← The GaryVee Audio Experience
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- [00:00]
A
This is the GaryVee audio experience. Everyone got so caught up with a Mark Zuckerberg. These stories of 20 year olds that hit they didn't understand that 99.9999% of people have to eat. Judgment of others. Self doubt along the way. Lonely ass moments for 3, 6, 9, 12 years. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second. Being in the fo, most people don't do it.
- [00:34]
B
It's like you're freaking Nostradamus, man. Like when it comes to this stuff, you always know where the evolution is happening. And you're always like yelling from the rooftops of everyone, like, hey, heed my advice because this pivot is coming. Or hey, there's this new platform, like how do you stay on top of that? And I guess to load the question, where do you see the next evolution going?
- [00:52]
A
Now let me try to put everybody on. You should live on TikTok shop and whatnot. It's happening right now in real time.
- [01:00]
B
You guys are selling stuff live.
- [01:01]
A
It's happening literally right now.
- [01:02]
B
Wow, that's awesome.
- [01:03]
A
Literally right now, as you can see, obviously podcast people, if you're listening, right outside my office, I built a studio. It's literally right outside my office. This is expensive real estate, by the way. We're in the middle of Manhattan and they are literally live right now selling Vee Friends trading cards. By the way. If you like Pokemon, go to vends.comvefriends.com so that's awesome.
- [01:26]
B
So you think that's where it's going? People want that instant. I got it first.
- [01:30]
A
I'm telling you right Now. I believe 5 to 20% of the content in for your pages next year or the year after will be live streams. Social shopping has already happened in China. See, what I do well is I watch. I'm very good at watching. It's really funny. I'm a real tough read at first, but if you. And it sounds like you really got me pegged at this point. Like I'm a weird dude. Like I'm always talking, but really it's only 1% of what I do. I'm always actually just listening. Right?
- [01:59]
B
Yeah. That's awesome.
- [02:00]
A
I've got a lot of weird perspective. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like you guys all see me when I'm talking, but you don't see the 15 hours that when I'm not talking every day that leads to me talking about shit. That's good. But it's a lot of things that go into that. But live social shopping, brother, you need to bet the farm on it.
- [02:16]
B
Okay.
- [02:17]
A
It's. You know, TikTok was a big one. I was super right about that. And it was early for people. A lot of people remember it as a pandemic thing. As you know, I was yelling about musically, let alone TikTok, and I was talking about TikTok 17 and 18. Yeah, you were 19. There was so much getting good then. But everybody was over infatuated with CAC and LTV pre iOS 14.5 on Meta. What they didn't realize was the brand building that comes along with virality of organic posts is more valuable than best practices on performance.
- [02:46]
B
Yeah. And the thing you call it in your book is too, is like the. When it's an early. When you're an early adopter of something new, the platform rewards you for leaning into that.
- [02:57]
A
It's buying real estate when people don't see it yet. Yeah.
- [02:59]
B
Because they want to cultivate that new platform.
- [03:02]
A
It's not even that they want to even cultivate it. It's just supply and demand. It's not even the platforms doing anything for you.
- [03:06]
B
I thought maybe like, you know, for example, like when Instagram Stories came out.
- [03:10]
A
Oh, no, no, that's smart.
- [03:11]
B
They were like, all of a sudden kak and Stories was like, nothing.
- [03:14]
A
That's a feature.
- [03:15]
B
Okay. Yeah.
- [03:16]
A
When a new feature comes along. Yes. The platform wants to get data on it, so they will push that feature. So ad the feature is smart. When a new platform comes along, that's meant to be a winner. What happened in TikTok was there was fucking 50 million people on it, but there was only 100,000 people taking serious making content for it. Now there could be a hundred million people on it. With 50 million people being serious making content, what the fuck do you think happens? Everyone's like, you know, what's going on right now on Instagram? I'm Shadowbanned. You're not fucking shadow banned. You're losing on merit. There's more people posting than ever and you're not as good as you think you are. I stay on top of it because I'm a practitioner. So what's amazing is I'm a coach player. Just to give you context. Like, this will maybe land for you. This is me writing the actual copy to my instagram post at 8:47 this morning.
- [04:11]
B
Love it. Do you have a team that ghost writes it and then you tweak it or was you write that original?
- [04:15]
A
No, this, as you can see, they give me the content. Like we talk a lot with each Other about what content. They're putting out content. They give me the things that they think I'll like. And there's so, like, think about where I'm at. And I'm writing my own. My own Gary Vee words, literally typing with my own fingers. And we have so many people that get like six months of success and outsource. Everyone's so quick. Like, so first of all, I'm a practitioner. Number two. I run one of the biggest marketing agencies in the world. So forget about just what Gary Vee knows on the GaryVee accounts, which is a big personal brand account. I run a 2,500 person global company that has employees in Singapore and Malaysia and Amsterdam and Mexico City and Toronto. So I'm sitting at the desk of a company that's spending billions of dollars in media, making hundreds of millions of dollars in creative. And I'm looking at the math and the quant and the qual. I also do a ton of investing. I'm also Gary Vee. So entrepreneurs like me now, and I'm getting hit up early on like, Gary Vee, I just went from 0 to 10 million in one week on Pinterest. I'm like, you did. Let's talk. Like, I'm so in the traffic. I'm in the fucking traffic. Then I'm another thing. I'm selfless. I don't view me telling the world that this is happening as me losing out on something. A lot of my most sophisticated friends in the world think when they see something that no one else sees. They get quiet. I get loud. Got it.
- [05:54]
B
Yeah. No, and that's a complete inversion. Right? Because people. Oh, shoot. I know the new trick. I know YouTube Shorts is a new thing. I'm not gonna say shit. Right.
- [06:00]
A
Right.
- [06:00]
B
I'm gonna put a ton of content into shorts.
- [06:02]
A
Correct.
- [06:02]
B
Right. Cause I want mine. Right. You're the opposite.
- [06:05]
A
I am.
- [06:05]
B
That's awesome.
- [06:06]
A
I'm the opposite because I think the world's abundant and it feels good. Like, it feels good to sit opposite someone at a table who has admiration for you that you've earned.
- [06:16]
B
Yeah.
- [06:17]
A
Feels nice. There's, you know, I'm even getting the goosebump. There's no dollar amount that's like $5 million right now put on this table. Doesn't feel better than the way I'm feeling sitting opposite of you. The countless endless emails, texts and DMs. I get that. Just say thank you. Do you know what it feels like when somebody DMs you and says, I had a T shirt business that was failing. I was fucking working as a fucking. Like a lawyer that I was miserable, but I had to pay for my fucking family. This thing was about to give up. But I saw your TikTok thing. On the ninth TikTok I made, I sold 10,000 T shirts. Three years later, Gary, I'm doing $3.3 million. I make double my salary. Take home that it is a lawyer. I'm picking up my kid from fucking work every day. Do you understand what it feels like? Beer. As a human being, I'm reading this shit and I'm like, this is fucking insane. I as a lowly, like this little human over here, 1 of 8 billion, I'm putting out this content. And this fucking man. This kid on the other side of this man, taking him to work, to school every day, his life is forever changed. Cause I decided to make one TikTok to tell this guy to make TikToks, that's rewarding. I understand why people do nonprofit work. I understand why people serve this country. I understand why people want to be guidance counselors and coaches and fucking, you know, therapists. It is an intoxication when, you know you're leaving a positive impact on someone for certain people.
- [07:41]
B
Absolutely. And I think it's one of those things if you. If you do good enough, it comes back. You know what I mean?
- [07:46]
A
It's in the biggest way, bro. And not in fucking lambos and fucking hot boyfriends or girlfriends. In fucking. Just peace of mind.
- [07:54]
B
Yeah.
- [07:55]
A
And fucking soul. And fucking laying in your deathbed and being like, you know what? I fucking gave it a good run. One that I can be proud of. I'm pumped my grandkids can say nice.
- [08:06]
B
So I speak at an event every quarter. It's a. It's an organization that helps transitioning special operations veterans that are going into civilian world. So they. They bring me in. I'm a prior special operations veteran. And to. As they do an entrepreneur panel and that, we just take questions and the guys can ask anything. Hey, you know, even like, how do I start my LLC and this and that.
- [08:24]
A
And is that a physically done. Is that not virtually.
- [08:26]
B
Yes.
- [08:27]
A
Physical where?
- [08:27]
B
Yeah, I do it in Virginia Beach.
- [08:29]
A
I'd like to do it once with you.
- [08:30]
B
That'd be awesome. You know, they bring me in, and I think they're expecting me to come in and be like, you should do it, and, you know, be an entrepreneur. And it's awesome. And I always give them a very sobering answer and say, all right, fellas, let me break this down for you at best, 7% chance of success. In my case, seven years didn't make a penny. I mean, the business was making money, but when you're growing, you have to put it all in there. If this is something that you know is, is burning you alive and you're staring at the ceiling every night thinking of it, it's probably a reason to, to do it. But if you're this thinking this is some glamorous thing and that, oh, I don't want to work for the man and you know, be the hamster wheel, I said, you know, working a 9 to 5 with a good company and building back some equity with your family. And like what I basically said is, I don't want you guys to think it's this romantic thing because guys, you.
- [09:14]
A
Told them the truth.
- [09:15]
B
Like I, it crushed me.
- [09:16]
A
Now, not only that, what ends up happening is people fall into very deep depression and suicidal thoughts when they publicly say, I'm going to build a huge company. You can't hide in entrepreneurship. When you start a company and you say to your entire inner circle, I'm starting this fucking pizza shop, I'm starting this new AI app, I'm starting this fashion brand, you have now put a fucking target on your self esteem because unlike when you work for the man, when you work at Vaynermedia, my company, and I fire you because you know you're a fucking loser. Do you know what you tell all your friends and family? Gary's a dick face. They fucked me, my manager. Actually, Gary's. I'm pretty nice. Gary's nice, but he doesn't get it either. You blame everybody but you. And guess what else? Everyone believes you. Because everybody hates the corporation, right?
- [10:07]
B
Yes.
- [10:08]
A
When like people have excuses for everything. When you work in the government, a corporation for a startup, you can always blame somebody. When you have a company when inevitably like 90 fucking3.5% of them inevitably, when it goes out of business in two to three years, you can say shit like I picked the wrong time or like I got fucked the economy. No, no, this is sports. Like that's what entrepreneur is. Like you, you picked the wrong time in all the. Do you know how good the lipstick business was during the Great Depression? I'm being serious, Bear.
- [10:46]
B
During the Great Depression, was that great?
- [10:47]
A
It was great during the Great Depression because everybody was poor in the whole country. Humans are still humans. They still need a light. One of the few things that was somewhat luxurious, that was somewhat affordable was lipstick. And women. Lipstick exploded during the Great Depression because they Couldn't go out like the Roaring twenties and hit the clubs in their dresses, but they could put their lipstick on while they're fucking in line for porridge. And it was important for them. So whoever decided to start a fucking lipstick business during the Great Depression picked a great time. So, you know, the other thing I take the tell the fellas and the ladies is, hey, when you fail, when you make excuses, your loser friends will believe you. But all the real people know. And one of the reasons I try to talk people out of entrepreneurship a lot is if to your point. I love how you said it. If it's not eating you up, then you're probably not it. There's. I'm gonna pull out my report card for you, Bear.
- [11:46]
B
Love it.
- [11:48]
A
There's a reason.
- [11:49]
B
There's a reason.
- [11:50]
A
This report.
- [11:51]
B
What year is this?
- [11:52]
A
This is my all four years of high school recap report card.
- [11:55]
B
All right, for the. For the listeners, there's some D's, a few A's, some C's.
- [11:59]
A
No, no, not a few A's. There's four A's, one A a year. What class was that in?
- [12:05]
B
Gym? Phys Ed.
- [12:06]
A
That's right. The only A's I got in high school were in gym because I was a gym class hero. Nobody tried harder to win in gym than me.
- [12:14]
B
Just smoking dudes with the dodgeball.
- [12:16]
A
Literally. And like, like, not because I was so much better than everybody, because, you know, normal high school kids are like, it's Jim. Who gives A? And I treated it like game seven.
- [12:25]
B
You're there to compete as you should have.
- [12:27]
A
Look at my class rank at the bottom.
- [12:28]
B
All right, where's that?
- [12:29]
A
The bottom here somewhere.
- [12:31]
B
Okay. GPA 1.67. Class rank was 243 out of 254. So bottom 5th percentile for sure.
- [12:40]
A
There was only 11 fucking losers worse than me. Why? Why. Why did this report card happen? It happened because I wasn't capable to go all in in something that wasn't real to me. I understand why someone can't be a good entrepreneur, because if you. If it's not in you, it's not in you. I wasn't able to be a good student. Not because I'm an idiot, but because it wasn't in me. I just couldn't. Humans are animals. It's really hard to be a giraffe when you're a fucking penguin.
- [13:12]
B
Yeah. People need to find what that is for them. Right.
- [13:15]
A
And they need to be not scared to try to find it.
- [13:17]
B
Yeah.
- [13:17]
A
If you're a big bulky dude, like you and fucking a ballerina is in your fucking soul. Then fucking be a ballerina. What the fuck is someone going to say? Don't forget you're a big dude. Punch him in the fucking face.
- [13:26]
B
Well, and I think one lesson for people is like, I think they think they have to get it right the first time, right? And it's like, guys, like, especially like at any age really, but you know, people, you know, they're in their late 20s and they're like, oh, I have this grand decision. It's like, dude, just do it. And then pivot right and shift, you know, my. I launched a business right before Born Primitive, and it was a failed business. I threw the Hail Mary. It was an idea that I had in college and I raised $110,000 in capital and I got a lease on a warehouse and all these things and was pitching Anheuser Busch and Miller Coors. And I was up there, I thought I was in. And long story short, we had a purchase order. The director of the Miller Coors point of sale division got fired. New guy came in, he said, I'm clean, I'm clearing house on the program and everything's on hold. Oh, I just ordered $50,000 worth of foam overseas. I, I raised 110, so that was nearly half of my capital. I just signed a lease for a $70,000 printer, a giant printer to print the graphics, and I have a five year lease on a warehouse and I now have a 54 foot container coming to me full of foam that I now can't use. So I tried to pivot into a direct to consumer angle of like selling it to the consumer. But it was a, it was a product for a keg. It just wasn't. It was a B2B play all day long and skinny post down the field, Hail Mary right through his hands at the five yard line, you know what I mean? And like that it was done. Well, because maybe I'm just too dumb to know any better. I immediately pivoted and launched this little Born Primitive thing, you know what I mean? And out of the garage, right? Had I been deterred from that experience, then it wouldn't never exist. And that's why I try to tell people is like, hey, you don't have to get it right the first time. Pick a direction and go, I got a good one.
- [15:02]
A
I got a good one. It helps a lot of people. I've had hundreds of emails through my career on this. Entrepreneurship is baseball. Entrepreneurship is UFC. Entrepreneurship is baseball. Because if you go three for 10. In baseball, you will go to Cooperstown, New York, and be in the hall of Fame. Three of 10. Three out of every 10 times. Especially now with the way they're fucking trying to all hit home runs, and everyone's batting.230. If you bat.300 for your career, you're fucking in striking distance. Obviously, there's other variables there, but three out of 10, and you're one of the best ever. Next UFC. Obviously, there's been a couple guys who pulled this off, but I think people really resonate with this. Nobody's gonna end up being undefeated in that. Right?
- [15:45]
B
Yeah.
- [15:45]
A
Like, you're gonna fucking lose. A dude's gonna come along, a lady's gonna come along. That's better. There's also you're gonna lose to somebody inferior to you because it's so raw, you just might get caught with a punch. Right, Right. There's a huge fight. We're looking at Madison Square Garden right now. That's why I have my office here.
- [16:02]
B
I'll be there next week.
- [16:03]
A
You will.
- [16:04]
B
Stipe fighting John Jones.
- [16:05]
A
So I don't know if you know this Vayner sports rep, Stipe.
- [16:07]
B
I do. He's one of our athletes. Born primitive athletes.
- [16:09]
A
I know that. I forgot about that.
- [16:11]
B
I'm gonna be. You're gonna be there? Yeah.
- [16:12]
A
We're gonna. Hell, yeah. Look, Jon Jones is arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time. Stipe hasn't been in the Octagon in four years. He's been firefighting in Ohio. And yet I'm gonna go into that arena and say, one punch can change everything. And so, same in entrepreneurship. You might be a remarkable entrepreneur. I've had things not work for me in the last five years that are silly, given my craft. You know, we all know this, like, the best. Always make mistakes because we're fucking humans. I love that you tell people that. And I talk about it all the time. I'm like, if you are scared of losing first, why? Almost always, it means that you're worried about what people think about your losses. But if you're worried about losing, this is not for you.
- [17:01]
B
Yeah. And, you know, there's so much. Honestly, I think losing first helped me because it painted reality. Right. And I learned all the hard, you know, first of all, never place an order for raw materials until that PO is locked down. Not only is it locked down with a deposit. You know what I mean?
- [17:19]
A
I'm about to go further until the money hits the bank. Even approved money in the actual bank. That can't Be taken back.
- [17:26]
B
Yeah. You know, I'm 23 years old. We're drinking beers with the director after and like, yeah. And I'm all excited. Oh, yeah. Order the phone. You know. And you know, of course there's many lessons I learned from that. Even negotiating my lease, I should have had an opt out. I should have. And I did none of that. So, you know, if, in a way, it's like, well, go ahead and do it. And actually, if you fail, that might be even better in the long term.
- [17:46]
A
For first time entrepreneurs listening. Remember the first time you made out or had sex or ride a bike or drive. I'm, like, petrified that I. I'm thinking back to the first time I drove a car. I'm like, how the fuck did I not die? Like, like, no shit. You're gonna make mistakes. The first. You sucked at everything. The first. Even if you're like a natural talent, like, I'm like LeBron. I promise you, the first jump shots were not as good as the ones today. Like, no shit, you fucked up. It's. Entrepreneurship is a series of micro losses with an occasional macro win. All that entrepreneurship is is micro losing every day and occasionally having a macro win. Micro losses, occasional macro win. If you're. If you're interested in that, then come and hang with us. If you're not, which is 90% of people, no judgment.
- [18:39]
B
Fuck.
- [18:39]
A
There's a lot of nights that I wish I wasn't entrepreneurial. If you don't think there are nights. I just got out of a budget meeting. Actually, when you were here, I got out of a budget meeting and I literally left it thinking, and this is a direct report to me running one of my companies. And I literally said to myself, walking out, this literally just happened. Said, I wish I had his job because, like, I want to make that kind of money without any of the fucking stress. The number two is the best job in the business. The number two is the best job in the business.
- [19:13]
B
I think there's a lot of burdens that business owners carry that the employees don't realize. Right. It's. It's 24 7. It can never.
- [19:21]
A
Now you get the fruits of that. I always tell my homies it's true. I'm going to say this real quick if you're confused, your employees shouldn't care or carry the burdens you carry. If you want them to let them get as much money as you get.
- [19:33]
B
It's true.
- [19:34]
A
Yeah. And by the way, I don't actually expect compassion or empathy from my employees. That's not what they signed up for. They didn't sign up to work here, to worry about me. Now, some people are compassionate, empathetic humans. I mean, people see me sitting in this fucking room for 15 hours a day, every hour, not eating lunch. They're like, all right. They probably, that's beautiful. But yeah, you know, I think that a lot of employees that become entrepreneurs are hit smack in the face surprised. They're like they didn't understand all the variables that came along. And by the way, that's what happens in parenthood. All of us grow up and judge the living shit out of our parents and then we become parents and we're.
- [20:13]
B
Like, oh, makes sense now.
- [20:15]
A
Makes sense now.
- [20:17]
B
Love it. Well, I want to tell a quick Gary Vee story. We'll. It won't be that earth shattering for the listeners, but you might get a kick out of this. So I actually saw you speak. I think it was in like 2018 or 2019. It was out at Common Thread Collective. I don't know if you know, Taylor Holiday, the crew out there, you came and spoke at an event and they had all their clients come and you were talking about the landscape of digital advertising at the time. And you got up there in typical Gary Vee fashion, was telling us, like, you guys don't realize it. You are in the golden age of social media ads right now. Like, I don't even know what CAC was. Like, I know what CAC means back then. For those listening, it's customer acquisition cost. Our CAC like 55 right now. I don't, I don't even want to know what it was. When you were speaking, it was probably like 8 bucks, I don't even know. And you were saying spend, spend, spend, because this window of time that you are in is, is going to close quickly. And it was at a time. And I think you've alluded to this before. There was actually a guy, one of the clients we were there with that had his, his own brand and he would put puppies faces on socks, right? And this guy had a Lamborghini. And I remember thinking, man, you know when the going's good, when you have an E commerce brand where you put people's puppies on socks and you have are you rolling around in a Lamborghini? That's when the paid game is frickin. You know that window has came because you don't need LTV first order profitability when CACs that low, just printing money around the holidays and, and then, hey, wait, three, nine months do it over again, right? That's right. I want to shift gears a little bit. Talk about storytelling and authenticity, which. Which you hit on, of course. And I think that, like, for me, I. I kind of want to present this through a born primitive example one to kind of have you maybe pick it apart.
- [21:57]
A
Okay.
- [21:57]
B
But also, if you feel like there are cool things about it, you know, kind of lean into what you think is all right. So I'm in the fit Originally, you know, we started in fitness apparel. We've branched out. We're in tactical apparel, outdoor apparel, athleisure, jeans, flannels, footwear, everything. You know, we're in a lot of your full brand. We're in a lot of lanes now. Right. And you know, anyone who's in apparel knows you got to be a little bit of an idiot to go in that space because there's no barrier to entry. It's anyway, there's just. There's thousands of brands and. And there's a lot of noise and you have to do something different to differentiate yourself in that space. And. Okay, what is your actual value proposition? Right. Everyone can make good leggings. It's not that hard, right? So you can't just be, oh, we make. We have great sports bras and great leggings. While good product helps, there needs to be more to it. So we've.
- [22:44]
A
Good product is the cost of entry.
- [22:46]
B
Yeah, that's almost. I call that like an implied task. Like, you better have good products.
- [22:50]
A
No shit. Because even if you're a coolest brand and you're winning on cool for a minute, you will lose over time.
- [22:55]
B
Yeah, if the shit sucks.
- [22:56]
A
That's right.
- [22:56]
B
Yeah. So what I've tried to do over the last couple years once I got out of the service is all right, we need to lean more into the values of our company. That makes us different. And for us, a lot of that is kind of giving back to military and first responders. It's authentic to us because it's the roots of our company. You know, over half of our employees are veterans, spouses of act after active duty service members, firefighters, cops, or the spouses of those in areas over half of our building. And we got 80 people. Right. So it's in our DNA. That's not intentional. You know, we hire whoever comes in and is awesome, but it shakes out that, hey, that's kind of the disposition of our company. We live in the walls.
- [23:32]
A
Was it intentional early on?
- [23:34]
B
Well, early on it was funny. It was just I'd hire like my buddy's wives that I surf with. Like, hey, man, like, can you give my old lady a job? Yeah, yeah, she seems awesome. And like, now she's the new email girl, you know what I mean? Knows nothing about it. That was the early days, you know what I mean?
- [23:47]
A
Similar to my background, most of the people around me that have built companies with me are bad students. I just was like, yo, I get that. I'm like, oh, you're a scrapper with Fs. Like, if. If literally 15 years ago, if you went to Harvard and then walked in for a job and you were a kid that dropped out of high school. But like, but you told me that you sold Blow Pops in junior high. I always, always hired number two. That wasn't right, by the way. But it was right sometimes.
- [24:16]
B
Yeah.
- [24:17]
A
Now at 4, turning 49 next week. I know that half the people that went to Harvard suck shit at the game and half the kids that sold Blow Pops and they gotta have suck at the game.
- [24:26]
B
Well, I went to Yale, so I can confirm the Harvard guy sucks, right? Yeah, yeah.
- [24:29]
A
I mean, like, like, you know, you learn. But on the flip side, I used to blindly think all the scrapper kids would be monsters. And I was like, oh, I got bad grades for a different reason than you got bad grades. You're just not it. Hey, everybody. Actually, I'm sorry to be jumping in the middle of the podcast, but the truth is I'm like shitting the bed on this. Everybody else is getting people to review on Spotify and Apple and like, the vaynernation does none of that because I've never asked. So if this podcast has ever meant anything to you, please go to Spotify or Apple right now and leave a review. By the way, even if you give me a one star review because you think it's shit, I respect it, but just leave a review, an actual review, four or five stars, and the actual details of why. Yeah, that would mean something for me. So thanks. Now back to the podcast.
- [25:12]
B
Well, so with this example, I started to realize when we would lean more into that part of our value proposition made us stick out amongst the noise. And one example that I'm proud of.
- [25:24]
A
What year is that?
- [25:26]
B
So I got out of the service at the end of 2021. So now I actually had the full week that I could, you know, I'm not doing the other job, which was very serious and stressful and intense. Right. And it opened up my aperture to, okay, now I can actually like, take a step back and, and see how I'm going To kind of position my forces here. You know what I mean? And. And I realized, I say we got to. We got to lean more into this, because that's what the consumer, I think, wants, at least from our consumer. And as you know, you. The consumers don't choose you. You choose your consumers by how you market. Right. And I wanted to be more assertive with that. So one of the things we did in June, it was the 80th anniversary of D Day coming up in June, and this popped into my head. I was getting on a plane in Wyoming two years ago, and I said, I want to do this. I want to make a D Day shoe for the 80th.
- [26:12]
A
That's cool.
- [26:12]
B
And so we made an 80th anniversary shoe for. For D Day, and we donated $50,000 of the proceeds to fund a group of, like, 60 World War II veterans who went back to D Day for the reunion. And a lot of them were original, like, first wave, Omaha beach guys. Right?
- [26:28]
A
So those Omaha beach guys, you know, I've had the luxury of. Of meeting a couple through my life. There's not many people I admire more. It's nutso. So I'm always trying to smack my friends around. I'm like. They're complaining about, like, some dumb. I'm like, do you understand what the world has been through?
- [26:50]
B
And, you know, so I got to go with those guys, and I was a caretaker for one of them for a day at the ceremony, you know, and, you know, it's at the cemetery. We went to the beach. They did a rose ceremony where they each put a rose down. There was one guy, he had his friend killed on Omaha beach behind this giant boulder that was embedded in. Into the sand, and the boulder was still there. Wow. And he hadn't been back. Right. So he, like, got to. I mean, how wild is it there? Nearly 10,000 graves at that American cemetery? It'll. It'll. It'll take your breath away. Very humbling.
- [27:18]
A
Is it 10,000?
- [27:19]
B
Yeah, it's nearly 10. It's like 9900 something. And. And just obviously a very surreal experience. But, you know, I try to. Okay, this is a. Obviously, we have to be very delicate because this is a. This is a memorial moment. Right. So you. You have to be commercial. Yeah, exactly.
- [27:35]
A
You're stepping away as much as you can.
- [27:36]
B
Yes. So you got to be you. It's a very fine line. But I also believe, hey, if I can leverage our platform and reach to. To do good, then everyone, high fives. So we launched Intent.
- [27:46]
A
Yeah, Intent. Nobody's going to look at you and be like, you fucking piece of shit, you exploited D Day. Not if that's not your intent.
- [27:53]
B
Yeah.
- [27:54]
A
That's why Cancel Culture didn't work. You know that, right? The reason Cancel Culture, ultimately, when it's read about and understood in the history books, is the reason it lost was because it didn't factor in intent. If you didn't mean to hurt someone's feelings, it's not great that you did, but it's very different than if you did.
- [28:14]
B
Yeah. Do you think it worked in the beginning, though?
- [28:17]
A
Of course.
- [28:17]
B
Yeah. It was wild in the beginning.
- [28:18]
A
Of course it did. Because.
- [28:19]
B
And you think. Do you think it's dead?
- [28:21]
A
Oh, I think it's on its back.
- [28:22]
B
Back.
- [28:23]
A
Look, I think. I think the concept of holding people accountable to bad deeds is a wonderful trait, but the branding of it, like, what we did for a couple years there, which is at any moment's notice being like, I don't like the way you looked at that person. You should be fine. Like, that was fucking ridiculousness.
- [28:39]
B
Yeah.
- [28:39]
A
The intent was taken out. It's hard for me to believe with what I knew about you from afar and now spending some time with you, that you were like, oh, okay, this is gonna be awesome. I'm gonna make so much money on the back of these fucking guys. That's not what you wanted to do. You wanted to do. You wanted what I think a lot of the best entrepreneurs want, which is, ooh, this is a win, win, win, win, win, win, win situation. And there's no way for Amito Ford to bring these guys back. If I don't have this variable. People get confused. Who the fuck do you think supports nonprofits? I love when people are like, like, oh, what? Who the fuck do you think gives donations? How do you think this shit works? You know? So no good for you, man. But what tent, bro?
- [29:24]
B
What I think you might like is. So we did a limited edition box, and I wanted to. We. I wanted it to, you know, you talk about storytelling. So we got. The French government gave us permission to bring back 10 kilos of sand from Omaha Beach. It was sanctioned. We said this was going towards this charity. It's called the Best Defense Foundation. So we did a limited edition. We did 500 units of the limited edition version. It came in a wooden ammo crate that we had transitioning Veterans Handmake in Virginia Beach. So it's a replica ammo crate. Ammo can went in that was branded inside the ammo can. You had the order from Eisenhower on that day, written out in an old parchment paper. Sand from Omaha beach and a vial.
- [30:03]
A
Can you send me a link to that?
- [30:04]
B
Oh, yeah, like something. And I might even have an extra one.
- [30:06]
A
I would love to see it.
- [30:07]
B
And then a limited edition challenge coin, inlaid. And then obviously, when he pulled that out, the shoes were in the bottom. And every penny of that went to the, you know, the cause. Amazing. And. And it was a. It was a huge moment for us. And it made me realize that, like, this is the secret sauce. This is the. This is how you. You get out.
- [30:23]
A
Art always beats the math in the end, bro. The gray always beats out the black and white in this. What do you think religion is? What do you think the American dream is? Ah, man. Of course, story. Story's everything.
- [30:41]
B
And I think that's the, that's the. But that's the hardest part to manufacture because, like, well, if you're over the transactional email, sms, like, that's like the tactical stuff.
- [30:49]
A
That's the easy stuff. That's the commodity. That's like having a good product.
- [30:51]
B
Yeah. General entrepreneurship, obviously, you know, I know your, your origins kind of being a scrappy entrepreneur from the early days.
- [31:00]
A
Yes.
- [31:00]
B
So just could you quickly walk us through the. The early years of Gary Vee? And particularly, like, I want people to know what it takes to get through that initial inertia, you know, from my business, it took seven years before I made a penny. Right. A lot of people, I think, want that, Want that instant gratification. And I think people need to know what they're getting themselves into. So walk us through the early years of you, the early Gary Vee, cutting your teeth and, you know, doing your thing.
- [31:27]
A
I think I've talked about it so much, and I'm happy to hear as well. But I, I want to actually get to the crux of what I think you're asking friends, if you're listening, by the way, this very handsome, structured man, and you're a fan of him, what he's trying to do right now is very smart, which is. How old are you now, brother?
- [31:47]
B
I'm 36.
- [31:48]
A
Yeah. You're at the place now where, like, it is crystal clear to you. This is not confusing. 99% of people think entrepreneurship's cool. Cause they think about the wealth that comes along with it now. Clout comes along with it. For some people, it's destiny. Like, for me, potentially, you. I want to get to know you better. Like, it's in them. But what the struggle is for guys like you and I that clearly have some level of interest to communicate journeys or ideas or with the hope that it's beneficial is we're aware at this point that most people don't have the grit, the determination, the comfort with uncomfort, the ability to navigate the truth of this, which is everyone got so caught up with a Mark Zuckerberg or these stories of 20 year olds that hit they didn't understand that. 99 point and I need. I'm actually gonna take a pause and now go to it. Friends, listen to me. 99.9999% of people have to eat fucking shit. Judgment of others, self doubt along the way. Fucking like lonely ass fucking moments for three, six, nine, 12 years. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second. Being in the foxhole. No shit. Most people don't do it. We got so into the glamour of it. I am a poster child. I'm one of the humans, one of the hundreds of humans, Hundreds out of 8 billion that caught this moment where entrepreneurship went from not being talked about to as cool as being a rapper or an athlete or a celebrity. I'm very aware of it because I lived most of my 30s without entrepreneurship being cool. So I lived my 30s, my 20s, my teens and my childhood. And so the lemonade stands and the garage sales and the shoveling fucking snow when you're nine and it snows and you're from an immigrant poor family and it's in you to build and you're a builder and you're a provider, you unlike your friends in the neighborhood who are building fucking snowmen and sledding, you fucking grab a piece of shit shovel that's in your parents house from the fucking Soviet Union which was like a, like a fucking gar. Like not a snow shovel that you buy a fucking Walmart. This fucking piece of shit shovel that I shoveled with was literally from fucking Russia and was like the kind of shit you use in a farm. Like, you know, the whole shovel head was like this big.
- [34:25]
B
It's like cast iron steel.
- [34:26]
A
Like fucking. It weighed more to me bro. Like I remember. I'm not bullshitting you. I had to drag it because I didn't have the strength to carry it. And you're ringing doorbells and you're fucking hoping that somebody says, yes, I will let you fucking spend the next 45 minutes of hard labor to give you $3. And when you get 15 of those people to say no to you, no, I will not pay you to shovel snow when you stand behind a fucking lemonade stand in the Heat of the summer and you fucking watch car after car after car after car not stop. You start to fucking understand that no is your friend. Real entrepreneurs know that no is your friend. Wannabe entrepreneurs, ideological entrepreneurs, people that have entrepreneur tendencies, people that view successful entrepreneurship as a way to put a band aid on the gap of their own self esteem. They think knows the enemy, which is why they fucking quit.
- [35:22]
B
Well, I'm curious to get your opinion. Do you think. Because. So my version of that was growing up walking around the neighborhood with lawnmower and a weed whacker saying, hey, can I mow your lawn? Right? And fifth grade and where.
- [35:32]
A
Where'd you grow up?
- [35:33]
B
I was in Indiana. Right. And that was just call.
- [35:36]
A
I knew.
- [35:36]
B
You know what I mean? And you know, it grew into like having 35 lawns and it's awesome. Good little hustle for high middle school, high school bucks. But do you think people are born with that knack?
- [35:46]
A
Yes. And, but I also think it's developable to a certain degree. Do I think some people are born to be better at basketball or skiing or, or cooking? Yes, I do. I think all of us, every single good news, every person listening, you were born with certain tendencies that you're better than the average bear on. Oh, that was fun. That was punishment.
- [36:05]
B
There it is. There it is.
- [36:06]
A
That was a Yogi the bear reference. But that worked right here perfectly. That was fun. I think I was born with a high ceiling, natural talents, and then I fucking cultivated and worked the fuck of it for 40 years and became who I became. Similar to what LeBron's doing, similar to what people do. So do I think that if somebody worked as hard as you and I and had less entrepreneurial skills and tendencies, DNA wise, do I think they'd be less financially successful? I do. Do I think they'd be less happy? I don't think so. So that's cool to me. You know what I mean?
- [36:39]
B
Yeah.
- [36:39]
A
Like, I think it, I think there is a version of. But I also think, like, look, I think I could like back to entrepreneurship. I think you and I both could have made less or more money. We were given all the ingredients, but we made decisions along the way. We made decisions along the way, you know, and so I don't think money is the scoring card in a lot of ways though it's one of them, obviously in entrepreneurship. So yes, I think some people are born with more talent and then I think some people are born with less talent but had parents that pushed entrepreneurship on them and that made them slightly better at it. So, good news, everyone. Hard fucking work and practice is real shit.
- [37:14]
B
Yeah, I think that can make up for a lack in talent. You know, this is sports, bro. Yes, of course.
- [37:20]
A
If you know anything about sports, friends, I promise you the most talented were not the all time greatest. The most talented, who also worked their fucking face off became the greatest of all times. And people, the amount of, you know, I have a sports agency now. We have hundreds of athletes. The amount of guys that told me, like, bro, I just outworked everyone. Like, he's like, half my high school football team was better than me. But they fucking got into drugs, girls, dumb shit, or just stopped working as hard. They took their talents for granted. They got hurt. Obviously, sports, unlike entrepreneurship, has that. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's a beautiful world now. The world's simple. Like, yes, there's talent that you're born with. But then there's the thing everybody on this call, on this listen, on this podcast can do, which is you can control how much you go. The reason I got so into mindset shit, like, when I think about, why did the fuck did I start talking about self esteem that wasn't in the fucking bingo card 15 years ago? Oh, shit. That's the thing that's stopping people from working hard. Cause they're worried about people's judgment that they. It's very clear to me now. You know, I turn 49 next week. That means 50 is real shit for me now. Right, bro? So, you know, it's fun. Cause I feel like I'm at halftime. I think I'm Gonna Live to 100. So it's fun to be like, how the fuck did I get here? And what's very clear in how did I get here as a public figure? It's. I have this deep dream that every time I do a podcast like this. So, for example, this one, there's gonna be people that have never heard of me because that's how the world works. And they'll hear me. And three of those people will be like, this fucking dude's awesome. I'm gonna listen. And that's where I can leave positive impact. There's gonna be another group of people here who used to listen to me, who don't check in with me anymore, who are gonna hear something new or different or slightly different because they fuck with you Heavy. And now I'm here and they're like, oh, shit, let me get back on that train a little bit. There's gonna be other people here who don't fuck with Me at all. They don't like me. They're like, fuck that guy. He. I don't like his style. Jersey, whatever. But they love you so much. And like, ah, fuck, I don't even want to listen to this. But I love Baron. Fuck it. Let me listen. Let me see if this douchebag comes up with anything worthwhile. And I might say something that's worthwhile for them all for the same game of like, God, I wish people knew how real this is. They can. I want everyone who's listening to realize, fuck your mommy and daddy, fuck your boss, fuck me, Fuck you, Bear. Like fucking you, Johnny. Sally, believe this or not, no bullshit. No rah, rah, rah. I'm not a motivational speaker. I'm a dude that builds big fucking companies. And yeah, I talk about optimism because it's real. Because I've watched people in deep shit situations just change their shit, start to hang out with positive people, start doing positive things, and miraculously, good shit happened. Go fucking figure. I know every time I've done wrong behaviors, bad shit happened, and every time I've done right behaviors, good shit happened. And I'm obsessed with over communicating that to people, even if they're listening right now. And I just did my rant and they're like, fuck this dude. He's full of. You know what, Bear? I can hear them. Yeah, I can hear the dude driving right now who's a big fan of your podcast, who's like, nah, whatever, dude, you got lucky. Or, nah, not for me. Or if you knew what childhood I had. I'm like, Bro, I'm 50 almost now. I was a poor student. Student, grew up in bad neighborhoods and went to a college with bad neighborhood kids. I know what the I'm talking about. Then I got. I won. And I met with unlimited people who have rich kids who are all up and like, I've lived. And the reality is, Bear, that it's fucking achievable for these people if they just decide that it is. Bear, I apologize. I actually have to run.
- [40:51]
B
Oh, you're good. This is a pleasure, man.
- [40:53]
A
No, no, no, I want everyone to hear this. I don't feel like we even got going yet.
- [40:57]
B
Well, I'd love to come back sometimes.
- [40:59]
A
To think about this one. Can we do part two next year when I come to Virginia?
- [41:03]
B
I'd love to.
- [41:04]
A
Or if you want to do it sooner in case some. Like, next summer. Yeah, if you want to do it sooner, come back in January. Let's do part two. I just did a part two podcast on my podcast, okay? And it fucking crushed. I don't feel like we've even gotten into it yet. I think we need a part two.
- [41:18]
B
I would love. Oh, I appreciate. I'm. I humbled that you would invite me back.
- [41:21]
A
I'm loving vibe is so fun, by the way. Everybody, I'm not trying to be rude. This is, like, my life. I'm a practitioner. I have a big meeting in Midtown that I have to run to, and it's inappropriate for me to not be there, so I'm. I gotta run. I apologize. But I promise you part two.
- [41:34]
B
All right? Part two's coming with Gary V. Thanks, Gary.