The #1 Secret Ingredient to Growing Your Business

In this episode of The GaryVee Audio Experience, I sit down with Bobby Bones to talk about why AI is likely the best thing that's ever happened to you. I share the PK framework, Passion and Knowledge, and why quantity is the secret ingredient nobody with pride wants to admit. I also discuss fatherhood finding purple, the fatigue reset coming after the 60s parallel, and why the American dream is still uncomfortably real. You'll learn about: • The PK Framework for Influence • Why Quantity Beats Quality • AI as Electricity, Not Napster • Getting Out of High School • Why Fatherhood is Finding Purple

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience.

• 0:04Speaker 01

  Gary, good to see you.

• 0:05Speaker 00

  Great to see you.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  I have a lot of people that like follow on social media and I don't have the answers, but they're like, "How do I become an influencer?" And mostly what I've been able to say is, "I'm gonna talk to Gary Vee real soon." Because you don't want my advice, but I consume so much of what you put out.

• 0:21Speaker 00

  That's very kind.

• 0:22Speaker 01

  So if someone had that basic question of, "How do I start and be an influencer?", what would you tell them?

• 0:29Speaker 00

  The two things that always stand out for me are passion and knowledge. So, let's name it, the PK framework, right? Like, I think there's only two ways to become someone that people follow. You're so passionate, or talented, I think we can add a T in there, like, you're just so inherently funny and so talented. I think the reason I always go to passion is, there's a lot of people that are talented, but if you don't have the passion to get there, the drive, the energy, it's too hard. It's actually too hard. You know, right now, currently, as you probably know, 4 billion people are trying to become famous. I think we can both agree that 4 billion people have not achieved it.

• 1:12Speaker 00

  It's actually shockingly easy and shockingly hard to make it right now.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  What's the easy part?

• 1:18Speaker 00

  The easy part is distribution's been commoditized. There's no gatekeeper. You know, when our grandpappies were growing up, if they wanted to be known, they had to go to Hollywood or New York and someone had to discover them, say yes. So many people gatekept distribution. The internet is now distribution, and if you're Sally Pants McGee in Peru right now, and you have a smartphone and an internet connection, you have the ability to start making content that for some whatever reason, people will give a crap about, and that is a level of meritocracy that I think is intoxicating. So that's changed dramatically.

• 1:56Speaker 01

  I feel the same thing with music, because I live in Nashville.

• 1:59Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 2:00Speaker 01

  A lot of new artists, or artists that maybe aren't new but haven't hit yet. They're talking about, hey, how do I make it? And it's like, you have every opportunity, because even 10 years ago.

• 2:11Speaker 00

  Correct.

• 2:11Speaker 01

  It was, you had to be signed to a record label, because you had to have distribution.

• 2:15Speaker 00

  That's right.

• 2:16Speaker 01

  But now, it's universal distribution.

• 2:18Speaker 00

  Yes, and the previews were there a long time ago. I don't know what just happened, but it triggered me to a story. Mike Boyd, who is a very senior executive in my marketing company, in the music division, met my brother, uh, the first day of college, back in 2009, or 2005. And my brother calls me and says, this kid knows everything about music. I said, "Challenge him, tell him to tell you a musician right now, that eventually will get famous." He told him, three years later, we're driving to a Jets preseason game, listening to Hot 97. And my brother freaks out, and I don't know why, and he's like, "Oh my god, Gary, do you remember

• 2:59Speaker 00

  my freshman year, when you said, thank you so much, to ask Mike Boyd, who's gonna pop? It's this person." That person was Soulja Boy, and Mike Boyd found him on MySpace.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  Really?

• 3:11Speaker 00

  Really. So even back in 05, 06, you know, I think back to Young Jock, Rick Ross, All Gold Everything, how that song for Trinidad James blew up. You started to see some cracks, but now, to your point, like TikTok is real discovery. Every A&R is living on there, they wanna see it work before they take the risk. It's not going to a bar at 2:00 in the morning and being like, Molly Crew's gonna make it, and so... Yeah, I mean, I tell artists all the time, and I have a lot of fun receipts on the internet. Gunna, Dochi, Sweetie, people that were so early in their careers, where I'm like, "You have a shot, but this is what you need to do." And it's the answer to your opening question, which is, and this is gonna hurt a lot of people's feelings.

• 3:54Speaker 00

  Quantity is a secret part of the equation that everybody who has pride does not want to admit is true. There's this inherent conflict between quality and quantity that so many artists and ideological individuals want to uphold. But the truth is, quantity is an incredible ingredient in breaking through. It is really at bats at making the piece of content that changes your life. And I'm a very big believer in it. Now, many people will make 10,000 pieces of shit and never make it.

• 4:36Speaker 00

  Quality has to be a part of the equation, but you'll appreciate this. Quality is subjective. What is handsome, what is attractive, what is fun, right? Quantity is not. And while we have this era of social media where you can post something with nine followers and get 4 million views, I hope everyone understands that is out of control. That is a mitzvah, that is a wild phenomenon. And I think many will regret when they look back at their lives, realize they were born during a time of opportunity and merit that was never pre-available. And I actually predict there'll be an era where the glasses or some other medium will come along and change our world. And that the cellphone with the internet, with social media,

• 5:21Speaker 00

  was an incredible gold rush of opportunity for people that had passion, knowledge, or talent. Hopefully, the mix of the three, and that's how you become the LeBrons and the Beyoncés. And I think that's where we're at right now, brother.

• 5:34Speaker 01

  I think when you say "quality," some people will be intimidated by the word going, "I don't know if I have quality or if it's good enough." To me, what I would often say is, change the word "quality" for "compelling."

• 5:46Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's fair.

• 5:46Speaker 01

  It doesn't have to be that you're the greatest guitar player or you're the greatest speaker. I don't feel like I am technically a wonderful speaker. But I can sell out theaters, I can do a national, I do a national radio show, I do the show on Netflix. I'm not a great speaker, but I can say things that people find compelling or I can tell my story that I find compelling. I think that's what quality is to folks. How are you, how does it resonate?

• 6:11Speaker 00

  Whether you use the semantics of changing the word "quality" to "compelling," it comes down to self-esteem versus insecurity.

• 6:20Speaker 01

  What do you mean? I'm wildly insecure.

• 6:22Speaker 00

  Which is often one of the ways to get to the top. I think about this all the time. It's wild to see extreme and then even high levels of insecurity or confidence get you to a place. I would say that if you tell someone who's scared when Gary said "quality", that if they're insecure and you're telling them compelling, they're still like, "Well, I'm not compelling." They just changed the word. You know, my question, very simply to start off this podcast immediately is, when are you all willing to get the fuck out of high school? When are you ready to not live your life based on some random person's comment? Or your neighbor thinking it's silly that you're talking about skateboarding, even though you're a 48-year-old dude?

• 7:06Speaker 00

  Like, when are you ready to just jump into the pool? Kiss the girl? Ride the bike without training wheels? Like, when are you ready to be grown? And see through something that's in your belly? You feel like you want to be out there? By the way, on the record,

• 7:23Speaker 00

  I don't think everyone should be out there. I'll tell you something interesting about me. Had it not been a vehicle for my business hopes and dreams, I don't even know if I would be a person that had social media. I don't know if you know this, I'm one of the most prolific content creators of the last 20 years. I share nothing personal. I'm actually wildly inherently private. You know, I was born in the Soviet Union. I grew up in a household that privacy was high-valued. Had this not been about using notoriety and awareness to create opportunity for me professionally and for business purposes, I actually understand why so many people would never attempt to be known. I would have been one of those people. In fact, I never thought I would ever be known. I thought I'd be a businessperson.

• 8:07Speaker 00

  The calculus of the world changed. The internet, YouTube, Twitter, kind of really allowed me to see it. I was in the right place mentally and strategically at the right time. But yeah, I mean, I think, I think this is a self-esteem and security game. To your point, if you have enough insecurity, you use it...

• 8:26Speaker 01

  It's a weapon.

• 8:27Speaker 00

  It's a weapon. You want to prove everyone wrong. If you have enough, if you got lucky like me, where your circumstances of DNA, where you grew up, and ultimately the parents you had, and specifically for me, my mom, mine's like the other side of that pillow. There's like a self, there's such an extreme level of content-ness. And curiosity and I just feel good and at some level I feel guilty. I feel like my mom did so right by me that I kind of use Gary Vee to do right by the world. It's almost my homage to my mom.

• 8:57Speaker 01

  Now you talked about what was easy, no gatekeepers. But what's the hard, because you said it can be easy and hard at the same time.

• 9:04Speaker 00

  Oh, it's hard because you're competing with the entire fucking world.

• 9:09Speaker 00

  There's someone prettier posting right now, there's someone smarter, there's someone more compelling with their words, there's someone with more tenacity, there's someone with more grit, there's someone with more opportunity, circumstance, serendipity, this is pure merit.

• 9:23Speaker 01

  What do you find about people that succeed in art? And that can be music, it can be any kind of influencer. What do you think the through line is there?

• 9:33Speaker 00

  Something out of whack.

• 9:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's what I say. Screw loose and it's gonna be the right screw.

• 9:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's right. Now, here's where it gets, I think, you know, I feel like we're vibing. I think you're gonna really resonate with what I'm about to say. If those screws are loose in the right way, then you have sustained success. If the screws are too extremely insecure, like they're just levels. If you're like blisteringly insecure, oftentimes when you get that validation financially, you get the guy, you get the girl, you get the house, you get the fame, it all fucking, that's why we've seen so many people burn. They had the wrong screw loose and so, but yeah, I think something enigma. Something out of, you know, I know I can speak for myself.

• 10:19Speaker 00

  I got fortunate that I was going through the school system in the 80s where they couldn't have diagnosed all the things they feed pills to kids for now. I was completely out of control. I didn't pay attention for shit. I was too passionate about my sports cards and my lemonade stand and being social and being friends and I didn't give a fuck about Saturn or the periodic table.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  But that worked out for you and for me, in a bit of an outlier type way, like I was that kid who got to have Napster.

• 10:51Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  And having, and I grew up in the south where until Napster, you got what was at the stores.

• 10:58Speaker 00

  Correct.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  And what was at the stores was mostly a little bit of hip hop, a little bit of rock, but mostly country. And I grew up on country music, but I had Napster now.

• 11:07Speaker 00

  And you got so much exposure.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  Now I got everything. And then even with podcasting, I was 21 or 22 and I was one of the youngest to do like a morning show on a major market. And people were like, this kid's so ahead of his time because he's podcasting in 2008. But it was, no, I was just in my twenties.

• 11:23Speaker 00

  He just knew.

• 11:24Speaker 01

  I was just doing it naturally because of my age.

• 11:26Speaker 00

  By the way, you know what's funny? I am one of those weird ones where I act down. Like, just because I'm a consumerist, meaning I also was podcasting back then. I didn't have the serendipity of age. I had the obsession of being consumer centric. I demonized nothing. Do you know how many people have become their grandma? You made fun of your grandma back in the day for not having a cellphone or using AOL Instant Messenger, and now you're doing the same thing with AI. Because you're grown, you're demonizing the new shit. Motherfuckers, you became your grandma. Hey everybody, I hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast, that's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy.

• 12:11Speaker 00

  Like you literally made fun of her 20 years ago for not knowing how to use the new shit? And now you're like, fuck AI, it's like, it's, it's, it's not right.

• 12:19Speaker 01

  And I've made the comparison to when streaming was happening, people were screaming at it because nope, this is, we're Discworld. When downloading was happening, AI is now that.

• 12:32Speaker 00

  A hundred, and now, to be fair to everyone who's demonizing AI, this one's big.

• 12:37Speaker 01

  Didn't they say that about when Napster or LimeWire or?

• 12:42Speaker 00

  That, that was a small, that was an industry that was upset about losing its money. This is more like electricity and the internet itself. This is a, this is a technology that's going to affect literally every single person. Like, right now as we're filming this, there's six of us in the room, every one of us, what we do for a living. Is going to be affected by AI over the next decade? Now, I'm the person that believes if the six of us are good enough, we adjust. We adjust. You know, where was everybody when the search engine was invented and 100,000 Yellow Pages salesmen got blown out? Where was everybody when Amazon was ravaging through local bookstores?

• 13:27Speaker 00

  The reason everyone's on tilt right now, I don't know if you saw the commencement speeches, right?

• 13:31Speaker 01

  They booed everyone.

• 13:32Speaker 00

  Everyone.

• 13:33Speaker 01

  The person that said AI.

• 13:33Speaker 00

  I was so glad I had one two years ago, I would have been dead. Now, I'm good because I'm improv, I would have just been like, "Yeah, yeah, you're right, fuck AI." But these people stuck to their script and were getting murdered. People are scared, and I'm empathetic to that. It is never exciting to be like, "Can I lose my job? How do I pay for my kids, my rent, my debt?" I just ask everyone, if you stumbled on this podcast and you just have, you know, you could have been anywhere, you're with us right now, walking a dog in the gym, in the car, use AI. Don't fear it, because if you put your head in the ground, somebody using it is going to take your job, not it. And so I just implore everyone to play with it, because it's an inevitable. Like, technology laughs at human opinion.

• 14:18Speaker 01

  It always has.

• 14:19Speaker 00

  It always has, it laughs. Like, do you know how stupid Metallica looks historically?

• 14:25Speaker 00

  Like, do you know how bad that receipt for, Bill Gates has got his own headaches, but like, the receipt on him on Letterman, like, like, everybody who tries to fight technology's advancements because they're worried about their money, always looks silly. So, for me, it's kind of like, if you love the game, you gotta love the game, not what it does for you. I like, feel like, I bring this up a lot, Train's a big Star Wars nerd, so I think he knows where I'm going, because I use this analogy a lot. When Obi-Wan's like, willing to die to Darth Vader for the better cause of the Jedi game, that's how I feel as an entrepreneur. If AI...

• 15:00Speaker 00

  Was the technology that was gonna come along and fuck me up right now? And destroy all my businesses? I'm ready. I'm ready to go back to a studio apartment in Queens and rebuild because I can't love the game. I can't love capitalism and entrepreneurship and merit and truth and the game. Only when it benefits me. I have to love it purely. And so, I've been really enjoying all these entrepreneurs and capitalists and free market people. Be exposed for bitches. I love it. I love all these people like, "It should be merit, it should be merit." But now that AI might come and get them, they're like, "Wait a minute." Where's the regu- Yeah, when you're getting fucked, you're like, "Where's the regulation?" It's like, it's like the whole thing with the-

• 15:42Speaker 00

  It's why I put the fuck the police thing was never gonna work. It's like, "Oh, police, police." But then when you're getting fucked, you're like, "Whoa, 911, motherfucker."

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's like, "No taxes, my house on fire. I need the fire department." Yeah, when it comes to- Do you think people that are creating AI have humanity in mind at all, like the Sam Altman's-

• 16:00Speaker 00

  Ish, ish. I, I think, I think it's really fun to create villains.

• 16:06Speaker 00

  I think people need, like, I think just how humans are, we wanna villainize people. I think a couple things.

• 16:13Speaker 00

  News alert, do I think people have self-interest? Yes, I do. But do I think like, people are inherently direct pieces of shit and want death for everyone? I do not. Of course, there's some tough people that have come along in history. But I don't think Sam's sitting there and be like, "Oh, this is awesome. I'm gonna get all the money and everyone's gonna be fucked." First of all, I think the technology's so- I, I need, if you really know what's going on-

• 16:35Speaker 01

  I don't know what that means, "I really know," because I feel like I kinda know. I don't know if I really know.

• 16:38Speaker 00

  Well, if you really know what's go- I appreciate that. If you really know what's going on, I will tell you, because I'm fortunate to run in some pretty interesting tech circles. They're all scared of how big it really is. It's kind of a little Frankenstein. It's like, this monster is pretty- And, and if you look, it's not hard to look this up. A lot of the leaders of all these companies do talk about like, "Hey, we're trying to figure it out. Like, this is big, big." And so- Look, I'll be honest with you. I'm much more concerned about governments than I am about entrepreneurs. Like, everyone's like, "Oh, Sam Altman." And then, when we have, like, police dogs with missiles on their backpack, AI dogs running around, like, let there be no confusion, everyone.

• 17:19Speaker 00

  Like Anthropic, and OpenAI, and all these companies, they're very powerful. You know what's more powerful? America, and China, and Russia. Like, I think, I think what we're fearing, the governments... The thing I'm most interested in is, what does full-scale surveillance and police state look like in society?

• 17:40Speaker 01

  Like, Planners is kind of what it sounds like to me now. Like, how the government chooses... That's AI, I mean, that's just... And they're in...

• 17:47Speaker 00

  And it's just like, I just think people forget that government... For example, on the jobs thing, let me bounce around a little bit less daunting. If we have 30% unemployment, let me give you the news alert of what's gonna happen. The government's gonna print cash, and people are gonna work three days a week. And, by the way, news alert, 90% of people are gonna love it.

• 18:07Speaker 00

  Let me say it again. Remember how much everyone loved COVID? You sat at home, playing video games and drinking fucking champagne, and the government's sending you money in the mail? People loved it.

• 18:18Speaker 01

  I didn't love it.

• 18:19Speaker 00

  I fucking hated it. But again, you and I are sitting here, for whatever reason. Like, I think, and by the way, what if extreme capitalism led to a form of socialism? Like, let's call a spade a spade. How many people on Earth, let's just use America, how many of the 330 million people would love to work three days a week and make the same amount of money? Because the government's subsidizing it, because they're taxing the 10 companies that made all the money? I have a funny feeling a lot, and I have no judgment on that. I wouldn't like that. I wanna create, I wanna build, it's in my blood, but, I don't know, there's some really interesting untold stories that are gonna play out here in the next 20 years, and I'm, I'm curious, but honestly, real talk, I'm optimistic. I know the last five minutes, a lot of people got spooked or worried.

• 19:05Speaker 00

  I just would not underestimate the human being.

• 19:07Speaker 01

  What you're saying now reminds me of the conversation that Elon Musk was having. I've seen him have it in a couple different places, where he talks about how, in years, there will be a living wage. It will be just that AI will do the jobs, people will be able to stay at home, there's no reason to save for retirement. And he's acting like this is happening in 10 or 20 years. But it is wild to think that, we'll call it super capitalism, because my brain would just say, could result...

• 19:33Speaker 00

  You like that, right? I've been playing with that line. I'm like, wow, what if extreme capitalism triggered a form of socialism? I'm like, that's a brainfuck. After all 100 years of debating this, that was the outcome? Yeah, I mean, I never saw that 10 years ago. It looks very... You know, the Plinko Board, like, what path are we gonna take? It's definitely one of the paths. Especially if you understood how money is made. You know, if you really go very highbrow and very thoughtful, the world is predicated on weaponry, which then allows a country like us to print money in perpetuity, based on nothing.

• 20:10Speaker 01

  We have more weapons, bigger weapons.

• 20:12Speaker 00

  You got it. Right? Like, it just goes back to 3rd grade. The kid that grew... Did you have a friend that, like, was fully his full size by 5th grade? Yeah. Big shout out to Garrett Van Fleet. Garrett Van Fleet, known in our parts of western Jersey as "first to touch net, last to touch backboard", was a monster in 6th grade, has not grown since. We're that monster in 6th grade, like, and so is China right now. And, you know, that kinda keeps the world at bay, because everyone's scared. And, who would've ever thought that atomic bombs were actually gonna lead to peace? That's the most counter-take ever, if we're sitting and doing this podcast in 1949.

• 20:52Speaker 00

  And that's why I actually think this whole AI demonization reminds me a lot of the atomic bomb. It is one of my hypotheses. I don't know if I'm right or not. But I don't think a lot of people in 1950 thought the atomic bomb was gonna be the anchor to unprecedented peace.

• 21:09Speaker 01

  It's the ultimate checks and balances.

• 21:11Speaker 00

  There you go. So, what if AI became the ultimate balance to work-life balance? Wow.

• 21:18Speaker 01

  So, would AI within countries, in your mind, could that... Is it a race within countries to have the ultimate AI? Because then you have the biggest atomic bomb?

• 21:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, but I think they get commoditized. You know, you hit a certain level, much like atomic bombs, where it's like, maybe, like, I'm not educated enough. Maybe our atomic bomb's slightly better than China's or vice versa. But the punchline is, they're both fucking atomic bombs. I think AI is gonna, you know, everyone's like, which model? I think it's like big data in my marketing world. Eventually, you realize that the IRS, and Visa, and MasterCard, and Walmart, like, everyone had enough data that it kind of got commoditized. I have a funny, and you see it now, right? It's not like I have to predict on this. Like, most of this shit is like, "Oh, today Nano did this, and tomorrow..." Like, it all feels like there's 13 that are all, Tixfield versus, you know, Runway. Like, it feels like all of them are kind of like, one-upping each other every fucking week, and they're all just like, gonna be fucking epic, and like, what a brainfuck.

• 22:13Speaker 00

  Like, for example, I think I'm gonna launch a music album because of AI. I have a lot of things I wanna say, and I'd be a great rapper. Big issue, I have no musical talent. But the words I say are very much in that vein, which I think has led to my popularity. And I love hip-hop, and I wanna make it for myself, and then I just might leak it and sell 40 million albums.

• 22:36Speaker 01

  Do you feel okay with the booing at the commencement speech that will happen to you if you make an AI album of music?

• 22:45Speaker 00

  Yes, which is why I wouldn't do it until I felt the world felt that that was okay. Like, I wanna do it now. But I have a very good feeling, not only would I get booed, I might even get stabbed. And I prefer not to get stabbed. And, very honestly, I'm too empathetic, cuz I love the music genre, and I love my, all of those artists, so many friends, and so many people I admire. I know it's not the right timing now, and I wanna understand what the culture, what humanity feels about it, but the technology's there, and I know it's gonna happen. It's already happened.

• 23:18Speaker 01

  If we go less existential?

• 23:20Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 23:21Speaker 01

  And I got a lot of people from the States that I live in, Tennessee, Arkansas, Iowa, Alabama, that are watching this, going, "Well, AI doesn't really affect me, but I would love to know how it could affect me positively." How can somebody that has a normal job, going in, grinding away, how could they use AI to benefit their lives?

• 23:39Speaker 00

  I mean, a lot of ways. I mean, I think, you know, first of all, it's just opportunity. You know, again, it's the internet, it's social media, it's pure opportunity. So, I think first you just gotta spend five hours using AI to educate yourself about AI. It's very meta.

• 23:54Speaker 01

  So just getting on like

• 23:56Speaker 00

  Yeah, just like

• 23:56Speaker 01

  A Claude

• 23:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, and by the way, like, you know, listen, I have offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I do a lot of stuff in Minnesota. Like, I've been very middle America out, even though I'm a Jersey boy my whole life. I don't think this is a middle America versus coastal versus first world country versus third world country. I think this is just mindset. There's unlimited people in middle America that are already deep into Claude and OpenAI. And there's unlimited people on the coast that are demonizing it. This is just a human binary thing of, are you an optimist or are you a pessimist? Right? And I think if you're an optimist, or if you're in the middle, if you're purple, not red or blue on this right now, I hope this is the podcast that just gets you to download it, at least taste it. You know, I'm not even gonna get into harnesses and personal computers and OpenClaw,

• 24:41Speaker 00

  and like all the shit I'm already doing and others that are very off the charts doing. I think just using it for information, but like, when we get into agentic agents, like eventually, just so everyone knows, in 15 years, your AI is gonna be shopping for you, reordering stuff for you. I think the biggest pro for AI, let me just curveball this, because I want everyone to hear this. This is often the singular thing that gets people to look at this technology slightly differently. The biggest pro is what it's doing in medicine. Here's a trade, let me ask this very simple question. If I told you that this is how life would have worked out if AI was not invented,

• 25:22Speaker 00

  like, just seven years ago, you won't lose your job. You won't.

• 25:28Speaker 01

  I like it.

• 25:29Speaker 00

  But, your daughter's gonna be diagnosed with a deadly disease that was unable to be found without AI, and will pass away at 13 years old.

• 25:35Speaker 01

  I don't like it.

• 25:36Speaker 00

  Correct. I just have a funny feeling everyone's gonna trade the job part for the health and wellbeing, and the extra decade with their mom, and the extra 60 years with their daughter. And I'm incredibly ecstatic about AI medicine, because people's lives are about to be saved at an unprecedented level. So I'm very bullish on that. And as far as the job part, where does accountability come in? Right now, you're listening to this podcast. You were being told information that you should put in the work of 50 to 100 hours to know how to use AI. And that will help you either create a side hustle or get another job. Now, the question is, are you gonna do it? Or are you tired, lazy, you know, non-motivated, indifferent? And you're not gonna put in that hours?

• 26:21Speaker 00

  And this is your strategy? And if you're listening at home, I've just crossed my fingers and I'm about to do the whole, I just blew a lot of air in my mouth, big cheeks. Is this your strategy? Because that is not a strategy when there's a big technology. And people should know that. If you're grown, if you're over 40, you watch what the internet did. You watch what social media did. You watch what the iPhone did. You should not be delusional to how big of an opportunity and how much of a risk is in play with this new technology.

• 26:47Speaker 01

  It scares a lot of people because I think that's what gets the most,

• 26:54Speaker 01

  it's gonna strain the most. Those videos being fed the most because more people are commenting on them. The videos of AI doing good do not hit as hard because again, they're not getting the same amount.

• 27:03Speaker 00

  As someone who's been putting out content that is good for the last 20 years, I'm very aware that people peddling negativity and hate do better than me that are peddling love and optimism. I just don't care.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  I guess my point is,

• 27:17Speaker 01

  a lot of people are just seeing all the negatives with AI because those videos do better and they're served more.

• 27:23Speaker 00

  And I'm asking people to be fucking adults?

• 27:24Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 27:25Speaker 00

  And do 360 work and be accountable. They're listening to us right now. I'm telling all of you right now, verbatim, that AI is likely the best thing that's ever happened to you. Now what? Now you get to decide if you believe me or if you believe someone else. I would just tell you that, let me tell you my 20 years of receipts. I've made content for 20 years, giving you all the angles of opportunity for yourself. And I've told you the whole time that I cannot help you, you can help yourself. Now, let me tell you who's peddling all this stuff that's scaring you. You're not capable, I'm gonna scare you and vote for me or give me your money and I'll help you. You decide who you want to listen to.

• 28:06Speaker 00

  That's some real fucking talk.

• 28:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, I agree with you because I've been able to see the advantages of it. I also understand the fears of it because that's what people are being fed the most because that's what's getting the most reaction.

• 28:17Speaker 00

  Yes, but at one point, is there accountability?

• 28:20Speaker 01

  There's not.

• 28:21Speaker 00

  Well, listen, I understand we're in the greatest year of pointing fingers and we don't like to point thumbs. I have a problem. You're grown and you will pay the consequences of your actions. If you literally are not willing to be accountable, if you do not want to put in the work to take advantage of these opportunities, maybe there's an argument that you should lose.

• 28:41Speaker 01

  So, survival of the fittest, a bit?

• 28:43Speaker 00

  Listen, I'm a big fan of balance. I am as purple as... Back to like middle versus coast, like you will not find a more purple fucker than me.

• 28:52Speaker 00

  I am grimace.

• 28:54Speaker 01

  In my head, I had grimace.

• 28:56Speaker 00

  Really?

• 28:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, I had grimace in my head.

• 28:58Speaker 00

  I know that some youngsters might think Barney were a little... How old are you?

• 29:01Speaker 01

  Forty-six.

• 29:02Speaker 00

  Man, you look... He looks... You guys are pissed, right? He looks too good. No, really, you look a lot... I didn't realize... So, we are grimace. Under thirty-five-year-olds probably thought Barney. But I'm very purple, so I'm not one of these like, "Fuck it." Like, I believe in, you know, some levels of, you know, government and some levels of... But I think we... I think both sides are so off the reservation right now. Everyone's fluorescent blue, radical red.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  For the same reason, right? That's what gets shown to us.

• 29:32Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. Bad news, everyone. I'm about to say something that's gonna hurt your feelings. You're all the same, you know that, right?

• 29:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:38Speaker 00

  You're literally actually the same person, you're just on the other side of the coin. But you are on full tilt that you believe someone's gonna save you.

• 29:47Speaker 00

  How about that shit? You believe someone's gonna save you.

• 29:52Speaker 00

  They've both tricked you. That these... This is what's bad, and I can help you. And let me break that down to what that makes you? A loser. Sorry. If you think fucking a president, or a governor, or a mayor is gonna save your life, you're in big trouble. And I feel bad, I'm sad. That's why I put out so much content, I'm desperate for you to understand you're in control, and you're capable.

• 30:18Speaker 01

  I have found that sensibility is not the most shared. Like, it's the enemy of being entertaining, therefore it is not the most shared, because it doesn't keep people on social media.

• 30:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, again, I think that's accountability time. Like, this whole idea that what you're saying right now, I so understand, but just to remind you, pre-internet, pre-social media, people chose to turn on CNN or Fox. People chose to read the New York Times, or the New York Post. People have made these choices for a long time.

• 30:45Speaker 01

  But they weren't as polar then.

• 30:46Speaker 00

  Well, by the way, again, I got Fs in school, but I got As and Bs in history. Like, the 1960s were super polarized.

• 30:54Speaker 01

  I wasn't, I don't know about the 60s.

• 30:56Speaker 00

  No, no, you didn't live the 60s, but you're a smart dude.

• 30:58Speaker 01

  Well, I like...

• 30:59Speaker 00

  What, are you like confused right now? You don't know, like, help me here. You're confused about the 60s? You don't know anything?

• 31:03Speaker 01

  I do know the 60s. And I have talked to people that are older than me and said, "Hey, what's more divisive? Vietnam, the 60s, or today?"

• 31:11Speaker 00

  Do you know how humans work? When you're older, you think it's more extreme.

• 31:16Speaker 00

  It's also recency bias.

• 31:19Speaker 00

  Bro, everyone was getting shot in the 60s.

• 31:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, we haven't had a kids' state, for sure.

• 31:27Speaker 00

  Not only that, it's all of them. It's MLK, RFK, JFK. People forget that Gerald Ford had multiple assassination attempts on him. Reagan, bleeding into the early 80s. Like, Lenin, like, you know, like, it was, I mean, you can't even comprehend the racial tension, like, we still feel it. Like, think about where we're at with racism and racial tensions today. You understand the insanity that was the 60s? I think, and here's what happened, the 70s and 80s is called fatigue.

• 32:02Speaker 00

  I'm actually really pumped. I'm gonna put it on wax right now, cuz I'm gonna clip this shit in 15 years. We're starting the earliest process of fatigue right now.

• 32:13Speaker 01

  But fatigue can be seen as a positive?

• 32:15Speaker 00

  I see it as a positive. It's a reset. I don't think it's like putting our issues under the rug. I think we've battled it out. You know, fighting. I don't know, like, you know, where you grew up, but like, me and my... In the 80s in Jersey at Martin Luther King Elementary School, I learned it early, which is like, you hate someone, you fight, and then weirdly, you're like, boys. And I feel like, in the macro, we've been fighting here for a minute now. And like, I'm actually, again, I'm an optimist on this. I believe in human beings. I think we will have a 70s and 80s to this 60s. I think people will be fascinated by the 2030s and 2040s, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

• 32:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, my question has always been, is this super cyclical?

• 32:59Speaker 00

  100%.

• 33:00Speaker 01

  Exactly, again, which is why I would ask about the late 60s, early 70s, in that time period, and compare it to now, cuz it just seems like it's then, now, except with better technology.

• 33:12Speaker 00

  Yeah, listen, it'd be naive of me to just say it's exactly the same. There'll be different nuances, anything can happen. One person can change the course of history.

• 33:21Speaker 00

  Right? One president, one dictator, one, you know, coup d'etat. Like, I'm not gonna sit here and say it's exactly the same, but humans do repeat the same things over and over, if you go deep enough in history, and like, yeah. I'm optimistic, man. I can, I don't, I'll ask you a direct question, and then I'm just looking for the body language of the floor behind the camera. I've noticed people that were red hot on politics completely calmed down in the last 2, 3 years. Just people get tired of yelling into the wind. You can only tweet so much anger.

• 33:54Speaker 00

  Eventually you're just gonna be lonely. And so I don't know, I'm really hopeful. And I think there's a lot more understanding. For example, when I opened my Chattanooga, Tennessee office for my agency in 2014, and was looking at Des Moines, Iowa, Louisville, a lot of my employees and my clients were like, "Why are you doing that?" I'm like, "Well, because I want to be in the trenches, because America's pretty different in the middle than the coast." And they were like, "It is?" I was so stunned by the naivete that there was like some real cultural divides. Just genuinely, literally, clients, executives of big companies being like, "It's not that different." I'm like, "It's a little more different than you think."

• 34:39Speaker 00

  I like that we kind of know that it's a little bit different, and I like that I can see people starting to blend. I just see it. Listen, what I do for a living is watch people at scale on the internet, look at data, look at behaviors, read qualitative data, read the 4chan, and the reddits, and the twitter. I just watch. This is what I like to do. It's how I think about business, how I think about life. I'm telling all of you, there's a crack in the anger. And I think it's beautiful, and I'm excited, and I hope it gets super momentum. Anything can change it, but there is a crack in the anger. People are tired of, you know, here you are 6 years later, and you're like, "Man, I had a best friend for 22 years. We haven't talked in 6 years. For what?"

• 35:23Speaker 00

  Because we saw the world differently? As if. You know what blows me away? Having the audacity to think every human on earth should see life exactly the way you see it. As if. When I first came out on the scene, public speaking, I cursed a lot. I've already been cursing here a little bit.

• 35:42Speaker 00

  When I went to the south, I went to Burningham, Alabama, and I started doing my Gary V thing, and boy, oh, boy. And I remember the host was a little bit, like was trying to be mean to the crowd. And I stopped him. I said, "No, no, this is a crowd that, if you got raised by your grandma, and were told cursing is the devil, who am I?" Just because I grew up in the streets of Jersey, where cursing was every third word, I didn't have the audacity especially to go into someone else's home. I was in Birmingham, they weren't in New Jersey. And I think that we've forgotten how to respect the home you walk into.

• 36:21Speaker 00

  We've forgotten. And so if I have to take my shoes off because that's your house rules, I will take my damn shoes off. Even if those aren't my house rules. And so courtesy, civility, lost art, that I have a funny feeling is in the early stages of

• 36:36Speaker 00

  bubbling up in a good way and I'm seeing that trend.

• 36:39Speaker 01

  This has been a very positive last half hour. So I like to say thank you for that because you have a positive feeling about AI. You have a positive feeling about where society is going. And I don't feel like you're just saying it for the effect. I feel like you believe it.

• 36:51Speaker 00

  Well, I have the luxury with you of you knowing my content enough that this is not what I've been saying about society for 12 years. You know, yeah, I do see it. I'm incredibly hopeful that it's true. I'm incredibly... I'm a street kid. I'm not naive that I can turn a dime. We saw the horrific assassination attempt of Trump. Could you imagine if that bullet lands? That changes the paradigm. Anything can happen. That's life. But I would say that I am optimistic. And I will say this to everyone. Here's a good one. I really hope... By the way, if what I'm about to say changes one person, then this is like the best use of my time and thank you for the opportunity. If you're just listening for the last 20 minutes and you can feel like you're tired of fighting,

• 37:36Speaker 00

  stop fighting.

• 37:40Speaker 00

  I just think a lot... I think people are tired, bro. Like, how much hate can you deploy in one lifetime? Why? You gotta ask yourself why. I hate no one. I mean, I'm not pumped about a murderer. Like, but my brain goes into like, damn, whatever happened to that childhood really fucking sucks for that poor kid. Obviously, you can't condemn taking another person's life. But I don't default like... And then people are like wanting to like cancel and fight because you see some policy issue. And by the way, we live in the United States. Move!

• 38:16Speaker 00

  Do you know how epic the United States is? This whole forefathers thing, they wrote it perfectly. Don't like Texas, go to California. Don't like New York, go to Florida. Don't like, you know, don't like, you know, Connecticut, go to New Hampshire. Don't like New Hampshire, go to Tennessee. The fact that we have options and don't need, it's not like Europe, we're like, fuck, you know, like, it's pretty cool, right?

• 38:38Speaker 00

  But stop hating people, what the fuck?

• 38:41Speaker 01

  End on Dad Gang, we're talking about a freak gang. Yeah, tell me, tell me more about that.

• 38:46Speaker 00

  Um, this is a great American story, like, just three buddies, entrepreneurs, built it, you know, I've had some success with fashion brands. Segalman Stables, another hat forward brand is Max, I just got involved with early on in his career several years ago and first of all, I just think like fatherhood is the coolest. I think a lot of people take a lot of pride in trying to be a good dad. I think we have an incredible rise of good fathering.

• 39:17Speaker 00

  In fact, I actually think fathering is finding a purple. I don't know if all of you are paying attention to this, but I love that like you could be nice, but you could also be like, cry when you lose and fuck 8th place trophies and be a man and like, you know, I talked to my son the other day, he's 13, and I finished a sentence with like, "I'm not your mom. I'm here to be your dad, bro." Maned him up, I bodied him a little bit. Um, and it was awesome and I just think fatherhood and being a dad is in a nice era right now. I really actually think it's one of the things that are getting to purple the quickest. I think that's gonna be beautiful for a generation of children. So this, this brand, this entrepreneurial venture I'm getting involved in has been really fruitful because I love anything that is selfish and selfless.

• 40:02Speaker 00

  I love like, oh, this could be a good investment, I could make some paper for me and my family, while also supporting something that, if we make being a dad cool, and being a good dad cool, well, that's just good for society, it's similar to be friends. I don't know if you know what I'm doing with that, that's my Pokemon Marvel. Those are 260 characters, you know...

• 40:21Speaker 00

  Fearless fairy, ambitious angel, empathy elephant, patient panda, where I get to be a 19... back to you being 46, do you remember our cartoons? Where He-Man would be He-Man and at the end he'd be like, "And remember, kids, remember, boys, be nice to your sister." I'd go rug and hug my sister because He-Man told me. You know, our cartoons had a message. And that's what I'm trying to do with Be Friends, and that's where I am a little bit in my life now. I get a lot of opportunities, but with this, I was like, seeing the pride. I've watched a lot of people wear this hat. I've talked to some people long before I even knew who was behind it. I'm like, "Hey, why do you rock that hat?" And because I'm Gary Vee and I talk about this shit, people are crying, being like, "My dad was terrible." "I want to be a good dad to my one-year-old." Like, really cool gnarly shit.

• 41:05Speaker 00

  So, I'm really proud of those guys, I'm excited to be involved, rev up the marketing, build a business. Look, I believe in the American dream more than anybody. I'm a byproduct of it. It is still uncomfortably real, even though people try to tell you it's not. And they're living it.

• 41:22Speaker 01

  Well, I appreciate the time. I'm also a Kaboom guy because of you.

• 41:26Speaker 00

  Really?

• 41:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:27Speaker 00

  Dude, can you guys have me back so we can just talk an hour on collectibles?

• 41:31Speaker 01

  Easily.

• 41:31Speaker 00

  I believe collectibles is on the predawn of joining music, sports, and fashion as a lifestyle genre. Everyone's collecting something: handbags, Labubus, vintage clothes for the ladies, watches, sneakers. I mean, but it's insane how big Kaboom has gotten. If everybody doesn't know what the hell we're talking about, we're talking about insert in Panini sports cards called Kaboom that have just gone completely ballistic. If you go to eBay right now and type in "Kaboom card," you'll be blown away. I lost out on a Brunson Gold Kaboom last week, and I'm so angry at myself because I have deep pockets and I shouldn't have been a puss, and I should have bid one more time.

• 42:13Speaker 00

  And now I don't know if I'll ever get one, and if he wins a title here, which, please, God, please, can we end with, "Back to middle America, middle America, I'm coming." The Knicks are playing the Spurs in San Antonio, or the Thunder in Oklahoma City, so I'm excited to see all of you. If you listen to the pod... When are you guys putting this out?

• 42:29Speaker 01

  Soon.

• 42:29Speaker 00

  Good. If you listen to this pod and you see me in the arena, come and say hi, let's dap it up. Because we're like-minded people and got a lot of love for you, and so, thank you for having me.

• 42:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, dude, I really appreciate it. Big fan. Awesome Jerry, thanks man.

• 42:40Speaker 00

  That was a lot of fun.

• 42:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:41Speaker 00

  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.