Tim Canova needs a DRock, so do other political candidates

Tim Canova

I am using Tim Canova as an example of why congressional candidates should have a DRock.

Tim Canova, who raised a lot of money in his 2016 primary election for Congress but lost, has announced that he will run again in 2018.  He ran against incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a national figure who was formerly the head of the Democratic National Committee.  She won the primary and the the general election.

If Canova is going to win in 2018, he needs a DRock.  For those of you wondering “What’s a DRock?”, it refers to the personal cameraperson/editor/documentarian of entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk.

His name is David Rock, who Vaynerchuk refers to as DRock.  DRock is always out on his camera, following his boss around at meetings, in the gym, giving speeches at conferences and in his office.  The bulk of the video becomes Vaynerchuk’s series “DailyVee”.  Rock also records “The Ask GaryVee Show” where Vaynerchuk answers questions via social media and phone calls.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Much of this video content is repurposed into shorter videos, blog posts and podcasts.  All of this content allows Gary Vaynerchuk to reinforce his principles and brand, leading to increased sales of books and merchandise, promote his Apple Music series “Planet of the Apps” and expand awareness of his digital media agency VaynerMedia.

Tim Canova needs a DRock, or a team of videographers, audio recorders and editors to replicate the work that David Rock does for Gary Vaynerchuk.  Canova needs to be releasing audio, video and text content on all major platforms.  Perhaps, as I wrote on Quora, he needs to launch a talk show in video and/or podcast form, talking with his potential voters in his district.  He needs to be sharing his principles and brand, showing why the people of his congressional district should know who he is, and why they should vote for him.

Four Questions for Taylor Clark to answer as she attempts Gary Vaynerchuk’s challenge to start a business in 30 Days

Taylor Clark is attempting to start a business in 30 days, on a challenge from Gary Vaynerchuk

As a fan of attempting challenges over a set period of time (like my current ambition to not only produce a second round of 90 videos in 90 days, but to also produce a podcast of at least 10 episodes), I have been drawn to 22 year old college graduate Taylor Clark’s attempt to start a business in 30 days.

Clark, and her project The Fabulous Journey came to fame when she was a call in guest on entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk‘s Ask Gary Vee Show in March 2017.  The phone call, which Vaynerchuk has repurposed into a podcast and article on his website, included powerful coaching from him about getting to work, ignoring the social media success of friends (and Kardashians) and building for the long term.

Here’s that episode (Her segment begins at 17:15 into the video):

The call ended with Taylor Clark agreeing to email Gary Vaynerchuk 30 days later. She has been producing daily content promoting her challenge with the hashtag #30DayGaryVeeChallenge. Daily content has been produced on her YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram and her website at thefabulousjourney.com.

Here are some questions for her (and anyone else attempting a similar project) to ponder, as Taylor Clark works to make her fabulous journey a successful one.

1. What are the specific goals that she needs to achieve by Day 30 to “start a business”? Does she need a specific business structure (Like LLC or sole proprietorship) established? Does she need her first paying customer?

2. What is the business that she plans to start? How does she want to make money through this businesses? How does she plan to have this business make money right now?

3. How transparent should she be with her content? Up to this point, she has not mentioned much about her personal life, outside of her travels, not that she needs to. There is video she took from the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Buffalo, NY, where none of her friends she attended with were identified by name.   There is no mention of a significant other, whether there is one or not.  Do these things need to be included?  There is no clear yes or no answer as that is up for her to decide.

4. What does she need help with? Should she ask her audience for specific needs? Does she need mentorship in different aspects of starting a business?

In the first few days of her project Taylor Clark has been showing through her content that she is working toward her goal.  If she answers these questions, whether publicly or privately, it may make achieving that goal, and realizing what that goal actually is, a greater possibility.