So, this just happened… An experiment in radical transparency.
I’m going to try and make this short, I’m known to be long-winded at times. I imagine it’s somewhat obvious what we’re doing from the name of this publication but I think an explanation is still in order, so let’s lay it out.
We’re just a couple dudes, nobody special, and we want to organize an event to bring Gary Vaynerchuk to Montreal (QC) for a full evening of entertainment, enlightenment, and Q&A. We are going to be making every bit — or as much as conceivably possible — of the process public for anyone and everyone to see.
First, there is where you are now — the Medium publication. This is going to be our little home on the internet, our own corner of the web. To be known, you must write — and so we shall. This is where we will spill it all.
Next, there is our Trello board we work out of. Here you can find our blog topic ideas, general ideas, rejected ideas, and tasks both completed and in progress/to do.
Next up is the Google Drive folder. This is where we will put things like our meeting/discussion minutes, plans, goals, budget, timeline, works in progress and everything else there will be.
Last but not least, there is the Facebook group. This is where you can come to chat, hangout, and connect with others. We hope to make it fun along the way, so come join us.
By now I imagine all this might be begging the question “why?”. Why Gary? Why make the whole process public? Why Montreal? OK, maybe not the last one as I suppose that’s probably obvious — it’s where we are. But actually, now that you mentioned it, one assumption we have is that it’s even possible to pull off in Montreal. Maybe we’ll learn that the audience just isn’t here, that we won’t be able to fill a venue, or that it’s not feasible. Well, we certainly hope not but I guess we’ll soon find out! Although, we’re fairly confident it is possible — more on that in a second.
Why make the whole process public? My knee-jerk response is simply “why not?” I love it when others share their experiences. My favorite blogs are those that share the most; Groove, Buffer, StatusPage, BareMetrics, Pat Flynn, Nathan Barry, and more. I find it so valuable to read about others’ successes, failures, experiences, lessons learned, and processes. I always thought it would be so cool for someone to share their story from the very beginning, and who knows, maybe this will be that thing. There are always bigger dreams. Perhaps this is just the first of many awesome events, or not. Whatever happens, we’re taking you along for the ride. All I hope is that we’ll be able to share some valuable lessons that someone (or two, or three) will find useful and help them do whatever they’re doing. That would make it all worth it. Because, at the same time, I’m writing. I’ve always wanted to write, share, and give back and now I get to — and work on becoming a better writer. Lastly, another reason for putting it all out there is that it plays a part in our overall game plan — which I’ll get into shortly.
Why GaryVee? Well, short answer; ’cuz he’s awesome. Take a video like this one. If you watch that and don’t get pumped up then I don’t know what to say, other than what does? He speaks with contagious passion and energy, it’s electric. The message is always honest — no fluff or sugar coating, it’s just hard work and it’s going to suck sometimes. While the word “hustle” may be a little tired and overused, there’s just no substitute. You need to have hustle, and Gary is a great spokesman for it — he clearly has the work ethic of mad man. My close friend and co-organizer Chris (who you’ll also be hearing plenty from) recently attended the Archangel Summit in Toronto. He came back talking about how great it was, and also that he felt it was pretty clear Gary was one of the main draws. That led to the question why hasn’t there ever really been an appearance in Montreal? Turns out he apparently was here on a book tour in 2008, but that’s about all we found. People came in from all over for the Archangel Summit, and yes it’s a much bigger event all-around, but surely it should be possible to sell enough tickets to make it possible to get just Gary in a room and be worth it for everyone. That would be awesome. “Let’s do it”. And here we are.
Alright, what’s the plan? You’re looking at it. It should come as no surprise that it’s not cheap to book Gary. We don’t have that kind of money, so we decided to do things differently. We’re starting with spreading the word and drumming up interest, and creating a community. Then, once there are enough people interested, we intend to pre-sell the tickets to get the money to book GaryVee. That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell. What do you think? We understand that this is not the way things are usually done, and that some people might have reservations because of it. Which is why we then decided to be 100% transparent about everything. Our hope is to gain your trust by letting you in to everything we do on this project. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Are we scared about failing publicly? Terrified. I’m sure we’re going to make some mistakes along the way and learn plenty. But I hate to waste these lessons so we will be sharing them so you can learn too. Our goal is to be as open and honest as possible and create quality, valuable content. By definition, if it’s valuable then people will share it. Which will lead to more people knowing about us, which will lead to signups, and before you know it Gary will be in Montreal in no time. So, we’ve deliberately made it pretty simple for ourselves; deliver value. That is our only task.
Set your goals high and don’t stop until you get there. — Bo Jackson
If you would like to receive future information about the event, please sign up here.
If you want to see GaryVee in Montreal or think what we’re doing is cool, please click the little heart so this article can be recommended to others. If you’d like to follow along with our journey feel free to follow this publication or join the Facebook group.
