Gary Vaynerchuk is a forward-thinking entrepreneur who has mastered the art of commanding attention. He’s currently the CEO of Vayner Media, a full-service advertising agency that helps Fortune 1000 companies leverage consumer attention.
On top of this, he’s also the Chairman of Vayner X, a modern-day communications holding company; a five-time New York Times best-selling author; a highly sought-after public speaker; and a prolific angel investor. Gary knows a thing or two about success; as such, we aim to unpack some of his success secrets in this Gary Vaynerchuk Success Story special.
“Work Hard. Work Smart. Be Patient.” – GARY VEE . As he’s come to be known, Gary Vee is a successful businessman, and his inspiring success story can teach and guide us in various ways. So, with that being said, let’s dive into the makings of a successful entrepreneur.
Early Life | Gary Vaynerchuk Success Story:
In 1978, when Gary Vaynerchuk was just three years old, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. from Belarus, a country that was part of the former Soviet Union. His family first lived with relatives in Queens, New York, but they would eventually move to Edison, New Jersey.
His father initially worked as a stock boy in a liquor store. And as most immigrants do, he worked his tail off and was smart with every penny he earned for many years. Eventually, this allowed Gary’s father to gain full ownership of his liquor store, slowly but surely.
Gary would learn much from his father about hard work and hustle and would get introduced to entrepreneurship at age six. His first taste of entrepreneurship came from experimenting with selling flowers.
Legend has it that Gary would take flowers from his neighbor’s yard, ring the doorbell of that neighbor, and, with charisma and wit, successfully sell the neighbors’ flowers back to them. Gary’s taste for entrepreneurship would grow.
By age 7, he was already running a successful lemonade franchise throughout New Jersey, where he had set up eight different lemonade stands, using his friends to run each location.
However, at 13, Gary Vee would get his first taste of entrepreneurial success. His breakthrough would come from his ability to generate thousands of dollars every weekend by selling baseball cards. Gary learned much about supply and demand in these formative years.
The Grind:—
Gary would eventually get pulled into his father’s business, where he was initially put to work bagging ice for $2 an hour. Gary would go on to work for his father for a handful of years in various roles within the family business. However, after Gary learned about the power of the internet, he went all-in to improve his father’s business.
And shortly after graduating from college, Gary would begin leveraging social media and strategic content creation to grow his father’s business from $3 million in annual revenue to $60 million in just a few short years.
How did he do it? Gary set his father’s business up on the internet and renamed the liquor store business Wine Library. Then, in 2006, he created an extremely entertaining and educational show (Wine Library TV) that showcased his analyses of various wines and liquors.
Gary used his deep knowledge of wines, his lively personality, and his constant daily hustle to make more than 1000 episodes of the show and grow the number of people who watched it over a five-year period.
On top of this, Gary paid particular attention to what his audience was interested in and wanted more of. He then did a good job of carrying it out by giving them the interaction and answers they wanted.
The result? An explosion in revenue growth for his father’s liquor store! In his own words, this is what Gary has to say about his initial success with Wine Library:
“I’ve always said that the success of that business was due to how hard I worked and how committed I was to connecting with my fans and customers by answering every email or blog comment I got and going above and beyond to show them how much I appreciated their business.” Gary Vaynerchuk
The Next Chapter:
After dramatically growing his father’s business, Gary would start the next chapter of his entrepreneurial career. Gary would use what he had learned from the success of Wine Library TV and his years of experience with social media to start his full-service advertising agency. He would name this new endeavor Vayner Media.
Gary started small with Vayner Media. In his early days, he had to use another company’s conference room because he didn’t have the capital to rent the office space that would allow him to have his own. But he persisted and did what he did best. He hustled to get attention, and that attention translated into business. And after giving a successful public speech in New York, Gary’s media agency would take off.
Shortly afterward, Gary would ink his first million-dollar 10-book deal with HarperCollins. Since then, he’s published multiple books, five of which landed on the New York Times’s Best Seller list. Now, Gary runs Vayner Media as the CEO, is the chairman of Vayner X, and has since become synonymous with hustle, execution, and digital advertising.
And when he’s not helping his clients build their businesses, he is jet-setting across the globe, inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs with his charismatic and thought-provoking public speeches.
Gary Vee’s Enduring Success:
Gary Vee’s success continues to grow, as he currently employs over 800 people at his media companies. He currently has over 12 million social media followers. He is continually increasing his influence and fortifying his brand with his popular YouTube show, The Gary Vee Video Experience, and his hit podcast, The Gary Vee Audio Experience.
So, what’s the secret to Gary Vee’s enduring success? It must be said that Gary Vaynerchuk has a magical charisma about him, which has undoubtedly played a significant role in his ability to captivate his audience. However, what has led to much of Gary’s success and will continue to help him be successful is his uncanny ability to spot trends and zero in on what people are interested in.
He says it best with this quote:
“Pay attention to what people care about, and reverse engineer it.” Gary Vaynerchuk
Equally important, what likely helps him be so effective at observing what works and doesn’t work in terms of building businesses and spotting trends is his penchant for relentless effort. Again, he has in the past summed it up for us well in his own words.
“While everybody is hoping and dreaming, I am going to be executing.” Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary has also demonstrated a knack for effectively leveraging technology, the people around him, and the media to scale his reach. This knack has given him the ability to grab more and more attention for himself and his clients. In short, he is excellent at getting the most out of his resources, be they his team, his technology, or his media channels. In his own words…
“You always squeeze the f*ck out of a full orange. And when it’s empty, you find a pear, which is harder to squeeze, but you hope a grapefruit comes along. Email used to have a 90% opening rate for me. It’s not anymore. Google AdWords used to be 5 cents per click. It’s not anymore,” says Gary Vaynerchuk.
Peering into the Mind of a Master:
He’s not P.T. Barnum, but Gary has mastered leveraging attention to get results. So, to give you a better look into the mind of this master and a bit more insight into how Gary Vaynerchuk got to where he is today,
Key Takeaways:—
Gary Vaynerchuk’s success story has a lot to teach us. It shows us how an immigrant from Belarus worked his a** off, made the most of his situation, and leveraged the day’s technology to scale his brand and businesses to staggering heights. His story also shows us that the American Dream is alive and well for those who choose execution over excuses.
We hope his story also helps you realize that anything is possible with massive hustle, a healthy dose of obsession with your customer’s wants and needs, and a little leverage. So, put these takeaways to work for you and start creating your own inspiring story of success.
Courtesy: The Strive