Authors: Gary Vaynerchuk
I
t used to be that only people in the public eye had to worry about controlling their message. They used teams of stylists and publicists to shape their image, and even the media acted more as a guardian than a snitch—no one knew about our presidents’ affairs or an actor’s drug habit or a tycoon’s backroom deals. Those days are long gone, not just for celebrities but for all of us. We’re all in the public eye now, swimming around in a clear glass fish bowl of our own making. With every e-mail and video and blog post and tweet and status update, we add to the real-time documentary of our lives. For the person who thinks of himself or herself as a brand—and remember, everyone needs to start thinking of themselves as a brand—the ability to spread your great ideas and share your triumphs is a golden opportunity. The downside to this, of course, is that when you mess up or things go wrong, there’s no longer anywhere to hide.
The public can be forgiving when it wants to be, but rather than test its generosity, I urge you to start training yourself to think through the consequences of every business decision you make before you actually make it.
Perhaps that sounds like obvious advice, but I know for a fact that many people have a hard time thinking long term. Successful entrepreneurs are like good chess players; they can imagine the various possibilities ahead and how each one will trigger their next move. Too many people, however, can’t think past their first move (worse, some don’t care to, like a small number of CEOs who know they’ll be gone in three years and just want the stock price to go up no matter the long-term impact on the company). They’re all about what’s good for their business today. That kind of thinking is at the root of a lot of really crap judgment calls, the kind that will sink a personal brand. Achieving 100 percent happiness is the whole point of living your passion, of course, but to my mind that happiness is unachievable if you don’t recognize that with every decision you make, you’re building more than just a business, you’re building a legacy.
For all of us made of ambitious, competitive, hungry DNA, the urge to take our personal brands as far as they will go is second nature. But let me assure you that if you’re coming exclusively from the monetizing angle, you’re going to lose. How you build your business is so much more important than how much you make while doing it. Yes, I want to buy the Jets. Yes, I intend to crush it. But as I build my brand and make money and work to achieve my goals, I am always hyperaware that everything I’m doing is being recorded for eternity. It does bother me a little that all the cursing I sometimes do in my keynotes is going to
become part of my story, yet I have to embrace it because that’s just how my DNA expresses itself when I’m onstage. I want to be proud of what I do. I want my kids and my grandkids and great-grandkids to be proud of me. This is why every decision I make is weighed in terms of currency and legacy. Will this business deal make me money? Yes? Good. Will I be proud of how I made that money? Yes? Okay, then, let’s do this. If the answer is no, I don’t go there, ever. Legacy always wins.
My obsession with legacy should explain to you why I insist on trying to answer every e-mail, tweet, ping, or comment. Back in the early days I used to reply within a couple of hours. Now the volume of my correspondence has gotten so overwhelming that it takes me a few months to get back to people, but I guarantee you, I always try to. If I realize I’m falling behind because I’m busy or I have a brutal travel schedule, I’ll shoot off a short video explaining what’s going on and promise to reply to everyone as soon as possible.
Now, a lot of people think I’m out of my mind for keeping this up. In the beginning they thought it was kind of cute, but now they think I’m insane. After all, I’m on the social network radar. I may be only a triple-Z list celebrity, but it would be fair to say that I’ve done all right for myself and that I’ve secured an interested, loyal audience through my particular brand of perseverance and hard work. Surely, some well-meaning friends have suggested, people would understand if I had to delegate my correspondence or even start picking and choosing who gets a personal reply.
That’s not how it works. Not in my world, anyway. No matter how big you get, every e-mail, every customer, every friend,
every single person with whom you come into contact matters and deserves respect and attention. Not because you never know who’s going to be a good contact or resource later on, although that’s definitely true, but just because. If someone takes the time to reach out to you, it’s your obligation to reciprocate.
That said, the truth is that my e-mail volume is getting to the point where I fear I may have to make some adjustments in how I respond to correspondence, but rest assured that I will find a way to remain accessible to my friends and fans.
Legacy is the mortar of successful, lasting brands. I’ve known this since my days in retail. There was one year where I found out that a customer in Westchester, New York, hadn’t received her case of White Zinfandel. It was December 22 and there was no way FedEx was going to deliver the wine in time for Christmas. My ordering department had received the complaint, but because the customer was neither a regular nor the order particularly large, they hadn’t brought it to my attention. By the time I got wind of the problem there was only one thing left to do. I threw a case of White Zinfandel in my car and drove three hours in blinding snow to the woman’s house. Did I mention that she lived in another state? That it was our busiest time of the year? That my time was much more valuable in the store during those six round-trip hours? And believe me, there was no angle. The customer was an older woman who lived far away and wasn’t about to start hosting a lot of parties and using us as her exclusive wine supplier.
Yet I knew that it was up to me to set the tone at the store, and that this was a perfect way to do it. Our corporate culture was
cemented the day I delivered the case of wine to that woman. I follow the same philosophy when I answer every single one of my e-mails. Making connections, creating and continuing meaningful interaction with other people, whether in person or in the digital domain, is the only reason we’re here. Remember that, set the tone, and build legacy.
T
oday’s entrepreneurs are building on top of a foundation that has changed our society forever, something that goes much deeper than Twitter and Tumblr and YouTube. The greatest paradox surrounding the Internet is that as much as it allows us to isolate and limit ourselves only to what we believe is immediately relevant to our specific needs, so does it allow us to connect at unprecedented levels and extend ourselves beyond our farthest horizons. People still underestimate the reach of this thing. The Internet is only fourteen years old or so—it’s so young it hasn’t even had sex—yet it has already crushed many of the biggest communication platforms known to humankind, and it’s not done. The Internet is as powerful as oxygen, but we have not seen its full capabilities. It’s got a long way to go, and it’s going to morph and change and reveal all
kinds of surprises. You’ve got to be prepared to evolve and adapt along with it.
Whatever you do, don’t read this book and take everything I say word for word. I’ve offered you a blueprint of the step-by-step process of taking advantage of what the Internet has to offer you now, which has worked well for me. But in six months the environment will have changed again. If you see something—a platform, a trend, a social pattern that makes your radar go off, you should absolutely follow it. Don’t ever be afraid to put your feet in that water, whether I’ve said a word about it or not. Listen to your DNA—it will always lead you in the right direction.
If there’s any message I want you to take away, it’s that true success—financial, personal, and professional—lies above all in loving your family, working hard, and living your passion. In telling your story. In authenticity, hustle, and patience. In caring fiercely about the big and the small stuff. In valuing legacy over currency. Social media is an important part of it for now, but maybe it won’t always be. These concepts, however, are forever, no matter what the next business platform or social phenomenon turns out to be.
I thought it would be helpful to provide a checklist of all the steps you want to take as you build your personal brand:
I believe that livestreaming is the future, so most of the new businesses I envision build on that platform. Here are a few that I will unfortunately not be able to get around to, even though I think they have tremendous potential. See what you can do with them.
the QVC of the internet
It blows my mind that this hasn’t been done on a serious level yet. Ustream.tv and Justin.tv are free platforms that replicate live television—they provide the perfect opportunity for a great salesperson to start an efficient online QVC. Find a terrific host (or host the show yourself), mix things up by inviting guests—
inventors, entrepreneurs, authors—and talk about whatever you find interesting or useful or exciting. You don’t even need vendor relationships to start this up—just affiliate link all of the products you think are worth selling. Eventually vendors will be begging to get airtime on your show. In addition, you wouldn’t need a call center to handle customers and sales. While you or your host talked about a product, a box would appear at the bottom of the screen with a button allowing people to start clicking through to make their purchase. Needless to say you’d have an archive and break products into categories so that shoppers could easily find past episodes and shop to their hearts’ content.
a tea blog
I think the tea market in the United States is about to blow up, and for the person who wants to educate and entertain the masses there will be enormous opportunity to build a site much like Wine Library TV. Offer a tea-of-the-month club and you’ll be in serious business.
the sports center of the web
Where is the twenty-four-hour online sports-talk show? I totally see this as a college play—five to ten college seniors debating sports while livestreaming on Ustream.tv from a dorm room. Obviously you couldn’t compete with the likes of ESPN, who can purchase the right to use sports highlight reels, but you could certainly give radio stations a major run for their money. Build up a few major personalities to draw regular viewers. I would
love to see two brothers (I wish AJ and I could find the time to do this!) do an online call-in twenty-four-hour sports-talk show, much like ESPN’s Mike and Mike, or even the longtime hit in New York, Mike and the Mad Dog. Or become the online world’s Don Imus. Advertisers would eat up the chance to get their name mentioned on a show with a hundred thousand listeners and viewers. Imagine: “This hour brought to you by Sports Authority.” Has a nice ring to it, right?
online book reviews
This one has my panties in a bunch big-time. All you independent bookstores screaming that book lovers should bring you their business because you can offer more personal attention and knowledge, even if you can’t compete on price? Here’s your chance to swat the big boys down: a daily book review video blog. Get two or three of your most entertaining, most passionate associates to talk about the books they love, what’s coming up, what’s hot, what’s not. At the same time, lower the price on your one hundred top-selling books. Spread your neighborhood charm to the world. By using your blog to expand your reach beyond your local market, you will explode your brand and your business.
pepsilandhousplace.com
What the heck is this? Just an example of the kind of destination url a big corporation might launch to get a fire under their brand. If I were a brand manager (I’d love to say a CEO would get on
this, but brand managers are usually the ones in the trenches), I’d create a one-off website to leverage interest in my brand, where consumers can go for information and even samples. It is completely separate from the homepage and allows you to track your campaign and how much effect it’s having. You’re thinking you’ve seen special sites for brands before. Not like this you haven’t, because this one would bring the power of Facebook into play, too. Build a fan page for your brand announcing a game or contest that gets people to start interacting with your brand. By participating, they get free samples and other perks. Combing the reach of Facebook with product sampling is something that very few, if any, companies are doing, and it’s about time they start.