I mean, you can be that cynical towards any marketing influencer. Yes, there is a closed loop with these businesses, where the amount of revenue from being an i

I mean, you can be that cynical towards any marketing influencer. Yes, there is a closed loop with these businesses, where the amount of revenue from being an influencer vs. their own business is not well known. In Gary V's case, I would argue that his path towards success wasn't based on this. He had already built up his parent's business before he was a public figure. He understood the power of e-commerce, marketing and branding very early on, before social media existed. Today he's very successful consulting companies on how to do this better. These are all valuable skills people will gladly pay him for. This is very different from the blueprint you've outlined.