September 25, 2024 • 34 mins
Ever wondered how a wine enthusiast could transform into a global business mogul? Join us as Gary Vee, the trailblazing entrepreneur and marketing genius, shares his incredible journey from the "wine guy" to a powerhouse in the business world. Discover the pivotal role his book "Crush it" played in this transformation and learn why integrating book publishing with social media is a game-changer. Gary’s expertise in spotting trends and adopting emerging platforms promises a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to stay ahead in the ever-evolving marketing landscape.
Managing successful ventures is no easy feat, but Gary makes it sound almost effortless. Dive into his unique leadership style at VaynerX, where he balances roles across VaynerMedia, The Sasha Group, and more. Learn how Gary prioritizes personal happiness over financial gain, ensuring that each business under his umbrella receives the attention it needs. His passion for fostering deep relationships within his organizations and maintaining his roots at Wine Library offer a masterclass in balancing professional and personal commitments.
For those aiming to scale their businesses to new heights, Gary’s strategies are invaluable. Discover why having a reliable right-hand person and a tenacious attitude are essential for growth. Gary shares his wisdom on the importance of patience, innovation, and mastering organic social media to scale from millions to even greater financial success. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on your supporters rather than skeptics, drawing from his own experiences to inspire resilience and conviction. Tune in for practical advice and timeless insights from one of the most influential voices in business today.
Watch the free training: https://selfpublishing.com/freetraining
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Here are some links that might come in handy:
- Apply for a free book consultation
- Register for our free on-demand training
Must-watch episodes:
- SPS 044: Using A Free + Shipping Book Funnel with Anik Singal
- SPS 115: Using Atomic Habits To Write & Publish A Book with James Clear
- SPS 127: Traditional vs. Self Publishing: Which You Should Choose with Ruth Soukup
- SPS 095: The Five Love Languages: Selling 15 Million Copies with Gary Chapman
- SPS 056: How I Sold 46M Copies of My Self Published Book with Robert Kiyosaki
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Our next speaker needs no introduction, but I'll
give him one anyway.
All right, so his name is GaryVee.
You may have heard of himbefore.
You may have seen him on social.
He started Blind Library backin the day, turned that into a
massive business, co-foundedVaynerMedia runs so many
companies now that I can't evenkeep track.
(00:26):
He's authored six New YorkTimes bestselling books,
including his book Crush it,including Jab Jab Jab Right Hook
, and he's got a couple of newbooks that just came out,
including a children's book.
So children's book authors,stay tuned.
We might get to talk about thata little bit as well.
But join me in welcoming to thestage Mr Gary Vee.
(00:47):
Gary, how are you Welcome?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you so much for having me Happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, so let's dive in with this.
I mean, obviously, prolificauthor books have been a huge
part of growing your brand,growing your business.
Why books, and what are some ofthe biggest impacts that you've
seen on the business side ofthings from the books that
you've published?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Why books?
Because people read them.
You know, I think I'm shockedby how many people are overly
romantic about the medium ofdistribution of thoughts and
ideas.
I don't demonize any platform,whether it's a platform within
social media, like a TikTok orSnapchat, whether it's a medium
(01:35):
that is evolving from its primeyears, like radio, and
definitely not something likebooks, which have been here
forever, and whether it's inKindle form or audio book form
or hardcover, softcover.
It's just very clear thatpeople read books at scale
forever.
And so why books is because Iwant to get thoughts across and
(01:59):
share ideas and be creative, andit's one of the most
substantial mediums in the worldas far as business impact.
I mean, I just wrote a new bookcalled Day Trading Attention,
and I would say every morningthat I wake up there's a
LinkedIn message from a CMO or ahead of marketing from a
Fortune 5000 company that saysthey just read it or listened to
(02:21):
it.
They're buying it for the wholeteam.
Or I'll get a text from my newbusiness team at VaynerMedia
that says somebody just RFP'd usand in the comments section
said they just read day tradingattention and that's exactly
what their company is lookingfor.
And so you know I mean, lookCrush it my first book.
Besides the keynote that I gavethat led to the book offer.
(02:45):
The combination of that keynoteand the book that was the
watershed moment oftransitioning my career from
being a wine guy to being abusiness and marketing
personality, and you know it's a.
It's one of the mostsubstantial chapters of my
career.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And can you speak on that?
I mean because before then,like you said, you were known as
the wine guy.
What are your thoughts forpeople here in our audience that
are trying to change industriesand use a book to do that?
Obviously, you did thatincredibly successfully with
Crush it Like.
What did you learn from thatand what advice would you have
for folks?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's obviously you need it to
be commercially successful.
I think it's obviously you needit to be commercially
successful, and so, to me, crushit's one of my most
commercially successful books,so it helped transition.
I think it's very obvious thata book can do that for people.
You know who I think about alot.
Mitch Albom.
Right, I knew him on ESPN forthe sports reporters, but
(03:42):
Weekends with Morty thatcompletely changed my perception
of him, like, oh, wait a minute, he's like an author, not just
a sports reporter, and so it'sobviously a very real medium,
and I think authors should alsouse modern mediums to set up
that path.
(04:03):
So it wasn't just crush it.
It was crush it in combinationwith 24 months of Twitter and
Facebook content.
That was not this is the bestRioja to drink or the new New
Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
It was hey, facebook andTwitter might be a big medium.
You need to check it out.
Or here's how I actually builtmy dad's business, or here's how
I manage people, or here'swhere I'm investing my money,
(04:26):
and so you know, I think it's acombination of the two and you
know, I think I think a lot ofpeople that are watching this
need to be careful of overputting a book on a pedestal,
even though I love putting it ona pedestal.
It's an and not an or it's notlike I need to be an author of a
(04:47):
book or bust it's.
I'm going to use social mediacreative and, by the way, the
depth that you can go, I mean,especially if you're someone who
can use LinkedIn properly youcan write real paragraphs.
Think of it as the way youwould write an op-ed to the New
York Times 30 years ago as agateway to people becoming
(05:09):
interested in your book.
You can do that for free, everyday right now, and actually
reach an enormous amount ofpeople if you're a high quality
writer.
And so I would encourageauthors to not only recognize
that a book can change theparadigm and reposition them
professionally to the world, butI would also encourage them
heavily, because I know so manyauthor friends or ambitious
(05:31):
authors who, I think, viewsocial media writing as a lesser
than, and it's a humongousmistake.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And what I think it's easy to look at the social
media landscape right now andtake for granted.
You set a lot of the trends ofwhat we are seeing today and I
just remember you said it's notjust Crush it, it's.
I was everywhere on Facebook,twitter et cetera for 24 months.
So I remember in the early daysI mean it's I forget what the
figure was it was like you werespending 25, 50 grand, 100 grand
(06:00):
, whatever it was, a month oncontent on all those platforms.
So I guess two-part questionlike and you've done this
repeatedly on new platforms andcaught new trends before they've
really become mainstream.
So I guess how do you look forand spot those trends and then
how do you know when to go allin Cause?
I think that could.
That can be scary.
It's like you went all in onthese platforms.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's like you couldn't go anywhere you went
all in on these platforms it'slike you couldn't go anywhere.
I went all in, but to yourpoint, it's because I saw
results Right.
I wouldn't go all in if Ididn't.
I'll give you an example.
I started a new podcast formatcalled Podcasts with Friends
with three guests and I did 20episodes this year and I don't
(06:45):
think I'm going to continuedoing it.
But I went all in with myintuition that it was a good
format and the fact that ithasn't hit the audience's cup of
tea, that doesn't upset me.
That doesn't make me questionmyself Am I losing it?
Because all these 30 yearswhere I've been hitting things
right, there's been a millionthings that have you know.
We can talk about what I did onFacebook and Twitter, but I
(07:06):
also went all in on social camand I went all in on peach and I
went all in on jelly and I wastesting and trying everything.
I think what I have, which Iwould encourage people to
analyze themselves and doubledown on it if they have it, or
start to change if they don't.
I'm not scared to waste my timeand I'm shocked by how many
(07:32):
people are scared to waste theirtime when their time is not
even that valuable.
So there's a level of audacitythat people that haven't made it
yet are like "'Well, I don'twanna waste my time on that,
gary.
"'i can't go all in on that'"'I'm like well, I don't want to
waste my time on that, gary, Ican't go all in on that.
I'm like well, what are wedoing here?
You're talking to me aboutwanting to be a New York Times
bestselling author, but you'renot willing to do things that
(07:54):
you think are beneath you.
I think what it really speaksto is that most people don't
want to put in the work that isrequired to achieve remarkable
things.
You know, in this genre,knowing how much people value
being a New York Timesbestselling author or a
commercially successful author.
That's a very small group ofpeople that have ever written
(08:14):
books, and people that have everwritten books is a remarkably
small number compared to all thepeople that want to write a
book.
So don't you think it should behard?
And so I think what have I abook?
So don't you think it should behard?
And so I think what have I done?
Well, I don't say no, I saymaybe.
And I think most people say no,and I say maybe with the hope of
(08:34):
yes, and I think that's animportant framework that has
worked for me, and so, whetherit's AI or whether it's
something else VR, blockchain Ijust don't say no, because
history has proven to me thatthe people that say no always
lose.
And the people that say, maybeeventually find their nugget or
(08:59):
their genre, or have a careerthat looks a little bit more
like mine, which is like youknow, listen, I'm aware that
I've been gifted with intuitionaround consumer behavior.
So, yes, I will have a careerthat looks a little bit more
like mine, which is like youknow, listen, I'm aware that
I've been gifted with intuitionaround consumer behavior.
So, yes, I will have a higherpropensity of doing well with
this stuff, but I'm kissing lotsof frogs to find these princes.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So let's shift gears, talk a little business.
The business empire has grown.
You've got a bunch of kind ofoffshoots of VaynerMedia and the
Vayner brand.
Yes, how do you juggle it alland how do you figure out where
to focus your attention?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I juggle it through good people, you know.
So I think one thing I've donevery well is I built a very
large organization with VaynerX.
So VaynerX holds VaynerMediaand eight other companies the
Sasha Group, evenosa, dom,vaynercommerce and Gallery Media
Group, purewowcom and things ofthat nature, vaynerspeakers,
(09:56):
and then even outside of that,vaynersports sits outside of
VaynerX, my brother runs that,and then there's obviously
VeeFriends that sits outside ofit.
And now I have VaynerW.
My brother runs that, and thenthere's obviously VFriends that
sits outside of it.
And now I have VaynerWatt,which is a TV production company
, sits outside of it.
Vaynerwatt, my partner, ericWattenberg, runs that day-to-day
.
I'm the special sauceVaynersports.
(10:16):
My brother AJ runs that.
I'm the special sauce VaynerX.
I run VFriends, I run, vfriends, I run.
But VaynerX I run with MarkYutkin and Alan Harker and Avery
and Nick and Kaylin and Hannahand VFriends I run with John
Troutman and Andy Kramiak andMeeling.
So I think I scale throughpeople, which works for me
(10:39):
because I'm very much a guidancecounselor, a camp counselor, a
head coach, you know, a bigbrother.
I'm very, I'm very comfortableand I enjoy leading people and
building really deeprelationships within my business
organizations and thatcontinuity.
Even Wine Library I still run.
I mean, literally, while wewere listening to that nice
(11:01):
music I'm going to pull it upright here on my laptop I texted
my best friend, brandon,something about today's wine
text.
By the way, if you like winewinetextcom, sign up for it.
I texted him something about itand he's running the wine store
day to day, somebody I've knownsince I was 14, but I'm still
(11:21):
very involved, you know.
You know, cause it's my familybusiness, it's kind of my first
love, and so you know I think Ido it by having great people
around me.
And then how do I focus?
Anybody who's watching this,who has three or more children,
is going to know what I'm goingto say.
You're only as happy as yourmost unhappy child.
Same with me running 10, 15, 20businesses.
(11:44):
I'm just kind of watching them,and wherever I need to help is
where I'm at, whether that'sextreme offense or extreme
defense, right.
So the way I view it is extremeoffense, extreme defense.
Either oh my God, we've crackedsomething, let's go all in, and
that's gonna eat up a lot ofenergy.
Or we're cracked something,let's go all in, and that's
going to eat up a lot of energy,or we're in trouble, let me go
(12:05):
all in.
So think of it as a boat Uh-oh,there's a hole in the boat, I
got to go put my finger in it.
Or a boat race Uh-oh, I see apath where we can beat every
other boat.
I'm going to go jump and takethe wheel and put my foot on the
pedal, and that's how I run myworld.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
That's cool, that's really helpful.
And we had Dan Martell onyesterday and he talked about,
uh, kind of graduating out ofbecoming the CEO of his
businesses.
So it sounds like are you theof those eight businesses?
Are you the CEO of any of thoseor do you have people that run
those?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So I think so I would say that Dan is probably giving
better advice for the masses ofthis audience than I am, and
I'll explain what I mean by that.
I would argue I'm not only theCEO, I'm even the COO in a lot
of my companies, but that is notbecause I'm trying to maximize
money, I'm trying to maximizehappiness.
(12:57):
For me, running businesses dayto day is my great joy.
I would rather run mybusinesses than go skiing or
play golf or go scaling right.
So Dan's advice is for a lot ofentrepreneurs who actually have
businesses predominantly tomake money, to then go spend it
(13:18):
on things they enjoy more ayacht trips, whatever that may
be fancy cars.
I think I'm in a smaller groupof people where I've got big.
I mean VaynerX, for context ofthis audience is 2,500 people in
a $330 million revenue business.
So it's a big business, justthat one.
(13:45):
But I get enjoyment out of beingthe COO in a world where I
understand what Dan's saying.
Like a lot of people are likebecome the chairman of the board
, gary, go do bigger things,make more money.
I'm like, yes, I understand andthat's not.
That's very good advice, it'snot bad advice.
But they don't understand me.
I enjoy the HR, the challengesof restructures.
I've got a lot of COO DNA in me.
(14:06):
I've got much more COO DNA inme than chairman of the board
DNA right, I'm the CEO, but I godown to be COO way more than I
get excited about one day beingchairman.
In fact, I hope I'm never thechairman, only of my companies.
I hope that the day I take myhand off the wheel is the day I
(14:28):
die.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
And so I think we're throwing around a lot of titles
here, right, ceo, coo, chairmanof the board, whatever, I think
to Dan's point.
He wants to create content andthen shine a light on the
businesses because he feels likethat's the highest value thing
that he can do to grow therevenue of those businesses.
I would assume that youprobably have a similar stance
to that, so I guess maybe Iwould argue I wrote the damn
(14:52):
book on it, right Unintended.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I just think you can do both.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And so what are you spending most of your time on in
the day-to-day for thosebusinesses?
You said defense or offense.
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It's both.
I mean, it ebbs and flows.
So right now I'm so deep inVaynerMedia and VFriends.
Vfriends just came out with akid's book, has cartoons coming
out.
I've got VCon coming up nextweek in LA.
I'm working on a lot of likepeople would be stunned that are
(15:27):
watching right now if they wentto eBay right now and typed in
VFriends, what's going on withthe collectible pins and the
trading cards.
And so I'm in it and it'severything from 2026 product
planning to technology advanceswith the blockchain.
And then on VaynerMedia, wejust hired a new head of
Australia, a new head of Canada.
We're plotting Middle Eastexpansion.
(15:48):
We're pitching seven of the 50biggest companies in the world
to become their creative agencyin 2025.
We're expanding into deep AIstuff, just like you know.
I mean.
And then hiring, firing.
I'm in deep restructure moderight now to make it more
(16:09):
efficient, make it moreprofitable, cut overhead, but
move those overhead heads intothe floor.
So just operating, brother.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Nice Love it.
I can relate to that.
Just operating, brother, niceLove it, I can relate to that.
Now, what?
How, I guess?
How do you think about hiringand developing people you talked
about like, hey, key part isI've got partners that can run a
lot of the day-to-day and theneither I'm going all offense or
(16:38):
all defense and that allows youto kind of float between these
eight companies.
But what's your advice forfolks, especially at the level
that you're at, of identifyingtalent, developing talent and
retaining talent?
How do you look at that?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
15 years ago I started VaynerMedia.
My dad never paid me a lot ofmoney when I worked at Wine
Library which is appropriatebecause it was family immigrant
business and so the way Istarted this was my brother
graduated college and we hiredas interns four of his best
friends from high school andcollege.
I brought one guy over fromWine Library that I thought was
(17:10):
sharp, matt Sinema, still withthe company, and we were six
people in a conference room ofanother company, and that's how
we started the company, and ofthe people that were in that
room, four of the six are stillin the company 15 years later,
and everybody in the top 100employees that I hired I hired
(17:31):
with the mindset of I'm going tomake this person a family
member of mine in perpetuity.
Hopefully that that means thatthat could be done within the
company, but if not, they'reobviously someone that I'll have
a relationship with outside ofthe company forever, and that
stands to be true today, and soit's the intent to develop a
(17:56):
forever culture that I thinkcreates these kind of people.
If you view people that you'rehiring as you pay them and thus
they should do whatever you say,or I'm going to build a company
for three or four years and I'mgoing to flip it.
You're going to be in a harderframework to pull off really
(18:17):
doing what I'm doing, which isplaying in perpetuity and
evergreen.
Thus, the relationships you'remaking and the development of
those employees is everything,my entire everything relies on
me developing 50 to a hundredforever teammates, and so, as
(18:38):
you can imagine, if that's thecase, you know I'm, you know I'm
actually off the grid.
This week is the only thing I'mdoing on a set.
I'm in Europe right now, but Itexted someone about their dad
being sick this morning.
You know, it's just part of myeveryday life.
Like, if I'm developing realrelationships, I'm going out to
dinner with people.
I'm I'm just acting human goingout to dinner with people.
(19:06):
I'm just acting human, notcorporate.
And it's not some sort of masterplan, it just fits my
personality.
But it also is the requirementof creating 25, 40-year
executives.
There's only two reasons whysomebody will stay in a company
for 35 years.
Two reasons why somebody willstay in a company for 35 years.
One is you.
You became family to.
They're scared and insecure andnever want to leave, even
(19:27):
though it's a crappy situation.
Um, because they themselveshave their own issues.
You much rather be the firstone.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
When I and so I love that intent and I love the
development and just the deepcare for people how do you
balance like you're a harddriver, you grow companies very
quickly, you work very hard howdo you balance that with the
people that you're developing?
Because I would assume thatthat's pretty hard to work with.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Not at all actually Not at all.
Let me go the other way hard towork with.
Not at all actually Not at all.
Let me go the other way.
I have zero expectation of thepeople around me working as hard
as me Zero Because they're notbeing compensated at the same
level.
I think this is a huge mistake,and it's an audacious and
(20:22):
delusional mistake that peoplearound you should be working as
hard as you when they are notbeing compensated as much as you
are.
I deal with it very easily.
I have employees that are nineto fivers my friend really and
it doesn't bother me.
I don't get to judge myemployees' ambitions.
I just have to do a good jobarticulating the truth of what
(20:45):
comes along with their ambitions.
So if you're a nine to fiverand you're off the grid all
weekend and after five, it'sunlikely you're gonna be the CEO
one day when I move on.
But it doesn't mean you can'thave a great career at my
company.
And so I need all types.
I need the people that want towork, and, by the way.
(21:06):
I'm also very prepared whentheir vibe changes.
I've had many employees sit inmy room at 25 and tell me, gary,
one day I'm going to run thiscompany, and then they fall in
love and start a family and moveout to the suburbs and want to
go to every softball game and Ithink that's beautiful.
And then all of a sudden, titleand comp start to slow down for
(21:29):
that person and somebody mightlap them.
And that's okay too.
Like I don't judge how peoplewant to live their life, I'm
just responsible for beingarticulate, candorous,
respectful, kind, and so I'll behonest with you.
I've never struggled with beingthe level of work, ethic or
tenacity or even capability ofthe people around me.
(21:50):
If I think someone stinks andare lazy, I'm in control, I can
fire them.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Cool, I love it.
And I love the emphasis onhaving clear conversations.
Right, because theircircumstances might change, your
circumstances might change orwhat the business needs of them
might change.
But if you have clearconversations about that and are
adaptable to that, well thenyou can build longevity,
regardless of what thecircumstances, how they might
change in the business.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And as a business owner, for everybody who's
watching here.
By the way, are those all inthose screens?
You have right there?
Is that all the faces of thepeople that are tuned in?
Yes, sir, oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
So for all of you that I see like very tiny in the
left corner like just rememberif you have employees you're in
charge.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
You know like I'm stunned by how many CEOs or
founders are crying about thingsall the time.
They're like Johnny's a mess.
I'm like fire Johnny, you can,you know.
And so just a lot of excusesand a lot of lack of
accountability.
And like, by the way, if you'refiring Johnny as your right
hand and he's the sixth righthand you fired in two years now
(22:56):
it's time to not point fingers,it's time to point thumbs,
Because clearly you're theproblem.
So there's self-awareness,there's so much that goes into
building this out properly.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, I like that, which Michael Hyatt would always
tell me about stuff like that.
What about your leadership hasled to this result?
Right, you're the commondenominator.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I uh, I couldn't explain to you how much I
believe the next sentence out ofmy mouth.
I genuinely believe that everysingle thing in my companies
that's a problem is 100% myfault.
I'm aware that I didn't forgetto close the door, like you know
(23:38):
, like, but like, I think thatlevel of accountability when
you're at the top actually leadsto a lot less anxiety and a lot
more happiness.
And I also think it's true Ihired the person that left the
door open, or I hired the personthat hired the person that left
the door open, and so I think Ithink that's something that is
liberating.
Uh, and I think uh isunfortunately a little rare
(23:59):
right?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Well, there's yeah, cause there's a freedom that
comes from not being able topoint the finger, cause if, if,
if, every problem in thebusiness is my fault, well then
I also have the ability tochange it.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
That part that, part brother.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So it's liberating, right, and let's put some of the
audience on the back screenhere for a second so you can see
more of them, gary, and I'dlove for you to speak.
This next advice to them, whichis for folks who are trying to
scale, because we've got a lotof folks that are pre seven
figures and then who are tryingto scale to a lot, cause we've
got a lot of folks that are preseven figures, uh, and, and then
some folks who are trying to goseven, eight, nine figures, so
(24:33):
pre seven figures, like goingback to that version of Gary and
those versions of Gary here.
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Pre seven is fine.
You know, if you do not have aright hand person right now
you're not you're going tostruggle to get to eight figures
.
So we've talked a lot aboutthis, but this is the piece of
advice.
Two things stand out pre-seven.
One it's hard to sometimesafford a right-hand person.
I think people get confused bythat.
But it's not as hard if you gowith family, friend or youngster
(25:02):
, that is destined to beremarkable.
A lot of people think they haveto overpay for someone who's
been doing it.
I don't see it that way.
So right-hand person for sure.
Pre-seven and number two if yourambition is to get to eight
figures and you're pre-seven,you're still at six you're going
(25:25):
to have to compromise certainthings.
You're going to have to bleed alittle bit, compromise certain
things.
Like you're going to have tobleed a little bit.
They just, you know, like thereis a willing your way to seven
figures variable.
That I.
And, by the way, when you hearthat if you're like, ah, I don't
like that Gary, then maybe youactually don't want to get to
eight figures and that's okay.
As a matter of fact, let megive you a curve ball.
A lot of people have businessesthat do 800,000 a year that
(25:50):
they make 250,000 from and theythey like life.
And then they go to 2 millionwhere they make 700,000, but
they don't like life because itjust came along with a lot of
extra stuff.
I've seen this a lot.
Yeah, something to keep in mind, but I would say right-hand
person more tenacity.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Cool, I like that.
And then selfless question forme personally.
We're at about 15 million ayear right now.
Next big benchmark is a hundredmillion.
What are the things that youwould think about if you were me
?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Two things.
Two things on that.
One is patience.
Believe it or not, it's justyou might be able to just stack
Like when I was at 14, which wasthe year at Vayner, I told AJ,
I think we can get to 500million by doing very little
different, just more.
And we're doing it.
Comma 15 to 100 sometimes alsotakes new product line
(26:40):
innovation like a realadditional thing.
I mentioned Wine Text earlier.
I built my dad's business to 65million.
I left it went back down to 25.
I invented wine techs back to65.
So it took me inventingsomething.
So you may need to be intoanother genre or another product
(27:04):
or service, or the mistake somany people make is you don't
realize that it's just anotherseven years of doing the same
thing.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Cool, I like that and , by the way, when you're seeing
this stuff come up on thescreen, that's our, the audience
, reacting to what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I was enjoying it.
I live on feedback, so thoseI've been enjoying those for the
last 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
All right.
So if if you were me, gary,what would you be focusing on as
the CEO to?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
to break through, what are you trying to?
What are you trying to attractfrom a customer lens?
Let's start with that.
Who?
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Say that in a different way.
What do you?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
mean yeah, who, what, uh, if you're so you're the CEO
, you're.
What should you be focused on?
I always think it's customers,right?
So who's your target customer?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Typically, it's people who want to grow their
business using a buck.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Then I think you should be making an obnoxious
amount of content.
I mean, linkedin is just loadedYouTube shorts.
I would become remarkable atorganic social you personally so
that you then know who to hireand how to judge them.
So I don't mean that you haveto be at the front of it, you
(28:19):
can be, but I need you Like.
What's unique about me is I'mthe front man, but I'm also the
behind the scenes man but alsothe behind the scenes man.
I had one of my guys on Team,gary, go to another prominent
individual and he hit up one ofmy teammates a year later and
goes.
I didn't realize how weird Garywas in that he did both.
(28:41):
He was in front of the screen,but he was also the guy behind
the screen.
I think for you, you have todefinitely at least be the guy
behind the screen, like knowwhat works on Facebook,
instagram, snapchat, right, thenwhat content you put in there.
Obviously, everyone's fixatedon the personal brand.
(29:02):
I actually think the avatar andthe mascot are coming next
anyway.
So, like if you made the authoradvantage ant and made that the
character, maybe that's who youexplode, that's something that
everybody follows and that'syou're making animations instead
of podcast videos.
(29:23):
So I would say the number onething a ceo needs to do is she
or he needs to be remarkable atgetting new customers.
Getting new customers forwannabe authors to grow their
business.
All the attention sits onsocial media, all seven
platforms.
You need to figure them out.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Love it and my team's probably going nuts right now
because you're like Chandler.
You got to do this.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
But again, Chandler, it's key here.
I'm glad to hear that's whatyou said, because I preempted it
.
It doesn't actually have to beyou, but you.
The human needs to know how itworks.
And then, whoever you put infront of it, the Geico lizard
flow from progressive oryourself, like Gary Vee, Dan
Martell, like you, can make thatcall, but the organization
(30:07):
needs to be putting out multiplepieces of content a day across
every one of those platforms.
That's why I wrote day tradingattention.
I knew that I had the follow-upfor Jab Jab Jab Right Hook and
it's completely based on this.
Cool Love it.
It's by far the biggestelephant in the room.
For every business, it's thebiggest opportunity.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Cool.
Well, Gary.
Final question here what's yourparting piece of advice?
Obviously, you've published abunch of books, successfully
scaled businesses, successfullyParting piece of advice for this
audience who wants to growtheir business using their books
.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Don't try to convince the unconvincible.
Don't dwell on one publisher.
If Harper Collins didn't likeyour book, move on If
Scheinman's just like.
Do not try to convince, haveconviction.
There are many people when Istarted my career that don't
didn't get me.
I didn't try to convince them,I just went out, executed and
(31:06):
found the ones that did.
There are people still whodon't get me and that's okay.
Do not try to sell to thenon-sellable.
Find the ghostwriter.
Find the publisher.
Find the distributor.
Find the bookstore.
Find the people that do get it.
Do not waste your energy beinginsecure.
(31:29):
That you want this person toget you, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
That's awesome.
Well, Gary, what's the book orplace that you'd like to send
people that they can check out?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I'm Gary VEE on every platform.
I'm Gary Vaynerchuk on LinkedIn.
Feel free to reach out and Ireally appreciate your time and
I hope everybody has atremendous weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, guys, big thank you and love Gary.
I know you're off the grid thisweek.
Thank you for making the timefor this.
Happy to do it.
Yes, sir, give it up for GaryVaynerchuk.
That was awesome.
Thank you Amazing.
Our next speaker needs no introduction, but I'll
give him one anyway.
All right, so his name is GaryVee.
You may have heard of himbefore.
You may have seen him on social.
He started Blind Library backin the day, turned that into a
massive business, co-foundedVaynerMedia runs so many
companies now that I can't evenkeep track.
(00:26):
He's authored six New YorkTimes bestselling books,
including his book Crush it,including Jab Jab Jab Right Hook
, and he's got a couple of newbooks that just came out,
including a children's book.
So children's book authors,stay tuned.
We might get to talk about thata little bit as well.
But join me in welcoming to thestage Mr Gary Vee.
(00:47):
Gary, how are you Welcome?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you so much for having me Happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, so let's dive in with this.
I mean, obviously, prolificauthor books have been a huge
part of growing your brand,growing your business.
Why books, and what are some ofthe biggest impacts that you've
seen on the business side ofthings from the books that
you've published?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Why books?
Because people read them.
You know, I think I'm shockedby how many people are overly
romantic about the medium ofdistribution of thoughts and
ideas.
I don't demonize any platform,whether it's a platform within
social media, like a TikTok orSnapchat, whether it's a medium
(01:35):
that is evolving from its primeyears, like radio, and
definitely not something likebooks, which have been here
forever, and whether it's inKindle form or audio book form
or hardcover, softcover.
It's just very clear thatpeople read books at scale
forever.
And so why books is because Iwant to get thoughts across and
(01:59):
share ideas and be creative, andit's one of the most
substantial mediums in the worldas far as business impact.
I mean, I just wrote a new bookcalled Day Trading Attention,
and I would say every morningthat I wake up there's a
LinkedIn message from a CMO or ahead of marketing from a
Fortune 5000 company that saysthey just read it or listened to
(02:21):
it.
They're buying it for the wholeteam.
Or I'll get a text from my newbusiness team at VaynerMedia
that says somebody just RFP'd usand in the comments section
said they just read day tradingattention and that's exactly
what their company is lookingfor.
And so you know I mean, lookCrush it my first book.
Besides the keynote that I gavethat led to the book offer.
(02:45):
The combination of that keynoteand the book that was the
watershed moment oftransitioning my career from
being a wine guy to being abusiness and marketing
personality, and you know it's a.
It's one of the mostsubstantial chapters of my
career.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And can you speak on that?
I mean because before then,like you said, you were known as
the wine guy.
What are your thoughts forpeople here in our audience that
are trying to change industriesand use a book to do that?
Obviously, you did thatincredibly successfully with
Crush it Like.
What did you learn from thatand what advice would you have
for folks?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's obviously you need it to
be commercially successful.
I think it's obviously you needit to be commercially
successful, and so, to me, crushit's one of my most
commercially successful books,so it helped transition.
I think it's very obvious thata book can do that for people.
You know who I think about alot.
Mitch Albom.
Right, I knew him on ESPN forthe sports reporters, but
(03:42):
Weekends with Morty thatcompletely changed my perception
of him, like, oh, wait a minute, he's like an author, not just
a sports reporter, and so it'sobviously a very real medium,
and I think authors should alsouse modern mediums to set up
that path.
(04:03):
So it wasn't just crush it.
It was crush it in combinationwith 24 months of Twitter and
Facebook content.
That was not this is the bestRioja to drink or the new New
Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
It was hey, facebook andTwitter might be a big medium.
You need to check it out.
Or here's how I actually builtmy dad's business, or here's how
I manage people, or here'swhere I'm investing my money,
(04:26):
and so you know, I think it's acombination of the two and you
know, I think I think a lot ofpeople that are watching this
need to be careful of overputting a book on a pedestal,
even though I love putting it ona pedestal.
It's an and not an or it's notlike I need to be an author of a
(04:47):
book or bust it's.
I'm going to use social mediacreative and, by the way, the
depth that you can go, I mean,especially if you're someone who
can use LinkedIn properly youcan write real paragraphs.
Think of it as the way youwould write an op-ed to the New
York Times 30 years ago as agateway to people becoming
(05:09):
interested in your book.
You can do that for free, everyday right now, and actually
reach an enormous amount ofpeople if you're a high quality
writer.
And so I would encourageauthors to not only recognize
that a book can change theparadigm and reposition them
professionally to the world, butI would also encourage them
heavily, because I know so manyauthor friends or ambitious
(05:31):
authors who, I think, viewsocial media writing as a lesser
than, and it's a humongousmistake.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And what I think it's easy to look at the social
media landscape right now andtake for granted.
You set a lot of the trends ofwhat we are seeing today and I
just remember you said it's notjust Crush it, it's.
I was everywhere on Facebook,twitter et cetera for 24 months.
So I remember in the early daysI mean it's I forget what the
figure was it was like you werespending 25, 50 grand, 100 grand
(06:00):
, whatever it was, a month oncontent on all those platforms.
So I guess two-part questionlike and you've done this
repeatedly on new platforms andcaught new trends before they've
really become mainstream.
So I guess how do you look forand spot those trends and then
how do you know when to go allin Cause?
I think that could.
That can be scary.
It's like you went all in onthese platforms.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
It's like you couldn't go anywhere you went
all in on these platforms it'slike you couldn't go anywhere.
I went all in, but to yourpoint, it's because I saw
results Right.
I wouldn't go all in if Ididn't.
I'll give you an example.
I started a new podcast formatcalled Podcasts with Friends
with three guests and I did 20episodes this year and I don't
(06:45):
think I'm going to continuedoing it.
But I went all in with myintuition that it was a good
format and the fact that ithasn't hit the audience's cup of
tea, that doesn't upset me.
That doesn't make me questionmyself Am I losing it?
Because all these 30 yearswhere I've been hitting things
right, there's been a millionthings that have you know.
We can talk about what I did onFacebook and Twitter, but I
(07:06):
also went all in on social camand I went all in on peach and I
went all in on jelly and I wastesting and trying everything.
I think what I have, which Iwould encourage people to
analyze themselves and doubledown on it if they have it, or
start to change if they don't.
I'm not scared to waste my timeand I'm shocked by how many
(07:32):
people are scared to waste theirtime when their time is not
even that valuable.
So there's a level of audacitythat people that haven't made it
yet are like "'Well, I don'twanna waste my time on that,
gary.
"'i can't go all in on that'"'I'm like well, I don't want to
waste my time on that, gary, Ican't go all in on that.
I'm like well, what are wedoing here?
You're talking to me aboutwanting to be a New York Times
bestselling author, but you'renot willing to do things that
(07:54):
you think are beneath you.
I think what it really speaksto is that most people don't
want to put in the work that isrequired to achieve remarkable
things.
You know, in this genre,knowing how much people value
being a New York Timesbestselling author or a
commercially successful author.
That's a very small group ofpeople that have ever written
(08:14):
books, and people that have everwritten books is a remarkably
small number compared to all thepeople that want to write a
book.
So don't you think it should behard?
And so I think what have I abook?
So don't you think it should behard?
And so I think what have I done?
Well, I don't say no, I saymaybe.
And I think most people say no,and I say maybe with the hope of
(08:34):
yes, and I think that's animportant framework that has
worked for me, and so, whetherit's AI or whether it's
something else VR, blockchain Ijust don't say no, because
history has proven to me thatthe people that say no always
lose.
And the people that say, maybeeventually find their nugget or
(08:59):
their genre, or have a careerthat looks a little bit more
like mine, which is like youknow, listen, I'm aware that
I've been gifted with intuitionaround consumer behavior.
So, yes, I will have a careerthat looks a little bit more
like mine, which is like youknow, listen, I'm aware that
I've been gifted with intuitionaround consumer behavior.
So, yes, I will have a higherpropensity of doing well with
this stuff, but I'm kissing lotsof frogs to find these princes.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So let's shift gears, talk a little business.
The business empire has grown.
You've got a bunch of kind ofoffshoots of VaynerMedia and the
Vayner brand.
Yes, how do you juggle it alland how do you figure out where
to focus your attention?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I juggle it through good people, you know.
So I think one thing I've donevery well is I built a very
large organization with VaynerX.
So VaynerX holds VaynerMediaand eight other companies the
Sasha Group, evenosa, dom,vaynercommerce and Gallery Media
Group, purewowcom and things ofthat nature, vaynerspeakers,
(09:56):
and then even outside of that,vaynersports sits outside of
VaynerX, my brother runs that,and then there's obviously
VeeFriends that sits outside ofit.
And now I have VaynerW.
My brother runs that, and thenthere's obviously VFriends that
sits outside of it.
And now I have VaynerWatt,which is a TV production company
, sits outside of it.
Vaynerwatt, my partner, ericWattenberg, runs that day-to-day
.
I'm the special sauceVaynersports.
(10:16):
My brother AJ runs that.
I'm the special sauce VaynerX.
I run VFriends, I run, vfriends, I run.
But VaynerX I run with MarkYutkin and Alan Harker and Avery
and Nick and Kaylin and Hannahand VFriends I run with John
Troutman and Andy Kramiak andMeeling.
So I think I scale throughpeople, which works for me
(10:39):
because I'm very much a guidancecounselor, a camp counselor, a
head coach, you know, a bigbrother.
I'm very, I'm very comfortableand I enjoy leading people and
building really deeprelationships within my business
organizations and thatcontinuity.
Even Wine Library I still run.
I mean, literally, while wewere listening to that nice
(11:01):
music I'm going to pull it upright here on my laptop I texted
my best friend, brandon,something about today's wine
text.
By the way, if you like winewinetextcom, sign up for it.
I texted him something about itand he's running the wine store
day to day, somebody I've knownsince I was 14, but I'm still
(11:21):
very involved, you know.
You know, cause it's my familybusiness, it's kind of my first
love, and so you know I think Ido it by having great people
around me.
And then how do I focus?
Anybody who's watching this,who has three or more children,
is going to know what I'm goingto say.
You're only as happy as yourmost unhappy child.
Same with me running 10, 15, 20businesses.
(11:44):
I'm just kind of watching them,and wherever I need to help is
where I'm at, whether that'sextreme offense or extreme
defense, right.
So the way I view it is extremeoffense, extreme defense.
Either oh my God, we've crackedsomething, let's go all in, and
that's gonna eat up a lot ofenergy.
Or we're cracked something,let's go all in, and that's
going to eat up a lot of energy,or we're in trouble, let me go
(12:05):
all in.
So think of it as a boat Uh-oh,there's a hole in the boat, I
got to go put my finger in it.
Or a boat race Uh-oh, I see apath where we can beat every
other boat.
I'm going to go jump and takethe wheel and put my foot on the
pedal, and that's how I run myworld.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
That's cool, that's really helpful.
And we had Dan Martell onyesterday and he talked about,
uh, kind of graduating out ofbecoming the CEO of his
businesses.
So it sounds like are you theof those eight businesses?
Are you the CEO of any of thoseor do you have people that run
those?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So I think so I would say that Dan is probably giving
better advice for the masses ofthis audience than I am, and
I'll explain what I mean by that.
I would argue I'm not only theCEO, I'm even the COO in a lot
of my companies, but that is notbecause I'm trying to maximize
money, I'm trying to maximizehappiness.
(12:57):
For me, running businesses dayto day is my great joy.
I would rather run mybusinesses than go skiing or
play golf or go scaling right.
So Dan's advice is for a lot ofentrepreneurs who actually have
businesses predominantly tomake money, to then go spend it
(13:18):
on things they enjoy more ayacht trips, whatever that may
be fancy cars.
I think I'm in a smaller groupof people where I've got big.
I mean VaynerX, for context ofthis audience is 2,500 people in
a $330 million revenue business.
So it's a big business, justthat one.
(13:45):
But I get enjoyment out of beingthe COO in a world where I
understand what Dan's saying.
Like a lot of people are likebecome the chairman of the board
, gary, go do bigger things,make more money.
I'm like, yes, I understand andthat's not.
That's very good advice, it'snot bad advice.
But they don't understand me.
I enjoy the HR, the challengesof restructures.
I've got a lot of COO DNA in me.
(14:06):
I've got much more COO DNA inme than chairman of the board
DNA right, I'm the CEO, but I godown to be COO way more than I
get excited about one day beingchairman.
In fact, I hope I'm never thechairman, only of my companies.
I hope that the day I take myhand off the wheel is the day I
(14:28):
die.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
And so I think we're throwing around a lot of titles
here, right, ceo, coo, chairmanof the board, whatever, I think
to Dan's point.
He wants to create content andthen shine a light on the
businesses because he feels likethat's the highest value thing
that he can do to grow therevenue of those businesses.
I would assume that youprobably have a similar stance
to that, so I guess maybe Iwould argue I wrote the damn
(14:52):
book on it, right Unintended.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I just think you can do both.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And so what are you spending most of your time on in
the day-to-day for thosebusinesses?
You said defense or offense.
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It's both.
I mean, it ebbs and flows.
So right now I'm so deep inVaynerMedia and VFriends.
Vfriends just came out with akid's book, has cartoons coming
out.
I've got VCon coming up nextweek in LA.
I'm working on a lot of likepeople would be stunned that are
(15:27):
watching right now if they wentto eBay right now and typed in
VFriends, what's going on withthe collectible pins and the
trading cards.
And so I'm in it and it'severything from 2026 product
planning to technology advanceswith the blockchain.
And then on VaynerMedia, wejust hired a new head of
Australia, a new head of Canada.
We're plotting Middle Eastexpansion.
(15:48):
We're pitching seven of the 50biggest companies in the world
to become their creative agencyin 2025.
We're expanding into deep AIstuff, just like you know.
I mean.
And then hiring, firing.
I'm in deep restructure moderight now to make it more
(16:09):
efficient, make it moreprofitable, cut overhead, but
move those overhead heads intothe floor.
So just operating, brother.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Nice Love it.
I can relate to that.
Just operating, brother, niceLove it, I can relate to that.
Now, what?
How, I guess?
How do you think about hiringand developing people you talked
about like, hey, key part isI've got partners that can run a
lot of the day-to-day and theneither I'm going all offense or
(16:38):
all defense and that allows youto kind of float between these
eight companies.
But what's your advice forfolks, especially at the level
that you're at, of identifyingtalent, developing talent and
retaining talent?
How do you look at that?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
15 years ago I started VaynerMedia.
My dad never paid me a lot ofmoney when I worked at Wine
Library which is appropriatebecause it was family immigrant
business and so the way Istarted this was my brother
graduated college and we hiredas interns four of his best
friends from high school andcollege.
I brought one guy over fromWine Library that I thought was
(17:10):
sharp, matt Sinema, still withthe company, and we were six
people in a conference room ofanother company, and that's how
we started the company, and ofthe people that were in that
room, four of the six are stillin the company 15 years later,
and everybody in the top 100employees that I hired I hired
(17:31):
with the mindset of I'm going tomake this person a family
member of mine in perpetuity.
Hopefully that that means thatthat could be done within the
company, but if not, they'reobviously someone that I'll have
a relationship with outside ofthe company forever, and that
stands to be true today, and soit's the intent to develop a
(17:56):
forever culture that I thinkcreates these kind of people.
If you view people that you'rehiring as you pay them and thus
they should do whatever you say,or I'm going to build a company
for three or four years and I'mgoing to flip it.
You're going to be in a harderframework to pull off really
(18:17):
doing what I'm doing, which isplaying in perpetuity and
evergreen.
Thus, the relationships you'remaking and the development of
those employees is everything,my entire everything relies on
me developing 50 to a hundredforever teammates, and so, as
(18:38):
you can imagine, if that's thecase, you know I'm, you know I'm
actually off the grid.
This week is the only thing I'mdoing on a set.
I'm in Europe right now, but Itexted someone about their dad
being sick this morning.
You know, it's just part of myeveryday life.
Like, if I'm developing realrelationships, I'm going out to
dinner with people.
I'm I'm just acting human goingout to dinner with people.
(19:06):
I'm just acting human, notcorporate.
And it's not some sort of masterplan, it just fits my
personality.
But it also is the requirementof creating 25, 40-year
executives.
There's only two reasons whysomebody will stay in a company
for 35 years.
Two reasons why somebody willstay in a company for 35 years.
One is you.
You became family to.
They're scared and insecure andnever want to leave, even
(19:27):
though it's a crappy situation.
Um, because they themselveshave their own issues.
You much rather be the firstone.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
When I and so I love that intent and I love the
development and just the deepcare for people how do you
balance like you're a harddriver, you grow companies very
quickly, you work very hard howdo you balance that with the
people that you're developing?
Because I would assume thatthat's pretty hard to work with.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Not at all actually Not at all.
Let me go the other way hard towork with.
Not at all actually Not at all.
Let me go the other way.
I have zero expectation of thepeople around me working as hard
as me Zero Because they're notbeing compensated at the same
level.
I think this is a huge mistake,and it's an audacious and
(20:22):
delusional mistake that peoplearound you should be working as
hard as you when they are notbeing compensated as much as you
are.
I deal with it very easily.
I have employees that are nineto fivers my friend really and
it doesn't bother me.
I don't get to judge myemployees' ambitions.
I just have to do a good jobarticulating the truth of what
(20:45):
comes along with their ambitions.
So if you're a nine to fiverand you're off the grid all
weekend and after five, it'sunlikely you're gonna be the CEO
one day when I move on.
But it doesn't mean you can'thave a great career at my
company.
And so I need all types.
I need the people that want towork, and, by the way.
(21:06):
I'm also very prepared whentheir vibe changes.
I've had many employees sit inmy room at 25 and tell me, gary,
one day I'm going to run thiscompany, and then they fall in
love and start a family and moveout to the suburbs and want to
go to every softball game and Ithink that's beautiful.
And then all of a sudden, titleand comp start to slow down for
(21:29):
that person and somebody mightlap them.
And that's okay too.
Like I don't judge how peoplewant to live their life, I'm
just responsible for beingarticulate, candorous,
respectful, kind, and so I'll behonest with you.
I've never struggled with beingthe level of work, ethic or
tenacity or even capability ofthe people around me.
(21:50):
If I think someone stinks andare lazy, I'm in control, I can
fire them.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Cool, I love it.
And I love the emphasis onhaving clear conversations.
Right, because theircircumstances might change, your
circumstances might change orwhat the business needs of them
might change.
But if you have clearconversations about that and are
adaptable to that, well thenyou can build longevity,
regardless of what thecircumstances, how they might
change in the business.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And as a business owner, for everybody who's
watching here.
By the way, are those all inthose screens?
You have right there?
Is that all the faces of thepeople that are tuned in?
Yes, sir, oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
So for all of you that I see like very tiny in the
left corner like just rememberif you have employees you're in
charge.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
You know like I'm stunned by how many CEOs or
founders are crying about thingsall the time.
They're like Johnny's a mess.
I'm like fire Johnny, you can,you know.
And so just a lot of excusesand a lot of lack of
accountability.
And like, by the way, if you'refiring Johnny as your right
hand and he's the sixth righthand you fired in two years now
(22:56):
it's time to not point fingers,it's time to point thumbs,
Because clearly you're theproblem.
So there's self-awareness,there's so much that goes into
building this out properly.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, I like that, which Michael Hyatt would always
tell me about stuff like that.
What about your leadership hasled to this result?
Right, you're the commondenominator.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I uh, I couldn't explain to you how much I
believe the next sentence out ofmy mouth.
I genuinely believe that everysingle thing in my companies
that's a problem is 100% myfault.
I'm aware that I didn't forgetto close the door, like you know
(23:38):
, like, but like, I think thatlevel of accountability when
you're at the top actually leadsto a lot less anxiety and a lot
more happiness.
And I also think it's true Ihired the person that left the
door open, or I hired the personthat hired the person that left
the door open, and so I think Ithink that's something that is
liberating.
Uh, and I think uh isunfortunately a little rare
(23:59):
right?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Well, there's yeah, cause there's a freedom that
comes from not being able topoint the finger, cause if, if,
if, every problem in thebusiness is my fault, well then
I also have the ability tochange it.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
That part that, part brother.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So it's liberating, right, and let's put some of the
audience on the back screenhere for a second so you can see
more of them, gary, and I'dlove for you to speak.
This next advice to them, whichis for folks who are trying to
scale, because we've got a lotof folks that are pre seven
figures and then who are tryingto scale to a lot, cause we've
got a lot of folks that are preseven figures, uh, and, and then
some folks who are trying to goseven, eight, nine figures, so
(24:33):
pre seven figures, like goingback to that version of Gary and
those versions of Gary here.
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Pre seven is fine.
You know, if you do not have aright hand person right now
you're not you're going tostruggle to get to eight figures
.
So we've talked a lot aboutthis, but this is the piece of
advice.
Two things stand out pre-seven.
One it's hard to sometimesafford a right-hand person.
I think people get confused bythat.
But it's not as hard if you gowith family, friend or youngster
(25:02):
, that is destined to beremarkable.
A lot of people think they haveto overpay for someone who's
been doing it.
I don't see it that way.
So right-hand person for sure.
Pre-seven and number two if yourambition is to get to eight
figures and you're pre-seven,you're still at six you're going
(25:25):
to have to compromise certainthings.
You're going to have to bleed alittle bit, compromise certain
things.
Like you're going to have tobleed a little bit.
They just, you know, like thereis a willing your way to seven
figures variable.
That I.
And, by the way, when you hearthat if you're like, ah, I don't
like that Gary, then maybe youactually don't want to get to
eight figures and that's okay.
As a matter of fact, let megive you a curve ball.
A lot of people have businessesthat do 800,000 a year that
(25:50):
they make 250,000 from and theythey like life.
And then they go to 2 millionwhere they make 700,000, but
they don't like life because itjust came along with a lot of
extra stuff.
I've seen this a lot.
Yeah, something to keep in mind, but I would say right-hand
person more tenacity.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Cool, I like that.
And then selfless question forme personally.
We're at about 15 million ayear right now.
Next big benchmark is a hundredmillion.
What are the things that youwould think about if you were me
?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Two things.
Two things on that.
One is patience.
Believe it or not, it's justyou might be able to just stack
Like when I was at 14, which wasthe year at Vayner, I told AJ,
I think we can get to 500million by doing very little
different, just more.
And we're doing it.
Comma 15 to 100 sometimes alsotakes new product line
(26:40):
innovation like a realadditional thing.
I mentioned Wine Text earlier.
I built my dad's business to 65million.
I left it went back down to 25.
I invented wine techs back to65.
So it took me inventingsomething.
So you may need to be intoanother genre or another product
(27:04):
or service, or the mistake somany people make is you don't
realize that it's just anotherseven years of doing the same
thing.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Cool, I like that and , by the way, when you're seeing
this stuff come up on thescreen, that's our, the audience
, reacting to what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I was enjoying it.
I live on feedback, so thoseI've been enjoying those for the
last 30 minutes.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
All right.
So if if you were me, gary,what would you be focusing on as
the CEO to?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
to break through, what are you trying to?
What are you trying to attractfrom a customer lens?
Let's start with that.
Who?
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Say that in a different way.
What do you?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
mean yeah, who, what, uh, if you're so you're the CEO
, you're.
What should you be focused on?
I always think it's customers,right?
So who's your target customer?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Typically, it's people who want to grow their
business using a buck.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Then I think you should be making an obnoxious
amount of content.
I mean, linkedin is just loadedYouTube shorts.
I would become remarkable atorganic social you personally so
that you then know who to hireand how to judge them.
So I don't mean that you haveto be at the front of it, you
(28:19):
can be, but I need you Like.
What's unique about me is I'mthe front man, but I'm also the
behind the scenes man but alsothe behind the scenes man.
I had one of my guys on Team,gary, go to another prominent
individual and he hit up one ofmy teammates a year later and
goes.
I didn't realize how weird Garywas in that he did both.
(28:41):
He was in front of the screen,but he was also the guy behind
the screen.
I think for you, you have todefinitely at least be the guy
behind the screen, like knowwhat works on Facebook,
instagram, snapchat, right, thenwhat content you put in there.
Obviously, everyone's fixatedon the personal brand.
(29:02):
I actually think the avatar andthe mascot are coming next
anyway.
So, like if you made the authoradvantage ant and made that the
character, maybe that's who youexplode, that's something that
everybody follows and that'syou're making animations instead
of podcast videos.
(29:23):
So I would say the number onething a ceo needs to do is she
or he needs to be remarkable atgetting new customers.
Getting new customers forwannabe authors to grow their
business.
All the attention sits onsocial media, all seven
platforms.
You need to figure them out.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Love it and my team's probably going nuts right now
because you're like Chandler.
You got to do this.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
But again, Chandler, it's key here.
I'm glad to hear that's whatyou said, because I preempted it
.
It doesn't actually have to beyou, but you.
The human needs to know how itworks.
And then, whoever you put infront of it, the Geico lizard
flow from progressive oryourself, like Gary Vee, Dan
Martell, like you, can make thatcall, but the organization
(30:07):
needs to be putting out multiplepieces of content a day across
every one of those platforms.
That's why I wrote day tradingattention.
I knew that I had the follow-upfor Jab Jab Jab Right Hook and
it's completely based on this.
Cool Love it.
It's by far the biggestelephant in the room.
For every business, it's thebiggest opportunity.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Cool.
Well, Gary.
Final question here what's yourparting piece of advice?
Obviously, you've published abunch of books, successfully
scaled businesses, successfullyParting piece of advice for this
audience who wants to growtheir business using their books
.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Don't try to convince the unconvincible.
Don't dwell on one publisher.
If Harper Collins didn't likeyour book, move on If
Scheinman's just like.
Do not try to convince, haveconviction.
There are many people when Istarted my career that don't
didn't get me.
I didn't try to convince them,I just went out, executed and
(31:06):
found the ones that did.
There are people still whodon't get me and that's okay.
Do not try to sell to thenon-sellable.
Find the ghostwriter.
Find the publisher.
Find the distributor.
Find the bookstore.
Find the people that do get it.
Do not waste your energy beinginsecure.
(31:29):
That you want this person toget you, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
That's awesome.
Well, Gary, what's the book orplace that you'd like to send
people that they can check out?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I'm Gary VEE on every platform.
I'm Gary Vaynerchuk on LinkedIn.
Feel free to reach out and Ireally appreciate your time and
I hope everybody has atremendous weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, guys, big thank you and love Gary.
I know you're off the grid thisweek.
Thank you for making the timefor this.
Happy to do it.
Yes, sir, give it up for GaryVaynerchuk.
That was awesome.
Thank you Amazing.
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