TheThank You Economy

and why i love

Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book comes out today.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book comes out today.

Disclaimer: I haven’t read it yet.

But, I already know I love it.

Here’s why...

exhibit a

On June 4th Gary blogged that he was looking for designers to come up with a cover for his upcoming book.

He received a lot of criticism as some people didn’t like the idea of having to do work upfront and not get paid for it.

Some had valid points, some just didn’t get it.

I was on the train with a coworker on the way back home after a busy few days of meetings.

I told him all about the contest and how I was going to submit an entry.

Like most of my designer friends he thought it was a stupid idea and went back to watching his movie.

I kept working.

It took me about 2 hours to complete.

I’ve seen Gary speak 3 times, read all his blog posts, watched his videos and he’s replied to all my tweets.

It’s almost like I had to do this for him.

I submitted my design.

I got an email a few months ago from Gary’s team saying thanks for taking the time to design a cover but unfortunately they had decided to go in another direction.

Bummer.

I went to go see Gary speak yesterday in my hometown of Toronto and got my hands on his book.

I went to go see Gary speak yesterday in my hometown of Toronto and got my hands on his book.

Look what’s in the back.

A full 1/4 page!

Score!!

I went to go see Gary speak yesterday in my hometown of Toronto and got my hands on his book.

That’s a pretty serious smile on my face.

Look what’s in the back.

A full 1/4 page!

Score!!

exhibit b

I booked a trip to attend the South by Southwest interactive festival to see Gary and connect with some of the greatest minds online.

The total costs: $2,275

I uploaded a presentation on slideshare last week with a proposal.

I was going to provide a summary of who I was meeting and what I was learning every day on slideshare.

Those who could donate to help cover my costs would get a shoutout on my presentations.

To my surprise I raised all the funds in less than 24 hours.

Support came entirely from my followers on Twitter and on slideshare.

I received a lot of notes like this one:

“Thanks for all the great presentations! You've made me at least 10x better, so the least I can do is donate.” - Peter

Although I haven’t read the book yet (I will today), I know we’re living in the humanization of business, or as Gary puts it: The Thank You Economy.

@jessedee

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