The Gary V experience
Image Credit: Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival
(Image description: Gary Vay-ner-chuk is on stage, with his hand on his heart, speaking to the audience. Audience members' hands raised to click picture of Gary, are visible in the image.
'Dare to Dream', Gary's photo and his Social media handles are on a screen behind him).
We will get to how we got to hear from Gary in person, soon.
This one is specifically about Gary.
Why?
Because he said at the event that he doesn’t read books. ‘I read you.
On my way home tonight, I will be reading the tweets that have mentioned me, any and all the posts on social media that have tagged me, that’s what I’ll be doing.’
Well Gary, we hope you’re reading this.
At about 11 am, a 15 minute break was announced at the confrence and people began making their way towards the hall. More people came in than those who decided to leave. We have lost count of the number of times, we were asked if the chairs next to us, with the Agenda for the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (Shajah EF) placed on them, were taken. Okay, we said it.
There is one more day to go for Sharjah EF 2018 to conclude. We will post the event review soon. Keep reading.
Back to Gary.
Seated or standing, a little bothered by the heat, because of the sheer number of people in the room, everybody managed to find some room. It was a full house.
A gentleman next to us mentioned he had heard Gary speak at a summit two years ago. The venue had been the size of an arena. In comparison, it felt special one among an estimated 1000 plus attendees in the room at the time, (official number will be out shortly).
When Gary finally took center stage, he took no time in getting to the point.
As a media platform, we had been informed we could interview him later in the day. One of our questions would have been, ‘A reality check every present and potential entrepreneur needs.’
He dedicated the first 15 minutes of the 45 minutes long keynote, answering that question.
While we have recorded the keynote for future #ThrowbackThursdays moments, we’re relying on our memory alone for writing this post. As we write this, it has been 12 hours since we have heard him speak.
His keynote could be divided into three parts.
He began with asking us to think deeply about why quitting your job and founding start up could be one’s biggest mistake, if it isn’t something that comes naturally to a person, that is, they aren’t ‘Naturally Entrepreneurial’, to quote him.
‘You’re not working in a company anymore. You are not in a position to point a finger at someone else when things go so horribly wrong.
If it’s a success, it’s a disproportionate amount of credit to you. If it’s a failure, it is all on you.
If you can live with that reality, of being judged by everyone you know for (a potentially massive) failure, you are a natural entrepreneur.
If you’re better at being the number 2, 3, 7, 13, 27 in an organisation, earning $53,000 per annum, happy and content, without the pressure to succeed at something you’re not passionate about, you are successful. There is nothing wrong in being those people.’
The second part dealt with focusing energies in trying to build value as against ‘pandering to investors for funding.’
‘A lot of the companies we perceive to be a unicorn, are nothing but a rhinoceros.’
Acutely aware of the time he had, he didn’t venture into regrets of having passed on investment opportunities in the past. He did speak about them during his interaction with entrepreneurs in another session.
If you’re 32 years old or younger, living in the UAE or anywhere in the Middle East, you should know Gary envies the position you’re in.
‘I am 43 years old. I have lived through 3 financial collapses.
How many here are 43?
*Few members of the audience raise hands*
How many under the age of 32?
*Nearly everyone has raised their hands*
The immense potential of the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) is unbelievable.
There is more potential within a square mile of where you are, let alone the entire region.’
He confessed that, had he been in that special category of people who are able to tap into their best, right here in the region, it made no sense for someone to leave it all behind and fly away to the West, which in his own words is, ‘Disproportionately over-leveraged.’
The third part was about a reality that although obvious, is often brushed under the carpet to be dealt with on another day.
We could summarise it as ‘Technology isn’t our enemy’.
He had mentioned and reiterated that having a sense of awareness about yourself and what makes you the happiest, will go a long way in determining how successful we are in our life.
Gary knows he isn’t the most technologically accomplished individual. Far from it, per his own admittance.
However, he took a serious stand to not prohibit or limit the access his children have to technology which is opposite to the popular opinion held by affluent families back home.
‘Use it to your benefit. Create content consistently. If the thoughts you decide to put into the world, aren’t beneficial to those watching you.
You are Ir-re-levant’.
The most memorable example, one that led to an outburst of ‘I WILL do it’, was about buying under-priced Instagram Stories’ advertisements.
‘I have used under-priced ads to get to where I am today.’
Having bought cheaply priced promotions on social media platforms to get content in front of the people’s eyes, has been his best and most effective spend to date.
@ArabicGaryvee, an Instagram account featuring his content in Arabic, grew from 700 to 42,000 (at the time of the event and now 45,600 at the time of publishing this post) followers, all in a couple of weeks.
Total spend? One point nine cents.
When his team called to tell him about it, Gary was, and rightly so, blown away by this piece of information.
‘Spend all my money on it,’ he replied to them.
This is when he delivered the biggest lesson in entrepreneurship and another reality check.
‘Even though I have just told you about my biggest tool, in black and white, plain and simple, to your face, 99% of you won’t do it. That’s the reality.’
In spite of having been told exactly what to do, founders and co-founders refuse to follow through with what they have been told.
Just because.
This was followed by a public declaration of following through with the instruction, by a gentleman who also received a complement on his choice of apparel by Gary himself.
There’s more that Gary spoke about. It will be up in another post, (most likely in a sponsored Instagram ad).
Nobody we interacted with, post the keynote, has had to say one negative thing about it or him. It was indeed a Gary V experience.
It is possible to spend time and prove his theories wrong.
However, we’re taking his advice on this too. We’re listening to our gut instinct and going forth with building a platform that best represents the start up ecosystem in the UAE.
If we disprove common myths along the way, bonus!
Till next time,
Onwards and Upwards
