19 | GARY VAYNERCHUK - CEO of VaynerMedia

First Text with Cory Levy

This week, Cory speaks to entrepreneur, investor, author, speaker, influencer and future owner of the New York Jets Gary Vaynerchuk, who is well known for being the CEO and founder of digital agency giant VaynerMedia, athlete representation agency VaynerSports, venture capital firm VaynerRSE, host of the popular DailyVee show and a 4x New York best seller. Prior, he grew his family’s wine business from $3 million to $60 million in revenue and was an early investor in multi-billion dollar behemoths Twitter, Snapchat, Uber, and Venmo. In this weeks episode, Gary talks about his secret life-hack, the biggest thing holding people back, easy skills you can learn that will benefit you in the long run and what’s next for influencers.

“TOMORROW, GO AND DO SOMETHING YOU’D BEEN WANTING TO DO THAT YOU’RE DESPERATELY SCARED ABOUT WHAT YOUR PARENTS, THE WORLD, THE MARKET YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS WILL THINK DO IT. THEN SEE HOW NOT SCARY.”

If you’re not familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk (@Garyvee), you probably haven’t been on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube for the past five years. Gary is a leading entrepreneur, author, digital marketer, and speaker whose online following is in the millions and constantly growing.

After building his family’s wine business up from $3 million to $60 million, Gary began branching out to help entrepreneurs as a mentor, advisor, and investor. His current company, VaynerMedia, has grown into one of the leading digital agencies in the world with over 800 employees and $100 million in annual revenue.

Cory Levy spoke with Gary Vaynerchuk on OFF RCRD about life hacks, what’s holding people back from accomplishing their goals, and his approach to controversy, which isn’t what you might think. “I don’t think you run into controversy for awareness. I think getting the right awareness matters,” says Vaynerchuk, who is not afraid to speak his mind and give direct responses to questions about business and entrepreneurship.

Asked what stops people from getting to where they want to go in life, Gary responded, “To me, other people’s opinions is the number one reason people are held back.” Gary encourages people to fight through these opinions and start taking action. “Do one thing that makes you uncomfortable. See the reaction from the audience and your inner family and your friends. (you will) Realize very quickly that it wasn’t as scary as you thought.”