This episode is a private conversation with AJ Vaynerchuk, who comes in with the tactical, practical side of business and who Ryan believes has been underrated in the success of Vaynermedia.

Tune in to hear some of AJ’s insight on Ryan’s overarching strategy as well as how they agree on what the future holds for products and brands.

 

Key takeaways

[4:55] AJ was asked to speak at the 2019 CapCon because Ryan has always perceived him as the integrator of Gary’s vision.

 

Ryan shares his current feeling that he is on the cusp of something bigger and that AJ is the person to ask about how to know when the time is right, and the opportunity is right.

 

[7:35] There are often several different way to sink your teeth into something, but what do you do when you are unsure of which path to chose? How did AJ know he was sitting on something special? It’s a complex answer:

 

1. Opportunity. A major part of where Vaynermedia is today takes root in Gary’s and AJ’s 2006-7 belief that social media was the new frontier in communication: they were believers and essentially bet on a sector.

 

2. Timing. By 2011 they had a head start and it was going to be f***ing hard to catch them. They were talented enough, smart enough and early enough.

 

3. Expertise. Gary and AJ are both really good at customer service, at every level. Service-based businesses are a natural fit for them.

 

Find your fit: Having a clear grasp of who you are and understanding your own personality will help you find an industry in which you thrive and are successful.

 

[10:22] Ryan’s bet is as follows: he posits that influencers will start launching their own brands and it’s inevitable that the likes of Honest Co. — with the pairing of Brian Lee and Jessica Alba — is where things are headed.

 

Influencers don’t want to learn business, they want to do what they do, so the play is to help them monetize their following as leverage for access to the person with 2 million followers.

 

[11:57] AJ synthesises that Ryan intends to become the infrastructure and operational partner for an influencer to launch a brand from and agrees that there is in fact a business there, a scalable business to boot: once you do it once or twice, trust is built and the next influencer will fall in.

 

[14:46] Ryan share the Aha! moment he had with Gary: “Vaynermedia is the play”, it stands on its own and allows Gary to build his own brand and give freely.

 

It stands to reason that to follow a similar path, 2 choices are available to Ryan:

1. Capitalism.com becomes its own business and infrastructure and liberates Ryan to build his own brand

2. Another business is launched and stands on its own to liberate Capitalism.com as Ryan’s personal brand channel

[17:41] AJ shares how Vaynermedia went through that transition from being Gary’s social media agency to becoming its own independent company, not to the public eye or Gary’s following but in the industry — If you’re the CMO of a multi-billion dollar brand you know that Gary is not spending 20 hours a week on your brand.

Note: It used to be that Gary would work on every account for the first few YEARS!

[20:01] AJ suggests that Capitalism.com should be spun out: create a new business with a new name and independent branding and leverage Capitalism.com as a funnel to get customers. He disagrees with Ryan that the value proposition for something like that would be that it’s part of the Capitalism.com network — a good disagreement is always food for thought and growth!

[25:19] Find the give.

[25:47] Ryan shares his takeaway from this discussion with AJ and Gary and how they run their business is how they empower people and they stay in the owner’s seat. AJ agrees with the direction anthanks listeners and invites them to subscribe to the podcast and send him their comments on Instagram @RyanDanielMoran.

Mentioned in this episode

 

Capitalism.com

VaynerMedia

Book: Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination by Gino Wickman and Mark Win