4 Ways To Be an Epic Entrepreneur – Gary Vaynerchuk

I had the opportunity to sit down with Marketing Genius, Investor and Multi-Millionaire Gary Vaynerchuk in New York to discuss Entrepreneurship and what it really takes to achieve wild success, on-and-offline.

Gary managed to take his company from $3 Million – $60 Million in the space of a few years through hustle, keynote deliveries, internet stardom and an insatiable desire to succeed.

Gary’s book “Crush It!” was the first book I ever read that inspired me to chase my dreams online. So sitting in the same room, one-on-one with Gary, a few years later was an opportunity of a lifetime.

The video interview is here: Gary Vaynerchuk Success Advice

Checkout this very informative podcast recording from the couch side conversation between Joel & Gary Vee!

1. There Are No Shortcuts

People think that there is some sort of quick move, some algorithm or quick hack you can pull off to reach success, when there are really no shortcuts.

“The biggest “Aha moment” has been the last 20 years of my career. My company VaynerMedia has gone from 25 – 280 people in the last 2 years and that’s a lot of growth, but it took 17 years of knowing about business that helped me speed the process up. It’s the learnings, it’s the grey hairs mate! and I think people don’t realise how much more time it takes than they think.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

2. Be Real With Yourself

You need to truly understand what you are getting into. Why do you wan’t to be an entrepreneur? What would it mean for you to open up a business? Is it going to take a lot more than just “you” to make it happen? and if “no”, then are you willing to share the credit?

“First of all I think there is a huge naivety. There’s way too many people that think they can just be an entrepreneur because it’s trendy.

There are a lot of Fakepreneurs out there. There are a lot of people who are great students, they come from wealthy families, have never hustled a day in their life, they think just because they are graduating from Yale that they should be a startup entrepreneur like Zuck’s was from Harvard and that’s not real.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

3. Don’t Try And Be Something You’re Not

Understand your strengths and weaknesses and don’t try to go against them.

Know that you are here on this earth for a limited time and there is no point wasting it trying to become a master in an area that does not come natural to you. Save that for someone else that already has it in them.

“The Lack of Self Awareness is the biggest issue. I’d love to be the quarterback of the New York Jets, but it’s just not going to happen. Every entrepreneur has strengths and weaknesses. You can’t be great at everything, so self awareness matters.

Too many people are trying to do everything and they need to realise there are strengths and weaknesses and they need to focus on their strengths.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

4. Define Your Success

Everyone’s definition of success is different. One thing you need to know is that you will never achieve success if you don’t have a solid understanding of why you are doing it.

What is your WHY? Work it out, have a for sure understanding of what you are chasing, what is the ultimate outcome for you at the end of the day.

Gary’s definition of Success:

“Pure business wise, I want to buy the New York Jets, that’s my multi-billion dollar ambition, so success has always been predicated on how close I am to doing that. The flip side is, that’s just the black and white.

The grey, the real stuff, the emotional stuff is:

How many jobs am I creating?
How many relationships am I making?
Am I having more fun? Less fun?

I love the notoriety, I don’t mind it, I live for the famous fun, I’m not embarrassed to say “I Like it”. It works for me because I like people, and so anything that takes away a barrier of meeting new people is awesome for me.

So my true definition of success is doing what I want to be doing at all times.” – Gary Vaynerchuk