“Crushing It”, with Gary Vaynerchuk

Do you have what it takes to “Crush It!“? Gary Vaynerchuk does! I first met Gary at BlogWorld three years back in Las Vegas, then he was aired on Conan O’Brien that next night! Since then Gary has just exploded! It’s absolutely insane with the amount of exposure this guy is getting. From being a mastermind in the wine market, having billboards outside of stadiums, to having his own book deals, to his many TV appearances on shows like Mad Money with Jim Cramer, MTV, Dr. Oz and several times on FOX News, it’s just amazing. Gary is truly “Crushing It”, and making his way towards his goal of owning the NY Jets!

The following is my interview with with Gary, and from my Six Figure Affiliate Blogging ebook. You can download the full ebook for free at SixFigureAffiliateBlogging.com, which includes over 130 pages of content and interviews with 25 highly successful affiliates and bloggers.

Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk

1.) Please tell us a little about yourself.

I was born in Belarus, in the former Soviet Union, and came to the US with my family in the late 1970s with basically nothing. I have two incredible parents that gifted me with amazing DNA that is responsible for everything I’ve been able to accomplish. I’m Director of Operations at Wine Library and winelibrary.com, host the video blog winelibrarytv.com, co-founded a consulting company called VaynerMedia with my brother AJ, and wrote the book Crush It!, which became a NY Times bestseller.

2.) When did you start blogging and how did you get into it?

In late 2005 I saw the Internet becoming more social, and saw video blogs like Ze Frank’s The Show and Rocketboom taking off. I had missed out on the whole blogging thing because I’m not really a writer, but I knew this would be the right platform for me. After the holiday rush, I started Wine Library TV in February of 2006 and never looked back.

3.) Besides financially, how has blogging helped your business and brand?

The show has brought a lot of attention to the business, but also to me. I started being invited to speak at conferences, and eventually to consult other personal brands and businesses.

4.) How have you incorporated affiliate marketing into your blog?

Affiliate was never the direction I wanted to head with WLTV. I could have made plenty of money with affiliate links to wine.com, but I went for a brand equity strategy instead of direct monetization.

5.) In your opinion, what is the single best way to monetize a blog?

I wrote a lot about this in Crush It! As eyeballs continue to shift from print media to online platforms, there are billions of ad dollars up for grabs. Great bloggers that target a specific niche and have the chops stand to make plenty of money by selling ads.

6.) What would you recommend for a new blogger, that was only looking to blog for financial gain?

Make sure you are blogging about something you are passionate about. My litmus test is this: Can you come up with 50 blog topics to write about off the top of your head?

7.) Any recommended blogs or resources for bloggers looking to bring their blog to the next level?

I like to read TechCrunch and Mashable to keep up with all the latest developments.

8.) Do you have any big announcements or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

Right now I am really focused on building corkd.com, the wine social network which is becoming a big content play for wine related information.

* If you enjoyed this interview, be sure to download my free 130 page guide to “Six Figure Affiliate Blogging“.