DISQUS

Nick O'Neill · 10 months ago

Watching now ... wanted to be a geek and say "FIRST!!!"

howlr5 · 10 months ago

Thanks Gary, I needed a pep talk right at this moment. Keep on changing the wine world/the world.

Justin · 10 months ago

Play with ALL the babies, they all need your love :)

Chris Sonjeow · 10 months ago

IMHO, This one's brought to in honor of The Hot Rod & The Piper's Pit! Nice throwback.

It's a tool. This game is another tool. Jim Lauderback said it best at the keynote at the New Media Expo. When radio came out, it didn't make newspapers go away. When TV came out, it didn't make radio go away. Old media, doesn't go away, it evolves until it is completely overtaken but it takes generations.

The Facebooks/Twitters of the world are tools that are used as vehicles right now. I think too many businesses are thinking about the TOOLS and not the PRODUCTS that their trying to promote. Fricken' paralysis by analysis. I'm tired of it...aren't you?

Michael · 10 months ago

Another great video, Gary. All this talk of Web 2.0, 2.5, etc has entrepreneurs chasing the popular and the unknown, whereas there is still so much opportunity to improve on the existing. iPod wasn't the first MP3 player and Facebook wasn't the first social network.

Every time I open Inc magazine, I'm surprised at how many businesses are crushing it outside of the "latest & greatest" realm.

-Michael

Toma Bonciu - SEO Services · 10 months ago

Hi Gary,

Great piece of advice there. Indeed to many concentrate on what the future might get them and try to prepare for that moment instead of just using what the present has to offer. I think this happens because in some way it's much more easy to hope for something that may happen then developing an eye for what's already happening and could become the next big thing.

The few that manage to spot different patterns in the present are the ones that will be able to launch successful businesses now. Those who base their business decisions only on what the future will bring will probably lose.

But also we have to give credit to thinking of what future might be and how my business could be influenced. I think that if you think about the future you have to be careful not to miss the real effect that is gonna have over you.

Thanks,
TomaBonciu on Twitter

Ozzy · 10 months ago

AWESOME! Need some more Gary-Vee right about now....

Alamo · 10 months ago

My whole trading style is predicated on this. It is my holy grail.

Bradley Robb · 10 months ago

I don't think that's reactionary, I think it's actionary. It's acting early or on time. Reactionary would be to act in an opposite fashion.

I've been harping on a couple of publishing companies about this with the way their looking at producing and handling eBooks.

But you're right on the money about taking what's new and making the most out of it.

Christian · 10 months ago

Another great example of people thinking instead of acting. I think knowing your market is hugely important. But freezing up is not an option. Working and doing deals, baby, that's where the money is at.

Justin Jackson · 10 months ago

I like it. I think this is actually true of Amazon, especially their web services branch. They didn't necessarily predict "the cloud," but they're reacting to it.

David King · 10 months ago

Gary Vay*ner*chuk

Nice... lol...

Love the energy! keep it comin!


David

Dan Fontaine · 10 months ago

Well said GV. Lots of baby references lately...hmmm?

Michael Galpert · 10 months ago

thinking about babies much :)
great vid

tomgray · 10 months ago

Like my dad used to say, "Luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity." Oh, and he'd also throw in the occasional, "Pluck makes luck." Just words of wisdom from my old man that you can pass on to that 1 year old.

jtGraphic · 10 months ago

So what is the current baby? I think it's twitter - maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.

Josh Hurlock · 10 months ago

Gary-

Thanks for the post. As an intern for under30ceo.com, this is a valuable message for young entrepreneurs. I agree that predicting the future is essentially impossible to do. Nonetheless, being ready at all times and able to adapt to the future and changes, are vital for businesses. As you said, think fast with reactionary business. Furthermore, I think businesses sometimes are too concerned about the future and lose track of the present.

Keep up the great work.

josh lauritch · 10 months ago

brilliant, gary! folks spend so much time worrying about what's next that they miss the killer opportunities that are right in front of their face. you gotta be paying attention to the here and now...

love your perspective on things!

Bryan · 10 months ago

Reacting, adapting, realigning, it doesn't matter what you call it... the point is that we need to constantly look at our current situation and figure out if we're taking advantage of all of the new angles that are available. Every business lives on a curve. The goal should be to shift direction to take advantage of these new things before passing the top of the curve. It's a gamble, but you go ALL IN or fail.

Bobby Bo · 10 months ago

So true, but you have to react smart, not knee jerk. Its all about good tactics and a flexible strategy, great for the guys on the ground. Its the bureaucrat, think tank, policy maker game to try and predict to future so they can get paid for useless work today. From my time in the Army I can say this: The guy on the ground knows how to make the available tools work NOW. The guys who make the new stuff for next year never get it right. The more specialized a tool/plan the more useless it is when its needed.

George Tziralis · 10 months ago

dude, it's not that much on 'predicting the future', it's more on fostering the conversation on topics that matter.

cheers :)

Andy Brown · 10 months ago

You got me thinking Gary, as ever!

Cheers

Andy

Sonny Gill · 10 months ago

This applies even further than social media. It applies to everyday business where execs and upper mgmt get caught up in what the environment is doing and reacting to that vs. being proactive about their own business and as you said, foreseeing what's to come.

I've seen this mentality first hand and it's hurt a lot of businesses and their bottom line. Being up on the game and staying innovative is seemingly a lost art but those who are able to execute it well and align their business with their foresight, are able to jump over the competition - who remain reactive.

Thanks for the thoughts, man.

Jim Louderback · 10 months ago

You are right to some degree.. but you need to go from 30yr to 3-5yr to this year to this quarter to right now. If you are just focusing on now you miss the context of where you want to be and where you are going.

But don't be a slave to your world view. Try lots of stuff, keep what works, throw out what doesn't, and UPDATE your vision at least quarterly.

jim

Kris C · 10 months ago

I needed to hear this today. I *am* one who cares very much about Twitter, because I am one of the 1001 people crazy enough to be making a third-party app for it. Today, a competitor launched a great update. As I was pondering last night whether I should even keep trying or not, my great hubby said "Honey, if there were no competition, we'd all be driving Fords right now." He, and you, are right... we have to go where passion leads us if we have any kind of talent for it, and try to make the best choices we can along the way, or we might never get anywhere. As I will maintain unto death, YOU ROCK GV. ;-))))

Noah Fleming · 10 months ago

Well said GV.

Andrew Mager · 10 months ago

I love it Gary. Take advantage of the NOW, and be on the bleeding edge. I am all for it.

Deano · 10 months ago

Gary I agree with you 100 percent. Just be ready and cradle the babies early :)

Laura Pilkington · 10 months ago

Love the post Gary!
It's impossible to predict the future, but by being proactive and exploring, you increase your chances of leading the conversation.Being in he trenches is an opportunity to gather information and create something useful, whether its a product or service.

David Dadekian · 10 months ago

Agreed, though I find it a lot of fun to try the future predicting as well. Heck, sometimes it's worth it business-wise.

Joshua Powell · 10 months ago

So true Gary.

I've worked with many people that are always worried about being the first one there, and not worried about being really good at it.

Excellent!

@AndrewSansone · 10 months ago

My take from another GV GEM ...Understand who the players are and GET IN THE GAME! Thanks Gary. See you soon at FOXNEWS.

Sam With Traffic Is King · 10 months ago

Good analogy. Online sites are ever evolving. We really don't know what will be the next hot thing. So leveraging and taking advantage early on is key once you see it happening. Cool. Need to tell my students this stuff.

Milos · 10 months ago

I agree with you on using the tools and making the most of them. On the other hand, reactionary might not be the best term. Being adaptive to what's available and finding your own place in that environment might be a more suitable key to success. Overall, your message is completely right on, don't miss on current opportunities because you are obsessing over potential ones.

zach even - esh · 10 months ago

GV, good shiz bruddah, but, also REALLY dig what Louderback said.

Gotta have a vision, and also, be willing to be different than everyone else.

TOO much of the same happening out there - NOT good.

Different is better, then again, BETTER is Better :)

--z--

Wayne Wallace · 10 months ago

Nice job Gary!

I'm totally with you. A lot of photographers are so stuck in the old film days and don't even get things like twitter and facebook.

It's a new world people!

Shiva · 10 months ago

I agree with you that, business need to be nimble and adapt to changes (technological or economic), I also think it really depends on what your business is.

For example, facebook/twitter should be thinking about what is the future of social networks. Wine retailers should be thinking about what new wines do I need to bring in next season.

Essentially, if it is your core business, you need to be thinking atleast a couple of years ahead, but if it is a marketing tool, say twitter for a customer support, etc, you can let others bother about what needs to be the future, and worry about how you will use it today.

Sniffer · 10 months ago

I feel that there still needs to be some sort of proactiveness involved otherwise your a day late, dollar short.

LatestRant · 10 months ago

Inspiring as usual gary

Bryan Hauer · 10 months ago

Hmmm. 30 second video ad by google to start a Gary Vaynerchuk video blog that lasts 1:42? Seems a little too much imho.

MattWilsontv · 10 months ago

I like Gary Vee's of course not only because of his passion and excitement on the the topic but he really gives solid advice.

People really are too busy trying to predict what's coming next when really what it boils down to is execution. You've gotta execute what your passionate about like Gary says. If you want a sports analogy--it's not about trick plays, it's about using your existing playbook and executing those strategies. That's how you win.

Alpesh Shah · 10 months ago

I agree with Gary on this post 100% ; I run my own business outside of my blog and I find many people in the business world try to predict the future instead of using what they currently have to make their business bigger.

Jake · 10 months ago

Makes me think of mind like water. Cultivate stillness and emptiness. And be ready to react. Like a pool of water accepts a pebble, adjusts, and returns to equilibrium. And like a pool of water accepts a boulder, adjusts, and returns to equilibrium. All about being ready to devote mindful focus to emerging events or thoughts or people (or social media tools or changes or breakthroughs).

higgop · 8 months ago

I agree that most people obsess way too much on what is going to happen but being too much in the present leaves you open to being completely blindsided - need to balance the two