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BOOK SUMMARIES

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Book:  #AskGaryVee

Author:  Gary Vaynerchuk

Purchase:  Print | eBook | Audiobook

Citation:  Vaynerchuk, G. (2016). AskGaryVee : one entrepreneur's take on leadership, social media, & self-awareness. New York, NY: Harper Business, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.

Three Big Takeaways:
 
  1. No matter who your audience is, you're always one great piece of content away from changing your life. Everyone you know started off as an unknown until they did the thing that made them known. So if you love something, talk to the world about it, even if only one person is listening. Because all you need is for that person to share it for the pipes of social networking to start humming. You're just one piece of content away from making what you want to happen actually happen. (pg. 142)
     

  2. I am going to spend a disproportionate amount of my vacation reaching out to as many people as possible and getting them to post a picture of them with my book along with the hashtag #LearningCurve. I will spend my valuable time chasing down 100 micro influencers to post a picture of my book. (pg. 188)
     

  3. The only way to build retention is to make it clear to your employees that you want them to be happy and live their dreams. This kind of support builds insane loyalty. I am well aware that some of them have dreams that might take them away from this company and if that happens they will have my blessing and my support. In the meantime however I will try to bring them so much value over the long haul that they will have to think twice before deciding to leave. I think it's sad when leaders and managers feel threatened or betrayed when they find out an employee is ready to move on. Our job as leaders is to empower our teams and root for them. (pg. 225)

     

Other Key Ideas:
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So why a book now when the show and podcast are still going strong? We cover an incredible amount of ground per episode, and as they added up it led me to realize that if we consolidate all the information and ideas we discuss into one easily accessible package, you'd have a complete blueprint to what makes me and other successful entrepreneurs tick. And that's exciting to me, and offers you something of value, and is therefore worthy of a book. (pg. XVI)

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Stop worrying about coming up with the perfect name for your company. Yes, a good name carries some marketing power, but at the end of the day, if the product sucks, the name means nothing. If you have a clever name, people might stop and notice. If you don't, they won't really care. They're going to assign its meaning based on the experiences they've had with your brand. So please, stop worrying about your name and start worrying about your product. (pg. 16)

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College will not properly train you to be a primetime player in today's business environment and anything you might learn about marketing or social media is already on its way to obsolescence. The entire market moves at such a speed that even great entrepreneurs have a hard time keeping up. Within a month of your graduation, there will always be a new platform, a new app, a new channel for doing business that didn't exist before. Nothing except hustle, good instincts, time, and patience is going to help you master them. (pg. 45)

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We've got to stop acting as though tech is an intruder in our children's lives. Heck it is their lives. Worrying that tech will rob them of the pleasures of childhood is akin to previous generations worrying their kids will be soft because they have indoor plumbing, or that rock and roll make them degenerate, or that their brains will rot from too much TV. Each generation fears for the next one, but we don't have to. Our kids will be less informationally smart, but they will be interesting characters and they will do great things. (pg. 71)

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A lot of new entrepreneurs tell me they’re hustling, and then they'll ask me if I like the last episode of a Netflix show. They're trying to get a business off the ground and they've got time to watch TV? It's just not going to work. I'm 20 years into my career with two businesses under my belt and the only time I take to watch TV is when the Jets are on. (pg. 77)

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Before the launch of my last book, I spent all my time writing email after email to people for whom I wanted the book to help. I did it over and over again, personalizing every email so that the recipients knew that I was paying attention to them and that I truly valued our friendship. And I didn't just ask them to buy as a favor to me. I gave them real reasons why I thought my book might be of use to them, their friends, or their employees. (pg. 146)

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Gratitude is a core element to the way I do business. I never, ever take it for granted when people take minutes out of their busy world was to watch my show or read my books. I spend much of my time online trying to thank my fans and followers as often as possible. I don't understand why more brands don't make that their mission. It's not as if consumers are limited to their neighborhoods or even their cities to find out what they need anymore - the world is at their fingertips. It seems to me that when competition is that widespread, you should be falling all over yourself thanking every customer who decides to spend their hard earned money with you. (pg. 206)

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People love when you take an extra second out of your day to acknowledge them. It's the equivalent of a nicely written thank-you note, except it takes less time to do and it doesn't take two days to get to its destination. Expressing gratitude helps you build lifetime value. When you're small and still climbing the mountain, sometimes it’s practically all you’ve got to give. Spend your time being generous and grateful for whatever time and attention your customer gives you. You'll see that it comes back to you eventually via word-of-mouth recommendations, sales, and legacy. (pg. 208)

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Some leaders don't delegate because they're positive no one can do a job as good as they can. That may be true, but not every job needs your level of perfection anyway. You've got to know when good enough is enough. Let the bright, interesting people you hired do their jobs and make yours easier. It takes humility to accept you're not as unique or indispensable as you think, but it's also freeing. (pg. 252)

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If you believe that the best team wins in that business is a game, you have to find the best players. You have to be aware of which players make up your top 20, middle 70, and bottom 10. Tell your players at the bottom of the rankings why they're there and give them a chance to fix what's wrong. If they can't, let them go. But always love them as much on the way out as you did when you let them in. (pg. 257)

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