FOWA Miami 2009: Gary Vaynerchuk keynote notes

Yesterday, regular TNWR podcast contributor and geekanista Lizette Gagne posted an audio recording of Gary Vaynerchuk’s presentation at FOWA Miami on Tuesday Feb. 24.  As she was recording the presentation, I was burning through the keyboard on my MacBook – typing notes of Gary’s tips and advice.  Why would I do that?  Well, as with so many other speeches, I have a problem of long-term memory: I think I know what the speaker talked about, but after I wake up a week after the speech, it seems like I forgot more than half of the talk and only remember that the presentation was awesome, but can’t seem to remember why.

So here is some advice that you can walk away with and store in your “advice notebook” (you have one, don’t you?): here are my notes on Gary’s presentation (expletives included for full effect):

Keynote:

Gary considers himself attune to consumer habits: seeing where the market is going.

Over the next 24 months, a lot of people are going to go out of business.  Many people in business do it for the money and are thin-skinned.  People are going to have to get into the trenches and get dirty.  This is the time when the cream of the crop will start winning.  Now there is a correction in the market.

This is the time to finally do the shit you love.  Passion and what you do is undefeated.  Too many people do what they do for the money.

Quick aside: content providers will get increased amounts of the action.  Why would anybody share with a platform where they can go direct?  Ex: Kanye can sell his music on his site directly and not pay Apple a dime.  Apple (the platform) loses.  Just what happened to the record business will happen to the content business: record labels and their increasing loss of control is the precursor to content makers getting more control.

Now is the time to start thinking: why am I at this company that sucks straight shit?  Why can’t I do the stuff that I love now?  It’s all about hustle and hunger.

If you are sitting where you are and don’t know what you are and don’t know where you are, you’re broken.
We all have a chance.  If Gary came to a studio and asked them to sign his show tasting wines 3 years ago, they would have kicked him in the face.

Passion:
Invest in yourself from 7 in the evening to 3 in the morning.  Monetize your niche.  There is a lot of money in advertising.  The only problem is people don’t know where to put it.
Example: 50-year-old stan is going to put an ad in newspapers and TV.  30-year-old Sally – who is runner-up to to his position – will spend money in advertising on a niche website.
Passion is undefeated: if you love what you do, you will make great things.  And those advertisers, purchasers, customers will all come to you.

People need to hustle more.  Everybody has pending projects.  When the economy is where it is today, it is when all the money begins to come in.

So many people are thin-skinned.

Don’t believe that people make mistakes.  Stop crying.  The fact that you’re here (at FOWA) means that you are willing.
When the market moves, be there and execute (that’s my – Alex’s – transcription)

Maybe you’re not good at one thing, but maybe you can do it better in something else.  Get dirty.  The world has too many premadonnas: answer emails.  People think they’re big shit.  Love your family, know what’s important.  Don’t be an asshole or a premadonna.

Audience Questions:

1) Clarification on platforms/agencies/ads:
Advertising agencies might go away.
Advertisers – as long as things sell – will never go away.
It’s making the person with the chops win.
If a restaurant is awesome and sucks at marketing, it might die.  Today, that is changing, since the people will talk about it and do a restaurant’s marketing for it (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Aside: want a marketing strategy?  Here’s one: care!

TV and movie stars suck!  They have to compete with 3 other people!  When you compete for a job, you compete with many more people!

Don’t lie to yourself!

2) When is the tipping point of a product/show/etc.?
The day you start, asshole!  The day you get in the game with what you believe in.  1 viewer/reader/user is the tipping point!
If you start from passion you have a tipping point
Pump out great shit, care about your community, answer your emails.

Go to every blog and become part of every conversation.

Tips:

If you’re in this room and are trying to convince others about tech or about social media, leave them behind.

Contact info:

Gary Vaynerchuk
@garyvee

http://garyvaynerchuk.com/

Lizette Gagne
@lizettegagne

http://lizettegagne.com/

Alex Luft
@sashok

http://alexluft.com

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Posted in Events, FOWA Miami 2009, Inspiration, Marketing, Success