Gary Vaynerchuk Kissed My Hand

Once in a great while you meet a person who is truly a force to be reckoned with. Gary Vaynerchuk is one of those people. If you don't know who Gary Vaynerchuk is yet, just you wait, you will, you will, my friends. This guy is one smart cookie. But more than that, he's genuine, open, unabashedly honest, and he has TONS of charisma.

I know about Gary Vaynerchuk through wine, of course. He has the Wine Library TV Internet show (the most passionate show on the Internet), http://tv.winelibrary.com/ which I've linked on my blog in past posts but he's also written a wildly popular book called CRUSH IT! He's currently on a book-signing tour for the book and gives talks about how to cash in on your passion. When my friend, Lynda, called me today and said she'd seen him at Elliot Bay Book Store and told me that I had to go see him talk I was all over it. He had two more book signings in the evening, one at The Wine Outlet and the other at WorldMarket in Seattle.

I drove over to The Wine Outlet in Queen Anne after work to see if I could catch Gary's talk about his book and to actually see the crazy guy in person. I wasn't disappointed. I laid out 40 scheckles to hear his one hour talk and to get a copy of CRUSH IT! He's just as awesome and funny and honest in person as he is on the Internet and as a guest on shows like Conan O'Brien.

After he gave his talk about how to cash in on your passion, he opened up the room to questions. I was lucky enough to get chosen to ask a question. I asked him if he remembered the first wine that made him say wow and what was the wine. Gary told a story about how when he for the first time understood and could taste the flavors in a wine it was an Amarone. I believe he called it a Mossy but I'm not certain if that's the right spelling. Anywho...he said it was a 1993 Amarone he had in a restaurant in New Jersey, and he said he took out his cell phone (remember when cell phones were as big as a shoe? Well, Gary took off one of his shoes and provided the visual) and called his mother and told her that this Amarone tasted like chocolate, like a Hershey's chocolate bar. I guess that was an "aha" moment for him. It was a good story - one of many.

Next, we all trooped downstairs to line up for the book signing. I was trying to figure out what to say to him but couldn't come up with anything witty so when it was my turn I thought I'd go for honesty. Apparently, it worked, because when I got up to the table and stood in front of Gary I reached my hand out to shake his hand and I gushed, "Hi Gary! It's so nice to meet you and I LOVE YOU!" He grinned and kissed my hand! Then I shoved my Wine Muse blogger card at him and told him I blog about him and he should keep up the good work. He signed my book and I shook his hand again. I walked away with a huge shit-eating grin on my face, which, not suprisingly, is still on my face.

Gary seems like a genuinely nice person with more business savvy in his pinky finger than most people will ever have in their lifetime, no matter how hard they try. If anyone deserves to be hugely successful, it's Gary Vaynerchuk. And the cool thing is, he's sharing what he's done and what he knows to be true for the future.

According to Gary, he's been getting TV offers for quite some time and eventually, he might just get the offer that will make him say yes to a TV show. Then I'll be able to say, "See that funny dude with the funny name on TV? He kissed my hand." Hey! It could happen.

By the way...Chris Botti? I have some sad news for you. I've only had eyes for you for a very long time (except for Sting, of course) but sorry, love, you're going to have to make room for Gary Vee.