Archive for January, 2010

Gary Vaynerchuk was born in Belarus (USSR) in 1975, emigrated to the United States in 1978, rebranded his family business after graduating from college as Wine Library, growing it from a $4 million to $45 million business, and building on his passion as an unconventional sommelier devoted to educating consumers, is now a leading social media superstar, a bestselling author and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. Gary Vaynerchuk is a phenomenon!

• The video here is from a CNN Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk on May 16, 2009, before his book Crush It! was released. In the interview he says he has 350,000 followers on Twitter. Now just 8 months and a bestselling book later, he has 847,199 followers on Twitter (Oh! did I forget to add you?). Check his current number of follows on Twitter @garyvee.
• He is a great example of how passion goes farther than polish, and a huge inspiration to entrepreneurs and leagues of people who are trying find a better way to work for a living in a down economy.
  
• His achievements are remarkable. He signed a 10-book deal with HarperStudio for over $1,000,000. And his first book in the series Crush It!, became an Amazon and a New York Times bestseller. His Wine Library TV Show airs as a daily Internet video podcast, and attracts up to 90,000 viewers. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, GQ, and Time Magazine, and you can read even more about him on Wikipedia, as well as his bio and media credits on his Wine Library TV website.
  
• In this interview he makes some very interesting points for entrepreneurs and for businesses challenged by the changing economy. He says that everybody needs a platform, whether it be Internet, TV, or print media. And yet the secret to the platform is not about broadcasting but about engaging people of like interest in conversation. Traditional businesses are lost in this world, because they are still stuck in the paradigm that they control the message, rather than the audience of their potential customers. He says that Twitter and Facebook should be thought of as a cocktail party, rather than a networking event, and that if you come from the heart with quality and passion and work hard to participate, only then can you find ways to make a living from your passion.
• He says that his passion has attracted eyeballs, and whenever that many people start paying attention to something, it automatically attracts people who want to participate and are even happy to pay for the privilege. Already Gary consults for Fortune 500 companies who want what he’s got, the ability to attract and engage with their customers. And he has a steady stream of people who have direct or peripheral connections to the wine industry, from wine glass makers to mineral water producers, who want to pay him thousands of dollars to be part of his show.
• While Gary’s style may not be your style, and you may not be willing or able to devote almost full time to maintaining such a presence on line and in the media, one thing is for certain. As he points out, the Internet is still a teenager, and we have only begun to comprehend its potential. He compares Twitter and Facebook to tools like crayons, markers, or fax machines, and says that once people get how to use these tools to really reach out with what they care about, the potential to survive and thrive in the new economy is like a dream come true.
• Meanwhile, why not join Gary for a glass of wine on his Internet program, Wine Library TV, and think about how this might apply to your business.

Will Smith says being realistic is the most common road to mediocrity. You have to know, this is what I believe, and I’m willing to die for it.

Will Smith is one of my favorite actors, and in this compilation of interview excerpts he shows wisdom from his experience Big Willie Style. Will Smith’s bio is amazing, ranging from rap star artist to film superstar. He makes it look easy, but we see in these interviews that he works incredibly hard at perfecting his craft.

• I love the way it starts, “I have a great time with my life, and I want to share it.”
• He says it doesn’t matter where you are, because you are in the process of becoming something better.
• “Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.” Will says that talent alone is not enough. You need to develop the skill to show it to others.
• His humor is classical Will Smith. “If we get on a treadmill, only two things certain. You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die on that treadmill.” Many people assume that others get ahead because of special gifts or breaks, and totally forget about the power of belief and perseverance. No wonder he played the lead in the move ALI.
• He talks about how you build a wall, not all at once, but by laying each brick in the most perfect way a brick can be laid, day after day.
• His inspiring message about making the world better for someone else because you were here, wins applause. As they say, it’s not about you.
• He says there is no reason to have a plan B, because it distracts from plan A. Will Smith has no use for being realistic, calling it the most common road to mediocrity.
• He is calm, wise, and funny, and ends with a message that if you just decide and commit to what it’s going to be, then the universe will get out of your way.
  

Steve Jobs is one of most remarkable entrepreneurs of our generation, not only for his successes, but because he is so easy to relate to as a human being. He has weathered the storms, stayed honest with himself, and come out of it generously with wisdom for the rest of us.

Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford is more than a speech, it is a riveting story! And with skilled camera work occasionally capturing the faces of the students in the audience, you feel as if you are there witnessing it yourself in real time.

• Steve Jobs needs no introduction, but you might want to revisit and find out why you should listen to him. His achievements over the last 3 decades have changed the world.
• He relates extremely well to the students, joking about he himself had never graduated from college, and yet what he gained both as a drop out and a drop in, taking classes in calligraphy that had an impact on his design sense at Apple.
• He tells three stories, and anchors each with wonderful foundational phrases. The rule of three is a wonderful way to deliver a memorable message.
  
• The first story is about connecting the dots. Believing that following your curiosity and intuition will lead to connecting the dots down the road, and that will make all the difference.
  
• In his second story he spoke about love and loss, and the lessons he learned from getting fired from Apple, the company he had started, only to eventually come back in style. Love what you do, keep looking, and don’t settle.
  
• His second story was about his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer, and how his doctors told him to get his affairs in order and prepare to die. He lived with that diagnosis, and through a miracle of diagnosis and surgery, enabled him to recover. His message is plain. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
  
• Finally, he ends with a wonderful story about the Whole Earth Catalog, and its farewell message in the final publication, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
• Humility, honesty, courage. Jobs has them all.