Check out one of my heroes, Gary Vaynerchuk.
Not only is he a crazy Jets fan (like me), Gary Vaynerchuk made $60 million dollars in sales last year from his video website http://winelibrarytv.com. His show is all about wine tasting, but Gary makes the subject fun to watch even if you don’t care about wine. He’s appeared on lots of TV shows, and even had Conan O’Brian eat cigars, dirt, and cherries to develop his pallet before trying a Shiraz. What makes Gary successful in social media is his passion for what he’s doing. He brings an energy that is generous to his audience and creates excitement.
Rule #1 – Do what you love [video of Gary discussing wine business]
If you can’t talk about what you do with passion and energy you need to find something new to do. Unless you want to spend the next 30-years of your life working at something hate, why do it? The recent meltdown of the US economy showed us that no business is “safe.” As Gary says, “business doesn’t have feelings.” It won’t care about you losing your job or your industry disappearing (sorry horse and buggy makers). So if you’re not doing what you love ask yourself, why?
But Mike, if everyone did what they loved who would do the stuff that needs to get done? The people who felt compelled to do it because they saw the need they could fill. Perhaps they’re passionate about sanitation or plumbing. They like seeing how things work. Look at the variety around you and choose what you love.
Rule #2 – Get started today [video of Gary talking about $200 to get started
What are you waiting for? Stalling on jumping in and starting now is a form of the Resistance (link to post in Lurkers). It doesn’t take a lot to create a blog, put up a few posts, and commit to doing more. Where most people fail is they think they have nothing to offer. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Think about something you really love (see step one), get out a piece of paper, and write a list of 10 reasons why you love it. Don’t think too hard. Once you are finished see what you’ve got? A list of your first-10 blog posts.
Rule # 3 – Share, share, and share some more
Old world thinking told us that if we gave away what we knew it would leave us with nothing of value to sell. In the world of finger-tip information sharing what you know everywhere makes you more marketable. I’m going to let you in on a little secret (one that Gary emphasizes as well) there’s this website, don’t know if you heard about it, called “Google.” Just type in whatever you want to know about and hundreds of results come up. If you Google the subject of your blog, look at the results, and think “I can write something better than that” or even “I have a point of view on that” – good! Get writing. Don’t worry about people “stealing” your ideas because they aren’t original anyway.
All ideas have been done before. We just find new perspectives and voices for them. No one will ever know your voice if you don’t speak up. A story I tell to illustrate this last point is something I heard from an entertainment lawyer I used to work with.
Clients would come into his office, turn the lights off, pull down the shades, and look around to make sure no one was listening. Then they’d whisper, “I’ve got this great idea.” The lawyer would open the shades, turn on the light, invite the staff in the room and say, “so what’s your idea.”
Great ideas are meant to be shared. It’s not the originality of your idea that counts (unless you are going for a patent) but rather how you execute on it. Sharing your ideas in public forums like blogs or YouTube are a great way to develop them. This is one reason why I’m writing my book Lurker’s Anonymous as a blog – it’s a great feeling to work not in isolation and I am more encouraged to write knowing people are expecting to see posts there.
So to recap. The three steps of crushing it like Gary Vee: (1) do what you love, (2) get started today, and (3) share, share, share. What experience do others have in crushing it? What are your favorite Gary Vee videos (please share a link)?How
