That time I invested $10,000 into the wrong thing

Our reading notes on Gary Vaynerchuk

• Why You Need to Forget Your “Mistakes” and Focus on Your Next Thing

  The episode listing describes Vaynerchuk’s conversation with CRWD founder Ryan Chen about paying people to try products, visit a store and give feedback. For someone planning a sampling day, that raises two separate questions. Did someone take the free sample, and did the experience give them a reason to look for the product again?

• How to Turn Views on Social Media into Customers for Your Business

  Vaynerchuk describes using organic video to identify promising creative, then pairing it with a clear offer when it reaches people again. A well-watched demonstration supplies a candidate for an ad. Whether people understood what was for sale remains a separate question that a customer conversation or a purchase can help answer.

• Document, Don’t Create: Creating Content That Builds Your Personal Brand

  Vaynerchuk proposes documenting work in progress as an alternative starting point for someone stuck trying to invent a polished persona. The useful material is a decision or lesson that really occurred. An ordinary workday also contains private details and unfinished judgments that an editor should leave out.