Resident 1 (3:36)

What is your greatest advice for us outside of our careers?

Gary Vaynerchuk (3:41)

To fight for happiness. People do not fight for happiness. Enough people have decided to lean into cynicism, into blame, into envy, into jealousy. People have really, like, the world has done a really good number on the world. Mainstream media, social media pessimism. Like, people are selling all of you a bunch of bullshit. The world has never been better. The world has never been better, period. This is the greatest era to ever be alive. I would switch with all of you in 10 seconds. And unfortunately, that's not what people think. So my advice to you is to fight for happiness. Try to understand why I'm telling you that. Go look at facts instead of headlines that are built to scare you.

Resident 2 (4:31)

As a gen zer, we kind of grew up with the social media boom.

Gary Vaynerchuk (4:35)

Yep.

Resident 2 (4:36)

And we kind of understand the consumer. Consumer up mentality and the social media first mentality.

Gary Vaynerchuk (4:43)

Yes.

Resident 2 (4:43)

So my question is, is how did you come up with that before or, like, understand that disruption before any of us understood it.

Gary Vaynerchuk (4:55)

So one of the advantages of being older is timing. So when MySpace and even before that Friendster came, when I was MySpace was very clear to me. In 2005, how old were you in 2005?

Resident 2 (5:09)

Six.

Gary Vaynerchuk (5:10)

Beautiful. So when you were in kindergarten trying to desperately figure out what the world is, I was sitting in a liquor store desperately trying to figure out why is the Internet changing and what is this? And this feels different. This is different. This is not the last 10 years. This has something to it. And, like, look how cool. Like, oh, wait, Rick Ross and Dane Cook, the comedian, and Tila Tequila, the model. Like, they're winning on this thing. There's something happening. And so I took very big note. And then very quickly, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook came out. And I was like, okay, something's fucking up. And then right then and there, right behind that, the iPhone came out. And I was like, okay, this is a series of things that make sense to me. And the radio used to be the most important thing. And then the television was invented. And the television only used to have three channels, and then it had 13, and then it had 36, and then it had DirecTV. This makes sense to me. And so I followed my intuition. But. And this is important for all of you with AI VR NFTs, not only did I have intuition, I immersed myself in it. So I was 31, 30, when I made my first video. And I made a video tasting wine, because it's what I knew. And so I just put myself out there and made sure I tasted it and was a practitioner. You can only learn by doing. You can't talk about it in theory. And so, you know, I think I have good consumer intuition and I have good willingness to become a practitioner. And so it was obvious to me because I was in it, you know.

Resident 2 (7:06)

Yep, that totally makes sense.

Gary Vaynerchuk (7:07)

And so, like, all of you can read the emails going back and forth at the company about AI and ChatGPT and Jasper and midjourney, or you could go and use it.

Resident 3 (7:18)

Right?

Resident 2 (7:18)

Thank you so much.

Gary Vaynerchuk (7:20)

Thank you.

Resident 2 (7:21)

My question for you was, what does success look like for someone in a junior position at vayner?

Gary Vaynerchuk (7:26)

Well, I think success is very different money for all of you, right? Like, some of you were built in a very alpha home where, like, and very good at school and type A and you. And you'll deem success as getting promoted, right? Getting the full gig and then getting promoted. Like. And I understand that for other people, success has some sort of financial number in their mind, right? Some people here have, like, a specific number in mind. If I get to 100,000, if I get to 500,000, if I get to a million, that's fine. For me, success is actually truly waking up on a Monday morning and smiling with no anxiety in your chest. And whether you make $40,000 or $4 billion and anything in between, boom, boy, oh, boy. If more people woke up on Monday morning smiling cheek to cheek with lack of anxiety in their chest, the world would be epic. And that is the framework that I'm trying to create. That's what this is. That's why all of you reacted the way you did when Claude came on here. You know, like, we're putting a lot of effort into that, and so we won't get it perfect, but we're trying our hardest. And so success for me is whatever you want success to be. You know what I mean? And there's some of you sitting here right now that want my job. And very honestly, I'd like one of you to be the global CEO of this old holding company. Cause I'm getting old. I need one of you to rise up and take this throne. And so that's great. And then there's other people who've realized and can look around the company and say, whoa, that person looks happy, and whoa. They work nine to five, five days a week and have time for their kids and everything. Like, I want that, and that's beautiful. Or some of you are coming here to get as much knowledge as possible, and then you're gonna jump and start your own vaynermedia. And that makes me happy for you, too. I want success to be your success, but I want your success to be your success. Not what I deem success, not what your mama deems success, not whatever's cool on TikTok deems success. Figure out what the fuck your success is and be ready for it to change. What you give a fuck about at 22 changes at 27 and 31 and 39 and 52. So you may have a success in your mind right now. And then you might scratch that itch and you might realize, I don't like it that much. You know? And don't be disappointed by that, because a lot of people get depressed when they reach something. They. No, no. Be invigorated by that and realize you're onto your next success.

Resident 4 (9:55)

Thank you.

Gary Vaynerchuk (9:56)

You're welcome.

Resident 5 (9:57)

So my question is, you know, obviously, everything the Vayner kind of, like, family of companies encompasses, you know, like the social landscape, the media landscape, the ads landscape, they're all constantly fluctuating, constantly changing. So, you know, it can kind of be a lot sometimes to, like, take it all in at once.

Gary Vaynerchuk (10:15)

Yeah.

Resident 5 (10:15)

So my question is, how do you prevent yourself from, you know, like, getting burnt out from it all? What do you do to kind of, like, keep the pace with all this stuff?

Gary Vaynerchuk (10:24)

I love myself. Let me explain. I don't judge myself when I don't feel like I've got it all grasped. You're absolutely right. The Shit's moving super fast. It's okay to not be great at knowing how Snapchat works. It's alright if you've never downloaded Pinterest. It's cool if you have no fucking clue what the fuck's going on on LinkedIn. You just keep trying every day. I think the biggest reason I don't get burnt out is because I don't beat myself up. By far, one of the biggest issues that so many people have, young, old, left, right, black, white, is people beat themselves up. And by the way, do not get it twisted. I'm not talking about not holding yourself up to a standard, but it's just a little patience. Back to the earlier question. I've been doing this every day for 17 years. I'm good at it. Now, some of you have never thought about these platforms in this context. Prior to when you started here, you were using it to hook up, you know, so, like, you know, just have empathy for yourself. That's how you try and you realize. And I think you sense it here. Like, we have ambition, we're building a honey empire. But, like, we're gonna give you a lot of time as long as you're trying, you know.

Resident 1 (11:57)

What advice do you have for someone who's about to turn 30, who has two young kids and they're trying to like, exponentially grow their professional career in.

Gary Vaynerchuk (12:04)

This space by realizing that patience is your only ally when it seems like it's your biggest foe. Gotcha, right? The problem when you're trying to do something fast because of circumstances, right? Imagine, right, you're part of this residency class. 90% of your contemporaries are kids right out of school. That's a framework where immediately you're like, fuck, I'm so behind whatever's going through your mind. The problem is when you're trying to speed it up, like you triple, the faster you run, the more likely you're gonna trip. And so it's about the discipline of understand. First of all, I'm so pumped you're in this program. I've had two or three people that I've spoken to in the last six months who had similar situations where they were, quote, unquote, a different age from the majority of people in the residency class who 18 months later really were like, oh, wait a minute, I didn't have to rush. This was exactly right. And, you know, patience is your ally in this, brother. Like, the merit of your work is gonna be the variable of your success, not how fast you politic it.

Resident 6 (13:18)

Awesome.

Resident 1 (13:19)

Thank you.

Gary Vaynerchuk (13:19)

You got it, brother.

Resident 7 (13:20)

How did you get to a point where you can trust your creators to just say, hey, look, make what you want? Cause I've worked for teams and other media companies where I had no creative freedom. I just do it and shut up and just do it. And what I can appreciate is that I can just kind of give my passion in what is sports.

Gary Vaynerchuk (13:40)

I wanted to build a good company. I'd rather grown slower on something that I knew would bring value to my employees than grow faster with something that sucks shit. Really hard to get people to wake up on Monday morning smiling and having no anxiety on their chest. If everyone's just making shit with no say, that's fucking soulless and not fun.

Resident 7 (14:04)

Yeah. Yeah, totally. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Gary Vaynerchuk (14:08)

You're welcome, brother.

Resident 8 (14:09)

My question for you is, going back to Taylor is that how do you wake up early in the morning on a Monday and just stay hungry? You know, I'm 27, and I'm trying to keep myself going every day, and I kind of struggle sometimes. So what is your take on that?

Gary Vaynerchuk (14:26)

What do you struggle with, brother?

Resident 8 (14:28)

I think just being motivated to get to my angle, you know, I get.

Gary Vaynerchuk (14:32)

What's your angle?

Resident 8 (14:34)

Honestly, six figures have a big house. I'm being a little materialistic, but.

Gary Vaynerchuk (14:40)

Well, that's. What. That's why you're struggling? Yeah. I mean, I would have bet the. I mean, you couldn't have walked into that more that if I paid you to say what you just said, you are literally the hypothesis I have of why people are unhappy. You just made up an arbitrary goal for yourself based on material things without realizing the second you walk into that home and you make six figures, nothing's changed.

Resident 8 (15:13)

Damn, that was. Hey. I mean, I would rather have someone be honest with me, you know, so.

Gary Vaynerchuk (15:23)

Even better, brother. I'm telling you from the deepest levels of love that you can even imagine. I know you. I've met a thousand of you. All of them have lost the second they got there. You've been able to turn your perspective to something that's very easy to turn your perspective to. The world is very good at selling this. It's just super not true, bro.

Resident 8 (15:50)

I appreciate it. Thank you. And kind of going. Adding to that, like, what keeps what. Like, what should we do? You know? Or, like.

Gary Vaynerchuk (15:58)

Yeah, I mean, I think the alternative to that is focusing on doing things you like. Hey, everybody. Hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy.

Resident 4 (16:15)

I wanted to say, from the lemonade stand to the winery to now, successful entrepreneurships. Well, serial successful entrepreneurships. What do you think is, like, the singular thread that you pulled through from the beginning that you still have now that makes you successful?

Gary Vaynerchuk (16:33)

That I reverse engineer the person I'm trying to sell something to, and I come from it from a place of good intent. Like, I really tried to make good lemonade for 10 cents. Like when people came to my dad's liquor store and they wanted Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, which used to sell for 12.99. And once I knew my shit and knew there was a better Pinot Grigio named Chris K R I S Pinot Grigio for $7.99, I fought like hell to get them to try it because I knew they'd get a better bottle of wine for $5 less. Vayner is a success because we're trying to get people to stop wasting money on dumb marketing and spend it on good marketing. When you have the customer's intention in mind, everything you want selfishly will be there in the end.

Resident 3 (17:20)

So I spend like, I'm 25 and I've had a little bit of work experience in equity research, and then I tried to switch to strategic consulting. Then I switched to, like, supply chain and then pharma. And now I'm here thinking that this is what I need. And I think a lot of big reason behind that is because I have. It took me like, four or five years to accept that I am someone who likes to put themselves in a completely random situation every two years. And that's what appeals to me about VaynerX. So my question to you is, like, as someone who's just starting out, how do I moderate the line between specializing in something right now within VaynerMedia and maybe going for those opportunities later to explore analytics brackets within the other companies within Vayner X, would I get that opportunity to kind of explore that little bit turbulent side in me?

Gary Vaynerchuk (18:12)

I love that question. Look, there's. There's. It's very hard to answer that question because there's so much serendipity that goes into that. But the fact that you can speak to this question the way you just did, as long as you're over communicating with Peter and all your kind of, like, champions that you interact with the K Lyns, you know, whoever you work with on these projects, I think you'll find yourself in a very good place. What I'm most proud of. Like, we're not bound to what I think most agencies and companies are. We're not rigid. We're not Type A. And so this is all about communication. And sometimes you should stay and sometimes you shouldn't. But not me, not you. Only God knows if that would have worked out. I think what you can't be is crippled by the decisions you make. Don't think that you're being brash or things of that nature or too fast. You're just following what feels right in your stomach. And maybe you'll do a couple things at VaynerX. And then the third thing, you're like, wait a minute, this is it. And you might do that for five years, and then five years in one day, you're like, this is not it anymore. And that's fine too. So I would just continue to communicate, take feedback, balance that from people who might say, you're moving too quick, Stay another year, try this for another six months, make decisions, live on those decisions, and just keep navigating.

Resident 3 (19:34)

Great. Thank you. Because, like, I feel like from past experiences, I feel like there's slight negative connotation to this. Like, I've been badgered by interviewers. Like, why do you switch all the time?

Gary Vaynerchuk (19:42)

Tell them the truth. Tell them you're curious. Tell them you're trying to find something that will fulfill you. I promise you, you don't want to work anywhere that views that as a negative anyway.

Resident 3 (19:55)

Yeah, exactly. Okay, thank you so much.

Gary Vaynerchuk (19:57)

I have a funny feeling that wasn't a big issue at Boehner.

Resident 3 (20:01)

Yeah, definitely. That's what makes me want to ask you this question. And it's a really difficult question to ask to anyone else, to be honest.

Gary Vaynerchuk (20:08)

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a very normal track for the curious and haven't found that home yet.

Resident 9 (20:16)

I noticed, you know, you have so much on your plate as far as, like, all the hats you wear with every company that you started or are a part of currently. What keeps you passionate to keep going when you have so much going on? Only asking because I don't have as much as you, but I have, like, organizations I'm president of. And I sometimes feel myself kind of like not being passionate to give my all to every role that I'm in. So I just wanted to know what keeps you passionate in every role.

Gary Vaynerchuk (20:48)

Accountability, sometimes to do things that I think one of the things that the world is struggling with is being able to deal with inconvenience. I think it's a real issue. I think It's a real opportunity. We've been programmed, parented. We've been fortunate in a lot of ways in the macro. Obviously, many of us can grow up with difficult situations, but we've demonized the capacity to be inconvenienced. And when I make a commitment, even though I hate going to that meeting or I don't want to do it, I've learned how to tolerate short term or midterm inconvenience. That's number one. Number two, I'm also very comfortable. Similar to the last question of changing my mind, it's okay to unwind a commitment as long as you do it graciously. You could walk into the next meeting and say, hey, I need to resign at the end of this year from this committee. I just want to give everyone nine months. Now you've created a light at the end of the tunnel, which almost weirdly makes you even better. Those nine months, you know what I mean? I'd rather you be great on my board for nine months or committee than be below average for three years. So I think it's a balance of willing to deal with inconvenience and also willing to graciously change your mind. Both of those things keep me passionate. I know there's an out if I do it graciously and appropriately. And I know that sometimes I have to sleep in the bed that I made.

Resident 9 (22:26)

Thank you.

Gary Vaynerchuk (22:27)

You're welcome.

Resident 6 (22:29)

My question for you is, you know, obviously being in this program just for like, what, like a little over a month so far, I've just been able to see that, like, obviously there's a lot of, like, love and care directed towards us and directed towards teaching us and kind of guiding us along our way. And so my question for you is just like, frankly, like, why do you. Why do you care so much about, like, us and like, younger people and why do you guys see us as such an investment going forward?

Gary Vaynerchuk (22:57)

I think it's the right thing to do. You know, I think when you are blessed, there's a sense of responsibility. And I think, you know, so many of my business big, big boy, big girl friends laugh at the concept of how much we put in up front on this and how vulnerable we are for people leaving and da, da, da, da, da. I just don't see it that way. I know. You know, I think we have the best culture in the world, so I think a lot of people will stay, so that's good for the business. But even if people didn't stay, we can afford to do it. It's a nice thing to do. It leaves a positive impact on the business world. I want more people to be affected by the way we see business. And I feel great that we get to show you how it should be. You don't have a clue when I tell you the greatest thing of this whole program for all of you is knowing this exists. You know, how many people work for 25 years and have no idea that you can do it right? You know, many of your parents and friends and relatives and friends at school and cousins think you're completely full of shit when you talk about this company and that you're just drinking from some weird Kool Aid that I made up. You know, it's just the right fucking thing to do, bro. You know?

Resident 6 (24:22)

It's awesome.

Resident 7 (24:23)

I love that.

Resident 3 (24:23)

Yeah.

Resident 6 (24:24)

Appreciate it. Believe me, I appreciate it.

Gary Vaynerchuk (24:25)

And it goes back to the thing I said earlier, Luke, which is like, when you do the right thing by the other side, all the things that you want will happen. I call it 51.49. If I give all of you 51% of the value, then 49 will be just fine by me. And I think too many companies try to get somewhere between 80 and 100% of the value. And once you figure out the model for 49, you're good, you know?

Resident 6 (24:54)

Yeah, that's great.

Resident 1 (24:55)

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Gary Vaynerchuk (24:56)

Thank you. Anyway, I love you all. Hope this was fruitful. Hope it helped. Always available. Thanks, everyone. You're welcome. Thank you. Cheers, everyone. Thank you.

Resident 4 (25:07)

Thank you.

Gary Vaynerchuk (25:08)

Love you.

Resident 3 (25:10)

Thank you.

Resident 4 (25:11)

That was fucking tight.

Resident 7 (25:13)

That was fucking sick.

Resident 9 (25:14)

That was amazing.

Resident 2 (25:15)

Best meeting ever.

Resident 8 (25:17)

No, for real.

Resident 2 (25:19)

I feel rejuvenated.

Resident 3 (25:21)

I feel reassured.

Gary Vaynerchuk (25:23)

It's good.

Resident 3 (25:25)

Yeah, me too. Okay.

Gary Vaynerchuk (25:27)

Bye, guys.

Resident 2 (25:28)

That's all.

Gary Vaynerchuk (25:29)

You know, my favorite thing to do is make pretend I leave to listen to what actually is being said. And I can tell you right now, that felt fucking amazing. I literally did not log off because I was like, let me wait and see if he'll stay. I love you guys. Love you guys. Have a great, great day. Cheers. Bye. Bye, everyone. Love you, everybody. If you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded. I appreciate your attention, and thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.