jump you don’t want to jump because
you’re worried if you lose what people
gonna say starting with your parents
your friends your contemporaries my
ability to not truly truly care about
other people’s opinions has been the
foundation of my happiness I respect
people’s opinions I just I just don’t
care about their judgement of me I’ve
flip-flopped about project management at
vaynermedia like so many times and I
don’t worry if somebody hears like make
a decision or like you’re stupid or like
what the core wire we always change it
like go work at grey advertising
there’s anybody that ever looked like
you that made it then there’s no excuse
is because I believe it you know it’s
really hard you’re in our argument and
that your friend tells you that’s great
Gary but both my parents were alcoholics
and that really to me up right now
you’re on the defense that’s a good
first punch by them I’m like cool we
don’t need to use me if anybody has ever
been successful that had two alcoholic
parents which by the way I know of three
well then now what’s your Excuse Karen
we are just so interested in blaming
everybody else and excuses because we
don’t want to take on responsibility and
somewhere a long time ago I went
completely I only take I do you know I
think everything is my fault like all of
it like I think it’s weirdly cloudy
outside right now and not nice out my
fault like his scar my fault
like I just default into my fault and
everybody tries to do everything else
the other way and let me tell you how
good life becomes when you take on
responsibility it gets real good uh some
of you and there’s a lot of you the
follow me you know why I keep bringing
up the last scene of eight mile the
Eminem movie how many people have seen
that movie great
the last scene they go into the battle
he makes fun of himself the whole time
because it leaves the other person with
nothing the leverage is in being
accountable of everything the leverage
is exposing your weaknesses I proudly
talk about passing on uber twice being a
DNF student you know I proudly talk
about my shortcomings right
I can’t wait for more bad things to
happen I mean it because I will talk
about them because what you’re so
imperfect I’m inspired YouTube we’re
gonna make this the episode thing you’ll
get whatever you want Tyler but this is
the core of it you just saw it on stage
that’s just 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
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 because you’re pandering
to your boss even though you don’t
believe in it all the things you may be
worried about left-right up-down
there has never been a better time to be
alive in the human race than right now
medicine life expectancy poverty every
issue we have
better you know the best people to talk
about what’s going on in America or 90
year olds they should not everybody
they’re like it’s bad this woman made me
laugh sorry there’s like 92 year old
woman stopped me in the street and I
keep doing what you’re doing I’m like
thank I mean she looked like 190 I was
like thank you I got talked in for a
second she’s like and by the way these
women and she’s wrong but it was still
funny she goes these woman if I didn’t
have somebody grab my ass every day in
the office I was pissed like I get it I
was like don’t say that in public she’s
like public
I was like man 92 is from gangsters I’m
obsessed with practicality I’m obsessed
with practicality
people think I’m a destructor or you
know Nostradamus predictor or write I’m
practical Facebook and Instagram ads are
grossly underpriced if you go home
tonight and google how to run Instagram
story ads and learn how to do that and
then make a video or picture and runs
Instagram story ads for whatever you’re
trying to do in life become the mayor
here sell some peanuts
kombucha get people to sign up for your
you know track team I don’t care what I
don’t know what a fish comes from sign
people up for a track team anyway
nonetheless an Instagram story ad will
work better than anything else you can
do if you care about people 15 to 55 15
to 45 if you care about people of 30 to
75 Facebook works better than anything
like all your dreams whatever that may
be simple dreams like making four
hundred dollars more a month so you can
save it and take your family to Walt
Disney this year all your dreams like
the amount of people that are affected
by making two hundred dollars more a
month is staggering
the fact that I know that if you
literally stopped listening to me right
now took out your phone went to
Craigslist went to the for sale section
clicked on the free section within the
for sale section took your car got up
left in the middle my keynote and picked
up eight things went home took one
picture on your phone not like the old
days where the phone you take the
discount of putting a computer no not
that which is oh by the way the old days
you know 11 years ago and
you know just take a picture of the
thing and post it on Facebook
marketplace and post it for 20 to 80
dollars that literally in the next 48
hours you would have $200 more I’m
obsessed with practicality everything I
talk about feels so real it just might
take 11 years and a lot of people don’t
have 11 years they don’t have 11 years
because they’re not wanting to put him
to work to be happy for the rest of
their life
they’d rather complain they’d rather
blame somebody else for me a purebred
entrepreneur she or he loves the journey
not the stuff you know one of the things
I struggle with in the current state of
entrepreneurship is a lot of people want
the vacations the watches you know even
even the context is this you guys have
such an incredible imagery I think it’s
remarkable
who doesn’t want fine things in life
yeah but I think that if you’re in the
game just for the fine things in life
for the bottles and the models and the
private planes I think you’re gonna lose
and it definitely is not my definition
of an entrepreneur and my definition of
an entrepreneur is somebody who can’t
live without doing their thing and
trying to create and getting more and
more intrigued by mindset because I used
to think of it as fluffy like self-help
and now I think it more as strategy
what’s your strategy in life somebody
asked me on Instagram after I posted a
scary if the mindset has been skewed how
can you bring it back and I answered
with by surrounding yourself with people
who have the mindset you aspire to my
friends please understand that mindset
is controllable
in the same way that all our opinions
are controllable the key is to add more
people with optimism and cut people with
negativity it’s very very simple now
it’s very hard to cut people with
pessimism cynicism and negativity when
they are the people that are the closest
to you parents siblings spouse but the
bottom line is if you’re asking the
question I’m gonna give you the answer
the answer is add more people with
positivity
optimism and cut people with pessimism
and cynicism who you surround yourself
matters what content you consume matters
I basically suffocate myself for a long
period of my time and created an
environment that was based on offense
and optimism and now I know no different
please do the same for you make that
move mold and I mean mold your mindset
by what you consume and with whom you
consume it you can do anything and all
this stuff let me just tell you it’s
stupid hard reality is most of you are
just average ly talented right like
you’re not gonna over index in anything
too crazy here’s the good news this is
not about how much money you make or how
talented you are this is about being
happy
everybody here regardless of how
talented they are in making money or art
or what-have-you
has they’re super into you love Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles your whole life
could be about Michelangelo it could and
here’s what really with me in this
internet age you could have a podcast
around teenage Ninja Turtles
you could buy Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle memorabilia Craigslist and
Facebook and etsion and flip it on a
different platform because you’re so
knowledgeable because that’s the
pizza-eating
Leonardo that I’m just fascinated about
what you happens when you go all-in on
your passion you’re committed to it and
you use the infrastructure of this you
living your life for 80 years as the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle expert it’s
getting funnier to me by the second
making 83k a year in ads on your
podcasts the flip some miraculous reason
somebody paid you two thousand dollars
to go to a bush-league comic-con thing
that person making sixty-two thousand a
year being the TMT expert versus them
making seventy seven thousand a year
being an admin in a company where they
hate their life 9:00 to 5:00 that Delta
is something I will go to the grave on
because it is what I want to articulate
to everybody the the unn
evil of practicality to douche round
stuff you like and here’s the big part
how many people under 40 let me just
start with this group if you just really
took what I’m talking about
became an expert of Facebook and
Instagram really understood the fact
that you could take a leap for two years
move back in home move in together cut
your expenses I don’t give a the
fact that you can do that for two or
three years and if it doesn’t work out
you can go back to getting a job that’s
you need to bet on your strengths and
don’t give a about what you suck at
you’re gonna way too many people in this
room are gonna spend the next 30 40
years of their lives trying to check the
boxes other things that they’re not as
good at and that you’re gonna waste a
load of time and lose I highly recommend
auditing yourself or if you have no
empathy or EQ or self-awareness then
find somebody in your family or
friendship that does and let them tell
you who you are and once you believe
that either for yourself or someone else
told you go directly all chips all into
that because that is the only possible
way in my opinion watching from the
outside that is let me rephrase that is
a very highly likely way of
over-indexing because the truth is if
you want to be an anomaly you’ve got to
act like one you know like and so that’s
it that’s what I got so thanks for
what you’re looking for I’ve been giving
a lot of thought to kind of just
watching what I’m seeing out there in
the social digital ecosystem and very
honestly just real life and I’m watching
so many people over the last two to
three years look for negativity look for
something that’s wrong
find where people disagree with them
fight look for what was me downside to
half glass empty and then I go to a
twitter search or look around the world
and I find ridiculously beautiful things
every day every day thousands of kind
acts randomly by people all people that
I have conversations with who see the
opportunities whether it’s in business
like voice and AR or crypto or whatever
it may be
just this amazingly interesting thing
that I feel the majority of you are
looking for the wrong while there’s
plenty of wrong and plenty of bright in
the world it comes down to one very
simple thing what are you choosing to
look for because I promise you if you
right now and I’m making this video for
one reason 24 hours of trying to find
the good somebody saves a kid somebody
opens the door somebody does a nice
thing for you bit somebody says thank
you 24 hours of looking for positivity
could change your life honestly making
this for one person one one person
watches this video chooses to do 24
hours of looking for good instead of
looking for bad and their game changes
d-roc heard somebody at a convenience
store saying mom you’re always so
negative you’re always so negative I am
blown away by the fact that life gets
real simple if you break down into this
are you looking for the negative this
sucks this government sucks this person
sucks this is or you’re looking for the
positive she’s nice that’s remarkable
I’ve got this opportunity you choose
what you’re looking for because what you
look for you find that’s how life works
in entrepreneurship is there is way too
much fodder brought to the idea Hoover
was magic cab three years earlier
uber is not an idea uber existed it’s
called magic cab but the guys that
execute it sucked so they lost so I
think you know if there’s any level of
romance left in this room about your
idea I’d like to suffocate it because I
think the actual situation is what you
actually do with it I think that that’s
what’s amazing about anything which is
there’s many different many different
definitions for you you know go out work
your face off win and reward yourself
with something is exactly right for me
the reward is pouring more of the
dollars and energy into the company not
buying stuff for myself it’s one in the
same
yeah it’s one in the same to me I I
think it’s amazing if somebody wants to
buy an Armani suit or a $5,000 pair of
belt or a diamond ring for a hundred
thousand I don’t but that doesn’t mean
that’s right or wrong what I’m doing
with that same hundred thousand instead
of a ring is I’m hiring two more people
because I’m trying to buy the jewelry
company not a piece of the jewelry
number one thing that scares me in life
is regret I really really really don’t
want to be on my deathbed whether that’s
tomorrow or when I’m 97 and think I
should have done that I should like
that’s that spooks me right like hard
work people judging me leaving you know
trolling me on social media like all the
stuff that normal people worry about I
don’t worry about I worry about regret
and so I’m trying to squeeze the
everything out of my life and so yeah I
do a lot today’s world where everybody
can win that means that everybody can
win which means you have to be better
than ever before to break through
everybody’s got a hot take on the Drake
push to beat everybody’s got a hot take
on the Golden State Warriors and LeBron
everybody’s got a hot take on Ben
Simmons and Kendall dating everybody’s
got a hot
Roseanne Barr in that world where you’re
gonna have to be better at content and
distribution and so yes it is hard and I
always tell people that like man it’s so
hard I’m like at least you have a chance
in 1982 if you weren’t picked by
somebody and one of the seventeen people
that got to have an opinion you weren’t
hurt
I was really an unusual Eastern European
immigrant that came during that time
every one of my friends every one of my
parents friends kids were straight-a
students because education was they way
out if you go to Instagram literally
right now and look at my account Gary
Vee two posts ago I posted my high
school report card cuz nobody believes
me but I was a straight DNF student
somewhere around fourth grade I realized
that Saturn was not going to impact my
life and I didn’t care about it and so
self-awareness is a son of a you know
and and and honestly besides health for
everybody in this room I wish you self
awareness because once you understand
who you are you can do a lot of damage
all of us suck at a lot of stuff all of
us are good at a lot of stuff the game
is to figure that out
I threw good parenting through
circumstance through who knows really
what got very self-aware very early in
my life and listen at 13 you know listen
it was tough for my friend’s parents to
say I was a loser because I got these in
apps it wasn’t fun for my teachers to
say that I wasn’t going to amount to
anything
here was my biggest problem I was 13
years old I was making $3,000 a weekend
selling baseball cards I had 47 thousand
dollars in cash under my bed and I
wasn’t selling weed I thought I was
of your bike is geared to be like
college grads yep but I’m old I’m 40
what would you be like what we hear a
voice that might be where someone who’s
40 but starting out where most of your
audience is very out when they’re 20 or
30 what did you sing no joke I don’t
know if you saw that I literally posted
a video today to 47 year olds so to me
everybody’s going through different
things you know I to your point last 8
12 to 18 months I found myself producing
a lot more content to youth than I have
in the past which was usually two more
40 year old business people look I think
the biggest thing with 40 to 50 is that
it’s now you’ve lived life and you’re
still youngest and you’re like now what
right you have like an entire second
life to live and it’s a very interesting
time in people’s lives where they have
to be really retrospective of like how
self-aware are they but honestly I think
forties young man I really really do and
so I would say a lot of the advice I
give to 20 year olds Maps pretty well to
40 year olds which is you know take some
risks you’ve tasted some stuff you know
happiness is the ROI and so you know
figure out what makes you happy is it
the pursuit of money or is it actual
money do materials make you happy if
materials make you happy is that really
just insecurity and you need to have you
know a BMW to make yourself feel good
like what’s making you tick but I would
say the biggest thing that I would tell
any 40 year old is you’ve got 50 years
to live please get the finished or I
stopped like eliminate dwelling cuz
you’re just starting I really believe
that by the way this is not some
motivational rah-rah SH I just think
it’s true I just think you’ve got 40
dull years to live that’s 20 more than
you’ve lived there’s just so much
opportunity
just launched a platform for connecting
companies with social media influencers
okay like a tinder self-direct and I
thought I had kind of a unicorn and now
when kind of exploring the world I say
okay there’s a lot out there Maddie’s
doing but we’re kind of late here in
this part of the world yep
so here I captured the markets really
well in a short time that’s awesome
but I wonder how my dreams about
internationalization and getting global
and making it scalable making it bigger
what advice would you give to me for
that ooh a couple things first of all
how big is it in the market that you’re
winning in it the biggest thing that you
know like unless you’re doing 7 10 12
million dollars in the Nordics you
should not be thinking about Eastern
Western Europe the US too many people
like every word out of your mouth is
that I was just talking like scalable
what like we’re just all caught up in
building billion-dollar it’s so stupid
like how big is your company how much
are you doing over a million we have it
we are prettier than you I mean we just
launched it until you make money you
shouldn’t be worried about global no so
any local markets go that way
bigger media than 75 million dollars in
revenue profitably before I thought
about even going to London okay
everybody’s caught that listen I’m
telling you all of you you’re caught up
in propaganda you’re not
thinking about it smartly you make no
money and you’re sitting here worried
about winning globally and you haven’t
even started winning locally I
understand yeah I’m just thinking like
it’s partnership the way to go to
somebody that are oh no the way to go is
to not think about it at all okay do you
understand yeah I think there’s an
enormous amount of confusion in the
system for twenty eight year olds about
where they are in life I think that’s my
biggest problem I’ve been having lately
that’s I’ve been watching a lot of you
and watching a lot of your videos and a
lot of things that you do and help me
kind of come out and realize you know my
time is
I never find it I got my own clock a
hundred Pro honestly no joke
I feel like you’re closer to two point
eight years old than the way you think
about twenty eight like you’ve got 60
years of execution in front of you
that’s like tuefel life’s more of
execution and and the problem with 28 is
28 a tricky thing 28 tricky 28 is too
many people up because I’m telling you
that looking at 30 like wait a minute I
go thirties here shouldn’t I
quote-unquote have my life together you
know and then at 28 you got you know
five to fifty percent of your friends
that you went to high school or college
with that are like you know getting
married having you know get getting
somewhere in their life that it uh don’t
let anybody else’s clock you know
dictate your game like a you know 28 is
earliest dude honestly brother I’ll
shoot it straight to you I’m 42 years
old and I swear on everything I’ve got I
feel like I’m just starting and
everything that people think I am and
what I’ve accomplished and all that is
in my own head cuz I’m like I haven’t
even started so imagine what I think
about you at 28 I’ve hit that kind of
quiet crescendo moment where like it
just I’m so in tune with like putting
out content putting it out there letting
you guys consume it reading your
feedback in this viral loop and just
feels like I’m in that zone and every
day I wish for you guys out there in the
world to find that same zone and so look
for that thing find that thing and for
me this community is that thing and I
want to thank you from the bottom of my
heart thank you so much have the best
best rest we can have the best summer
flip start things produce content but
most of all listen you know the audacity
that everybody wants likes and comments
and subscribers but doesn’t want to then
do for them what they want to return to
selfishness of like give me vanity
metrics and social and content and
digital yet
he is if you listened and cared about
those individuals as much as what you
wanted from them and likes and
subscribers everything would be
different
please do not take things for granted
and most of all do not take your
community for granted because it’s the
foundation of your opportunity in this
digital world my entire career what what
allows me to be here today what allows
me to dream and be audacious about
owning a professional football team is
very simple I chase underpriced
attention I chase properly priced
attention and I completely punt
overpriced attention simple I know that
everybody in this room does things for
eight to ten hours a day every day of
the day of the week the month a year on
things that no longer bring as much
value as it did six nine 14 years ago
that helped you get to this point I know
that there’s somebody in this room that
if they started a b2b podcast I know
that if somebody in this room who had
never thought about producing content or
media if they started a podcast which
they don’t even have the beginnings of a
thought of how to do that right now
but the good news is you literally go to
google and you type in how do I start a
podcast I know that if somebody here
started a podcast for this industry and
put out an episode every week and
interviewed a thought leader in this
industry that even though only 700 to
1500 people would listen to it because
it’s obviously very niche in its content
that it would be the differentiator of
growing their business that it would
lead to lead gen that there are people
that they’re trying to chase to get the
account that in turn a year later would
be chasing them to be a guest on the
show which then would inevitably lead to
them getting the business my friends
please understand over the next period
of time as I talk to you about some of
these nuances that I am NOT a
technologist that had I not been in
business that I wouldn’t want to have
necessarily an Instagram or snapchat or
LinkedIn account it doesn’t come natural
to me it’s not necessarily what I want
I want is to sell stuff what I want is
to run a successful business what I want
is to win and to me if you sit in this
room and you do not realize how extreme
the internet technology revolution
actually is you become vulnerable if I
can suffocate all of you today to take
25% of your take-home income this year
and pour it back into two people who do
video and written word and put it into
Facebook and Instagram ads literally all
of you will email me 24 months actually
get if you can start right away
literally 25% of you are going to come
to me this time next year right here and
be like holy I’ve been listening to your
stuff for seven years your keynote was
different in Miami last year at this
time I listened I said it I don’t need
to go to Ibiza three times this year yet
I don’t need to buy a better BMW this
year to make me feel good with the
neighbors get I don’t need another pair
of Supremes or Yeezys I took the money
and I put it into Karen the film woman
and Rick the ad guy and now my business
is 2x this will 100% work even if you
suck on camera have zero charisma are
only eight days in the industry this
will work because it is such under
priced attention that the ROI will work
that if you’re a to skill the ads are a
twenty in the ten point scale and it
closes the Delta of you being average if
you literally literally and I’ve said
this for seven years if you literally
literally go interview the guy who owns
the gym in town the guy who owns the
pizza shop the woman that owns the
insurance brokerage if you literally
literally literally just interview your
local community that you become the
local newspaper in three minute video
form on your
you don’t even need to hire d-roc or
babban rice your phone if you literally
take it selfie it and interview the
principal of the school in your
neighborhood you will become the local
celebrity who can then transact on
whatever you’re trying to sell that
group if you bring value to people if
you interview the best high school
basketball player literally just that
your business will change or if you
literally just give the advice of how
you got here what you learned if you
shared your thoughts if you do not
understand that you were a media company
then you will not be as successful as
you are today in a decade and that’s not
interesting when the alternative is your
four to seven times bigger this think
guys you have to understand what
happened to Blockbuster and Netflix what
happened with uber and taxi companies
what happened with hotels versus Airbnb
is happening with you as a human in your
business and so when you have the best
hand and you know it because you’ve been
paying attention and you know how to
everybody here is playing Facebook
Instagram social media YouTube
podcasting like they have the best hand
and they’re calling and you’re not going
them into getting all the money you’re
just folding and that’s this audience so
can you imagine what I feel is going on
outside this stadium so this is a call
to action for everybody to do me one
favor and I do think I could get a lot
of you to do it which excites the
of me please right now listen maybe
you’ve laid out money maybe you’re in
the middle of a renovation maybe you’re
paying for your kids college
Mazel Tov I know there’s nuances on
everybody’s life but if you are in a
position where literally your take-home
income this year is literally the stuff
you’re gonna go and do things with
please from 25% to 90% if you can go
humble please take that money and hire
two people to make a lot more content
for you about you and your business and
please give the rest of the money to
Facebook and YouTube and Instagram and I
fund
mentally promise you you will walk here
to this conference next year and
personally thank me emotionally because
your business will change and I know not
one of you has gone all in content every
day for nine years before it started
it’s not sexy it’s just basic but it
works and you’ve got this got craft and
there’s a lot of people that have crafts
so you have to pitch up Jeff you know
one day one post something cool and
somebody cool
Drake sees it does it and everything
changes yeah but you have to do it every
day to have that moment that guy or gal
is also the same person that I want to
reach to sell a bottle of wine or a book
to and that space in his and her
Facebook feed is only one space so that
is supply and demand I used to buy that
space four years ago for a dollar for
every thousand impressions now it’s
seven the longer you think this world
doesn’t exist and you fear-mongering the
longer you don’t put money in the longer
I can extract all the value I’ve lived
this game I’m not a hero because I took
it from three to 50 million 60 million
my dad’s business I actually am a
schmuck I should have spent more on
Google I had it figured out
every time you typed in Cabernet Merlot
silver Okemos Napa Bordeaux I was
showing up first cuz nobody realized it
was good real estate and it was only
costing me five or ten cents a click and
I was making between seven and eighty
dollars in profit for something that was
costing me three dollars to get you
through the funnel on the average of 60
people coming in one converting I was
stupid I’m being serious with you I
stand here and have passionate about
LinkedIn and Facebook marketing in a b2b
environment today out of regret for what
I did from 2002 to 2005 because I should
have spent more it was basic math but I
just didn’t understand because I was
young in my career and it just I don’t
even know how to explain it to you when
it’s too good to be true it’s too good
to be true right I’m an immigrant I was
cynical I just didn’t I also thought it
was important to do direct mail and
local commercials and magazine that I
was doing it all but in hindsight it was
the great mistake of my career the great
mistake of my career was not spending
more money on
Google and I promise you the great
mistake of your accelerated growth for
the 80% that just raised their hand
is not taking advertising on LinkedIn
and Facebook seriously because you don’t
think your person is on it I’ve heard
every more guys I’ve been doing this for
10 years I know what your Excuse is
gonna be
I can’t wait to the Q&A I’m gonna stand
here and want to but Gary my my target
person is a 63 year old man he’s not on
it bullsh
of course he’s on it who they think is
spreading all the Democratic and
Republican propaganda on Facebook why I
made content the answer is I don’t know
nobody knows there’s no right answer
there’s that moment in time
this is why I produce content every day
if you might be watching my content
every day and it might be this
conversation with us in the vlog that is
you know it’s very meta this might have
been the one this might have been the
one on this day because of a
conversation you had last night because
there the weather outside because of a
news headline because of the patterns of
how the for Instagram posts came in your
feed it might just be the time you
finally do what you’re supposed to do
and I think a lot of people think of it
as like quit your job and go do your
journey right things you’re thinking
about others
I think of it a little bit different
sometimes it’s that’s exactly right
sometimes it’s like mm-hmm
I’ve been doing this nightlife and
t-shirt thing for seven years
well why don’t I go work for something
smart for a year reset why don’t I go
travel
why don’t I sell my home that I don’t
use 90% of take that money get an
apartment and then do something with
that money so to me it’s not just like
the fancy sizzle of like now jump into
the rest of your life it’s also like
it’s also like awed it understand what
you need break up with that person marry
that person you know you know start your
career go back to corporate for an hour
okay a year to to reset you know just do
it’s the indecisiveness decision it’s
the indecisiveness that is the poison
the biggest thing about doing is the
undoing that people don’t see I’m always
like okay good and then like if you fail
go back but people don’t want the
Scarlet Letter they don’t want the
judgment that’s why you have to tune
everything out because if you go and
judge start your t-shirt brand or your
pin brand or your video blog and it
fails if you just think you can go back
to it well that sounds cool but if you
feel like oh but then everybody’s got a
clown on me and see you say like then
you’re if you’re if you’re pessimistic
mom’s abetik see I told you you could
never do it
if you can’t get over that think of
stuff you just need to figure out how to
ride it so it doesn’t kill you and by
the way I mean this um you know
collecting the energy of the room
thinking about what we talked about here
I mean this I don’t think it’s bad if
you’re not capable or willing to up your
game put in the work hustle you should
lose it’s how you won but everybody
fights hard for 30 years and I want to
hold up athletes you know you know what
I hate about business that I love about
athletes when you’re the best athlete in
the world you get the results when you
get to 36 and a younger lion comes along
you lose in business we have this weird
that we’re supposed to be
rewarded at the end you I mean it you
you didn’t take this internet serious
for the last 20 years why the should you
be rewarded I think the biggest obstacle
to success is a lack of optimism that
question in itself is the problem my
friend right you’re looking at two
things that are both negatives and guess
what both of them are obstacles when I
started winelibrary.com transformation
from my business I had time I’ve worked
my face off every minute but we didn’t
have a whole lot of money in our profit
Center so it took more time right it’s
just the way it is
today I have more money but boy don’t I
have time but neither ever ever will be
an excuse for me and so just a drill
this through the throat of the
vaynernation that’s right I went that
graphic don’t smile d-roc here’s the
bottom line I refuse to allow
you to get an answer to that question
because both of them are firmly square
in the excuse column and I have no
patience for that there will always be
problems let’s talk about a million
other things that are a way to stop
success the health and well-being of
your family members so it takes your
mind away from execution the country you
live in government and political you
know concepts at these moments a la
startups in China that I’ve invested in
that got traction but then people that
were wired into the government decided
to not allow it to happen and then the
startup disappeared not as easy to be an
entrepreneur there it’s still a
communist country sorry it just is and
so all these things can be problems
right there’s a competitor with a
billion dollars who’s also skilled and
punches you in the mouth and knocks you
out in the first round right the world
changing I mean there’s just a million
obstacles right the media one bad
coverage of you a moment in time you
know what I think about a lot you know
what I think about a lot let’s get
really real this is why we did this show
I always I’m a human being and I always
think about a moment in time what if I
just say the wrong thing at the wrong
time right what if I call out China for
being a communist country in an episode
while I’m on a rant and somebody who’s
watching doesn’t like the way that
tastes and it takes away a business
opportunity for me in China in seven
years even though I’m not trying to zing
it’s just things that I saw what if what
if you know what if what if I look down
on my phone while I’m driving even
though I’ve really not done that and I
hit somebody and I kill them and that
becomes the story and I like forget
about the story about what you think of
me I will never recover from that
because I killed somebody
because I needed to check a tweet these
are moments in time so there are so many
things that can keep you from being
successful right the people that you
invested in having something that
happened to them so it slows you down my
friends there are a million reasons why
not but there’s one great reason why
which is you’ve just got a persevere no
matter what it is it’s just the way it
is it’s hard being an entrepreneur it’s
hard building a business everybody
thinks it’s so easy that there’s an
entitlement
there’s a disaster zinging China here
because my us thing right now there is
an insane generation of 18 to 25 year
olds right now that think they’re
entitled to having a business because
they saw the social network movie and
everybody’s decided if you’re a kid and
you know what Tech is because you used
Instagram early on you’re entitled to
actually build a business building a
business is hard and you know what makes
it really hard
everything that happens every day of
every moment so you can pick time you
can pick money as the one or two things
that you think stopped you from winning
your game but the truth is there’s a
million reasons 99 percent of businesses
go out of business
for a reason and that reason is it’s
hard and so if you’re watching this show
I’ve got a sense of who you are and you
need to start creating layers and layers
and layers and layers of skin to be able
to get through because the glamour of
being an entrepreneur the goodness you
know you get very confused by my
optimism because it’s my optimism I
can’t help it it’s just how I roll it’s
probably one of the variable 1% reasons
why I’m successful but please don’t get
it twisted this is hard every day is
hard and if you don’t have the stomach
to weather the storm you will not be
successful and by the way let me throw
you a real weird curveball and that’s
okay people have to look themselves in a
mirror and understand if they’re number
two three four or five six seven an
organization that has differences of
being a number one but maybe that’s
where your skill set sets maybe that’s
how you make your fortunes and happiness
and all the things that you’re looking
for and so that question got me going a
little bit Steve because it’s endured a
context of excuses and I will never make
an excuse everything that’s a problem
with me everything I don’t achieve
everything that’s a problem at
vaynermedia and everything is my fault
and I I succumb to that and I respect
that and I actually think that’s the way it should be
you’re worried if you lose what people
gonna say starting with your parents
your friends your contemporaries my
ability to not truly truly care about
other people’s opinions has been the
foundation of my happiness I respect
people’s opinions I just I just don’t
care about their judgement of me I’ve
flip-flopped about project management at
vaynermedia like so many times and I
don’t worry if somebody hears like make
a decision or like you’re stupid or like
what the core wire we always change it
like go work at grey advertising
there’s anybody that ever looked like
you that made it then there’s no excuse
is because I believe it you know it’s
really hard you’re in our argument and
that your friend tells you that’s great
Gary but both my parents were alcoholics
and that really to me up right now
you’re on the defense that’s a good
first punch by them I’m like cool we
don’t need to use me if anybody has ever
been successful that had two alcoholic
parents which by the way I know of three
well then now what’s your Excuse Karen
we are just so interested in blaming
everybody else and excuses because we
don’t want to take on responsibility and
somewhere a long time ago I went
completely I only take I do you know I
think everything is my fault like all of
it like I think it’s weirdly cloudy
outside right now and not nice out my
fault like his scar my fault
like I just default into my fault and
everybody tries to do everything else
the other way and let me tell you how
good life becomes when you take on
responsibility it gets real good uh some
of you and there’s a lot of you the
follow me you know why I keep bringing
up the last scene of eight mile the
Eminem movie how many people have seen
that movie great
the last scene they go into the battle
he makes fun of himself the whole time
because it leaves the other person with
nothing the leverage is in being
accountable of everything the leverage
is exposing your weaknesses I proudly
talk about passing on uber twice being a
DNF student you know I proudly talk
about my shortcomings right
I can’t wait for more bad things to
happen I mean it because I will talk
about them because what you’re so
imperfect I’m inspired YouTube we’re
gonna make this the episode thing you’ll
get whatever you want Tyler but this is
the core of it you just saw it on stage
that’s just 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
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 because you’re pandering
to your boss even though you don’t
believe in it all the things you may be
worried about left-right up-down
there has never been a better time to be
alive in the human race than right now
medicine life expectancy poverty every
issue we have
better you know the best people to talk
about what’s going on in America or 90
year olds they should not everybody
they’re like it’s bad this woman made me
laugh sorry there’s like 92 year old
woman stopped me in the street and I
keep doing what you’re doing I’m like
thank I mean she looked like 190 I was
like thank you I got talked in for a
second she’s like and by the way these
women and she’s wrong but it was still
funny she goes these woman if I didn’t
have somebody grab my ass every day in
the office I was pissed like I get it I
was like don’t say that in public she’s
like public
I was like man 92 is from gangsters I’m
obsessed with practicality I’m obsessed
with practicality
people think I’m a destructor or you
know Nostradamus predictor or write I’m
practical Facebook and Instagram ads are
grossly underpriced if you go home
tonight and google how to run Instagram
story ads and learn how to do that and
then make a video or picture and runs
Instagram story ads for whatever you’re
trying to do in life become the mayor
here sell some peanuts
kombucha get people to sign up for your
you know track team I don’t care what I
don’t know what a fish comes from sign
people up for a track team anyway
nonetheless an Instagram story ad will
work better than anything else you can
do if you care about people 15 to 55 15
to 45 if you care about people of 30 to
75 Facebook works better than anything
like all your dreams whatever that may
be simple dreams like making four
hundred dollars more a month so you can
save it and take your family to Walt
Disney this year all your dreams like
the amount of people that are affected
by making two hundred dollars more a
month is staggering
the fact that I know that if you
literally stopped listening to me right
now took out your phone went to
Craigslist went to the for sale section
clicked on the free section within the
for sale section took your car got up
left in the middle my keynote and picked
up eight things went home took one
picture on your phone not like the old
days where the phone you take the
discount of putting a computer no not
that which is oh by the way the old days
you know 11 years ago and
you know just take a picture of the
thing and post it on Facebook
marketplace and post it for 20 to 80
dollars that literally in the next 48
hours you would have $200 more I’m
obsessed with practicality everything I
talk about feels so real it just might
take 11 years and a lot of people don’t
have 11 years they don’t have 11 years
because they’re not wanting to put him
to work to be happy for the rest of
their life
they’d rather complain they’d rather
blame somebody else for me a purebred
entrepreneur she or he loves the journey
not the stuff you know one of the things
I struggle with in the current state of
entrepreneurship is a lot of people want
the vacations the watches you know even
even the context is this you guys have
such an incredible imagery I think it’s
remarkable
who doesn’t want fine things in life
yeah but I think that if you’re in the
game just for the fine things in life
for the bottles and the models and the
private planes I think you’re gonna lose
and it definitely is not my definition
of an entrepreneur and my definition of
an entrepreneur is somebody who can’t
live without doing their thing and
trying to create and getting more and
more intrigued by mindset because I used
to think of it as fluffy like self-help
and now I think it more as strategy
what’s your strategy in life somebody
asked me on Instagram after I posted a
scary if the mindset has been skewed how
can you bring it back and I answered
with by surrounding yourself with people
who have the mindset you aspire to my
friends please understand that mindset
is controllable
in the same way that all our opinions
are controllable the key is to add more
people with optimism and cut people with
negativity it’s very very simple now
it’s very hard to cut people with
pessimism cynicism and negativity when
they are the people that are the closest
to you parents siblings spouse but the
bottom line is if you’re asking the
question I’m gonna give you the answer
the answer is add more people with
positivity
optimism and cut people with pessimism
and cynicism who you surround yourself
matters what content you consume matters
I basically suffocate myself for a long
period of my time and created an
environment that was based on offense
and optimism and now I know no different
please do the same for you make that
move mold and I mean mold your mindset
by what you consume and with whom you
consume it you can do anything and all
this stuff let me just tell you it’s
stupid hard reality is most of you are
just average ly talented right like
you’re not gonna over index in anything
too crazy here’s the good news this is
not about how much money you make or how
talented you are this is about being
happy
everybody here regardless of how
talented they are in making money or art
or what-have-you
has they’re super into you love Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles your whole life
could be about Michelangelo it could and
here’s what really with me in this
internet age you could have a podcast
around teenage Ninja Turtles
you could buy Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle memorabilia Craigslist and
Facebook and etsion and flip it on a
different platform because you’re so
knowledgeable because that’s the
pizza-eating
Leonardo that I’m just fascinated about
what you happens when you go all-in on
your passion you’re committed to it and
you use the infrastructure of this you
living your life for 80 years as the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle expert it’s
getting funnier to me by the second
making 83k a year in ads on your
podcasts the flip some miraculous reason
somebody paid you two thousand dollars
to go to a bush-league comic-con thing
that person making sixty-two thousand a
year being the TMT expert versus them
making seventy seven thousand a year
being an admin in a company where they
hate their life 9:00 to 5:00 that Delta
is something I will go to the grave on
because it is what I want to articulate
to everybody the the unn
evil of practicality to douche round
stuff you like and here’s the big part
how many people under 40 let me just
start with this group if you just really
took what I’m talking about
became an expert of Facebook and
Instagram really understood the fact
that you could take a leap for two years
move back in home move in together cut
your expenses I don’t give a the
fact that you can do that for two or
three years and if it doesn’t work out
you can go back to getting a job that’s
you need to bet on your strengths and
don’t give a about what you suck at
you’re gonna way too many people in this
room are gonna spend the next 30 40
years of their lives trying to check the
boxes other things that they’re not as
good at and that you’re gonna waste a
load of time and lose I highly recommend
auditing yourself or if you have no
empathy or EQ or self-awareness then
find somebody in your family or
friendship that does and let them tell
you who you are and once you believe
that either for yourself or someone else
told you go directly all chips all into
that because that is the only possible
way in my opinion watching from the
outside that is let me rephrase that is
a very highly likely way of
over-indexing because the truth is if
you want to be an anomaly you’ve got to
act like one you know like and so that’s
it that’s what I got so thanks for
what you’re looking for I’ve been giving
a lot of thought to kind of just
watching what I’m seeing out there in
the social digital ecosystem and very
honestly just real life and I’m watching
so many people over the last two to
three years look for negativity look for
something that’s wrong
find where people disagree with them
fight look for what was me downside to
half glass empty and then I go to a
twitter search or look around the world
and I find ridiculously beautiful things
every day every day thousands of kind
acts randomly by people all people that
I have conversations with who see the
opportunities whether it’s in business
like voice and AR or crypto or whatever
it may be
just this amazingly interesting thing
that I feel the majority of you are
looking for the wrong while there’s
plenty of wrong and plenty of bright in
the world it comes down to one very
simple thing what are you choosing to
look for because I promise you if you
right now and I’m making this video for
one reason 24 hours of trying to find
the good somebody saves a kid somebody
opens the door somebody does a nice
thing for you bit somebody says thank
you 24 hours of looking for positivity
could change your life honestly making
this for one person one one person
watches this video chooses to do 24
hours of looking for good instead of
looking for bad and their game changes
d-roc heard somebody at a convenience
store saying mom you’re always so
negative you’re always so negative I am
blown away by the fact that life gets
real simple if you break down into this
are you looking for the negative this
sucks this government sucks this person
sucks this is or you’re looking for the
positive she’s nice that’s remarkable
I’ve got this opportunity you choose
what you’re looking for because what you
look for you find that’s how life works
in entrepreneurship is there is way too
much fodder brought to the idea Hoover
was magic cab three years earlier
uber is not an idea uber existed it’s
called magic cab but the guys that
execute it sucked so they lost so I
think you know if there’s any level of
romance left in this room about your
idea I’d like to suffocate it because I
think the actual situation is what you
actually do with it I think that that’s
what’s amazing about anything which is
there’s many different many different
definitions for you you know go out work
your face off win and reward yourself
with something is exactly right for me
the reward is pouring more of the
dollars and energy into the company not
buying stuff for myself it’s one in the
same
yeah it’s one in the same to me I I
think it’s amazing if somebody wants to
buy an Armani suit or a $5,000 pair of
belt or a diamond ring for a hundred
thousand I don’t but that doesn’t mean
that’s right or wrong what I’m doing
with that same hundred thousand instead
of a ring is I’m hiring two more people
because I’m trying to buy the jewelry
company not a piece of the jewelry
number one thing that scares me in life
is regret I really really really don’t
want to be on my deathbed whether that’s
tomorrow or when I’m 97 and think I
should have done that I should like
that’s that spooks me right like hard
work people judging me leaving you know
trolling me on social media like all the
stuff that normal people worry about I
don’t worry about I worry about regret
and so I’m trying to squeeze the
everything out of my life and so yeah I
do a lot today’s world where everybody
can win that means that everybody can
win which means you have to be better
than ever before to break through
everybody’s got a hot take on the Drake
push to beat everybody’s got a hot take
on the Golden State Warriors and LeBron
everybody’s got a hot take on Ben
Simmons and Kendall dating everybody’s
got a hot
Roseanne Barr in that world where you’re
gonna have to be better at content and
distribution and so yes it is hard and I
always tell people that like man it’s so
hard I’m like at least you have a chance
in 1982 if you weren’t picked by
somebody and one of the seventeen people
that got to have an opinion you weren’t
hurt
I was really an unusual Eastern European
immigrant that came during that time
every one of my friends every one of my
parents friends kids were straight-a
students because education was they way
out if you go to Instagram literally
right now and look at my account Gary
Vee two posts ago I posted my high
school report card cuz nobody believes
me but I was a straight DNF student
somewhere around fourth grade I realized
that Saturn was not going to impact my
life and I didn’t care about it and so
self-awareness is a son of a you know
and and and honestly besides health for
everybody in this room I wish you self
awareness because once you understand
who you are you can do a lot of damage
all of us suck at a lot of stuff all of
us are good at a lot of stuff the game
is to figure that out
I threw good parenting through
circumstance through who knows really
what got very self-aware very early in
my life and listen at 13 you know listen
it was tough for my friend’s parents to
say I was a loser because I got these in
apps it wasn’t fun for my teachers to
say that I wasn’t going to amount to
anything
here was my biggest problem I was 13
years old I was making $3,000 a weekend
selling baseball cards I had 47 thousand
dollars in cash under my bed and I
wasn’t selling weed I thought I was
of your bike is geared to be like
college grads yep but I’m old I’m 40
what would you be like what we hear a
voice that might be where someone who’s
40 but starting out where most of your
audience is very out when they’re 20 or
30 what did you sing no joke I don’t
know if you saw that I literally posted
a video today to 47 year olds so to me
everybody’s going through different
things you know I to your point last 8
12 to 18 months I found myself producing
a lot more content to youth than I have
in the past which was usually two more
40 year old business people look I think
the biggest thing with 40 to 50 is that
it’s now you’ve lived life and you’re
still youngest and you’re like now what
right you have like an entire second
life to live and it’s a very interesting
time in people’s lives where they have
to be really retrospective of like how
self-aware are they but honestly I think
forties young man I really really do and
so I would say a lot of the advice I
give to 20 year olds Maps pretty well to
40 year olds which is you know take some
risks you’ve tasted some stuff you know
happiness is the ROI and so you know
figure out what makes you happy is it
the pursuit of money or is it actual
money do materials make you happy if
materials make you happy is that really
just insecurity and you need to have you
know a BMW to make yourself feel good
like what’s making you tick but I would
say the biggest thing that I would tell
any 40 year old is you’ve got 50 years
to live please get the finished or I
stopped like eliminate dwelling cuz
you’re just starting I really believe
that by the way this is not some
motivational rah-rah SH I just think
it’s true I just think you’ve got 40
dull years to live that’s 20 more than
you’ve lived there’s just so much
opportunity
just launched a platform for connecting
companies with social media influencers
okay like a tinder self-direct and I
thought I had kind of a unicorn and now
when kind of exploring the world I say
okay there’s a lot out there Maddie’s
doing but we’re kind of late here in
this part of the world yep
so here I captured the markets really
well in a short time that’s awesome
but I wonder how my dreams about
internationalization and getting global
and making it scalable making it bigger
what advice would you give to me for
that ooh a couple things first of all
how big is it in the market that you’re
winning in it the biggest thing that you
know like unless you’re doing 7 10 12
million dollars in the Nordics you
should not be thinking about Eastern
Western Europe the US too many people
like every word out of your mouth is
that I was just talking like scalable
what like we’re just all caught up in
building billion-dollar it’s so stupid
like how big is your company how much
are you doing over a million we have it
we are prettier than you I mean we just
launched it until you make money you
shouldn’t be worried about global no so
any local markets go that way
bigger media than 75 million dollars in
revenue profitably before I thought
about even going to London okay
everybody’s caught that listen I’m
telling you all of you you’re caught up
in propaganda you’re not
thinking about it smartly you make no
money and you’re sitting here worried
about winning globally and you haven’t
even started winning locally I
understand yeah I’m just thinking like
it’s partnership the way to go to
somebody that are oh no the way to go is
to not think about it at all okay do you
understand yeah I think there’s an
enormous amount of confusion in the
system for twenty eight year olds about
where they are in life I think that’s my
biggest problem I’ve been having lately
that’s I’ve been watching a lot of you
and watching a lot of your videos and a
lot of things that you do and help me
kind of come out and realize you know my
time is
I never find it I got my own clock a
hundred Pro honestly no joke
I feel like you’re closer to two point
eight years old than the way you think
about twenty eight like you’ve got 60
years of execution in front of you
that’s like tuefel life’s more of
execution and and the problem with 28 is
28 a tricky thing 28 tricky 28 is too
many people up because I’m telling you
that looking at 30 like wait a minute I
go thirties here shouldn’t I
quote-unquote have my life together you
know and then at 28 you got you know
five to fifty percent of your friends
that you went to high school or college
with that are like you know getting
married having you know get getting
somewhere in their life that it uh don’t
let anybody else’s clock you know
dictate your game like a you know 28 is
earliest dude honestly brother I’ll
shoot it straight to you I’m 42 years
old and I swear on everything I’ve got I
feel like I’m just starting and
everything that people think I am and
what I’ve accomplished and all that is
in my own head cuz I’m like I haven’t
even started so imagine what I think
about you at 28 I’ve hit that kind of
quiet crescendo moment where like it
just I’m so in tune with like putting
out content putting it out there letting
you guys consume it reading your
feedback in this viral loop and just
feels like I’m in that zone and every
day I wish for you guys out there in the
world to find that same zone and so look
for that thing find that thing and for
me this community is that thing and I
want to thank you from the bottom of my
heart thank you so much have the best
best rest we can have the best summer
flip start things produce content but
most of all listen you know the audacity
that everybody wants likes and comments
and subscribers but doesn’t want to then
do for them what they want to return to
selfishness of like give me vanity
metrics and social and content and
digital yet
he is if you listened and cared about
those individuals as much as what you
wanted from them and likes and
subscribers everything would be
different
please do not take things for granted
and most of all do not take your
community for granted because it’s the
foundation of your opportunity in this
digital world my entire career what what
allows me to be here today what allows
me to dream and be audacious about
owning a professional football team is
very simple I chase underpriced
attention I chase properly priced
attention and I completely punt
overpriced attention simple I know that
everybody in this room does things for
eight to ten hours a day every day of
the day of the week the month a year on
things that no longer bring as much
value as it did six nine 14 years ago
that helped you get to this point I know
that there’s somebody in this room that
if they started a b2b podcast I know
that if somebody in this room who had
never thought about producing content or
media if they started a podcast which
they don’t even have the beginnings of a
thought of how to do that right now
but the good news is you literally go to
google and you type in how do I start a
podcast I know that if somebody here
started a podcast for this industry and
put out an episode every week and
interviewed a thought leader in this
industry that even though only 700 to
1500 people would listen to it because
it’s obviously very niche in its content
that it would be the differentiator of
growing their business that it would
lead to lead gen that there are people
that they’re trying to chase to get the
account that in turn a year later would
be chasing them to be a guest on the
show which then would inevitably lead to
them getting the business my friends
please understand over the next period
of time as I talk to you about some of
these nuances that I am NOT a
technologist that had I not been in
business that I wouldn’t want to have
necessarily an Instagram or snapchat or
LinkedIn account it doesn’t come natural
to me it’s not necessarily what I want
I want is to sell stuff what I want is
to run a successful business what I want
is to win and to me if you sit in this
room and you do not realize how extreme
the internet technology revolution
actually is you become vulnerable if I
can suffocate all of you today to take
25% of your take-home income this year
and pour it back into two people who do
video and written word and put it into
Facebook and Instagram ads literally all
of you will email me 24 months actually
get if you can start right away
literally 25% of you are going to come
to me this time next year right here and
be like holy I’ve been listening to your
stuff for seven years your keynote was
different in Miami last year at this
time I listened I said it I don’t need
to go to Ibiza three times this year yet
I don’t need to buy a better BMW this
year to make me feel good with the
neighbors get I don’t need another pair
of Supremes or Yeezys I took the money
and I put it into Karen the film woman
and Rick the ad guy and now my business
is 2x this will 100% work even if you
suck on camera have zero charisma are
only eight days in the industry this
will work because it is such under
priced attention that the ROI will work
that if you’re a to skill the ads are a
twenty in the ten point scale and it
closes the Delta of you being average if
you literally literally and I’ve said
this for seven years if you literally
literally go interview the guy who owns
the gym in town the guy who owns the
pizza shop the woman that owns the
insurance brokerage if you literally
literally literally just interview your
local community that you become the
local newspaper in three minute video
form on your
you don’t even need to hire d-roc or
babban rice your phone if you literally
take it selfie it and interview the
principal of the school in your
neighborhood you will become the local
celebrity who can then transact on
whatever you’re trying to sell that
group if you bring value to people if
you interview the best high school
basketball player literally just that
your business will change or if you
literally just give the advice of how
you got here what you learned if you
shared your thoughts if you do not
understand that you were a media company
then you will not be as successful as
you are today in a decade and that’s not
interesting when the alternative is your
four to seven times bigger this think
guys you have to understand what
happened to Blockbuster and Netflix what
happened with uber and taxi companies
what happened with hotels versus Airbnb
is happening with you as a human in your
business and so when you have the best
hand and you know it because you’ve been
paying attention and you know how to
everybody here is playing Facebook
Instagram social media YouTube
podcasting like they have the best hand
and they’re calling and you’re not going
them into getting all the money you’re
just folding and that’s this audience so
can you imagine what I feel is going on
outside this stadium so this is a call
to action for everybody to do me one
favor and I do think I could get a lot
of you to do it which excites the
of me please right now listen maybe
you’ve laid out money maybe you’re in
the middle of a renovation maybe you’re
paying for your kids college
Mazel Tov I know there’s nuances on
everybody’s life but if you are in a
position where literally your take-home
income this year is literally the stuff
you’re gonna go and do things with
please from 25% to 90% if you can go
humble please take that money and hire
two people to make a lot more content
for you about you and your business and
please give the rest of the money to
Facebook and YouTube and Instagram and I
fund
mentally promise you you will walk here
to this conference next year and
personally thank me emotionally because
your business will change and I know not
one of you has gone all in content every
day for nine years before it started
it’s not sexy it’s just basic but it
works and you’ve got this got craft and
there’s a lot of people that have crafts
so you have to pitch up Jeff you know
one day one post something cool and
somebody cool
Drake sees it does it and everything
changes yeah but you have to do it every
day to have that moment that guy or gal
is also the same person that I want to
reach to sell a bottle of wine or a book
to and that space in his and her
Facebook feed is only one space so that
is supply and demand I used to buy that
space four years ago for a dollar for
every thousand impressions now it’s
seven the longer you think this world
doesn’t exist and you fear-mongering the
longer you don’t put money in the longer
I can extract all the value I’ve lived
this game I’m not a hero because I took
it from three to 50 million 60 million
my dad’s business I actually am a
schmuck I should have spent more on
Google I had it figured out
every time you typed in Cabernet Merlot
silver Okemos Napa Bordeaux I was
showing up first cuz nobody realized it
was good real estate and it was only
costing me five or ten cents a click and
I was making between seven and eighty
dollars in profit for something that was
costing me three dollars to get you
through the funnel on the average of 60
people coming in one converting I was
stupid I’m being serious with you I
stand here and have passionate about
LinkedIn and Facebook marketing in a b2b
environment today out of regret for what
I did from 2002 to 2005 because I should
have spent more it was basic math but I
just didn’t understand because I was
young in my career and it just I don’t
even know how to explain it to you when
it’s too good to be true it’s too good
to be true right I’m an immigrant I was
cynical I just didn’t I also thought it
was important to do direct mail and
local commercials and magazine that I
was doing it all but in hindsight it was
the great mistake of my career the great
mistake of my career was not spending
more money on
Google and I promise you the great
mistake of your accelerated growth for
the 80% that just raised their hand
is not taking advertising on LinkedIn
and Facebook seriously because you don’t
think your person is on it I’ve heard
every more guys I’ve been doing this for
10 years I know what your Excuse is
gonna be
I can’t wait to the Q&A I’m gonna stand
here and want to but Gary my my target
person is a 63 year old man he’s not on
it bullsh
of course he’s on it who they think is
spreading all the Democratic and
Republican propaganda on Facebook why I
made content the answer is I don’t know
nobody knows there’s no right answer
there’s that moment in time
this is why I produce content every day
if you might be watching my content
every day and it might be this
conversation with us in the vlog that is
you know it’s very meta this might have
been the one this might have been the
one on this day because of a
conversation you had last night because
there the weather outside because of a
news headline because of the patterns of
how the for Instagram posts came in your
feed it might just be the time you
finally do what you’re supposed to do
and I think a lot of people think of it
as like quit your job and go do your
journey right things you’re thinking
about others
I think of it a little bit different
sometimes it’s that’s exactly right
sometimes it’s like mm-hmm
I’ve been doing this nightlife and
t-shirt thing for seven years
well why don’t I go work for something
smart for a year reset why don’t I go
travel
why don’t I sell my home that I don’t
use 90% of take that money get an
apartment and then do something with
that money so to me it’s not just like
the fancy sizzle of like now jump into
the rest of your life it’s also like
it’s also like awed it understand what
you need break up with that person marry
that person you know you know start your
career go back to corporate for an hour
okay a year to to reset you know just do
it’s the indecisiveness decision it’s
the indecisiveness that is the poison
the biggest thing about doing is the
undoing that people don’t see I’m always
like okay good and then like if you fail
go back but people don’t want the
Scarlet Letter they don’t want the
judgment that’s why you have to tune
everything out because if you go and
judge start your t-shirt brand or your
pin brand or your video blog and it
fails if you just think you can go back
to it well that sounds cool but if you
feel like oh but then everybody’s got a
clown on me and see you say like then
you’re if you’re if you’re pessimistic
mom’s abetik see I told you you could
never do it
if you can’t get over that think of
stuff you just need to figure out how to
ride it so it doesn’t kill you and by
the way I mean this um you know
collecting the energy of the room
thinking about what we talked about here
I mean this I don’t think it’s bad if
you’re not capable or willing to up your
game put in the work hustle you should
lose it’s how you won but everybody
fights hard for 30 years and I want to
hold up athletes you know you know what
I hate about business that I love about
athletes when you’re the best athlete in
the world you get the results when you
get to 36 and a younger lion comes along
you lose in business we have this weird
that we’re supposed to be
rewarded at the end you I mean it you
you didn’t take this internet serious
for the last 20 years why the should you
be rewarded I think the biggest obstacle
to success is a lack of optimism that
question in itself is the problem my
friend right you’re looking at two
things that are both negatives and guess
what both of them are obstacles when I
started winelibrary.com transformation
from my business I had time I’ve worked
my face off every minute but we didn’t
have a whole lot of money in our profit
Center so it took more time right it’s
just the way it is
today I have more money but boy don’t I
have time but neither ever ever will be
an excuse for me and so just a drill
this through the throat of the
vaynernation that’s right I went that
graphic don’t smile d-roc here’s the
bottom line I refuse to allow
you to get an answer to that question
because both of them are firmly square
in the excuse column and I have no
patience for that there will always be
problems let’s talk about a million
other things that are a way to stop
success the health and well-being of
your family members so it takes your
mind away from execution the country you
live in government and political you
know concepts at these moments a la
startups in China that I’ve invested in
that got traction but then people that
were wired into the government decided
to not allow it to happen and then the
startup disappeared not as easy to be an
entrepreneur there it’s still a
communist country sorry it just is and
so all these things can be problems
right there’s a competitor with a
billion dollars who’s also skilled and
punches you in the mouth and knocks you
out in the first round right the world
changing I mean there’s just a million
obstacles right the media one bad
coverage of you a moment in time you
know what I think about a lot you know
what I think about a lot let’s get
really real this is why we did this show
I always I’m a human being and I always
think about a moment in time what if I
just say the wrong thing at the wrong
time right what if I call out China for
being a communist country in an episode
while I’m on a rant and somebody who’s
watching doesn’t like the way that
tastes and it takes away a business
opportunity for me in China in seven
years even though I’m not trying to zing
it’s just things that I saw what if what
if you know what if what if I look down
on my phone while I’m driving even
though I’ve really not done that and I
hit somebody and I kill them and that
becomes the story and I like forget
about the story about what you think of
me I will never recover from that
because I killed somebody
because I needed to check a tweet these
are moments in time so there are so many
things that can keep you from being
successful right the people that you
invested in having something that
happened to them so it slows you down my
friends there are a million reasons why
not but there’s one great reason why
which is you’ve just got a persevere no
matter what it is it’s just the way it
is it’s hard being an entrepreneur it’s
hard building a business everybody
thinks it’s so easy that there’s an
entitlement
there’s a disaster zinging China here
because my us thing right now there is
an insane generation of 18 to 25 year
olds right now that think they’re
entitled to having a business because
they saw the social network movie and
everybody’s decided if you’re a kid and
you know what Tech is because you used
Instagram early on you’re entitled to
actually build a business building a
business is hard and you know what makes
it really hard
everything that happens every day of
every moment so you can pick time you
can pick money as the one or two things
that you think stopped you from winning
your game but the truth is there’s a
million reasons 99 percent of businesses
go out of business
for a reason and that reason is it’s
hard and so if you’re watching this show
I’ve got a sense of who you are and you
need to start creating layers and layers
and layers and layers of skin to be able
to get through because the glamour of
being an entrepreneur the goodness you
know you get very confused by my
optimism because it’s my optimism I
can’t help it it’s just how I roll it’s
probably one of the variable 1% reasons
why I’m successful but please don’t get
it twisted this is hard every day is
hard and if you don’t have the stomach
to weather the storm you will not be
successful and by the way let me throw
you a real weird curveball and that’s
okay people have to look themselves in a
mirror and understand if they’re number
two three four or five six seven an
organization that has differences of
being a number one but maybe that’s
where your skill set sets maybe that’s
how you make your fortunes and happiness
and all the things that you’re looking
for and so that question got me going a
little bit Steve because it’s endured a
context of excuses and I will never make
an excuse everything that’s a problem
with me everything I don’t achieve
everything that’s a problem at
vaynermedia and everything is my fault
and I I succumb to that and I respect
that and I actually think that’s the way it should be
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