Gary Vaynerchuk embodies authenticity, transparency, passion, and hustle. His dedication to his community has made him a juggernaut in the social media space, so if you don’t know him already, you need to.
(If you’re familiar with Gary already and you just want the meat, skip down to the second video on this page to see Gary’s exclusive message for the Thrilling Heroics community.)
Garyvee, as he’s called, can teach you a lot about following your passion.
Gary’s a wine guy. He’s the 33-year-old director of Wine Library in Springfield, New Jersey, where he has successfully built up a following of over 80,000 viewers a day through blogging, Twitter, and Facebook. Wine Library TV, the company’s video blog, now has over 750 video podcasts. To quote his bio:
With a wealth of knowledge and an entrepreneurial spirit, Gary spent every weekend of his college years at his parents’ store, rebranding the family business as Wine Library and establishing himself as a respected expert. As the store’s only wine buyer, he sampled every wine that entered the store. Customers depended on Gary for his advice and within a five year time period, Wine Library grew from a $4 million dollar business to a $45 million business.
But Gary’s career took a new turn with the advent of Wine Library TV. Gary’s key goals are twofold: “First, I want people to try different wines. How can you have a favorite if you only know a few? Second, I tell people to trust their palates. If a wine appeals to your palate, then it’s a good choice. Don’t feel pressured to like popular brands or what experts recommend. Buy what ‘brings the thunder’ for you.”
Even if you’re no wine connoisseur, Gary’s experience in social media and business has far-reaching implications in this new economy.
In internet currency, Gary Vaynerchuk has more reach than Tim Ferriss, who you should be familiar with if you’re a reader of this blog. Gary has spoken around the world and been called the “Social Media Sommelier,” and he’s successfully leveraged all this exposure into a 10-book deal with HarperCollins, national TV appearances, and much more.
At the Web 2.0 Expo, Gary put out a call to action: he says it’s time to stop doing shit you hate and embrace what you love. The web makes it possible to go out on your own and make a living doing what you care about. In his new book out this week, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion, he’ll share his path to success and teach you how to do just that.
(If you’re reading via email, you may need to click through to see the video above.)
How I Royally Botched a Great Interview Opportunity
I had the huge opportunity to chat with Gary last Thursday in anticipation of his book launch. He’s an extremely busy guy promoting Crush It! all across the web, and was kind enough to meet me bright-and-early at 7am his time on Ustream for a live discussion. I was so excited for this interview I couldn’t sleep!
I screwed up! EPIC FAIL.
My blogging buddies Adam Baker and David Turnbull were on the line, along with a few others, and I know we put on a great show for a lucky few, however it was 4am for a large bulk of Thrilling Heroics readers back on the West Coast and I was hoping to get the recording up on the blog for anyone who couldn’t tune in live.
But, to my disbelief, when I got off the call with Gary, all I had was a recording of my side of the call, with me sitting there talking to myself looking like an idiot!
I’d heard positive reviews of Ustream for web-based video interviews, and I’d spent the four days prior preparing and testing with the live broadcasting interface, but for whatever reason, it just didn’t work out as expected. Lesson learned: I should not have used a new technology I’m unfamiliar with for such an important opportunity.
Gary Vaynerchuk’s Truly Badass, Exclusive Video for Thrilling Heroics (Must Watch!)
Gary and the guys he works with effin’ rock hardcore style, and they went the extra mile and made my month. Because we didn’t get the recording during the interview, Gary took a few minutes to videotape answers to two of my biggest questions for the Thrilling Heroics community:
- How can Gen-Y start applying your advice to “stop doing shit you hate” and the lessons in Crush It! to gear their career around their passion?
- How can the non-profit & social entrepreneurship world leverage social media & transparency to be successful?
Make sure you check this video out for Gary’s unconventional advice for Gen-Y and the non-profit world
I was truly blown away that with his busy schedule promoting the new book, he made time to do this. I pushed hard because I wanted to share with you guys, and I owe a lot to Marcus at VaynerMedia for all his help.
Gary still runs this huge multimillion-dollar business like a mom-and-pop store. He makes time to answer everyone, to interact and respond with the little guys like myself, and I’ve watched him take full ownership of his mistakes. He’s someone who knows how to provide superior customer service, and how to go above and beyond. He treats everyone like a rockstar.
He’s incredibly enthusiastic and engaging in his videos. He’ll be uniquely honest and transparent about his feelings. He’s authentic and entertaining, and all of these things have made him a success. He’s real. He gives a shit. He’s himself.
He’s not afraid to call people out on their bullshit, he advocates radical transparency, and hustling your ass off to make a living doing what you’re passionate about.
If you want to make a living with your passion, pick up your copy of Gary’s new book Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion today.
If you enjoy a nice glass of wine now and then, you can find him at Wine Library TV, and even if not, make sure you subscribe to his social media video podcasts and follow @garyvee on Twitter for some really useful tips.
###
I would have loved to debut the new Thrilling Heroics interview series with my great discussion with Gary Vaynerchuk if I’d had my act together, but I dropped the ball, and Gary, I’m sorry brother. I’ve now got my own recording ability properly set up on my hardware though, and I’m honored to have Clay Collins as my guest on the first episode of Thrilling Heroics TV. If you haven’t seen it, make sure you watch my discussion with Clay for more about finding your passion and creating a purpose-driven business.
I’ve heard mostly good things about the book. I did read somewhere that it’s heavy on motivation and light on practical tips. Did you find this?
I love Gary’s energy. I just love it. He reminds me a little of Tony Robbins.
Yeah, I think that Garyvee is one of those people that is hard NOT to appreciate because of his approach and the massive amounts of success he’s achieved because of it.
Kudos to you for making the connection with him, and for rolling with the punches when things didn’t go as planned. These are the kinds of ‘oh shit’ experiences that are horrible at the time, but later you’ll be able to look back on and say ‘yeah, but I made it happen anyway.’
Looking forward to the interview series!
Love it! Earlier this week I listened to an interview that Gary did with Pam Slim. The dude exudes passion. He’s frickin’ sweating it out of his pores. It’s actually quite inspiring and I’m sure that’s why he draws such a large following. When you have that much HONEST passion for what you do people are bound to be attracted to you and want to figure out ‘how do I get there? I want to be like that.’ That was definitely my first thought when I watched the interview.
I’ll definitely check out his book.
Really great post! I love Gary and just found him about two weeks ago – he leads by example and I just can’t get over how passionate he is about it all
Cody, you are my hero. Drinks next week my friend.
Thanks for the shout out, and I’m definitely excited to pick up Crush It. And I still love that Gary is responding to plenty of his @replies (including a couple of my own) even though his schedule is obviously insanely packed at the moment.
Gary Vaynerchuk epitomizes what it means to be successful in a social media dominated world. He connects and responds with everyone he possibly can. He is proof that hard work, a unique story and some business commonsense are the ingredients for success.
I remember back a year ago when Gary V. and Tim Ferriss had comparable Twitter followers and popularity. Twitter followers today.
Tim Ferriss 61,538
Gary Vaynerchuk 851,914
More notable figures.
Tim follows 199 people.
Gary follows 9,968 people.
If you want one more test, send both an email. Gary will probably personally respond, you might get an autoresponder some day from Tim.
The moral of the story. There is no substitute for hard work and building real relationships.
hey cody!!
How do i not know about this guy?!
““Social Media Sommelier,” haha. LOVE it!!
” it’s time to stop doing shit you hate and embrace what you love.” – man. as i read that magic tingles of glory started dancing through every atom of existence. so well put.
haha, crazy story about the interview setup. had similar craziness happen way too many times but always makes for a cool story
so many books on this type of thing out there. but this guy looks solid real deal. busy chchchecking him out some more as i write this.
and really dig your site all round. super magic legend status.
keep well and in touch mate
alex – unleash reality
It’s funny because I think Tim Ferriss was who originally made me aware of Gary about a year ago. I saw a minute or two of his wine show and didn’t really pay much attention after that, because I took it as he was just some wine guy (I don’t drink wine, so the topic was boring to me).
I kept hearing his name come up, and had just ignored it because he was just that wine guy.
Then a few weeks ago someone put up an affiliate page for something of his, including the web 2.0 video. I wouldn’t have even watched it, but the line “Stop watching fucking lost!” was the title of the page.
At the time, I was trying to resolve a major issue of how to do something or categorize something with my business. I love the video, it made perfect sense with regards to business in today’s world.
I watched a 2nd video on his site, and it made clear the solution I was looking for with my business. Just like that, 2 short videos and I had my solution clarified for me.
Obviously I learned that I shouldn’t pigeon-hole subjects I think don’t matter to me, as there is always something I can learn.
Gary Vee, Gary Vee, Gary Vee. He is the song that has been playing in my head the last 3 weeks.
I think he might be replacing coffee for me soon.
My copy of Crush It! should be here today and I can’t wait to absorb it.
If you haven’t seen his full keynote that is clipped in the 1st video here it is:
Gary Vee’s keynote at web 2.0.
Have a great weekend,
Jill
Jill’s recent post: Romper Bomper Stomper Boo.
This looks like a great book. Now I have another must read book to my list of things to do.
Gary is an amazing guy for sure. I read “Crush It” and it is amazing. I can’t wait to see how this guy just explodes in 2010.
Cheers
Dayne