sometimes a lot of people may try a new
initiative and then they don’t get an
immediate reaction and they think it’s a
failure right I wanna go back to your
YouTube videos with the Wine Library you
know you had so much content out there
how did you stick in there how did you
keep yourself motivated because I
believe in my strategies and I’m patient
like all great stuff especially when
you’re innovating doesn’t happen right
away this notion that like Oh Gary I
tried it I spent five hundred bucks on
Facebook Ads it doesn’t work well what
if your video sucked what if your
product and service sucks I I tend to do
things that are very early that has been
my career I when I do things I believe
in them I stick with them based on
intuition even though for eighteen
months nobody watched my wine videos at
all I knew it was right I was right
there’s been things I’ve done that I’ve
jumped off of very quickly I started to
Gary v app V chat ve like WeChat that
was funny for my fans great CRM one on
one didn’t feel right after a week or
two spend plenty money building it knew
it stopped it after you know a couple
months Wine Library TV five years every
day YouTube decided to change at the
daily grape insular app you could buy
stuff subscription for reviews it was a
lot of fun only did it for five months
stopped it because I didn’t feel right
anymore it’s always hard to know when to
jump off something new but I find that
people don’t believe in what they’re
doing they hear a guru yeah and they do
it begrudgingly cuz their boss wants
them to or they’re like well Gary’s
right a lot so let me do it but they
don’t believe it and so then they jump
they’re looking for knows instead of yes
is everything I do every business
development every event I do every time
I try new marketing tactics or sales
tactic I’m looking for the yes right I’m
looking for the yes and if the no
punches me well then I’m like crap then
no punched me I believe the majority of
people when they try new tactics are
looking for the no mm-hmm and you’re
gonna getting a lot of subtle knows
immediately it is far more fun to die on
your sword than to die on someone else’s
I’m inspired YouTube we’re gonna make
this the episode thing you’ll get
whatever you want Tyler but this is the
Corbett you just saw it on stage
you just saw it on stage dying on your
sword is better than dying on someone
else’s so many of you are doing things
making decisions and navigating your
lives based on somebody else’s thesis
you’re doing it because you think it’s
the right thing because your dad’s
telling you it’s the right thing you’re
doing what you’re doing right now cuz
you’re pandering to your boss even
though you don’t believe in it this is
how it’s gonna play out you are doing
things right now yesterday you made a
decision that you don’t believe in but
you’re smart you did it because you know
how your company’s scores here’s the
problem with disruption and innovation
right now you’re being rewarded for
being a yes person and in 36 months
you’re gonna be fired for being a yes
person and you’re doing it because you
just need the security of your job I’m
telling you right now
if you’re watching this vlog and you’ve
got like that means you have a certain
DNA please I implore you please die on
your sword not somebody else’s if you’re
gonna lose it’s much more fun to lose
based on what you thought do you know I
mean do you know how many of you are
gonna lose on somebody else’s thesis
it’s gonna kill at you it’s gonna eat at
you it’s going to be the worst feeling
so please pause this video right now and
ask yourself am i doing my because of me
then you’re good whether you’re winning
or losing or am I doing it because
somebody else is telling me it’s the
right way or I’m subconsciously
pandering to please somebody or
something because I need the short-term
stability figure that gal you know it
and I know it you just need to do
something about it if you’re not great
at it but you love it more than life
should you go after it the to me the
answer is yes the problem is
please also recognize you’re probably
not gonna get rich like if you love
basketball more than life
it’s just what you’ve always loved you
might just make forty nine thousand
dollars a year being a basketball coach
and having a lot of time on your hand to
play basketball it’s just you gotta
understand you can’t have everything all
the time always it’s just life I think
happiness trumps everything easy for me
to say
it really worked out for Micah’s
happiness coincides with financial
upside I have friends who make seventy
four thousand dollars a year that are
just happier people than friends that
are making eighteen million a year that
are not you’ve got to do you but please
don’t let the entrepreneurial society
don’t let me don’t let your parents push
you into what success is it’s different
for all of us but and this is the big
but you got to be self-aware about it I
really think mindset is everything and
so you’ve got a really deciding any
positive about things like negative
things am i thrilled that I have the
ability to do things about it to make
what I’m worried about better or my
crippled by there’s like seven things
like I always choose positivity
look at other people around me it’s not
just about me that are winning they
choose positivity I look at people
around me that are not winning that are
not progressing they’re not advancing
their issues in negativity it’s
stunningly binary it’s stunningly
black-and-white it’s stunningly married
this
– you to be very honest to be very frank
I think the biggest impact I’m having is
I beat up all the emails because I read
aloud last night as well is shifting
that mindset and getting people into
that
understand what they’re in charge of
that
and hacking and trying to pour out the
negativity dump the negative need
[Music]
I’m a positivity to world that’s what
I’m pushing that’s my agenda and that’s
why I think you feel the effects and I
loved one target audience so many people
get 49 comments for me phenomenal
ones like your pieces and they spent 80
we’re gonna make less money this year at
100 million that we made last year at 67
net I don’t mean percentage net meaning
they’re in trouble I see it which means
I over invested more people more
capabilities because I’m gonna take the
whole pie so you know what I mean like
I’m not worried about how much cash I’m
gonna take home in 2016 because I can
take a lot more in 2020 then I you know
it’s much more fun to take home 44
million in 2020 than 3 million in 2017
18 and 19 instead of 4 million in 28
people are 99 percent of the market is
shorter and the 1 percent that isn’t and
has the talent wins every time
which makes no sense because unless
you’re gonna die you should only play
long-term there was a stat that some
dude in Mexico City said one of these
like futurist type of characters I’m
sure a smart idea who so I just but he
was right before me as I was miked up
and he says it’s been scientifically
proven so I don’t know if it has or not
because I’ve learned to take that with a
grain of salt but that 85% of what
humans make decisions about is
irrational and that spoke to me because
a I think it’s higher and B it’s why I
think all my success is happening the
way I do branding I sell so infrequently
that I think some of you that are
watching me the hardest core you need to
hear this which is it’s ok to sell
especially if you believe in something
look if you believe in what you’re
selling and that’s what I’m spending a
lot of time on down trying to spend more
time on really getting to a place where
I really believe in stuff instead of
just passive not creating so it wasn’t
selling because I didn’t believe you
know and just letting everything come to
me but as I create these you know events
Vayner experience a lot of vents very
big on events events are so valuable
just watching the 4 DS crew is value and
like how it’s impacting their business
for $10,000 right drag em and you see I
know you get the emails
the wine club like $150 worth wine for
55 bucks like I’ve just locked in
November’s it’s gonna make all your
Thanksgivings ridiculous
the conference $500 two-hour session in
my stomping grounds a good deal compared
to like other conferences that I speak
at but you’re getting the wine for free
or you’re getting the top two free and
they’re getting the wine so like I’m
very fascinated because I’m putting more
pressure on myself to create things that
I really believe in which then allows me
to sell more and I just think for a lot
of you selling the ask the right hook is
very difficult you’re passive you like
the idea of like feeling good about like
giving out content this and that when
you believe in something you can sell it
and you should put more pressure on
yourself to create things that you
believe in biggest problem is so many of
yourself you don’t believe in you’re
just doing it for the money you’re gonna
lose that I don’t like a human being on
earth you I’m just gonna say this I mean
I don’t think people think about this
you won the lotto you in the universe
you’re not some weird specimen in Mars
that does nothing you’re not you know a
bird you know you know you’re not a
sunflower like you are a human being on
earth you won the ultimate ultimate
lottery and you’re not driven and you’re
not fired up and you’re not going for it
and you’re willing to sit like a lump
and just wait till you die you suck like
I don’t know you suck like I how do I
stay driven because I couldn’t even
comprehend the alternative you may be
thinking that I’m watching the show but
what I’m doing is what I need to do
which is I’m reading your comments
stitute
set it for all the new ones that are
here the comments are my oxygen I don’t
think people understand how much
qualitative feedback you get from
comments reading comments watching the
explore pages looking at how you guys
respond
to my stuff and others there’s so many
hours of consumption you know I don’t
this is where I don’t consume shows and
things of that nature because I spend so
much time reading reading reading
reading reading your feedback you I as a
collective I consume you guys more than
you consume me and so I just highly
recommend when you have a small audience
like you read every one of those
comments you engage with every one of
those comments brick by brick by brick
eventually you can’t reply to everybody
but like you can always read a lot I
mean I read I’m just reading all these
comments but your business like a second
child nothing is perfect nothing in
business is black and white oh the magic
is in the gray have patience nothing is
the worst thing that ever happened and
nothing is the best thing that ever
happened celebrating way you raised
money is just the beginning being
devastated thinking it’s over when we
lost the deal is not the true reality
it’s always somewhere in the middle and
if you understand how to raise the
second child and realize the differences
of cool its eating dirt over there
little Timmy’s eating dirt and that’s
okay that you would have never left big
sister can’t do that that’s the same way
I think you need to look at your
business nothing is the end of the world
and nothing is the greatest thing of all
time embracing the chaos embracing the
nimbleness embracing the things that you
can’t control is the complete definition
of a leader that is
to be able to navigate through the
chaotic never predictable business world
so relax grab a coffee take a shot of
vodka it’s all gonna be okay
treat your business like a second child
and then so my kind of philosophy I’m
adopting now is like if it’s fun fun
it’s probably do you know why that
happens it’s a it’s a bigger macro
situation because it’s fun you’re
willing to work your face off and
working your face off is actually the
Gateway it’s not the fun the fun is the
doorway that gets you to put in the work
that gets you the results because d-roc
loves filming like the 24/7 nature of
what he does is you know is why so many
kids want to film into this but they
don’t want to it’s not fun enough for
them you have to love it sir the cost of
entry now is you see understand you have
to love like for me building brands
whether it’s my own brand brands for
other people other things the why it’s
so the only thing I gave a shit about
that I’m willing to put in the nineteen
that it takes because the problem is now
with the internet like we were just
saying being the middleman and everybody
can play there’s some kid in Kansas City
who’s gonna put in the 19 now what’s
amazing is though the biggest thing I
didn’t know is that’s some fun but
there’s so much that all those little
that are gonna put in the nineteen are
gonna get theirs too and that makes me
happy yeah so I would say funds a great
gateway to fun is the precursor to
ridiculous amount of work which then
gets you there yeah right I’m in music I
wish I could rap because I know I could
be humongous because all I would do is
make music and then lay in bed for 11
hours try to hack on social media
get in my recognized notice you’re one
person away one piece of content away
you just got to make it and what’s
amazing about music and I can’t spit I
think everybody I don’t like speaking
about I don’t know so I don’t want to
speak to it but one thing I do know is I
believe that every artist that ever
lived
had a lot more songs than their dome
they never saw the day of life because
of the way it worked right now
but he’s fancy everybody’s trying to
understand supply and demand I don’t
think people understand how busy the
world is the world so busy there’s so
much that I’m a big fan of telling
people to put out music put out music
get every week like if you’ve got it
like that you know some people don’t
have it I don’t know but if you’ve got
it like that put it out put it out
people are hungry for it and every time
you put out that’s giving you another
at-bat I think there will be a big time
artists in the next decade that puts out
a song a day by the way that’s the same
answer for everybody in this room that’s
what humans are good at we all fail
we’ve all failed like their black eye my
parents haven’t been killed my child I
mean there’s people that have their
children die like could you imagine like
the ideal like I’m like listen
unfortunately or fortunately depends on
how one wants to look at it I’m a pretty
optimistic guy I lost three of my four
grandparents before I was really before
I knew them too before I was born in one
very early on like so you know it’s easy
for me to be happy I have much in the
right order the health and well-being of
my family and there’s nothing even
remotely close to that not even women
not even remotely
people have gotten three much worse this
is why I’m trying to recall our
grandparents and our great-grandparents
people were persecuted and killed like I
just we do not have real headaches you
know I don’t know why I have this highly
emotional and then completely
unemotional part of me but I mix them
together to create the balance and
that’s what works for me so of course
there’s nothing that I couldn’t get
upfront like every other human ever
besides somebody who now lives in some
weird cave that we don’t know about you
know what I mean
we are sluggish we’re really strong
we’re just being sold that we’re not
because there’s a lot of money a lot of
money and telling us that we’re not
pretty enough thin enough smart enough
good enough that I want to tell you your
basco do you have to reverse engineer
who you’re trying to get to you know if
your salesperson out there right now if
you’re trying to get to me and so many
of you are I get 50 70 bulk emails bulk
direct messages bulk Twitter direct
messages Instagram business cards all
sorts of weird stuff sent in the mail
I’m busy I’m busy and like I’m just not
interested in you selling to me not
because I don’t like you because I
respect the game it’s because I’m just
busy it’s nothing personal
so I think the first thing you have to
do is reverse engineer the person you
know because I’m not in the market to
buy anything I’m gonna be tougher but if
I need certain software if I need
something that’s a good time to attack
right so I think the number one rule of
salespeople is to listen know your
audience know what they did if you see
an M&A just happen if you see layoffs
just happening if you see one of their
come if I see Burger King doing
something I’m thinking what is
McDonald’s think of Russ I think a lot
of you are doing things that are
directly in front of you numbers that
they put in front of you you’re trying
to achieve that because you have a beach
house you want to buy or go on that
vacation sales is a funny game if you
work in a big company they manipulate
numbers to create your actions I believe
that the best salespeople are doing
things in a different way I think you
need to care about the customer for real
reverse-engineer them and give them what
they need just talk to you guys about
why toys-r-us trip filing chapter 11
matters Toys R Us did two things over
the last couple decades that make no
sense one very early in the 2000s they
outsource themselves to Amazon they
didn’t believe in the internet 17 years
ago so let Amazon do their fulfillment
which started people getting used to
buying toys on the Internet through an
Amazon world but most importantly they
just didn’t innovate
you know and when you don’t innovate you
die like you could have made toys toys
Rus three years ago could have created
the National Lego championships and
everybody would be there was there was a
million they could have made slime
centers they could have they could be
killing it right now with their
locations but no they choose to just
like sell toys out of it and none of you
want to go there first of all you’re
gonna go to Walmart and pick it up for
less money anyway while you pick up your
groceries anything else and if you even
want to leave your home and you don’t
and so you’ll go to Amazon and do it
that way
or buy it from somebody’s YouTube
channel link or you know Instagram
account it’s just it’s it’s the best
example right now of like how in trouble
everybody is if they rest on their
laurels
you know if Toys R Us the dominant niche
retail leader of a humongous
multi-billion dollar category is
finished what do you think is gonna
happen over the next six years how many
people miss we are immigrants or
children of immigrants please raise your
hand just curious so for the hands that
are in this room they know something
that I know which is immigrants have an
amazing advantage they have a very tried
and true strategy that we could all
learn from what immigrants are very good
at doing is when they come to a new
country they work and they don’t spend
any money on dumb shit for ten years and
so that’s what my parents did and and
eventually my dad was able to buy a
small liquor store in New Jersey I was a
very entrepreneurial kid I was day
trading attention from a young age I had
six lemonade stands when I was seven
years old and I would spend all my time
trying to figure out what Cree and what
pole to put the signs on because I was
watching people drive and trying to
figure out what signs this I was a very
sick child when I was 12 and 13 I was
selling baseball cards which were very
popular in the United States at the time
and I was making one to two thousand
dollars a weekend selling them in the
malls of New Jersey which was great that
I was rich
for a young kid and it was fantastic but
then my career changed my dad dragged me
into the liquor store and I hated it at
first but luckily I realized that people
collected wine I was into collecting
sports memorabilia that was my passion
that was the connection and I decided
that I was going to jump into my family
business open up four thousand liquor
stores across America sell the franchise
one day and buy the New York Jets
American football team because that is
my dream you to stand up you to stand up
[Applause]
in 1994 I was in my dorm room in college
my friend came over to me and I want to
start wrapping this up and getting it to
what matters to you he brought me into a
room it was the first time I heard cool
couch which was the Internet I was very
excited about it I didn’t know what it
was I said something stupid like is this
the information superhighway I looked at
it this is you know there’s a lot of
youngsters in here this was 1994 I
literally stood there and watched people
on the internet for five hours it was
that crazy it’s it was just that insane
it was so new and when I finally had my
turn to go on there when I finally had
my turn to go on there within 20 minutes
I landed on a message board where people
were creating and buying and cards
baseball cards and I realized my god I
can do business on this thing and over
the next year I went headfirst and
learned about eBay learned about was
going on in Amazon started learning the
early internet culture and in 1996 I
launched winelibrary.com one of the
first to e-commerce wine businesses in
America from 1998 to 2003 in a five year
window I grew my dad’s business from a
three to a sixty million dollar business
on very very important terms that
matters to this entire room I had no
money there was a three million dollar
business that had 10% gross profit
$300,000 before expenses there’s no
marketing budget what I needed is to
make every penny work like a dollar
so the strategy became day-trading
attention when you day trade attention
my friends here’s what you do you don’t
overspend on what everybody believes is
tried-and-true every single company in
this gorgeous conference right now is
grossly over spending money on things
that they’ve been doing for the last
decade because it’s the things that they
accept or the reporting justifies it or
they’re just lazy to try something new
everyone everyone
so what you do when you day trade
attention is you have to find angles
what’s underpriced
how many people here do email marketing
or have done email marketing in their
lives raise your hands perfect a lot of
you in 1997 I started an email
newsletter most people that came into my
liquor store didn’t even know what email
was in 1997 I collected I collected I
collected in 1998 I had a two hundred
thousand person email newsletter with
91% open rates now it’s not because I
was a genius and I know a lot of you sit
here just like I do with emails that are
13 to 23 percent open rates today it’s
that in 1997
nobody was emailing we hadn’t ruined it
yet one thing I promise you more than I
know that the Sun will come up tomorrow
I know that marketers ruin everything we
ruined the Internet I’m trying to ruin
snapchat and musically right now we ruin
shit it’s what we do so it was 91% open
rates there then Google AdWords came out
I bought the word wine on Google AdWords
for five cents a click and owned it for
nine months before anybody bid me up
because people were still on Yahoo and
asked Jeeves another shit like that and
so that became the rinse and repeat as I
think about b2b players in this
environment it is stunning to me how
many b2b businesses here do not
understand that producing articles on
medium.com on LinkedIn writing full
content on Facebook in your feed and
then spending a hundred dollars in ads
against employees of the company that
you’re trying to reach let me say that
three more times because the one thing I
promised myself as I boarded last night
in New York to get here is I’m gonna
give my talk but I’m gonna give every
single person in this audience one thing
to take home do and then email and say
thank you so let me say it really slow
right now on this day October 6 right is
that right October 6 2016 the number one
deal if you day trade attention like I
do in this market
is Facebook ads they are underpriced
they are underpriced
because a lot of people in this room
still debate what the ROI is or even
worse they’re emotional that Facebook
organic Reach has come down and now they
have to pay for it while you’re
emotional and sad that you don’t reach
as many things the best ad product that
I’ve seen since Google AdWords has
emerged or even worse than both of those
two scenarios you haven’t even done it
yet you’ve decided for your business
your customer is not on that platform
yet you’ve never spent the dollar
testing it to know if that’s true or not
you’ve read a headline you had a friend
tell you but you actually don’t do it
and you’re not sure we live in a world
right now of headline readers everybody
here has a lot of opinions about
Facebook and snapchat and Instagram and
influence or LinkedIn medium but there’s
very few practitioners there’s very few
people that have actually placed the ads
there are very few people that
understand that the creative is the
variable when you place an ad and just
because you did it once doesn’t mean
that it doesn’t work it might mean that
the creative the video and the picture
that you put out just sucked and so as I
go through all the other things just in
the middle here for a few minutes I just
want to tell you exactly what I know
what I know is I’m involved with 15
different b2b businesses right now GE is
a client AT&T is a client but many
startups that I invest in because I
aural I also in my mid-2000s started
investing in Twitter Facebook Tumblr
uber I’ve done very well in that world I
basically just told you that to brag
that had no information value but but
what I know about these b2b businesses
is right now every single person here
can write an article about their
expertise in the business that they’re
in not a propaganda for your SAS product
or service but an article that would be
valuable to the people that you’re
trying to reach you can write this
article literally in a Facebook post
literally in a Facebook post and
you can go to the ad product and you can
actually target employees of one of the
ways you can target on Facebook is the
employees of an organization how many
people here are in b2b raise your hand
higher go high for me Helsinki hire
again show me again I need to look high
perfect a shitload a lot of you all of
you all of you need to hear this this is
the remarkable era of underpriced
opportunity in digital and social
marketing yet I’m empathetic to why most
of you do not believe that I get it
most of the advice most of the
conference’s most of the articles
position this in a b2c environment I
know for example the following that if I
was to buy one of your companies the
number one thing I would do is the
following every one of you are in an
industry where there is a b2b magazine
that is the number one thing that the
people in your market read if you were a
company trying to reach customers I
would become that magazine let me
explain the other religious point of
view that this room needs to take away
from this talk this weekend or at some
point you will believe this is true
whether it is today or 12 or 24 months
from now thirty six months from now is
the following
the quicker everybody in this room
understands that they are a media
company comma software company comma
wine retailer comma lawyer comma account
service provider the quicker
everybody in this room understands that
they are a media company comma those
things
the quicker you will be successful I
will tell you why you told me that
earlier they said the ad was dead you
said the ad is got to be creative and
good give it to the creatives I believe
more in your world and I’ll just add to
it the ad has to bring value the number
one thing that is happening in society
in every part of the world is the
following we as human beings no matter
where we’re from we value health we want
to stay alive and the people money
like money but the number one emerging
thing in society in value is time time
is exploding in value to us because we
all now live in a 24/7 365 world some of
the old-timers in this room remember
when the workday ended and it just ended
it wasn’t getting emails at night people
expecting you to reply we now live in a
24/7 world as a matter of fact one of
the great mistakes of my investing
career is Travis calculate the CEO of
uber was a very great friend of mine I
passed on investing in uber in the angel
round twice i cost myself hundreds of
millions of dollars i’m very upset about
it but i invested a little bit later on
not because hoover was doing so well but
because i realized when he came to new
york and my brother AJ took the first
uber ride oh my god uber doesn’t sell
transportation uber sells time we don’t
care about privacy we care about time
this is who we are as humans and what
advertising is doing in the last 50
years is it stopping you from doing what
you want to do and it’s selling you
something which means by nature it is
stealing your time which is why the
second you decide that you’re a media
company and you actually want to bring
people value instead of selling them
something you win
if you run home now and misunderstood
what I said which is why I’m creating
clatter clarity right now for you if you
leave here and misunderstood what I said
you will go home you will make a
Facebook post and you will write a
propaganda or sales post and you will
push it and it will not be successful if
you heard me loud and clear and
understand who you’re trying to reach
and you write an article about something
that brings them value you will win for
example a small business in the United
States that heard this talk three years
ago from me started writing content
about golf they were a law firm but what
they understood was the people they were
trying to reach we’re into golf and they
started writing content about golf and
used that content as a gateway drug
close the clients because people don’t
want to read your sales pitch
they don’t have time people want to read
something that brings value and the
interesting thing about so many of you
in the b2b environment is you’re
actually an expert or knowledgeable
about your craft you actually know and
so putting that content to work is
massively important it was super
important for me six seven years ago
that was nothing compared to the ability
of going and now targeting the employees
of the organization that you’re trying
to reach for example if you’re trying to
reach the CTO or the CIO or if you
actually know the title of the person
you’re trying to reach you were able to
make a video on Facebook that shows the
value prop of your product you were able
to then in the copy say does your CIO
know you were able to then run a hundred
dollars worth of ads against the
employees of that organization and then
20 people from that organization are
gonna take that post and forward it to
the CIO the CTO the head of Finance or
whoever you’re trying to reach my
friends I’ve spent the last seven
minutes here on this rant and I
understand it’s very tactical and it’s
not motivational and funny but I fucking
promise you that if you really
understand what I’m talking about you
will do what you actually care to do
which is sell shit right
we’re running businesses here so please
please understand that because once you
understand what I just spend my time on
how that works
you’ll start understanding why every
company here needs to hire an
editor-in-chief an editor in chief for
your SAS business your law firm an
editor in chief it’s crazy it’s not
something any of you would think and I
understand why but you have to understand the playing field is changing
initiative and then they don’t get an
immediate reaction and they think it’s a
failure right I wanna go back to your
YouTube videos with the Wine Library you
know you had so much content out there
how did you stick in there how did you
keep yourself motivated because I
believe in my strategies and I’m patient
like all great stuff especially when
you’re innovating doesn’t happen right
away this notion that like Oh Gary I
tried it I spent five hundred bucks on
Facebook Ads it doesn’t work well what
if your video sucked what if your
product and service sucks I I tend to do
things that are very early that has been
my career I when I do things I believe
in them I stick with them based on
intuition even though for eighteen
months nobody watched my wine videos at
all I knew it was right I was right
there’s been things I’ve done that I’ve
jumped off of very quickly I started to
Gary v app V chat ve like WeChat that
was funny for my fans great CRM one on
one didn’t feel right after a week or
two spend plenty money building it knew
it stopped it after you know a couple
months Wine Library TV five years every
day YouTube decided to change at the
daily grape insular app you could buy
stuff subscription for reviews it was a
lot of fun only did it for five months
stopped it because I didn’t feel right
anymore it’s always hard to know when to
jump off something new but I find that
people don’t believe in what they’re
doing they hear a guru yeah and they do
it begrudgingly cuz their boss wants
them to or they’re like well Gary’s
right a lot so let me do it but they
don’t believe it and so then they jump
they’re looking for knows instead of yes
is everything I do every business
development every event I do every time
I try new marketing tactics or sales
tactic I’m looking for the yes right I’m
looking for the yes and if the no
punches me well then I’m like crap then
no punched me I believe the majority of
people when they try new tactics are
looking for the no mm-hmm and you’re
gonna getting a lot of subtle knows
immediately it is far more fun to die on
your sword than to die on someone else’s
I’m inspired YouTube we’re gonna make
this the episode thing you’ll get
whatever you want Tyler but this is the
Corbett you just saw it on stage
you just saw it on stage dying on your
sword is better than dying on someone
else’s so many of you are doing things
making decisions and navigating your
lives based on somebody else’s thesis
you’re doing it because you think it’s
the right thing because your dad’s
telling you it’s the right thing you’re
doing what you’re doing right now cuz
you’re pandering to your boss even
though you don’t believe in it this is
how it’s gonna play out you are doing
things right now yesterday you made a
decision that you don’t believe in but
you’re smart you did it because you know
how your company’s scores here’s the
problem with disruption and innovation
right now you’re being rewarded for
being a yes person and in 36 months
you’re gonna be fired for being a yes
person and you’re doing it because you
just need the security of your job I’m
telling you right now
if you’re watching this vlog and you’ve
got like that means you have a certain
DNA please I implore you please die on
your sword not somebody else’s if you’re
gonna lose it’s much more fun to lose
based on what you thought do you know I
mean do you know how many of you are
gonna lose on somebody else’s thesis
it’s gonna kill at you it’s gonna eat at
you it’s going to be the worst feeling
so please pause this video right now and
ask yourself am i doing my because of me
then you’re good whether you’re winning
or losing or am I doing it because
somebody else is telling me it’s the
right way or I’m subconsciously
pandering to please somebody or
something because I need the short-term
stability figure that gal you know it
and I know it you just need to do
something about it if you’re not great
at it but you love it more than life
should you go after it the to me the
answer is yes the problem is
please also recognize you’re probably
not gonna get rich like if you love
basketball more than life
it’s just what you’ve always loved you
might just make forty nine thousand
dollars a year being a basketball coach
and having a lot of time on your hand to
play basketball it’s just you gotta
understand you can’t have everything all
the time always it’s just life I think
happiness trumps everything easy for me
to say
it really worked out for Micah’s
happiness coincides with financial
upside I have friends who make seventy
four thousand dollars a year that are
just happier people than friends that
are making eighteen million a year that
are not you’ve got to do you but please
don’t let the entrepreneurial society
don’t let me don’t let your parents push
you into what success is it’s different
for all of us but and this is the big
but you got to be self-aware about it I
really think mindset is everything and
so you’ve got a really deciding any
positive about things like negative
things am i thrilled that I have the
ability to do things about it to make
what I’m worried about better or my
crippled by there’s like seven things
like I always choose positivity
look at other people around me it’s not
just about me that are winning they
choose positivity I look at people
around me that are not winning that are
not progressing they’re not advancing
their issues in negativity it’s
stunningly binary it’s stunningly
black-and-white it’s stunningly married
this
– you to be very honest to be very frank
I think the biggest impact I’m having is
I beat up all the emails because I read
aloud last night as well is shifting
that mindset and getting people into
that
understand what they’re in charge of
that
and hacking and trying to pour out the
negativity dump the negative need
[Music]
I’m a positivity to world that’s what
I’m pushing that’s my agenda and that’s
why I think you feel the effects and I
loved one target audience so many people
get 49 comments for me phenomenal
ones like your pieces and they spent 80
we’re gonna make less money this year at
100 million that we made last year at 67
net I don’t mean percentage net meaning
they’re in trouble I see it which means
I over invested more people more
capabilities because I’m gonna take the
whole pie so you know what I mean like
I’m not worried about how much cash I’m
gonna take home in 2016 because I can
take a lot more in 2020 then I you know
it’s much more fun to take home 44
million in 2020 than 3 million in 2017
18 and 19 instead of 4 million in 28
people are 99 percent of the market is
shorter and the 1 percent that isn’t and
has the talent wins every time
which makes no sense because unless
you’re gonna die you should only play
long-term there was a stat that some
dude in Mexico City said one of these
like futurist type of characters I’m
sure a smart idea who so I just but he
was right before me as I was miked up
and he says it’s been scientifically
proven so I don’t know if it has or not
because I’ve learned to take that with a
grain of salt but that 85% of what
humans make decisions about is
irrational and that spoke to me because
a I think it’s higher and B it’s why I
think all my success is happening the
way I do branding I sell so infrequently
that I think some of you that are
watching me the hardest core you need to
hear this which is it’s ok to sell
especially if you believe in something
look if you believe in what you’re
selling and that’s what I’m spending a
lot of time on down trying to spend more
time on really getting to a place where
I really believe in stuff instead of
just passive not creating so it wasn’t
selling because I didn’t believe you
know and just letting everything come to
me but as I create these you know events
Vayner experience a lot of vents very
big on events events are so valuable
just watching the 4 DS crew is value and
like how it’s impacting their business
for $10,000 right drag em and you see I
know you get the emails
the wine club like $150 worth wine for
55 bucks like I’ve just locked in
November’s it’s gonna make all your
Thanksgivings ridiculous
the conference $500 two-hour session in
my stomping grounds a good deal compared
to like other conferences that I speak
at but you’re getting the wine for free
or you’re getting the top two free and
they’re getting the wine so like I’m
very fascinated because I’m putting more
pressure on myself to create things that
I really believe in which then allows me
to sell more and I just think for a lot
of you selling the ask the right hook is
very difficult you’re passive you like
the idea of like feeling good about like
giving out content this and that when
you believe in something you can sell it
and you should put more pressure on
yourself to create things that you
believe in biggest problem is so many of
yourself you don’t believe in you’re
just doing it for the money you’re gonna
lose that I don’t like a human being on
earth you I’m just gonna say this I mean
I don’t think people think about this
you won the lotto you in the universe
you’re not some weird specimen in Mars
that does nothing you’re not you know a
bird you know you know you’re not a
sunflower like you are a human being on
earth you won the ultimate ultimate
lottery and you’re not driven and you’re
not fired up and you’re not going for it
and you’re willing to sit like a lump
and just wait till you die you suck like
I don’t know you suck like I how do I
stay driven because I couldn’t even
comprehend the alternative you may be
thinking that I’m watching the show but
what I’m doing is what I need to do
which is I’m reading your comments
stitute
set it for all the new ones that are
here the comments are my oxygen I don’t
think people understand how much
qualitative feedback you get from
comments reading comments watching the
explore pages looking at how you guys
respond
to my stuff and others there’s so many
hours of consumption you know I don’t
this is where I don’t consume shows and
things of that nature because I spend so
much time reading reading reading
reading reading your feedback you I as a
collective I consume you guys more than
you consume me and so I just highly
recommend when you have a small audience
like you read every one of those
comments you engage with every one of
those comments brick by brick by brick
eventually you can’t reply to everybody
but like you can always read a lot I
mean I read I’m just reading all these
comments but your business like a second
child nothing is perfect nothing in
business is black and white oh the magic
is in the gray have patience nothing is
the worst thing that ever happened and
nothing is the best thing that ever
happened celebrating way you raised
money is just the beginning being
devastated thinking it’s over when we
lost the deal is not the true reality
it’s always somewhere in the middle and
if you understand how to raise the
second child and realize the differences
of cool its eating dirt over there
little Timmy’s eating dirt and that’s
okay that you would have never left big
sister can’t do that that’s the same way
I think you need to look at your
business nothing is the end of the world
and nothing is the greatest thing of all
time embracing the chaos embracing the
nimbleness embracing the things that you
can’t control is the complete definition
of a leader that is
to be able to navigate through the
chaotic never predictable business world
so relax grab a coffee take a shot of
vodka it’s all gonna be okay
treat your business like a second child
and then so my kind of philosophy I’m
adopting now is like if it’s fun fun
it’s probably do you know why that
happens it’s a it’s a bigger macro
situation because it’s fun you’re
willing to work your face off and
working your face off is actually the
Gateway it’s not the fun the fun is the
doorway that gets you to put in the work
that gets you the results because d-roc
loves filming like the 24/7 nature of
what he does is you know is why so many
kids want to film into this but they
don’t want to it’s not fun enough for
them you have to love it sir the cost of
entry now is you see understand you have
to love like for me building brands
whether it’s my own brand brands for
other people other things the why it’s
so the only thing I gave a shit about
that I’m willing to put in the nineteen
that it takes because the problem is now
with the internet like we were just
saying being the middleman and everybody
can play there’s some kid in Kansas City
who’s gonna put in the 19 now what’s
amazing is though the biggest thing I
didn’t know is that’s some fun but
there’s so much that all those little
that are gonna put in the nineteen are
gonna get theirs too and that makes me
happy yeah so I would say funds a great
gateway to fun is the precursor to
ridiculous amount of work which then
gets you there yeah right I’m in music I
wish I could rap because I know I could
be humongous because all I would do is
make music and then lay in bed for 11
hours try to hack on social media
get in my recognized notice you’re one
person away one piece of content away
you just got to make it and what’s
amazing about music and I can’t spit I
think everybody I don’t like speaking
about I don’t know so I don’t want to
speak to it but one thing I do know is I
believe that every artist that ever
lived
had a lot more songs than their dome
they never saw the day of life because
of the way it worked right now
but he’s fancy everybody’s trying to
understand supply and demand I don’t
think people understand how busy the
world is the world so busy there’s so
much that I’m a big fan of telling
people to put out music put out music
get every week like if you’ve got it
like that you know some people don’t
have it I don’t know but if you’ve got
it like that put it out put it out
people are hungry for it and every time
you put out that’s giving you another
at-bat I think there will be a big time
artists in the next decade that puts out
a song a day by the way that’s the same
answer for everybody in this room that’s
what humans are good at we all fail
we’ve all failed like their black eye my
parents haven’t been killed my child I
mean there’s people that have their
children die like could you imagine like
the ideal like I’m like listen
unfortunately or fortunately depends on
how one wants to look at it I’m a pretty
optimistic guy I lost three of my four
grandparents before I was really before
I knew them too before I was born in one
very early on like so you know it’s easy
for me to be happy I have much in the
right order the health and well-being of
my family and there’s nothing even
remotely close to that not even women
not even remotely
people have gotten three much worse this
is why I’m trying to recall our
grandparents and our great-grandparents
people were persecuted and killed like I
just we do not have real headaches you
know I don’t know why I have this highly
emotional and then completely
unemotional part of me but I mix them
together to create the balance and
that’s what works for me so of course
there’s nothing that I couldn’t get
upfront like every other human ever
besides somebody who now lives in some
weird cave that we don’t know about you
know what I mean
we are sluggish we’re really strong
we’re just being sold that we’re not
because there’s a lot of money a lot of
money and telling us that we’re not
pretty enough thin enough smart enough
good enough that I want to tell you your
basco do you have to reverse engineer
who you’re trying to get to you know if
your salesperson out there right now if
you’re trying to get to me and so many
of you are I get 50 70 bulk emails bulk
direct messages bulk Twitter direct
messages Instagram business cards all
sorts of weird stuff sent in the mail
I’m busy I’m busy and like I’m just not
interested in you selling to me not
because I don’t like you because I
respect the game it’s because I’m just
busy it’s nothing personal
so I think the first thing you have to
do is reverse engineer the person you
know because I’m not in the market to
buy anything I’m gonna be tougher but if
I need certain software if I need
something that’s a good time to attack
right so I think the number one rule of
salespeople is to listen know your
audience know what they did if you see
an M&A just happen if you see layoffs
just happening if you see one of their
come if I see Burger King doing
something I’m thinking what is
McDonald’s think of Russ I think a lot
of you are doing things that are
directly in front of you numbers that
they put in front of you you’re trying
to achieve that because you have a beach
house you want to buy or go on that
vacation sales is a funny game if you
work in a big company they manipulate
numbers to create your actions I believe
that the best salespeople are doing
things in a different way I think you
need to care about the customer for real
reverse-engineer them and give them what
they need just talk to you guys about
why toys-r-us trip filing chapter 11
matters Toys R Us did two things over
the last couple decades that make no
sense one very early in the 2000s they
outsource themselves to Amazon they
didn’t believe in the internet 17 years
ago so let Amazon do their fulfillment
which started people getting used to
buying toys on the Internet through an
Amazon world but most importantly they
just didn’t innovate
you know and when you don’t innovate you
die like you could have made toys toys
Rus three years ago could have created
the National Lego championships and
everybody would be there was there was a
million they could have made slime
centers they could have they could be
killing it right now with their
locations but no they choose to just
like sell toys out of it and none of you
want to go there first of all you’re
gonna go to Walmart and pick it up for
less money anyway while you pick up your
groceries anything else and if you even
want to leave your home and you don’t
and so you’ll go to Amazon and do it
that way
or buy it from somebody’s YouTube
channel link or you know Instagram
account it’s just it’s it’s the best
example right now of like how in trouble
everybody is if they rest on their
laurels
you know if Toys R Us the dominant niche
retail leader of a humongous
multi-billion dollar category is
finished what do you think is gonna
happen over the next six years how many
people miss we are immigrants or
children of immigrants please raise your
hand just curious so for the hands that
are in this room they know something
that I know which is immigrants have an
amazing advantage they have a very tried
and true strategy that we could all
learn from what immigrants are very good
at doing is when they come to a new
country they work and they don’t spend
any money on dumb shit for ten years and
so that’s what my parents did and and
eventually my dad was able to buy a
small liquor store in New Jersey I was a
very entrepreneurial kid I was day
trading attention from a young age I had
six lemonade stands when I was seven
years old and I would spend all my time
trying to figure out what Cree and what
pole to put the signs on because I was
watching people drive and trying to
figure out what signs this I was a very
sick child when I was 12 and 13 I was
selling baseball cards which were very
popular in the United States at the time
and I was making one to two thousand
dollars a weekend selling them in the
malls of New Jersey which was great that
I was rich
for a young kid and it was fantastic but
then my career changed my dad dragged me
into the liquor store and I hated it at
first but luckily I realized that people
collected wine I was into collecting
sports memorabilia that was my passion
that was the connection and I decided
that I was going to jump into my family
business open up four thousand liquor
stores across America sell the franchise
one day and buy the New York Jets
American football team because that is
my dream you to stand up you to stand up
[Applause]
in 1994 I was in my dorm room in college
my friend came over to me and I want to
start wrapping this up and getting it to
what matters to you he brought me into a
room it was the first time I heard cool
couch which was the Internet I was very
excited about it I didn’t know what it
was I said something stupid like is this
the information superhighway I looked at
it this is you know there’s a lot of
youngsters in here this was 1994 I
literally stood there and watched people
on the internet for five hours it was
that crazy it’s it was just that insane
it was so new and when I finally had my
turn to go on there when I finally had
my turn to go on there within 20 minutes
I landed on a message board where people
were creating and buying and cards
baseball cards and I realized my god I
can do business on this thing and over
the next year I went headfirst and
learned about eBay learned about was
going on in Amazon started learning the
early internet culture and in 1996 I
launched winelibrary.com one of the
first to e-commerce wine businesses in
America from 1998 to 2003 in a five year
window I grew my dad’s business from a
three to a sixty million dollar business
on very very important terms that
matters to this entire room I had no
money there was a three million dollar
business that had 10% gross profit
$300,000 before expenses there’s no
marketing budget what I needed is to
make every penny work like a dollar
so the strategy became day-trading
attention when you day trade attention
my friends here’s what you do you don’t
overspend on what everybody believes is
tried-and-true every single company in
this gorgeous conference right now is
grossly over spending money on things
that they’ve been doing for the last
decade because it’s the things that they
accept or the reporting justifies it or
they’re just lazy to try something new
everyone everyone
so what you do when you day trade
attention is you have to find angles
what’s underpriced
how many people here do email marketing
or have done email marketing in their
lives raise your hands perfect a lot of
you in 1997 I started an email
newsletter most people that came into my
liquor store didn’t even know what email
was in 1997 I collected I collected I
collected in 1998 I had a two hundred
thousand person email newsletter with
91% open rates now it’s not because I
was a genius and I know a lot of you sit
here just like I do with emails that are
13 to 23 percent open rates today it’s
that in 1997
nobody was emailing we hadn’t ruined it
yet one thing I promise you more than I
know that the Sun will come up tomorrow
I know that marketers ruin everything we
ruined the Internet I’m trying to ruin
snapchat and musically right now we ruin
shit it’s what we do so it was 91% open
rates there then Google AdWords came out
I bought the word wine on Google AdWords
for five cents a click and owned it for
nine months before anybody bid me up
because people were still on Yahoo and
asked Jeeves another shit like that and
so that became the rinse and repeat as I
think about b2b players in this
environment it is stunning to me how
many b2b businesses here do not
understand that producing articles on
medium.com on LinkedIn writing full
content on Facebook in your feed and
then spending a hundred dollars in ads
against employees of the company that
you’re trying to reach let me say that
three more times because the one thing I
promised myself as I boarded last night
in New York to get here is I’m gonna
give my talk but I’m gonna give every
single person in this audience one thing
to take home do and then email and say
thank you so let me say it really slow
right now on this day October 6 right is
that right October 6 2016 the number one
deal if you day trade attention like I
do in this market
is Facebook ads they are underpriced
they are underpriced
because a lot of people in this room
still debate what the ROI is or even
worse they’re emotional that Facebook
organic Reach has come down and now they
have to pay for it while you’re
emotional and sad that you don’t reach
as many things the best ad product that
I’ve seen since Google AdWords has
emerged or even worse than both of those
two scenarios you haven’t even done it
yet you’ve decided for your business
your customer is not on that platform
yet you’ve never spent the dollar
testing it to know if that’s true or not
you’ve read a headline you had a friend
tell you but you actually don’t do it
and you’re not sure we live in a world
right now of headline readers everybody
here has a lot of opinions about
Facebook and snapchat and Instagram and
influence or LinkedIn medium but there’s
very few practitioners there’s very few
people that have actually placed the ads
there are very few people that
understand that the creative is the
variable when you place an ad and just
because you did it once doesn’t mean
that it doesn’t work it might mean that
the creative the video and the picture
that you put out just sucked and so as I
go through all the other things just in
the middle here for a few minutes I just
want to tell you exactly what I know
what I know is I’m involved with 15
different b2b businesses right now GE is
a client AT&T is a client but many
startups that I invest in because I
aural I also in my mid-2000s started
investing in Twitter Facebook Tumblr
uber I’ve done very well in that world I
basically just told you that to brag
that had no information value but but
what I know about these b2b businesses
is right now every single person here
can write an article about their
expertise in the business that they’re
in not a propaganda for your SAS product
or service but an article that would be
valuable to the people that you’re
trying to reach you can write this
article literally in a Facebook post
literally in a Facebook post and
you can go to the ad product and you can
actually target employees of one of the
ways you can target on Facebook is the
employees of an organization how many
people here are in b2b raise your hand
higher go high for me Helsinki hire
again show me again I need to look high
perfect a shitload a lot of you all of
you all of you need to hear this this is
the remarkable era of underpriced
opportunity in digital and social
marketing yet I’m empathetic to why most
of you do not believe that I get it
most of the advice most of the
conference’s most of the articles
position this in a b2c environment I
know for example the following that if I
was to buy one of your companies the
number one thing I would do is the
following every one of you are in an
industry where there is a b2b magazine
that is the number one thing that the
people in your market read if you were a
company trying to reach customers I
would become that magazine let me
explain the other religious point of
view that this room needs to take away
from this talk this weekend or at some
point you will believe this is true
whether it is today or 12 or 24 months
from now thirty six months from now is
the following
the quicker everybody in this room
understands that they are a media
company comma software company comma
wine retailer comma lawyer comma account
service provider the quicker
everybody in this room understands that
they are a media company comma those
things
the quicker you will be successful I
will tell you why you told me that
earlier they said the ad was dead you
said the ad is got to be creative and
good give it to the creatives I believe
more in your world and I’ll just add to
it the ad has to bring value the number
one thing that is happening in society
in every part of the world is the
following we as human beings no matter
where we’re from we value health we want
to stay alive and the people money
like money but the number one emerging
thing in society in value is time time
is exploding in value to us because we
all now live in a 24/7 365 world some of
the old-timers in this room remember
when the workday ended and it just ended
it wasn’t getting emails at night people
expecting you to reply we now live in a
24/7 world as a matter of fact one of
the great mistakes of my investing
career is Travis calculate the CEO of
uber was a very great friend of mine I
passed on investing in uber in the angel
round twice i cost myself hundreds of
millions of dollars i’m very upset about
it but i invested a little bit later on
not because hoover was doing so well but
because i realized when he came to new
york and my brother AJ took the first
uber ride oh my god uber doesn’t sell
transportation uber sells time we don’t
care about privacy we care about time
this is who we are as humans and what
advertising is doing in the last 50
years is it stopping you from doing what
you want to do and it’s selling you
something which means by nature it is
stealing your time which is why the
second you decide that you’re a media
company and you actually want to bring
people value instead of selling them
something you win
if you run home now and misunderstood
what I said which is why I’m creating
clatter clarity right now for you if you
leave here and misunderstood what I said
you will go home you will make a
Facebook post and you will write a
propaganda or sales post and you will
push it and it will not be successful if
you heard me loud and clear and
understand who you’re trying to reach
and you write an article about something
that brings them value you will win for
example a small business in the United
States that heard this talk three years
ago from me started writing content
about golf they were a law firm but what
they understood was the people they were
trying to reach we’re into golf and they
started writing content about golf and
used that content as a gateway drug
close the clients because people don’t
want to read your sales pitch
they don’t have time people want to read
something that brings value and the
interesting thing about so many of you
in the b2b environment is you’re
actually an expert or knowledgeable
about your craft you actually know and
so putting that content to work is
massively important it was super
important for me six seven years ago
that was nothing compared to the ability
of going and now targeting the employees
of the organization that you’re trying
to reach for example if you’re trying to
reach the CTO or the CIO or if you
actually know the title of the person
you’re trying to reach you were able to
make a video on Facebook that shows the
value prop of your product you were able
to then in the copy say does your CIO
know you were able to then run a hundred
dollars worth of ads against the
employees of that organization and then
20 people from that organization are
gonna take that post and forward it to
the CIO the CTO the head of Finance or
whoever you’re trying to reach my
friends I’ve spent the last seven
minutes here on this rant and I
understand it’s very tactical and it’s
not motivational and funny but I fucking
promise you that if you really
understand what I’m talking about you
will do what you actually care to do
which is sell shit right
we’re running businesses here so please
please understand that because once you
understand what I just spend my time on
how that works
you’ll start understanding why every
company here needs to hire an
editor-in-chief an editor in chief for
your SAS business your law firm an
editor in chief it’s crazy it’s not
something any of you would think and I
understand why but you have to understand the playing field is changing
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