12 and a half days of Christmas

Most of you won't know this, and it might not yet show in my execution, but I am very interested in marketing, social media in particular. My background is in film production, although I was low on the ladder, my ambition was to be a producer. There are some aspects of running a coffee shop that have a similar feeling to film production, but when I first started I think managing the front of house, left me missing the creative aspect of the film industry. Social media gave me an outlet for my creativity and about 7 years ago, maybe more (time has lost all meaning), I started paying attention to an entrepreneur called Gary Vaynerchuk (or as he's more commonly known, Gary Vee). I accidentally stumbled upon a podcast with him, and had heard his name mentioned before as a social media guru. In the first half of the interview I thought he was a pompous, arrogant idiot, but by the second part of it, I thought he was a brilliant genius. And basically I have been obsessed with him ever since. You'll realise how obsessed in a minute!

I have followed him closely since then and learnt a lot from him on a wide range of things. Things I would never have expected to learn from him based on that first podcast. He has taught me a great deal about entrepreneurship, taking risks in business, flipping on ebay, integrity, empathy and often given me a new perspective on the world. He has entertained me and educated me on the role of different platforms, different ways of communicating with your audience and most recently on the new and fascinating world of NFTs. (Here's a link to learn more about NFTs if you're curious). Last year in May he created a series of NFTs called Veefriends - a series of hundreds of drawings he did of characters that reflect attributes he hopes to promote in the world, Empathy Elephant, Accountable Anteater, Patient Panda, Gratitude Gorilla and Kind Kudu to name a few. The project was a huge success and the start of many more NFT projects to come. I missed out on his first NFT drop, so was extremely excited to learn of another opportunity to get one of his NFTs. 

How obsessed you ask?

To get one of these NFTs you had to buy 12 books, so guess who's doing A LOT of book giveaways in the build up to Christmas?

To celebrate owning lots of copies of Gary Vee's book, 12 and a Half (read more about it here!) I'm going to do 12 (and a half) days of Christmas. 

The book is about "Leveraging the emotional ingredients necessary for business success".

It's about the character traits that have helped him navigate, and succeed, personally and professionally. 

For each day we'll celebrate one of the traits 

Gratitude

Self Awareness

Accountability

Optimism

Empathy

Kindness

Tenacity

Curiosity

Patience

Conviction

Humility

Ambition

Oh and the "Half" is a trait he's still working on:

Kind Candor

To enter, check our Instagram and Twitter accounts, nominate a person (or yourself) who demonstrates the trait of the day and we'll choose a winner (or two!) to get a book. 

And for every book we giveaway we'll donate a copy to a charity that supports young entrepreneurs. (I have found a few, but any suggestions would be appreciated!)

The book is a worthwhile read if you're interested in entrepreneurship, leadership and emotional intelligence. 

If you want to know more about Gary Vee or NFTs I'll be delighted to chat with you - drop me a dm or email brownieboss@browniebox.co.uk. or pop by the store - as I said I'm mildly obsessed so happy to chat. 

Good luck, let's get books out!!