“Comparison is the thief of joy.” Theodore Roosevelt
Gary Vee Cares
“The best marketing strategy ever? Care.” Gary Vaynerchuk
NOTE: This post was originally published February 28, 2013 as is still relevant AF.
Gary Vee is a business bad ass, author of Crush It and The Thank You Economy and now his newest piece of awesome Jab Jab Jab Right Hook: How To Tell Your Story In A Noisy Social World.
He started selling lemonade and baseball cards at the age of 8 to running his family liquor business to creating WineLibraryTV and now Vaynermedia, which works with personal and consumer brands to build unique and efficient online brand strategies. Gary is also one of the most passionate thought leaders in the new economy, or what I love to call, thanks to Gary, the “thank you” economy.
On February 28,2013 I had the honor of interviewing Gary as part of his #1aDayQandA. This was WAY before the awesome #AskGaryVee Show. An insane commitment he made to his fans to engage and bring value to his community. Why did he do it? He cares.
We talked why social, why caring matters more than ever for both big and small business, why storytelling is a gotta do, online and off, about passion, the power of Twitter, context, content and much more.
So grab your Starbucks and press play. You are in for quite a treat from one of the best, most passionate and caring biz leaders I know today. (and yes, I was freaking out which you will hear!)
Here are some of the highlights from my time with Gary…
- Passion is the gas the drives the engine. True story.
- All businesses began as a small business. Google at one point was just two dudes. Money is no excuse not to engage.
- Business is about supply and demand. Caring is in short supply. But always in demand.
- Business is all about storytelling and sharing those stories where our clients live. And that includes online.
- We are all in the content business, well, only if we want to be a relevant, growing business.
- Conversations about beauty are happening all day, every day on the web, especially Twitter, the clients are there, it’s your choice to join the conversation, or not.
- How do you find time to engage on the social web? You make a decision. The End.
A big shout out of LOVE and GRATITUDE to Gary for being so generous with his time. And for being awesomeness squared.
What did you think of my interview with Gary? Share your thoughts in the comments below or directly with me. I’m listening.
(shared with LOVE from Nina)
The Power of Social: Lady Gaga
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” Mother Teresa
NOTE: This post was originally shared on April 1, 2012 which is significant as it was nearly 5 years ago yet it is as relevant today as it was then.
(via YouTube)
Lady Gaga builds one of the world’s largest fan bases by using the web to talk directly and openly to her community. This film celebrates Lady Gaga’s special and unmediated relationship with her fans, the Little Monsters. The making of this film is a demonstration of the power of the web in its own right. The entire project, beginning with Lady Gaga’s shoot in NYC on May 8th 2011, to shipping materials to the television networks for air, took 10 days.
Within hours of the release of her new single “Edge of Glory” on May 9th, fans began uploading videos on YouTube, making the song their own by dancing to it, singing it and playing it on all kinds of instruments. Lady Gaga then posted a message on her website asking for more videos to be used in the film project. Fans responded within minutes and uploaded hundreds more videos. Back in the editing room, in real time as fan videos streamed in, editors were putting them into the film.
The film was completed on May 18th in time to air during Lady Gaga’s performance on the season finale of Saturday Night Live, and to also live on the web and turned into a commercial for the launch of Google Chrome. Wow.
We love Lady Gaga; we love the social web; we love you and hope that you will take this video as a lesson from Gaga on the power to use the web to transform your relationships with your own “little monsters’ in a way that will propel your business, brand, career (and life) forward!
Love + Awesomeness-
Nina xo
#QandAwesome What Does Engagement Mean?
In this episode of #QandAwesome, I talk engagement. Like online, on social + digital platforms. While this word is thrown around a ton, I find that not everyone understands that engagement is about building relationships. This is how we create awesome, online and off. Thanks so much for watching!
To watch more episodes, click here.
The Wizard Behind The Selfie
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
In today’s world of online everything, there is so much light and love, but there also can be so much darkness and deception. You see, online we have the ability to present and promote just about anything. And many actually believe what is being presented to them. In so many ways, that can be awesome, but in other ways, it can be debilitating and impact people’s esteem.
What am I talking about? Perspective.
There are millions of images being shown to us each day. Some are real, and some not so much. And my question is… Is that a good thing or a bad thing? And my answer? Both.
The Magical “But I’m Sick” Selfie
Recently, I was asked to provide a head shot for an event. Which normally I would simply email my go-to black and white head shot most of you have seen on my website and social media, taken by my awesome friend Anne Slattery, and one that I did not have much makeup on and for sure no filters. It’s real. Wrinkles and all. And I love it. But this request was for a color head shot, which I did not have, and they needed it within 24 hours. OMG, what the hell was I gonna do?
On that particular day, I was battling a nasty cold, and the last thing I wanted to do is take a damn picture of my snot nose face. But as any awesomeness creator does, we step up and show up. So I put my big girl panties on, scrubbed my face, put on a shit ton of makeup (which I hardly ever do), called in #teamawesome, and said “lets do this”!
Makeup + Ringlights + Filters Oh My!
With packed on makeup, a fake smile (remember, I was sick!), a ring light and a Snapchat filter (the one that removes all trace of any flaws on our faces, which I call the good self esteem filter), we began shooting. About 25 pictures which were mostly selfies. And then I was done. What little energy I had was zapped from my body.
We took those pics and began to filter them even more, using whatever editing apps were going to create the most magic, and like magic, we had our final pic.
I don’t think I have ever received more feedback about the pic we took that day. I mean, it was like I had just finished a shoot for the cover of Vogue. “Nina, you look beautiful. Nina, those lashes. Nina, the light in your eyes, Nina….
And while I was so grateful for those beautiful words, it made me immediately think about the insane pressure we put on ourselves to look “perfect” on social media. To present “perfect”, to edit to “perfect” and to compare to “perfect”. And the fact it, most of what we see is just smoke and mirrors. Like the Wizard. Like my new head shot.
Yes, it’s me. Yes, I know I am beautiful, inside and out. But don’t get it twisted; it is not what I look like everyday. Not even close. I am two months from 50. I have wrinkles. My skin tone is not even. My lashes are extensions. And with a cold, I look even worse. And that is what is real.
Comparison Is The Thief of Joy
Now let me be clear, there is NOTHING wrong with using the awesome tools and technology available to us to present our best self and our best work. It’s awesome, and I love it. BUT, where it becomes dark and destructive is when we believe it’s actually real. Like 100%. And we begin comparing ourselves and our work to what we see on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.
In addition to that, please remember that most of the time, people only present what they want you to see. And we make things up in our heads as to what we believe to be true. Follower counts do not equal paying the bills. Pretty head shots do not equal being successful. And beautiful work does not mean you have a full clientele.
My promise as a human and a brand is to always be honest and authentic. Why? Because I am in the empowerment business. And empowerment comes from within. Empowerment comes when we own our awesomeness, wrinkles and all.
So by all means use the lights, the filters, the lashes, the makeup, the apps, all of it. But please, be honest with yourself and others. And stop comparing your behind the scenes to others highlight reels (or selfies, or head shots or work, or claims, or follower counts, or…).
Love + Awesomeness-
Nina xo
PS: Wanna share Snap stories? I’m passionsquared, I would love to connect with you!