The Power of "Maybe" in Business & Marketing | Best of The Pivot Podcast

In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience, I sit down on the Pivot Podcast to discuss why 2026 is the year to be "locked in" on intentionality and impact. I dive into why I have zero fear of AI and why you should be studying the history of electricity to understand our future. You’ll learn about:The "Maybe Yes" MindsetHow to Take Control of Your Social Media AlgorithmFoundational Principles for Building a Brand: Curiosity and PerspectiveWhy Self-Worth Should Never Be Attached to Your CareerThe Opportunity in AI Influencers and TikTok Shop

• 0:00Speaker 00

  AI, no. I'm like, maybe yes, right?

• 0:04Speaker 01

  No!

• 0:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 0:08Speaker 00

  It could end up being no, but I start with maybe yes. Because if you start with no, you're cooked. When you start with no, it's over. When you start with fear, it's a rap. The world's all fucked up because fear is on offense. How am I so patient? I have no choice. I want to win. When you're not doing it for anybody but yourself, it's slow. In the macro, we're the best. In the micro, we pay attention to the 0.1% of the worst. That's a bar of fuck, man. Give me some. This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience.

• 0:43Speaker 02

  You have a hustler's mentality, right? Like, your focus is, like, hey, you gotta continue to work. You gotta continue to put yourself out there and give yourselves opportunities to succeed. Sometimes, though, with the hustler mentality comes impatience.

• 0:57Speaker 00

  Yes, sir.

• 0:58Speaker 02

  How are you able to know, I'm trying to get this thing? I'm trying to move this needle this way, but I need to be patient to allow that to happen through my consistency.

• 1:09Speaker 00

  Because I want to win. You know, I love talking to athletes, and you know how much love I have for all of you in the professional athlete community. Is it a good idea in professional football to throw 45-yard bombs on every play on your opening drive? You're gonna pick the ball off on the second play. I just don't understand how people understand. How am I so patient? I have no choice. Like, when you are trying to make it happen quick, often, it's because you're insecure. You know this. A lot of us came up different, but in similar ways. People want it so fast because they want to close the gap of their insecurity. I want to make a quick money because I want to buy that watch. I want to have that car that will let me get the girl. And then you all be like, "He did it."

• 1:52Speaker 00

  When you're not doing it for anybody but yourself, it's slow. You know what's cool about the internet is the receipts are there. My early content was like black and white advice, like be on Youtube, it's gonna be big. Use Twitter like this, Facebook is this. You know, the apps are gonna be important, so you know, I was really like giving more like CNBC business stuff. And then, I was like, wait a minute, why is no one doing this? And then, I would be out and about, and now all of a sudden I'd be at a conference where a thousand people would be there. And I didn't even know better back then, I would just stay and talk to everyone after a talk. My first talk, I stood there for seven hours talking to everyone. Cause I thought it was crazy, people wanted to talk to me, and I was like, wait a minute, people are insecure.

• 2:33Speaker 00

  I don't even know if I said it that way, back then I was just like, oh man, I'm built different. Like, I got lucky, my mom, my dad, all that stuff, so... The real answer is because, because I want to win, and shortcuts is an easier way to lose.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  Would you consider yourself a visionary?

• 2:53Speaker 00

  I think I have visionary tendencies. I think that I'm very good at seeing around corners, I'm incredibly intuitive. You know, I keep going to sports, cause it's my favorite thing and I'm with you guys. Like, secondary play. You know, you get to the high levels, you gotta be careful, cause everyone's good. But like, as a kid, backyard football, I was, I was so good at picking the ball off, cause I would just watch the quarterback. Like, I'm just, the anticipation. I'm, I'm, you know what I'm very good at? Not saying no. That's an interesting place to go, maybe, might lock something for someone. AI, no, I'm like, maybe yes. Right?

• 3:32Speaker 01

  No!

• 3:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  But you still, but you gotta navigate it.

• 3:39Speaker 00

  It could end up being no, but I start with maybe yes. Because if you start with "no", you're cooked. When you start with "no", it's over. When you start with "fear", it's a rap. The world's all fucked up because fear is on offense. Both sides of the political aisle, all the bosses, all the corporations, everyone's weaponizing fear. They're all doing the same exact thing. "I'm gonna scare you on immigration, I'm gonna scare you on socialism, I'm gonna scare you on..." Just all the same stuff. Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. So, anything new, you know, the internet. People thought that... Again, I'm a little more grown than you guys. People thought it was really stupid. You guys were little.

• 4:21Speaker 00

  Like, I was just getting into the business world. Everyone thought that was a fad. There was unlimited articles that I looked up to those magazines saying, "The internet will be done. This is stupid. In 5 years, we'll like..." And social media? That you guys know. Social media was corny when you guys were... Right? I was like, "I don't think so." Like, all the nightlife guys that I know that are my age that run all the best bots, they laughed at internet kids back in the day. Now they recruit them, they're the most important people coming through. Right? So, I'm just very good at, you know, let's go take it to your game. Super Bowl I, 30,000 empty seats. You know what that meant? 30,000 empty seats.

• 5:08Speaker 00

  It was not a big deal. Now it's, "30,000 empty seats? Forget about..." Tune in and all this, so... You know, I'm very good at maybe with a leaning to "yes", I'm also very good at willing to put myself out of business.

• 5:27Speaker 00

  When you start making paper, let me give you an example. I've watched you guys from day 1, which is why I can, I'll give you love, I want the brands to invest in you, I want you to win bad. I'm still mad at you for that game. I bring it up every time for that Jets game. You really hurt us in that one. And I'm mad at all of you, actually, as a Jets fan, but... Now you guys build, and like, I'm watching this, like this, I mean, I'm like, so joyful right now, and I'm like, "But here come AI influencers." And here comes this, "And what if podcasts starts to fall?" Most people, when they work so hard for 7 years, and they get in the spot where they're about to cook, and some new stuff comes, they're like, "That's bad." What they're really saying is, "I'm scared."

• 6:11Speaker 00

  But sometimes when you're seven years in and building what you need to build, you might need to jump on that thing to double accelerate. Instead, you're gonna lose anyway. More sports reference? You can never be in prevent defense in life. Because just like in football, you will lose.

• 6:28Speaker 02

  What fears do you have as a leader in your space? What are some of the things that are true, that could truly be negative that you would warn people against?

• 6:39Speaker 00

  The only thing I'm personally scared about is the health of my family. Real fucking talk. That's real, right? Like, I'm not scared of AI at all. Humans have shown consistently. You actually want to get off your fear of AI? Go read about the history of electricity. Go to the library, because that's the only place you can get this. It's crazy. Libraries are important, y'all. Because I like doing research, you like it too? I love libraries because everyone just thinks everything's on the internet. A lot of stuff's not on the internet. But you gotta go to a library. It's weird as hell. And once in a while, I do it. Rarely, once every 10 years, I did it for AI. I knew the answers to AI were in electricity, and I knew I was struggling to get enough. So I just went to the New York library

• 7:23Speaker 00

  and literally read old articles from the New York Times in the 18, 19. It's crazy. And it's all the same, man. People were scared shitless. Listen, we now know it. Could you imagine being around an electric? Like, everything was candle. People thought there were demons in it. People would not put electricity in their homes because they thought there were demons in it. Humans are scared of change in a real way. People hear something that scares them. AI's gonna do this. It's gonna be written with biases. Right? That was the first thing 18 months ago. We better be scared of AI because all the white dudes from San Francisco, ironically, we're here, are gonna write it, and it's gonna be bad for minorities and women. Okay, next.

• 8:08Speaker 00

  You know, it's gonna... The one that's got everyone shook. Do you know why everyone hates AI, right? Everyone's scared to lose their job.

• 8:14Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 8:15Speaker 00

  Straight up. 100%. By the way, electricity changed everyone's job.

• 8:20Speaker 03

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• 8:50Speaker 04

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• 9:20Speaker 00

  What was terminated? Yeah, I get it. I get it. My belief is the following. Man, are you familiar that there's something called the atomic bomb? Are you familiar that it's been around for 70 years? I just believe in humanity, bro. Real talk. I believe in the human spirit, straight up.

• 9:43Speaker 02

  And so, and I want to have this analogy.

• 9:46Speaker 00

  Please.

• 9:47Speaker 02

  The way you use the analogy, I want to make sure it's clear. In your mind, it's, hey, we can have these things.

• 9:53Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 9:54Speaker 02

  Like the atomic bomb.

• 9:55Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 9:56Speaker 02

  But if people do the right things with it, it won't lead to the extinction.

• 10:01Speaker 00

  Better than that. Humans have shown we do the right things in the net. In the micro, a knife is bad. Let's talk about the knife. We should ban them. Someone stabbed someone yesterday. In the macro, we're the best. In the micro, we pay attention to the 0.1% of the worst. That's a bar of fuck, man. Give me some.

• 10:30Speaker 00

  That's real shit.

• 10:35Speaker 02

  Hey, that's some real shit though. Mid-conversation, for that part. I adapt myself.

• 10:44Speaker 00

  Fred, right.

• 10:48Speaker 00

  I think about this every day. I don't know what happened. Thank you, God, for the mom you gave me, the circumstances you gave me, my inability to be confused. I walk around Earth every day and I see nothing but love. Straight up. I'm aware that if you're looking for negativity or hate, or you're shook, rubbernecking, what the fuck are we looking at an accident for?

• 11:11Speaker 01

  Nosy, yeah.

• 11:13Speaker 00

  I get if you turn on the news. I get how the algorithms work. There's no politics in my algorithm. There's a lot of Jets football, Knicks, Cards, wine, happy, joy, rainbow. By the way, I can change every... Don't believe me about the algorithm? Everybody, don't believe me that you're in control of the algorithm, not the algorithm on you. Right now, everybody, stop the podcast. Go to Instagram, go to search, type in "rainbows," enter. Like three posts. Out. Go back to the search, put in happiness. Like five pieces of content. Out. This is the most important part. Type in "Gary V E E." Follow that account. Like three things. Go out. Put it down. Come back in the morning. Show me your stream. Email me.

• 11:57Speaker 00

  Gary@VaynerX, tell me what happened. The algorithm isn't controlling you. The algorithm is exposing you.

• 12:07Speaker 02

  You're on one today.

• 12:09Speaker 00

  I am on one today. I'm clear, I'm clean today. Man, do you know why I'm so excited about AI? Because I have zero musical ability in my body, but when they make this AI music, I've got real bars. I'm gonna be the biggest rapper in the game. I just can't sing. I just can't flow. I have none of that shit. I got that white fucking man shit in me. But the AI is gonna give it to me. I'm gonna be like, "All right, give me a Metro Boomin' fucking beat and give me a little baby cadence, a Louisiana on the end, prime Louisiana like Carter Ford, like boom, but all my words now play." I'm gonna fucking own Spotify. I'm gonna own... Because the shit I've got to say is so fucking real and I'm often counter-cultural

• 12:54Speaker 00

  because I don't fucking follow. 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.

• 13:06Speaker 02

  I have a question about evolution.

• 13:08Speaker 00

  Please.

• 13:08Speaker 02

  Gary, like you don't, you don't become an all-time great without evolution. And you continue to use sports, I'll use sports. Tom Brady, greatest career of all time.

• 13:17Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 13:18Speaker 02

  Greatest player of all time.

• 13:19Speaker 00

  Please don't remind me.

• 13:20Speaker 02

  But he had to evolve, right?

• 13:22Speaker 00

  Hell yeah.

• 13:22Speaker 02

  The first Super Bowl.

• 13:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:24Speaker 02

  It wasn't about Tom Brady.

• 13:24Speaker 00

  No, it wasn't. He had to make sure he didn't make a mistake.

• 13:27Speaker 02

  It was about defense.

• 13:27Speaker 00

  I remember.

• 13:28Speaker 02

  About Beneterry.

• 13:28Speaker 00

  I remember that game.

• 13:29Speaker 02

  Then he went to MVP, Tom Brady, and he don't win at that point.

• 13:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:32Speaker 02

  And then he becomes the greatest of all time, wins three more, goes to Tampa Bay. So that evolution, uh, was it Sir, uh, Sir Isaac Newton?

• 13:40Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 13:40Speaker 02

  Right, whatever he said, and he was like, "For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction."

• 13:45Speaker 00

  Yes, sir.

• 13:45Speaker 02

  Everybody was like, "Ooh." And he was basically kinda just like, like...

• 13:48Speaker 00

  That was a real bar, by the way.

• 13:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, he was like, "You do some stuff." He was basically like, "You do some stuff." He was like, "You do some stuff."

• 13:54Speaker 00

  I do some stuff. A hundred percent.

• 13:56Speaker 02

  But that's how knowledge adds, because at that time, nobody never stated it.

• 14:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's right.

• 14:00Speaker 02

  There are some people who may know what you know, G, but, but they don't state it.

• 14:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  They don't put their brand behind it, they don't put their name on it.

• 14:09Speaker 00

  They're not willing to deal with the ramifications.

• 14:11Speaker 02

  That's how I'd ask you, what has made you so willing to say, "I believe in this, I'm willing to not only put myself in it, but put you up on it too?"

• 14:17Speaker 00

  Complete lack of fear. You asked me a real question, what am I scared of? I gave you a real answer. So if the only thing I'm actually scared of is the health of my family, I'm not scared about getting cancelled on the internet for 48 hours. I'm not, I'm not scared of losing money. I'm not scared of going all the way back. Right? The thing that scares me to my bone is that my favorite Rocky is Rocky V, when he loses everything and goes back to Philly.

• 14:46Speaker 02

  What went wrong with Tommy?

• 14:48Speaker 00

  Bro, when he loses everything, you remember Rocky III, he's got the robot and shit before he went to Russia? Like, he was rich! He was rich! And I don't know why that Rocky came out when he goes back to the Philly hood, because he lost it all. And I was romantic about it, like shook me, I'm literally straight up getting goosebumps. There's something almost romantic to me of losing everything and going to zero. Hearing the whispers from all of you, be like, "Damn, he really fucked up. He wasn't that good after all." I'm like on some, you know who I would have been as an athlete? The best, which is crazy because I love the Knicks, just below the Jets? I would have been a badass fucking villain. I want everybody in the arena to boo me.

• 15:34Speaker 00

  Which is wild because no one does, I'm like, loved. But in my reel, I'm just not scared of anything. I'm with me, I'm with myself, I'm in my cocoon. I know I have nothing but good intent. So even if I make a mistake, I have the grace to give myself because I'm a human. I will apologize if I am wrong. I will stay back, I will be vulnerable when I understand. I've been on a three-year run telling people that candor was a cryptic for me as an operator. I'm just not scared, my man.

• 16:07Speaker 02

  What sexy, but like you talked about Rocky going back to Philly. What's the beautiful part, the romantic part, or sexy part about that? Is it, is it the losing?

• 16:17Speaker 00

  That it's not scary. Right, that it's not scary.

• 16:21Speaker 02

  No, okay, but I'm saying like, would it be, what makes it romantic, losing it all? Or having a ability?

• 16:27Speaker 00

  Chance to build it again?

• 16:28Speaker 02

  Or the building?

• 16:29Speaker 00

  I do love the ride to the Phoenix. Because there is a part of me that says, "I'm not scared because I will rebuild it back up." And I'll be like, "Told you." But really, it's, it's, I just, you know this. I, man, do I know, you guys know this.

• 16:45Speaker 00

  When you come from a place of less, and then you get to a place of more. Most people go into defense. They do not want to go back. And I just have this weird like, I can live in an apartment that has a rat in it. With like, like a bullshit TV. Like, I don't know, like, I can eat $2 fast, I don't want to for my health, but like, I don't know what it is, but it's just...

• 17:12Speaker 00

  I'm not trying to do dumb shit to make it happen, but I'm just, uh, I'll give you one. When people get the most on tilt about America, like, America falling. I'm like, alright, like, I'll go to New Zealand and start all, like, I got, like, you know, I don't, I don't know. Like, I don't know, I've got, you know, I don't know.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  What is biblical?

• 17:32Speaker 01

  My TV.

• 17:33Speaker 02

  It's biblical, right, what you're doing. Right, it's the story of the parable of the talents.

• 17:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, I don't know it, but, okay.

• 17:39Speaker 02

  So the parable of the talents is this. God, Jesus, talked about people who all had talents, and there was some part of it, they buried their talents. And someone else went out to multiply.

• 17:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  And in burying your talents, the fear of finally having something and being so scared to lose it, you didn't multiply to honor God. And the way that you're living life, you are saying, hey, look, I have these talents, I have this ability. Now that I've built myself into something, I'm not too scared to lose it. I'll continue to honor it by building more. And I think that's a difficult thing to do.

• 18:16Speaker 01

  But it sounds easy. There's at some point when you can't lose.

• 18:21Speaker 01

  You get so much money, you can't lose. You get so much investments that you can go and get your 10% or 100 million, and then now, like, I can't lose moving forward.

• 18:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's funny you say that. Like, my financial advisor hates me.

• 18:37Speaker 00

  It's not how I'm playing. It's also funny that money is like the framework of the combo. Right, like, I don't know, I've had a wild relationship with money my whole life. I'm great at it, but I do not respect it. I just, I definitely don't have, I don't like it. Yeah, it's really interesting. You know what I like? And this is real talk. I like freedom. So the reason I got Ds and Fs in school was like, I'm like, no, I'm not doing homework. Bro, I did not open a textbook in four years of high school. I got zeros on every book report. I did not do homework. On my Scantron, I did A, B, C, B, A, C, B. I had freedom in fucking the system. That's what I like money for. I have freedom.

• 19:22Speaker 00

  But sometimes, you know this, I actually think most people get money and lose freedom.

• 19:29Speaker 00

  So, I have money, I view it as optionality, but it's not my jail. And so, yeah, I mean, I'm detached. That's another thing. Lately, a lot of people have been giving me flowers around humility. Like, you know, as my whole thing keeps going and more people know me, and I just think it's because I don't believe that I'm great either.

• 19:53Speaker 00

  Like, it's just really zen shit. Like, you know, as you get older, you're like, I'm like, damn. Like, all the shit people are talking about, I was Stoicism, Buddha, I'm like, shit. That's, like, I've been that. And that was because I lost a lot as a kid. Immigrant, got picked on for not speaking English. Then sports played 24/7. Early on, dominated, first, second grade, I was killing it. Hand-eye coordination, crazy. But then, you guys know this, fifth grade, tap, all of a sudden, speed, strength, agility, athleticism, all this shit got caught up. And then, and then like business, business? I'm trying to sell shit, 900 people say no, one says yes. You start to fall in love with the micro no. I'm in love with the micro no.

• 20:35Speaker 00

  In fact, too much success early on, I always am scared for kids. Really good-looking, and really good at school, and really good at sports, I'm like, mm-mm. You're about to get caught. I see a 16-year-old that like, this is like, that guy? Like, looks too good, he's got the girl, wins too much in sports, and straight A, going to Penn or Harvard, tennis first. I'm like, mm-mm. This motherfucker's gonna walk into some fire at 26 and not know what to do.

• 21:03Speaker 05

  How do you handle athletes right now? That entailing that?

• 21:06Speaker 00

  That's right, because you guys didn't grow up in the era of all this AAU, once more, all the coach, like, you guys grew up different.

• 21:12Speaker 05

  Right, we grew up understanding, um, not to put, uh, well, I always say, uh, to shine before to grind.

• 21:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:20Speaker 05

  That we grind at first, and then...

• 21:22Speaker 00

  That's right.

• 21:22Speaker 05

  ...all of that came.

• 21:24Speaker 00

  It's tough for these kids Fred, Fred you would have been on, there would have been an Instagram of a clip of you as like an 8th grader getting offers to Alabama, like it would have been, it just, they got it different. Which is why it's all about parenting now and getting, we need to get in our caves with our crew and get our shit basic. Cause the world's complicated, we gotta get basic.

• 21:46Speaker 05

  Gee, I need your help.

• 21:47Speaker 00

  Please.

• 21:47Speaker 05

  Man to man.

• 21:48Speaker 00

  Man to man.

• 21:49Speaker 05

  How can I stop spending money on whatnot?

• 21:51Speaker 00

  I can't do it either. It's so fun.

• 21:54Speaker 05

  It's crazy.

• 21:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, whatnot is a live shopping app that has collectibles and we're just buying cards, opening up packs. We love that, we love that game. It's our casino.

• 22:03Speaker 05

  It has everything.

• 22:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:04Speaker 05

  And I hear you talk a lot about TikToks.

• 22:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:07Speaker 05

  TikTok shop.

• 22:08Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 22:08Speaker 05

  AI influencers.

• 22:09Speaker 00

  Yep, you're paying attention my man. Thank you.

• 22:12Speaker 05

  Of course.

• 22:12Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 22:12Speaker 05

  Because we're gonna, we have some stuff.

• 22:15Speaker 00

  Oh, you guys, you guys are-

• 22:16Speaker 01

  Young people buying cars.

• 22:19Speaker 00

  Yes sir.

• 22:20Speaker 01

  Come on man.

• 22:21Speaker 05

  No, but it's, it's really more than cars, Chan.

• 22:23Speaker 00

  It's really not.

• 22:24Speaker 05

  It's really more than cars and when I talk about whatnot and TikTok shop and AI influencers, like really I've been working behind the scenes before I bring to my people what we're trying to do with-

• 22:39Speaker 00

  Pivot, this is-

• 22:40Speaker 05

  Pivot, this is-

• 22:40Speaker 00

  You need to, this needs to be on TikTok more than whatnot because of the way that algorithm works. I'll talk to you about off camera. Let me answer yours. I do it for investment purposes. Like I made real money. I bought a Super Mario, you know Mario from Super Mario?

• 22:55Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 22:55Speaker 00

  I bought his Japanese rookie card on eBay 24 months ago for $35. It sells for $3,500 now. That's just a good investment.

• 23:04Speaker 00

  Yes sir. You know what I mean?

• 23:06Speaker 02

  When you can do that, Gee.

• 23:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 23:08Speaker 02

  And I'm listening to you and it's like a thing with football play.

• 23:11Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 23:11Speaker 02

  Right? It's when your entire self-worth is attached to your career.

• 23:16Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 23:17Speaker 02

  What do you do when that career goes away?

• 23:19Speaker 00

  It's tough man.

• 23:19Speaker 02

  It would be akin to you saying, "I had to move back in my old neighborhood."

• 23:23Speaker 00

  My guy, that's why I started Inner Sports. I was so infatuated with the depression that came along with the transition. Infatuated.

• 23:31Speaker 02

  How do you separate that, right? You're, cause you're a builder of businesses.

• 23:35Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 23:35Speaker 02

  How do you separate your self-worth from what you've been able to build?

• 23:40Speaker 00

  Because my mama made me see, like drilled in me so consistently that my self-worth had to be based on how nice I was.

• 23:50Speaker 00

  I just got very fortunate, bro. That's real talk. My mom just, that's what it was. Like, by the time I was 17, like, I fully have my self-worth based on how you men talk about me behind my back when I'm not here.

• 24:05Speaker 00

  That's it, that's where, I don't, nothing else. And I get it, but it's just true. And then, that's why it's so awesome, that's why I'm unstoppable. There's a great term in boxing, like, you know,

• 24:17Speaker 00

  a fighter that has nothing to lose is a dangerous. Dangerous fighter. Right, so you go into it, this is why someone who's like 7 and 19 knocks out a kid on the come up at 21 and 0, that person just said, "Fuck it, I don't give a shit." I love that time already. You know what I mean? And he's in the corner, he's like, "Whoo!" And it's like, you know, and, and that's kind of, I have that mentality because I'm just not attached to my 21 and 0. I'm not attached to my best season. In fact, it really, this is a weird one going on with me right now. I came out the gate hot this year. In fact, you guys say you're on one? I'm, I'm on one, actually. I actually called my brother

• 24:56Speaker 00

  two weeks ago and said, "Bro", just on some random, like, theatrical shit, because I knew I was locked in. I said, "Bro", and I don't usually call him in the middle of the day, we talk night, da-da-da. He's like, "What's up?" I said, "Can you look up Jerry Rice's career?" He was like, "What?" Like, just, it was super left field. I was like, "Can you pull up Jerry Rice's career?" He's like, "Okay, what's going on?" I was like, "What was his best season?" He like, looks, he's like, "95 was kinda crazy, 1800, I don't know." I go, "Bro", this is like, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, mid-January, three weeks in a year. I'm like, "Bro, I might have a 95 Jerry Rice season this year."

• 25:32Speaker 00

  I've done more. This is real talk. I have done more. So, I had, I had a funny vacation. I usually travel, warm weather, I was in New York. Me and my wife, she's like, "You know what?" And I just had time, right? I just started like, doing stuff that I don't normally do, I was just like, and I wrote this thing called, "Intentionality and Impact." I'm very improv. I'm very improv, I'm very osmosis. I value longevity, continuity, vibes, loyalty. And I say, "You know what? I got too much going on. I got eight or nine real businesses going crazy. And I got like 30, 40 people around me who've been with me for 10 years, and I'm not really giving them enough direction.

• 26:16Speaker 00

  They're just homies, they're in the family now. They're doing shit." But I was like, "You know what?" And I just started writing down, "What are the three things I want Vayner Sports to get done this year? My restaurant group, which is exploding. Vayner, Vayner Media's gonna do $400 million in revenue." It's a big ass company. Not in value, in revenue. You know, Vayner Sports is exploding, you know, I'm pretty excited. Oh, I'm gonna probably be in Pittsburgh. Uh, we have Sonny Stiles, we rep for Ohio State, he's gonna be a top 15 pick. So, we're excited about that. You know, uh, V Friends is completely out of control. I'm literally, actually, no bullshit, building the next Marvel and Pokemon in front of everyone's eyes, but it's like the third thing I'm doing and no one can see it. And like, I'm building this crazy podcast network I decided this year, where I'm gonna do four shows.

• 27:01Speaker 00

  I'm gonna build a network where I'm the Ryan Seacrest, I'm like doing all of them. But I'm gonna build a network, so I've got all this stuff. And then I've got these incredible people. Sid on my team, who's run my content. Hannah Park, my chief of staff. Justin Avell, my brother-in-law, who's in my... And I'm like, "Everyone here can do more too." And I just started writing down, "What do..." And I'm just fucking locked in. And like, what's been done in 30 days on this? Cause you know, the student doesn't come out that often. Like, I don't do that often. So, what I did, but it's, but it wasn't the action. It was where I was at. I was ready to make 26 crazy. And it's all just so easy for me because of what, we talked about the good shit before I just got... So, the reason this is all gonna work is cause I'm okay if it doesn't.

• 27:45Speaker 02

  Now, my question to you would be, young people who watch our show. And I love the social media posts where there's a young entrepreneur or someone who's searching. They ask you a question, you answer it.

• 27:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 27:57Speaker 02

  Three things, if you say, "Hey, these are three foundational principles of building a brand or business."

• 28:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 28:05Speaker 02

  And here's ways to start. What were those things?

• 28:08Speaker 00

  Maybe a weird one first, that I really believe in. Number one, curiosity.

• 28:16Speaker 00

  The real stuff that I'm seeing is people that are curious. Because there's so little friction to do shit now. So number one is curiosity and the action is take full advantage of ChatGPT and Gemini. Literally, the stuff I'm doing on this thing, I'm curious. Like, why did this happen? When did this happen? How did this happen? Why did this just happen? Break this... the fun one. Okay, I don't understand this chemical thing. Break this down in NFL terms. Like, you know? That does it. It really does it. So, using AI in this moment where it can tell you the answers to everything and using your curiosity, because it will lead you to something new and clever. Look, I think number two is some sort... I'll call it DMP. I'll say Discipline and Patience.

• 29:02Speaker 00

  It's just real, y'all. Like, if I did a push-up right now, I would not look like y'all. A push-up is not going to get me there. And I really think people are like that. They're like, "I made a social media post." Like, "And?" Like, in the famous words of like Chris Rock, like, "What, do you want a cookie?" Like, you need to post 800 times all month for 13 years and then we can talk. Like, it's this level of patience and discipline that no one wants, which goes to the third principle, which is perspective. You have to understand why you're doing things. I'm telling you the reason everyone got fast is they want to impress everyone else. People are living their lives out here, trying to impress people that they don't even know or like.

• 29:46Speaker 00

  Like, living their life. Making your life to impress people on the other side of these cameras that you don't even know. People being shook when JohnnyPants19 says "You suck" in the comments. Like, living their life. Like, people are scared to post about their yoga interests or their startup idea. Scared because SallyPantsMcGeeR7 might be like, "You look terrible today. Your lighting's off."

• 30:17Speaker 03

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• 31:21Speaker 00

  I think we need a shift. But we need to stop blaming. This isn't the algorithm's fault. What's that?

• 31:28Speaker 05

  Blaming number three, stop blaming number three.

• 31:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, accountability is over everything. It's like, to me, accountability is the oxygen needed in our society. We just absolutely default into blaming everybody but the one person that is actually capable of changing the script.

• 31:45Speaker 05

  Looking at, a lot of times, people, you ask that question about the glass half empty.

• 31:50Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 31:51Speaker 05

  Right, and that's perspective.

• 31:52Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 31:53Speaker 05

  I want to ask you what your thoughts on, like, are you more of a, it's about who you know type of person? Or more so about who knows you?

• 32:05Speaker 00

  Man, it's so crazy where my brain goes. I'll answer, and then I'll answer yours. I think it's more of how you feel about yourself.

• 32:13Speaker 00

  Like, those two things are important, but like, I think those things mean nothing compared to, "How did you wake up today and how were you talking to yourself about you?" Then, I'm a little bit more, I'm a little more, I'm 50/50 on that, brother. I think network matters. I think people should push curiosity to meet different people, different shit happens. I think who you hang out with is real. I think optimism, practical optimism circles change the perception. If we sat here and dwelled, that's why everyone's fucked up. Everyone's just in politics all day. And it's important. You can't put your head in the sand of injustice and shit like that, but all day?

• 32:55Speaker 00

  Like, you've got to, you, you know, you're gonna lose every football game if the defense goes out on every play. You gotta score, you know? But I also think having attention, who knows you? That matters. Attention's the currency. You can't sell anything. God, trading cards, energy drinks, hats, a different way of looking at the world. You can't sell shit. A pastor makes nothing happen if the church is empty.

• 33:27Speaker 00

  So, attention is the currency. What you do with that attention becomes your legacy. Hey 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.

• 33:44Speaker 06

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• 34:14Speaker 07

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