The man, the myth, the legend: Gary V. sits down with us to discuss realism in today's market. Action vs Wishing, resetting the expectations of your clients, and down-to-Earth advice for entrepreneurs.
Gary admits that many of the questions he answers are really just validating what people already know they need to do. When you are trying to provide something valuable, it is important to realize that the value is not determined by you. It is determined by the person who would be receiving it. Sometimes, a simple confirmation from an outside source is what we are seeking. And, that confirmation could be extremely valuable at that moment.
Furthermore, just because you try to state the value of your endeavor in one way doesn't mean that it will resonate with people. It is important to find ways to state the value you are providing in different ways so that it hits different people in different ways at different times. Even though your message is the same, stating it in different ways elicits different responses.
We have an opportunity to change the world with every passing day. You may have found yourself fantasizing about ways you would improve the world around you. Perhaps you find yourself listening to motivational speakers and feel a bubble of courage growing inside of you, only to find that bubble deflates the moment you walk away from the motivator. On the flip-side, maybe you find motivational speakers to be useless.
Regardless of how you feel about someone else stoking your motivation, you know deep down that motivation means nothing without action. You can spend tons of time and money on people claiming they know the secrets to making you successful. But, at the end of the day, it is all a waste if you put no action to those ideas. Gary stresses this concept in telling his viewers to stop listening to him and get up to take action. As he says, consuming motivational content without taking action is like watching someone else work out and expecting your own body to feel the results.
Overnight success stories are extremely rare, if not entirely non-existent. Patience in building your passion is a key ingredient. However, there is a fine line between patience and delusion. Patience is trudging along, keeping your eye on the goal, and adapting to change as necessary. Delusion is trudging along, doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.
As Gary points out "If you've been doing the same thing for seven years and nothing good has happened, you're delusional." If there has been no progress in that length of time, then it is highly likely that you will never reach the goals you set out to attain in the beginning. In other words: The market has spoken.
However, it is important to note that "the machine" that stands between you and success may be a barrier you will need to overcome. But, with the advent of numerous technologies out there to get your message out to the public, it's not nearly as big a barrier as it once was. So, even then, "the machine" should not be a sole excuse as to why you have not broken through.
Big companies and small entrepreneurs each have valuable knowledge they can share with each other. As Gary points out, a process for the sake of process can get companies stuck into endless loops of pointless process-making. On the flip-side, startups tend to be impatient and underestimate scale. Big companies pander to Wall Street, startups pander to VCs, but neither of them panders to the end consumer. Do not forget to pander to your customers for they are what really matters.
There are a lot of people out there claiming that 10x returns on row ads is easy to achieve, just buy this special formula on how to achieve it tomorrow. Gary foresees the market will soon correct itself and root out the bottom-feeders falsely promising the moon and stars overnight. Aim more realistically. 1x return is a great start and not to be scoffed at. Because that means you are getting your money back, and your ads are still out there, garnering attention.
Your role in this is when a client approaches you expecting 10x returns, you simply say that you are not the right person to help them. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it is better to set your customers up for realistic expectations, rather than promising things you cannot deliver.
