Learn Something From Gary Vaynerchuk Today

During one of my regular web-surfing-for-freelance-tips-and-entrepreneurship-advice sessions (I seem to drift into one anytime I'm on the computer), I came across the name Gary Vaynerchuk. Curious about the funky last name, I went to his website only to learn that he's a young business guru, having brought his father's wine business from a few million a year to 50+ million a year using unconventional methods. The video below is of Vaynerchuk and other business men and women who have followed some of his principles, on the show Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.

This clip was so good, I watched it twice, back-to-back and took notes. As you all know, I'm crazy passionate about starting businesses, projects, and whatever else; this video was the most concise and informative advice I've ever heard on starting something and making it great. Many of you that I follow on twitter and other blogs express dreams of starting your own clothing lines, boutiques, beauty lines and other small businesses. Hopefully this video will be as enlightening for you as it was for me.


Notes (they make more sense if you watch the video first):

• Be as real or transparent as possible
• Don't follow trends; find them! Talk to everyone you can to see what's going on. (i.e. Vaynerchuk knew that Australian and Spanish wines would eventually be bigger than California wines because people liked California wines for their bold, fruity flavor, and Australia and Spain had wines that emphasized that palette even more than California)
• If you invest in anything, invest in talent (it's the people, stupid!)
• Create a category vs playing in a category
• Make friends outside of your obvious network (ex. Wine guy speaks at technology conferences instead of wine events)
• 1 Million people is worth way more than 1 Million dollars; social equity is priceless
• Sell something higher than just your product (i.e. Bose doesn't sell audio equipment, they sell an experience. Mercedes doesn't sell cars, they a lifestyle. Dior doesn't sell clothes, they sell high glamour. Find out what your target customer is really looking to buy, then sell it to them)
• Position your product/service next to related products/services, not competing ones (i.e. Borba had Sephora place his vitamin water next to skin care products, not other vitamin water products)
• Promote your product before it's ready (Borba got People Magazine to report on his idea 4 months before it actually came out, so that when it did come out, people were already excited about it)
• Don't let anyone tell you how you how to get it done; do it any way you can without worrying about "rules"

What do you think? Are you motivated in to action? What are you working on? Share your comments below.