The Ultimate Advice for Every 20 Year Old

Summary

---

The GaryVee Audio Experience

Episode: The Ultimate Advice for Every 20 Year Old

Date: July 10, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Gary Vaynerchuk sits down for a candid conversation packed with practical, no-nonsense advice targeted primarily at young adults navigating ambition, creativity, and the early stages of their careers. He shares hard-earned lessons on authenticity, relentless execution, understanding oneself, and the realities of funding and content creation. The episode is a mix of motivational wisdom and tactical strategies, ideal for those in their 20s and 30s who are searching for clarity, confidence, and actionable next steps.

---

Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. Macro vs. Micro: Live for the Long Game

• Gary emphasizes the importance of focusing on the big picture (the "macro") rather than obsessing over short-term details:
  • "I'm not worried about the micro, but I think about the macro...there's a lot more to do with the fucking showing up to the funeral than it has to do with fucking the bank account." (00:31)
  • He frames success in terms of the legacy you leave and the relationships you build, not only financial gain.

2. Radical Self-Awareness

• Understanding who you really are vs. who you wish you were is vital:
  • "The difference between understanding who you are versus who you wish you were...once you know who you are, you get more comfortable with what you're up to." (01:31)
• Gary encourages brutal honesty with oneself as the ground floor for any real progress.

3. Authenticity Beats Fronting

• Don't pretend or oversell yourself; lead with truth about your process:
  • "The number one mistake...they try to oversell themselves because they think they need it to have people's attention." (03:35)
  • "Talk to the world about your process of going through this than the advice that you should think you should be giving them." (03:55)
  • Gary opens up about his own patience and path—he didn't start sharing publicly until he was 35.

4. The Market & Money: It's About Packaging

• Money isn't as hard to find as clarity is—know what you're offering:
  • "The market will give you money. Whether it's Kickstarter, I'll give you money. You just have to give somebody what you want it against...It's not money, it's how you're looking at the world." (08:56)
  • "You have to put your thing into a container that's investable. Nobody's writing a check to a person." (11:18)
• Concrete advice on using modern tools (Kickstarter, AngelList) but with a clear offering.

5. Document, Don’t Just Create

• Content should be constant and honest, focusing on documentation over curation:
  • Gary implores putting out “seven to 25 pieces of content a day” (12:54), but clarifies: “Don't go fancy. Document versus Create. When I say 7 to 25, you say, my God, how do I produce 7 to 25 meaningful things...but shit is subjective, my man...you're fully in control." (13:17)
• Encourage starting messy and iterating, rather than waiting for perfection.

6. Just Start: Action Over Debate

• Execution trumps ideation, and most people get stuck overthinking:
  • "People aren't starting. They're just not making. They're thinking, they're pondering, they're strategizing, they're debating. The difference between people like me and the far majority is I'm just doing at all times." (14:31)

7. Consistency and Self-Care

• Balance hard work with self-checks, but don't use self-care as an excuse to under-execute:
  • "I do what feels right to me...If I got to check out for the week, I check out for the weekends all the time...I don't punish myself." (15:21)
• Gary acknowledges cycles of creativity and advocates for honest self-reflection alongside steady effort.

8. Build You Before You Build a Team

• Don’t rush to delegate if you haven’t put in the ground work yourself:
  • "You need to work on you before you worry about a team...Get your thing in place." (18:25)

9. Structure for Creative Output

• Think “pillar content” - create a big idea that breaks down into recurring mini-shows or segments:
  • Gary brainstorms live: "Go take a picture on every odd street in New York...Call it Odd Corner...That's cool, right?...Monday's Odd Corner, Tuesday's Subway Shots, Wednesday's Suburbs..." (19:00-20:55)
• Leverage structure to make consistent creation easier.

10. Execution is Everything

• Gary's famous “ideas are shit; execution’s the game:”
  • "You know, you came in here and said, I'd like to start the process of a relationship. Ideas are shit. Execution's the game. Right? Email me in 30 days. Either you're gonna email me in 30 days and say, look what I did. Word. What you're going to do is not email me." (21:53)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On living for legacy:
  "There's a lot more to do with the fucking showing up to the funeral than it has to do with fucking the bank account." (00:38, Gary)

• On self-awareness:
  "The difference between understanding who you are versus who you wish you were." (01:44, Gary)

• On packaging your offer:
  "You have to put your thing into a container that's investable. Nobody’s writing a check to a person." (11:18, Gary)

• On creativity cycles:
  "I do what feels right to me...I don’t punish myself." (15:23, Gary)

• On execution:
  "Ideas are shit. Execution's the game." (21:54, Gary)

---

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 00:18-01:14 | Macro vs. micro, life legacy | | 01:14-02:20 | Self-awareness and knowing what you want | | 03:32-04:25 | Don’t front—authenticity and the trap of over-selling | | 08:33-11:18 | Market access to money; creating an 'investable' package| | 12:54-13:34 | Document vs. create; volume of content | | 14:31-15:04 | Action over debate, 'just start' mentality | | 15:21-15:36 | Balancing output and self-care | | 18:17-18:51 | Don’t build a team too early; focus on self-consistency| | 19:30-20:55 | “Pillar content” and creative structure brainstorm | | 21:53-22:12 | Final execution challenge; accountability |

---

Episode Takeaways

• The best path to success at any age, but especially for 20-somethings, is to know yourself deeply, be radically authentic, and relentlessly execute.
• Don’t wait for perfect conditions—start now, document honestly, and iterate fast.
• Money follows clarity and actionable packaging, not just ideas or passion.
• Use your environment and community as creative fuel, and create structures for creative consistency.
• Building a team comes after you build a strong, repeatable foundation on your own.
• Accountability and action separate wishers from doers.

---

For more of Gary's direct, actionable advice, dive further into past episodes, and remember: ideas are a dime a dozen—your execution is what will set you apart.

---

Transcript

[A]

This is the GaryVee audio experience. What you're about to watch is something that I know will bring value to so, so many of you. It's a long clip, but it's advice that 65% of my audience really needs, and I hope you enjoy it. How old are you?

[B]

32.

[A]

Perfect. You're at the point now where why don't you just take three years and just do and see what that tastes like. Cause you know what fucking filling journals taste like. Cause I think one of the things that really works for me is I'm not worried about the micro, but I think about the macro. Oh, I don't know where the fuck this just came from, but I just walked in and saw it. This helps me a lot. Like, I just like, what the fuck am I doing with you right now? There's a lot more to do with the fucking showing up to the funeral than it has to do with fucking the bank account. And you know what's funny is if you actually live your life like the funeral, you end up making stuff for the bank account by accident. You end up meeting somebody who, you know. Like, it's so crazy when I think about how I invested in Twitter and made all that money. It was more about giving shit about my funeral, like, doing the right thing by a bunch of people, which led to going to south by Southwest, which led to me meeting the Twitter guys, which meant, you know, like, it's just.

[B]

Yeah, like, following your passion, following your bliss.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, you just gotta really think about, like, how, like, I'll tell you, like, even in four seconds, maybe some of the context Robert gave me, maybe I'm making some assumptions, but when you're thoughtful, I think one of the things that people struggle with is actually being very real with themselves. The difference between being the difference between understanding who you are versus who you wish you were. And I think that's something that I'm always very fascinated by when I have a meeting like this, when. What kind of read do you have on yourself and how, like, you know, I think I would struggle a lot if I didn't really genuinely know who I was. And then once you know who you are, you get more comfortable with what you're up to. So, like, if I asked you right now, and I think it ebbs and flows when you're 28, when you're 32, when you're 57, like, if I asked you right this second, like, what do you want to happen? And, like, what would you say,

[B]

what do I want to happen? With, like, my creative projects or just with life or what way?

[A]

Sure, all of it.

[B]

All of it. What do I want to happen? I. Yeah, I want to have a life where I'm able to create with fun, create with the team. I want to put out content that affects people's lives for the better in terms of helping them feel good or better about themselves and their relationships and cultivating relationships that are meaningful. I want to, like, travel with my man and like, have property, international property, and like, travel for fun, also for play, and also a little bit of time for work. But controlling and maneuvering life with ease and also impacting people for the better in the process.

[A]

That's cool. What are you hoping as you're, like, rolling up to this office? What are you, like, what are you hoping for?

[B]

You know what?

[A]

For real, by the way?

[B]

Yeah, for real, for real. I mean, there are, like, you know, shit that I do not know. So I honestly just want to pick your brain about a couple of key things. And really, like, ideally, like, what I was hoping and what I expect is like, to get in a place where, like, I know you and I could

[A]

hit me up, start the process of building a relationship.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Okay, let's start with this. If you want to. Listening to what you said, the first thing I will tell you, the best thing I think, I hope. I think the first best thing I can tell you is don't front. The number one mistake that people that aspire to, the sentences that you just spit out of your mouth, the number one mistake they make is they try to oversell themselves because they think they need it to have people's attention, try to oversell themselves. Correct. So let me give you an example. Whether it's life coach, inspirational figure, business coach, whatever form it takes. I think it's much smarter for you to talk to the world about your process of going through this than the advice that you should think you should be giving them.

[B]

Yeah, okay, that makes sense.

[A]

And that's where people are struggling. I got real lucky. I've never said this drock, so pay real close fucking attention. I'm not sure that if the Internet was around in its current form that I would be as successful because at 22 and 23, I knew I was special. And I might have not been patient enough to first build a business, first get experience. I didn't start talking to the world till I was 35. And I love to say to you, be patient. To you to be patient. I'm not sure if I would have been. I'd like, to think I would have been. But the freedom of putting, like. I love to hear myself talk, you know? And I think anybody that is sp, like, think about. So do you and so do so many of you. Like, that's what it is and it's nice. There's nothing wrong with that. It sounds bad. It's funny. A lot of what I deal with now is. Is being okay with not being politically correct. Work, life, balance, cursing, whatever, meritocracy. I don't know if you've seen this. Did you see that? I was on the Breakfast Club, so I don't know if you watched that interview or some of the content that I've been building on. I'm on a hot no excuses kick. I have a lot of female entrepreneurs. I have a lot of fans that are African Americans. I spent a lot of time in that community my college years. I just think I'm giving the best advice to women and minorities in business today, which is tough. And it's crazy. You have to understand, in my body right now, it doesn't feel great. It feels a lot better going somewhere else. The problem is, it's the truth. The market just doesn't care. And what's cool is when you actually say fuck it, then you start betting on your strengths. Do you know I was a businessman in a world where going to smart colleges was the only thing that mattered for businessmen. You were only a good businessman if you went to Harvard Business School. And then I reversed it. Like, I'm. Like I'm a DNF student. Like, I curse. I don't dress the part. I do me. And then, you know what happened? The world came to me. And so I would tell you that the best thing that you're gonna walk out of here with is something that took me a long time to really realize, is if you wanna pull this off and you want people listening to you, there's only one thing. The truth.

[B]

Just more of your authenticity.

[A]

The fucking. And everybody says that fucking cliche term,

[B]

just beat yourself and all that shit.

[A]

It's unbelievable how much that's the reason I'm winning.

[B]

Shoot.

[A]

And I think it's easier when you have a level of success and it's harder when you're climbing up the ladder. But I think that there's a lot of people who, if they talked about the journey of the climb, could win. I think it's the best piece of advice I can give right now to a bunch of 20 to 30 year olds that feel that they should be talking to the world. And bringing value. Talk about your journey of trying to find that voice and synthesize it properly versus let me tell go find. You know, because the problem is a 30, 40, 50 year old listening to your 1 minute rant video on Instagram. Even if it's powerful, there's a level of cynicism of like, what do you know? Yeah, and I think that that's fair. And look, you could just be a whiz kid about the world and that exists, but I do think there's a smarter way to context it. You know, it's like starting the sentence of you should versus you know, it's funny right now I can say you should because I built so much, but if I was at 20, it needed to be like my intuition says, and that changes everything. Or when I look at. Or when I met with Gary today, the takeaway I got was, that's got it. Hey, everybody. 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.

[B]

Yeah. What your perspective is on cultivating relationships with people who not only believe in your ideas, but can actually help fund or will point you to funds. Because right now all my friends are broke and trying to create some shit. You know, it's like, I can't borrow from your negative bank account. So, like, how do you get into a position where you are around people who are influencers or who also will donate or whatever the case may be.

[A]

The market will give you money. The market will give you money. Whether it's Kickstarter, I'll give you money. You just have to give somebody what you want it against. So the biggest problem right now is finding money is not the problem. Really, it's not. I'll explain.

[B]

That's definitely my problem right now.

[A]

Well, let me explain. It's not. It's how you're looking at the world. There's things like Angellist and Kickstarter. Do you know how much harder it was for your mother to get money?

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember that shit.

[A]

Do you know how hard somebody would slap you? Do you know that the 1973 version of you, if he was sitting here, would punch you in your fucking mouth? Because money's the last thing you have to worry about. Angel List, Kickstarter. The world can give it to you. You start a Kickstarter, Ken. You know why most of them fail? Cause most shit is whack. Because most stuff Isn't good, because most people don't give a fuck. You can go to angellist and hit up all the angel investors. The real question is, before you go there is. I think most people say. Everybody says to me, gary, I can't find money. And then I go, cool, I'll give you money. What do you got? And then they don't know. So tell me, what am I buying? Your brand. What? In perpetuity. Got it. There's. We're living through a really interesting time in the world right now where people don't. Like, where art and science and business are colliding, and they're all very different. I understand the art that's in your heart, but how you gonna. Yeah, see, I got lucky. I had the art and the business. But, like, okay, what am I buying? There's no buying. Look, buying into Gary Vaynerchuk would've been a really good idea for a lot of people if it wasn't for sale. And I didn't even know how to sell that. Like, what do you sell? What are you gonna make? 20% of my speaking fees or my book deal or my TV deal? Right. I guess you could do that. I actually do think that plays out over time. But if I said to you, cool, I got money for you, what are you selling me? What's the business?

[B]

What I hear in that is when you show up with more content, that allows people to see more of what they're investing in.

[A]

More. No, what I would say is, what's the container I'm putting my money in? You could have unlimited content. You could have 4,000 episodes of a podcast and the greatest Instagram account I've ever seen, and the funniest Snapchat and Instagram stories I've ever seen. Great.

[B]

So that's not inherently letting people know what they're investing in.

[A]

That lets them know a little bit about you. But what's the vessel? Got it. So when I meet Fuck Jerry or when I meet the fat Jewish. I know they've got attention on Instagram three years ago that really matters. What am I investing in? Oh, oh, fat Josh, you're making a. Oh, I can put $25,000 into that and own 8%. Now you've given me something to put the container in. Oh, fuckcherry. You want to become BuzzFeed? You're gonna build a website and have traffic and sell ads. You gotta come to me and say, what am I investing in? You have to put your thing into a container that's investable. Nobody's Writing a check to a person.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. Package it.

[A]

Package it. And then it gets hard. Because once you package it, you have to be able to explain it in business terms. And that's not necessarily what everybody does. This is where it gets into partnerships. One thing I would tell you, based on the vibe I'm picking up, if you and I both grew up in Milwaukee, I would have been a great partner for you because I could have been the businessman to the art. If that's how you're thinking about it. Maybe you're the business part, but it's not what you've been bringing up yet.

[B]

I don't know. I've been in a position where I've had to do both right now.

[A]

Well, look, I mean, you should be putting out content on a very regular basis. You should start a pillar show. Whether it's. I mean, vlogging, I think, is very fascinating. You should be doing Instagram stories and Snapchat stories. At scale, you should be putting out seven to 25 pieces of content on both those platforms a day.

[B]

A day.

[A]

And let me explain how. Don't go fancy. Document versus Create. When you make. You like that, right? It's a big shift. When I say 7 to 25, you say, my God, how do I produce 7 to 25 meaningful things that will have me respected versus document?

[B]

See, that's. That's always the thing, is, like, meaningful that will get me respected. I feel like anybody can put out shit, you know? I don't want to put out shit,

[A]

but shit is subjective. My man. And I got good news for you. You're fully in control.

[B]

Yeah? Yeah.

[A]

People always like, gary, you put like, I'm in control. How many things I say? No, they send me quotes to put out on Instagram. Nope, I'm in control. Who makes the final call in like productions? The producer, the director, I don't know, whoever. Who's the final person? Great. You're the producer, my man. Yeah, right? I don't know. You take a selfie with a nice skyline and. Yeah, but you gotta put out stuff and you gotta fabricate it. I still can't believe how many people that live in New York don't use New York people. If I were you and I had an hour. Right now. Go in the fucking park right now. I don't know. Go back to your basketball roots. Stand outside the garden right there and be like, what do you think about the Knicks upcoming season? Yeah. Interview four people. One person gets into a thoughtful conversation. He was the former ball boy in 1957. It's a nice story. And boom. You see where I'm going? People aren't starting.

[B]

People aren't starting.

[A]

They're just not making. They're thinking, they're pondering, they're strategizing, they're debating. The difference between people like me and the far majority is I'm just doing at all times. I'm doing so much that I've decided to have a fucking man walk around with a camera and follow me. Cause who knows when it's gonna happen. And you know what's so funny? In parallel in my brain right now, when you're leaving here, I'm gonna say to him, drock. I want this whole thing cut. The whole thing. Like what I'm giving you so many need right now. So I'm like, fuck it, let's just put it out. Right?

[B]

So I. Like you mentioned before, you know, you have to be putting out content all the time. I personally go through these periods of like extreme creativity and extreme. Just chill, you know, like I'm not feeling it. How do you motivate yourself or how do you continue this process of like go, go, go, go, go and balance that with like self care and checking in with yourself?

[A]

I do what feels right to me.

[B]

You do what feels right to you.

[A]

Yeah. So if I got to check out for the week, I check out for the weekends all the time. No creations people are like, where's your snow? Snapchats? Like, I don't know, gotta be with my family. Like, I don't punish myself.

[B]

But that's really hard for me right now. Good. Of course I feel that same thing of like, dude, you're not putting shit out. You're not doing enough. You had a following and you're not doing shit.

[A]

I agree.

[B]

All right.

[A]

You see where I'm going?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't know. Life, I don't think you. I don't, I don't think you should squander it. But like, I mean like, you just gotta, you know, listen, this is back to do you know yourself or do you aspire to be something you might actually not be? This is the toughest question of it all, my man. I mean, if you wanna be respected and really known, show up, show the fuck up. Are you fucking kidding me? With a week, going a week without doing something? You know, I don't know how much into my content you are, but I, I always say nobody you've ever met got there without the hard work. Nobody, you know, it's just real, you know. Do you know how insane. DailyVee and the Snapchat stories has been to everybody. They didn't realize how hard I was going at it. You can't believe how many. You can't believe how many people. You know how many fucking people used to say the word luck? That word luck has gone right back. Like, nobody has the audacity to say that to my face now. And I love it. And that's why I did it. I did it. I made it for you. Because you can watch it and be like, okay, But I think yours is different. I think a lot of theirs is different. It's because I'm not fancy about it. Document over, create. I mean, there's so much magic going on, Dude. You're in fucking New York City. You know how many people. Again, I'm gonna cut this whole thing. Cause this is the advice everybody needs. You know how many of them sitting in a place that's not New York City? You got a billion fucking stories out there. You don't feel motivated that you need to tell a story today or create, Go let somebody else to do it. You have so much charisma. You walked in here in two seconds. You walked in here in two seconds. And I'm like, okay, this kid's got a little ma. Like, you can roll up on anybody and get them feel comfortable except racists. I do that shit every day. I can do that too. But do you know what I mean? Yeah, that's so fucking awesome. So you can't create, distribute. Got it. You can't create today. Facilitate, you know? Yeah, man.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's no excuse for not talking to the world. It just doesn't have to be your thoughts and words every time.

[B]

Mm. Yeah. Thanks for that.

[A]

I'm on fire right now. I'm on fire. Drock.

[B]

Do you have, like, a few more minutes?

[A]

Yeah, let's. I mean, look, I'm going until they pull me out. You're already eight minutes over building a team, so you're winning. Yeah. Don't even worry. Don't even think about. You're not even close to that.

[B]

Why not?

[A]

Because you don't have the money to really build the team. Right. You can have homies help you out along the way.

[B]

Truth is, I feel like I've exhausted those resources, though.

[A]

Good. Let me give you a real good answer. I got a feel for you right now. You need to work on you before you worry about a team.

[B]

What do you mean?

[A]

I mean, you gotta get your shit together. Like you're responding to the right thing. I don't know much. What I do well is I talk and then through reaction, I listen. That's how I get a lot done in a meeting like this. Right? I could tell that you've got certain things that you need to do before you worry about a team. Get your thing in place.

[B]

Consistency first.

[A]

Yeah. Get great at what we just talked about. If I go look now, and I'm gonna check now, I'm curious if I go look in a couple weeks and I'm like, oh my God, six Instagram stories per day. Fucking forced Instagram posts. He's been on Twitter, on point, his Facebook. Oh, he's got a YouTube channel now. Create, distribute, do all that stuff, interview. There's so much creative shit, man. I'm way more creative than I realized because stuff comes so natural to me. For example, do a meme. And that's just a slang term for it. Go take a picture on every odd street in New York, in Manhattan. I don't know, go start at 1:13 and then 1:11 and 1:09. Anything could be right. Call it Odd Corner and just literally do an interview every day on Instagram for a minute, starting at 1:13, all the way down. That's cool, right? And that's what. I'm just making shit up. I don't know, like Odd Corner. Hashtag oddcorner. It's your show every fuckin Monday you go to fucking 1 13th, the next week, 1 11th. And literally you stand there until somebody walks by and you interview that person and that's the fucking show. I think what I'm good at is building a pillar up top that creates content below DailyVee, AskGaryVee Show. Right? And then all flows from there. Where did this quote come from? I don't know. You know, like somewhere along the way. That's what's powerful. And I think you need to. I think one thing that people struggle with is they think it needs to come from them and it needs to come from the structure down instead of got it. And that's why you wake up and you're like, damn, I'm not feeling, you know, how hard it is to manifest that kind of original creative thing from the bottom. But if you literally lived your life under show, think of yourself as like CNN or msnbc. Monday's Odd Corner. That's it. If you whiteboarded now on mini shows that you could do Monday's Odd Corner, Tuesday's like subway shots, Wednesday's like suburbs. You're just literally going out like, you know, and all of a sudden suburbs, clicks, and all of a sudden Toyota's hitting you up and saying, hey, we'll pay you and you'll drive a Toyota to Jersey, to Long Island. See where I'm going? But you gotta put yourself in that position. But what you then are able to do is you don't have to think. You know why podcasts have worked for a lot of people? Because they interview people so they don't have to do the work. That's right. That's why. When everybody's like, oh, I love this podcast. Oh, GaryVee. And I'm like, you don't get it. They're just interviewing people. I'm creating original from the get. My version of that was. What's a better version of that? Oh, answer people's questions. Also scalable, but brings value to those individuals and the entire community. So got it.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

Good man. Give me an update in 30 days. Send me an email. I'm dead serious. This is. You know, you came in here and said, I'd like to start the process of a relationship. Ideas are shit. Execution's the game. Right? Email me in 30 days. Either you're gonna email me in 30 days and say, look what I did. Word. What you're going to do is not email me.

[B]

Thanks.

[A]

You got it, brother.

[B]

Appreciate you.

[A]

Take care, 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.