Gary Vaynerchuk's Blog, page 64

#AskGaryVee Episode 168: Relocating, Closing a Sale, & Dealing with Loneliness

#QOTD: When is the last time you deployed a long period of time of giving value to someone? What did it mean to your world?

#TIMESTAMPS

2:19 – I want to relocate: do I just pick up and move, throw caution to the wind, or wait till I line something up?

5:09 – How do you handle price objections when attempting to close a sale?

8:44 – It’s lonely as an entrepreneur sometimes, how do you cope with that feeling?

13:31 – I’m a sales consultant for Best Buy selling computers. What advice can you give me to be a better salesman?

5 Things Every Employee Should Ask Their CEO

Recently, on my YouTube show, my editor in chief Steve Unwin asked me a question that I thought was very poignant and interesting. Even more so than that, it felt daring. He wasn’t nervous to ask it. And it got me thinking about all the questions I’ve been asked as CEO of my company VaynerMedia. Some have really provoked me to think. Some have been filled with fluff. But overall, I realized that knowing what to ask if you are ever presented with the opportunity is incredibly valuable. So I thought I would put together this list of five questions I think every employee should ask their CEO in their life.

 

1. “What is your finish line?”

Aka, what does success look like to them? What does their finish line look like? When I tell my employees my end goal is to buy the New York Jets, it allows them to understand that my behavior is long term. It tells them I’m playing for a fifty year narrative. That means I won’t cut corners. I don’t overvalue the quick dollar. I’m playing for long term keeps. And if the employee really gets that, they’ll see that that creates interesting long term stability.

Maybe, if you can get them to be really honest, their answer will be something small, like “We want to be AdAge’s agency of the year.” Or “We want to be the number one app in the app store for at least a day.” It’s an extremely important question, and if you’re good enough at understanding what the underlying message behind the answer is, it will give you insight into where the company is actually going.

 

2. “What have you learned in the last year that will inform this company in the next year?”

Recent learnings. Knowing what a chief executive pays attention to is crucial. But it’s just as important to know how they plan to factor them in. It’s a very significant proxy to see where their focus is in the short term and their ability to improve on it.

 

3. “What’s the biggest vulnerability of the company?”

The reason this question is so important is because it’s an opportunity for the CEO to bullshit and say “nothing.” And you know that can’t be true. But hey: then you know your CEO doesn’t have a problem giving you bullshit.

Or, this questions gets you real insight.

My answer to that question is usually pretty intriguing. I reply with “My death.” That speaks to either overconfidence or complete control. You make the call. Either way, I’m being honest with my employees and we usually have a very real discussion about it.

 

4. “What are your strongest and weakest relationships in your family?”

Family dynamics play out in the business world a lot more than people realize. The way a chief executive, and anyone for that matter, behaves with their family has an enormous impact on how they operate the company and how they treat their employees. The same is probably true for you; this question can give you a glimpse into how the business is managed and why.

 

5. “What do you want for the employees of this company?”

The one thing I truly want all my employees to know about me is my intent. And my intent is this: to win at all costs, but only if it results in equal benefits for myself and my employees.

I truly mean that. I often wish there was a magic button I could press that would transfer how serious I am about my intent to all the employees of VaynerMedia. Of course, being the owner of the company, there are disproportionate

I’ll leave you all with this: you know you’ve had a great conversation if you come away convinced of your CEO’s intentions and motivations.

 

Thanks so much for reading! However, I know a lot can be lost in writing; to really see how serious I am about my intent, would love for you to check out this video where I answered my employees question on my show.

And if you liked this article, hit that heart button below. If you do that, more people will see the article. 

#AskGaryVee Episode 166: Twitter Polls, Supply & Demand of Content, & Competing with Myself

#AskGaryVee Episode 166: Twitter Polls, Supply & Demand of Content, & Competing with Myself

#QOTD

#QOTD, USA: What are your Thanksgiving plans?
#QOTD, FOOTBALL: Your prediction for Jets vs. Dolphins this Sunday.
#QOTD, OTHER: Say hello!

TIMESTAMPS

3:47 – Do you think that content marketing is watering down Internet content with unimportant and false information?

5:27 – After watching 165 episodes, wondering do you get more satisfaction competing against yourself or vs others?

8:27 – Do you have any questions that you don’t know how to answer for yourself?

12:06 – What are your thoughts on Twitter polls?

14:11 – Would you rather travel back in time to meet your ancestors or forward and meet your future relatives?

Here’s What’s Wrong with Fitness “Entrepreneurs”

In the last sixteen months of my life, I’ve changed something major about myself: I’ve started being healthy.

A year and a half ago, I was eating like crap, not working out, and generally feeling awful. It was a tough life, and I realized quickly that I couldn’t sustain a life like that. It was impossible. So I hired a trainer to force me to be better. I made an enormous lifestyle shift, and I am so happy I did.

But it made me realize something about the current state of fitness entrepreneurs. And I want to shine a light on it.

Everybody defaults to what comes easy to them. That should be obvious. But greatness comes from adversity; it comes from looking a challenge directly in the eye and having the fortitude to step up and go after it.

This is what’s going on with the fitness want-repreneur world right now.

Everyone is going for what is easy. And that isn’t going to pan out if they are serious about becoming a business person. Just like I knew being a great business person wouldn’t pan out if I didn’t get healthy.

Fitness entrepreneurs want to do the minimal work and still expect a huge return. It’s easy for fitness entrepreneurs to do the push ups, to do the squats and deadlifts because that is exactly what got them to where they are now. They started in fitness and now they want to make money just by having those guns or that body. They default into what is easy without recognizing what is hard: running an actual business.

You know what was hard for me? Waking up early. Not eating what I wanted to eat. Powering through workouts. Yet it was easy to build 50M dollar businesses.

I wanted to pass off getting up and running. I wanted to pass off lifting, squatting, stretching. I didn’t want to do it. But I had no problem working eighteen hours a day, taking meeting after meeting, and putting in the actual work.

Fitness “entrepreneurs” want to pass on replying to tweets all day to get the word out. They want to pass off the marketing. They want to pass off working hard to create a great interesting post, or doing a bunch of podcasts to get a larger audience. They want to go straight for the mirror selfie so you can get a bunch of Instagram likes, then call that their “business”.

Well guess what? It’s not good enough.

I have sympathy for how long it can take for something to come together in a big way. I get thousands and thousands of emails a year from people saying they’ve been working for months at something and they aren’t seeing results. It can be disheartening. In a weird way, working out has shown me that more than anything else. I’ve been working out for sixteen months now and I’m happy, but if you told me sixteen months ago that this what I would have by now, I might say “Ehhhh…”

But the reverse is far worse.

That’s why I say to you: just start the work now. Do it. Work hard. Be diligent. Do not let up. You have the body. You have the chops. You did all that. Now get to the business side of things and grow that muscle too.

Need to hear more on this? Watch the full video here.

#AskGaryVee Episode 165: Billboards, Production Capacity, & Gary Gets Salty

#QOTD: What wine are you drinking at Thanksgiving?

 

#TIMESTAMPS

3:47 – Why am I seeing an influx of tech companies using billboards to advertise? (Slack, Snapchat, Yahoo!)

7:07 – You recommend free work but how do know when someone is just after free work, yet wants to call it exposure?

10:11 – How would you manage higher demand than production capacity? How to manage expectations when you have 2/3 months latency ?

11:30 – if you could change one part of Facebook’s API for marketers and business pages, what would it be?

13:47 – How clearly do you have to see the end goal (and the path to get there) before you begin? Clarity before hustle?

#BONUSRANT

16:10 – Bonus Rant

#AskGaryVee Episode 11: Diplomas, not GPAs

#QOTD: What are you doing this weekend?

#LINKS:

My AMA on Reddit – http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments...

Music by T.Jay – http://www.wordplaytjay.com/

Today’s Voiceover by Max Bass – https://twitter.com/maxthatbass

#TIMESTAMPS

00:44 – If you owned a winery in Napa, what would your left jabs look like?

03:24 Do you respond to your post/tweets/emails/messages personally? or do you delegate?

04:52 What foods have you added to your lifestyle that you are enjoying the most?

05:23 How can I converge my vision of being a youtuber, while my parents want me to go to college?

05:49 What are your thoughts about FB banning like-gating soon?

07:06 – Do you think Reddit is a social media? do you find it useful?

Guys, I’m so serious. If a winery in Napa started doing unbiased wine reviews from around the world, it would be HUGE. When one of you does it, you can thank me later I’ll see you all in a couple of weeks when I get back from vacation. I hope you all get to spend tons of time with your families, and I can’t wait to answer your questions in September!

#AskGaryVee Episode 9: Ice Bucket Billionaire

#QOTD: Who in your family inspires you the most?

Today we a very special episode of The #AskGaryVee show. I’ve been holding off on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for awhile now, but when my man Michael called me out, I knew I had to make the move! So now I challenge YOU, VaynerNation, to get out there, soak yourselves, and DONATE!

#LINKS

Donate to the ALS association – https://secure2.convio.net/alsa/site/...

Special Guest: Michael!

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgDk...

Twitter – https://twitter.com/ThatMichaelShow

#TIMESTAMPS

00:42 – What’s an area of life you haven’t given your fullest efforts?

02:16 – How does humor play a role in business…if at all?

03:37 – Is JJJRH coming out in audiobook form?

04:56 – (Part 1) What’s the hardest thing to deal with in the past 5 Years? How’d you get through it?

05:18 – Michaels Bucket Challenge

05:52 – (Part 2) What’s the hardest thing to deal with in the past 5 Years? How’d you get through it?

07:29 – How do you start with funding of a billion dollar business plan when you have no financial resources?

_

Welcome to The #AskGaryVee Show, where I answer your questions about marketing, social media, and entrepreneurship. Want to get on the show? Tweet me your question with #AskGaryVee!

#AskGaryVee Episode 8: Buy the Damn Cat!

#QOTD: What is currently your favorite single beverage?

Things that I have decided are important: Keeping life spicy, wine, my health, and being honest.

LINKS:

Cyberdust – http://cyberdust.com/

Music by T.Jay – http://www.wordplaytjay.com/

TIMESTAMPS:

0:39 Do you believe in Jim Collins belief that we can only focus on 3 things?

1:38 What is the best way to grow a following or community from nothing?

3:36 Tea or Coffee? or wine?

3:57 As a business leader whats one thing that keeps you up at night?

4:54 Center or Edge?

5:01 What’s the best way for a right hook to seem like a jab?

7:26 How can public institutions/government use social media more effectively in marketing campaigns?

_

Welcome to The #AskGaryVee Show, where I answer your questions about marketing, social media, and entrepreneurship. Want to get on the show? Tweet me your question with #AskGaryVee!

#AskGaryVee Episode 7: Parents, Patience, and Pie

Getting into some long-winded answers today! It’s a really great sign, too, because it’s clear that you guys are asking me amazing questions, so I really want to give some of them the time they deserve. Also be sure to hit me up on CyberDust tomorrow (@garyvee) so I can answer some of your more personal questions.

#QOTD: What other personalities in the video world are you enjoying content from?

#LINKS:

Cyberdust – http://cyberdust.com/

Matthew Santoro – https://www.youtube.com/user/MatthewSantoro

Music by T.Jay – http://www.wordplaytjay.com/

#TIMESTAMPS:

1:58 – Who are your idols? or the people that inspire you?

2:58 – Should I take a risk by expanding to other platforms? or stick to youtube?

4:05 – What do you consider more valuable…enthusiasm or action?

5:36 – How would you suggest an indie artist use their marketing money when royalty checks come in 6 months later?

6:25 – Cake or Pie?

6:39 – Any tips on how to make an unknown hashtag popular?

_

Welcome to The #AskGaryVee Show, where I answer your questions about marketing, social media, and entrepreneurship. Want to get on the show? Tweet me your question with #AskGaryVee!

#AskGaryVee Episode 6: Friction Sucks

In this episode we talk about getting familiar with Facebook advertising, my love for my family, and the magic of red-headed quarterbacks. On top of that we get into being grateful, being right, and being patient. Three of my favorite things!

LINKS:

http://allfacebook.com

TIMESTAMPS

0:27 - What’s the best way to use Facebook dark posts?

1:51 - Is it still necessary to drive traffic from social to your dot com?

3:57 - How’d you deal with working in a family business?

5:03 - What did you think of the Dalton trade?

5:38 - Does the demand for your attention get overwhelming?

6:20 - If you had to do it over again, would you start with WLTV, or Wine Library?