you know I’ve been thinking a lot lately
about this whole journey about about how
entrepreneurship has become something of
a status and and has been put on a
pedestal I’ve also been thinking about
how scary it is when something becomes
cool or interesting and what that
creates and I’ve been pondering that
quite a bit
which is the differences between being
an entrepreneur and being a successful
entrepreneur you know putting the fact
that you’re a CEO in your Instagram
profile doesn’t mean that it’s what
you’re going to be able to do for the
rest of your life and what I’m really
concerned about is that we have lived at
both in Canada and the US with basically
an eight to nine year macro almost a
decade of good economic growth we just
have you know obviously there was a
crash in the US and two thousand eight
or nine but if you look at the data
we’re probably on the tail end of
economic growth you know obviously
nobody knows otherwise they would make
trillions of dollars but one of the
things that I did want to talk to you
guys about today is practicality I think
practicality is stunningly not talked
about enough so for example if you’re
running a business right now and it’s
predicated on raising money or you’ve
raised money and you lose money each
month it’s probably a really good idea
to change course pretty quickly because
the biggest issue for me right now is
that we have a lot of people who want to
build brands who want to become
influencers who want to start companies
but they’re not putting in the pieces
that actually allow them to weather the
storm you know the thing that I’m most
proud of is the two biggest businesses
I’ve ever built I basically started them
during very difficult times when I first
got involved in my dad’s liquor store
business it was the late 90s and just
about a year and a half into my journey
I guess two years into my journey the
stock market crashed and all the
Internet companies folded and all the
people that were making money that I was
targeting to sell wine stop having money
to buy wine and I built and then right
behind that because most of my business
was New York and New Jersey based even
though we were building an Internet
company it was only about a year later
that 9/11 happened and not only you know
changed I mean for anybody that lived in
New York New Jersey area it was much
more compounded for us because we lost
loved ones and and I remember I lost a
hundred employees from one organization
in one day I’d go in hand by hand and
take their emails out because everybody
passed away from Cantor Fitzgerald that
worked in that office so and that so I
persevered through that because I was
practical because I didn’t have a lot of
overhead and because I wasn’t romantic I
wasn’t dreaming I knew that I had to buy
and sell wine and liquor and beer and I
had to make sure that my expenses
weren’t greater than the money I was
bringing in vaynermedia started in the
ashens of the economic meltdown of the
US when I started vaynermedia people
didn’t want to pay $5,000 let alone the
fifty or hundred thousand they’d pay us
a month now for our services and and
when I started vaynermedia you know it’s
funny I watch everybody watch my journey
now and you know there’s that cliche
thing of like overnight success right
I’m gonna have this TV show come out
this June and it’s gonna change my
profile right I’m gonna sit on a stage
with will.i.am and Gwyneth Paltrow and
Jessica Alba for this Apple show that
I’m about to do and everybody’s gonna
say where’d he come from that happened
overnight you know
and it’s even really happened and social
I’m sure a lot of you if for a lot of
you you’ve only really even have known
about me for the last six months or so
even though I’ve been putting out
content online for 10 years every single
day and so the thing that I’ve been
really thinking about is practicality
like vaynermedia even though I had had
already built a nice sized business it
wasn’t like I was extracting a lot of
money out of Wine Library and so when AJ
and I started vaynermedia seven years
ago we started it out of a company
called buddy media’s conference room for
the first two years that I ran
vaynermedia we had no rent we first
worked out of a conference room a
conference room we then worked out of a
co-working space before the whole we
work in co-working space revolution and
I bartered my time to help that company
in exchange for a very small space we
didn’t buy furniture we scrapped and I’d
already made it I was already rich and
we scrapped and so the biggest thing
that I want to implore everybody here
today to do
is to take a step back and think about
how fancy are they are you want to be
really really really ghetto do you
really need that chair do you really
need that piece of technology do you
really need to fly that class like I
just think that we’re living through an
incredibly fancy culture of
entrepreneurship entrepreneurship and
CEO status is quite sexy people are
selling a lifestyle that is filled with
lots of fun and trips and and champagne
and bikinis and bling-bling and all
sorts of horseshit right and and I just
think that that era of this era is gonna
come to an end somewhere within the next
five years and very honestly I just
don’t want a lot of people in this room
that dreamed to build their own
businesses to have to go work at a bank
or go work at a retail store and so I
would highly recommend something that I
think is stunningly not talked about
enough which is if you’re building a
business you have to be making money I
think it’s important I think the other
thing that’s important is to shift the
context completely the other way which
is what is really winning right like
what is the definition of winning and I
think we all have different definitions
right and I think that one of the things
that I also want to say is that I’m
getting scared that a lot of people that
are following my journey hear me talking
about buying the New York Jets and I do
aspire to buy a three billion dollar
sports franchise I do it is what I want
it’s you can look at my fifth grade
yearbook long before business was cool
it’s what I want to do but I’m awfully
scared that it’s pressuring the people
that follow me into trying to achieve
things that they don’t necessarily want
they just think it’s the thing you do if
you’re trying to be a successful
businessperson let me promise you
something I know tens of thousands of
people I know thousands of people
extremely well I know hundreds of people
deeply well there is no correlation
between how much money someone makes and
their level of happiness I have friends
who make $47,000 a year and are the
happiest people I know their work-life
balance is on point they’re part of two
soccer teams they play video games they
watch every show they want they take two
vacations that they scrap together and
they’re freaking happy as hell
and I know tons of people who I grew up
with in the Silicon Valley boom who have
hundreds of millions of dollars in their
bank account and are is miserable and is
lonely and is broken as you’ll ever see
so I implore all of you to please
reverse engineer and figure out who you
are and figure out what level of
monetizing and stuff you need and what
level of creativity need I promise you
one thing one thing that will catch you
very off guard I should be way more rich
I leave money on the table every day i
I’ve left
ungodly amounts of money on the table I
spend tons of times
spending sending DMS and engaging with
people meeting people randomly and not
cashing in I actually believe the
statement I’m about to make I think that
I love the journey and the game of
entrepreneurship so much that I have
subconsciously sabotage my financial
upside to make sure I can play this a
little longer because I fear if the
numbers keep getting too big eventually
it will take the fun out of it when you
were lucky enough like I am to actually
do something that you love so much do
something that puts pressure against the
one thing you care about besides it
which is the time I spend with my family
my family is my whole life
and being this and doing this is the
only thing that cuts into that I
couldn’t breathe
if I wasn’t an entrepreneur I didn’t
breathe when I wasn’t an entrepreneur
that’s the reason I got these an F since
school because I just couldn’t be me and
I’m not capable of that and so I think
being here excites me because I think
coming to not LA San Francisco New York
London is always more fun for me
it always feels a little more practical
it always feels like there’s a little
bit more chips on the shoulder which is
what I have but I want to remind
everybody just because you didn’t grow
up with a trust fund just because you
don’t live in Silicon Valley the market
doesn’t care if you’re good enough you
will win and I hope that you don’t strip
and if you sit around and ponder well if
I didn’t live here or if my mom wasn’t
an alcoholic or if I just learned about
this earlier or if I’d been following
this person earlier or if I wasn’t born
a woman or if I wasn’t born a minority
if you sit and do that
you are losing you’re not wrong
it’s just that business and marketing
and all this doesn’t care there’s just
no emotion in the market like and that’s
it and so I think we need to start
having much deeper much more serious
conversations of practicality you know
it’s fun and I love this face the most
but I loved it long before it was sexy I
loved it long before people want to take
selfies with me
I loved it long before athletes and
celebrities and rappers wanted to be
entrepreneurs I loved it long before
that it was my destiny it was who I was
it was how I was wired it was the only
thing I knew that’s why the four year
old me ripped flowers out of yards and
sold it
you don’t read about being an
entrepreneur at five six seven eight and
nine I didn’t jump on this cuz it’s cool
now and it makes me money and girls I
did it cuz it’s all I ever was and I
implore you if you came here to be an
entrepreneur but this talk allows you to
realize you’re really an artist or
you’re really a number three in a
company because you bring this level of
energy and you don’t want to be a number
one because let me promise you something
about being a number one I’m not an
entrepreneur I’m a firefighter my entire
life is taking care of crap putting out
fires 24/7 365 my whole life is this is
a problem fix this and guess what when
you’re the last line of defense
there’s no blaming your boss there’s no
blaming the logo
there’s no blaming the government it’s
all my fault all of it and so it’s super
sexy but what’s not being talked about
is the friends and acquaintances I have
who’ve committed suicide in the
entrepreneurial in the last four years
because nobody talks about the downside
everybody thinks they’re gonna be sucks
everybody thinks they’re gonna build
snapchat go look at the data the data
shows that the far majority of this room
will not succeed not even close to
building an actual business and I don’t
come here to be somber I come here to
remind you that there’s only one thing
you can do the only thing you can do
that can trump the moment mommy and
daddy had sex to make you the only thing
that can trump that the only thing that
can trump your DNA the only thing that
is controllable if you want it if you
want this is work and by the way I don’t
know if you guys have noticed I’ve
stopped even and it’s funny given the
name of the conference I’ve started I’ve
started using the word work more than
the word hustle just because I want
everybody to understand what we’re
really talking about here if you’ve got
a big mouth and a lot of you do here
search the hash tag and a lot of you say
CEO founder owner I call that big mouth
if you’ve got the audacity to do it
and and so many of you have heard this
for me when I audited I do because I’m
curious
it’s how I learn people talk a big game
I especially love when somebody hits me
up on social like Gary Vee you’re gonna
buy the Jets I’m gonna buy the Rams you
know you know everybody is buying a
sports team and I love and I love to
look at what that person does and and
then I’ll DM that person and be like yo
bro nobody nobody unless they were a
trust fund baby ever bought the Rams
when they go skiing for a week when
they’re 24 nobody you know nobody you
know nobody you know has become
successful outside of it being given to
them from their family nobody you know
has actually created success without
working their face off it doesn’t exist
so you can sit and talk about luck and
you can sit and talk about this that or
the other thing but I promise you the
only controllable thing you have is your
work ethic so going back to the
beginning of my talk
you need to deploy serious serious
self-awareness and figure out who you
are
I implore you to start matching your
work ethic and your actions to your
mouth if you’re gonna be a billionaire
you need to realize that most people
that create billion dollars worth of
wealth don’t do anything besides work
every single day of their 20s and 30s
all of them every person that works at
vaynermedia
has taken more vacations in the last 13
months than I did in my entire 20s and
early 30s
my family went on to family vacations my
entire childhood I was married to my
wife for five years before we had a
family we took two vacations
it’s the price you have to pay if you
want it at the level that I wanted at
and by the way I advised nobody to want
it at that level I’m being dead serious
this is a very true statement and I
think most of you will not believe but
I’m telling you it’s the goddamn truth
if there was a drug that could take some
ambition out I would take it
it is so extreme it is all in the reason
I started dailyvee was to remind you
that I’m out working you that when you
talk and you’re trying to figure it out
when you’re trying to say you’re gonna
be like me I want you to see it I want
you to see every other day 5:00 a.m. I
want you to see every day midnight all
of them every day always forever that’s
what it takes for what I want good news
is between what I want and what is
achievable and is considered
unbelievably all-time happy is a big gap
so there’s plenty of vacation time I
know tons of people who have a keishon
time I know tons of people with
work/life balance I know tons of people
that do tons of fun activities and that
make seven-figure millions of dollars a
year and love it I’m playing for legacy
I’m playing for all time I’m looking to
impact every generation that comes
behind me because I want to show that
you can build all-time wealth all-time
greatness doing it the right way and the
old way that’s what I’m up to so please
make sure you understand that and more
importantly make sure you understand
yourself so that you can reverse
engineer that blueprint and figure out
where you fit within that and then
deploy it but I promise you but I
promise you you will not get there with
your big idea I promise you sitting
around and saying oh I had that idea for
uber before Ober did
nobody gives a I’ve got every idea
that’s gonna be successful over the next
hundred years it’s all about AI and VR
and AR and augmented and all this I’ll
give them to you all it doesn’t matter
cuz most of you won’t execute against it
the reason I put out all my best stuff
and I’m liked and I don’t charge for it
is somewhere along the line I realize
that 99.9% of you aren’t gonna do
anything about it
you’re gonna ponder it you’re gonna get
super pumped up when you watch me say it
and then three weeks later you’re gonna
give up cuz you’re not willing to pay
the price and that’s cool everybody’s
different but you need to figure out
what price you are willing to pay for
what you want it has been insane to me
how many people have emailed me in the
last month about the 2017 flip challenge
which for you that don’t know was a
video I made in December which is so
many of you email me asking me for five
thousand dollars and meanwhile there’s
five thousand dollars worth of crap
sitting in your house right now go grab
it post it on ebay flip it and make your
money
how many people have flipped something
since they saw that video raise your
hands just want to say higher higher
don’t be shy sit you know like it’s
insane people emailing me like hey this
like I just made eight thousand dollars
cuz I sold a hundred dollars of this and
this happened and this happened and this
happened funny thing happens when you
actually work go figure
funny thing happens when you actually
realize it’s money that gives you the
opportunity
everybody’s got a big idea everybody’s
got the uber of lawn mowers everybody’s
got the Airbnb of ice-cream it’s not
gonna happen and if it does please take
the clip of this talk email me and say
in the title Gary Vee you were wrong and
I will be the first to call you me say
Mazel Tov I am so pumped but I just want
to remind every especially 20 and 30
year old in this room I came out the
gate and I worked every day for 13 years
before I set a goddamn word to anybody I
talk a whole lot now and I’ve made up
for those 13 years of silence
but I just want to remind everybody that
I didn’t make a video to the world about
anything about business until I was 35
years old after I worked every single
day from the time I was 22 and in
reality 14 and then I started talking
there’s a whole lot of talking going on
how about more action have a more
execution have a more paying prices for
what your mouth is saying that is what I
hope you do you know I think it comes
down to your talent so one of the things
that I’m fascinated by is how many
people are scared to take risks and then
take credit for things for example let
me explain the amount of businesses that
I’ve looked at over the last decade that
are doing 1 million dollars two million
dollars 4 million dollars 8 million
dollars in sales and are successful and
the founder is kind of making fun of
other people for different things and
then I remind them that if I had run
their business instead of doing 2
million it would be in doing 19 they
take a step back and then I try to
explain to them in detail and here’s
where I’m getting at everybody’s got
their own cadence and their own talent
but taking risks is how you make real
things happen it’s how you take quantum
leaps the amount of things I failed at
at vaynermedia from an agenda standpoint
over the last seven years is enormous
because I take micro risks all the time
risks that if they go to zero which is
how I think about them will not put me
out of business
but risks for example took a lot of
risks last year last year we did a
hundred million dollars in revenue the
year before we did sixty-seven we made
the same amount of money in both yours
risks lost 33 million dollars of profit
against that gross you know probably
left six seven million dollars in profit
on the table because I took risks the
good news is one of those risks is
probably gonna make me 50 more in
revenue in three years so I think risks
are imperative and I want to remind the
people here who are conservative you
know that’s great and if you’re at the
number that you want to be at great the
one thing I would say is the biggest
fear I have for people that don’t take
risks is that your competitors might and
then you’re in trouble so a lot of
people think it’s insular but it’s not
I’m about to teach you more about to
teach you more about selling and
marketing right this second than
anything to learn in any school ever
thank you tell me when you give with
expectation in return you lose VR is the
only platform that exists that I know of
that has the potential to arbitrage out
the Internet itself right so like if you
if you really think about it if you
super VR doubt well he’s right and and
but here’s where here’s where some of
the VR friends that I have aren’t as
happy with me I just think it’s a good
15 to 25 years away because its massive
consumer behavior it reminds me so much
of the internet ninety-two right we’re
still in 2017 right we’re talking about
25 years later and still only 30 percent
15 percent of stuff is bought online but
when you think about what VR actually is
which is you put content you know at
scale
you put contact lenses in your eyes and
you live you live no your just live in
and it’s really no different than the
way you’re living through your phone
right now think about how much you go to
your phone and how much you watch other
people go to their phone we’re living
already in VR it’s called this it gets
crazy different when you put it over
your eyes and it all feels that way and
so the stuff I’ve been playing with is
so intense I’m the first time I took off
a very substantially strong ahead of its
time VR set a year or so ago I’ll never
forget what I said which really caught
me off guard because was just a very
natural reaction I took it off
it was super HD the audio cuz sound is a
big issue was the on point it was it’s
the kids that were doing it reminded me
much more of the internet kids that I
grew up with which is straight nerds you
know not like business guys now that
want to be in it cuz it’s cool right and
I just remember taking off the headset
and I said holy crap why would anybody
ever take this off
and then I was like then I took a step
back and said oh man like huh so I think
what’s what’s what’s what’s in it for
musicians the same thing that’s in it
for everybody like production companies
are gonna pop up produce experiences and
it’s going to be the same thing we just
saw with the internet somebody will be
the Amazon and somebody will be the
YouTube it’s the complete reset of
opportunities some of the incumbents
from the Internet age will do a good job
maybe YouTube does a good job and stays
as an entertainment platform maybe two
kids here create the next YouTube in
that environment but the stakes are very
high and I will tell you a lot of people
in this room will be very scared of it
because their children will live in a
world where they never have to
physically move anywhere and that’s
gonna change to our world but I do think
it’s much further away than people think
and so we’ll see awesome cool and
hopefully there’ll be some VR that helps
people move right you can run like
you’re running the Boston Marathon but I
think we as humans always like worry
about that stuff like like everyone’s
talking about exercise in fact like
we’re healthier than ever we just
because we’re in our phone all the time
or play video games all the time we’re
not talking about the fact that we eat
so much better we’re not talking about
that so many people work out every
single day now like I mean who’s over 40
years old raise your hands
great good now remember nobody was
healthy 20 years ago like nobody
everybody ate Doritos and drank and
drank soda and nobody went to the gym so
we’re taking things in micro too much
like oh we got to get people healthier
we’re the healthiest we’ve ever been and
it is not even close and just because
we’re in the phone instead of on a
television and on Nintendo doesn’t mean
we’re less healthy you know I think one
of the biggest reasons I don’t tell
anybody had a parent or had a map their
ambition or give relationship advice is
we all have different stuff the
serendipity of my life create a scenario
where the woman that I married grew up
in a household where her father traveled
all the time right she has the greatest
relationship with him they worked in
extremes he worked a lot and they
vacationed a lot and things of that
nature and I grew up in a very similar
household where mine was even more
extreme but there was no extremes it was
one gear all working
and and we’re also a very old-school
couple we’re a little bit more into
dividing and conquering you know
obviously now we have a whole lot of
co-parenting and things of that nature
but and I don’t think one’s right or
one’s wrong I just know what Lizzie and
I are comfortable with and that’s Lizzie
and I and it’s very cute and nice that
there’s lots of books written about what
we should do and it’s very nice that you
have opinions of how I should do it but
I don’t give a no but I want you to
tell me you struggle with that maybe I
don’t all trying ok then I feel like let
me tell you what I struggle with if
you’re looking for something I struggle
being completely petrified of anybody
that I love dying like crippled like
when my mom goes to the doctor I can’t
think for a check-up that’s what I
struggle with
after that feels very controllable it’s
binary for me brother because I also
know there’s so many Yang’s and Yang’s I
know that my daughter is going with me
on two speaking engagements in the next
year and then we’re gonna spin when I go
speak in Anaheim I’ll take the next day
off with her and we’ll go through
Disneyland and have that time I don’t
remember anything about what my parents
did with me from 10 to 30 you know from
6 to 13 other than the one time my mom
took me out of school on my birthday in
fourth grade and took me to the arcade
people don’t understand how memory and
the brain works and by the way let me
remind all the parents that feel great
about their work-life balance coming
home and being on your phone and
watching TV and it doesn’t mean you’re
with them people people confused quality
and quantity so you know but but let me
tell you something things changed man
you know like I don’t like with you all
the adapt audacity that I just delivered
this with I could walk into my home
seven months from now Lizzy could look
me in the face and says I’m done with
this too much and then I got a real
problem cuz then I have to decide
between two things I can’t breathe
without you know and so I get it I get
it I don’t sit here thinking I’ve got it
all figured out and then life’s got
twists and turns
everything’s great until your child is
diagnosed with a life-threatening
disease I promise you this if I ever
shut my mouth it’s only gonna because of
the health of my family if you ever
don’t see me again
that’s what I’m doing
and I’ll be back when that’s resolved
but I’m not stressed by most of the
stuff in the middle especially in the
current political correctness POVs of
what we should be doing if you’re not
your biggest fan
you’ve lost I think I give so much
because I actually think I feel guilty
that I was not only gifted with the
right DNA but I was parented so
perfectly that I could give you that
answer because I know almost every other
person I know doesn’t have that feeling
about themselves and a whole lot of it
had to do with their mother or their dad
or where they grew up so I feel I feel
enormous pain towards people like my
father like a lot of my best friends who
weren’t gifted with the infrastructure
of the household that made them feel
good about themselves but in return
because their parents were insecure and
sad inside they took it out on their
children and pointed out their flaws
because misery loves company but I
implore you if you’re sitting with that
in this audience that you need to figure
out whether it’s through therapy whether
it’s something else you’ve got to get
that poison out of your body because if
you don’t you just not you’re not going
anywhere that actually leads perfect
into our next question and that comes
from Steven Gordon I’m gonna paraphrase
this a little bit but it says every
speaker has preached positivity and
along those lines pretty much everyone
out there they want to know is that the
final key to unlocking success and
anyone who follows Gary which I’m sure
that’s pretty much everyone in here
we’ve heard you talk a lot lately about
gratitude and becoming a real person
yeah so yeah I mean look I mean what are
we doing here like of course like it’s
so easy and I’ve been talking about this
more and I think with the political
climate in the States and other places
in the world it’s easy to sell
negativity it’s easy to be cynical
you’re protecting your feelings you
don’t want to be tricked it’s hard to
sell positivity people are poking at
that always it feels better it’s tough
to see it when you don’t have it I’m
empathetic to that but sure I mean
what you know I talk a lot in business
context but whether you’re a parent or
in government like what what do you want
to do like why else would you like go
through life not trying to achieve
happiness and so yeah I think of course
that’s the ultimate goal and it’s
incredible what happens when you feel
good like everything is easy to deal
with John you know everything is easy to
deal with because it’s just life it’s
real you know like I I don’t think I I
think people dwell
I think dwelling is the wrong strategy
it’s focusing on the wrong things right
you gotta focus let me tell you who’s
willing to listen to you complain the
people that are willing to listen to you
complain and dwell consistently only
look to parts they’re your most inner
family and they love you to the ends of
the earth or their fellow loser friends
okay awesome let’s go over to let’s give
some love to the sides over here let’s
get a audience question over here
somewhere
she’s a righty hey I know you tell us in
your videos going on all in on your
strengths all chips in you have
strengths don’t focus on your weaknesses
what have you seen though from students
at vaynermedia students with internships
what are their weaknesses or what’s
missing from those students and from
those people that are asking for that
experience from you
not so I can work on it but just so that
I know what people like you value what
you need I think everybody has different
strengths and weaknesses I break things
up into black and white and gray EQ and
IQ I think those are the two pillars
that I kind of look at when I look at
somebody and some people have hard
skills out their ass right they can do
everything but they don’t know how to
interact with the other boys and girls
and that ultimately tumbles them right
then so the reason I started talking
about something called the honey Empire
is that’s what I want everybody at
Vayner to know in the beginning I valued
honey more so I call it honey Empire so
if you were a good person and you could
get along with everybody else you worked
at Vayner for quite a while
because that was what I valued we’re now
seven we’re now bigger you know if
you’ve raised a child you know things
change you expect more as they get older
and so I expect more of the
organization’s so we went through a
tough patch over the last six months
where I had to let go of certain people
because I deemed that they didn’t have
the hard skills the actual intellect the
actual ability the output crossing T’s
dotting eyes black and white stuff the
math skills the the email copy skills to
have a client you know the strategy
skills to come up with an idea that
mattered and it was very shocking to our
company and a lot of feelings got hurt
but it’s the right thing to do because
meritocracy matters if you don’t do that
the winning players leave and so I think
most people fall in one of two
categories they’re short and one of the
two and if they have both they’ll go on
to win and if they have neither they’re
in really deep but I feel like a
lot of businesses say oh it’s all about
the personality it’s all about the EQ
it’s all about those things obviously
you say you’re a D and an F student
you’re able to build your own Empire but
showing up somewhere and saying you have
no skills but you have lots of EQ not
gonna get you businesses don’t hire on
that they nobody hires on that that’s
why my businesses grow so fast I
actually do hire on that at first so
creates a cultural foundation that
allows me to then do my thing but most
no business does that like this many
businesses do that
they only hire on skills they only hire
in resume they don’t do what I do when
my Alex D Simone’s uber drivers like I
want a job or like okay you know if
Pedro offered me some Jets memorabilia
he’d have a job too so you know so I
think that uh yeah I’ll be sure to find
you some Jets memorabilia ha ha ha ha I
think you have to reverse engineer the
person that you’re selling to right I
think that people that know me should
speak to their EQ qualities because they
know I over-index on that but you
shouldn’t be mad at a company that
clearly points to the fact that they
hire on skill and IQ they want you to
have a piece of paper from a bullcrap
university that says you can do this
thing and don’t be mad at them that’s
what they want and yes you know it’s
like and you know I think you’re very
clear minded but I don’t feel bad for
people who are like but
they said it doesn’t matter it’s up to
you to die-cut the sect and decode what
people say everything on you
everything’s your fault
you want to really win in life you want
to get real happy you know I’m really
happy because I think everything is my
fault if I don’t like it I can change
president knight estates I don’t like it
I can move like what’s everybody’s
problem adjust I mean that me I mean
meaning I don’t have to agree with his
politics I’m just saying that you’re in
charge and we are just not historically
contextualized
I mean I’m much happier to deal through
act you know you know political
toughness or or economic downturn much
cooler to deal with than the black
plague no really I mean like somebody
dealt with the Black Plague like you
have relatives that died from the ply
mean I know it’s funny but it’s true
unlike you know so I mean I don’t know I
just don’t know how to complain I always
think somebody has it worse and if
somebody has it worse you to shut up I’m
always testing like everything I do is
always learning behavior right to me it
was when I decided the Instagram was
disproportionately getting the attention
I wanted to understand what was the
right cadence to create notification
turn on and how do I bring value and
return for it and what’s the right value
prop of returning it and then I saw that
it a lot of people were posting but was
that bringing value to the community
which is why I shifted it to five minute
Club and then I realized like neither
was really a million value but 60-second
Club brought a sense of urgency and fun
to people like tens of thousands of them
so I said let’s switch it back those are
just micro micro tactics in me learning
things that could eventually help
clients could help Wine Library and just
I’m an entrepreneur right so the end
goal is to be on the journey of
entrepreneurship I’m a risk taker I like
doing different things I don’t like
settling for the same old thing and so
those are those are just tactics of
trying to learn different platforms and
capabilities and trying to understand
the learnings from the behavior of
people reacting to it there’s no really
angle like is there an end goal that in
one year through this
now channels that I have zero micro and
goals like that
zero zero I never ever ever think I’ve
never said that in one year you know I
don’t have that goal I have one macro
goal which is to to to feel like I left
it on the field it’s probably the best
way I could put it I just you know I’m
sure all of us have different versions
of this I just have this feeling you
know it’s it’s like moths to the light
right I couldn’t even really explain it
it’s why I’m so comfortable in it
because it’s been there long before this
twenty years before the internet it was
there do you know what I mean like it
just always been there I don’t know why
every single weekend instead of playing
with my friends I wanted to make my
friends work with me and wash cars I
mean my poor friends that are now coming
out of the woodwork except for God how
many of them I made do things I don’t
talk about the shoveling snow and the
car wash business and the miniature golf
course I built in my friends backyard
like you know I don’t talk about those
things often but it’s you know you know
it’s just who I am
it’s it’s you know the same way people
where people need to sing or the same
way people like me to cook every night
you just need to cook like you don’t
even you can’t you know I just need to
business I have the right balance of
wanting to give back and a lot of
selfishness to have the attention and it
works in my favor for because I feel
good about both I love the attention and
like I have that narcissistic DNA and I
love it I love taking selfies I love
that people want to stay I love I love
people of course I would love it it
feels nice my mom loved me so much and
complimented me every day so much that
when I left the house was like this
I need more of that so I need that
that’s why I do it I’m also not scared a
lot of my friends who don’t put
themselves out there they don’t want
themselves out there because there’s
things that they don’t want people to
uncover about them so I’m not scared
that happens and it feels really good
getting a hundred emails a day from
people who’s live are way better because
they stumbled on some of your videos and
that’s something that my quiet friends
who don’t need that who just need to
build it and do their business they
don’t have that feeling so when my
friends who tell me my god if
you put this energy into your full time
like if people knew like my friends will
say things like if people knew that
garyvee was your side hustle like if
people knew like how much you’re
actually still if you actually took all
that time and energy and put it to your
business you wouldn’t be doing a hundred
million you’d be doing two hundred
million and I always reply with the same
thing I’m like yeah but my legacies way
better than yours you know and so you
probably know this after the eggs of
your business
it’s crazy what like money after a while
just like I don’t know like how much do
you need like what like I don’t know
like I don’t buy like I don’t need
stuff like I don’t judge other people’s
stuff and I definitely don’t care how
I’m being judged
about this whole journey about about how
entrepreneurship has become something of
a status and and has been put on a
pedestal I’ve also been thinking about
how scary it is when something becomes
cool or interesting and what that
creates and I’ve been pondering that
quite a bit
which is the differences between being
an entrepreneur and being a successful
entrepreneur you know putting the fact
that you’re a CEO in your Instagram
profile doesn’t mean that it’s what
you’re going to be able to do for the
rest of your life and what I’m really
concerned about is that we have lived at
both in Canada and the US with basically
an eight to nine year macro almost a
decade of good economic growth we just
have you know obviously there was a
crash in the US and two thousand eight
or nine but if you look at the data
we’re probably on the tail end of
economic growth you know obviously
nobody knows otherwise they would make
trillions of dollars but one of the
things that I did want to talk to you
guys about today is practicality I think
practicality is stunningly not talked
about enough so for example if you’re
running a business right now and it’s
predicated on raising money or you’ve
raised money and you lose money each
month it’s probably a really good idea
to change course pretty quickly because
the biggest issue for me right now is
that we have a lot of people who want to
build brands who want to become
influencers who want to start companies
but they’re not putting in the pieces
that actually allow them to weather the
storm you know the thing that I’m most
proud of is the two biggest businesses
I’ve ever built I basically started them
during very difficult times when I first
got involved in my dad’s liquor store
business it was the late 90s and just
about a year and a half into my journey
I guess two years into my journey the
stock market crashed and all the
Internet companies folded and all the
people that were making money that I was
targeting to sell wine stop having money
to buy wine and I built and then right
behind that because most of my business
was New York and New Jersey based even
though we were building an Internet
company it was only about a year later
that 9/11 happened and not only you know
changed I mean for anybody that lived in
New York New Jersey area it was much
more compounded for us because we lost
loved ones and and I remember I lost a
hundred employees from one organization
in one day I’d go in hand by hand and
take their emails out because everybody
passed away from Cantor Fitzgerald that
worked in that office so and that so I
persevered through that because I was
practical because I didn’t have a lot of
overhead and because I wasn’t romantic I
wasn’t dreaming I knew that I had to buy
and sell wine and liquor and beer and I
had to make sure that my expenses
weren’t greater than the money I was
bringing in vaynermedia started in the
ashens of the economic meltdown of the
US when I started vaynermedia people
didn’t want to pay $5,000 let alone the
fifty or hundred thousand they’d pay us
a month now for our services and and
when I started vaynermedia you know it’s
funny I watch everybody watch my journey
now and you know there’s that cliche
thing of like overnight success right
I’m gonna have this TV show come out
this June and it’s gonna change my
profile right I’m gonna sit on a stage
with will.i.am and Gwyneth Paltrow and
Jessica Alba for this Apple show that
I’m about to do and everybody’s gonna
say where’d he come from that happened
overnight you know
and it’s even really happened and social
I’m sure a lot of you if for a lot of
you you’ve only really even have known
about me for the last six months or so
even though I’ve been putting out
content online for 10 years every single
day and so the thing that I’ve been
really thinking about is practicality
like vaynermedia even though I had had
already built a nice sized business it
wasn’t like I was extracting a lot of
money out of Wine Library and so when AJ
and I started vaynermedia seven years
ago we started it out of a company
called buddy media’s conference room for
the first two years that I ran
vaynermedia we had no rent we first
worked out of a conference room a
conference room we then worked out of a
co-working space before the whole we
work in co-working space revolution and
I bartered my time to help that company
in exchange for a very small space we
didn’t buy furniture we scrapped and I’d
already made it I was already rich and
we scrapped and so the biggest thing
that I want to implore everybody here
today to do
is to take a step back and think about
how fancy are they are you want to be
really really really ghetto do you
really need that chair do you really
need that piece of technology do you
really need to fly that class like I
just think that we’re living through an
incredibly fancy culture of
entrepreneurship entrepreneurship and
CEO status is quite sexy people are
selling a lifestyle that is filled with
lots of fun and trips and and champagne
and bikinis and bling-bling and all
sorts of horseshit right and and I just
think that that era of this era is gonna
come to an end somewhere within the next
five years and very honestly I just
don’t want a lot of people in this room
that dreamed to build their own
businesses to have to go work at a bank
or go work at a retail store and so I
would highly recommend something that I
think is stunningly not talked about
enough which is if you’re building a
business you have to be making money I
think it’s important I think the other
thing that’s important is to shift the
context completely the other way which
is what is really winning right like
what is the definition of winning and I
think we all have different definitions
right and I think that one of the things
that I also want to say is that I’m
getting scared that a lot of people that
are following my journey hear me talking
about buying the New York Jets and I do
aspire to buy a three billion dollar
sports franchise I do it is what I want
it’s you can look at my fifth grade
yearbook long before business was cool
it’s what I want to do but I’m awfully
scared that it’s pressuring the people
that follow me into trying to achieve
things that they don’t necessarily want
they just think it’s the thing you do if
you’re trying to be a successful
businessperson let me promise you
something I know tens of thousands of
people I know thousands of people
extremely well I know hundreds of people
deeply well there is no correlation
between how much money someone makes and
their level of happiness I have friends
who make $47,000 a year and are the
happiest people I know their work-life
balance is on point they’re part of two
soccer teams they play video games they
watch every show they want they take two
vacations that they scrap together and
they’re freaking happy as hell
and I know tons of people who I grew up
with in the Silicon Valley boom who have
hundreds of millions of dollars in their
bank account and are is miserable and is
lonely and is broken as you’ll ever see
so I implore all of you to please
reverse engineer and figure out who you
are and figure out what level of
monetizing and stuff you need and what
level of creativity need I promise you
one thing one thing that will catch you
very off guard I should be way more rich
I leave money on the table every day i
I’ve left
ungodly amounts of money on the table I
spend tons of times
spending sending DMS and engaging with
people meeting people randomly and not
cashing in I actually believe the
statement I’m about to make I think that
I love the journey and the game of
entrepreneurship so much that I have
subconsciously sabotage my financial
upside to make sure I can play this a
little longer because I fear if the
numbers keep getting too big eventually
it will take the fun out of it when you
were lucky enough like I am to actually
do something that you love so much do
something that puts pressure against the
one thing you care about besides it
which is the time I spend with my family
my family is my whole life
and being this and doing this is the
only thing that cuts into that I
couldn’t breathe
if I wasn’t an entrepreneur I didn’t
breathe when I wasn’t an entrepreneur
that’s the reason I got these an F since
school because I just couldn’t be me and
I’m not capable of that and so I think
being here excites me because I think
coming to not LA San Francisco New York
London is always more fun for me
it always feels a little more practical
it always feels like there’s a little
bit more chips on the shoulder which is
what I have but I want to remind
everybody just because you didn’t grow
up with a trust fund just because you
don’t live in Silicon Valley the market
doesn’t care if you’re good enough you
will win and I hope that you don’t strip
and if you sit around and ponder well if
I didn’t live here or if my mom wasn’t
an alcoholic or if I just learned about
this earlier or if I’d been following
this person earlier or if I wasn’t born
a woman or if I wasn’t born a minority
if you sit and do that
you are losing you’re not wrong
it’s just that business and marketing
and all this doesn’t care there’s just
no emotion in the market like and that’s
it and so I think we need to start
having much deeper much more serious
conversations of practicality you know
it’s fun and I love this face the most
but I loved it long before it was sexy I
loved it long before people want to take
selfies with me
I loved it long before athletes and
celebrities and rappers wanted to be
entrepreneurs I loved it long before
that it was my destiny it was who I was
it was how I was wired it was the only
thing I knew that’s why the four year
old me ripped flowers out of yards and
sold it
you don’t read about being an
entrepreneur at five six seven eight and
nine I didn’t jump on this cuz it’s cool
now and it makes me money and girls I
did it cuz it’s all I ever was and I
implore you if you came here to be an
entrepreneur but this talk allows you to
realize you’re really an artist or
you’re really a number three in a
company because you bring this level of
energy and you don’t want to be a number
one because let me promise you something
about being a number one I’m not an
entrepreneur I’m a firefighter my entire
life is taking care of crap putting out
fires 24/7 365 my whole life is this is
a problem fix this and guess what when
you’re the last line of defense
there’s no blaming your boss there’s no
blaming the logo
there’s no blaming the government it’s
all my fault all of it and so it’s super
sexy but what’s not being talked about
is the friends and acquaintances I have
who’ve committed suicide in the
entrepreneurial in the last four years
because nobody talks about the downside
everybody thinks they’re gonna be sucks
everybody thinks they’re gonna build
snapchat go look at the data the data
shows that the far majority of this room
will not succeed not even close to
building an actual business and I don’t
come here to be somber I come here to
remind you that there’s only one thing
you can do the only thing you can do
that can trump the moment mommy and
daddy had sex to make you the only thing
that can trump that the only thing that
can trump your DNA the only thing that
is controllable if you want it if you
want this is work and by the way I don’t
know if you guys have noticed I’ve
stopped even and it’s funny given the
name of the conference I’ve started I’ve
started using the word work more than
the word hustle just because I want
everybody to understand what we’re
really talking about here if you’ve got
a big mouth and a lot of you do here
search the hash tag and a lot of you say
CEO founder owner I call that big mouth
if you’ve got the audacity to do it
and and so many of you have heard this
for me when I audited I do because I’m
curious
it’s how I learn people talk a big game
I especially love when somebody hits me
up on social like Gary Vee you’re gonna
buy the Jets I’m gonna buy the Rams you
know you know everybody is buying a
sports team and I love and I love to
look at what that person does and and
then I’ll DM that person and be like yo
bro nobody nobody unless they were a
trust fund baby ever bought the Rams
when they go skiing for a week when
they’re 24 nobody you know nobody you
know nobody you know has become
successful outside of it being given to
them from their family nobody you know
has actually created success without
working their face off it doesn’t exist
so you can sit and talk about luck and
you can sit and talk about this that or
the other thing but I promise you the
only controllable thing you have is your
work ethic so going back to the
beginning of my talk
you need to deploy serious serious
self-awareness and figure out who you
are
I implore you to start matching your
work ethic and your actions to your
mouth if you’re gonna be a billionaire
you need to realize that most people
that create billion dollars worth of
wealth don’t do anything besides work
every single day of their 20s and 30s
all of them every person that works at
vaynermedia
has taken more vacations in the last 13
months than I did in my entire 20s and
early 30s
my family went on to family vacations my
entire childhood I was married to my
wife for five years before we had a
family we took two vacations
it’s the price you have to pay if you
want it at the level that I wanted at
and by the way I advised nobody to want
it at that level I’m being dead serious
this is a very true statement and I
think most of you will not believe but
I’m telling you it’s the goddamn truth
if there was a drug that could take some
ambition out I would take it
it is so extreme it is all in the reason
I started dailyvee was to remind you
that I’m out working you that when you
talk and you’re trying to figure it out
when you’re trying to say you’re gonna
be like me I want you to see it I want
you to see every other day 5:00 a.m. I
want you to see every day midnight all
of them every day always forever that’s
what it takes for what I want good news
is between what I want and what is
achievable and is considered
unbelievably all-time happy is a big gap
so there’s plenty of vacation time I
know tons of people who have a keishon
time I know tons of people with
work/life balance I know tons of people
that do tons of fun activities and that
make seven-figure millions of dollars a
year and love it I’m playing for legacy
I’m playing for all time I’m looking to
impact every generation that comes
behind me because I want to show that
you can build all-time wealth all-time
greatness doing it the right way and the
old way that’s what I’m up to so please
make sure you understand that and more
importantly make sure you understand
yourself so that you can reverse
engineer that blueprint and figure out
where you fit within that and then
deploy it but I promise you but I
promise you you will not get there with
your big idea I promise you sitting
around and saying oh I had that idea for
uber before Ober did
nobody gives a I’ve got every idea
that’s gonna be successful over the next
hundred years it’s all about AI and VR
and AR and augmented and all this I’ll
give them to you all it doesn’t matter
cuz most of you won’t execute against it
the reason I put out all my best stuff
and I’m liked and I don’t charge for it
is somewhere along the line I realize
that 99.9% of you aren’t gonna do
anything about it
you’re gonna ponder it you’re gonna get
super pumped up when you watch me say it
and then three weeks later you’re gonna
give up cuz you’re not willing to pay
the price and that’s cool everybody’s
different but you need to figure out
what price you are willing to pay for
what you want it has been insane to me
how many people have emailed me in the
last month about the 2017 flip challenge
which for you that don’t know was a
video I made in December which is so
many of you email me asking me for five
thousand dollars and meanwhile there’s
five thousand dollars worth of crap
sitting in your house right now go grab
it post it on ebay flip it and make your
money
how many people have flipped something
since they saw that video raise your
hands just want to say higher higher
don’t be shy sit you know like it’s
insane people emailing me like hey this
like I just made eight thousand dollars
cuz I sold a hundred dollars of this and
this happened and this happened and this
happened funny thing happens when you
actually work go figure
funny thing happens when you actually
realize it’s money that gives you the
opportunity
everybody’s got a big idea everybody’s
got the uber of lawn mowers everybody’s
got the Airbnb of ice-cream it’s not
gonna happen and if it does please take
the clip of this talk email me and say
in the title Gary Vee you were wrong and
I will be the first to call you me say
Mazel Tov I am so pumped but I just want
to remind every especially 20 and 30
year old in this room I came out the
gate and I worked every day for 13 years
before I set a goddamn word to anybody I
talk a whole lot now and I’ve made up
for those 13 years of silence
but I just want to remind everybody that
I didn’t make a video to the world about
anything about business until I was 35
years old after I worked every single
day from the time I was 22 and in
reality 14 and then I started talking
there’s a whole lot of talking going on
how about more action have a more
execution have a more paying prices for
what your mouth is saying that is what I
hope you do you know I think it comes
down to your talent so one of the things
that I’m fascinated by is how many
people are scared to take risks and then
take credit for things for example let
me explain the amount of businesses that
I’ve looked at over the last decade that
are doing 1 million dollars two million
dollars 4 million dollars 8 million
dollars in sales and are successful and
the founder is kind of making fun of
other people for different things and
then I remind them that if I had run
their business instead of doing 2
million it would be in doing 19 they
take a step back and then I try to
explain to them in detail and here’s
where I’m getting at everybody’s got
their own cadence and their own talent
but taking risks is how you make real
things happen it’s how you take quantum
leaps the amount of things I failed at
at vaynermedia from an agenda standpoint
over the last seven years is enormous
because I take micro risks all the time
risks that if they go to zero which is
how I think about them will not put me
out of business
but risks for example took a lot of
risks last year last year we did a
hundred million dollars in revenue the
year before we did sixty-seven we made
the same amount of money in both yours
risks lost 33 million dollars of profit
against that gross you know probably
left six seven million dollars in profit
on the table because I took risks the
good news is one of those risks is
probably gonna make me 50 more in
revenue in three years so I think risks
are imperative and I want to remind the
people here who are conservative you
know that’s great and if you’re at the
number that you want to be at great the
one thing I would say is the biggest
fear I have for people that don’t take
risks is that your competitors might and
then you’re in trouble so a lot of
people think it’s insular but it’s not
I’m about to teach you more about to
teach you more about selling and
marketing right this second than
anything to learn in any school ever
thank you tell me when you give with
expectation in return you lose VR is the
only platform that exists that I know of
that has the potential to arbitrage out
the Internet itself right so like if you
if you really think about it if you
super VR doubt well he’s right and and
but here’s where here’s where some of
the VR friends that I have aren’t as
happy with me I just think it’s a good
15 to 25 years away because its massive
consumer behavior it reminds me so much
of the internet ninety-two right we’re
still in 2017 right we’re talking about
25 years later and still only 30 percent
15 percent of stuff is bought online but
when you think about what VR actually is
which is you put content you know at
scale
you put contact lenses in your eyes and
you live you live no your just live in
and it’s really no different than the
way you’re living through your phone
right now think about how much you go to
your phone and how much you watch other
people go to their phone we’re living
already in VR it’s called this it gets
crazy different when you put it over
your eyes and it all feels that way and
so the stuff I’ve been playing with is
so intense I’m the first time I took off
a very substantially strong ahead of its
time VR set a year or so ago I’ll never
forget what I said which really caught
me off guard because was just a very
natural reaction I took it off
it was super HD the audio cuz sound is a
big issue was the on point it was it’s
the kids that were doing it reminded me
much more of the internet kids that I
grew up with which is straight nerds you
know not like business guys now that
want to be in it cuz it’s cool right and
I just remember taking off the headset
and I said holy crap why would anybody
ever take this off
and then I was like then I took a step
back and said oh man like huh so I think
what’s what’s what’s what’s in it for
musicians the same thing that’s in it
for everybody like production companies
are gonna pop up produce experiences and
it’s going to be the same thing we just
saw with the internet somebody will be
the Amazon and somebody will be the
YouTube it’s the complete reset of
opportunities some of the incumbents
from the Internet age will do a good job
maybe YouTube does a good job and stays
as an entertainment platform maybe two
kids here create the next YouTube in
that environment but the stakes are very
high and I will tell you a lot of people
in this room will be very scared of it
because their children will live in a
world where they never have to
physically move anywhere and that’s
gonna change to our world but I do think
it’s much further away than people think
and so we’ll see awesome cool and
hopefully there’ll be some VR that helps
people move right you can run like
you’re running the Boston Marathon but I
think we as humans always like worry
about that stuff like like everyone’s
talking about exercise in fact like
we’re healthier than ever we just
because we’re in our phone all the time
or play video games all the time we’re
not talking about the fact that we eat
so much better we’re not talking about
that so many people work out every
single day now like I mean who’s over 40
years old raise your hands
great good now remember nobody was
healthy 20 years ago like nobody
everybody ate Doritos and drank and
drank soda and nobody went to the gym so
we’re taking things in micro too much
like oh we got to get people healthier
we’re the healthiest we’ve ever been and
it is not even close and just because
we’re in the phone instead of on a
television and on Nintendo doesn’t mean
we’re less healthy you know I think one
of the biggest reasons I don’t tell
anybody had a parent or had a map their
ambition or give relationship advice is
we all have different stuff the
serendipity of my life create a scenario
where the woman that I married grew up
in a household where her father traveled
all the time right she has the greatest
relationship with him they worked in
extremes he worked a lot and they
vacationed a lot and things of that
nature and I grew up in a very similar
household where mine was even more
extreme but there was no extremes it was
one gear all working
and and we’re also a very old-school
couple we’re a little bit more into
dividing and conquering you know
obviously now we have a whole lot of
co-parenting and things of that nature
but and I don’t think one’s right or
one’s wrong I just know what Lizzie and
I are comfortable with and that’s Lizzie
and I and it’s very cute and nice that
there’s lots of books written about what
we should do and it’s very nice that you
have opinions of how I should do it but
I don’t give a no but I want you to
tell me you struggle with that maybe I
don’t all trying ok then I feel like let
me tell you what I struggle with if
you’re looking for something I struggle
being completely petrified of anybody
that I love dying like crippled like
when my mom goes to the doctor I can’t
think for a check-up that’s what I
struggle with
after that feels very controllable it’s
binary for me brother because I also
know there’s so many Yang’s and Yang’s I
know that my daughter is going with me
on two speaking engagements in the next
year and then we’re gonna spin when I go
speak in Anaheim I’ll take the next day
off with her and we’ll go through
Disneyland and have that time I don’t
remember anything about what my parents
did with me from 10 to 30 you know from
6 to 13 other than the one time my mom
took me out of school on my birthday in
fourth grade and took me to the arcade
people don’t understand how memory and
the brain works and by the way let me
remind all the parents that feel great
about their work-life balance coming
home and being on your phone and
watching TV and it doesn’t mean you’re
with them people people confused quality
and quantity so you know but but let me
tell you something things changed man
you know like I don’t like with you all
the adapt audacity that I just delivered
this with I could walk into my home
seven months from now Lizzy could look
me in the face and says I’m done with
this too much and then I got a real
problem cuz then I have to decide
between two things I can’t breathe
without you know and so I get it I get
it I don’t sit here thinking I’ve got it
all figured out and then life’s got
twists and turns
everything’s great until your child is
diagnosed with a life-threatening
disease I promise you this if I ever
shut my mouth it’s only gonna because of
the health of my family if you ever
don’t see me again
that’s what I’m doing
and I’ll be back when that’s resolved
but I’m not stressed by most of the
stuff in the middle especially in the
current political correctness POVs of
what we should be doing if you’re not
your biggest fan
you’ve lost I think I give so much
because I actually think I feel guilty
that I was not only gifted with the
right DNA but I was parented so
perfectly that I could give you that
answer because I know almost every other
person I know doesn’t have that feeling
about themselves and a whole lot of it
had to do with their mother or their dad
or where they grew up so I feel I feel
enormous pain towards people like my
father like a lot of my best friends who
weren’t gifted with the infrastructure
of the household that made them feel
good about themselves but in return
because their parents were insecure and
sad inside they took it out on their
children and pointed out their flaws
because misery loves company but I
implore you if you’re sitting with that
in this audience that you need to figure
out whether it’s through therapy whether
it’s something else you’ve got to get
that poison out of your body because if
you don’t you just not you’re not going
anywhere that actually leads perfect
into our next question and that comes
from Steven Gordon I’m gonna paraphrase
this a little bit but it says every
speaker has preached positivity and
along those lines pretty much everyone
out there they want to know is that the
final key to unlocking success and
anyone who follows Gary which I’m sure
that’s pretty much everyone in here
we’ve heard you talk a lot lately about
gratitude and becoming a real person
yeah so yeah I mean look I mean what are
we doing here like of course like it’s
so easy and I’ve been talking about this
more and I think with the political
climate in the States and other places
in the world it’s easy to sell
negativity it’s easy to be cynical
you’re protecting your feelings you
don’t want to be tricked it’s hard to
sell positivity people are poking at
that always it feels better it’s tough
to see it when you don’t have it I’m
empathetic to that but sure I mean
what you know I talk a lot in business
context but whether you’re a parent or
in government like what what do you want
to do like why else would you like go
through life not trying to achieve
happiness and so yeah I think of course
that’s the ultimate goal and it’s
incredible what happens when you feel
good like everything is easy to deal
with John you know everything is easy to
deal with because it’s just life it’s
real you know like I I don’t think I I
think people dwell
I think dwelling is the wrong strategy
it’s focusing on the wrong things right
you gotta focus let me tell you who’s
willing to listen to you complain the
people that are willing to listen to you
complain and dwell consistently only
look to parts they’re your most inner
family and they love you to the ends of
the earth or their fellow loser friends
okay awesome let’s go over to let’s give
some love to the sides over here let’s
get a audience question over here
somewhere
she’s a righty hey I know you tell us in
your videos going on all in on your
strengths all chips in you have
strengths don’t focus on your weaknesses
what have you seen though from students
at vaynermedia students with internships
what are their weaknesses or what’s
missing from those students and from
those people that are asking for that
experience from you
not so I can work on it but just so that
I know what people like you value what
you need I think everybody has different
strengths and weaknesses I break things
up into black and white and gray EQ and
IQ I think those are the two pillars
that I kind of look at when I look at
somebody and some people have hard
skills out their ass right they can do
everything but they don’t know how to
interact with the other boys and girls
and that ultimately tumbles them right
then so the reason I started talking
about something called the honey Empire
is that’s what I want everybody at
Vayner to know in the beginning I valued
honey more so I call it honey Empire so
if you were a good person and you could
get along with everybody else you worked
at Vayner for quite a while
because that was what I valued we’re now
seven we’re now bigger you know if
you’ve raised a child you know things
change you expect more as they get older
and so I expect more of the
organization’s so we went through a
tough patch over the last six months
where I had to let go of certain people
because I deemed that they didn’t have
the hard skills the actual intellect the
actual ability the output crossing T’s
dotting eyes black and white stuff the
math skills the the email copy skills to
have a client you know the strategy
skills to come up with an idea that
mattered and it was very shocking to our
company and a lot of feelings got hurt
but it’s the right thing to do because
meritocracy matters if you don’t do that
the winning players leave and so I think
most people fall in one of two
categories they’re short and one of the
two and if they have both they’ll go on
to win and if they have neither they’re
in really deep but I feel like a
lot of businesses say oh it’s all about
the personality it’s all about the EQ
it’s all about those things obviously
you say you’re a D and an F student
you’re able to build your own Empire but
showing up somewhere and saying you have
no skills but you have lots of EQ not
gonna get you businesses don’t hire on
that they nobody hires on that that’s
why my businesses grow so fast I
actually do hire on that at first so
creates a cultural foundation that
allows me to then do my thing but most
no business does that like this many
businesses do that
they only hire on skills they only hire
in resume they don’t do what I do when
my Alex D Simone’s uber drivers like I
want a job or like okay you know if
Pedro offered me some Jets memorabilia
he’d have a job too so you know so I
think that uh yeah I’ll be sure to find
you some Jets memorabilia ha ha ha ha I
think you have to reverse engineer the
person that you’re selling to right I
think that people that know me should
speak to their EQ qualities because they
know I over-index on that but you
shouldn’t be mad at a company that
clearly points to the fact that they
hire on skill and IQ they want you to
have a piece of paper from a bullcrap
university that says you can do this
thing and don’t be mad at them that’s
what they want and yes you know it’s
like and you know I think you’re very
clear minded but I don’t feel bad for
people who are like but
they said it doesn’t matter it’s up to
you to die-cut the sect and decode what
people say everything on you
everything’s your fault
you want to really win in life you want
to get real happy you know I’m really
happy because I think everything is my
fault if I don’t like it I can change
president knight estates I don’t like it
I can move like what’s everybody’s
problem adjust I mean that me I mean
meaning I don’t have to agree with his
politics I’m just saying that you’re in
charge and we are just not historically
contextualized
I mean I’m much happier to deal through
act you know you know political
toughness or or economic downturn much
cooler to deal with than the black
plague no really I mean like somebody
dealt with the Black Plague like you
have relatives that died from the ply
mean I know it’s funny but it’s true
unlike you know so I mean I don’t know I
just don’t know how to complain I always
think somebody has it worse and if
somebody has it worse you to shut up I’m
always testing like everything I do is
always learning behavior right to me it
was when I decided the Instagram was
disproportionately getting the attention
I wanted to understand what was the
right cadence to create notification
turn on and how do I bring value and
return for it and what’s the right value
prop of returning it and then I saw that
it a lot of people were posting but was
that bringing value to the community
which is why I shifted it to five minute
Club and then I realized like neither
was really a million value but 60-second
Club brought a sense of urgency and fun
to people like tens of thousands of them
so I said let’s switch it back those are
just micro micro tactics in me learning
things that could eventually help
clients could help Wine Library and just
I’m an entrepreneur right so the end
goal is to be on the journey of
entrepreneurship I’m a risk taker I like
doing different things I don’t like
settling for the same old thing and so
those are those are just tactics of
trying to learn different platforms and
capabilities and trying to understand
the learnings from the behavior of
people reacting to it there’s no really
angle like is there an end goal that in
one year through this
now channels that I have zero micro and
goals like that
zero zero I never ever ever think I’ve
never said that in one year you know I
don’t have that goal I have one macro
goal which is to to to feel like I left
it on the field it’s probably the best
way I could put it I just you know I’m
sure all of us have different versions
of this I just have this feeling you
know it’s it’s like moths to the light
right I couldn’t even really explain it
it’s why I’m so comfortable in it
because it’s been there long before this
twenty years before the internet it was
there do you know what I mean like it
just always been there I don’t know why
every single weekend instead of playing
with my friends I wanted to make my
friends work with me and wash cars I
mean my poor friends that are now coming
out of the woodwork except for God how
many of them I made do things I don’t
talk about the shoveling snow and the
car wash business and the miniature golf
course I built in my friends backyard
like you know I don’t talk about those
things often but it’s you know you know
it’s just who I am
it’s it’s you know the same way people
where people need to sing or the same
way people like me to cook every night
you just need to cook like you don’t
even you can’t you know I just need to
business I have the right balance of
wanting to give back and a lot of
selfishness to have the attention and it
works in my favor for because I feel
good about both I love the attention and
like I have that narcissistic DNA and I
love it I love taking selfies I love
that people want to stay I love I love
people of course I would love it it
feels nice my mom loved me so much and
complimented me every day so much that
when I left the house was like this
I need more of that so I need that
that’s why I do it I’m also not scared a
lot of my friends who don’t put
themselves out there they don’t want
themselves out there because there’s
things that they don’t want people to
uncover about them so I’m not scared
that happens and it feels really good
getting a hundred emails a day from
people who’s live are way better because
they stumbled on some of your videos and
that’s something that my quiet friends
who don’t need that who just need to
build it and do their business they
don’t have that feeling so when my
friends who tell me my god if
you put this energy into your full time
like if people knew like my friends will
say things like if people knew that
garyvee was your side hustle like if
people knew like how much you’re
actually still if you actually took all
that time and energy and put it to your
business you wouldn’t be doing a hundred
million you’d be doing two hundred
million and I always reply with the same
thing I’m like yeah but my legacies way
better than yours you know and so you
probably know this after the eggs of
your business
it’s crazy what like money after a while
just like I don’t know like how much do
you need like what like I don’t know
like I don’t buy like I don’t need
stuff like I don’t judge other people’s
stuff and I definitely don’t care how
I’m being judged
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