Gary Vaynerchuk ~ St. Louis Book Signing Event

Yesterday I posted some video and pictures that I took at the Gary Vaynerchuk book signing in St. Louis this week. I’ve been watching Gary’s videos for a couple of years now, but meeting him in person and seeing how he really lives what he preaches had a huge impact.

Who is Gary Vaynerchuk?

If you aren’t familiar with Gary, here’s a little bio.

Gary was born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the U.S. as a young child. His family had nothing, but his parents worked hard and bought a liquor store. Gary was put to work in the family business as a teenager and developed a strong work ethic and a passion for wine. When he started working in the store full time, he grew the profits every month for 8 years. Then he decided that the internet offered a new opportunity, so he started Wine Library TV…creating an internet wine review video 5 days a week. One thing led to another and now Gary has created a media company which consults with major companies (including the NFL) on how to shift their marketing to take advantage of the power of the internet. He wrote a book, Crush It, and has become a popular speaker at major conferences worldwide.

In order to hear Gary speak live, most people will have to spend a bunch of money to fly off to a conference. I feel so fortunate that Gary came to St. Louis where I was able to meet him in person and listen him speak about building a business in today’s world.

He chatted with me while he signed my books, and his advice to me when I told him that I was a blogger and getting started with some video was “Don’t Edit!!!”. To hear more about his reasoning on why he thinks someone starting up a small business shouldn’t waste time editing video, you’ll need to watch the video below (part 7).

After signing books and having countless pictures taken, Gary climbed up on a chair so everyone could see him and spoke for an hour (see the videos of his speech below). Even though he has been on a whirlwind book tour and is probably exhausted, he finished up by inviting the crowd to join him for a glass of wine at a local wine bar, Robust. When he sat down at my table, I asked him his thoughts on what real estate agents should be doing to take advantage of the current opportunities in today’s internet age. He thinks that agents need to become community experts, reviewing everything they can in the community. I have some ideas on how to implement Gary’s suggestions. Now I just need to find some time to make it happen.

Hear Gary’s Speech for Yourself

In order to comply with Youtube’s rules that videos have to be 10 minutes or less, I split up the speech into 7 sections. I did miss 1-2 minutes after video 3 while I was changing my batteries (after I remembered I had a spare set in my purse). Then my Flip camera hit capacity so I wasn’t able to tape the last few minutes of Q&A. He was almost done at this point, so you didn’t miss very much.

Videos shot with a Flip Video Camera

My Take-Away:

Watching all of these videos again, there were a couple of things that really hit home and got me thinking.

• Businesses (including real estate agents) that thrive in the future will be the ones who truly care about their customers and show it in both big and small ways.
• Anyone can be a huge success in today’s world, but nothing comes easy. If you want to build your own business, be prepared to work really hard and put in long hours, or why even bother.
• Like VaynerMedia, each of the listings that I take on to sell reflects on me. If the owners aren’t prepared to price it realistically and do what it takes to get it sold (like decluttering and clearing out for showings), then I don’t want the listing.
• Every business needs to be prepared to shift their strategies as our culture shifts. Yesterday, people had to go through a real estate agent to find homes for sale. Today, agents provide market data statistics to evaluate pricing and trends. Agents need to be prepared for tomorrow when all that data is out there for anyone to see. What role will an agent play then? Real estate agents will be consultants helping people understand the community and helping them through the purchasing/sale process. Agents who start building their online presence around communities today will be ahead of the game when everyone else realizes that they need to revamp their business.

What was your take-away from the videos?

Leave a comment and share your ah-ha moments with us.

Possibly Related Posts:

1. Keller Williams Realty ~ Teaching Real Estate Agents to be Small Business Owners
2. Why are St. Louis Real Estate Agents Switching to Keller Williams Realty?
3. Gary Vaynerchuk ~ Caring about Customers
4. Discovering Blogs and Social Media

Tagged as: Events, Tech, Video