advice.
Where does she go? What does she do? How does she break through in such a complicated industry such as health and wellness?
I love this topic because it is so central to my core thesis on self-awareness, doubling down on your strengths and paying attention to what makes you pop. This may not be fully clear in the episode which is why I’m trying to expand through these articles but as a general piece of advice, no matter who you are or what you want, you need to “do you” and go all-fucking-in on the 1-2 things you are good at and can make money with and provide value through. As long as the intent is pure, you will win. I love that Andrea is investigating wellness, which is a massive industry, but when we spoke about what she should “do” and where to find the white-space, I reminded her to forget about the white spaces and forget about the margins where so many people spend too much time trying to be something they’re not.
Every world and every industry is going to be equally complex and I promise you the one area that you are going to excel is going to be predicated on where you have the most natural strengths.
This is what it means to let the cream rise to the top and a message I think is enormously valuable to those in business or trying to build a personal brand. The very first episode of WineLibraryTV I ever did, I dressed up in fancy clothes and spoke like I was at a country-club. 7 minutes later, I realized that this was going to be on the internet forever and if I wasn’t true to myself, I would have lived my life in regret. I knew for myself, that I had to be authentic and do what was right for me, by doubling down on what I believe in and utilizing my natural strengths as a communicator, even if that means going outside of the norm and talking about wine tasting like rocks and dirt. I felt infinitely more confident and happy because I was able to “do me” which made producing the show genuine and fun.
The other day when my videographer Babin asked me if I was worried about being “pigeon-holed” into just 1 thing, I responded with the simple truth that “you are what you are” and if you’re good enough, you will win.
I’m an entrepreneur who loves building businesses. I never limit myself because I just do what I am going to do. It doesn’t matter if I used to be the “wine guy.” The results are irrefutable and the cream rises to the top.
So I’m fascinated by the notion of being in a business where the cream rises to the top instead of the made up white-space that you aren’t really passionate about. You need to embrace your north star and go all in on the things that matter to you. There is plenty of white space in that to succeed and most importantly you are going to be happy with yourself because you are being authentic and staying in your lane.
When my team interviewed Andrea, this was her take away from the conversation:
“No one’s goal should ever be, “Let me identify the white space and fill that.” Your goal should be, “What do I wanna do? What am I passionate about? What am I good at?”, because you will inadvertently create your own white space if you do. I think what Gary was getting at is people can tell when you are truly authentic. If you’re really good, and if you’re better at X, Y, Z than someone else … You’ll shine. There could be 50 yoga studios or health and wellness practices in New York, but if you provide more value, and you live and breathe what you are doing, somehow the cream rises to the top.
Never base your ambitions off of what other people are doing. Don’t worry about how to catch them, or how to compete with them. And just be open to letting things naturally unfold.”
When we discussed whether or not Andrea thought this was a risk, this is what she had to say:
I’m 27, so you have to think about, how will this impact my career? I won’t have a 401K, I lose my health insurance. I know the advertising industry and it’s very secure and I can basically get a job anywhere I want. Working at VaynerMedia opens doors. My family and friends are here. It took me a long time to make the decision.
But what’s interesting and I think what ties back to Gary’s ideas is that I actually think it’s more risky to not do it, because then you will never know. When things are good, it makes it even harder to leave because it’s so easy to become complacent. It’s easy to not rock the boat. But if you don’t ever rock the boat, then you’re doing yourself a disservice, and you don’t learn and grow and evolve and change, and gain new perspective.
I’ve done a lot of that in New York, but I’ve plateaued here. I have to take that risk. I’m actually not scared. I feel like what scares me is being stagnant.
And maybe that’s the truth for you and maybe it’s not. Whatever the case may be, you also need to be empathetic to the individuals who want more security and structure and safety around what they are doing. But the reason why it’s important to me is that I always want to empower others to get “theirs.” Of course I support Andrea and think her version of happiness, which is predicated on taking “risk,” is great. That’s what she wants and that’s what I want for her. The biggest thing is to be self-aware. To love what you do and chase after what you really want. She’s the perfect example of it, and one story I’m glad myself and the team were able to expand on for all of you.
I hope you enjoy the episode and the clip of the full meeting below.
Location
VaynerMedia, New York City
Guest List
Ryan Serhant – The Million Dollar Listing
Gunna and his management crew
DailyVee 404
Full Meeting
Thanks for reading 
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The post The Cream Rises To The Top in Coffee and in Personal Branding | Veecap appeared first on GaryVaynerchuk.com.
January 26, 2018
What I Want For You After Reading Crushing It!
When I was a kid making straight Ds and I got caught reading baseball card catalogs in class so I’d know how much to charge for trades, everyone said, “You’re going to be a loser.” Today they’d say, “You’re going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg.” When it comes to professional opportunities, this is the best time to be alive in the history of humankind and I don’t want anyone to waste it.
And so, if you take away anything valuable or helpful from this book, I hope you will give a copy to someone you care about who might not be happy with his or her current situation but that you know has it in them to make a change. If you are a parent, please give it to your children as they start to imagine what and who they want to be. There’s teachings in this book that no classroom will provide. And I say this not because I want to sell more books. Get it from the library for all I care. I say this because I want everyone to know that these opportunities exist, so that if someone is struggling or miserable or scared, they can absolutely do something to change that.
Life is short; its brevity and unpredictability is the one thing that scares me. It is also long; a fifty year-old could still look forward to another thirty, forty, or even fifty productive years. We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to be as fulfilled and thrilled as possible so we are able to share our best selves with each other. There is so much in life that is uncontrollable, but our happiness doesn’t have to be, nor do our careers. We can have all the control. Every damn bit of it. The sooner we realize that, the better off everyone will be.
So if you’re earning what you need to live the life you want and loving every day of it, you’re crushing it. And that’s all I want for you. I think of the friends I grew up with who loved video games but whose parents forced them to stop playing because the games distracted them from their studies. Those kids may have grown up to make a decent enough living but only by getting by with something they tolerate, or even hate. If only their parents could have seen how the world would evolve. Maybe the child who became a lawyer to please his or her parents could be earning the same amount now as an eSports (competitive gaming) promoter—or even earning millions as a professional e-gamer. Either way, it’s very likely that lawyer would be infinitely happier.
Parents are trying to get their children off Pokémon Go when augmented reality gaming is going to be huge for generations. They think their daughters should make less slime and do more algebra instead. And sure, slime may be a fad but it could also serve as the conduit through which a girl learns the dynamics of supply and demand on the Internet and builds a million dollar personal brand and company.
The crazy thing is that she wouldn’t be the first. Karina Garcia did it. She used to be a waitress; now she’s a successful YouTube star famous for making, you guessed it, slime. How successful? With six figure earnings every month, she was able to retire her parents.
In August 2017 she took a seven week, fourteen city tour to meet her fans. People paid $40.00 to $99.99 for VIP passes. Stories like that are no longer uncommon, and they illustrate why we need to give our children as much freedom as possible to gravitate toward what they love doing. Because in their world, nothing will be off limits when it comes to how you can make a living.
Are you going to be part of the revolution?
My hope is that Crushing It! will be the inspiration and strategy for you to understand how it’s not only possible, but practical to do the same.
Thanks for reading
Crushing It! is also available on Barnes & Noble
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January 25, 2018
Permission!
For those of you that came here from page 121 of Crushing It! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time and attention. Nothing matters more to me than the consumption of this mission, which has been a decade’s long journey since my first book Crush It! put me on the map in 2009. Whether you bought the book, or stole a copy from bitTorrent or came from a URL that was shared on the internet
From Crush It! to Crushing It! What Changed Since My First Book
A lot has changed since I wrote Crush It!, but surprisingly, a lot hasn’t. Anyone who follows me regularly knows she can fast forward through the first ten minutes of my keynote speeches, because I’m just going to repeat the facts of my life and my opinion of the world in pretty much the exact same way that I have been doing for almost a decade. Once those ten minutes are up, though, you never know.
And that’s what I’m going to share in this book—the part of the keynote that changes every six to nine months because that’s how frequently the platforms evolve. I want you to learn the most up-to-date information on how to best leverage the platforms of our digital world to create powerful, lasting businesses and brands.
The biggest difference between my first book Crush It! In 2009 and the one you’re reading now is this: my voice isn’t the only one you’ll be hearing from
January 23, 2018
Introducing #podSessions | Episode 1 With GirlWithNoJob, Saweetie & Cipha Sounds!
I’ve been wanting to do this podcast concept for a long time. I did a version of it not too long ago called Brown Paper Bags where I gather friends and drink great wine, but this is a little bit different
