Ode to Gary Vay-ner-chuk

So I'm swamped. Haven't posted to the blog for a while. I've got a backlog (if that's a word) of videos that need to be posted and we're trying to get about 5 or 6 different projects going right now. To top it all off, my wife Katlyn and I are off to Mexico on Saturday for just over a week to take in a friend's wedding and to take in some sun (I know, boo hoo, you're swamped and you're taking a vacation).

But all of that aside, I wanted to dedicate a post to a guy that everyone who reads this should make part of their day. Even if you don't care about wine, business, or the tech world, you need Gary Vaynerchuk in your life. If I'm feeling sluggish I just push the play button on one of his videos and his energy just picks me right up.

Red Bull's got nothing on Gary Vee.

I occasionally watch the Thunder Show, but was more interested in the whole idea of Gary through Rich Schefren. I was fasicnated with the idea that anyone with enough passion and smarts can use all the free tools available to broadcast that passion to millions of people and make a difference. That's why I was pumped to stumble upon http://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/ (Mott, link it up) where Gary has created a video blog to talk about business, and how technology can have a huge impact on it.

The best part about all the tools out there, whether it be a blog, YouTube, Facebook, or whatever is that they can be used in absolutely any industry, not just web based stuff. Heck, it's even better if it's not a web based business. There's less of a chance that there's an established competitor.

So bottom line - get to know Gary Vaynerchuk. He might be the catalyst to your pending success.

Here's a video below to get you started. It really resonated with me because I find myself doing a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated stuff (we have a marketing consulting company that runs a wedding website, helps small businesses with internet marketing, has an arm dedicated to restaurant marketing and we're starting a sprinkler business), but it's all stuff that I'm passionate about. I'm tired of people telling me I can only be known for one thing. I'm an entrepreneur, I'll get involved with as many different things as I want. I'll let you decide what you want to know me as.

Many people think of Gary as a wine guy. I prefer to think of him as an entrepreneur that's got a ton of passion and good ideas. Thanks to Gary for kickstarting my day. Enjoy.

My Dad the Restaurant Marketing Maven

My Dad Randy Stefan and I are in business together. He actually started this business long before I got involved, but brought me on board when I got close to finishing my B.B.A and no one else would hire me. I just get to be the face of our company's online presence most of the time because I've taken it upon myself to become the Internet guy. But that's all about to change.

After reading the Attention Age Doctrine 2 and listening to the interview Rich Schefren did with wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk, both my Dad and I were captivated by the possibilities of becoming mavens. My quest has been to turn our LRS Consulting operation into the place that traditional small business owners turn when they realize that they need to take advantage of the Internet to promote their businesses, products, and services. Randy took the idea and applied it to one of the niche's we operate in - restaurant marketing for high end, special occassion, independently owned restaurants.

Taking the model Gary Vaynerchuk uses to help wine drinkers everywhere, my Dad has started his own video blog for our Restaurant Marketing.ca operation. Our goal with this aspect of our company is to help independent restaurant owners compete with national chain restaurants by communicating directly with their customers, building relationships, and giving people a reason to visit more often. His first video installment is below. I think he's got something good here, and restaurant owners around the world will benefit from the ideas he will share in his video blog.

P.S. The site might not be live yet, but his video blogs will all be hosted at http://www.restaurantmarketingblog.ca/.

Rich Schefren's Doctrine 2 Google Search Results

I've been promoting Rich Schefren's Attention Age Doctrine 2 through his 66 Seconds Video Contest "Become an Internet Video Maven". I uploaded my video for the contest on Saturday, December 8th just after lunch sometime. I recorded the video below at about 11 am on Monday. It shows how fast video gets indexed in the search engines.

If these simple results don't get you the least be interested in finding out what video can do for your business, I don't know what will. My videos and blog even out rank Joel Comm's website for the term "Rich Schefren's Doctrine 2" (no quotes necessary).

All this promotion I'm doing is to share the free report Rich is offering, The Attention Age Doctrine 2, with as many people as possible. If you are at all interested in marketing, the Doctrine 2 is a must read. The document and a phone call recording Rich did with Gary Vaynerchuk motivated me to change the way we approach using the Internet to promote our business and our client's businesses, so I feel obligated to promote his free report so others can be motivated just like me.

I'm also trying to put Rich's techniques into practice by borrowing attention from people that have it - and Rich certainly has it. Watch the screen capture video below to see my Google results, or watch it at YouTube.