You've Just Been "Gary'd"!

I have a few idols out there in the world of Social Media who I'll often refer to when I'm writing or giving a presentation.  If you follow me then you'll probably recognize a few of these names: Chris Brogan and Julien Smith who wrote Trust Agents; Scott Stratten author of Unmarketing; Jay Baer and Amber Naslund co-authors of Now Revolution; Shane Gibson and Stephen Jagger who wrote Sociable Book to name a few.

Pretty sure all of them would say that Gary Vaynerchuk is someone they all respect.  We all stop and listen when Gary speaks ~ this guy just gets it...and as Gary says its just in his DNA. (For full background on Gary - check out his Wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Vaynerchuk ) 

It was a great thrill for me to finally meet Gary in person and get both my books signed by THE man himself!

When I heard Gary would be in Bellingham on his new book tour The Thank You Economy, I knew I had to be there! Originally I thought it was going to be just a book signing but it evolved into a whole presentation! I managed to get a ton of video ~ my iPhone died!! So I'll give you some highlights, but before I do you may want to watch Gary's TED talk here from 2008 back when I was just getting into Social Media - Gary had been doing it for quite some time! *Disclaimer - Gary uses 'colorful' language ;)*



So that was back when Gary wrote his first book Crush It  all about following your passion and working HARD to make it happen!
Now cut to today ~ Gary has come a long way...he and his brother have started their own agency called Vayner Media and they consult with clients like PepsiCo and New York Jets and NHL!


Gary spoke about The Thank You Economy and how customer service and "Out-Humanize" your competitor you can 'Land-grab'...in other words there's still opportunity for business to win! What I loved was at one point he mentions going and shoveling your customer's walk because its a nice thing to do and a friend of mine, Michael Jagger of Provident One Security  has done JUST THAT! He gets Customer Service!! (and he was way ahead of the curve!)



Check out Gary speaking live in Bellingham:


(Side note: Gary mentions Jeff Bezos Founder and President of Amazon as the GREATEST entrepreneur of all time!)

Just Keep Going!

My friend Scott Stratten (Mr. UnMarketing himself ~ who I met at Social Media Camp in Victoria in October) gave this amazingly powerful talk at TEDx in Oakville.  There seems to be a movement brewing and this 'idea worth spreading' is incredibly familiar to my last post: Step Back From the Baggage Claim

I had a workaholic father who I never saw ~ and I remember telling myself I will never put work ahead of my family which is why I was a stay-at-home mom for many years.  It was less than ideal...because I was at home, we had far less money, and so fewer opportunities and had to say 'no' to our kids quite regularly, but I always believed that being 'available' was far more important than anything money could buy.

As a divorcee I of course had no choice but to get to work....my children were older and I felt like I had sacrificed a great deal to be there for them when they were young and that the foundation had been set....and so I ventured off into the world of career.

Jump ahead to today and I have fallen prey to the lure of 'being a big deal' and the pursuit of more and more and more money - always trying to build something bigger and better ...BUT ~ I regularly

Step Back
and
Turn off
and
Tune In

Its so important to remind myself that None of it means a thing without the people I care about and who care about me.

That's the way I see it.  Thanks Scott for the deeply personal reminder....and by the way ~ I think you ARE a big deal!

The Realize Movie

Enjoy life...NOW!