What I Learned From Gary Vaynerchuk
I just had a mind blowing weekend. Carl Daikeler, David Scott Mann, Bo Eason and Gary Vaynerchuk joined Jimmy Hays Nelson, 500+ men, and ME for Training Camp Live IIin Dallas to learn how to lead. An all male leadership event…seriously, how exciting does that sound to you, guys? I learned so much the entire weekend, particularly from Gary Vaynerchuk.
TCL II is in the books now. That’s both good and bad. I’m happy and sad. What it means though is that I now have TIME—time to teach, which is my favorite thing to do.
For those of you who don’t know me, here’s a little background. I’m a retired real estate attorney. Back in 2008, when the market tanked, I was laid off and faced the awful dilemma of finding a way to provide for my family. Several years earlier, my then wife Monica, had become a Team Beachbody Coach, so that was the most logical place to start. Long story short…I built an incredible business and life.
A couple of years ago, my buddy Coach Jimmy and I made the decision to put on a men’s leadership event. We saw a lot of guys struggling in this business and, because it’s meant so much to my family and I, I wanted to personally help other men get to where I was. Training Camp Live I happened in 2015, and was a success. We took all the lessons we learned and applied them to Training Camp Live II, which just went down on May 21 and 22, 2016. Gary Vaynerchuk was one of the four keynote speakers.
I want to share a little bit of who Gary Vaynerchuk is as a person. He’s a wildly successful entrepreneur and owner of WineLibrary.tv, which is SO more than just selling wine and videos. He is also owner of VaynerMedia, a full service social and digital agency that helps the big brands figure out branding and marketing and be as effective as they can possibly be.
Now, if I’m going to be really honest [and I am], Gary was not my dream guy to bring to the Training Camp Live event. I had read some of his books, followed him on social media, totally agreed with the way he goes about his business and what he teaches. But, he was really Coach Jimmy’s thing. Now, Jimmy and I…we fight for each other. So, it became important for me to get Gary to speak at our event. This was a MAJOR undertaking. This is a guy who is used to speaking at stadiums, not to a room full of 500 guys. It was no coincidence that the event theme was #beunreasonable. It was TOTALLY unreasonable for us to go after Gary Vaynerchuk. But, we did and (somehow) we got him.
Gary arrived at 11 am, just after my part in the daily line up was done. First, Gary and Jimmy had some one-on-one time back in the Green Room. After a bit, Jimmy comes out and says, “Gary’s in the Green Room – you should go meet him.” Now, most people would have been pretty stoked right about then, right? But, not me. My immediate thought was…Gary Vaynerchuk seemed like a fast talking New Yorker…and, just like all the folks walking, talking and not seeming to care very much that I had recently encountered in New York City, I thought it might be best to keep him at a distance. I really didn’t want to be disappointed? I own it…I had some judgment. I have dealt with a lot of people who I come to find out are not who they say they are and it’s a big let down. I can’t count how many times I’ve been standing there thinking, “Why is this guy such a jerk???” I kind of just wanted to remain blissfully ignorant. But, my manners kicked in and I headed back to the Green Room.
When I walked in, Gary was sitting on one of the several small couches with his laptop in hand and earphones plugged in. You might imagine my surprise when he stood up, moved completely away from the mobile office he had created, and shook my hand. It was a very intentional move. SO many people don’t do this, right???
It turns out Gary Vaynerchuk was one of the most personable, nice, “sweet” (Jimmy’s word!), relatable, friendly, and genuine people I’ve met in a long time. He legitimately wanted to know about me – my transition out of law, becoming Beachbody Coach, my family, my girlfriend, work/life balance, etc. After a great conversation, he started quizzing me about the men he would be speaking to soon. He wanted to know every detail.
In his book, #ASKGARYVEE, Gary discusses his dislike of affiliate marketing companies. Now, this was a bit of an elephant considering every one of the men in attendance was a Team Beachbody Coach! His reasoning was simple—he believes the “get rich quick” “get something for nothing” stance taken by many affiliate (or multi-level) marketing companies is a fundamental problem as it tends to attract lazy people looking for their next lottery ticket who rarely take the time to truly know their products.
While I could/can agree that there ARE bad MLMs, I explained to Gary that their tactics don’t matter to me. What matters is what I know to be the case with Beachbody. I have yet to meet a single lazy soul in this business who has succeeded in the long run by doing any of the schlocky tactics I’ve heard about—like spammy links or emails, social networking bots, etc. I do know 20 extremely hard-working individuals who have made at least $1 million in this business and 10 people who are currently making $1 million a year. All from building positive relationships and being an example of the products they offer to others. Gary started to get it. Perhaps his expectation (judgment) was also wrong.
Gary agreed to do a 45 minute speech and a 30 minute Q&A with our VIP attendees. But, he wasn’t having it. When his time was up, he didn’t cut and run. He kept going—and giving. In the end, Gary Vaynerchuk did so much more than he was contractually obligated to do. The man earned my solid respect.
This is the video I did LIVE on my Facebook page where I talked about what I learned from Gary Vaynerchuk—What I Learned from Gary Vaynerchuk
So, tell me…do you want to learn? I teach people how to do what I did—that is to build a side business that saved my family from financial ruin when the economy collapsed in 2008. I am standing by ready and excited to teach you.
