How to become a leader - Best tips from marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk is a leader, an internet celebrity, wine enthusiast, social media and marketing genius. This upcoming entrepreneur is worth around $160 million and things certainly seem to be going his way.
If you don’t know who Gary is, you should consider paying a lot of attention to this story.
It will help you understand the way small companies turn into big business and what it takes to make it to the top by taking charge of your dreams and resources.
Vaynerchuk was born in Belarus, in the Soviet Union in 1978, and moved to America in 1981. His family of eight stayed in New York at first, then moved to Edison, New Jersey, and started a wine-retail business.
At this point, you are probably wondering how did Gary get so successful in such a relatively short period? Of course, like any internet celebrity you can find his story, in his YouTube videos, podcasts, books, or interviews.
But for the real story behind his success, you must unravel the marketing from the marketing genius and see what exactly makes a person a great leader and an excellent manager.
You may think that charisma is a natural attribute for people who become famous on YouTube, but Gary made his first steps into winning over audiences even before the internet was a thing. In middle school, he managed to pick flowers from his neighbors’ gardens and sell the flowers back to them. He also helped his father’s wine selling business by taking charge of marketing duties at only 14, emailing weekly discounts to customers, as well as making reviews on the inventory he was promoting.
Vaynerchuk managed to harness and train his charisma and use it to go from his early lemonade stands, and baseball card money, to the million-dollar personal brand that constitutes the energy source behind his various enterprises.
And that is the first thing you need to learn from this unusual entrepreneur. Regardless of your charisma, and skill sets, it is up to you to develop, apply and monetize your time and efforts. Whether you are starting from scratch, or you are already running your own business, you need to learn to project the kind of image people subconsciously want to associate with.
Be informed, be physically comfortable, look people in the eye, don’t rush conversations, and be calm and collected at all times. Patience is the key to great charisma and good leadership.
Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example of an entrepreneur who knows how to shift focus in a heartbeat. He anticipated the YouTube craze and set up his channel just after the platform was launched. When other people were busy making tribute videos, and early phone reviews, he started a daily show about wine and secured his piece of the internet audience.
After a few years, he went on to cater to even more audiences, as he saw that the content can only grow so much in comparison with his ability to market it. He saw his YouTube show skyrocket after his appearance on The Conan Show, and managed to capitalize on the growth and extended to other social platforms. Soon he appeared on other shows because people were interested in how he managed to use social media to improve and extend his business and brand name.
He still has his YouTube channel though he has now changed its focus to better reflect his brand and lectures on business advice.
Good leaders are not looking for a great score but lasting results. The faster you manage to apply that to your system of beliefs the better your leadership traits will eventually turn out.
And that is where the real leader trait comes in. Gary is the kind of leader that feels responsible for everything that happens in his company. He has often stated that he treats his businesses like he would his children and that if anything goes wrong with one of his investments he is ultimately to blame.
To avoid that he tries to be a good and responsible listener.
What you should learn from that is that every manager needs to be invested and responsible for any action he takes or allows to happen. If one of the departments in your company fails to live up to the standards the company needs to consolidate and grow, it is your fault for not dealing with the problem, not listening, or not taking the necessary steps to re-calibrate, because in the end, it is you who stands to lose the most.
A great leader must have care, and intent, and know as much detail as possible about what is going on outside his sphere of immediate involvement. Those are some of the traits that will bring about a surge in confidence and productivity in each member of your team. If people feel like you have isolated yourself, and only deal with taking the hardest decisions, they will gather that their work is not worth your time and therefore is not detrimental to the success of your projects.
Gary also promotes this thinking pattern throughout his organizations. He has stated multiple times, in his books, or public lectures, that being a successful leader means that the other members of your team respect, value and want to work with you. For him, personality and how well you cooperate is the difference between being undecided and being a company’s war general. And that is true.
No matter how good you are at your respective profession, or how passionate you feel about a project, alienating team members will create an unbearable climate, that will kill half of your chances of building up your business.
Well, first off, the world is not a box for you to think outside of. It is an intricate web of knowledge and connections you need to be able to steer your way, every day. Making the jump from one market segment to another, or giving new ideas a try, shows boldness and determination, as it takes you out of your comfort zone and ushers you into the unknown.
Secondly, for good leaders, good deals are not rare opportunities that come and go. A dedicated, insightful leader can find good, productive ideas and uncharted markets almost every day. It is not a matter of when and how much money, but of now and how much potential.
Gary grabbed the opportunity to become a content marketing beast when he saw he had all the attributes and experience required to go into the online marketing business. And that is exactly what he did. He set up a company, with his brother AJ, and managed to grow it to around 600 employees. He was not by any means a pioneer, in any of his respective fields, but managed to find the exact niche that he could expand in. He succeeded because he realized that channeling his resources and expertise into helping other businesses grow would provide great financial returns. And if you think that his business relies solely on motivational speech that people read and never use, think again. Vayner Media is a full-service, global agency that provides marketing, business counseling and paid media, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. Among its clients, you can find names like Pepsico, Johnson’s, Unilever, Toyota and Shell.
Earlier this year, Gary even came up with advice on how people can make money by buying designer clothing and selling it on media platforms.
So, no matter how daunting your tasks are now, being a great leader means you need to capitalize on any good deal that comes your way. Take that step you always pondered about and put all your passion into your new project. Understand yourself, and what are you trying to achieve, and you can reach your goals with ease.
Becoming a leader is an endurance race. There is no easy way to sprint ahead with this one. It is a construction that requires sturdy building foundations and a constant effort to level up.
Gary Vaynerchuk has made over $160 million because he passionately believed in what he was selling. Be it wine, social media content, or business philosophy advice.
Your best bet to become the best version of yourself, and be an Iconic leader, is to learn from people that have gone down the same path, and complement their experiences with the ones you think can turn you into a successful entrepreneur.
If you don’t know who Gary is, you should consider paying a lot of attention to this story.
It will help you understand the way small companies turn into big business and what it takes to make it to the top by taking charge of your dreams and resources.
Vaynerchuk was born in Belarus, in the Soviet Union in 1978, and moved to America in 1981. His family of eight stayed in New York at first, then moved to Edison, New Jersey, and started a wine-retail business.
At this point, you are probably wondering how did Gary get so successful in such a relatively short period? Of course, like any internet celebrity you can find his story, in his YouTube videos, podcasts, books, or interviews.
But for the real story behind his success, you must unravel the marketing from the marketing genius and see what exactly makes a person a great leader and an excellent manager.
Applied charisma
Charisma is one of the traits of all great leaders. Some were born with it, others cultivate it to the point it becomes a natural and applicable trait in any scenario. Gary Vaynerchuk, on the other hand, is a mixture of both. He doesn’t have the pulling power that Steve Jobs had, but he is well aware of his strengths when it comes to charming his audiences.You may think that charisma is a natural attribute for people who become famous on YouTube, but Gary made his first steps into winning over audiences even before the internet was a thing. In middle school, he managed to pick flowers from his neighbors’ gardens and sell the flowers back to them. He also helped his father’s wine selling business by taking charge of marketing duties at only 14, emailing weekly discounts to customers, as well as making reviews on the inventory he was promoting.
Vaynerchuk managed to harness and train his charisma and use it to go from his early lemonade stands, and baseball card money, to the million-dollar personal brand that constitutes the energy source behind his various enterprises.
And that is the first thing you need to learn from this unusual entrepreneur. Regardless of your charisma, and skill sets, it is up to you to develop, apply and monetize your time and efforts. Whether you are starting from scratch, or you are already running your own business, you need to learn to project the kind of image people subconsciously want to associate with.
Be informed, be physically comfortable, look people in the eye, don’t rush conversations, and be calm and collected at all times. Patience is the key to great charisma and good leadership.
Shifting focus
In any business endeavor, you must always keep an eye on the end-game. A common trait from all great leaders is to best anticipate where the market is going to go next. For that, you need vision, and the ability to detach yourself from your intermediate goals while concentrating on upcoming prospects. From generals to CEO’s, great leaders will always know when to grab an opportunity, and when to cut their losses and fight another day.Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example of an entrepreneur who knows how to shift focus in a heartbeat. He anticipated the YouTube craze and set up his channel just after the platform was launched. When other people were busy making tribute videos, and early phone reviews, he started a daily show about wine and secured his piece of the internet audience.
After a few years, he went on to cater to even more audiences, as he saw that the content can only grow so much in comparison with his ability to market it. He saw his YouTube show skyrocket after his appearance on The Conan Show, and managed to capitalize on the growth and extended to other social platforms. Soon he appeared on other shows because people were interested in how he managed to use social media to improve and extend his business and brand name.
He still has his YouTube channel though he has now changed its focus to better reflect his brand and lectures on business advice.
Good leaders are not looking for a great score but lasting results. The faster you manage to apply that to your system of beliefs the better your leadership traits will eventually turn out.
Micro-managing and cooperation
Although he started on his own Vaynerchuk has learned to grow out of micro-managing but still keep a hand on deck at all times. According to his own words, he is in the bat-phone business and wants no part of actually dealing with day to day managerial duties unless something goes wrong.And that is where the real leader trait comes in. Gary is the kind of leader that feels responsible for everything that happens in his company. He has often stated that he treats his businesses like he would his children and that if anything goes wrong with one of his investments he is ultimately to blame.
To avoid that he tries to be a good and responsible listener.
What you should learn from that is that every manager needs to be invested and responsible for any action he takes or allows to happen. If one of the departments in your company fails to live up to the standards the company needs to consolidate and grow, it is your fault for not dealing with the problem, not listening, or not taking the necessary steps to re-calibrate, because in the end, it is you who stands to lose the most.
A great leader must have care, and intent, and know as much detail as possible about what is going on outside his sphere of immediate involvement. Those are some of the traits that will bring about a surge in confidence and productivity in each member of your team. If people feel like you have isolated yourself, and only deal with taking the hardest decisions, they will gather that their work is not worth your time and therefore is not detrimental to the success of your projects.
Gary also promotes this thinking pattern throughout his organizations. He has stated multiple times, in his books, or public lectures, that being a successful leader means that the other members of your team respect, value and want to work with you. For him, personality and how well you cooperate is the difference between being undecided and being a company’s war general. And that is true.
No matter how good you are at your respective profession, or how passionate you feel about a project, alienating team members will create an unbearable climate, that will kill half of your chances of building up your business.
Never pass on a good deal
Being a one-trick pony is not a good path to follow on your road to becoming a great leader. It bears the same dangers as being a Jack of all trades and master of none. We all know that great leaders know to diversify and extend their portfolio of ideas and business strategies, on the run and in the most unexpected manner. But how do they do it?Well, first off, the world is not a box for you to think outside of. It is an intricate web of knowledge and connections you need to be able to steer your way, every day. Making the jump from one market segment to another, or giving new ideas a try, shows boldness and determination, as it takes you out of your comfort zone and ushers you into the unknown.
Secondly, for good leaders, good deals are not rare opportunities that come and go. A dedicated, insightful leader can find good, productive ideas and uncharted markets almost every day. It is not a matter of when and how much money, but of now and how much potential.
Gary grabbed the opportunity to become a content marketing beast when he saw he had all the attributes and experience required to go into the online marketing business. And that is exactly what he did. He set up a company, with his brother AJ, and managed to grow it to around 600 employees. He was not by any means a pioneer, in any of his respective fields, but managed to find the exact niche that he could expand in. He succeeded because he realized that channeling his resources and expertise into helping other businesses grow would provide great financial returns. And if you think that his business relies solely on motivational speech that people read and never use, think again. Vayner Media is a full-service, global agency that provides marketing, business counseling and paid media, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. Among its clients, you can find names like Pepsico, Johnson’s, Unilever, Toyota and Shell.
Earlier this year, Gary even came up with advice on how people can make money by buying designer clothing and selling it on media platforms.
So, no matter how daunting your tasks are now, being a great leader means you need to capitalize on any good deal that comes your way. Take that step you always pondered about and put all your passion into your new project. Understand yourself, and what are you trying to achieve, and you can reach your goals with ease.
Becoming a leader is an endurance race. There is no easy way to sprint ahead with this one. It is a construction that requires sturdy building foundations and a constant effort to level up.
Gary Vaynerchuk has made over $160 million because he passionately believed in what he was selling. Be it wine, social media content, or business philosophy advice.
Your best bet to become the best version of yourself, and be an Iconic leader, is to learn from people that have gone down the same path, and complement their experiences with the ones you think can turn you into a successful entrepreneur.
user rating :
4.90 stars (185 votes)
Loves to play with new ideas, binge writing, traveling and gourmet coffee. Professional writer of non fiction with over 8 years experience in putting words to paper. Fan of iconic movies, sports, The Arctic Monkeys and city breaks. Yes, he knows how good his coffee is.