Gary Vaynerchuk Is Showing Us How to Make It as an Entrepreneur Here are five key points Vaynerchuk shared at ComplexCon 2018 to help separate yourself from the pack and succeed.
By Carlos Gil
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Right on the heels of the release of his special edition "Dark Clouds" sneaker by K-Swiss, Gary Vaynerchuk sat down for an exclusive interview at ComplexCon 2018 to offer a glimpse of what's next for the bestselling author, serial entrepreneur and investor, which you can see in the video above.
Related: A Look at the Demanding Schedule of Elon Musk, Who Works in 5-Minute Slots, Skips Breakfast and Avoids Emails
Earlier in the day, the man known as "GaryVee" to millions of his online followers presented on stage alongside media maven Karen Civil, Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Kareem "Biggs" Burke and actor Chris "Drama" Pfaff to share what it takes to make it in America as an entrepreneur.
So, what can your average, everyday business owner take away directly from an immigrant, self-made entrepreneur whose net worth according to his Wikipedia page is $160 million and runs a media empire that brings in a reported $100 million in revenue annually?
A lot.
Whether it's daily inspiration to get your head out of the clouds, teaching others about making easy money by selling household items, or building a personality and brand online, the once wine expert and marketer is passionate about teaching his legion of followers and fans about how to thrive in today's digital era of business -- for free.
And, he's winning because of it.
By watching a few minutes of Vaynerchuk's career and life unfold in real-time through Instagram Stories, Twitter updates, or the "DailyVee" series on his YouTube channel (which to date has gained over 128 million views), it's clear that documenting -- or "vlogging" as it's referred to online -- is a critical differentiator between Vaynerchuk and your average entrepreneur.
And, it can be yours, too.
Related: Do These 50 Things Regularly and You'll Become a Better Entrepreneur
Every day Vaynerchuk is showing us how to make it as an entrepreneur. But, are you paying attention? Below are five key points Vaynerchuk shared at ComplexCon 2018 to help separate yourself from the pack and succeed.
1. Success doesn't happen overnight.
According to Vaynerchuk, the word "entrepreneur" has become a buzzword which is misused and misunderstood because it's what's cool at the moment. Starting a t-shirt store on Teespring with a logo made on 99designs doesn't suddenly make you an entrepreneur; however, creating a business model with a strategy for monetization and growth does. As Vaynerchuk exclaimed from the stage, "You can't start a store with 50 t-shirt sales and suddenly be supreme." Building a business in today's era takes time -- which leads to the next point.
2. Supply and demand make it hard to stand out.
Because social media and the internet makes it "easy" for anyone to build a business that's centered on their personal brand, the market is being flooded digitally every day with tweets, stories, vlogs and podcasts from entrepreneurs who are all trying to gain attention. Succinctly put, there's an abundance of content creators popping up every day which makes it difficult to break through and get on a "Gary Vee-level." Whereas when Vaynerchuk joined the social media ranks, he benefited by being an early adopter of using the internet to grow his brand.
Related: How 5 Entrepreneurs With Household Names Turned Failing Businesses Into Successes
3. You make it by being unique.
So, how do you stand out on a platform like Instagram, which has over 1 billion users and is one of the most popular social networks today? Uniqueness. Think about every well-known celebrity, musician or content creator that comes to mind; they tend to have something about them that's "different." What will make strangers want to follow you online, engage with your content and tell their friends about you or your business? Write that down and say it to the world.
4. Everyone has millions of dollar's worth of technology in their pocket.
As Vaynerchuk pointed out at ComplexCon 2018, if you have an iPhone in your hand today you're holding an all-in-one piece of equipment to create and distribute content which in the '80s and '90s would have cost many millions of dollars to produce. Your content doesn't need to be perfect for you to get started, but you should aim to create Instagram Stories and tap into the power of your smartphone to document. If you want to go down the Gary Vee route of hiring a videographer (your own "D-Rock"), try going on Thumbtack or TaskRabbit to get started.
5. The internet is cutting out the middleman.
The biggest revelation that Vaynerchuk brought to light during the hour-long panel is that the internet is quickly killing off the "middleman" who was previously in place to help entrepreneurs distribute their product or services. As Vaynerchuk put it, Instagram and Shopify are free whereas back in the day you would pay publications like Vogue $100,000 for a full-page ad if you owned an apparel business. Today, it costs $0 to build a personal brand and market your apparel business through social media, and the network you create (fans, advocates, etc.) is your sales force.
What are your thoughts?
Let's connect on social media and discuss.
Watch more videos from Carlos Gil on his YouTube channel. Follow Carlos Gil on Instagram @CarlosGil83.
Related: How Hip-Hop Artist Ryan Leslie Hopes to Transform Mobile Marketing
