“Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” needs to include “Thank YOU”

You know those kids who have parents always reminding them to say, “please” and “thank you”?

I was one of those kids.

Even when opening horrible presents, smile, pretend you like it and say, thank you.

Not so hard.

I’m a Gary Vaynerchuk fan, have read two of his books, including “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” and am looking forward to reading the new book he has on deck. I’ve watched every episode of “Ask Gary Vee” and I am the first question on episode one of that show.

Gary’s response to my question came at a time when I was feeling a little beat up, things weren’t working and I was questioning if they would ever work.

His answer helped and things got a lot better.

Then harder, then better, then harder, then better.

Gary’s answer came in handy more than once, as did the seemingly millions of other answers he’s given on that show.

There are a lot of hard parts in any venture. Sometimes those ventures fail and your life is altered permanently. I’ve definitely had that happen and I learn a lot every time it does. It still hurts when things don’t work, but that’s part of the deal.

One thing I’ve learned watching Gary Vaynerchuk is that I never want to be Gary Vaynerchuk.

I love to cherry pick Gary’s ideas and advice, and then mix them with other ideas, including my own.

I don’t want to build businesses or buy the New York Jets.

I want to tell stories for the rest of my life and I’ve been lucky enough to tell some stories thanks to a very cool community of humans from around the world who help me tell those stories.

Since 2010, I’ve asked for help creating two live-action series and a graphic novel series and any time I received help, I always said thank you. When people contribute their money to help you bring an idea to life, how can you not say thank you?

Another thing I’ve learned watching Gary Vaynerchuk is that there is a small army of Gary Vaynerchuk wannabe clones out there, who repeat what he says without credit. There’s also a giant army of cool people who use a lot of Gary’s advice with great success, many giving Gary credit.

I’ve been “jabbed, jabbed, jabbed, right hooked” and I bought the product or service as a result. I knew Vaynerchuk’s advice was being used on me, and very well, and I will continue to do business and hangout on social media with those folks.

However, I have also had the experience of being “jabbed, jabbed, jabbed, right hooked,” bought the product from the individual and then didn’t get a thank you. Absolutely nothing. Not even an acknowledgement.

Subsequent interactions never included any thank you or even a follow up on how I liked the product I purchased from the individual. Again, an individual, not a huge company, a human being.

That made me feel like a sucker, a statistic, a sale.

That feeling is what will cease any future business transactions.

That feeling could have been prevented with two words, thank you.

Preventing that feeling would have resulted in more business in the future and recommendations to friends.

Instead, there’s a smoking bridge carcass behind me.

You can hustle to the end of time, but if you want to build a business, after the “right hook,” say thank you.

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Joe Wilson is a Los Angeles-based storyteller who writes about himself in the third person at the bottom of Medium posts. His graphic novel is available here. It has swearing.