IMG_0473As we waited in the middle of a 100-person line in order to get our Crush It! books signed by author, wine and social media guru, Gary Vaynerchuk, Joe (@suburbanwino) and I shared with each other how we’re both not normally people who are “star struck.”  We don’t collect autographs, we don’t go running up to celebrities screaming and crying.  Though I did once stare quite a bit at a slightly inebriated Tara Reid sitting next to me in a bar in the Atlanta airport once, but that’s another story.  Yet here we were standing in line to get a book signed and catch a glimpse of a true American success story.  Yeah, it was cool.

Gary is not intimidating at 5 foot something and is very much relaxed and engaged with everyone he talks to.  He’s not dressed over the top, even though he could with the millions he is no doubt raking in these days, and says he’s not in business for the material things, with one exception:  Buy the NY Jets football team.  Again, why am I here and why do I feel the need to meet this guy?  If it was 6 years earlier, I wouldn’t have given this guy or his message a second look.  I was moving up the corporate ladder fairly quickly, managing a sizable staff including remote teams in India, while being the youngest of the entire management team by several years.  But, times have changed.  Your perspective changes when you age and (hopefully) mature.  I am looking for something that satisfies my passions, not someone else’s.

So, it is at this time of inner reflection that I am now drawn to much of what Gary says, though, I could’ve probably gotten the same message from several other “gurus” out there on the market.  But, I think the wine and social media angles connected us and both topics have rekindled my creativity and business-minded energies I once flaunted.  Here are a few other things we learned from Gary last night:

1. Have a Goal/Objective - A twist on the “if you don’t know where your going, how will you get there?” concept – Gary wants to buy the Jets

2. Take a look inside – Don’t try to be what you are not.  Pick what you are good at and if you need something for your business that you are not good at, team up with someone else who is

3. Be Practical – Unless you are that daring entrepreneurial true spirit, don’t just drop what you’re doing cold turkey to start your new venture.  Make it work within practical means.  Instead of resigning, maybe you downgrade to a lower-paying salary and/or move in with your parents that affords you the time to focus on your business.

A few tweets during the event:

Gary v1

Gary’s full of advice and opinions and it was enjoyable to hear him speak and respond to the crowd.  Feel free to reach out to him and hope you get a response as it may be the last time he may actually be able to reply… he is just getting too big to keep up the amount of emails he receives, so I think he’ll be dropping it soon or handing it off to his staff.

Go big or go home.  Cheers!  More video to come, but here’s a snippet…