Showing posts with label Juggle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Juggle. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Adding Another String To Your Bow



So my third book ‘Zoom!’ is now well and truly published; it’s on the bookshelves in UK stores and the first international orders are now being fulfilled. At the same time, I’m already working on book four, ‘Mash-Up’ (my second collaboration with David Sloly). So it’s that part of the journey where post-it notes are being stuck on the wall, interviews and research conducted, and evenings invested in editing and writing.

Of course, in this world you can’t *just* be an author anymore, you have to be a content creator (as well as a promoter of course). Content creation doesn’t stop with the manuscript, you have to think about the guest posts you’ll write for other sites, the video interviews you’ll grab so you have extra content, the stories you’ll reversion into manifestos and so on.

That multi-platform landscape is now where all marketing is played out and it’s something I evangelise to my business clients, ensuring that their message and content sweats, that they tell their story simultaneously across different platforms.

One of my own goals is to to become platform-agnostic in my business storytelling; to not stop at books, columns, blog posts or videos. So I’ve just started contributing to Monocle magazine’s new online radio channel Monocle 24, interviewing business pioneers for their show ‘The Entrepreneurs’. I’ve loved the quality of Monocle content since they launched the print title; now having contributed to the magazine it’s great to tell entrepreneurial stories for Monocle 24. Sure - this is not going to replace core business as the dominant activity, but it’s a natural by-product, another string to my bow. And on a personal note, conducting interviews takes me back twenty five years to when I started out, working on BBC local radio. One of my first interviews, back in November 1986 when I’d just left school, was with Billy Bragg (I’ve put it on YouTube here). The current series of interviews for Monocle includes Guy Kawasaki, Founder of Moo.com Richard Moross and French Radio London CEO Pascal Grierson. They’ll be featuring on ‘The Entrepreneurs’ show over the coming weeks, check the website here or follow me on Twitter for details on when they go live.

So have a think how the shifting content landscape can enable you to add another string to your bow. What additional talents or products can you offer the market? Have a think about those natural by-products. Can multiple platform opportunities act as a catalyst for your skills going ‘multi-media’ in 2012?

Stop thinking singular; start acting plural!

Friday, 28 January 2011

Managing Your Personal Bandwidth: Admitting You Can’t Do *Everything*


“How do you have time to write a book?” my friend asked the other day.

I told her, I had to make sacrifices. Mainly leisure time.

Ever since I started researching my second book ‘Juggle!’ I’ve advised and talked to many people who lead - or aspire to lead - multi-dimensional work lives. The biggest challenge? TIME: how to use it.

Whatever you do, whatever the demands on you, there’s something we’ve all got in common. We all have 24 hours a day. In which to do stuff, make a living, have fun, get inspired, kiss our kids goodnight. So you have to make choices. If you want to launch that hobby business or master that new skill, you might have to ditch TV.

Between now and the beginning of April, the pressure is on as I juggle writing a new book alongside a  full portfolio of projects. Some things have to give. That TV series, that evening relaxing, reading that novel. So there are tough choices to be made. To spend Sunday with the family or working on the book. And I’ve just made another one.

In March I was due to be participating in a panel at SXSW Interactive, this would have been my third trip to the festival, being part of the line-up in ‘Ditch The Rule Book: How To Run A Business Your Way’ along with Espree Devora, Lewis Howes, Shane Mac and Giang Biscan.

SXSW has always given me enormous value but it takes a big investment in time (and let’s not forget the cost of getting there). Being away in Texas at a critical point in my book writing with all those wonderful distractions was just going to create too much pressure and stress. So I’ve had to stand down.  I’ll miss my annual dose of inspiration, both for my business and for my soul.

But, it’s a reminder that you can’t do everything at the same time. So don’t try, manage that personal bandwidth carefully.


Tuesday, 18 January 2011

"Am I crazy?"

"Why would you do that for free?" the radio presenter asked Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, with incredulity. "Why on earth would people work on something without getting paid for it?" she persisted, failing to grasp the raison d'etre of Wikipedia as a community-owned and ran initiative.
But of course many of us do things we don't get paid for.

As we redefine what ‘work life’ looks like in 2011, the lines between ‘work’ and ‘not work’ are more blurred than ever. As people choose work/ life intergration over work/ life balance, many choose to mix up elements of their life in a continuous stream. One economic defintion of what constitues ‘work’ might be things we get paid for, but there are increasingly a bunch of things many of us do, without being monetised for each and every one of them.

In my own portfolio there are elements that are about revenues and elements that don't have a financial return. Together, they define me, stuff I feel passionate about and make happen irrespective of the financial model.

Last year there was a bunch of stuff I did that I didn't get paid for:

- wrote an e-book
- conducted video interviews with people like Dave Stewart
- went to SXSW Interactive in Texas (a big investment in time and money)
- wroteguest columns for Moo, Smarta, Business Matters, Management Today
- met a whole bunch of interesting folk
- mentored students about enterprise
- advised readers on taking the Leap
- blogged and tweeted

Sure, put all that together and it builds Ian Sanders' brand equity, makes me more sticky to clients, got me a publishing dea,l blah blah. But there was no hard measurable 'ROI'. Instead it was about carving out a worklife that sustains me mentally, emotionally and financially. Let's be clear: my motivation was passion not cash.

And some may still ask "Why on earth would you do all that if you don't get paid for it?" Okay so I might sound crazy to them, but to me this is just a reflection of who I am.

Monday, 5 July 2010

How Tom Watson MP rediscovered his inner rebel

Tom Watson is the Labour MP for West Bromwich East and was a Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office until he resigned in 2009. Tom was the first MP to start a blog, he’s an active campaigner on digital media (he spoke out against the Digital Economy bill) and is one of the most prolific politicians on Twitter.

Tom recently read my book Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’ and has just posted a review on his blog (that you can read in full here). ‘Juggle!’ encourages readers to reframe their work lives around their passions, staying authentic to their dna. Tom reviewed his personal interests and political priorities and found they had been wedged apart by the conflicting demands of parliamentary life. So ‘Juggle!’ forced a rethink:
“I’m fascinated by the capacity of the Internet to change lives and bring down empires. I’ve had a lifelong love of video games since first spinning a 10p coin into a Space Invaders machine at the Silver Blades ice rink in Birmingham on a school trip. And the government – the one that I had been a minister in, were doing something crass to the digital world in a last minute stitch up with the Conservatives. In the spirit of the juggle I rebelled and focused on a policy area I enjoyed and believed in. Now I’m inundated with offers to talk and write about the policy area I love. So thanks Ian.  You helped me rediscover the inner rebel and life is good”
Thanks Tom. Rediscovering the inner rebel is always a good thing…
( picture of Tom Watson by Benjamin Ellis)

Thursday, 29 April 2010

It’s All About Choices


There was a ‘handyman’ at my house yesterday doing some maintenance, minor repairs, decorating – all those things that have accumulated at the bottom of my to-do list. Most of that I could have attempted myself but you have to make choices about what you do, and what you don’t do.

Because, of course, it’s all about Time.

In managing time it’s all about decisions. Whether to read that blog post, whether to click on that link. You get bombarded with hundreds of choices every day, so you have to be ruthless. No more so than online, where you can spend (or is it ‘waste’?) hours on places like Tweetdeck. And the thing is there’s no sure-fire way of knowing what’s going to yield value. That blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tweet could change your fortunes in an instant, open your mind to something new, give you a business opportunity. Or not.

Similarly if you – like me – are one of the growing number of one-person business units, then you need to make judgement calls all our lives. Do we configure that wifi network ourselves, or outsource to an IT expert? Do we design that presentation template or hire a designer? Write that copy or hand to a copywriter?

Each of those choices has a cost implication, but like my outsourcing to the handyman, I may be a few hundred pounds poorer, but I’m richer in time. And whether that’s time to work, to play with my kids, or just to chill, it really doesn’t matter.

I made the choice.

Monday, 19 April 2010

Juggler Stories #4: Marianne Cantwell

Last week I met Marianne Cantwell of Free Range Humans. Marianne shares some of my own ideas when it comes to carving out work lives that reflect our multi-dimensional talents and passions. Alongside Free Range Humans, Marianne juggles a portfolio of business interests that includes running workshops for career changers and helping teams perform more effectively in organisations. I asked her about the challenges of juggling and what is it that unites her plurality (this was part of a two way interview; you can see Marianne interviewing me here):





If the video above does not display correctly, watch on YouTube here

Tuesday, 13 April 2010

Juggling, Korean style

So hot on the heels of the Turkish edition of my first book 'Leap!', here's a Korean edition of 'Juggle!'

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

Juggler Stories #3: Rajeeb Dey

My book 'Juggle!' is full of stories from people who have created multi-dimensional work lives that reflect their talents and goals. I love meeting new jugglers; last week I met Raj Dey. Raj only graduated from Oxford University in 2008 but already has carved out an impressive portfolio of business interests. He’s Founder and CEO of Enternships -a service connecting talented students and graduates to start-ups/SMEs; he sits on the Education Advisory Board at Channel 4; he’s a partner at Hereward Peer Ventures; a Trustee of UnLtd; an Advisory Board Member of the UK India Business Council; Founder of the English Secondary Students' Association and last year was named O2 Entrepreneur Of The Year. 


I chatted to him about why he chose to embrace plurality in his working life. Raj has found that having a diverse range of interests is really valuable as he can cross-pollinate ideas and contacts. Here's the video:

If the video above does not display properly, watch it on YouTube here.

Friday, 26 March 2010

Ten Things You Need To Know from Rework


I really enjoyed ‘Rework’ by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37signals. I found some similarities in my own book ‘Juggle!’ in the theme of rethinking work and business. I have already evangelised about ‘Rework’ on my Unplan Your Business blog so to give you some value, here are my Ten Things You Need To Know from Rework:

  1. Ignore people who say you’re wrong.
  2. Forget business planning, forget about the details early on. Scribble ideas with a marker pen not a fine pen!
  3. Rethink success. You don’t have to build a big business, why not build a profitable, sustainable and comfortable business instead?
  4. Scratch your own itch: design a product or a solution for something you need yourself.
  5. Put everyone in your organisation on the front line from time to time. Don’t let people remain in their departmental silos.
  6. Lo-fi works. You don’t need comlex gadgets or over-engineered solutions. look at the success of the Flipcam – very basic, does what it needs to with ‘no bells or whistles’.
  7. What are the by-products of what your business does? Sell those by-products.
  8. Meetings can be toxic. A one hour meeting with 10 people is not one hour lost, its ten hours. Have shorter more focused meetings. If it only takes 7 minutes, don’t waste 30 or 60 minutes.
  9. Long lists don’t get done – focus on attainable goals for better productivity and morale.
  10. Inspiration is perishable – if you want to do something, do it now (later, you won’t be pumped): so if you’re inspired on a Friday, do it on a weekend. When you’re high on inspiration you can do two weeks work in 24 hours.
 I really think Jason and David are on to something, seeking to redefine ‘business’ and ‘entrepreneurs’: 
“You don’t need an MBA, a fancy suit; just an idea, a touch of confidence and a push to get started”.

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Juggler Stories #2: Espree Devora

I’ve been so lucky in enjoying support from a great bunch of people who read my book 'Juggle!'. 12 months ago at South By South West 2009 Espree Devora saw a poster advertising the book; she got in touch with me just as I was leaving town, so we never actually met up. I was really pleased to hear the book resonated with her - so much so she sent 20 copies to her friends at Zappos - so finally, on Saturday we got to meet up, talk and hang out at SXSW 2010. LA-based Espree is founder of an action sports business Zex Sports and a classic entrepreneur, full of energy, ideas and ability. She is a great connector, adept at putting people together and making introductions. She invited me as her guest on board Tony Hsieh's 'Delivering Happiness' Bus later that evening and introduced me to a whole bunch of great people. Before we did that, I shot this video of her talking about juggling:


*if you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube here

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Do you have a ‘WYT?’ person in your business or work life?


Many of us are working more autonomous than ever as one-person businesses, consultants, freelancers, work-at-homers. There is a whole new generation of workers used to being self sufficient in everything; juggling a sales role with doing the accounts. But however talented you are, and however well-tuned your instinct is, it’s essential to have someone else to bounce ideas off, to provide a reality check, or just to look over a proposal or important document.

I call them my ‘WYT?’-  What d’You Think?’ - people. And I have a few of them: people who have good ideas, others who will provide a fresh perspective on a problem, my wife to be really honest with me about whether something is good enough or not. I have a WYT relationship with my friend/ associate Richard – he calls it a buddy system (and blogged about it here). But whatever you call it, make sure you identify people in your life who you can call upon as mentors, sounding boards or just a fresh pair of eyes and ears.

You may be adept at being multi-dimensional, but you can still benefit from a completely fresh perspective.

Monday, 15 February 2010

Juggler Stories: #1 Phil Leggetter

I’ve been very lucky in enjoying support from a great bunch of people who read my book 'Juggle!'. In an ad hoc video series I’m meeting some of them for coffee; hearing about their Juggle lives and what they got out of the book. I’m calling it ‘Juggler Stories’. Up first, Phil Leggetter. Phil is a Real-Time Web Software Consultant, team leader, product developer, micropreneur, managing director of a real-time web and social media software company.

Here’s Phil’s story:



If you can’t see the video displayed above, see it on YouTube here

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

When The Clock’s Ticking But Nobody’s Paying You

Last week I went to a meeting that was a ‘CWOT’. A Complete Waste Of Time.

Travel time + lost time = frustration.

If I was working as an executive at an organisation and on somebody else’s payroll, this would still be frustrating. But when you work for yourself, it’s more painful - after all, nobody pays you to turn up at meetings.

In ‘Juggle!’ I talk about the importance of managing time and getting value from *all* you do. I don’t just mean a hard financial return, I mean value: whether you took time out to enjoy a movie, or you enjoyed a coffee. That’s still value. But when you didn’t even enjoy the train ride, that’s a waste of time.

You won't always know in advance the relationships that will be fruitful and those that will just waste time. There’s no guaranteed criteria you can apply, no iPhone app that will work out the answer for you. Because where randomness and serendipity play such a role in growing your business, you never can tell it might be useful until you show up. You just have to trust your instinct; sometimes you’ll get right, others not.

So make sure you think about how you carve up your working day. Being self-employed in ‘biz dev’ mode is a bit like being a taxi driver but never sure whether your passenger will pay until you get to the destination...

Friday, 8 January 2010

Preethi Nair, Storyteller & Juggler

10 years ago Preethi Nair was working as a management consultant. But she had really always wanted to be a novelist so decided to take the leap to write full time. She self-published her first novel Gypsy Masala and was then faced with the challenge of getting it promoted. Unable to afford a publicist, Preethi came up with the great idea of promoting herself, but under an alias, Pru Menon. She set up separate email addresses, ‘phone and fax numbers and started leading a ‘double life’ as Preethi and Pru that resulted in her securing a 3 book deal with Harper Collins. You can read more about this amazing story on her website.




Preethi has now become a real evangelist for the power of storytelling within business. Her company Kiss The Frog helps business leaders discover their message and through storytelling manage change, inspire teams and communicate more effectively. Clients include Lego, Deutsche Bank and MTV. She juggles running the business alongside writing projects.




I met up with her this week and talked to her about her story.




If you can't see the video above, you can watch it on YouTube here

Thursday, 31 December 2009

Look Beyond The Coffee Tweets!


Of course I’m not the first to suggest that Twitter has been THE game-changing website/ platform in 2009; it’s disrupted how we all communicate. There’s a lot of talk and speculation about how it might develop and how it will get monetised in the New Year. And (of course) I *still* get comments from friends and naysayers who don’t get it and assume Twitter is all about mundane tweets on how great the morning coffee is. But look beyond that, and you’ll see the real value of the platform.


Here’s just a snapshot on my Return Of Investment from Twitter in the last twelve months:

- I got asked to co-present a session at South By South West 2009.

- I had a random meeting over coffee with Phill Jupitus.

- In a great example of crowdsourcing, I co-wrote a song with Dave Stewart on Twitter.

- I connected with an awesome bunch of people from Japan, South Africa, Asia, the US & Europe and turned some of those relationships face to face meeting people from Tennessee to Edinburgh.

- I met a great bunch of people in London who I’ve started talking to about working relationships.

- I got an opportunity to meet and interview people like Sarah Beeny.

- I tweeted out who might want to review my book and got a ‘yes please’ from the MP Tom Watson.

- I drove record-breaking traffic to my blog, my site and my videos helped by re-tweets from people like Gary Vaynerchuk and Chris Brogan; great endorsements from people who are so big on Twitter.

- I discovered some great content through links to great posts, people and businesses who I otherwise would never have heard of. In turn I got great satisfaction from sharing those with my own contacts.

- I used it as a customer-relations tool to connect with brands like British Airways to bypass telephone call centres (with great success).

- I helped sell a few of my books and spread awareness to new readers, helped massively by followers who waved the Juggle flag for me (thanks guys).

- During the bad weather earlier this month I connected with people locally to check road conditions and whether the trains were running.

- I had random one-to-one exchanges with newsreaders, authors and newspaper columnists.

Tell me how else I’d got all of the above? And for free?

Of course, that return on investment does not come overnight (nor is it really ‘free’); it’s taken a big investment in time. It’s not just a few self-promotion tweets saying ‘look at my great blog’; it’s about putting in the hours in listening, sharing and connecting.

And if you do follow me on Twitter, I can tell you that amongst all the ‘meaningful’ stuff, I will continue to tweet about good coffee in 2010. Because, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt in the last 12 months, it’s the importance of authenticity. Happy New Year!

Friday, 20 November 2009

Sarah Beeny On Juggling


Sarah Beeny might be best known to people in the UK as the presenter of the TV series ‘Property Ladder’ and ‘Property Snakes & Ladders’ but she’s also a successful entrepreneur.

Having launched her own building company and written a handful of books on property developing, she now juggles a broader portfolio including two online businesses. She launched the dating website mysinglefriend.com and more recently she set up a tepilo.com, a website where you can buy and sell your home for free.

Sarah also has four young children; so she got a lot of respect when she appeared at this month’s Social Media ’09 conference along with her baby son.

So Sarah was a great candidate for my Juggle Tapes series; I went to meet her a couple of weeks ago to talk about what drives her business ideas and how she juggles everything. Watch the video below:



*if the video above is not displayed properly, you can watch it on YouTube here

Monday, 16 November 2009

Think Like An Entertainer


Whilst the notion of juggling might be a new concept to some, others have been successfully living multi-dimensional lives for years. Look at the entertainment world, where performers regularly cross disciplines from comedy to broadcasting to writing to acting.


Of course the challenge with that plurality – not just for entertainers but for all jugglers - is how people get labelled. As Dave Gorman said on Radio 4 a couple of months ago (‘Loose Ends’ 08/08/09):

‘You just want to move on and do something different every time. Whatever you do first, people label you as that and you’re never allowed to try your hand at anything else. So if I write a book, it’s comedian turned author; never just an author and you’re always pegged in that way. Personally I don’t see why I can’t make a documentary one year, a book another and do some stand-up. They’re all strings to the same bow to me’.

The key is to try not bother about the labels and just carve out that work life based on your talents and passions. I had coffee with Phill Jupitus last week - he has an awesome portfolio that includes: comedian, podcaster, newspaper columnist, broadcaster, actor (he’s currently starring in ‘Hairspray’ in the West End), cartoonist and musician. That’s not a list of his career history; that’s what he does *now*.

Like any successful juggler Phill has to be ruthless about how he manages his time but that broad portfolio is the result of his multi-dimensional talents. He seems to place no limits on what he does; proof being taking to the stage in a musical for the first time in his life. And ‘Hairspray’ is quite a leap from where it all started for him as a one man stand-up act ‘Porky The Poet’ (the guise I first saw him as, at Peckham Town Hall back in 1985).

So if you’re looking to juggle in business, you can learn a lot from the entertainment industry where reinvention and plurality of talents is behind much success. Take a leaf out of Phill’s book: extend your portfolio to wherever your passions and talents take you; go out of your comfort zone to find your career equivalent of taking a leap to the West End stage.

Thursday, 12 November 2009

If You’re Looking For Success, Get Over Sticking To One Thing!


One myth I aim to bust in Juggle! is the notion that you can only be good at one thing in life or business: you find a single talent or profession and you stick to it. Crap.


But encouraging plurality does not mean diluting your talents. You need to stay focused to make sure you’re good at one skill, project or venture before adding another one to the mix. It’s a tricky juggle but what successful entrepreneurship is all about.

You don’t need to think like a plural brand such as Virgin to spread your expertise from one business to another. It’s about taking an honest approach to your juggling. Taking on a new project because you know you have a compelling business idea, because you know a lot about a subject or just because you’re passionate about making a success of something. Passion should not be underestimated as a tool in the proverbial entrepreneurial tool kit. It’s the essential ingredient to drive success, especially where you are trying new ventures.

I’ve been talking to entrepreneurs recently about how they’ve transcended their core specialism. Look at Gary Vaynerchuk, morphing into new business areas beyond his core specialism of wine. He’s making a success of juggling other ventures because he’s passionate about his portfolio reflecting his - multi-dimensional - dna. Last week I met up with Sarah Beeny (a Juggle Tapes video of our chat will be ready later in November). Most people in the UK know Sarah as the ‘property development expert’; as presenter of TV’s Property Ladder and author of a handful of books on property development. But like Gary she’s transformed her portfolio beyond her core specialism to include new ventures including her dating website mysinglefriend.com. Just because you’re good at property, doesn’t mean you can’t do dating too. Why did she set up a dating site? Because she wanted to, because she had a good idea and thought she could make a success of it (she was right).

So don’t place too many limits on your talent, role or project portfolio. Follow your dna, your passions and transfer your success to new areas.

Monday, 2 November 2009

Forget Job Titles And Tell It Like It Is


Business – and society at large – has always been obsessed with giving labels to people. ‘What does he do?’ we ask a friend who announces she has a new boyfriend; application forms ask us to put in our job title; and we exchange similar data every time we go on a date, to a dinner party or networking event.


10 years ago when I was Managing Director of a small business, I had that simple 1-dimensional answer for what I did; but now it’s much more complex we have become multi dimensional. Our professional identities need to reflect that plurality – we need to rethink how we describe ourselves. Look at your average Twitter bio and it’s plural not singular: a list of talents, hats we wear, balls we juggle. There are some more creative descriptions too: Kevin Spacey describes himself as the ‘Former shoe salesman now making a go at film and theatre’. Queen Rania is ‘A mum and a wife with a really cool day job’.

Rethinking our identity is at the heart of ‘Juggle!’; as we carve out portfolio careers our personal brands need to reflect and communicate our multi-dimensional talents to the marketplace. That means ditching one or two word job titles and coming up with a phrase or bio that tells it like it is.

The obsession with labels struggles with the notion that people may be talented at more than one thing. It’s like the sportsman and academic Myron Rolle who I heard on Radio 4’s ‘Saturday Live’ at the weekend. Myron was ranked as the number one high school American Football prospect in the United States in 2006. He is also a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University where he is undertaking an MA in medical anthropology. Myron said:

‘Society and people want to categorise you, compartmentalise you as either a jock, a sportsman or an academic, a nerd. Why can’t you do both? Why can’t you …marry both into a wonderful life?’

Gaby Hinsliff is also learning how to deal with her new-found plurality. Having just resigned as Political Editor of the Observer, she wonders how to describe herself now she is carving out a portfolio career. Indeed her blog is called ‘Used To Be Somebody’. She says:

‘The plan is for a portfolio career, juggling several writing and policy projects part-time, but that is still a tricky concept to explain. "I'll just put homemaker, shall I?" said the woman arranging our new mortgage, apologetically. "You don't fit any of the other categories".

So re-think how we communicate and promote our offering. Whether it’s a multi-dimensional sales pitch or a unique blog, we need to create personal brands that reflect our talents. It’s about going beyond a job title to describe ourselves. That may make form-filling in a little more difficult but dinner party exchanges a little more interesting. So tell it like it is!

Friday, 9 October 2009

Me and Gary V: Part 1


Last Friday Gary Vaynerchuk and I took a ride from Heathrow to central London together. Gary had come to London from Hawaii (via LA) to speak at the Future Of Web Apps Conference. Having interviewed Gary in Paris last year (download the video free on iTunes here) and connected again in Texas at SXSW it was great to welcome him to London. I shot two videos with him; one about his new book ‘Crush It’ that I will post on October 20th and this one below.

For anyone who doesn’t know who ‘Gary V’ is, he’s the New York based wine entrepreneur who’s reinvented himself as a social media star. Having made his name presenting the daily wine tasting video blog Wine Library TV , Gary became an expert on social media and web 2.0 speaking at conferences around the world. His first book ‘Crush It: Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion’ is out this month (part of a $1m multi-book deal), he now runs a consulting business Vaynermedia and has recently launched a wine club website and a food retail website GourmetLibrary.com. He’s a true juggler and he also has about 850,000 more followers on Twitter than me.

In the video Gary talks about:
- the importance of change in his life and business.
- his ‘layer cake’ notion where he juggles a lot of different business interests.
- how social media is changing the agenda for businesses; they can’t dictate to people anymore.
- staying flexible in business and the impossibility of the five year plan.





*If the video is not displaying correctly, you can watch it on YOU TUBE here