Let me start by saying I don’t work for Gary Vaynerchuk (although that would have been cool in my 20's). I am not on his team, I’m not a client and I’m not a paid reviewer. I simply have followed Gary Vee (as he is often referred to) and this is just one guy’s opinion. Now that my disclaimer is complete, I think I have unearthed some of the “secret sauce” that continues to grow his following from his various videos. Are you ready? Get real close to the screen while I whisper one of the most compelling reasons for his ongoing success:
Much of his wisdom is based on actual stories wrapped around timeless concepts like patience and time, not magic bullets. It’s exactly what most people don’t expect to hear from a massively successful guy in a hoodie…and it keeps them riveted.
I believe that beyond the captivating and often colorful responses that Gary records and distributes on YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine and a host of other platforms, is that young & old find the actual content intriguing. In other words, instead of the usual “If you want the REAL secrets to my success so you can apply them in your business, buy my (insert expensive program/seminar here)...”, he truly believes that part of his value proposition is putting himself out of business and sharing compelling content…for free.
Now before you start shaking your head, think of what is timeless about that mantra: if he equips people to succeed, they attribute that success to a mentor/guide/’media sherpa’ who helped them get there, and that is a huge brand accolade for Gary Vee (which they will likely share). His brand helps people. I am not purporting that he is such an altruist that he doesn’t charge for his services at some point. My point is that in a foundational sense, it’s the very principle that if you help enough other people get what they want, you can also get what you want. [à la W. Clement Stone & Napoleon Hill] The key is that what he gives away leaves many of us actually willing to consider paying for those things that he produces that do carry a price. From a business perspective, that’s compelling, whether it is a large commercial offer or a “product”, such as a book. (And speaking of books, he’s yet to produce a book that is priced excessively, further proving that he’s walking the talk, even with regard to that particular revenue producing element of his business).
When asked about his success, he shares honest feedback like, “It takes real work!” He challenges the people who label themselves “gurus” to take a strong look at how long they have been doing what they claim to be doing …and how many people that they have actually helped before assigning themselves the moniker of “guru”.
He isn’t being filmed in a newly tailored suit, cutting away to momentary close-ups of his designer dress shoes or expensive cuff links, while seated behind a neatly organized (nearly barren) desk that looks like no one has ever done any work there; he’s in a hoodie after an early morning yoga session and headed out to meet with people who he can lock arms with in order to move his business forward.
In an Uber car.
Meeting to meeting.
For 11 hours or more. Daily.
I also believe another thing that keeps us enamored with Gary Vaynerchuk is that he is not concerned about “turning off his followers” with the real truth of his success. In a world full of very scripted video snippets aimed at advertising a certain brand message (in the name of “just making an impromptu Vine for everybody”…yeah, right) or the reality styled, entrepreneur videos that are more pre-production work than anything serendipitous, Gary Vaynerchuk gives us the raw truth of his own experience, complete with the warts and wounds and not solely the victories.
His wisdom is tucked into unscripted maxims like “It’s not about the ‘win’…[it’s] meritocracy…even at your own expense. Something that a lot of people haven’t learned yet.”
What die hard sales guy (or media manager) do you know that would actually say “It’s not about the win” and go on to point out an object lesson? None that I know of. And in the midst of what may appear to be a counterintuitive statement to many, Gary is trying to teach a very valuable lesson to his audience in these unrehearsed sound bytes: integrity, staying a student of your interactions and earning the right to advance in business are all tied to your long term success. There are no shortcuts. This is not about ‘image management’. The undertone of some of his illustrations point to facts like ‘if you are new to the business world, you can’t dazzle them with brilliance you haven’t got’. There is both patience and strategy.
All of this content flies in the face of many ‘traditional’ selling efforts and all of the tried and true advertising must do’s. While most people are more than willing to share their polished, overproduced video lives, Gary Vee gives us unvarnished peeks into an actual day in the life, replete with meetings that run long, one-on-ones that are not always timely, schedule conflicts, employee interactions, unguarded moments of disappointment, loving phone chats with his family, lessons from a negotiation and missed appointments. And contrary to the wisdom of the suits on Madison Avenue, new subscribers continue to flock to see the latest installment of even more Gary Vee content.
Admittedly, he’s also a great story teller and a gifted guy. His tales are not all cautionary; there’s certainly plenty of motivational moments tucked into those videos too. The success stories and the inspirational aspects are alive and well — just not too overdone. He’s part sage, part parent, part professor, part raconteur. His passion for what he does definitely shines through in many ways. (And sure, there’s an occasional shameless plug here or there referencing other content — but mostly the free kind). It’s a great balance: he gives us the refreshing honesty that comes with a video compilation that doesn’t set out to “sell”, but ends up bringing us into his world such that we are anxious to see how he manages the disappointments and the wins. He’s willing to visually share the stories about the process. He talks about how family is first, even though his work ethic is uncompromising. He speaks to work life balance in real terms and not like some vision statement on a wall that no one reads again after they finish their first week of training.
My hope is that those who quit Harvard or Stanford or their local community college and immediately call themselves a Social Media mogul, [or assign themselves some other noteworthy title] will stop, watch and emulate what many of us love about Gary Vee: a commitment to principled leadership throughout the journey without the entitlement of ‘instant fame and fortune’. He cautions people about seeing his story as an “overnight success” as they watch his following grow into the millions on many different social platforms. He reminds his audience about the value of steady plodding and hard work.
Adrien Brody, the Oscar winning actor, was once quoted as saying “My dad told me, ‘It takes fifteen years to be an overnight success’, and it took me seventeen and a half years.” If you listen closely to any of Gary’s videos, he shares this wisdom with his audience over the course of his video content. He invariably will give you a snippet that you can act on in a pragmatic fashion to get closer to your own brand of success, but the caveats are often terms that speak to timeless principles. Some start up wannabes are not ready for that level of truth. They see his 600-person media empire, his best selling books and his charisma on Snapchat or YouTube and figure, “I bet I can do that.” Gary truly lets them know, in no uncertain terms, “Uhhmm, no you can’t.” At least not overnight. He’s not being a dream killer — he’s simply helping to manage people’s expectations to get them thinking long term as opposed to ‘make it big — super quick’.
As he continues to drip his own brand of genius all over the Internet, it’s my hope that many who watch Gary Vaynerchuk will learn that it is not solely about the slickness of the video production (no disrespect to D-Rock who does a great job on Gary Vee’s video production, BTW) nor the magnetism alone that one conveys ‘on camera’, but rather the lasting value they can produce for their customers (along with their willingness to own their errors and course correct), that make for a lasting success. As Gary demonstrates in his videos, it’s in the “giving yourself away” that other new opportunities will invariably present themselves. Gary continues to pollenate the entrepreneurial garden with the terms like patience, time, strategy, meritocracy and execution. He reminds us all that certain principles will always outlive and outlast the desire to “make it big overnight.” It’s those ingredients, interspersed with anecdotal evidence of his own journey, that keep many of us tuning in to his videos and continually anticipating more of his content.
