Ever since the internet became ubiquitous enough to become a source of income, many people have taken advantage of the technology to make something of themselves. Very few of them can claim to have achieved a lot with it as much as Gary Vaynerchuk, who has built an incredible net worth of $160 million through a series of ventures and investments connected to the technology.
Not only has Gary Vaynerchuk achieved incredible wealth via the internet, but he has also become famous, using the internet to build a brand across business sectors and on social media.
In this article, we took a look at how Gary Vaynerchuk earned an admirable net worth as well as his fame.
How Did Gary Vaynerchuk Increased His Net Worth
Today, Gary Vaynerchuk, an immigrant who was born in the Soviet Union, has a net worth of $160 million. It is a fact that makes him one of the wealthiest personalities in America. While that might be a surprise to anyone just getting to know about him, to those who grew up with him, his net worth is merely the culmination of behaviors and habits that have defined his life since he was a child.
His net worth has come via different means, such as entrepreneurship, public speaking, writing, and social media. Below is an in-depth look at each contributor to his net worth.
Entrepreneurship
Gary Vaynerchuk’s journey as an entrepreneur started as a child when he began pulling flowers out of his neighbor’s garden and sell it back to them. While that might pose an ethical question, the venture set him on a path of creatively using his environment to enrich himself.
From the flowers, he moved on to lemonade stands and had a chain of them in his neighborhood. He then moved on to selling baseball cards, and by the time he was a teenager, Gary was making as much as $2,000 to $3,000 per week.
At the age of 14, he joined his father’s business, a wine store, Shopper’s Discount Liquors. Under his father, he learned everything about the business. After he left for college at Mount Ida College, he returned to take over the liquor store in 1998.
His return to the liquor store started a chain of events that would ultimately transform Gary Vaynerchuk into an internet personality and a multi-millionaire. Having been exposed to computers and the internet at college, he renamed the liquor store to Wine Library. He also created a website, WineLibrary.com, to sell the store’s products online.
The move proved ingenious, and within five years of launching the website, Gary Vaynerchuk grew the family business from $3 million in revenue to $60 million a year, increasing his net worth in the process. To promote the store and the website, he launched a daily webcast, Wine Library TV, in 2006.
Using the platform, he became a wine reviewer and started his journey as an internet personality. The popularity of the webcast led to a radio gig with Sirius CM, where he hosted Wine & Web in 2010.
He left the day to day control of Wine Library in 2011 to start another entrepreneurial venture, VaynerMedia, a social media-focused digital agency in 2009. The company partners with Fortune 500 companies to provide social media and strategy services. The company has worked with companies like PepsiCo, General Electric, and after eight years of establishment, was grossing up to $100 million in yearly revenue.
Social Media
Having gotten his start as a social media personality via Wine Library TV, Gary Vaynerchuk expanded his social media footprint and, consequently, his net worth via a series of social media ventures. He started a video documentary series on YouTube, DailyVee in 2015, and The #AskGaryVee Show in 2014.
Both shows are featured on his YouTube channel, GaryVee, where he has more than 2.3 million followers and over 172 million views. According to SocialBlade, Gary Vaynerchuk’s YouTube channel contributes between $9,500 to $152,600 to his net worth yearly.
Public Speaking and Writing
As an established expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship, Gary Vaynerchuk has made a point of selling his knowledge and ideas. He speaks at several business events and has a couple of published books to his name.
He wrote his first book, Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World, in 2008. He has written at least five more books since then, most of which performed well commercially and contributed to his $160 million.
Investments
Outside of wealth gained from his active businesses, Gary Vaynerchuk also earned his net worth through strategic investments. He is an angel investor who has invested in several companies, and he was one of the early investors in tech companies like Facebook, SnapChat, Tumblr, and Twitter.
His investment skills also have him earning money through the reality show, Planet of the Apps. It is a similar show to the famous Shark Tank, where he and other investors listen to pitches from app developers looking for investment.
