Career Pivots, Entrepreneurship and Overcoming Fear | Tea with GaryVee Ep #85

Summary

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The GaryVee Audio Experience

Episode: Career Pivots, Entrepreneurship and Overcoming Fear | Tea with GaryVee Ep. #85
Date: September 17, 2025
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk

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Overview

In this dynamic episode of "Tea with GaryVee," Gary Vaynerchuk takes live questions from audience members about career pivots, overcoming personal obstacles, entrepreneurship, social media strategy, prioritizing experience vs. money, navigating family dynamics, and the realities of building businesses (and personal brands) in today’s environment. With his signature directness, Gary addresses the roots of hesitancy, the dangers of enabling negativity, and the myth that you need to choose between stability and passion. The episode is packed with tough love, memorable analogies, and candid advice for anyone who feels stuck or uncertain about their next move.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Completing What You Start: Is it a Lack of Resilience or Self-Awareness?

(01:37–03:32)

• Caller (Taya, 36): Struggles to finish what she starts—wondering if it’s a flaw or a sign of good self-awareness.
• Gary’s Take:
  • You could be lacking resilience or consistency, or you might just have strong self-awareness about your interests.
  • Don’t beat yourself up for pivoting on creative/offensive tasks; focus energy on the black-and-white responsibilities in your life.
  • Quote: “Either you’re soft and insecure, or you’re self-aware and confident. I don’t know. But I don’t beat myself up when I don’t finish tasks when they’re creative and on offense.” (02:22, Gary)

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2. Loving People with Boundaries: Cutting Negativity, Not Loyalty

(03:32–06:14)

• Caller (John): How to love someone deeply without their negativity overwhelming you.
• Gary’s Take:
  • Limit the time spent with negative people, even family; loving someone doesn’t equal enabling their behavior.
  • Loyalty often gets confused with enabling toxicity. Real love might mean tough conversations, candor, and even stepping away if necessary.
  • Quote: “Being loyal to your toxic mom doesn’t mean to sit and enable her toxic behavior… the actual requirement is to have candor with them and try to help them.” (05:14, Gary)
  • The importance of accountability for the atmosphere you cultivate around you and not falling into victimhood or endless complaining.

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3. Building a Personal Brand While Working a Corporate Job

(06:14–07:43)

• Caller (Maria): Wants to establish a presence online without disrupting her corporate standing.
• Gary’s Advice:
  • Share professional, non-controversial content; keep personal life off social if you want privacy.
  • Don’t post for algorithmic validation—post what aligns with your genuine self.
  • Quote: “The theme of today’s morning so far is: you’re in control. Until you realize that, you lose.” (07:27, Gary)

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4. Pursuing a Passion with Practicality: Dual Paths and Regret

(07:43–08:33)

• Caller (Luke, 25): Loves both finance and music, fears he’ll never ‘make it’ in music.
• Gary’s Take:
  • At 25, you have the energy to go after both your job and your passion. Don’t give in to regret—start creating even when no one listens.
  • You don’t have to choose one; balance both as long as you can.

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5. Entrepreneurship: Marketing for Clients AND Recruitment

(08:33–16:03)

• Caller (Rainia): Leads a B2B sales group and wonders whether to market her product or her business for recruitment.
• Gary's Core Points:
  • Always "and," not "or" — market both to drive business and find the right talent.
  • Customize your marketing to each platform and type of audience.
  • Consistency and volume are key (“Are you posting 8, 10, 12 times a day or not?”).
  • On Recruitment:
    • Don’t waste energy convincing people to love sales if they don’t already have the DNA for it. Look for people who are naturally drawn to it.
    • Quote: “Sales is a fucking DNA game. You are either a fucking salesman or you are not… Get that word ‘convince’ out of your fucking vocabulary.” (13:06–15:49, Gary)
  • The importance of not chasing views, but rather doing the basics that work.

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6. Experience Versus Money: What Really Matters?

(16:13–19:57)

• Caller (Parker, 24): Struggling to choose between a higher salary or gaining experience.
• Gary’s Perspective:
  • Experience is more consistent and valuable long-term; money can be a destructive catalyst if internal foundations aren’t solid.
  • Many chase easy money, but if you’re broken inside, sudden wealth will only amplify problems.
  • Memorable Rant: Calls out “insurance scams” as an example of the money-game mindset he saw growing up, connecting it to the naïve belief that money solves everything.
  • Quote: “Until you fucking get your fundamentals right internally, you have no shot. Go win the lotto. Why do so many lotto winners lose? …Experience is a hell of a lot better than money.” (19:27, Gary)

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7. Dabbling Versus Doubling Down (The “Real” Business vs. Speculation and Passion Projects)

(19:57–32:03)

• Caller (Chris Lyons): Paid off his mortgage via meme coins, runs a tire shop, and builds a personal brand. Struggles to focus and feels confused about where to invest energy.
• Gary’s Core Advice:
  • If you have a real, cash-positive business that takes little time, don’t neglect it in favor of gambling on speculative projects.
  • Brilliant “relationship” analogy: Stable business = reliable partner; risky, adrenaline-fueled projects = fleeting excitement.
  • Quote: “You have this reliable, wonderful, solid girl… and over here you’ve got a fucking stripper… addicted to the glitter… what do you think’s going to happen, brother?” (23:23, Gary)
  • Don’t build your brand on lucky breaks—focus on long-term value and sustainable plays.
  • Social content creation: Spend more time feeding the scroll (posting) than consuming it. Use consumption purposefully.
  • Quote: “A lot of people spend all their time consuming the scroll instead of feeding the scroll.” (30:24, Gary)
  • Incremental gains from focusing on efficiency, not just time spent.

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8. Taking (or Rejecting) Family Support: Boundaries and Ownership

(32:03–36:43)

• Caller (Jimmy): Feels “forced” to take money from parents; wonders if he needs to cut ties to break free.
• Gary’s Candid Take:
  • You have total agency—no parent can force you to accept money if you don’t want it.
  • Some parents use money to manipulate/control—but refusing is still an option.
  • Quote: “Jimmy, you’re a grown ass man. What are you talking about? Forcing you? What, your mom rolls up, punches you in the head and stuffs dollars in your fucking pants?” (32:35, Gary)
  • Points out that real freedom sometimes requires uncomfortable decisions, but in most cases, you can just “say no” and set boundaries.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Accountability: “In life, you either act, or you complain and blame. And I just think living a life grounded in blaming and complaining is a very unhappy life.” (05:56, Gary)
• On Social Media: "People post things that really expose that they're addicted to the insecurities of the algorithm." (06:55, Gary)
• On Sales Recruitment: “You do not want someone on your sales team that you have to convince to get excited about sales.” (13:13, Gary)
• On Experience vs Money: “Experience is dramatically more universal and more consistent than money. Money is a catalyst. The problem is it could be a catalyst for bad.” (16:27, Gary)
• On Focus: "It's not about working more hours. It's… being more effective… A lot of people that are playing in crypto or any genre that plays out online... end up spending all their time consuming the scroll instead of feeding the scroll." (30:24, Gary)
• On Personal Freedom: "You can do whatever the fuck you want… There are people who aggressively as parents, try to push money down their kids throat for one reason: to parent their kids in perpetuity… Every spoiled kid… can just say no." (33:16–34:17, Gary)

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Episode Highlights by Timestamp

• 01:37 — Taya: Finishing what you start; resilience vs self-awareness
• 03:32 — John: Balancing love and boundaries with negative friends/family
• 06:14 — Maria: Posting on social media while keeping a low corporate profile
• 07:43 — Luke: Pursuing passion projects without quitting your job
• 08:33-16:03 — Rainia: When to market for business vs recruitment; sales DNA; volume/consistency of posting
• 16:13 — Parker: Experience vs. money; growing up with a money-chasing mindset
• 19:57 — Chris Lyons: Doing too much, speculation vs real business, personal branding, social content efficiency
• 32:03 — Jimmy: Rejecting parental financial “help”; family boundaries and self-ownership

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Tone & Takeaways

Gary is classic Gary in this episode: no-nonsense, direct, profane, and deeply empathetic beneath the tough talk. He emphasizes personal responsibility, the value of long-term thinking, and the need for self-awareness—while also challenging listeners to take real action, set boundaries, and drop the excuses, regardless of their circumstances.

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Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Podcast nation.

Before I get you into today's podcast, big announcement. As you probably heard at this point, because I had John from Stan on the show, I am an investor advisor to an incredible startup called Stan. Stan Store. I'm sending you right now to GaryVee.com, garyVee.com Stan, go check this out. We've done a GaryVee Stan store challenge, which actually has a weekly call with me. This is built for everyone who's been affected honestly by my overall content. The tech stack, all these features, and the minimal costs per month that Stan Store has built is really the tool that was needed for this world that I envisioned when I wrote Crush it, when I wrote Crushing It. And this overall thing I'm thinking a lot about lately, which is the individual empire, right? This creator entrepreneur slash entrepreneur creator economy that I think is gonna eat up the oxygen. Very honestly, the thing that so many of you want in your life and the reason so many of you are not there yet, is you've got the strategy for me. You've got the ambition within yourself, but you don't have the tools for you to fully maximize it. And I believe you can find that at Stan Store. Stan Store. But specifically, I want you to sign up for it through my challenge because I want to get access with you. And plus, there's a bunch of cool things. So if you want to go see those cool things, go to garyvee.com Stan S T A N Now to the podcast.

This is the GaryVee audio experience. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to episode 85 of the Ass of Tea with Gary Vee. Excuse me. Jesus, Aaron, I'm ready to go.

[Audience Member / Caller]

All right. Taya asks. I'm 36 and I'm starting over by going back to school. But in the past, I've struggled to complete what I start, and I tend to lose interest easily. Do you have any advice for people like me?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is an interesting question. Like, to be. To be honest, there's only two answers to this. One is really good. One's what? I actually think both could be good. So actually, one's very bad. I'll start with that one. What's her name again?

[Audience Member / Caller]

Taya.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Taya. You just might not deal well with adversity. You might not have resilience. You might not have consistency. You might not enjoy the process of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. And so that might be the issue. Let me repeat this. You might have no resilience. You might not be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You may struggle with consistency. You may overvalue other people's opinions, you may have those issues. On the other hand, what you might have is very good self awareness. And. And you just know that you thought something was good for you and then you changed your mind. Which I actually think is a tremendous strength. You're gonna have to ask that question. Either you're soft and insecure or you're self aware and confident. I don't know. But I don't beat myself up when I don't finish tasks when they're creative and on offense. I do beat myself up when I'm not doing things that are important. Right. If I'm not spending enough time with my family, if I'm not going to the gym or eating well, these are very black and white things. You know, I don't view school as a black and white thing. There are too many people that are successful and happy that have not finished school. But that's that. Let's ask another question.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Okay, this question is from John. How do you love someone deeply without letting their negativity consume you by limiting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The time you have with them? Loving someone does not require you hanging out with them 24 7. Right. Like, I've been pretty consistent on this point of view, which is we must learn how to limit, very seriously limit negativity when it is in your life, even if it's your mom or spouse or best friend. And we must cut out negativity. Complete cutout. And if it's someone who literally has, you know, is an acquaintance, a coworker. I think people confuse loving with enabling. I think this is super important. I think one of the biggest issues people have. And by the way, I've. I'm a culprit of this. I think we enable bad behavior. And I think, I think that that's something we have to be very, very real, you know, about. Um, it's just real life. We also put words like loyalty on a pedestal. Again, being loyal to your toxic mom doesn't mean to sit and enable her toxic behavior. In fact, if you love someone, the actual requirement is to have candor with them and try to help them. I think that's the answer to the question. I think again, we put things like loyalty and love and we disguise what we're actually doing, which is enabling, and we have to address that. And in life, I always say life is fair and people sometimes struggle with that. But of course, if lightning strikes you and you're dead, you know, one could be like, wow, that didn't seem fair. And I understand that. I also think that what we don't understand is a lot of times we are manipulating and enabling the behavior that we get and we blame others without being accountable to our own actions. There are plenty of people who, who are in narcissistic marriages who need to be honest with themselves to realize they are the enabler of the narcissistic behavior. And if they don't like it, they can force the candor, they can force the therapy, or they can force the divorcing papers. They can do that shit. And, and that is awfully hard and the hardest and the worst and all that. But again, in life, you either, you either act or, or you complain and blame. And I just think living a life that is grounded in blaming and complaining is a very unhappy life. That's it. Let's keep it going.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Okay, this question is from Maria. What strategy would you recommend for posting on social while keeping a somewhat low profile on my personal social media accounts while still employed in a corporate role?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, to do exactly what I'm doing. I don't know, like, if you're here and you know who I am, then just address it. The way I dress it. I, I literally, I literally do not post content that can be controversial or negative. I literally post nothing about my personal life. The end. Again, this is a game of you being in control. The end. You can like, literally post anything you want. People post things that really expose that they're actually addicted to the insecurities of the algorithm. People post their children, people post their personal relationships because they get more likes and they compromise what's in their soul and they do it for something that is so not real and it's a mistake for most people and ultimately rears its head and that's that, you know, like, you know. Again, the theme of today's morning so far is you're, you're in control. And until you realize that you, you lose. All right, let's keep it going. I want to keep going like this.

[Audience Member / Caller]

All right. Luke asks. I work in finance, which I love, but I love singing and playing 25. I'm nervous to even try it because I'm not sure I'm good enough. Pretty much no one makes it. No one listens to my stuff. Please help. I love your advice, man.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is a very simple question. Either you decide to live with regret or you don't, right? Also, when you're 25, you have the capacity to do both. Like when you have that 25 year old energy, you have 12 to 18 hours a day to give to both you can work. You don't have to quit your job, you know, you don't have to quit your job. You just have to balance both. Let's go to Rania on video. Raina, how are you? Good.

[Rainia]

How are you doing?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good. What's your question?

[Rainia]

Yes. So I, I run a small B2B sales group. Right. So we literally go business to business. Like cold car, like cold cut business to business, sales. So I do more telecommunications, but I do more of the management. So I hire, I manage things that nature. So would you be focusing solely on marketing the sole product itself, like the telecommunications, or solely focusing on marketing my business as in recruiting and things of that nature?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, you need to do both. Right. So I would market both.

[Rainia]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. At the end of the day, when you're marketing, you're marketing with purpose. You would like something to happen. It sounds like you need both. Right?

[Rainia]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So for my dad's liquor store, he needs to sell wine and liquor and beer and food, and we market all of those things. He also needs local employees, so we may market locally to get employees. I think that people are obsessed with the word or in our society. And the answer is always in the word and. Right. So I think for you the answer is. And now the reason I have an acronym called pack at VaynerX. Platforms, algorithms, culture is they rear their heads in your world. If you're recruiting for people, LinkedIn might act differently as a p. As a platform for you, for what you're trying to do, but versus the way TikTok would work, or Twitter versus YouTube. There's different audiences on different platforms for different reasons. Most people are on many platforms, but that's that, you know.

[Rainia]

Yes, because I know I was doing like a lot of recruitment through LinkedIn, like personally reaching out to people directly. When I would see like their background saying, hey, you're good at marketing, I see you're insured in sales, things of that nature. So I would reach out to them personally. And my, my team grew like tremendously rather than just traditional like recruitment with my recruiter. So, um, so as far as LinkedIn with more of recruitment, should I be posting more of like, like more sales tips or more like what should I be posting more on LinkedIn in order to engage more instead of wanting people to work for my company?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. Okay, stick with me. Do you understand? Do you understand what I just did there?

[Rainia]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It again, you're asking. This is so how everyone thinks you know what to post. Do you think, do you think you should put sales tips yes, you should do sales tips. You're in sale. Like. Like, most people aren't asking me what they should do. Most people are asking me, how do I get lots of views for the posts that I do. Right, right. You know, you should be doing it. My question to you is, are you doing the things that, you know, I talk about? Are you posting 8, 10, 12 times a day or not? The answer is 99% of people are not cool.

[Rainia]

Okay, well, thank you so much. It was super nice to meet you. I was like, wow. I got on the call, like, wow. Hello. Hi.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

How are you?

[Rainia]

So, thank you so much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Rainy, before I let you go, did you understand?

[Rainia]

I do. I do understand.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's. It's just that. Do you understand? It's like consistency. It's volume. The algorithms are the great opportunity of people and businesses in the history of communication. They are free. Newspaper ads were not free. PR companies to get you written about in articles were not free. Billboards were not free. Radio ads were not free. Television ads were definitely not fucking free. Direct mail was not free. This is why I was obsessed with email. Email in the 90s and today is free. Ish. You obviously have to get people on it. They're fucking free. And now we have phones. It's not like it was in the 90s where you had to, like, hire a film production company and they came to your liquor store and you made a video and they gave you a fucking vhs. Said you had to figure out how the fuck to do with what in that every fucking human, starting at the age of six can take their fucking iPad or phone, produce a fucking video, and post it on the biggest platforms that have attention in society for free.

[Rainia]

Right? And I guess, like, my last question is, how can I get people excited about sales? Right? Because people, whenever I'm.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

People are excited about sales, Rainia. People are excited about sales. You can't convince people that are not excited about sales to be excited about sales. You need to just find the, oh, I don't know, hundreds of millions of people that are excited about sales. People. This is the problem with everyone. You're not going to convince. Ray, let me promise you something. You do not want someone on your sales team that you have to convince to get excited about sales. Sales are fucking DNA game. You are either a fucking salesman or you are not. You're not convincing someone to be a fucking salesman.

[Rainia]

Right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. Braden on my team, great hair, tremendous rebounder. Like fucking workhorse. Like country boy. Strong. And morals, like, would trust him with my children. Right? Like Believe in him the most. Can't wait to see him dominate life for 60 years. But that motherfucker is not going on the sales team.

[Rainia]

Right, Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Got it.

[Rainia]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Absolutely. What a lot of people like you make the mistake of is you're trying to hit. You're a sales woman.

[Rainia]

Yes, yeah, absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And what you're misunderstanding as a sales woman is the most important part of sales. In sales, and this is not a common thing that is said, which is why it's misunderstood, which is why I'm beating this drum to the ground. In sales, you cannot convince people they are not good customers. If I convinced someone here who smokes weed that wine drinking is better and they're going to like it, I'm telling you, nine out of ten of them will not be great customers. Even I'm great at sales. I can get all 10 to try. But I'm telling you, nine out of 10 of those people are not going to be great customers. They're going to do it because I sold them. You'll get salespeople because you sold them on sales a lot of times. And you know this. Those people are fucking losers like, like they're looking for. And of course people are not losers. I'm trying to say they're a losing sales player. They're searching for the next. Oh, Rain, you looked dynamic. And you know this. Sales people that are trying to sell and convince people to be in sales also suck at selling. They're showing watches and trips. And you. Hey, you non sales person. If you become a salesperson like me, you can have a fucking Bugatti too. Are you. Do you understand how. How bad the people that are going to be excited about that are going to come to you? Because I'm a great fucking salesperson and I'm not falling for that dumb shit.

[Rainia]

Absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Get that word commence out of your fucking vocabulary. Find people that are already fucking salespeople.

[Rainia]

Got it? Absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's it.

[Rainia]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Cool. See ya.

[Rainia]

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Aaron, what are you doing here? Sid. Okay. Parker asks up my show.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Parker asks what's more important, experience or Money? I'm a 24 year old who asks myself this question quite often. I make great money for my age, but I don't know where to go from here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Both are good for different situations. Experience is always good. Money is often bad. Money exposes your truth. The amount of people that have made money and lost money, like made lots, lost lots is a lot because they weren't prepared to know what to do with it. Experience Means you know what to do, no matter what it is. Hanging a fucking picture on the wall, if you have experience in it, you will be better. Experience is dramatically more universal and more consistent than money. Money is a catalyst. The problem is it could be a catalyst for bad. If you are broken inside and you end up inheriting $1 million from your grandma and you're like, yeah, my life is good now. You cannot comprehend how bad the next 24 months are going to look. It is the story as old as time. People consistently misunderstand how to use money. People consistently believe it is the great trick of our society. People are addicted to this concept that it's going to solve their problems. I've literally watched people get way worse when especially if they didn't earn their money, you know there's a real fucking loser what playing when it comes to money. So I grew up with real fucking scum buckets and like dirt kids. And like a lot of people were flawed. Do you know that between like fucking 11 and 25 in my life, the amount of kids and people around me that literally spent almost all their time trying to figure out how to fake an injury to collect insurance money. Yo, if you're from the dirt and the gutter like I am, please explain to everybody in the chat how common this conversation was amongst your other loser friends. Watch, watch. Chat right now. People will tell you, look, look at this. You see this? This is real below lower middle class life. If you grew up in this below, lower middle class life. Again, I'm going to say it again. People don't believe me because they don't know me like that. Mount Ida College. 90% of the kids that I went to college with were on fucking financial aid and from real fucking ghetto life 24 hours a day. Oh, what if I stop my car a little short and get hit in the back and then get a neck brace and collect insurance? Oh, look, a puddle let me slip like I'm being dead fucking serious. Money is gonna solve my shit. Every kid that I watched play that game and I saw it. Look, every day was a hustle. Look, look like people lived that life. Look, I'm an insurance adjuster. I see it all day. This is real shit, I'm telling you. And I've seen people collect on it. And that money is gone within six months. Until you fucking get your fundamentals right internally, you have no shot. Go win the lotto. Why do so many lotto winners lose? So I don't even remember the question, but I know something. Experience is A hell of a lot better than money. Chris Lyons, I can.

[Chris Lyons]

Hey, can you hear me?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, sir.

[Chris Lyons]

Gary, I think you're gonna like this. Check this out. This is a graded B, friend. I love nine out of ten.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love it. And then the card.

[Chris Lyons]

Well, wise wasps graded ten. I got a whole. I got 12 of them. I. I opened them on live the other day.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I got some real 3D printed little things back there. Optimus prime, all that.

[Chris Lyons]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, it's cool. How are you?

[Chris Lyons]

Yeah, I'm really well. Thank you so much. I listened to your content for years. I met you at the Bench conference, the first one in Minneapolis. It was really cool. And, you know, that conference was incredible. It really opened my eyes to just how big the crypto world is, because it kind of gets a bad rap. But seeing, like, people do real was, like, super cool. But the reason I actually wanted to hop on here real quick with you is I'm 34. I paid off my mortgage through salon trading meme coins. I run a. It's a tire shop that does seasonal stuff, so it's okay cash, so. But I'm also building a brand called Built Daily. It's all about discipline and compound daily actions. And it's funny. I built a ChatGPT model that is you. Like, I trained it on all your content, and I literally talked to try to get advice. So if I ran this question through it, and I want to see, like, how it compares with this conversation. So I got three. Three lanes right now, crypto, my tire shop, and then my Built Daily. And my struggle is, do I scale the real business because right now it's from home, or do I go all in more on, like, the passions? Because I love being an entrepreneur. Like, I cannot be an employee. Like, like, it. I just. I can't. You get, like, I cannot be an employee. But the tire business is kind of, like, it could grow, but I'm also like, man, I love all these side hustles. Like, I feel, like, confused and, like, almost lost.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, why. Why can't you do them all?

[Chris Lyons]

Because I. I feel like if you want to build, like, a real personal brand, say, in, like, the crypto world, it takes so much time and energy that it pulls away a lot from, like.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, well, how much time and energy do you put into work? Don't bullshit me, Chris. How much time and energy every day do you put into work?

[Chris Lyons]

In terms of, like, my passions? It's a lot. Like, I'm up, like, 7am I go to bed. Like, I mean, like, I'M doing, like, ridiculous hours on, like, the side stuff.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So it's. It sounds like you're doing both. And you also know this. The meme coin thing worked out, but you could have gotten caught 100%, which.

[Chris Lyons]

Is why I'm trying to focus less on the speculative kind of growth side of things and build something.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct again. Back to my question. How much time do you spend on the tire business that has nice cash flow, as you call. Almost none, as you call. As you called it, the real business. Yeah, you did hear that, right? Yeah. So let's focus on the subconscious of what your brain even thinks. Let's focus on the thing that you called the real business. Let's break this down. You have a real business that takes you very little time, that has cash flow and is working. You've played highly speculative crypto behaviors. Thank God it worked out. As you know, for hundreds of millions. It did not work out.

[Chris Lyons]

Yes, Correct.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What do you think?

[Chris Lyons]

Sounds like I need to focus on the real business.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, I would say it sounds like you're giving it very little. It's kind of like relationships. Let me break this down for you. Let me paint you a very different picture. Over here on the left, you have this really reliable, wonderful, solid girl. She requires very little, you know, just, you know, even. In fact, I'm mad at her because she should be asking for more, but she's happy with what she's getting. And you're getting all the dividends of love. In fact, in this story, she's cooking dinner and doing right? And then over here, you've got a fucking stripper, right? And you're addicted to the glitter and the fake tits, and it's all very exciting. And it worked out like this one time you hooked up. But what do you think's going to happen, brother?

[Chris Lyons]

Yeah, when you put it that way, it kind of makes it very clear. So here's, like, the one caveat I would just throw in there, please. Like. Like. And like, I love the honest brutality, because that's.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm wondering if Chat. Gary GPT gave you the stripper analogy. I'm gonna. I'm gonna go with, AI is not there yet.

[Chris Lyons]

No, AA is not there yet. It told me to don't overthink it and just document and kind of just do my thing, which is kind of actually what. I had, like, six. Six different accounts for all my different passions, and I moved it all into my personal account, which is. Which has been good. The one caveat I would ask is, like, I love running My business, I really enjoy that. But like doing the entire business, like the work itself, I don't necessarily am passionate about. But then is that just me being kind of a wimp? Like, you're not going to love everything you do. Like, you. Sometimes you just got to grind.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. I mean, look, again, I want to have a logical conversation with you. I'm pumped that meme coin trading worked out for you. I'm also just like, the reason I stay Ethereum and Bitcoin in the crypto world is, you know, I haven't done enough homework on the others like, and I just feel comfortable that I understand the rails that Ethereum is building with layer two and base and all this stuff. Obviously now that stablecoins have been legalized by the genius act, it gives a lot of understanding to why Ethereum's got a chance. Bitcoin, you know, money in the history of our time has always been does the collective believe it's money? Right. Whether it's the dollar or coins or like gold and silver, when cavemen were running around was gold and silver. It was in the fucking world. But people didn't value it. Consensus of humanity is important. Bitcoin's dangerously close, if not already at consensus of humanity. Definitely very different place than when I bought it for the first time in 2015. 16 Big shout out to Aaron Bataleon in South by Southwest jam sessions for teaching me these things. I, I just think that you gambled and it worked out. And I have a. I'm concerned to say, like gambling is a consistent. Like gambling works once in a while. It's why it's gambling. It consistently does not work. Now building a personal brand in crypto is a different thing. Meaning I've, I've got a personal brand in crypto. My belief is that 1% of NFT on Ethereum will be the great collectibles of the next generation. And so I'm comfortable building out my vee friends world and taking a real stab at trying to build Marvel, Pokemon, Disney. I believe in crypto punks. I think they've been proven to be very resilient. You know, they're a couple hundred thousand dollars for the cheapest one right now. NFTs have sold hundreds of millions of dollars over the last two weeks. At a time where 99% of the world thinks that they were a scam. That is a profound data point which makes me bullish long term. Bitcoin is being eaten up by all the biggest financial institutions in the world, literally the CEOs and executives and boards of the biggest financial institutions in the world called it a scam a decade ago and now are running, writing substantial tens and hundreds of millions of dollar checks to get it. Those are black and white things that are happening. You know, buying vomit coin for 0.000001, hoping an influencer tweets about it so you can sell it for 0.0004 cents doesn't feel like a sustainable model.

[Chris Lyons]

Very true.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What are you gonna, what are you gonna, what are you gonna build your personal brand on that you. You guessed on the app hype and it worked out or, you know, like that? You gotta be thoughtful about how you build this.

[Chris Lyons]

So the way I'm doing it is you are. You nailed everything you just said about like this Solana stuff. So I thought like, when I, if I go in there with a totally different mindset and try to build something different, so like what it's called, it's built daily and it's just about like bringing long term thinking to a short term game, I think, and showing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think that's great. How are you going to monetize that?

[Chris Lyons]

Well, this is a good question. I have a podcast and I'm hoping in time that, you know, get advertisements or what have you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's a hard game. I mean, I'm for it. If you can build a big enough audience, you can monetize. Here's what I would say. I think the way you're playing it right now is working. I like that you're happy, right? You're happy doing this other thing. I just want to make sure A, that you're not gambling. B, if you're trying to build a personal brand and then do sponsorship against that, that's a regular business, by the way. No different than your tire business, to your point. It's a lot more fun for you to play with the crypto stuff than the tire stuff. I'm fine with that. I would just tell you that in a world where you're 7pm to 12 in the morning, you've obviously are able to do that because you're enjoying the shit out of, you know, community, engaging Twitter spaces. Whatever you're doing to get into the space, it sounds like you just need to double down on both, meaning not more hours being more effective. You know, it's not about working more hours. It's. It's. For example, my team around me, all of them, I think the second they get close to me and really look under the hood, they're like, oh, fuck this guy. Works, right? It's like, oh, he has 39 meetings every day actually, and like 20 of them are 15 minutes. And I take an hour and a half to do the same thing. Maybe I don't need an hour and a half. So if, you know, the tire business can get three times what you're giving it by you being more efficient. And a lot of people that are playing in crypto or any other genre that plays out online gaming, personal brands, live social shopping, they end up spending all their time consuming the scroll instead of feeding the scroll. Yeah, right. That's the big aha for a lot of people. I was excited to deliver that for you because I think it's going to resonate with you. Right. And listen, consuming is good, by the way. I actually consume a lot more than people realize. It's why I know shit. I'm constantly consuming, but I'm consuming with purpose, right? Like, I'm in my feed for like seven minutes and then I'm out. Like, I don't derail. I know why I'm there. I'm not there to be fucking entertained. I'm there to know what the fuck the world is into right now. Get my latest New York jets news and be the fuck out.

[Chris Lyons]

Love it. No, that's what I need to hear. I think that that really put the nail. Nail on it at the end.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Because what you realize is. Oh, shit, Gary's right. If I just stop listening or watching, you know, what the fuck you're consuming three hours a day of something that only took 30 minutes for you to grasp it. You're just using it for more entertainment and leisure than you realize. In that two and a half hours that you save, 45 minutes can go to working out and getting your body right. And the other hour and 45 minutes can go to your tire company, which, oh, by the way, will allow you the oxygen to continue to enjoy the process of the thing you like.

[Chris Lyons]

Yeah. Okay. Gary. No, you. You nailed it down. Damn. I don't even know what to say.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you is good.

[Chris Lyons]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Love you, bro. Good luck.

[Chris Lyons]

Thank you so much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Aaron.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Jimmy asks, you talk about not taking money from parents, but what if they insist on helping you and almost don't let you do it any other way? So you are stuck in there with them. So the only way around stuck.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Jimmy, Jimmy, you're not. What the are you talking about? Jimmy? Jimmy. Read that question one more. This is really going to be a good one. Jimmy, get ready.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Jimmy asks, you talk about not taking money from parents, but what if they insist on helping you?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Jimmy, you're a grown ass man. What are you talking about? Forcing you. What? Your mom rolls up on you, punches you in the head and stuffs dollars in your fucking pants? Jimmy. The fuck are you talking about? Forcing what? Forcing what? Fucking forcing. Go back to Jimmy one more time.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Okay, Jimmy asks, you talk about not taking money from parents, but what if they insist on helping you and you almost don't let them and almost don't let you do it any other way, so you're stuck in there with them. So the only way around is to break completely free and cut the bonds. Is it worth it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Jimmy? I don't believe you. Mike, you like that I got you, right? I. I don't know what else. I think you're probably laughing because you know my content so well. I'm not sure I've ever even said that. Like this drama that Jimmy's trying to paint us. I'm like, no, no, Gary. Guys, everyone, you don't get it. My parents are stuffing cash so into my body that my only option, I'm really stuck here. Like I'm in trouble. Like, you don't understand. Gary, here's what's happening. Let me just pull these out. Here we go. No, I just. Like, you can do whatever the fuck you want. Like. Gary, you don't get it. Like they're just, you know, they're drilling me with free money, just credit card, like just everywhere. Like I can't. And the only way to get through the list barrage is I have to break free and never talk to my parents again. These awful humans who are drilling cash down my fucking throat. And I. Gary, you don't get it. I can't stop it. The cash is too much and too aggressive and there's just no way. Jimmy, you're fucking in control. And by the way, let me throw a curveball to this little comedy skit. There are people who aggressively as parents, try to push money down their kids throat for one reason. They would like to parent their kids in perpetuity. They want to control every one of their decisions and they are manipulating you to be able to control your decisions by being your bank. That is true. Here's the problem. Every spoiled kid that I've met on earth, and I've met many of them in this situation can just say no. Jimmy, I want you to google Nancy Reagan. Can somebody pull up a Nancy Reagan video for me on their phone where she says, just say no? This is a profound simplistic. You know the Reagan's were many things. But let me promise you one thing. They were definitely some of the greatest marketers of all time. Jimmy, you're full of. I don't know what to tell you. I have a weird feeling here. Jimmy, you're not going to believe this. This is wild. Jimmy, I got a. I got a stunner for you. When you say no. Even if your parents are the most fucked up on earth and try to weaponize their money on you so that you pick the girl that they want you to marry, take the job that you they want you to take, join the country club that they want you to join, even if they're the most fucked up parents on earth with obsession with using money as the manipulating super tool, after their quick disappointment of oh fuck, we can't control Jimmy, they'll actually respect you. How about that, Jimmy? That's it. So read that question one more time.

[Audience Member / Caller]

Aaron, you talk about not taking money from parents, but what if they insist on helping you and almost don't let you do it any other way? So you were stuck in there with them. So the only way around is to break completely free and cut the bonds. Is it worth it?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You are a fucking asshole, Jimmy. Jimmy, you're an asshole. You're full of shit. And I'm really doing this out of the love and depths that you cannot comprehend. The love and intent that is coming out of my. Out my mouth trying to make you understand like I don't know clearly. It actually looks like you don't deal well with good. That's why I'm trying to give you a little bad. I'd really love to see the truth of this situation. I have a funny feeling if Jimmy's parents are watching, they're fucking cheering right now. I feel like Jimmy's dad just went and got the fucking expensive champagne and they just popped it at 9:46 in the morning. I have a sneaky fucking feeling that Jimmy's parents are fucking pumped with Uncle Gary right now. I have a funny fucking feeling that Jimmy's mom and dad are about to sip two glasses of champagne and fucking get dirty with each other at 10:15 in the morning. Because this is the greatest fucking day of their life. Because fucking entitled, full of shit fucking Jimmy. Got some fucking candor this morning. Tea with Gary V85. Hope you enjoyed it. See you next time.