There is only one Gary Vaynerchuk, otherwise known as Gary Vee by his raving fans.
He reminds me of a Tony Robbins meets street hustler with a dash of Dan Kennedy thrown in for good measure. To say he’s passionate would be an understatement.
He was instrumental in transforming his father’s liquor store into an e-commerce giant called Wine Library, growing the business to 60 million dollars a year in sales.
He used the power of Youtube videos to do wine reviews and share wine drinking advice to great success.
Along with the release of Crush It back in 2009, Gary founded VaynerMedia, a new-age social media marketing agency that has many Fortune 500 companies as its customers.
He’s also the best-selling author of four books all worthy of a place in your personal development library. They’re packed full of great ideas for any business.
If I had to choose one book to pick up first, I’d say grab yourself of his most recent book, #AskGaryVee. It makes sense because like a good bottle of wine, Gary gets better with age.
He has so many great quotes, but here are 21 of Gary Vee’s best quotes for entrepreneurs.
- Stop doing shit you hate.
- Family first. Nothing else really matters.
- Success in general is a well-balanced blend of luck, DNA, confidence, and hustle.
- Retention is the game. The game in business is not how many customers you can get, it’s how many you can keep.
- You have to understand your own personal DNA. Don’t do things because I do them or Steve Jobs or Mark Cuban tried it. You need to know your personal brand and stay true to it.
- Skills are cheap. Passion is priceless.
- Hustle.
- Smart work will never replace hard work, it only supplements it.
- People are your most important commodity.
- No matter what you do, your job is to tell your story.
- When it comes down to it, nothing trumps execution.
- We have to become a lot less entitled. The market doesn't care about your degree. You have to go out and earn it.
- Too many people are average at what they do.
- If you're sitting at home doing nothing at home, then offer your services for free. Prove your worth to influencers.
- Time – the one asset none of us are ever going to get more of.
- Trade your skill for exposure. What can you offer? Obsessed with the barter economy.
- Tenacity is underrated. Ask!
- What’s the ROI of a piano? To me it’s zero. For Billy Joel and Elton John, it has been substantial.
- Shoot high. Find out what matters to the influencers, and then create a proposition.
- The way we are parented affects everything we do in life.
- Kids should spend more time in front of screens?! It would be a grave mistake to not prepare your kids for the future world.
But these quotes are just the tip of the iceberg. The guy is a wealth of knowledge, and someone every entrepreneur should be following.
Check out his his INBOUND 2012 keynote below. Speaking as a time management expert, I can’t think of a better use of an hour if you’re looking for answers in your business.