When my friends Rebecca Mead and Kathy Hokunson mentioned Gary Vaynerchuk‘s stop at R.J. Julia's Bookstore in Madison, CT, I jumped at the chance to go see and hear him yesterday evening.

First impression – this dude is the real deal. Down to earth, even if he has made millions of dollars selling wine in his family business or starting Vayner Media, a marketing consulting company. Just check out the way he presents wine on his extremely popular Wine Library TV. When we met he was approachable and extremely generous with his time.

He was obviously at the bookstore to chat about his second book, The Thank You Economy. I had just received it through Amazon yesterday and had not had a chance to read it yet. His first book, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, made a phenomenal impact on me. I recommend you get that book as well if you are just starting to explore social media.

The synopsis of his new book is this – our economy is changing to a point where we better become a whole lot more customer-centric, if we want to survive in the business we are in. Once I have read the book, I promise to post an online review. If you want to know more about it, check out The Thank You Economy.

As I said, Gary was extremely gracious when I asked him if he would spare two minutes to speak to you, my fellow photographers, about how the message in his book pertains to what you are now doing in your business. His is a terrific message and I welcome you to watch the video below. Then post your thoughts about what he said. Are you going to be making changes to the way you run your photography business? Share your thoughts with other photographers here.

Thank you, Gary, for your time and for launching this new feature on Tiffinbox called 2 Minutes WIth Tiffinbox. I welcome other authors, artists, photographers to contact me about being featured here as well.

UPDATE: For a quick review read my friend Scott Wyden's review of The Thank You Economy.