New Book Series! Gary Vee’s ‘Crushing It’ + Chapter 1: The Path Is Yours

First time I saw Gary Vee was in a Tony Robbins video.  Like a lot of other people; you either love him or hate him (well, hate it too strong of a word – so maybe dislike).  The next time I saw one of his videos was when his opening intro went something like, “the man holding the camera said it was a rough day…..I don’t give a _________.”

From then on…I was sold.  The marketing strategies, expertise in terms of social media, and how to build a brand catapulted me to great heights.  When my podcast got quiet, I realized that patience and constant content creating would overcome the woes.

The Path Is Yours

While I was downloading a sample of this book, I was listening to a very-angry-45-year-old-male on a news channel rant at Gary about “why” social media has destroyed the world.  I laughed.  The comments in support of Gary were wonderful: “this guy is completely lost and out of touch with reality.”  Yes, the Gen B’s and even what I’m dealing with at my current place of work, are lacking adaptability.  For example, English conversation, which is something most non-native English speaking countries don’t give, is lacking in Thailand.  I developed a curriculum that would amass millions upon millions of baht.  However, there was a change in administration, and here came a out-of-touch-with-the-world Brit who criticized the curriculum, stating that it’s not “academic.”  Oh, right…the academics that universities are spewing out to B.A. business students who are ineffective in the world of business – but they have made more money in six months listening to Gary Vee compared to the 4 years in school and 6 years after.  Hmmmm…

So then with two shops closing and a huge decrease in work, I’m smiling, knowing the emergence of the Chinese market will land me a job that will never go away while this business will be “out-of-business.”

News outlets, and the people not willing to acclimate around the world, know that if you don’t….the world will continue moving on – whether you like it or not.  Social media and the wondrous internet is here to stay.  If these Gen B babies knew what was to come in the next ten years, they would put tin foil on their desks and jars of urine would be scattered all around them (Hassan joke).

Building a personal brand is an important aspect….and more importantly, if you’re going to become an influencer (or what to), this is imperative.  Gary Vee has some insane stats in his book….

• YouTube’s daily viewership is closing in on TV’s 1.25 billion hours per day, as television viewership falls every year.

• One in every five minutes spent on mobile is spent on Facebook’s apps and services.

• Every minute, 65,900 videos and photos are posted on Instagram.

• Over 3 billion snaps are created each day on Snapchat, where over 60 percent of ads are watched with the audio on.

If you look at the likes of Logan Paul and Lilly Singh, they’re on the top of the grossing list, making tons by of course monetization.  Look at Instagram.  Look how many women are on there posing half-naked.  Take a good count and just imagine how much they’re making by wearing or branding other people’s companies?

Although YouTube is a crazy market to break into, look how many views the channel by the name of “Top 5’s” is getting.  He’s literally creating videos about top 5 everything around the world, and regardless of the dislikes that pour in, he’s making loads of money.  I’m kind of kicking myself in the ass because back in 2012, I created a blog about my travels to Thailand (here), Japan, and Hawaii.  Unfortunately I stopped….little did I know that could’ve expanded into a massive money-maker.  Know that the opportunity is everywhere around you.

I’m an entrepreneur who built a $150 million media company in part because of my personal brand, which I developed by first creating valuable content that grew my influence.  That’s one way to crush it.  By all means, though, go ahead and make money over time by running ads, for example by selling ad space to a candy bar company.  As your star rises, you could get paid $10k for placing a candy bar on your table while you work.  But for God’s sake, don’t stop there.  That’s where you start.  Don’t leave money on the table because you don’t realize how much bigger you can get.  How big? The internet is an entrepreneur’s oyster, and you can use its pearly platforms to build a personal brand so powerful that the world is not only willing to pay you for your products or services or to promote other people’s products and services, but also it might even be willing to pay you to just be you.  To me, that is when you’ve become a true influencer.  At its heigh, influencer marketing is reality TV 2.0. I want you to think of yourself as tomorrow’s newest star.

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