#ClipIt: Being Pigeonholed

#QOTD: How was your Thanksgiving? AND, what's your Jets vs. Dolphins prediction for tonight's game?I literally spend ZERO time focusing on my competition. I don't look to the right of me or the left of me -- It's all forward moving for this guy. I focus ALL of my time on people, the teams around me, and our focus for the future.Do I know what the competition is doing? Sure, to some level - but I never go deep as my understanding typically goes as far as reading headlines and hearing some of the buzz of the industry. The biggest mistake I see entrepreneurs making is paying too much attention to those around them. Sure, take a look back once and while to see who's on your tail, but at the end of the day your focus needs to be on your own domain. If you can focus all of your attention to accomplishing what you set out to do, full-steam ahead, you'll win. Not only will you win but you'll be able to razz the competition a bit while you ignore them :) I find that not paying attention to your competitors is actually a tactic to be used and a competitive advantage which allows you to focus your energy on the work you've set out to do in the ways in which you've set out to do it.

1 Des 201413min

#QOTD: What weaknesses of yours are you giving thanks for? And be honest. This will help you.Someone by the name of Tommy Mottola (look him up) once told me that he wouldn't try and sell anything until the artist he was working with and the product they were creating (in this case music) were ready. And I agree with that to some extent because if you're going to sell something you need to make sure that those ready to buy it can actually do so, but it also needs to make sense for the context involved. So let me explain. If you're able to achieve and execute on business objectives by building out content and pushing your product or business without the need of a fully built website, then by all means, go for it. By creating content you're beginning the journey of how your story will unfold. The reception of this content will also allow you to test and learn and understand the best approach to creating future content once your business and website are ready for the masses. That process you simply don't want to miss out on. And so, a big issue I've been seeing is that people are too reluctant to sell against the communities and the impressions they've established on social. Too many people are caught up on only leveraging their website for banner ads but selling against social audiences is essentially the same thing. If you're creating valuable content that's living on social then you might as well take advantage of that opportunity. Don't get caught up in only monetizing on the platform that you fully own when there's a world of opportunity that exists through the channels you're deciding to put your content on. So in short - If the opportunity to create content presents itself and makes sense for the objectives of the business you're trying to build, then my suggestion is to go ALL IN and get moving. NOW.

26 Nov 201412min

#QOTD: What wine are you pairing with your Thanksgiving dinner?The biggest decision of my life? Deciding to finally focus on what felt right to me. At an early age I received an "F" on one of my Science tests. From that moment in time I understood that no matter how many people tried to tell me the importance of school, I knew deep down inside that it wasn't for me. And although I knew it would bring me nights upon nights of punishment, I decided that school couldn't be the one thing I focused all of my energy on. From my "flower business," to the lemonade stands, to the baseball card collection, I knew early on that I was a businessman. Although I had felt it inside, it wasn't until I made the conscious decision to focus on these skills that things began to change for me and my outlook on the rest of my life would be forever different.The moment I made the decision I knew that I would be looked at by society as different, and I understood that, but I made the mental decision to accept that and focus on what felt right for me. I made a deal with myself that I was ready and willing to eat the pain in order to capitalize on my early self-awareness. I decided to focus on my skills and learn as much as possible about whatever venture I was focused on at the time. So rather than succumbing to society's pre-determined life plan for me, I fought it, and delivered on what I felt and knew I was -- a businessman. I suggest you do the same.

24 Nov 201413min

#QOTD: Watch this on video and guess how many almonds are in the jar next to me. Whoever guesses it right will be flown out to NYC to join me on a taping of the #AskGaryVee show!! It's funny to hear that people are referring to cellphones and other mobile devices as the "second screen." As far as I'm concerned, in this DVR'd world we live in,  most of us are on our phones, scrolling through our feeds as commercials, and sometimes the actual TV shows, are being ignored. I'm pretty certain we're at a moment in time where our mobile devices are indeed our 'first' screen of choice.  When it comes to retail though, it makes sense that we refer to our phones as the "second screen" because it certainly holds true that our eyeballs serve as the 'first screen' when we're walking around. What's really resonated with me recently with retail  is how people are behaving when they're out and about and shopping around. People are literally IGNORING the promotional end-caps that brands spend tons of money on, simply because they're too distracted by their phones. Although this may sound like a wasted opportunity, I see it as the future of in-store marketing.  This has been a hot topic of discussion over the last few years -- how phones and other devices will play a role in our shopping experiences -- and is something I'm very interested in. Brands need to start being more conscious of how we're using our devices in our everyday interactions. With the advent of ApplePay and the beginning phases of beacon sensors, there's no question that our in-store purchasing behaviors will be highly influenced by those shiny little devices we seem to never be at an arms-length distance from.

19 Nov 201412min

#QOTD: What's the last app you downloaded? The humanization of business. Manners of Marketing. Thank You Economy. They're all same. Now that the Internet has allowed consumers to have more control, businesses are expected to behave differently and interact with their communities in a way that humanizes their messaging. Unfortunately however, brands haven't fully embraced the mindset that I thought would have been exhausted by now.  My prediction with the Thank You Economy was that by 2015 everybody would be on board. Unfortunately, that is not the case. People just haven't adopted it at scale and therefore how can it really be over? Nobody's ruined it. This might actually take forever or never happen at all although I know that those practicing it are getting real results. I see those emails every day.  And so, my prediction was incredibly off. It just may never happen at scale because companies can be heartless. Heck, even I'm heartless when it comes to money. I know that business is all about the wallet and I get that, but there's a real financial benefit with TYE mentality. I see the dividends with it each and every day. People are STILL flabbergasted when a company reaches out to them with a half-assed approach, and so I know that the potential is still there, but I'm utterly confused as to how it hasn't been fully adopted yet. It's 2015, people!

18 Nov 201410min

#QOTD: Just show me some love!! Everything trickles from the top. For a long time I used to talk about the "rich-kid syndrome" and how they didn't have it in them to hustle their way to building a sustainable business. What I've learned, however, is that this doesn't apply to everybody.  When it comes to business, like anything else in life, it all stems from the top. Just like a business' culture stems from its leaders, the way a child sees the world and their approach to life all comes from how they were brought up. When I meet with these "rich kids" I spend almost all my time trying to figure out what their past was like. How did their parents raise them? Did they spoil them or did they make them work for what they wanted? And so, this really has nothing to do with the kids themselves but more so about who their parents were and how they decided to pass on the family legacy.  I know that my kids are going to be "rich kids" but that doesn't mean I'm going to spoil them. I'm not going to let them become soft and I will most certainly let them know what it means to work and sweat for something that they want, because I know that it's up to me to instill those qualities within them from the onset.

13 Nov 20144min

As a teacher and any professional looking to expand their personal brand, my advice remains the same -- Cut out the crap, stop wasting time on non-important things, and hustle to build your brand.  If you want to build a more scalable brand you need to put out content. Utilize the technology around you like SlideShare, Spreecast, and Google Hangouts which allow you to further establish your credibility, and where you can also charge people for participating if they're willing to do so.  Use your content as a gateway to drug to allow you to further establish yourself and your brand. What I really see here is that people are just loaded with excuses. Do you really want to build your brand or do you want to watch 'Homeland?' Do you really need to take that hour long lunch? LUNCH? C'mon!! There's better ways to use our time. I'm not saying you shouldn't eat, but do you really need that much time for lunch?!? As with anything in life, you just need to figure out your cadence. What do you really want? Are you wasting your time by doing things that aren't allowing you to achieve the levels you want? If you really want to expand your brand, start putting out content, engage with people that may be interested in what you have to offer, cold call, and do whatever else it takes, even if that means having two hours less of sleep.

11 Nov 20148min

#QOTD: How long have you been following my work?Wanting to be an entrepreneur and being an entrepreneur are two very different things. If I were a young and aspiring entrepreneur I would go out an hustle my face off in any which way possible. The best way to become something is to first act like something. Sell, sell, sell. Understand what it takes to provide value to somebody. Learn how to communicate your value proposition enough so that it registers with your 'customer' allowing for you to accomplish what you've set out to do. Go out and find mentors. Go work for free and under people that can show you the ropes and serve as that point of contact when you need it. Learn the hustle and taste the game. Put yourself in the position to win. You can read as many books as you'd like, but they're not going to make you an entrepreneur. The only way to become something is through doing. And so, start hustling. Start doing whatever it takes. Even if that means selling the very shirt off your back.

10 Nov 201416min