How Anyone Can Make $1,000,000 in 24 Months: How to Start Live Shopping in 2026

In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience, I talk about the biggest opportunity you have in the next 24 months: Live Social Shopping. I encourage you to do your homework and start selling on platforms like TikTok Shop and Whatnot. I also discuss how to prepare for the massive shift AI is bringing to every industry and why taking 100% accountability for your life is the only way to win. How to Start Selling on Live ShoppingWhy You Need 100 Hours of AI ResearchHow to Deal with Judgment or DisapprovalThe Importance of Self-Awareness in BusinessWhy You Should Maximize for Joy, Not Just MoneyYou’ll learn about:

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:29Speaker 01

  Buy anything at wholesale that people buy. Anything, shirt, hat, toothpaste. Go on TikTok shop and on whatnot and start selling it. Go hard and every single person here can make a million dollars in profit a year in 24 months. Dead. But I'm telling you, live social shopping, it's a half a trillion dollar industry in China. This already happened. Every single person in this room, if you're willing to work, will make $1 million in profit selling plants, glasses, mugs, ties. Tell me why not one person in this room in 24 months is going to do what I just said. You're looking to figure yourself out how to put you in a position to do what I just said. That is what I'm here for. This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  If someone believes that money is freedom, they're already enslaved to money. What you're looking for is freedom from money. From money, not that money will provide you freedom.

• 1:22Speaker 01

  Correct. My favorite that I get. Oh, Gary, but you're all happy and like this now because you made it. I'm like, motherfucker, I made it because I was this happy and like the whole way.

• 1:33Speaker 01

  You know, it's always these things and it's only this. There's a million ways to make money. I'll do it right now. Buy anything at wholesale that has a higher retail value and go on TikTok shop and whatnot, the app, and sell it on live shopping because the QVC of social media is now here. Buy anything that people buy.

• 1:58Speaker 01

  Anything. Shirt, hat, toothpaste. Buy it at wholesale. Oh, Gary, how do I get it wholesale? Use chat GPT and be like, I want to buy toothpaste wholesale.

• 2:11Speaker 01

  Take it in, go on TikTok Shop and on whatnot and start selling it. Go hard and every single person here can make a million dollars in profit a year in 24 months. Dead ass. Now let's stop, play with me here. Who here would like to make a million dollars for themselves? Not the business makes a million, I'm talking the business makes 3 million, you make a million. Who would like to? Who would it be better for in this room to make a million dollars, take home in 24 months than what you're doing now? Please stand up, stand up, I wanna see. Might not be for everyone, I just wanna see who.

• 2:51Speaker 01

  Sit down.

• 2:54Speaker 01

  Thank you. Okay, now let's keep playing. 75, 80% of this room stood up. I'm gonna say it slow. Buy any, obviously the more work you put into what I'm saying, more research with ChatGPT for free, the more upside you'll have. But buy anything at wholesale, meaning you have to buy, like if you buy something for 10 bucks, but then you Google it or go to Amazon and it's 9 bucks, you're out. You have to buy something for 5 that you can't find anywhere else for less than 9, you need to have profit.

• 3:27Speaker 01

  But I'm telling you, and I think some of you have been following me long enough, that you know I'm good at this trends thing. Live social shopping, it's a half a trillion dollar industry in China. I'm not Nostradamus, this already happened, just in a different part of the world. Whatnot, and how many people have whatnot on their phone right now? Raise your hand. Not bad. 9, 12, right? Probably, how many have whatnot because of me on your phone? Raise your hands. Right, okay. The same 9. Whatnot is going to do 10 billion in sales in GMB, Gross Merchandise Value. 10 billion dollars worth of stuff this year is gonna sell on whatnot.

• 4:07Speaker 01

  In the US, 7 to 10 billion, you can't get, it's a private company, we're all trying to figure out what it is. It's gonna do 7 to 10 billion in sales on an app that no one in this fucking room ever heard of.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  So I'm gonna, we're gonna keep chopping some wood here. I'm telling all of you that every single person in this room, if you're willing to work 9 to 7, 9 to 8, like, I can't have you work 9 to 1, will make 1 million dollars in profit selling plants, glasses, mugs, ties.

• 4:43Speaker 01

  Now Andrew, tell me why not one fucking person in this room in 24 months is gonna do what I just said? That is what I live for. That is why I'm here. That is what I'm curious about. And that leads me to, you're not looking for information how to make money.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  You're looking to figure yourself out how to put you in a position to do what I just said.

• 5:15Speaker 01

  That is what I'm here for. Does that make sense? Right? I just told you, I'm right.

• 5:24Speaker 01

  I am right. Now listen, we can get very detailed. Someone's like, Gary, I'm 13,000 dollars in debt. How do I even start? Like, I don't have the money. Like, go 16,000 dollars in debt. Credit card companies love to fuck you.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  So get that first 3,000 that way. I don't know. Fucking go to that shady ass dude in the fucking city who will loan shark your ass. Take that 2,000 bucks from him, you might die, but...

• 5:52Speaker 01

  But if you listen to me, you'll pay him back and you'll be on your way. Like, there is always a way. Until you've decided there's not. And that's actually my biggest concern right now, Andrew. The biggest concern I have right now is the mechanism. I don't believe in this matrix shit and all this, but human culture right now has all of you believing that it's hard. My favorite, Gen Z. All day long, in social, they're getting fed propaganda. You have it worse than your parents. This is the most fucked up generation. Fuck the boomers, they fucked it for you. I know 40,000 23-year-olds making a million dollars a year.

• 6:33Speaker 01

  You can literally now sit in your fucking bedroom and make videos on TikTok and fucking cook. This is the greatest era for a 22-year-old. Who's over 45, raise your hands? Could you imagine if we had this shit?

• 6:50Speaker 01

  We had to work at fucking Kmart and Burger King and pay our dues. Motherfucking kids are going into corporations right now thinking they should be senior vice presidents. Everybody who just raised their hand over 45, we didn't say a fucking word for the first 5 years.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  This is the greatest era to be a kid. And now AI is here, are you kidding me?

• 7:14Speaker 01

  So, cool, you can read some chart that says something about the macro financial system in the world? The fuck does that have to do with you? You as a kid are fucking weaponized with your phone, with a supercomputer, and unlimited opportunity, and unlimited time. But because you believe it, you're dwelling.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  I don't believe them, Andrew. I do not believe the people that sell fear.

• 7:46Speaker 01

  And I do not believe the people that sell negativity. I believe it's fully in their own self-interest. I think parents sell fear to kids out of their fear of their kid getting hurt because they love them so much. So it is their self-interest not instilling good things for their kids. I think politicians are on a fucking historic run of selling fear on both sides of the aisle. And I think you fucking people listen to them. And I think you should stop.

• 8:23Speaker 02

  You got more to cook on that one, or you want to go to...

• 8:25Speaker 01

  Let's bounce around.

• 8:26Speaker 02

  You want to bounce out?

• 8:27Speaker 01

  Anywhere you want to go.

• 8:28Speaker 02

  Alright, let's go to my favorite topic right now that you can talk about, AI.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 8:33Speaker 02

  Because you have a very unique look inside of it. Very, very... I'll give you to say a little bit of behind-the-scenes stuff that maybe other people don't get to always see. What do you see with AI happening right now with businesses and owners right now?

• 8:47Speaker 01

  Who's over 50, raise your hands?

• 8:51Speaker 01

  You should be winning this game, here's why. You watched, in the early part of your career, computers and the internet come in and change paper. And fax machines and beepers. And so that means you've seen historically, a very big technology come along and reshape everything. This is absurdly big. I cannot, I cannot tell you how big this is, it is so big. But I think it's big good. And again, I know I'm by myself up here. I know everyone's like, "This is bad, and I'm gonna get fired, and everything's bad, and the robots and humanity are bad, and I'm a rapper and my shit's fucked up and it's bad." It's all bad!

• 9:35Speaker 01

  But I'm gonna bet it's not. I think it's gonna change things. Uh, when the tractor was invented, 85% of humanity worked on farms. And that was bad, until it was actually good. And I think it's gonna advance us. Do I think people are gonna get caught up? Yes. But I also don't see anyone in this room, they didn't cry for the biggest salespeople of the Yellow Pages when Google came along and wiped them out. I don't see any of you crying for the yellow taxi cab medallions that used to be worth a trillion dollars in Manhattan before Uber came along, you're not crying for them. Oh, you're crying for you. Oh, when Amazon came and killed every bookstore, you didn't fucking rally?

• 10:17Speaker 01

  You didn't give a fuck, cuz it didn't affect you. You're paying attention cuz it's, you're scared it's gonna affect you.

• 10:23Speaker 01

  So now the question becomes, what are you gonna do about it? I have good news for you about AI. This will be historically correct, I feel it very much. AI is one of the biggest tidal waves of our time. It's coming. You know it's coming. Who here is aware that AI is brewing and it's gonna be a big deal? Raise your hands. Good. That means, your excuses in 36 months of AI fucking you up, by you raising your hand, is now null and void. If it fucks you, it's your fault. You know. So now the question is, what are you doing about it? Many of you are shitting on it, thinking your subjective opinion on your Facebook group and in your kitchen has anything to do with anything. You like that one?

• 11:08Speaker 01

  I like it too. I think it's funny. Like, okay, like you think it's bad for humanity, and?

• 11:17Speaker 01

  Stop dwelling about it and coming up with excuses because you don't want to put in the 100 hours of work to understand how to use it. Go grab a surfboard and ride this wave. That surfboard is your 200 hours of work and learnings and using it. Or do what I think a lot of you are doing. Here is your AI strategy with the tidal wave coming.

• 11:43Speaker 01

  Head in the sand, praying for luck, hoping the government regulates it.

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Hoping something miraculous happens. Or just hoping you're old enough and you just won't be affected by it that much.

• 11:58Speaker 01

  I don't know what to say. Here's my answer on it. I believe every person here, if motivated by my words, should go home and spend 100 hours as quickly as possible. Preferably over the next 100 hours. But I know people are living life, so I'll take the next 1,000 hours. 100 of your next 1,000 hours awake. And I want you to download every AI player, Perplexity, Gemini, definitely ChatGPT. I want you, all of you who are on social media, I want you on Twitter next, using Grok. I want you to use Facebook and Instagram's search because it's AI-enabled. And I want you to get comfortable. Hey everybody, I hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast, that's why I'm interrupting.

• 12:41Speaker 01

  Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy. Here's the craziest shit about AI. You don't need me. You don't need me to tell you things up here. You literally go to AI and say, AI, I'm a lawyer. What are the five best apps as of this month to use for a lawyer in AI? Enter, Apps, Download, Play. Next, AI, ChatGPT, I am a fashion designer. What are the four best apps that have popped up in the last four months? That I should know about, download to make me more efficient with AI? Enter. Answers, four links, click, download, play it.

• 13:25Speaker 01

  We have become unbelievably good at pointing fingers. We blame everybody for everything. The government, Big Tech, Mark Zuckerberg, fucking Trump, Biden, our parents. You don't get it, Gary, my mom was an alcoholic, no shit.

• 13:44Speaker 01

  We have gotten remarkable about... Like, my question is, so many of us grew up with adversity. At what age are you allowed to take accountability for everything in your life? I ask all of you. What is the age? Like, by the way, listen. I hope my tone is not lost. People grow up with some shit. Like, I am not sitting here, right? Like, people grow up with some shit. But you know this. Your shit feels bigger, because it's yours. I promise you, whoever's like, "Man, my shit, you don't get it, Gary", I promise you, probably the person either to the left or right of you had it worse. And so I ask you. When is it all your fault?

• 14:30Speaker 01

  Is it 18? I think so. Is it 22? Is it 30? Is it 40? Like, when is it time for you to be like, "Yep, bad neighborhood, yep, dad was an narcissist, yep, grew up in a bad economic time, yep, picked the wrong industry, yep, like, got forced into a college by my parents and I shouldn't have taken on that debt", like, yep. Like, but when is it you? Today. My man. Today. So, you know, AI. You think Sam Altman invented AI? Come on.

• 15:05Speaker 01

  Come on, wake up. It's called evolution. Some motherfucker bought 50,000 horses the day before the car was invented.

• 15:22Speaker 01

  "Oh, you want to be in business and entrepreneurship?" What the fuck do you think this is?

• 15:28Speaker 01

  You better be lucky enough that someone like me doesn't decide to be in the business you're in.

• 15:34Speaker 01

  So what are we talking about? This is real life. And so, I think everyone here can do it. But I think we have to get out of over-coddling and pointing fingers. And we gotta get back to some shit that works, which is, "I am in control, I am capable." By the way, sup-awareness too. I suck at a lot of things. But just because you suck at a lot of things, doesn't mean you're a loser. Doesn't mean you suck. If you suck at a lot of things, that doesn't mean you suck. It means, you're a human being.

• 16:03Speaker 01

  We gotta get our self-esteem up, we gotta get our accountability up. And most of all, we gotta recalibrate what a necessity is and what's a luxury.

• 16:13Speaker 01

  Everyone's like, "We're all broke." I'm like, "Stop buying $37 fucking martinis." "Gary, you don't get it, it's not affordable." I'm like, "I do get it, you buy Starbucks 3 times a day." Like, I grew up in neighborhoods where every single person had a used car. I haven't seen a used car in 30 years. People fucking leasing new shit with money they don't have. Everybody's got 6 handbags.

• 16:40Speaker 01

  My friend's father, when I was growing up, had 1 pair of pants and shirt. He wore the same shit every day. People that are broke have closets.

• 16:49Speaker 01

  You motherfuckers are signed up to 7 different streaming services. We need to talk to our grandparents. That's what we really need to do. You want some good advice, go talk to your grandparents. Unless they're fucked up, go find some other old people. We just gotta get back to basics.

• 17:07Speaker 01

  We gotta get back to basics mentally, and we gotta get to the future physically. Got it? You gotta get on that AI kick physically, like, "That was good." Like that, but your mindset needs to be 1939, but your activities need to be 2039.

• 17:28Speaker 01

  Winners don't tear down people, right? They're too busy winning and actually cheering for everyone else. It's incredible. A, I am a winner, but more importantly, I actually believe my mother parented me so well that I don't even have it in my mind to contemplate envy and jealousy of someone else's success. Because A, as a rational human being, no one else's success, even a direct competitor, is actually coming out of your pocket. And B, why would you waste energy on jealousy and envy? Because it's clearly taking away from you putting in the work. And I say, I don't like using luck, because I think luck is the weapon of choice of losing

• 18:09Speaker 01

  players, but I did get fortunate that my natural DNA is not jealous and envious, and that my mother parented me in a manner that didn't accept it or encourage it. So I am aware that I sit here where, in a room where a lot of people's DNA naturally took them that way, or the people they looked up to, their parents or older siblings, did instill that. I have many relatives, even in my own siblings, they're different than me. But I beg on you, if you are sitting here and listening to me, if you do find yourself jealous or upset of a competitor or somebody in your Instagram feed, you must curtail that energy.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  It is fucking you up. It is complete waste of time. Everybody who hates on me every hour right now on Instagram has done nothing to stop me.

• 19:12Speaker 01

  But they've done a lot to stop themselves. The fuck are you worried about me for? So anyway, I laugh a lot when people... I actually saw a clip today where someone's like, "Fuck Gary Vee, he grew up rich." I'm like, "No, no, I made my dad rich." I spent 22 to 34. This is why, for a lot of you who've seen my content a long time, I talk about patience. When I started VaynerMedia, my biggest company right now, VaynerMedia, VaynerX, it holds all the agencies, we'll do 350 million dollars in revenue this year. Revenue, not valuation, revenue. I started that company 14 years ago in another company's conference room because I had no money to pay rent.

• 19:51Speaker 01

  Because I spent 22 to 34, working 100 hours a week, including Saturdays, because that's the only way you get to that many hours, and Sundays, building a business for my father. And we were in... How many people here are immigrants?

• 20:05Speaker 01

  So, how many people here have worked in an immigrant family business? Raise your hand. So, all of the people that just raised their hand will really understand what I'm about to say. Not only did I take my dad's business from 3 to 60 million in sales, and a hell of a lot more profit, and I worked 100 hours a week, that man did not fucking pay me!

• 20:27Speaker 01

  I literally took that business from 3 to 25 million in the first 5 years, and went from making 38,000 a year to 45.

• 20:36Speaker 01

  I mean this. I mean this. The thing I'm most proud of is that I had the emotional strength, the patience, and the understanding of how life actually works, to devote the greatest years of my working capacity life, when I was single and had nothing else to do, to build a business for my father. And then, I started building mine. And that is a level of pride that I sit up here with, that will never be replicated, no matter how many... I mean, I truly believe, I mean it, it's fun to be sitting with you, you know how passionate I am about this. I truly believe that I'm going to build Pokemon and Marvel. Do you know that Pokemon's worth 100 billion dollars?

• 21:19Speaker 01

  Steve Bruce? That's right. And so, like, I know I'm gonna build it. You know I'm gonna build it. You've been there from day one. I'm going to build it. It's going to happen. And yet, it will be... The biggest thing I build, it's the company that will allow me to buy the New York Jets if that plays out, timing-wise. And still, it will be a distant second to building Wine Library for my father.

• 21:43Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 21:43Speaker 01

  I believe one of the reasons a lot of you have not maximized the financial success, I assume... I mean, I don't know why else the fuck you'd be at a conference at 9:00 a.m. On a Friday in DC. I assume you're trying to build, right? I genuinely believe a lot of you are struggling to get to where you want to. Not like struggling, but like, you know, like, you got something, "Fuck, I wanna do 10 million instead of 1 million", or "I wanna do 3 million instead of 400,000". I genuinely believe this. I don't say this a lot, and I put out a lot of content, so this is gonna be a good nugget. I think it's because you care too much about that part.

• 22:22Speaker 01

  I genuinely believe the reason I and many people, you know, because a focus group of one is useless to all of you. I and many that I observe that really cook, really cook, I think they're detached from the success and the money.

• 22:40Speaker 01

  I just do. I just do think, like, like, I was... Think about who... How many people here have a good feel of who I am? They follow me? Just by show of hands? Thank you. That means you know, "I'm ambitious, I'm hungry, I'm building, I'm grinding". I turn 50 in a month, and I'm waking up at 4:30 to do a speech and then run back to the Javits Center. I'm gonna be at that Javits Center like I'm at a flea market slinging shit. I mean it. And then at 7:00, I'm gonna go and have dinner with three or four of the biggest comic book artists, because I'm trying to break into comics, and I'm gonna have the humility, even though where I'm at, to go, you know? And then I'm gonna go livestream tonight, from 10:00 to midnight. Like, this is the point in my career where I'm supposed to be in the country club and all that. And I'm not doing it because of the money.

• 23:26Speaker 01

  I'm doing it because I love this game. I'm doing it because it's joyful. I'm doing it because I'm curious of how big can I make it? It's like a kid, you know, you know who's one kid that always stops me in my tracks when I run through life? Is when I'm at a beach, I'm just walking, maybe with my wife Mona or just like whatever, I'm walking. And if I see a kid building a castle, you know, like at 8:30 in the morning, and then later I do another walk on the beach, and it's like 1pm and that kid is still building? It's like, I'm like, "I fucking get you kid." That kid is just building. He's just, "How big can he make this castle, she make this castle, before mom and dad say, "Knock it down and we gotta go eat."

• 24:07Speaker 01

  And if you've seen this kid, and I think some of you have, I assume some people have been to beaches, kid cooks all day. And then mom's like, "It's dinner time." And he just smashes it, smiles, and bounces. That is who I am as a businessman, as an entrepreneur, and I believe a lot of you need to find that simplicity and joy in the game. Because I think the financial thing is wrapping you up. It's making you tight. It's making you tense. It's making you scared. And then, I realized that, it got me to the next place, which is, "Why?" And that's what got me into my content the last seven or eight years of like, insecurity versus self-esteem.

• 24:51Speaker 01

  Why are you doing it for them? The reason I'm never scared is, if I failed in all my businesses, I really don't care what you think about me failing.

• 25:03Speaker 01

  In the same way that I can't hear you when you all just cheered for me, I can't hear you when you boo for me. I don't play for you. I do not play for you. The greatest clip in the history of cinema was when Ivan Drago lost to Rocky in the Soviet Union. And he grabs the mic. And I speak Russian, so I knew what he said before they translated it for you. But he loses, if you remember, you know, and he like cries to the premier. He's like, "Motherfuckers, I wasn't fighting for Russia in this ring. I was fighting for me."

• 25:39Speaker 01

  And you guys have to get that mindset. Because a lot of you are worried about what everybody thinks about your house, or your car, or your chain, or your bank account. And that is why it's not as big as you want it to be.

• 25:54Speaker 01

  That's it?

• 25:55Speaker 02

  True.

• 26:01Speaker 01

  I'm here, I'm here, I know where I'm at, and I'm posting about comic books, right now, on my social. And I have friends, like, friends, they're like, "Yo..."

• 26:14Speaker 01

  "It's not a good look." I'm like, "Fuck you."

• 26:18Speaker 01

  "What do you mean it's not a good look? What would you like me to post? Me being in a private plane, does that make you happy? You want me to sling a $500,000 watch? You want me to show my Rashid Johnson piece of art in my house? Like, what would you like me to do to be a good look for you, Johnny?"

• 26:36Speaker 01

  When you do it for you, you become free.

• 26:41Speaker 01

  I'm not embarrassed to post about comic books. I'm playing for me, and then the truth will be the truth. Either I'm right, or I'm wrong, and I'm comfortable with being right or wrong. I need you all to get there, because then you will do the moves that are required to build big. Because the reason you're not as big as you can be is you're scared to make the moves.

• 27:05Speaker 01

  You want someone else's cosign. Andrew, do you know how many people I've asked for business advice in my life?

• 27:11Speaker 02

  Zero.

• 27:12Speaker 01

  Zero. Now, this is important. As I've gotten older, I'm like, "Meh." Maybe, you know, it's like anything in life. Anything too extreme is always wrong. I think I went too insular. I could've probably used a couple of mentors or advices along the way. But I've just stayed in my own cocoon. Because that's where I felt safest. It was just good in the lab. It's just good. And I don't want other people's advice, because other people's advice comes from there yesterday.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  And I'm playing for my tomorrow.

• 27:49Speaker 01

  That was good one, right? I've never said that before. I've never said that shit before, yeah.

• 27:55Speaker 01

  I just, you know, if you notice, when I talk about mentors, like, when I put out advice, I'm like, pretty high-level contextual. Because I know your shit's too unique, so it's hard for me to tell you, "You need to do this." Well, you might not be like me. Well, Gary, I'll give you a great example: real estate. My friends, the tax code is written for real estate. It's good.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  I own none.

• 28:21Speaker 01

  None.

• 28:23Speaker 01

  I don't like it.

• 28:25Speaker 01

  I'm not interested in it. Because I am not trying to maximize financially. I'm trying to maximize creatively. Enjoyability. Fun. I don't know if you know this. You all were not born for a long time. The world has been going around for a very long time and y'all just got here.

• 28:52Speaker 01

  And I don't know if you know this, but you're gonna die.

• 28:56Speaker 01

  And when you do,

• 28:59Speaker 01

  it's over. And I know some spiritual shit, you come back as a squirrel, I get that shit, but...

• 29:06Speaker 01

  Putting that aside, this is it.

• 29:10Speaker 01

  And so you're not born for a long time and you're dead forever. So what the fuck are you doing while you're here? Maximize for joy. In fact, I would argue, I want a lot of you in this room to make less money leaving here. Let me say what I mean by that. A lot of you are hurting on happiness and if you made $200,000 less, you'd be really happy and I think that's a trade that's worth it. As long as that's like from 700 to 500, you know, there's necessities if you're at 250 and you go to 50, that's a lifestyle change.

• 29:45Speaker 01

  But I'm telling you, we gotta fight for joy. And especially in these times, you know, I was a DNF student, real bad, like the worst. But I was really good at history. And as I've gotten older, I've realized it's because history tells you the future. And like, I'm sure it's not lost all on anybody, especially sitting right here in DC. It's not like tomorrow, culture's gonna get light again. For a lot of us, the next 20, 30 years is gonna continue to be heavy. It's gonna take a minute for us to pendulum swing back together. We're getting pulled apart, which always is causing tension. So in a world where the outside is even more tense than ever, your inside needs to be more calm than ever.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  And so I need you, this is mindset to business, business is hard. Entrepreneurship is lonely. I wake up every morning, 100% of the world that I live is my fault, my responsibility, on me, I got nobody else.

• 30:41Speaker 01

  Nobody else, I can't turn to no one. It's all on me. And I have 3,000 employees in Vader X. And fucking, one of my best guys fucking had a stroke, is in big trouble. And like, that's just emotional, let alone what I have to do to replace him leading a huge company. And I have Singapore, and I have fucking London, and I have Latam, and like, every day. And I'm in my shit with my people, so every day someone's being diagnosed with cancer, and having a miscarriage, and sick, and a house burnt down, and like, father died, I'm getting that email every day now. Because I want to know everything about every employee, so that's heavy emotionally, and then what about financially? You lose a client, this, this shit is warfare. What, back, you remember when we used to travel, you'd have to fill out the forms, now it's all digital, but,

• 31:26Speaker 01

  and you'd have to put occupation? The last 3 years I did that, about 5, 7 years ago? Every time under occupation, I wrote firefighter.

• 31:36Speaker 01

  Real talk, A, because I fucking love firefighters, big ups to them. And B, I truly believe that's my life. Because I'm literally sleeping, but I'm prepared for my phone to ring and I gotta do something. And that's what this game is, so when it's that, why the fuck do you think it's so hard? Why do you think so few people achieve? Social media, mainstream media, the way the world is has you fucked up. You're overpaying attention to 1 23-year-old that became a billionaire.

• 32:07Speaker 01

  The top 1% of financial earners in America, the richest country in the world, make $447,000 a year, or some sort of number like that, 600,000 maybe with inflation. Somewhere around 4 to 5, 600,000 a year puts you in the 1%. Yet, all of us are walking around, like if you don't make 10 million a year, you're a fucking loser.

• 32:29Speaker 01

  That does not add up. We need a mindset shift. But for someone like me, I was born to be a firefighter. I love this game. I need you to figure out what you love. In fact, some of you need to become number twos and threes, not number ones. You'll make more money and be happier. In fact, some of you need to close one of your businesses that might make 300,000, but is bringing all your stress, so your other shit actually goes up. In fact, you guys have to start looking at this chess. Too many of you are playing checkers. We need to fucking change the script.

• 33:04Speaker 02

  Love it. Give him a hand, give him a hand.

• 33:10Speaker 02

  One last question, that is, you use a lot of different words, like...

• 33:14Speaker 01

  Like "motherfucker", "shit", sorry about that for those that weren't ready for this.

• 33:19Speaker 02

  But you use words like "empathy", and "love", and "patience", there's a lot of words that you use, and my key words for you. If you could, this is, we're setting the day with you. Normally, you're one of our closing speakers, where we change the... If you set this tone for this room today, for the rest of the day with one word.

• 33:38Speaker 01

  Self-awareness. My friends,

• 33:43Speaker 01

  be you. You have no idea how crazy my path was to like where I am in the business world. I came out, like, came out really in 08, 09. Everybody told me to be everything I wasn't. Actually, back to the joke I just made. When I signed with CAA, the big speaking bureau, they said, "Gary, you could be a big speaker, but we're gonna help you right here, right now." I'm like, "Okay, let's do it." They're like, "You have to stop cursing." I'm like, "Fuck you."

• 34:15Speaker 01

  But for a lot of you, I'm sure, and I apologize, because we all grew up different. This is my Jersey boy immigrant shit. Some of you grew up with a grandma from the south who said cursing is the devil. When people are offended or don't like my style, I respect that. They're right, not me. I'm just not capable of not being me. Right? The world came to me. In 08, 09, if I cursed like this, there was a lot more people offended. Norms changed over the last 18, 19 years. There's a lot more shit we have to worry about than just bad words, and I think we're gonna let that one pass. What about the way I dressed? The other thing was, you can't be taken serious as a businessman wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I'm like, "Then I'm just not gonna be serious."

• 34:58Speaker 01

  The world came to me, we all know, especially 40 and older. We got casual, things got more casual, clothes-wise. I didn't, I don't believe the clothes, you know, represent the man or the woman. I think the substance of their humanity does. I think the skillsets they have do.

• 35:20Speaker 01

  You know, so, I just want, like, if you are a non-cursing, formal dresser,

• 35:28Speaker 01

  go cook, cuz you will. You don't need to be me, for damn sure. You need to be you. And let me go to the depths of where I wanna go. You're gonna hear a lot of stuff, people be like, "Oh, that's how you make a lot of money?" If you're sitting there and be like, "I can't do that?", then don't. We're so, like, look, there's things you have to work on, human things. Tactical things, if it's not fun to study collecti... Like, I think collectibles is about to go crazy. Like, crazy. Labubus, Pokemon sneakers, watches, trading cards. I think there's just so much business opportunity. But when I say that, if you're in the crowd and be like, "Yo, I used to love baseball cards", well, then maybe you should look into it. But if you heard that and be like, "That's stupid", then maybe you shouldn't.

• 36:14Speaker 01

  You understand? I win cuz I don't create for myself.

• 36:19Speaker 01

  And I need you to go to that self-awareness place. You need to know who you are. Are, are you out, like, you know this, like, like, somebody might come up and be like, "Sales!", which is real, sales is amazing. But then, like, if you know you're the most introverted person in your family, and you don't wanna talk to nobody, what the fuck you think you're gonna do in sales?

• 36:39Speaker 01

  I see it all the time, like, some weird awkward, like, "Hey, I'm Johnny", I'm like, "Johnny, you're not selling shit. You better fucking become an accountant now, now." You know what I mean? Like, Johnny who loves math, heard on a video that sales is where it's at, and gets a fucking bullshit suit and is like, "I'm in sales now", he loses every time. But he goes into development, or accounting, or finance, he wins. And, and I just need you to be self-aware. Who are you? What do you like? You can make money in everything. I mean it, you can make money in everything, especially now. With the way niche marketing is, and brand deals, and sell merch. Who likes to cook here? Raise your hands. Crazy amount of opportunity.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  Go to Stan's store. Make a $20 cookbook. Link that Stan's store URL to your Instagram profile. Make cooking videos. Watch how much money you can make. Money making is everywhere. The self-esteem required for money making is nowhere. And that is what I'm working on. And that's why I'm building VFriends. By the way, my whole little VFriends world, my 280 characters, I'm the elephant, patient panda. Right? Tenacious termite. I know that when I went on TikTok, I started getting 13 and 14-year-old fans. And I could see that they were doing more of what? Because, you know, old dog, new tricks, right? And by the way, on the old dog thing, 50, 60, 70.

• 38:09Speaker 01

  It's just a mindset. Old dog is a mindset, not your actual age. I have a video coming out later where I pretty much proclaim that I think I'm seven years old. That's just where I'm at. You know, it's a mindset. But I noticed that the 13, 14, 15-year-olds. And that was for a couple years. Because my audience went from like 22 to 13 with TikTok back in 18, 19. I was like, oh, these kids. And then it's just like normal, I'm a common sense man. I'm like, oh shit, I'm getting to them earlier. I can mold a little bit earlier. So now I'm like, fuck it. You know what's better than 13? Three.

• 38:46Speaker 01

  Years old here, raise your hands. I need you to write something down, please. VFriends.com/cartoons. We've made 20 cartoons with the people that made Cocohellen, so they're high quality. Have your kids watch it, and you should watch it. You're gonna smile, because again, 80s baby? When I grew up in the 80s, those cartoons were trying to help the parents parent. I used to watch He-Man, and at the end he'd be like, and it's like, hey kids, it's He-Man. And remember, be nice to your sister. I'm like, oh fuck, my sister, you know?

• 39:14Speaker 01

  I feel like kids programming has not contributed to parenting is harder than ever. And I'm like, where is everything helping us? So I want V Friends to help. But then also I want to win the Comic Crew and the Nerds and, you know, all that. And so I'm building, and I believe in this stuff. And this is the real stuff. Because I literally just gave you guys and gals in black and white how to make $1 million. Buy stuff at wholesale. And instead of going on eBay or an Amazon dropshipping site, go and build a TikTok shop and go on Whatnot and sell it. And in 24 months, you will make more money than you can ever imagine. So it's not... Now again, back to self-awareness, like, I don't want to sell on camera, all that. But why don't you want to be on camera?

• 39:58Speaker 01

  Is it because someone might say you're ugly and that might fuck you up? I'm trying to figure out why everyone's still in grammar school.

• 40:07Speaker 01

  Like, a lot of you don't do my social media advice because you can't deal with one negative comment from JohnnyPants47.

• 40:16Speaker 01

  Why can't you deal with that? It's because you're insecure. When JohnnyPants47 says, "I'm shit", I don't feel bad for me, I worry about him.

• 40:27Speaker 01

  Do you know how sad of a life it is to go around the internet and leave negative comments on people's content? I'm not sad for me, I'm compassionate to him. Imagine that life? Imagine having time to do that, tearing other people down? What a sad way to live. So, that's where I'm at, brother.

• 40:49Speaker 02

  Self-awareness.

• 40:50Speaker 01

  Self-awareness. I want them, like, all the stuff I just said. How many people here got excited and are excited about the idea of like, "Yeah, I actually do want to sell some stuff on video, on social"? Raise your hand. Great. Those people should really, really try hard. You really should. It's a very big deal. I made these same videos about social media in 2006, '07, '08. And definitely TikTok in '18. I know a lot of you saw that one and a lot of you wish you did and you didn't. Don't do that again. Go do it. And again, if you forgot anything I said, ChatGPT. Literally, this is the ChatGPT thing you type or audio. Hey, I was just at a conference with Gary Vaynerchuk. He talked about live shopping on social media, I think. What was he talking about? It will give you what I just talked about.

• 41:32Speaker 01

  The worst thing that ever happened to all of you is that ChatGPT came along. You know why? No more excuses.

• 41:40Speaker 01

  Because people love their excuses. Drew. You know? So.

• 41:47Speaker 00

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• 42:25Speaker 01

  Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Oh, oh, oh, oh, I got something. I got something. I got something. I got something.

• 42:35Speaker 01

  It's, it's, I actually, a lot of you know me here. I never do this. I don't throw right hooks on stage, but I did something I've been working on for four and a half years. So. VFriends, blockchain, NFTs. NFTs. 99, I made videos when it was red hot. 99% were going to go to zero because 99% of trading cards are not worth something, but Michael Jordan's rookie card is. 99% of watches, especially the fake ones, are worthless. 1% are collectible. Anyway, I've been building this world. I'm real, if you're, who's here? Who's into collectibles here? Raise your hand. So, a lot of you just raise your hands. And of the people that are into collectibles, how many of you also like me and follow me? Raise your hands of that group? Thank you. So, of that group,

• 43:18Speaker 01

  for the last four and a half years, it's impossible to buy an NFT. Coinbase, Ethereum, MetaMask, Seedphrase. For four and a half years, I've been working on this. We just launched it yesterday. I want you to look at it. You go to vfriends.com/vf. Oh, excuse me. Gary V E E dot com slash VF. I want you to look at it. For the first time ever now, you can buy the NFT. With a credit card, in 3 clicks, all the crypto stuff happens behind the scenes. Now, that's my right hook. Honestly, first of all, it's 300 bucks for a Series 2, 300 bucks for a collectible. When you don't have disposable income is the stupidest thing. Never buy anything from me if you don't have disposable income, but a couple of you will do it, and I'm curious if you could just email me at Gary at vfriends how that experience was.

• 44:02Speaker 01

  But that's not why I'm bringing it up fully, not just the right hook for me. Let me tell you what happened. I want you to understand how technology works. The internet was around for a long time, and then a gentleman by the name of Marc Andreessen created the web browser. All of us normal people couldn't get on the internet in 91, 92, 93. You had to be a developer. That wasn't even a thing. And then a man came along, an inventor, and created the browser, the thing that you type www ebay.com into Enter, and it made it easy for all of us to do it. 4 years I've been talking about these blockchain collectibles, and it was too hard. I mean, when you wanted to buy a bunch, it took us like 4 hours of calls, and we know, like, he knows what he's doing.

• 44:46Speaker 01

  So I'm like, damn, when will the normals get here? The normals get here when you go to GaryVE.com/BF, click the one you like, hit Apple Pay, and it's done. The magic happens behind the scenes. That's what AI will do, that's what blockchain will do, soon we're gonna have glasses. My friends, we've only got about another decade or so where this is the primary device. This is gonna be the beeper. This is gonna be the beeper. We're gonna live in a glasses world, and all of you are gonna be like, "Well, that's complicated," and get it, and then it's gonna get figured out. And then all the action happens. This live shopping thing that I'm trying to push all of you towards, I've been watching it for 3 years in America. Now it's ready. You understand?

• 45:30Speaker 01

  So, when you see new things and it feels clunky and weird, you can't dismiss it because people are working on it. And sometimes that's you, the human. I'm not judging you here today, you're working on it. I'm working on it. And that's the best part. Stop judging yourself today. You're working on it, just like technology. Thank you. Everybody, if you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes, they're loaded. I appreciate your attention, and thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.