Pod Insights The GaryVee Audio Experience Why Sales is Just Bad Marketing About this episode In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience you'll hear a killer keynote I gave in New Jersey in 2021! I talk about how organizations and companies should focus on people and emotional intelligence. Also, I talked about LinkedIn tactical advice to take advantage of it and how skills are going to be commoditized in the future.
Transcript 11,416 words · 7 speakers
0:00 Speaker 00 This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience. You know, I have a very good sense of the businesses in this room. I have a lot of friends in it. You know, when I was building my dad's liquor store in Springfield, New Jersey, not too far from here, I realized how important technology was and was going to be. You know, I'm 45 now and at the time when I saw the internet, the first time in 95, when I was 20, I had never owned a computer. Right? And so, what's interesting about that is, that's just the way it was.
0:42 Speaker 00 And for anybody who's 45 and older here, obviously, there's a lot more tech DNA here, so I'd assume maybe they had the luxury or the serendipity of parents who had Commodore 64s or some Apple shit or stuff like that, you know? But that just wasn't my reality. But my reality was that I, from the time I was 6 years old, I was born in the Soviet Union, we immigrated here. And, you know, I'm an 80s Jersey boy, which meant I was outside 24/7. And so, between my mom and the streets of Jersey, that's how I was raised. And my natural DNA was always to sell. And so, from the time I was 5, 6 years old, lemonade stands, washing people's cars.
1:25 Speaker 00 Like, it would snow and everybody be fired up that we weren't going to school. And they'd want to go sledding and I'm like ringing doorbells trying to make 5 bucks, shoveling driveways for like 2 hours. And I was just that guy. And then I turned 14 and I was a DNF student, which was crazy rare for immigrants because education was the way out. And so, my parents were like, "Cool, you're a DNF student? You're gonna work every hour of your life." So, basically, from the time I was in 8th grade through all of high school and college, I worked every weekend and every summer vacation. And my parents were gangsters. I don't know if you guys remember this, but the last day of school usually was a half-day.
2:08 Speaker 00 My mom would be at the school in the half day, picking me up and driving me to work. They didn't even want to give me that half day. And so, in that business with my dad, I learned the majority of what I want to talk to you about, which was everything that I did not want to do. And that's not, this is not going to be a crap on my dad session, but my father grew up in the Soviet Union, where every employee stole everything, because in communism, the government owns everything. So, everything is black market. And he also grew up in a pretty rough situation with my grandma, and he lost his dad at 15, and he was structured. This is literally not a joke.
2:51 Speaker 00 My parents moved from Edison to Hunteren County, New Jersey. So, I don't know how many Jersey people are here, but out west, Clinton, Flemington area. So, we would have a 45-minute drive on 78 to work. This is the first day that I'm ever working in my dad's store. I'm 14-years-old. For the last 14 years, I've lived under my mom's world, which is pure rainbows and sunshine, kindness and empathy, but accountability, which is why I can get things done. And she just crushed it. Like, I look at these books in front of me, on the screen here, and I know that there's one book that I am going to write before I'm all done, which is called "Perfectly Parented", and I want to lay out how she did it,
3:35 Speaker 00 because I sit here today with all of you with so much gratitude of how lucky I got, who built me. So, now I've got my dad. And my dad, so, my mom and I share a lot of DNA. As some of you that know me here know, I'm very comfortable talking, and I love talking, and I'm always talking. My dad is the reverse. The man doesn't talk. So, we're driving for 45 minutes. He doesn't say a word. Award. Now, this is real now, and maybe for some of you, this is more of a grandfather or father situation. It's old-school life. Like, I'm 14, I've literally seen my dad like 10 times, even though he slept in the same roof as me every night of my life.
4:16 Speaker 00 He left at 7:00 a.m., 6:30 a.m. to work at the store, and he got home at 10:30. I've literally, and he worked 7 days a week. So I've literally, I can, on, these 2 hands can tell you memories of my dad to 14. And now I'm in the car, he doesn't say a word. We pull up to the store, he turns and looks at me, and he says, "Keep an eye on the employees, they try to steal."
4:48 Speaker 00 So, this is what I walk into. And, and why did I go this direction with the opening? From that second, to me being right here, with my natural DNA and how I watched my dad's business, for those, especially those 4 high school years, where I didn't have a lot of say, so I had to listen and watch more than talk, or get things done. I purely watched what defense, negativity, and not trusting and building a family looks like. The amount of money my dad left on the table, because unfortunately, he was raised in an environment where he didn't know how to trust, was devastating. He would, created a framework where everything was based on fear.
5:32 Speaker 00 When I think about the size of the businesses in this room, and I think about the human dynamics and the consumer dynamics that really drive where your range is from your business, there's only 2 versions of where you're gonna go with your business. You're either gonna play prevent-defense, or try to be the 85 Bears if you're a football fan and play defense, or you're gonna go pure offense. Right? There was a very famous college basketball team in the late 80s, early 90s called Loyola Marymount. Maybe for some of you fans remember, there was a tragic death of Hank Gathers, a very famous player on the court. But the reason I bring it up is not to remember that tough memory. The reason I bring it up is that college basketball team used to win games 142 to 126.
6:16 Speaker 00 They had a run and gun system. And I think about it a lot because it's how I run my business. When I tell you the amount of mistakes that I make, it's stunning and staggering. I'm a human being. I'm making 100 decisions a day. When I tell you that the amount of time I dwell, or even give it a second thought, is almost nonexistent. When I think about small businesses, and that's what we all are, including VaynerMedia for me, there really isn't anything but people. When I think about this room and what you do for a living, you're selling people. When I sold wine, I had to taste those wines, which was a pretty good gig for a while.
6:59 Speaker 00 But I was selling wine. I had people, but I was selling wine. VaynerX, my holding company of agency right now, is 1,500 people globally, right? Singapore, Mexico City, LA, New York, London. All we're doing is we're selling people, right? And ours is a little bit different in that your business model is really fascinating, and I've always liked it because the reality is, is if you can figure it out right and create the right flexes, it can be quite profitable, right? Because you're carrying a certain amount of people. I mean, I always think about if I did this business, I'd be like, you're really in the business of like, just holding your breath every second,
7:41 Speaker 00 hoping that if you've got 200 or 100 clients, that six don't have an issue at the same exact time. And it's just, right? It's not super hard to understand what you're dealing with. Thank you so much. I will definitely not drink it. But it's very kind. I have a major water issue. I just don't drink water. Anyway.
8:03 Speaker 00 You know. It's white wine, Gary. That I would drink. That I would drink.
8:11 Speaker 00 But what that speaks to, and I think about it a lot, and I've had a couple of friends through the years being in this business, and I've always been fascinated, because I think the business inherently is spending way too much time on defense. What if this happens? What if? What if? And I think a lot about what happens to a business like this that goes on pure offense, and what triggers can be created with staff, and partnerships, and other variables that can scale, so that you feel comfortable in selling in front of the inevitable opportunities, or the vulnerabilities that come along with having that many clients with the potential of needing servicing, and things of that nature.
8:54 Speaker 00 I think there's several things that run through my mind here today. First of all, probably the thing I want to spend the most amount of time on, which is this concept of carrying people on your team, because they've just been around for a long time. And this one is emotional, because some of this started as your actual friend or family, became your actual friend, because you've been working together for six, seven, nine, 12 years. I think a lot about this issue at this level, which is the notion of how much value comes
9:36 Speaker 00 with actually cutting or limiting the bottom 20% of people in your organization. Right? So, notice what I said there in a sentence, cutting or limiting.
9:50 Speaker 00 I have worked with family and friends my whole life. I have started every business with family and friends. I love it. I think it's a good idea. It's a bad idea for most people, because they care about money more than happiness and their friends. Starting a business with friends or family is a bad idea if you care about money.
10:10 Speaker 00 Because it will always get to a place eventually where there's friction. Starting a business with family and friends, if you're a little more chill about money and you love business because you love the game, not the money, is a tremendous idea. So that's, that starts the first question that you're really going through, right? Second is if you're in a position where you've got long-tended employees and... Actually, let me phrase it a little bit different. If you're sitting right now and thinking, as we're talking about your situation, if your number one value prop of the people you're thinking about right now is that they're loyal and reliable, but you've got a big problem.
10:56 Speaker 00 If your number one value prop of the people you're thinking about in your team is that they're loyal and reliable, but you've got a problem. Because if the "but" is that there's a lot of other things that they don't do well, if the "but" is that they make a lot of other people within the organization not feel good, you've got a major problem. What you're really in is in the people management business, right? We're gonna get into, just because it's what I do for a living, of how I think you can dramatically increase your potential clients through digital, because it's there. You know, I've got a lot of, like I've said, I've had several friends and acquaintances in this business. If you're not running significant LinkedIn ads right now for your business, you're making a massive mistake.
11:42 Speaker 00 I don't know how you plan on acquiring new potential clients, but I can promise you, where LinkedIn is right now with ads and creative is the most reminiscent thing to what I saw with Facebook in 2013, and it's a huge arbitrage. And if you leave this conference with anything tangible for new business generation, I promise you, it sits inside of LinkedIn right now. You play in a B2B environment. As many of you know, how many people here consume content on LinkedIn occasionally? Raise your hands high. High. I want everybody to look around. Look around. And notice what I said. I said, "How many people here consume content on LinkedIn?" As all of you know, just looking at the crowd,
12:29 Speaker 00 LinkedIn just five minutes ago, AKA six years ago, was just for recruiting. It has transformed into a content play, and that's why so many of you have raised your hands. The ad targeting is bafflingly good, but it's expensive because it's high value. So a lot of people hit me up, they're like, "You're pushing LinkedIn? What are they kicking you a bag on the back end?" I'm like, "Are you out of your fucking mind? Going to ruin my reputation for LinkedIn? Give a shit about LinkedIn?" Sorry, I know I'm supposed to not curse, but I get ridiculous about this one.
13:05 Speaker 00 I don't give a shit about any platform. I care about being historically correct, so my reputation is whole. What I know is that LinkedIn works, because go figure, when you can target the head of HR, or a CFO, or a direct job description, and you know exactly who you sell to, every one of you fully knows the title of the human that has decided to give you money. Now, a lot of times that's just the CEO, I get it, right? Which is great. Then target CEOs on LinkedIn,
13:40 Speaker 00 and then tell them why you have a value prop. And what's great is when you tell them you have a value prop, that can be in written form, that can be in video form, that can be in picture form. My biggest preference is you don't make an infomercial. Eighty percent of people do. They go directly into the right hook. It's all just trying to sell. Nobody here wants to be sold. You're going to give somebody thirteen hundredths of a second on their video, you know that it's going in for the sale. Meanwhile, you're technically strong. You know the common headaches. You literally can step back and look at the data, let alone you know it off the top of your head, sitting here, of the consistent issues that people have. So instead of making it a sales pitch,
14:23 Speaker 00 you can make it an information center that looks like "What if?", or "What do you do when?" This happens. You then actually get consumption of the video, which actually then leads to business. Because if you give good content, it's not very hard for them to click your face and send you a message. So, there's two core worlds that I see for this group, which is, how well do people understand the human variable of business? And how well do people understand the current state of how to get customers? That's it. There is nothing else.
15:05 Speaker 00 And I've rinsed and repeated that for 25 years, and that's why all my businesses do super well. I started a client service business in 2009, right? VaynerMedia. I, you know, some of you, how many people here have grown up in a family business? Raise your hands. Just wanna see. So, the, so the, great, thank you so much. So, the 20 or 30 of you that just raised your hands, if you're the second generation in a family business, you know exactly what I'm about to say. I built my dad's wine store for him.
15:36 Speaker 00 Right? I worked for 12 years, made very little money, because that's what you do in a family business. And at 34, I had to leave, even though I took my dad's business from $3 to $60 million. I had to leave, and I started VaynerMedia in another company's conference room at 34 years old. So, when I put out all that content to the kids on social about patience, I lived it. I was 34, got grossly underpaid. I wish I didn't have a family business. I wish I was just an executive somewhere else. I would've got a bag, right? Left, had to start over, started my company when my brother graduated college in Buddy Media's conference room in Columbus Circle by the, above the Starbucks there. And had to start a client service business,
16:21 Speaker 00 even though I never had a client service business. I was a wine retailer.
16:26 Speaker 00 And in the first two years, I really didn't want to do it. I was still too busy with Wine Library and I wrote my first book Crush It! And the Gary Vee thing started to happen. But then I saw the opportunity, so I went all in. So I really started the company in 2011. And so in a 10-year window, VaynerMedia, and now VaynerX, because there's eight companies under it, has gone from zero to $286 million in revenue, right? Based on just the two simple things I'm talking about, which is, it's only about the human beings that work for me. Like, my entire framework on the way I look at my business is the people that work for me, the customers of my customers, and then my customer.
17:11 Speaker 00 The number one mistake that a lot of my friends make in this business model that you're in is they value the customer over their employee. It's a fundamental destroyer of your upside. When you default every time to being on the customer's side, regardless of the information when you've gathered on what the situation is at hand, you've immediately limited the upside of your business. Incredibly foreign for a lot of people, but so essential in the way that I see this world. Why I'm so hot on getting you good at LinkedIn, or anything else we talk about later,
17:53 Speaker 00 is if you have a strong funnel of constant new business, it's going to give you the leverage to have your employees' back over your customers' back. Hand in hand, hand in hand. I think that... I have a new book coming out in November. And because it was COVID, and it was just like a really good... I was really in my feelings when I wrote it. And I'm really excited about it. And it's called 12 and a Half. And it's really about 13... Human characteristics that I think really lead to actual business success. Because I think people are very confused on who wins in business. I think business is completely misbranded. I think people think you have to have sharp elbows,
18:37 Speaker 00 and who's the most aggressive, and who's the most alpha. And I actually genuinely believe that soft skills like empathy and kindness, and accountability, and things of that nature, are actually the alpha skills that build very large businesses. But I called the book Twelve and a Half, because I want to go vulnerable on you, because it's probably one of the more common things I've seen as a shortcoming, and it was my greatest shortcoming. Because my father was very candorous. You always knew where you stood with him. That was his favorite. I'm like, "Yeah, you stand hating you because you're mean."
19:17 Speaker 00 My dad was really great at candor. I, on the other hand, because my mom's not, and I was very bad at it. I demonized it even more, because the way my dad delivered the candor was so aggressive and negative, I wasn't able to separate the vehicle from what it was.
19:37 Speaker 00 So, what's really interesting about that was, it really was only about two or three or four years ago where I started really going into this place with me. With all my success, what was very obvious to me that my number one job as a business owner is to eliminate fear for my employees. Number one. 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. And the reason there was some fear in the ecosystem was because people didn't know where they stood. Because I would sit with who I thought sucked, and I would try to coach up. I would try to rah rah.
20:22 Speaker 00 I would try to team them up with somebody who was awesome, and hope for some osmosis shit. I was trying, I was trying everything. And then, I'm sure, and I can see by the reaction of all of you, you get to that point where you just wake up and you're like, "Yeah, I'm firing Sally today." And I would. And Thursday, this is Monday, and Thursday I'd walk back and be like, "Sally, have the best weekend ever."
20:48 Speaker 00 And Monday, I'm like, Sally, can you come in? I'm like, Sally, you gotta go.
20:52 Speaker 00 And then I was the bad guy. Because I wasn't able to deliver candor. And then Sally go back to her desk, and I was like, "I saw Gary say, 'What's up to Sally?' Super nice, and give her a hug on Thursday. I'm next." And so I thought about this a lot. And this is really hard to admit. And it's like, that's why I'm so excited about this book. Like, I think, especially for the people that follow me. I'm an old-school, Eastern European immigrant. Like, my garbage stays in my house. Nobody knows anything about me. I'm the most public person. You've never seen a picture of my kids. They're 12 and 9. Like, I'm in my own private life, right? And that's the way I run my business too. My headaches are mine. What I share to the world is the optimism, is the good thing. It's not delusion. There's nothing but headaches, being an entrepreneur. All of you know.
21:38 Speaker 00 Everybody thinks this stuff is cool. This shit is exhausting. Right? This is 24/7 pressure. I wish that when I come back next time around, I'm a number 2. Being a number 2 is epic.
21:52 Speaker 00 Being a number 2, you get a solid amount of the financial upside, and you get none of this feeling of, "There is nobody besides me." From the day I walked in my dad's store full-time, when I was 22, to right now, I have been the single person responsible to make payroll. Have never raised money. Didn't even have a credit line in my dad's store. It's constant on you, 24/7. And so... But being vulnerable and talking about how weak I was at candor has been really liberating for me. And I really hope helps some of you, because it really matters. And the way I branded in the book, some of you have probably heard "radical candor", as that's gotten some momentum.
22:37 Speaker 00 I actually think that that's an excuse... And not radical candor. I just think candor in general has historically been an excuse for people to be mean to people. I'm just being candorous, you suck. You know, like that kind of stuff? And so, I frame it up as kind candor. If you walk into the situation and know that you're delivering bad news, are you capable of finding the right balance of tone? And in that candor, can you make, and I've been practicing this hard for the last 24 months. It's been game-changing for my business. And can that person leave and say, "Wait a minute, Gary's actually trying to give me a chance to write this course." Not, "I'm gonna now walk in fear 24/7." That was a huge shift for me, perspective-wise.
23:19 Speaker 00 And I hope that helps even one of you consider maybe having one kind candor talk when you get back to the office. It matters. This is only about people. Everything in the world is getting commoditized. The only thing that's going to be left is emotional intelligence. We are mapping everything else. This is a tech crew. You guys know. I don't have to explain to you what's going on in the world. What do you think's going on? What do you think AI's going? Where do you think all of this is going? This is all going in one direction, which is, unless you start really tapping into, as an owner, as a leader, where you sit on the emotional graph of running a business, that is where all your financial upside sits.
24:02 Speaker 00 And leaving here with the mentality of understanding, you've got to focus on your people, not your customer. Of course, your customer. But that's default. I know you're thinking about that. I know that you're trying to have retention. I know you've got all your tricks and ideas and strategies and ideas and hopes of like how you keep that customer. What I want you to do is realize you're playing defense. That's amazing. By the way, you have to play defense. There's a reason you play defense. You do want to do that. That is good. I just want that to be 30% of your energy, not 86%.
24:40 Speaker 00 Once you start getting that framework down, you have a very different opportunity to grow your business. When you're spending 35% of your energy trying to get new customers in the most progressive way for the money you spend on it, something interesting happens. When you spend 40% of your time actually giving a crap about every person that works for you for real, not kind of, not saying it because it sounds good, but living it, a funny thing starts happening. And so getting that balance down in a monthly retainer service-based business with a lot of customers, average 3,000 bucks a month life, and hoping to do 7, 10, 15 million dollars a year, I promise you, it starts with your employees. It's next progressive marketing in a 2022 way.
25:25 Speaker 00 And then third, you can worry about what you've actually spent most of your time thinking about. That is the framework. So I think that's the framework I want to start because I really want to go into Q and A in detail of that framework. But I want to talk for a little bit more and then I'll open up Q and A on the second part, which is getting customers. I believe, and this makes sense, you know, I had a new CFO come in four years ago, and he's like, "This is a mess." And I'm like, "Break it down." And so he's breaking down. He came from a big holding company, agency life, right? Where he's accustomed to, you know, having small top-line growth and tons of profit. It's all defense.
26:09 Speaker 00 And he sits and we break it down for three hours. And then I said, "Yeah, but we also grew 30 million dollars in revenue," which was whatever percentage at the time. And we kind of got into this joust. Very good. Joust just because it was like intellectual, like business debate. All great vibes. And finally, I kind of like, you know, there's nothing more fun than knowing what you're talking about and playing mental chess with somebody. It's the best feeling on earth, right? I could see by the reaction, like your expertise, right? It's the best feeling when you know the game inside and out, and you're playing it, and you like the other person. It's nice. So I was in one of those moments. And finally, like I kind of got him into that. You know, there's that moment where the person knows they walked into the wrong spot?
26:57 Speaker 00 And he's there, and he looks at me, and he's like...
27:02 Speaker 00 Let me say, this is what he said, he goes, "Fine, yes, new revenue does solve everything." And that's really why I want to spend time on marketing. You know, I don't, when I look around and look at everybody's face, actually, let me ask this question, how many people here plan on retiring within 10 years? Real quick, not because you're gonna crush it and you're the Messiah, but because you're old and you're finished. Raise your hands, raise it high, raise it high, own it, own it, I see half hands, go high. Right, so for the six of you, for the six of you,
27:46 Speaker 00 for the six of you, you know, a 10-year window, you know, the world changes fast and slow, right? The world changes fast and slow. But for the 98% of the people in this room, when I think about how business people make their business decisions in a B2B environment, the evolution of the tactics needed in marketing and sales over the next 10 years are staggering. You know, let's call a spade a spade. The majority of people in here are sales organizations, not marketing organizations. You're in the sales business, call, call, duh. When the reality is, is if you actually spent 25 hours on my very subtle, quick mention on LinkedIn,
28:29 Speaker 00 and when I say 25 hours, it's the same 25 hours I spent in December and January, learning about NFTs. Right? If you've seen what's happened in that space, in 90 days, I've made, I have done $91 million in revenue on my VFriends NFT launch. The first $51 million I kept, which was in one week, the next 40, I've gotten a 10% royalty on every transaction. Last night, while I was sleeping, I made $246,000 on the royalties of people selling my NFTs to each other. I didn't know what an NFT was nine months ago.
29:11 Speaker 00 But what I did when I understood something was brewing is in the height of my busyness, when I have a trillion things going on, while I'm trying to navigate nine billion other businesses, I just spent 50 hours learning what NFTs were. So when I talk about the thing I'm about to talk about, I never understand why I know 98% of you are not going to spend 25 hours trying to master LinkedIn Ads. I never understand it. Now, I do understand it. It might be predicated on lack of revenue needs. You just might be content and complacent. I don't even judge that. I think people have me very confused as a character on the internet. I don't think you need to go crush it and go harder and never sleep. Do you?
29:56 Speaker 00 I don't give a shit. I just don't like when people say something and don't back it up. It drives me crazy when someone's like, "I'm gonna be a billionaire." I'm like, "You're playing Xbox." Like, I'm so confused, right? So like, here's my point. And now I know I'm feeling something because I'm standing up. If you knew how much admiration I have for all of you right now, it would touch your heart. Let me tell you why. It's... Is today Wednesday? Thank you. It is the Wednesday. It is the Wednesday. It is the Wednesday of Labor Day weekend. It is September 1st today.
30:40 Speaker 00 This is the most checked-out week in the world. In the world, this week, from America to Shanghai, definitely Europe, those fuckers don't work. This week, as we stand, we're in the middle of it, the Wednesday, this is the most checked-out business week besides Christmas week in the world. And you are in this room listening. That tells me you're pot committed to what you do. I don't have a... I mean, I don't know if you guys can see the goosebumps. Please confirm this. You can't be here if you don't care. You cannot be sitting here if you're not hungry. You can't. Why would you be here?
31:25 Speaker 00 This is checked out week. This is Jersey Shore Life. This is Upstate... This is checked out week. So I'm sitting here saying, "These people are here early on this Wednesday." So when I sit here and say, "I know I can fundamentally, fundamentally, transform every person's business here if they just spent 25 hours studying how to do LinkedIn ads properly." Anybody can post an ad. I'm talking good. I can dribble a basketball. I'm not fucking LeBron.
31:55 Speaker 00 Please, hear me on this. Please do 25 hours of LinkedIn homework. And start the way I did. You know what my first search was? "What is an NFT?" Enter. Please, figure this out. Because I'm telling you, once you do, and you get good at it, everything I actually want you to do with people and the human stuff will become a lot easier when you have a flow of inbound customers. I have empathy of why you can't always be as sweet as I want. It's because if you fire that client because they're mean to your people, you might have a problem. I understand what it means to have to pay the bills. I get it. But I also know why companies stay in the same spot their whole lives. This business that you have owns you.
32:40 Speaker 00 And you know it. And there's a way for it to not. Because mine doesn't. On the drive here, one of our biggest clients, $12 million a year client, did something with our scope for next year and handled it a certain way. And on the ride here, I said to Nick, who runs that account, I said, "Resign the business." You know what kind of leverage that is? You know how nice that feels?
33:05 Speaker 00 I want that for you. And I know how to get there. And I've seen it 100 times. And I know exactly what it doesn't look like. And it doesn't look like when you don't know how to scale marketing. Sales is just bad marketing.
33:22 Speaker 00 Thank you.
33:30 Speaker 01 Wonderful. Thank you, thank you Gary. Now, we're gonna kick off Q and A, everybody. So, we have some runners that are gonna be running around with the mics. But before we get started, and I always say this, you know, there's been those days where we've been in a ball crying in a corner, right? Because it's been so... Last Monday, guys, let's not judge me, okay? Don't judge me! But, you know, what was the most traumatic? Or that one moment where you just questioned everything that you were doing? And is this right for me, or is it not right for me? Am I down that right path? Because I'm pretty sure we've all been there, once or twice,
34:13 Speaker 01 and probably just in the last week and a half. But, what was that moment for you? And how did you get yourself out of that state? Because I think mental health as well is very trying for business owners, because there is all of that pressure and that...
34:31 Speaker 00 I... It's a really tough question for me, because one of the things that really works for me in my career is I always tell the truth. The truth to your question is, I've never even been remotely close to that place. But that's because when I look back and now analyze myself outside of myself, I'm like, "Right, I was pulling flowers from people's yards and selling it back to them." This was not my proudest moment.
34:58 Speaker 00 What I mean by that is, that five-year-old kid that I'm referring to was always this person. There was no other gear. What you're referring to is, my version of that was kindergarten through high school. My coddled-in-the-corner-I-hate-life was school. There was never a version of that in business. There's also another reason. I don't care what anybody thinks about me. So I'm willing to lose everything and go back to a studio apartment with eight family members, and I could care less if Twitter blew up and said, "Ha ha Gary Vee, you thought you were hot shit." I just don't care. Not because I'm cool, because it's just the way I was built. I'm in my own head, in my own life, I know who I am, and I don't do business for a Mercedes or for a Rolex.
35:42 Speaker 00 I do it because it's my oxygen. I'm happier in the most pressured business spots because I'm not in it for anything else. When you don't actually care about people's judgment and when you don't actually need money for fancy shit to impress people, business is the best. So I just have never been in that place. I just haven't. Now, I've been in challenging places. Selling liquor on the internet was very hard, still is, but very hard when I was innovating. One day, the state of Texas decided to just pick on us and have restored the whole country and really clamp down on our ability to ship there. It was also one of our biggest states. And overnight, as a $20 million business that was just three,
36:24 Speaker 00 or excuse me, four, five minutes ago, AKA three years ago, we lost $4 million like that. You know, that was like, hard. Because it wasn't that it was hard that I lost the $4 million, it was that it was hard that it wasn't fair. It was selective. I love losing in business, because it's fair. People love capitalism until it's not in their favor.
36:51 Speaker 00 I love capitalism all the time. I like when I lose. I like it. It's fair. It's a game. You're supposed to lose, sometimes. Hopefully, I just win more than I lose.
37:01 Speaker 00 But that, what I did then was, I just went home and went to sleep at 3:00 PM. And then I woke up the next day and said, "Let's go." I think one of the biggest challenges, the thing that separates the $3 million from the $10 million company in here is almost directly correlated with the person in this room's ability to deal with pressure when it hits and how they make the people around them feel when it hits.
37:25 Speaker 01 Leadership.
37:26 Speaker 00 Leadership.
37:27 Speaker 01 Okay. We have questions. Raise your hands. Okay, ladies, let's go over here first.
37:36 Speaker 02 Hey Gary, Damon Finaldi.
37:38 Speaker 00 Daniel?
37:38 Speaker 02 Damon.
37:39 Speaker 00 Damon, real nice to meet you.
37:40 Speaker 02 Been to your dad's store a bunch of times.
37:41 Speaker 00 Thank you, brother.
37:42 Speaker 02 Still there. So when I look around the room and I see a lot of these brands, I see a lot of us could advertise and it's really hard to differentiate one brand from the other out in the market, right? We're typically, in these types of businesses, not celebrity or person-led brands. So what would your advice be if we were going to spin up the marketing part of this? How to lead forward?
38:03 Speaker 00 Nobody knew who the hell I was on February 20th, 2006. And I made a YouTube video drinking three bottles of wine and nine people watched it.
38:13 Speaker 00 That.
38:14 Speaker 01 Okay.
38:15 Speaker 00 You may not be a celebrity, but neither was any celebrity that came from the internet the day they made their first piece of content.
38:24 Speaker 00 What you have is what I had. You know what you're talking about. Right? And this is key. When you go to video form, if you decide to go to video form, the biggest reason people fail in video is they try to be more over the top than they actually are. And I understand a mundane, straight talk may not be the most dynamic, but I'd rather have 397 people watch you because they like your information than you having 500 people watching you, but they're in it for your shtick, but your shtick isn't real.
38:56 Speaker 00 Right? Remember the business you're in too. You only need 397 views. Because I promise you, if you get your first video on LinkedIn and you do 25 hours of homework before you make it, and you post it, and you actually get two contracts out of it, I have a funny feeling you're gonna spend an hour trying to find my email to send me an email and say, "I love your face."
39:19 Speaker 00 And I know that, and I know that because I'm in the point of my career right now where I get that email 15 times a day. And I promise you, if you ever get lucky enough, and I'm lucky to be in that spot, that feels better than everything. This is real stuff that I'm telling you right now. You know, what's fun about me, for me, when I analyze myself against other people is there's never been a day that I haven't run a business. I'm not a motivational speaker. I'm not an influencer. I'm a businessman. I'm gonna buy the New York Jets. Do you understand how much they cost?
39:52 Speaker 00 I'm not doing that with fans or likes. I'm building businesses out here. It's just that people haven't realized some of the foofy stuff is actually the most important stuff.
40:02 Speaker 00 Right? And so, I think you should make content. But if you're a better writer than you are on camera, then write. But if you feel good on camera, then do camera. But if you like talking, but you don't like the way you look, you're allowed to. You're allowed to be insecure about the way you look. I'd like you to go to therapy and get out of that because that's a bad game. But you're allowed to. And if that's your case, then do audio and post audio.
40:26 Speaker 01 Thank you. You're welcome. I'm gonna go back here first, and then Carly over here.
40:30 Speaker 03 Gary, appreciate you coming out. Adam from Las Vegas.
40:33 Speaker 00 Adam?
40:33 Speaker 03 Yes.
40:34 Speaker 00 Pleasure.
40:35 Speaker 03 Thank you. Would you care to elaborate what you said there at the end? Sales is just bad marketing.
40:40 Speaker 00 Yes. Nike doesn't come to your house or spam you to buy sneakers.
40:46 Speaker 00 Brand is what everybody here should be trying to do. And nobody usually does it. Because sales is quicker. But I don't know if you heard, the tortoise always beats the hare. And so people don't want to put money into branding. People make fun of marketing in businesses like this. Because they think it's a waste of money.
41:06 Speaker 01 Not this group. This group loves marketing, right guys? This group loves marketing.
41:12 Speaker 00 I have some good news for you. That was not an epic reaction to your statement.
41:19 Speaker 00 I analyzed real quick, and I'm good at this. This group is cynical to marketing. And I respect it to no end. When you have a business around the sizes this are, it's not exciting to get fired up to do 50K on a marketing campaign. And then you wake up, you know, two months later and you're like, "Did we...? What did we get from that shit?" But, every decision you actually make is far more predicated on marketing than sales. And so, my big thing is, if everybody here was just willing to take a little less money home each year from their business, and put it into marketing, if they... You have to do good marketing. It's back to the LeBron basketball thing. I could practice all day long, I'm not going to the league.
42:05 Speaker 00 Right? So you have to get good at it. Or you have to find somebody that's good at it. But I promise you, once you build a personal brand, which I think a lot of you should, if you're... If you... If you feel like you're charismatic, or you hold the table at dinner, or like, you're a good host at parties, like if you've got that in you, you should be running to make content. If you've got a little bit of that. And then if you're more introverted and not, maybe, you know, I have parents that were embarrassed of their, you know, accent their whole life. Right? You know, a lot of you may know that immigrant story. That's okay, but then you can write. Like, writing a white paper on LinkedIn could go viral and change your life. LinkedIn is... And here's why I'm really upset against standing. How many people here follow me?
42:50 Speaker 00 Raise your hands. Thank you. So, a lot of you know, like, this isn't something new. I've been on this LinkedIn kick for a while, and it's not as good as it was three years ago. Three years ago, when I was yelling about this, the cost of the ads and the amount of people that would see your organic content if you just post with no fans, was higher than it is now, because people are figuring it out. It's a land grab of attention. The only currency for a business, actually, is attention. It's the only asset. Because once you have the attention, you have the ability to get them to consider to do business with you. That's what you're asking your sales team to do. But your sales team is destroying your brand, because every time you bother people, you're destroying brand equity, not gaining it.
43:32 Speaker 00 Spamming, calling, that's hurting brand equity. By the way, I love sales. Let me just go over here for a second. I'm into sales. Sales are great. But sales without marketing is a vulnerability. And what happens when your head of sales leaves? You can just restart it? Because brand doesn't go. So, something to think about. And it's really the difference between 4 million a year and 20 million a year. It just is. And by the way, you don't need to do 20. You could do whatever you want. I'm just telling you what it is.
44:12 Speaker 04 Good morning.
44:13 Speaker 00 Good morning.
44:14 Speaker 04 My name's Amy, and I really appreciate you being so grounded today for us. This is the perfect pandemic exit, sort of real talk.
44:22 Speaker 00 Thank you.
44:22 Speaker 04 So, one of the things I think about a lot is the roller coaster of business.
44:26 Speaker 00 Yes.
44:27 Speaker 04 You know, the game of life, you roll the dice. There's going to be bad luck, there's going to be good luck. There's going to be unfair practices, there's going to be fair practices that slam you on the ground. How do you, as a leader, quickly reset? You said you went to bed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. That's one way. And then how do you reset the leaders under you when these things happen? I think that's the trick I'm trying to understand from what you're saying.
44:49 Speaker 00 Hold the mic here, because we may go back and forth a little bit. Um, thank you.
44:55 Speaker 00 You know, I've been in a high stakes business because when it's a family business and you're doing it for your parents, it's very high stakes. And then my career went into high stakes. And so, my whole life, literally that 3pm is the one story in 22 years that I have. Everything else has just been gratitude. I'm just grateful. Like, I don't... This is the number one game I play. And this may help you if you're willing to go there emotionally. There are 8 billion people on Earth. Everybody just closes their eyes mentally. You don't have to physically close them. For 2 seconds, let's take a moment of silence. I'd like you to ask yourself where you think you rank.
45:36 Speaker 00 If the world ranked a human based on happiness, whatever... You do you. You judge yourself on financial, health, happiness. Where do you rank yourself out of 8 billion people on Earth? I'm gonna give us 12 seconds. I want you to actually come up with a number. I may even ask some of you, I may not. We'll see. I want your rank. Where do you rank yourself in the world? Alright, let's start with this. There's over a billion people on Earth that don't have clean water.
46:16 Speaker 00 You live in America. There's only 300 million of us, right? If you make over $47,000 a year, you're above the average in America.
46:31 Speaker 00 If you make $400,000 a year, you're in the 1% in the richest country in the world.
46:40 Speaker 00 I just think we don't have perspective. Business is bullshit. That's why I'm easy. That's why it's calm. I'm just not scared.
46:51 Speaker 00 What? Like, when I talk to my friends like this over dinner, like, I'm like, "What, are you gonna lose your Ferrari?"
47:00 Speaker 00 Like, you don't have the humility to trade in your BMW lease for a Toyota? You're incapable of selling your home and renting a townhouse? You're incapable of that? I just think people fear bullshit. That's why it's so easy. That's the reset.
47:19 Speaker 04 But to bring it back to a much more existential level. I mean, there are some businesses that are struggling to make payroll, not make the Ferrari payment. Or there's a business decision that's completely life-changing. Do you combat that with gratitude also?
47:32 Speaker 00 Of course. Because the existential doesn't matter if you don't have the foundation. You said, "Let's take it back to how we're gonna decorate this room." I'm like, "The fucking concrete and steel that hold up this building is what we need to focus on." I appreciate that. What I say is, "Maybe you're not good at business and you should get a job." It's okay. You know, like, for me, there's levels to it. Like, I don't know how to win a game when somebody's scared of making payroll all the time, because that means they're not good at it. And that's okay. So, one of the things I think about is fundamentally eliminating fear. When you eliminate fear, you actually have a better chance of making payroll
48:14 Speaker 00 when you have the perspective of what we're actually doing here set. Right? Like, most people are crippled by the judgment of their inner circle. Most people can't wrap their head around shutting down their business because they don't want to hear about it from their sister, or their mom, or their friend. Right? It's pride wrapped in insecurity. So, I, you know, I don't know, cut down your costs. Like, it's so, you know, I'd have to sit down with every person here individually and be like, "You take too much money home each year." And then I would ask, "What are you buying with that?"
48:56 Speaker 00 And I would look at all the dumb shit you buy and say, "Stop buying it." And then you would be able to make payroll. Thank you.
49:07 Speaker 00 There's such a big question for this room of like, why do you have a business?
49:14 Speaker 00 Right? Like, is it because you think you'll make more money that way? Is it because it's gotten cool? Is it because you stumbled into it because you were doing your craft and you're like, whoa, there's more opportunity? It's all awesome. None of it's wrong. It's just good to know. Once I knew for me somewhere around 33, I'm like, wait a minute, this is me playing. This is me playing. I'm playing. I need to do this forever because I'm playing. I'm like an athlete that loves their sport. Oh my God, this was a big one for me. Oh my God, back to the 8 billion. Oh my God. The greatest athletes of the world wake up at 36 and they're finished. And they have to live 50 more years not doing what they love more than life. I'm doing this shit till I'm 90.
49:58 Speaker 00 There's no retirement here. I'm not going to golf in Florida.
50:04 Speaker 00 I'm dying at my desk.
50:10 Speaker 00 And by the way, there's a lot of people that would, if they read that sentence, if you tweeted Gary said that, they would all say, "That's so sad." I'm not saying hustle and work until you bleed. I'm saying, this is my hobby. It's the same reason if you follow me heavily, why do I wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning and go to New Jersey to garage sale? Because I like it. That seems weird to people. It seems weird to me to golf for four hours. I have no interest in sailing.
50:38 Speaker 00 I don't want to ski.
50:41 Speaker 00 But you may think it's epic. The end. But like, that to me is like, if you can get what we just talked about down, something happens. I've seen it. I watch it. It's like, which then kind of makes you look at the whole situation differently. Right now, the people that are stuck in what you're talking about are in a hamster wheel. And they can't step out and realize they just have to take a step to the right to get out of the wheel.
51:11 Speaker 00 Got to ask those questions. They matter. They really matter.
51:17 Speaker 00 There's so many people in here, that's not fair. There's probably a small percentage of people here who'd be much better off not having a business. That'd be awesome. Like, you know, it's that insecurity pride thing. It's like, my greatest strength is my interest, let alone my ability, to take a step backwards.
51:41 Speaker 01 Do you have a next question we have up there?
51:47 Speaker 05 Hi Gary, Terry from South Jersey, 51st state.
51:52 Speaker 05 Two quick questions if I could. The first is about the kind of Jack Welsh, get rid of the bottom 10% thing. In today's market, I'm sure you're seeing this in your companies. I mean, how do you do that? It's almost impossible to get anybody to come take a job.
52:05 Speaker 00 You don't, Terry. We've got six more months of this and then you can.
52:09 Speaker 05 Okay.
52:09 Speaker 00 Like, I don't, people, like, so many business owners right now want to like burn the government down because, you know, it's better to stay at home and make more money. They also have such thoughtful points of view on this, such lack of thoughtful points of view. A lot of my friends who have businesses, especially in like retail or restaurants, things of that nature, those checks are going into the system. So it's a double-sided convo. But in the question you're asking, like, I have so many people that are so emotional about this. I'm like, you're incapable of six more months of waiting? Like, this is not going to last forever. So it's just a moment in time. I don't even think about it twice. It sucks, we have all sorts of headaches in every business I'm in. I'm like, okay.
52:52 Speaker 05 Deal with it, right?
52:53 Speaker 00 Yeah.
52:53 Speaker 05 Second quick question is, I do do LinkedIn ads. And I've been working on it, trying to get it better and better. But as LinkedIn ads and LinkedIn in general get more popular, there's obviously a lot more noise there. Any tricks or tips for separating yourself?
53:08 Speaker 00 How many different pieces of content do you run actual ads against?
53:14 Speaker 05 Mostly we're doing direct in-mails now with like the AI process. We're doing video and we're doing some...
53:19 Speaker 00 In-feed, in-feed creative with ads that are targeting the types of people you're trying to reach. Not the inbox stuff that is sales. Marketing. In the feed, different pieces of content where the picture or video has a planned media against it to whom it is supposed to see it.
53:40 Speaker 05 Yeah, probably none.
53:42 Speaker 00 That's why it's not working.
53:43 Speaker 05 Okay. Thank you.
53:45 Speaker 00 You're welcome. Let's make sure we get some over there at some point, too.
53:51 Speaker 00 And I'll just go a little further on that. When you know, let's use South Jersey. When you know you're targeting businesses within a 10-mile radius, because strategically you like having clients locally because you like the retention aspect. And you know that you're targeting South Jersey businesses that are in the liquor business. Well, then your video is going to be like, "Are you an Eagles fan?" And he's like, "Yeah, I am."
54:16 Speaker 00 "Do you sell liquor?" "I do." "We can help you." Like, when you know who you're targeting.
54:26 Speaker 00 And it doesn't have to be that overt. What it can be is literally you talking with a glass of wine and an Eagles flag. 51st state.
54:38 Speaker 00 My man.
54:38 Speaker 06 Hey, Gary. Matt Solomon, I'm the guy that keeps texting you.
54:41 Speaker 00 Yep. I saw you in the hall.
54:43 Speaker 06 Yeah, and I'm actually the number-two guy you were talking about. I was traveling the world while this guy had to write me some big commission checks and worry about payroll and all that.
54:51 Speaker 00 Of course.
54:52 Speaker 06 But, you know, you're putting out so much content. You know, I see you on TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, everywhere. Is there particular pieces that are really resonating with your audiences?
55:02 Speaker 00 It's different, right? On TikTok, when I say, "Fuck college," they go wild. Go figure. Doesn't hit as well on Facebook.
55:16 Speaker 00 So, what I like about what's happened here for the last three, four minutes is you're starting to hear some nuances that matter. The context matters more than the content.
55:27 Speaker 00 Like, who's gonna see it? Who's gonna see it? What's the mindset? Forget about the demographics, the age, the sex, the gender, which matters. The mindset. What are they into? What's the slang? You know, even the terminology I use is different on TikTok than it is on Facebook. You know, there's a lot of slang terms a 63-year-old businesswoman and man are not gonna know that I may use on TikTok. So, I'm very contextual. All of it's resonating. It's why what's happening with me is happening. It's why I know it will work for everybody, meaning we all have upsides to our charisma, our talents, our thing. But, but when you haven't even done it yet, that means there's, you know, it's kind of
56:09 Speaker 00 like when you first start losing weight, if you got off track. That first week is awesome. They come off. Then it gets harder. Same with what I'm trying to have you do in marketing. That, if, once you really get it down, that first run is just gonna work, cuz you're at zero. Right? And, and it gets into the nuances, which is why I'm so grateful for your question, which is why I wanna do Q and A. You're like, because you can be like, "I'm doing LinkedIn, it's not working." I'm like, "But you're not. Here's the subtle difference." Right?
56:36 Speaker 01 Great, we have a question over here.
56:39 Speaker 00 Hey, Rafael, from, uh, from Dallas. Hey Rafael. How's it going? Real well. Hey, so, quick question. Um, I know a lot of guys in here are MSPs, solution providers, service providers, they're all kinda selling sort of the same stuff, right? And a lot of times even reselling some of the same vendors, right? Of course. So, we talk about separating brand and distinction and all that stuff. When a lot of these guys are kinda doing similar things, especially in the eyes of their prospects or clients, what do you think's the key to creating like brand separation or real distinction in a market that's similar to this? A word.
57:14 Speaker 00 A word. What do I mean by that? The whole world works that way. People are so infatuated with, you know, differentiation. Most of the business in the world is done where people can do it with somebody else.
57:32 Speaker 00 A word. A word in a video that you said. It's what every salesperson in here knows. A single word. AKA, a sentence. An analogy. Timing. Right? I mean, here's the good news. I always laugh at what businesses worry about for the customer that customers don't worry about.
57:59 Speaker 00 They just need somebody to fix their IT. They're not like, "Oh, Barry's here. Well, I know 64 other providers." They're just happy Barry's there.
58:09 Speaker 00 And if they're like, a little more sophisticated and want to do an RFP or check a couple of things, they're gonna pick three people they've heard of or from word of mouth. And then they're gonna make a decision on the presentation. And that presentation, whether in deck form or word form, is gonna come down to a word or two.
58:31 Speaker 00 I think a big thing that you can really do is lean heavily into honesty. Honesty is the greatest closer of business. If your pitch is predicated on pure 100% truth, you will close a lot more business. Even if it is a step away from where you think your advantages are. If you start with, "The truth is, all four people you're talking to are the same, and the only difference is their effort or the serendipity of how their staff is staffed at the moment," it changes the potential relationship with the prospect. Something to think about.
59:07 Speaker 01 Thank you.
59:07 Speaker 00 Yeah, but don't worry about you're not differentiated. Neither is almost everything. Really.
59:15 Speaker 00 Hey Gary, Todd Billier. By the way, I apologize.
59:19 Speaker 00 The things that are differentiated, one on brand.
59:25 Speaker 00 The logos, like, this shirt's the same.
59:29 Speaker 00 The swoosh, or the... It's, like, look at everyone's sneakers. They're the same. You can buy every sneaker we're... You don't even want to know what I paid for mine, right? So, so, brand, that's why I care so much about brand, right? Then you're just differentiated, before you even started. But don't worry about not being differentiated, because you're not.
59:52 Speaker 00 Like, what are you gonna do about that? Start wearing clown noses? Like, you can't be... Like, you're not differentiated, Todd? Alright. Hey Gary, Todd Billiard. So, great segue to my question. You talk about branding, big fan of branding. So, like, my buddy Paul Brophy here. Yes. Does he build the brand Paul Brophy? Or is he building the brand Summit Business Systems? Well, let's ask, let's ask Paul. Paul, what do you think?
1:00:15 Speaker 05 Summit Business Technologies.
1:00:17 Speaker 00 Why?
1:00:18 Speaker 05 Because it's more recognized and global, and it doesn't just generate around me.
1:00:23 Speaker 00 What's, so, talking...
1:00:24 Speaker 05 What business offers.
1:00:25 Speaker 00 I don't think it's that global, with all due respect.
1:00:29 Speaker 05 Global in a local format.
1:00:31 Speaker 00 I can't even hear him.
1:00:32 Speaker 05 Global in a local format.
1:00:35 Speaker 00 But it's still not... A globe? Or you're... He's from Ireland, he's a little slow in the morning, you know. Fair enough, fair enough. Here's my point of view. Most humans will answer the way Paul did. And I understand why. It feels like there's more scale, right, behind it. However, when you build around yourself, when it's your business, humans are dramatically more differentiated than logos. This great differentiator that you're all looking for? I don't know if your mom ever told you that you're a unique snowflake and an individual? Good news, she was right. The number one differentiation you have is you, the human being. I'm a big fan of building around personal, if you're willing to.
1:01:20 Speaker 00 If you're not, and uncomfortable with it, then don't. But, it will absolutely outperform any business that's doing less than $25 million in revenue, on its way to that, will always get there faster, building around a human versus a logo. In today's environment, with the way that content works on the internet. Where the internet is 100% the place where brand is built. So, as a follow-on to that, has, you know, business owners in here, and obviously, you know, their employees, They encourage their employees then to build on their own individual names? Or build towards, you know, the corporate brand? You know, this is a tricky question. I am pretty pro employee doing what they want. And if they leave and build a great business and it hurts me in the short term, that's actually a win for me.
1:02:06 Speaker 00 I also am very aware that that's not shared by 87% of this room. So, my answer is, let them build however they want to build. And get the short-term value. And if they actually are an entrepreneur, you can't stop an entrepreneur from being an entrepreneur. A lot of people try to suppress their employees from doing exactly what they're doing. Which is always a bad formula. Um, so, I would, I, I let them and I'm happy when they go that route because you can't stop somebody who's gonna be on their way to winning anyway. And by not stopping them, you're actually getting more value while you have a pit stop at your business. And most people don't see it that way.
1:02:48 Speaker 01 Okay, our last question. George, you're up.
1:02:52 Speaker 00 Hi, I'm George. I'm from Philadelphia. I'm an Eagles fan and I like liquor. George, how are you?
1:03:00 Speaker 00 I actually love the Eagles. Actually, as a Jets fan, I love the Eagles because we both hate the Giants. That's true. And Dallas, and Dallas, but the Giants for sure. How, how do you get people to actually put some intensity into what they're doing, right? Like, as a business owner, you know, you're into what you do, you're aggressively going after it. You mean, how do I motivate my team? Yes. Easily. By sitting down with them and asking what actually motivates them. And what if they're not really super motivatable? Well, then you fire them. Okay.
1:03:36 Speaker 00 The, the, the most interesting thing about businesses, lack of accountability when you're in full control.
1:03:45 Speaker 01 Sorry.
1:03:45 Speaker 00 Nothing pisses me off more, like, from a good place, than when my friends that own their businesses cry about shit when it's 100% their fault.
1:03:55 Speaker 00 Like, news alert for all of us that own a business. How many here own a business? Everybody who just raised their hands? 100% of every problem in your business is 100% your fault.
1:04:08 Speaker 00 And once you realize that, the stuff gets good. I think people have a one-size-fits-all motivation game to their employees, and that's why it doesn't work. They're baffled that their employees aren't motivated by money. When a lot of people that are employees are motivated by the balance that they can create with the salary they make. And that's beautiful. I'm so much... I know more people who make $60,000 a year working for somebody that have happiness than the people that I know who make $10 million a year owning their own business.
1:04:43 Speaker 00 There's no right way to live this life. There's just figuring yourself out from a self-awareness game and living it.
1:04:51 Speaker 00 But, you know, your question's easy, right? You start with, like... And by the way, as business owners, especially if you want retention, you need to be prepared for my favorite thing that happens at Vayner. Vayner gets an ambitious kid. She or he is 23, 24. They come into my office, they sit down, and they drop one of my favorite doozies. "Gary, one day, I'm gonna run this company."
1:05:16 Speaker 00 And I'm fired up. I'm like, "Good, cuz I'm getting old." And I'm like, "I'd be happy, please God." And they're on fire. And they're working their face off, and they're talented. And then they turn 27. And they come in, and they're like, "Gary, I'm in love." And I'm like, "Awesome." And they're like, "But my significant other doesn't want me to work as much." And I'm like, "Mazel tov." Amazing.
1:05:46 Speaker 00 And then they have a child, and then this, like, things evolve. At 24, you may want to run the world, and then you decide to. Other times, your life might evolve, and you're thrilled to make 313,000 a year, which is an extraordinary amount of money, and have some level of balance, and have a beautiful life. That's also great. You may then change your mind when you get divorced, and you want to run the world again. All of it, all of it, all of it, as a leader, as a business owner, is good by me. I am mentally prepared, every second of my life, to be prepared for what the person that works for me wants to happen in her life, and I build a framework to be able to adjust to it. That's how you build billion-dollar companies. And the closer you can get to this nirvana, the more business you will do.
1:06:31 Speaker 01 Wonderful.
1:06:32 Speaker 00 Thank you.
1:06:32 Speaker 01 Thank you very much, everybody. Gary Vee!
1:06:35 Speaker 00 Thank you.
1:06:35 Speaker 01 Big round of applause for Gary.
1:06:39 Speaker 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.
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