Gary Vaynerchuk is a Belarusian-American entrepreneur with a good eye for business. He joined his family company after graduating from college and has built an empire from it. He turned an establishment that was worth $3 million into a $60 million company in just five years. The business tycoon has been quite successful with his deals despite all odds.
While it seems smooth now, the life of Gary Vaynerchuk in his early days was not all rosy as his family struggled to get by. They subsequently gained balance with life and began the liquor shop that has eventually grown to be known around the globe. In addition to his business ventures, the accomplished entrepreneur runs his own podcast show and is also a published author.
Gary Vaynerchuk Was Raised In An Entrepreneurial Background
At a young age, Gary Vaynerchuk kickstarted his entrepreneurial career by selling flowers ripped out of his neighbours’ yards. He made huge profits from the business and subsequently upgraded his business operation to lemonade stand franchise, distributing them to multiple locations when he was seven years old. Then the business-minded chap, taking advantage of his natural charm to make sales, started gathering thousands of dollars in his early teens when he was selling baseball cards at local malls, as well as comic books and toys while still in high school.
His money-making venture, however, was disrupted when Gary was 14 and was dragged into his family business by his father. He started bagging ice in the basement of the liquor store called Shopper’s Discount Liquor and was paid $2 per hour. He finished his formal education at North Hunterdon High School before proceeding to Mount Ida College where he bagged a degree. Upon graduation from college, Gary Vaynerchuk joined the family liquor business full-time.
Under His Management, Wine Library Reached The Stratosphere
Having earned more knowledge in school, Gary’s way of handling his family business was quite different. After he joined the company, he rebranded and restructured most of the affairs in the organization. First, he changed the business name from Shopper’s Discount Liquor to Wine Library, then took the business to social media. Also, he created an online sales platform for the shop, taking a huge step into growing the business in the e-commerce industry and thus, increased sales via banner advertising, email marketing, and Google AdWords.
He convinced his dad to launch a website for Wine Library, hence, rebranding the business into one of the first e-commerce platforms in the wine industry. Later in 2006, he moved on to launch a wine show on YouTube called WineTVLibrary which announced him, as well as his family business to a global audience, resulting in exponential growth for the business. He ran the wine review show for five years, producing one episode almost every day. The YouTube vlog featured episodes of wine tastings and equally, other wine-related topics, and finally ended in 2011 after running for 1000 episodes.
With all his contributions to the business, Wine Library grew from a $3 million to a $60 million worth company just within five years following Gary Vaynerchuk’s drastic changes.
He Has Built a Multi-million Dollar Advertising Agency Together With His Brother
Having become famous as an internet personality, Gary Vaynerchuk had the opportunity to foster close relationships with many investors and Chief Executive Officers, including Travis Kalanick and Mark Zuckerberg. He began investing with earnings made from working in his family business, worth thousands of dollars. He made his earliest investments in Twitter and Facebook, as he bought shares from Mark Zuckerberg’s parents.
He also made investments in Uber, Tumblr, and Venmo. In the long run, his investments yielded tens of millions of dollars with which he co-founded VaynerMedia with his brother, AJ Vaynerchuk in April 2009. The full-service digital advertising agency has grown into a holding company called VaynerX which houses six businesses; digital media (Gallery Media Group), consulting (The Sasha Group), analytics (Tracer), VaynerCommerce, VaynerProductions, and VaynerSpeakers.
He started out the top-notch digital agency in a conference room at Buddy Media and now has locations in the United Kingdom, United States, and Singapore. Some of VaynerMedia clients include Unilever, PepsiCo, General Electric, Mondelez International, Toyota, Chase, and ABinBev. Ever since the creation of the media house, it has been quite successful, currently holding over 800 employees and grossing more than $90 million yearly. In the year 2018, the company raked in a revenue of $131 million.
The Serial Entrepreneur Has Made A Fortune From His Multiple Ventures
Gary’s skill set for business is overwhelming. He is endowed with so many business ideas and has put most of them into action. As a business tycoon, he has managed to run his organizations despite the changes in the economy. As a writer, he has been named a five-time New York Times best-selling author and of course, he would definitely be paid for his several shows as a public speaker.
Some of his books include “Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion”, “The Thank You Economy”, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World”, and “AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness”. His net worth of $160 million is proof that his hard work has paid off.
He further increases his finances through his earnings as the co-founder of many companies such as VaynerSports, Vayner/RSE, Resy, and Empathy Wines. In August 2011, Gary launched a video podcast titled The Daily Grape which served as the replacement for WineLibraryTV. Another one of his podcasts, The GaryVee Audio Experience is now rated among the top 100 business podcasts across the globe.
The savvy entrepreneur additionally hosts two shows on YouTube – DailyVee, a daily video documentary series about his life as a public figure and business mogul, and The #AskGaryVee Show. In collaboration with K-Swiss, he launched his first and second signature sneakers; GaryVee 001 & 002s in November 2017 and subsequently released the GaryVee 003s & 004s.
He Is The Son Of Soviet Jew Immigrants
In 1978, Gary Vaynerchuk’s family emigrated from Belarus to the United States as they were lucky to find their way to America as part of an exchange program that allowed the immigration of Soviet Jews to the country in exchange for food aid. The businessman is one of the three known children belonging to Tamara Vaynerchuk (mother) and Sasha Vaynerchuk (father). He was born on the 14th of November, 1975 in Babruysk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union. His siblings are Liz Vaynerchuk and AJ Vaynerchuk.
Gary Vaynerchuk had his formative years in Queens where his family took shelter in a studio apartment. In the latter years, the Vaynerchuks moved to New Jersey where Gary’s father began managing a relative’s liquor store before gaining full ownership of the property. Shopper’s Discount Liquor, which is now renamed Wine Library, laid the foundation for Gary Vaynerchuk’s exploits in the e-commerce industry. Even with his absence from the business, Wine Library is still thriving and raking in profits.
Gary Vaynerchuk Is A Doting Husband And Father
Gary Vaynerchuk got married a few years after he graduated from college. We wouldn’t be totally wrong to say that he is a quite fulfilled young man. His marriage to Lizzie Vaynerchuk in 2004 has been peaceful with no iota of controversies. Together, they share two lovely children. A daughter; Misha Eva Vaynerchuk who was born in 2009 and a son; Xander Avi born in 2012.
Placing his family first over any other thing, the proud father spends most weekends with his wife and kids and the weekdays are solely for business. His wife, Lizzie, is a homemaker whom the businessman has described as an independent and big picture thinker. She is a private person and doesn’t have a social media presence. As such, there’s little information available with regards to her background details. The family currently resides somewhere in New York.
