Gary V and me December 14, 2009
I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Gary Vay-ner-chuk again this past week at his book signing event in Buckhead. I briefly met Gary at SXSW Interactive last March but this was a much smaller crowd and Gary was talking about his book, Why Now is the Time to Crush It so it was nice to listen to him talk about the book and some of the new things he’s working on or companies where he has invested his money like Gowalla, Tumblr, and Cork’d.
What is immediately very obvious about Gary is his energy. He has a lot of it. He’s very driven but not by the things that drive most people to succeed. As he pointed out, he is an immigrant–his family came from Belarus–and he grew up not having a lot of “stuff.” But, what he has realized about himself is that stuff doesn’t matter to him. You really don’t need a lot of it anyway. And, that’s not what keeps him going. He explained that he is driven by gratitude. He is grateful that he gets to spend every day working doing something that he truly enjoys. When he asked the audience who was 100% happy doing what they love and living their passion only about 10-15% of the audience raised their hands. That means that out of the 100 or so people there, only 15 people (at most) don’t dread Monday mornings. His book is really a how-to guide to help people change all that. But, as he pointed out, it may require taking drastic action to reach that goal and a lot of people won’t have the stomach to do what it takes. It might require taking a lesser paying job (maybe even a part time one if you can swing it) so you can build your business. You might have to move back in with your parents. Whatever it is, that first step toward living your passion won’t be fun but the rewards could be immeasurable.
As we reach the close of another year, we all begin to think about what we might do differently the next year. 2009 was a challenging year for me but it also had its bright spots. I co-wrote a book–thanks, in part, to Gary and being motivated by his success, we built a great following for our radio show, and I have expanded the number of people I know IRL (in real life) by more than four times the number of people I knew this time last year (!). And, these aren’t just acquaintances; a lot of these people are now really good friends who I feel like I’ve known for a very long time! So, I’m really excited about 2010. I feel like I can take all the good stuff I learned in 2009 and just expand on it and begin to really Crush It in 2010. I’d love to hear about what you are going to do in 2010!
Oh, and it goes without saying that Gary’s book is a great resource. If you’ve not picked up a copy, I highly recommend it. It’s also available on Vook.com which includes some great videos along with the book for less than $10.
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Stephanie
I’m much like you, 2009 has been a tough year and I’ve learned a lot. I’m excited about 2010 and what it will bring. I’m still narrowing in on how I’m going to Crush It so I’ll keep you posted, but I promise you I will Crush it!