Me, Gary Vee, and .TV’s
Trendspotting and Accusations Abound
A few months back, like many in the know, I picked up Gary Vaynerchuk’s book #crushit. As you’ll read further down, I just couldn’t put the thing down and made my way through it while sitting in my truck near a local WalMart – with 2 hours to spare before I was to meet a client at a restaurant around the corner.
It was winterish, but comfortable (winter is 8 months out of 12 up here in Montreal – or so it seems), and being the eco-conscious soul that I am I’d turned the car off. An aside to this story would have to be that “business shoes” really suck, ie. not warm at all, little to no protection against slush, water, dirt, etc… but I digress…
Anyway, the book was clearly great. Gary is a pretty genuine dude and although I care very little for wine, you have to respect what buddy has done in turning aspects of this high-nosed industry on its head. People hate him, people love him, blah blah blah…but I respect him. He is cashin’ in on his passion big time (I hope he hasn’t trademarked that phrase), and seems to be doing brisk business.
And so, after absorbing his insights and being inspired by his family’s rise to success (I sold and traded baseball cards too!!) – something came over me. It was late, and my partner and I (who incidentally turned me on to Gary as he was just hitting his stride and gaining all sorts of recognition) were hammering away on GoDaddy.com trying to snap up any and all the .TV domain names we thought might be home to the next big winner (ie. sex.com or business.com). You see, Gary had gone into enough detail in the book in laying ideas out for others to grab onto and run with that we did just that…He specifically made note of the .TV URL extensions due to the simple fact he believes the Web is going to serve more and more as an alternative to the real thing: television. It makes sense right? He’s done it with the Wine Library (only here is on a .com). .TV seems pretty easy to remember. There are a lot of pretty decent names still out there…so why not?
And away we went – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5….6 different .TV URL’s purchased in a frenzy that couldn’t have lasted more than an hour. Yes, there was some careful deliberations – but we were hasty. What I have failed to mention is that the .TV domain names run about $43.99/year each which is uber hefty compared to the paltry standard 9-10$/yr for a .com.
We took Gary’s advice to the literal extreme and snapped up boardgamereview.tv and had every intention to follow his plan and review some off-the-beaten trail games. No such luck just yet..but we’re getting there.
This is where my “Where in the World is Carmen Santiago” persona took over. “Hey,” I said to myself, “Gary is pushing the .TV’s…hmmm…. Interesting. He’s also singled out GoDaddy.com as a place to go and register these .TV’s….” and then it happened…I keyboarded the below accusation and hit send – wondering if Gary would ever even come across my note. Boy did he ever….
I have switched the order of my accusation and his response to my accusation for the intended effect:
On Oct 23, 2009, at 11:16 PM, jeff@heelatch.com wrote:
Gary,
Wicked book. I tore through it.
And now, as I sit with my buddy frantically trying to gobble up killer .tv
domain names, I had my ''aha'' moment.....god damn Gary Vee will one day own
the Jets!!! I took a lot from the book, not the least of which is the
realization that one's person will and IS becoming more and more of a factor
in terms of how businesses will eventually look to interact. That one's company
has umpteen opportunities to reach out (very inexpensively - and engagingly if
they hope to achieve anything) and personalize their product, their CEO, their
other clients, etc...
I also learned that when the iron is hot you strike, and believe that you know
(the trendspotter that you claim to be!!) those dedicated fans/followers etc..
were going to see the opportunities and try and jump all over them.
So, if in fact your Go Daddy plug in the book is netting you serious enough
coin to scoop up the Jets, I'll be very happy for you. I guess I'm just
curious if you CARE that somehow the .tv domains are 4x more expensive than
a regular old .com, and wonder if you would care to address this in one of
your videos.
Sure, you've helped create and open the worlds eyes to this fabulous niche
(niche being redefined in this case), but it's no reason to be in cahoots
with a company ripping off those who have read your book and supported
your endeavors. I know one person can only go so far, and you have
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