A little over a year ago, I was listening to the free CD that comes with Success Magazine and was completely blown away by someone Darren Hardy was interviewing.
The guys name was Gary Vaynerchuk (still is I believe) and that interview was the beginning of 6 lessons that fast forwarded my progress!
1) Don’t You Dare Go To Work Doing Something You Aren’t Passionate About! Oddly enough I was going through something like this where I was working at the time. I enjoyed training people but I just didn’t enjoy doing it for the same company every day. At the same time, I was extremely passionate about the work I was doing with yoursalesplaybook.com . It was the acknowledgment of these words from Gary that set the actions in motion that would later morph into Castain Training Systems.
2) Be Prepared To “Work Your Face Off”! At the time I thought this was a tad hard core until I really thought about what Gary was saying. For the first time in history, we can all have the type of exposure that only companies with deep pockets could afford. Social Media is available to us through the currency of sweat but . . . you better put in the work. This posed a bit of a problem for me because I was knee deep in the responsibilities of my paid gig and truly didn’t have the time. That’s when Gary said something else . . .
3) You Might Not Have The Time During The Day but . . . There’s Plenty Of Time Between The Hours of 7:00 pm and 2:00 am or if you’re a family dude/dudette 9:00 pm and 2:00 am! So starting in June of 2010, I pretended that I had a night job and would head up to my home office each night at 7:00 and moonlight. That’s when I would write my blog, show up on other people’s blogs, build my Linkedin group, think up some content for Twitter or my future Facebook strategy. The best part, was that I could see the results almost instantly as I built a much stronger personal brand.
4) The Importance Of Utilizing Other Forms Of Media! Gary kicked butt with his internet show which can be found at http://dailygrape.com Now this is where its important for us to be willing to take the lesson and own it in the way that makes us most comfortable. At that point in time, I truly didn’t want to get into video. The thought of buying the equipment, having to have help filming and just the time that would be involved was a huge turn off for me so I decided to launch the Sales Playbook Podcast instead. It’s now a year later and we have over 30 episodes recorded, most of which you can find and download on I-Tunes.
Note: I really needed something to push me way outside my comfort zone and my podcast has done just that. As a bonus, it has led to several speaking gigs and that in turn makes me and Mrs Castain mighty happy! Now that, kind of brings it back full circle to the first thought I shared (getting paid for doing what you love)
5) Be Real! When you watch an episode on dailygrape.com you see a dude who is real. He doesn’t get caught up in polish or canned video speeches, he keeps it real. If a fly flies on screen and trips him up, you see it, if he flubs his lines, it stays, if an employee walks in on him by accident, the camera keeps rolling. When he did the audio version of Crush It he went off script several times. When he describes wine, he doesn’t get caught up in some high brow stuffiness, he describes it in real terms. I truly believe that if we all would find the courage to remove our social mask we’d find out very quickly that people dig real or as Gary said in his latest book “There is never a time when real doesn’t work”!
6) Walk The Talk! Let’s face it, there are a ton of self proclaimed Social Media experts out there. Most of them, I have zero tolerance for. Truth be told, I have a hard time with the amount of people who claim to be “Social” Media experts who
– Never reply to an “@” message on Twitter
– Don’t respond to blog comments or doing anything to engage their blog community
– Behave unprofessionally and berate others who don’t agree with their perspective
Gary not only get’s it . . . he lives it! One would only need to look at his Twitter stream to see the level of engagement Gary brings to the party.
So today, we’re going to leave off with some homework:
1) Read Crush It and The Thank You Economy (these are both affiliate links by the way)
2) Study This Dude! Google him and listen to the interviews he’s done on various podcasts and on Youtube. Watch his activity on Twitter. Make notes in your journal and then model the heck out of him!
3) Find Your Own Way To Work Your Face Off: There are these two attorneys by me that are always doing commercials on the local TV stations. Additionally, they have billboards up around the major industrial parks. I’m no expert on advertising but I’m guessing this costs a butt load of cash to do. You too can get that level of exposure through Social Media . . . not for cash . . . but for lots of after hours sweat!
Paul Castain trains individuals and teams to be lethal. For more information on how you can work with this Jedi, by all means click here
I’ve learned a lot from him too. I’m yet to read the Thank You Economy, but its on my hit list.
Its a great read Sam and goes much deeper than Crush It.
Thanks for stopping by!
Its a great read Sam and goes much deeper than Crush It.
Thanks for stopping by!
Paul, Gary’s strategies are fantastic…. I started watching his wine.tv since the very beginning and used his online video approach when I ran a safety products company.
We made online training videos for the safety managers of construction companies and found a unique way to earn their business… I found a young college grad (theatre studies) who also did stand up comedy… he was fantastic on tape and made the safety business fun as well as informative…the videos were uses as warm up to start a sometimes boring safety meeting…
It was a great way to get the company name in front of prospects…
Gary is worth studying for any business….John
Sounds like you’re worth studying as well with those awesome ideas John!
Thanks for stopping by John . . . I really appreciate it!
This gets all of the high fives. ALL of them.
Thank you both Paul and Gary for the much needed kick-in-the-ass. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go prepare my face for the work-off it’s about to receive.
(PS: Sorry if this comment appears multiple times…computer had a bit of a temper tantrum just now)
Thanks TJ . . . go get ’em!
Paul,
Great post about Gary. Have not finished “Crush it” yet but intend on also getting his next book “The Thank You Economy”.
Both of you guys are worth modeling your efforts after!
Cheers,
Larry
Thanks Larry.
I totally enjoyed the Thank You Economy as well and will reread it again shortly!
Hope all is well buddy!
Flattered 🙂
A sincere honor Gary 🙂
Flattered 🙂
Paul.. I feel exactly the same way about Gary! I heard him on a Tony Robbins audio cd about 18 months ago, and I literally listened to that 20 minute bit over and over again for about a week. I picked up “Crush It” a few months ago now and have listened to it three times as well.
The one thing that really stood out for me with Gary was his passion for what he is doing, and that of course is wine library tv. You alluded to your work with “yoursalesplaybook” and how passionate you are about it. Very cool.
I have never forgotten the defining moment in that 20 minute bit I listened to. He excitedly gave the audience a business & marketing strategy – “Care”! Very simple, yet very powerful.
He also said something similar to your point #3. “Don’t waste your time watching Lost”. His point was of course there are valuable hours in the evening when you can be moving your business forward, and not wasting it on tv. Gary appears to love the New York Jets, so he will have to “excuse me” some evenings this fall when hockey is back on!
All joking aside, great post. Gary is one of the top internet markets out there, and I truly believe that his secret to success it that he is real, sugar coats nothing, and just cares about people doing what they love, their passion.
Thanks!
Paul.. I feel exactly the same way about Gary! I heard him on a Tony Robbins audio cd about 18 months ago, and I literally listened to that 20 minute bit over and over again for about a week. I picked up “Crush It” a few months ago now and have listened to it three times as well.
The one thing that really stood out for me with Gary was his passion for what he is doing, and that of course is wine library tv. You alluded to your work with “yoursalesplaybook” and how passionate you are about it. Very cool.
I have never forgotten the defining moment in that 20 minute bit I listened to. He excitedly gave the audience a business & marketing strategy – “Care”! Very simple, yet very powerful.
He also said something similar to your point #3. “Don’t waste your time watching Lost”. His point was of course there are valuable hours in the evening when you can be moving your business forward, and not wasting it on tv. Gary appears to love the New York Jets, so he will have to “excuse me” some evenings this fall when hockey is back on!
All joking aside, great post. Gary is one of the top internet markets out there, and I truly believe that his secret to success it that he is real, sugar coats nothing, and just cares about people doing what they love, their passion.
Thanks!