. Instaread - Summary of #AskGaryVee: by Gary Vaynerchuk 

Guide to

Gary Vaynerchuks

#AskGaryVee

One Entrepreneurs Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness

by

Instaread

Please Note

This is a companion to the original book.

Copyright 2016 by Instaread. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior written consent of the publisher.

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Table of Contents

#AskGaryVee is entrepreneur and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuks guide to leadership and media. Structured in the form of questions and answers, #AskGaryVee follows the model of Vaynerchuks YouTube show, in which he responds to a wide variety of inquiriesboth personal and professionalfrom his followers. The book returns to questions that Vaynerchuk was asked on the show during the past two years in an attempt to update his responses, change his view on certain points, and consolidate the information scattered across hundreds of episodes of a web series into a single handbook for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Every company in every kind of business also needs to think like a media company. Whether a business is selling wine, dog chews, or cars, the prevalence of digital media means that to abstain from speaking to your audience is to cease to exist. For the first time in modern history, a company does not need a big media budget to be heard. Television, radio, and print no longer dominate the publics attention. Any company can have a voice with the advent of social media. However, since social media is free and easily accessible, a company needs to be able to cut through a lot of noise to reach people. Providing valuable content, cultivating a unique voice that is platform-specific, and employing influencers, or people with a large following, are vital tactics for mastering social media for the benefit of the company.

Social media is the driving force that can make or break a businessbig or small. Understanding how to reach an audience, engage users, and build a community is fundamental to surviving in todays corporate landscape. Entrepreneurs who heed this advice will be more likely to succeed.

Leaders at the helm of a company should be as authentic, honest, and transparent with their clients and employees as they are with their companys followers online. They must focus on motivating their employees and building a positive corporate culture that starts at the top or risk sacrificing the stability of the company. Whether as an entrepreneur or the leader of a company, they must judiciously divide their time between only two things: the high-level vision of the company and the know-how that powers it through the challenges of getting there.

Gary Vaynerchuk is the author of #AskGaryVee and an entrepreneur, social media celebrity, investor, and co-founder of VaynerMedia. Vaynerchuk hosts the eponymous #AskGaryVee Show on his YouTube channel. In it, Vaynerchuk answers questions for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Casey Neistat is a filmmaker who has collaborated with Vaynerchuk on his web series. His work for Nike and The New York Times consistently goes viral and he is a powerful force on social media.

Jack Welch is a renowned business executive who most famously was the chairman and CEO of General Electric. He also participates in Vaynerchuks web series to provide thought leadership on entrepreneurship.

AJ Vaynerchuk is Gary Vaynerchuks brother, business partner, and co-founder of VaynerMedia. Their success in building a business while upholding their relationship is a model for entrepreneurs in family businesses.

1. Effective entrepreneurs divide their time between the clouds and the dirt: the high-level philosophies that guide their companys mission and the day-to-day challenges of running the business.
2. Hard work is the only way to achieve success. Hustle will always trump talent in the making of a winning business.
3. You must learn how to be valuable before you can learn to be profitable.
4. Every company must operate as a media company.
5. Media has been democratized, which means that companies dont need a huge budget to get their name in front of customers. But since everyone has access to posting on social media, a companys content has to be better or different to cut through the noise.
6. A content creator must combine jabs and right hooks. A jab entertains or provides otherwise interesting content to the audience without pushing a sale. A right hook is the move that brings in the sale.
7. College may no longer be a necessity for success.
8. The buck stops with the head of the company.

Effective entrepreneurs divide their time between the clouds and the dirt: the high-level philosophies that guide their companys mission and the day-to-day challenges of running the business.

Analysis:

There is a simple, binary approach to being a successful entrepreneur: apply focus to the high-level vision for a company (the clouds) and to the practice of making it happen (the dirt). An effective leader will realize that, other than those two concepts, the vast majority of details dont matter and can be eliminated from the clutter of running a business. Neither the clouds nor the dirt can operate in isolation. Ideas are worthless without a practitioner to drive them and become immersed in the how-to of achieving or realizing the ideas in practice. The best practitioner has no direction or purpose without an idea.

In the startup world, investor and entrepreneur Ben Horowitz has coined the term Product CEO Paradox to describe why founders fail as leaders of their company. [1] According to the theory, a founder develops a revolutionary concept and forms a company to build it and grow it. This product vision that launched the company is the clouds. However, as the company grows, the founder becomes more involved in the running of the business and less immersed in executing the product developmentthe latter of which would be the dirt. Eventually, the visionary who launched the company is revealed to be just a regular, run-of-the-mill CEO, no longer engaged in the product he or she had initially excelled in developing.

The company founders who started as product visionaries and managed to remain successful CEOs even after massive growth are the ones who were able to persist in balancing their focus between the clouds and the dirt. Oracles Larry Ellison, Microsofts Bill Gates, and Apples Steve Jobs all earned reputations as CEOs who remained highly involved in daily operations. [2] [3]

Hard work is the only way to achieve success. Hustle will always trump talent in the making of a winning business.

Analysis:

Increasing your hustle is the only thing you can do to improve your odds of success. Rarely can you make yourself smarter, more insightful, more skilled, or more talented. While business leaders cannot do anything to control their competitors outcomes, they can always work harder to try to outpace any rivals. However, it should be noted that hustling does not mean working around the clock every day of the year. To be an effective leader, you must also take time to fully and intentionally disengage from your work so that you can come back refreshed and ready to tackle anything.