Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It, believes that to experience true success you need to “love your family, work hard, and live your passion.” Further he believes that you can turn your passion into money. This has always been true, but more so now than ever because of the internet. Gary says that “the ability to spread your great ideas and share your triumphs is a golden opportunity.”
Why should you listen to a guy who eats grass and dirt in order to develop his palate?
He came to America at age 3. His family was broke, and couldn’t speak English. Twenty years later, he expanded his father’s liquor business from 4 million per year to 20 million per year. He did it by turning his passion for wine and business development into money. He leveraged the internet, specifically through Wine Library TV, to create his personal brand which is “the wine guy who tells it like it is in plain English.”
Vaynerchuk believes that anyone can build a business by developing a personal brand. In building your personal brand you must be honest, authentic, and open to sharing your knowledge. In order to monetize your personal brand, you need to do two things. First, identify what it is that you are passionate about. Then deliver your message, through the right internet medium.
If you don’t believe that this strategy can be used by lawyers, take a look at Gerry Oginski, Carolyn Elefant, and Lee Rosen. Gerry Oginski is passionate about medical malpractice and accidents. He has created his personal brand online with videos. Carolyn Elefant is passionate about Small Law. She has been blogging on MyShingle.com since 2002. Lee Rosen has developed his personal brand through online videos, blogs, and podcasts. As Vaynerchuk would say, they are all “Crushing it!”
Developing your personal brand gives you the opportunity to differentiate yourself. It gives you the chance to humanize yourself, so that instead of being seen as a “lawyer” you are simply a decent person who happens to know more about the law than anyone else. People want to do business with you because you have proven yourself to be forthright and honest.
Equally important to developing your brand through content sharing is interacting with your followers. Gary says, “If someone takes the time to reach out to you, it’s your obligation to reciprocate.”
In summary, Gary has turned his passion into money by delivering his message through the internet. He thinks that identifying your passion, personal branding, and word of mouth have always been important to business development. The only thing that has changed is that the internet has made it easier, because it serves as a distribution platform. Given Vaynerchuk’s great success, lawyers who are hoping to be successful might want to learn something from this grass-eating business mogul.