Risk & Business Magazine Sterling Insurance Magazine Winter 2018 | Page 9

HOW SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE THINK HOW SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE THINK L isten, this is such a fascinating conversation for me because I think I have real perspective. Some of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world didn’t necessarily start out with a grand vision. They started with an idea and an action. Bezos didn’t set out to build Amazon, he started by selling books online. Zuckerberg didn’t set out at 18 to build Facebook. He built a tool for his college that later became the thing. It was idea + action. Constant iteration and execution. It was reacting to the market and tripling down on success. The vision came after. For me, I always knew that I was going to be big. At six years old, selling lemonade I knew I had something special. I was making thousands of dollars every weekend selling baseball cards and toys and items from garage sales before I even got to college. By 18, 19 and 20 I had very clear picture that my business success would be enormous. When I was 14 or 15 I realized that I was never going to be the quarterback for the New York Jets. Instead I was going to buy them, and so that was my vision. That was my big north star. So look, whether you’re an entrepreneur or an artist or someone who wants to be a number two or number 27 or number 47, I think the reality is exposed. For me, at a macro, it’s been one long game of self-awareness. The more I understand myself, the more I try to put myself in a position to succeed. Coming out of school, being 22 years old, I thought of myself as a great salesman. I didn’t necessarily have the vision of starting VaynerMedia and building the best digital agency I could. I just knew I could sell and that it was going to be big. > 9