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- [00:00]
A
This is the GaryVee audio experience. If you're listening to this before 9:00am Eastern Time, which I know a lot of you are dog walking the gym, just consuming on your travel. I'm live right now, probably if you're hearing this or shortly, I'm live at 9am and then the questions themselves. The Tea with Garyvee show is back. If you're unaware, the questions themselves are on whatnot. So go check that out. We're@vfriends.com live for that. I'm excited to be doing tea with GaryVee. I'm gonna do a lot in 2025. It's my home. I miss it. It was such a big deal in Covid and I hope to see you there. Now to the podcast.
- [00:41]
B
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, it is a privilege, pleasure and honor to be in the space of a true scholar, academic in his own right, a thought leader, the one and only. I gave him all those accolades, but the most important title, the father, Mr. Gary Vee, my guy.
- [00:59]
C
Pleasure.
- [01:00]
B
Pleasure, man. How you doing?
- [01:01]
C
I'm knock on wood. I'm really good. And it's a real honor to be here. I feel very much the same way about you. There's, you know, I think about people that really work and really build and watching you over the last two decades plus has been a joy. So it's nice to be here, man.
- [01:15]
B
Likewise, man. And I feel like there's so many places we could start, but obviously here in Cannon's class, man, we, we like to tap in with the experts in different spaces. So I always start the question off, man, like, what is Gary Vee an expert at?
- [01:29]
C
If you put me in the corner and said, you really gotta give it for this crew right here, I would say I'm very. I'm an expert in understanding where attention actually is. I really pay attention to people's eyes and ears. So my entire professional career, but even going back to being a professional, when I was slinging baseball cards and comic books, or even when I was selling lemonade or trying shovel snow or mow people's lawns in Jersey, everything I ever did was try to figure out where the attention was, which tree, which pole was the best lemonade sign, which table was the best at the show, what could I do at my table that would make all the people walking by stop and look at my cards? And then at my dad's liquor store, where do I put the signs? Where do they look when they first walk in? What do they look at at the register in it. In it. Exactly right. It's funny you bring that up like that is my. The reason I think I'm an expert in it is because it was innate and then I formed it and built on it. For the last 40 years, obviously today that's been about marketing. Like early on web, early on social media, early on mobile transformation, and early on the platforms. As a lot of people who are listening right now or watching definitely remember me six years ago, yelling at them, TikTok, TikTok, TikTok, TikTok. And so in the macro, which platform's about to pop? What's the next Instagram, what's the next TikTok? Or in the micro, what's the best tactic to get noticed on LinkedIn or YouTube or on podcasts or on physical tours? I would say my expertise sits in attention.
- [03:04]
B
And you've built the empire. Attention empire in this space to where now media. And this is probably where I would love to at least start for a moment, because we're in a state even currently where media can be used to manipulate, media can be used to help and motivate, but. And media can really. I mean, it's really about capitalism. At the end of the day, people are making a lot of money off of media, some in good ways, some in bad ways. There's a lot of transitioning and transformation happening from old media to new media.
- [03:44]
C
That part. Because the first part you talked about is how it's always been.
- [03:48]
B
Right, right.
- [03:49]
C
You know, I don't know why I was a really bad student. So I apologize for all the academics, but I think of my life academically. I think the format of school didn't fit me, but there was one class I crushed at, and that was history. And within history, there was some shit that I was really focused on. And this is weird. Like, even today, it's weird now that people are starting to understand what's going on. But As a kid, 30 years ago, when I was 14, 16, I was obsessed with coups, when governments would be overthrown.
- [04:18]
B
Right, Right.
- [04:19]
C
You know, I was born in the Soviet Union, so maybe I was very affected by communism versus, you know, democracy. But I love the news. I love paying attention. Bless you, my man. And I really paid attention to it. And the thing that most caught me, Nick. And now I understand it. Back then I didn't. And this is why I'm jumping on this point. I was always fascinated that when the army would try to throw over the dictator, they would go to the newspaper and the radio and the TV station at the Same time that they would go get the guy or the gal at the palace. And intuitively I was like, damn, media is everything. So, yeah, we got the Internet now and social media, and everyone's trying to point fingers at it. But since the printing press, the radio, and the television were invented, those mediums have been used by governments, by businesses, by human beings to storytell and dictate to what people, what those people wanted people to know. When the printing press was invented, the far majority of books that first came out were printed by religious institutions. And here we are hundreds of years later, and religion's a big fucking deal in our world. So to me, the only thing that changed is that every human has access to the media now.
- [05:28]
B
Right?
- [05:28]
C
That's huge. And that's why we're seeing a lot.
- [05:31]
B
Of shit our we afraid of now. AI controlling media, or at least the.
- [05:38]
C
Well, I think of the AI part that I'm not afraid of it. But it's gonna be one step backwards. I think it's gonna hit for everyone in the room and definitely at home. Video has actually been the judge and jury of our society. Video, Video proof. Like, that's how we know Kennedy got assassinated. That's how we know there was a war. Like, video Rodney King in this town. We knew anything you want the Trump assassination, We know if we didn't have that video proof, I'm sure a lot of people would be skeptical if it even happened. Now we have deep fake videos coming. You and I in the next 10 years are gonna be all over the Internet saying shit that we never said. Cause somebody's gonna type in, I want Gary to use the N word. I want Nick to say this. And positive things and negative things.
- [06:23]
B
And so we'll be physically doing stuff too.
- [06:27]
C
Oh, it's gonna look. Just so you know, in 36 months, there'll be a video. By the way, they'll take the clip of this and change what we're saying to each other. What's that mean? Play out the chess moves. It means that no one's gonna believe anything on video. And this is why I get bullish on the blockchain. Cause I think that technology right now, it's confusing. You know, obviously there's bitcoin. There was the ridiculousness of the greed. But the importance of NFTs. There's a lot of stuff there, but that as a ledger, took control. Truth, I think, will become prominent over the next 10 years. But yeah, I mean, AI is gonna change the world in a way that I think most people don't understand yet. This is some real talk. I don't know if you've put your name, image and likeness into a trust for your kids, but the fact that in 50 years I could have a meeting with Nick Cannon and he can teach me of comedic timing and all the things you've ever put in every interview will feed the AI and it will feel like I'm sitting in a room with you. The fact that your great grandkids can sell that is crazy. Imag. Imagine right now if you could buy an hour with Albert Einstein to talk to him for real. Would you? I would, yeah. Just to do it right. If it felt real.
- [07:37]
D
Yeah. Yeah.
- [07:37]
C
So look, I think people get crazy with technology. They think like when they're alive, shit stops. If we dug up our great great grandparents right now and showed them the world Internet, phone, they would lose their minds. Yeah, Electricity was demon. Do you know electricity was demonized when it first came out?
- [07:54]
B
Really?
- [07:55]
C
People were scared to put electricity in their home because the rumor was that it was demons. So most people still stayed on candles. People hold on. They are scared of technology. I think it's going to be massive. But I'm not scared of it. I'm trying to understand it.
- [08:09]
B
Yeah, that's wise, man. And you said so many things there and definitely want to unpack it. But I think one thing that was super important is when you tap into what's the truth. Because even. Even without, you know, the deep fakes and all that is like the truth is subjective. You know what I mean?
- [08:30]
C
That part.
- [08:31]
B
It's my truth. It's your truth and my perspective and your perspective. And you've been so outspoken, you know, through. Throughout the time that we've all gotten a chance to know you and you live by your truth. I mean, I feel like you're the type of person like, yo, Gary said it then. That's how it is from his perspective. Where did that come from?
- [08:55]
C
Losing a lot, not being scared of the system, I think. You know, I was an immigrant, I come to America. We live in dirt neighborhoods. I'm sure I don't have to tell a lot of people who are listening what dirt neighborhoods bring. You learn real quick. You build up your instincts real quick. 80s. I grew up in the 80s. Kids that are listening right now. We used to go outside all day. My parents didn't know where the fuck I was. Kids that are listening. I want to tell you something real quick. You're gonna laugh at this. I've been using this lately. Cause it just blows my mind in the 80s, at 10pm on television, a commercial would come on and say, it's 10pm do you know where your kids are? Because our parents literally didn't know we were literally out there like that. They might have forgotten. Where my realness comes from is I'm not scared. I'm not scared because I love people. I want good. My intent is real. Off the charts. That's some. Again, lucky DNA. Great parenting, right? I got real good DNA, like I'm nice. And then my mom molded it and really molded it. So I know I want good for people. I'm trying to win, win, but not at someone else's expense. I think it's a huge issue in the world right now. People think they've got to, somebody else has to lose for them to win. So I feel like I have good intent and I feel like I'm not worried to be misunderstood. I was misunderstood my whole life. Getting all those D's and F's in school. Every parent and when you're 7, 9, 11, 13 teachers and your friends, parents, they're grown ups, that's the authority. And they all told me I was going to be a fucking loser. And I was in my own shit. Like I'm not. I never understood even back then I was like, how do these people think I'm a loser? And they talked about being a professional loser, right? A grown up. I'm not gonna be able to like live. And I would always be like, man, I made $1,300 this weekend selling Ken Griffey Jr. And Barry Sanders rookie cards. That's more money than my teachers make. Prorated 52 times a year. How are these people telling me I'm gonna be a garbage man? Which by the way, that was the 80s thing. That's a good ass job. They had it wrong too. You get paid, paid and you retire anyway, nonetheless. So because. And sports. I played sports all the time. And as you could tell, I'm not fucking LeBron. So I took plenty of Ls that way. Plus I fought a lot. Like I really think when kids scrap like a real punch, like I think it matters a little bit. I think you get a little like there's a lot of people walking around right now that are tough on keyboards. Cause they've never been really punched in the face.
- [11:25]
B
Never been punched in the face, you know.
- [11:26]
C
And so I really do think getting punched in the face is a good thing. I'm an advocate for kids fighting. I'm being dead serious. I think we lost our battle So I think for me, grown ups told me I sucked, got into fights, played a lot of sports and lost a lot and grew up in a fucking Soviet immigrant family where, like, my mom wasn't hearing it. So, like, if I was looking to disrespect, I was getting smacked in the face. I think kids disrespect parents way too much now. Parents aren't. Forget about spanking. Parents don't even ground you no more. I think that's lost. So I think the reason you get what you get is if my family was that way, if my neighborhood was that way and I wasn't scared, the fuck am I gonna be scared of somebody on the other side of a fucking screen that I don't know. Nick, right? You think I'm worried about Johnny Pants 19? You think I'm worried about Sarah Thompson, 63, saying she don't agree I'm not scared. Real talk, man.
- [12:20]
B
So diving into the origin story a little bit more, do you think you have this perspective? Is a little bit of that New York.
- [12:28]
C
Is that 100%.
- [12:29]
B
I was about to say, when you people who come from New York are just built different.
- [12:34]
C
Not only New Jersey, I went Queens and Jersey, but also I went to fucking Martin Luther King elementary School. Let me promise you what Martin Luther King elementary School looked like in the 80s around us. That's exactly. And by the way, I got real lucky. Not only was I lucky enough to be around y'all, my shit was crazy. I post my second grade pictures sometimes on social just to make people realize what the benefits of diversity is. Not only did I have black kids, I had literally my second grade class was like 30 people. You guys know, you've seen the picture. Like, literally five Asian kids, five Indian kids, six black kids. It was so mixed. But we were all lower, lower income. And so nobody was being handed shit. So of course it comes a little bit from that, but it also comes from the opposite side. So that's the tougher part. It comes from the warm side, too. I think when I talk, I'm trying to make it good for you, not trying to act tough. The content I'm trying to put out is like, I'm trying to shake people. Like, yo, you can do this, right?
- [13:36]
D
Yeah.
- [13:37]
C
Like you can actually do this.
- [13:39]
B
You have inspired many with that, you.
- [13:41]
C
Know, So I think it comes from a warmth too. So not only maybe outside my home was a little bit tough in the first 15 years of my life especially, but inside my home, my mom was warmth, rainbows, love, be kind to Everyone, she was that person. Emotional stability for everyone. I saw my auntie, my grandma, like neighbors. She was that beacon of like positivity and optimism but no delusion.
- [14:07]
D
Yeah.
- [14:07]
C
She would tell you like, you gotta work.
- [14:09]
D
Yeah.
- [14:09]
C
You gotta fix this. So I think I just had a. I got very fortunate. My guy.
- [14:13]
D
Yeah.
- [14:13]
B
No, that's awesome. So I want to stay in the space of school for a second.
- [14:18]
C
Let's do it.
- [14:19]
B
You talked about Martin Luther King elementary and even you saying that you probably weren't the best student. No, let's talk. Because this is an academic podcast and probably in a sense where it's not traditional.
- [14:31]
C
Yeah.
- [14:31]
B
I mean there's a lot of people that are gaining information from Shannon's class, you know, is degree worthy but don't have the means really or the process to go through, you know, the value of a degree. This expensive ass piece of paper that, you know.
- [14:49]
C
By the way, by the way, one of the reasons I Woke up at 4am to be here this morning was because I wish 15 year old Gary had Cannon's class. I wish I grew up in this era where I knew the school system wasn't feeding me, but I would have.
- [15:04]
A
Been devouring content like this.
- [15:05]
C
So thank you for doing it.
- [15:06]
B
No doubt. And that's, and that's really what I want to discuss the school systems today. I mean, as a father and even, you know, necessarily not being the greatest student during your process. How important is the education system to be, be successful, to be the next Gary vee?
- [15:24]
C
Probably for 40% of the people listening, very. There's, you know, successful like Gary Vee. Entrepreneurship, that's not a classroom thing. That's like telling people you got to go to class to learn about basketball. Of course you got to film, you got to watch film. Of course you got to know the game. But practice is on the court. Entrepreneurship's on the court. You know that entrepreneurship plays out in real life. That being said, I think successful like me is not based on me being a good entrepreneur, nor do I want that or require that or my hopes and dreams for everyone is that though if you are one, I hope that for you. My success is about self awareness, Nick. My success is about Waking up most, 90% of mornings hyped and ready to go and grateful that success is what I actually wish on everyone. So back to your question. 40% of the people better listen real careful and say, hear me out. School is your path. You are a corporate animal. You are in structure.
- [16:25]
D
Right?
- [16:26]
B
Right.
- [16:26]
C
Like the amount of people. So I own a Very large advertising agency. We. We work with thousands of executives over the last 15 years. The CEOs and CMOs. Chief marketing officers, head of marketing analytics of the biggest companies in the world. Some of these people are brilliant. Some of these people that I've met In the last 15 years, Nick, they make millions of dollars a year. They have millions of dollars in. In stock options of the biggest companies in the world, which they're going to cash out on.
- [16:54]
B
Right.
- [16:55]
C
And they would have made zero dollars and zero cents in entrepreneur land.
- [16:59]
B
Right.
- [17:00]
C
Got it.
- [17:00]
B
Yeah.
- [17:01]
D
Yeah.
- [17:01]
B
They are the worker bees.
- [17:05]
C
Getting a piece of paper from Howard is how they got everything.
- [17:09]
D
Yeah. Yeah.
- [17:10]
C
And so this is a story of do you know yourself? If you're a hustler kid that's a salesman that has a learning disability when it comes to reading, you are gonna lose in school. I know. Unlimited of them. But if you know that you wanna be a lawyer and then that's gonna lead to your business world or, you know, you wanna go into corporations, you wanna work at Tesla or Google or OpenAI. Like going to Harvard and Yale and Howard matters. You just have to know how you learn and how you live. I'm just glad, especially for the people in this room. We all know. We all came up. If you didn't go to college, you were a piece of shit. Like that was like, you're the worst. Now it's finally turning and kids have options. So for half the people listening, the education school system that's in place is a very good framework for them to go and enjoy it. Cause it's easy to them. But the other half that are like me, like, you need to think about it different. And the number one thing you cannot do is you cannot take on debt from a college for a piece of paper that's gonna do jack fucking shit for you.
- [18:18]
B
Facts.
- [18:19]
C
If mommy and daddy are gonna pay for college, go. I did.
- [18:23]
D
Yeah.
- [18:23]
C
I was such a bad student, I went to Mount Ida College, which was in Newton, Massachusetts. It was like a junior college. You wanted to. By the way, it made Martin Luther King look like the penthouse in the Upper east side of Manhattan. This place was.
- [18:38]
B
Your college was worse than your elementary school.
- [18:40]
C
Nick, when I tell you 97% of what I did in college was play spades. Cee Lo and Madden.
- [18:47]
B
That's what I gotta get you on the spades podcast, bro.
- [18:51]
C
I'm ready. I stunned people at Dwyane Wade's spades party at NBA All Star. They see me, they don't know I'm a sheep. They Think I'm a sheep. I'm a wolf in that game.
- [19:01]
B
But play spades. CeeLo and Madden, that's what I love.
- [19:04]
C
That's what I did in college. But I went for one reason. My parents wanted me to. And I was like, if you want me to, you've got to pay for it, right? And they did. So for the kids listening, if mommy and dad are gonna pay for it, go.
- [19:16]
B
Right.
- [19:17]
C
I had four years of vacation, right? But if they're not, which is the way it is for a lot of people, please listen to me. It is 20, 24. You're probably listening to this. In 25, 26, 27. That piece of paper's ROI against the debt you take no longer exists. In the 60s, yes. It wasn't very expensive. You take on a little debt, you get a nice job at Ford. Three years later you're paid off and you go, not in 2025. Do not take on college debt.
- [19:48]
D
Wow.
- [19:49]
C
Please be careful of it. If you're. Especially if you're entrepreneurial like me. If you're gonna be a lawyer or doctor, if, you know, you're a corporate animal, maybe that debt will play out for you in 15 years. But you need to be mentally prepared to not enjoy 22 to 32. You're gonna live real rough paying off that debt. And by the way, that might be the right move for a lot of people. You know, that's their best way to get there.
- [20:10]
B
At 32, for a doctor, that makes sense.
- [20:13]
C
But I really want to make sure all my creative people, all my salesmen, all my entrepreneurial people, all my artsy people, please. There's no stigma anymore of not going to college. Nobody gives a fuck. My company is a real legit company. The hottest Madison Avenue agency in the world. We don't even require a college degree. I couldn't tell you what college 99% of my employees go to have no fucking clue.
- [20:38]
D
Wow.
- [20:38]
C
It doesn't matter.
- [20:40]
B
It's amazing.
- [20:41]
C
And by the way, Google, Facebook, real companies are taking it out of the equation because they're not. They're not getting the best talent, some of the best engineers. These kids are like, fuck college. I'm going to make a million on the side building a little app. That's exactly who Google wants.
- [20:55]
D
Yeah.
- [20:56]
C
It's becoming like sports out here.
- [20:58]
D
Yeah.
- [20:59]
C
Nobody gave a fuck that LeBron didn't go to college at all. So I think business is starting to become like sports. Talk to me about your talent.
- [21:06]
D
Yeah.
- [21:06]
C
Not about what box you check.
- [21:09]
B
Most of these kids are handicapped by these screens and you don't really know how to interact. There's an experience that you get when.
- [21:16]
C
You leave the nest, which I believe in.
- [21:18]
D
Yeah, yeah.
- [21:19]
B
Like you spade, CeeLo Madden. Oh, my God.
- [21:22]
C
My basketball game got way up after four years in that. Ida, listen. Yes. But I'm gonna say something again. This is the counter argument to me all the time. Gary, you always talk about college this way, but what about growing up? This. I'm like, bet. Yes. Let me ask you a question. Is it better to spend $200,000 and incur massive debt at high percentage to pay that off, or is it better to spend $50,000 to go and live in Asia or Europe and get it? Like you. Like when parents are like, yeah, grow up there. Go to fucking Thailand. You'll grow up quick and learn plenty of shit and make money and have fun and live like a king with 80 bucks. Why are we taking $230,000 in debt for some bullshit college? Like. Yes. From 18 to 22, you grow up. No shit. You're growing up. But like this concept, like, we gotta send them to it. I promise you, you'll grow. I got a kid in my company, Adam, who didn't go to school. He works in our company. He's grown up plenty quick.
- [22:21]
D
Yeah.
- [22:21]
C
He's wired into New York restaurant scene with Aton. He's around Sid and Zach and Dustin. Grown ass men, young men. And he's learning from them. He's. Yes. There's some great shit that you miss out on, like dorm life, keg park. Yes. But fuck, man, I promise you, when Adam's 32, he'll be just right. He'll have everything he missed out on and then some, plus some and some more.
- [22:43]
B
I love it. All right, so still in the origin story.
- [22:46]
C
Yes.
- [22:46]
B
I need to know Gary Vee's lowest point. Cause normally when the superhero or the villain, you always see their lowest point. And that's where they become the superhero or the villain.
- [22:57]
C
I think my lowest point point is yet to come. I have not lost a core family member yet. So I got unlucky and lucky. I got unlucky because in Russia, in the Soviet Union, it was bad. The reason people know Russians to drink vodka. Everyone was depressed. People don't realize how bad that place was. It was a jail.
- [23:19]
D
Yeah.
- [23:19]
C
The USSR from 1917 to 1989 was more like North Korea. You couldn't leave.
- [23:25]
D
Wow.
- [23:25]
C
So it's not like Iran or other places right now where you could actually leave. You couldn't leave. So Both my grandfathers died before I got to know them. My grandmother, my mom's mom died at 5. Most of my family was killed during the Holocaust, like, extended family, so we have a very small family. So. And my parents were 22 and 20 when they had me, so that's a blessing. So they're still right. Yeah. My parents are coming to London with me for this jets game, so, you know, I believe my lowest I live life. Here's why I'm answering this. Nothing, Nick. Public shaming, losing lots of money. Nothing in professional life.
- [24:05]
B
Right.
- [24:06]
C
Is real to me. Hey, everybody.
- [24:08]
A
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.
- [24:40]
C
Real talk.
- [24:40]
D
Yeah. Yeah.
- [24:41]
C
I'm detached as fuck from Gary Vee. Mean it.
- [24:44]
B
Right, Right. I'll get that.
- [24:45]
C
But in real life, if. When I lose my mom or dad or God fucking forbid, I don't even want to say it out loud. Lose some. Yeah. Lose someone who I'm not supposed to lose before I go. Yeah, I'm finished. I tell my people all the time. Like, when my parents go, like, don't. Because I'm. Everything's on my back. I'm like, you need to make sure you know, I'm out for 30 days. Because I need to really deal with that because that's. Those are my. Like, I'm the byproduct of those two in a real fucking way. And I know that's gonna hit me. And I almost think I talk it, like, this way almost to, like, prepare you. Yeah. The therapy of it. Like, I'm trying to build a foundation to be ready for it, but outside a catastrophic death of my inner, inner circle, everything else is noise.
- [25:28]
D
Yeah. Yeah. Really.
- [25:29]
B
So, I mean, that's a great perspective if we break that down for a second. Because really, what you're saying is the importance of family and the importance of love and connection to your tribe is so much more valuable than anything that can happen in the space of business and even self motivation in that because you know we all get down, we all get you, we all go through shit. But at the end of the day you're like look, I got another tip.
- [25:54]
C
You'Re gonna like this because again watching you from afar and we share some friendships, big shout out watt and we're gonna get close for the rest of our lives. I'm looking forward to that. What day isn't loaded with adversity for you and I? We got too much shit going on. Like I flew out here, got up at 4, I was up late last night so I slept a couple hours. I was supposed to talk to Sid but I needed some sleep. I wake up, we got two hours left in this flight. I gotta do some email but I log on and there's 700 emails and texts and 13 headaches. I got a problem in my Japan office right now. There was something that went down in New York that I'm not happy about right now. There's not like when I hear people complain about shit, I'm like, that's my everyday, every day. I believe the reason you and I can do a lot of stuff is our capacity to eat shit and deal with adversity. The reason most people don't do a lot of shit is they can't deal with it. The stuff that I hear people complaining about again losing like the things that people are like, oh this was a low point. I'm like that's about money. I'm like, that's about ego. I'm like, that's about like selfish like acts like to me none of that is a problem. I want to be as successful as possible. I'm trying to buy the New York jets, they're going to cost me $10 billion. Like I'm trying to build and when things get fucked up. This year has been challenging both Veefriends, my Pokemon brand and Vayner X my holding company for marketing my two biggest companies. I would say both of them were a challenge this year. My three year will shake their head right now. I've been in the muck. They know I've been in the office 12 hours a day not doing the GaryVee thing, haven't been really on tour speaking, haven't been doing shit like this. I've been in it every day grinding. I wouldn't call this like a easy year for anyone. You know, it was a challenge. But there's also a part of me that's a little bit like I'm a little fucked up when it Comes to the game in a good way. I think I like the adversity. Like, like I like being in the dirt. Like my favorite Rocky is when he lost everything and was back to zero. Like I get that. Like I like, like, you know, I feel like I'm a superhero in some ways where like, or, or in a movie where like, you know how like the lead gets punched in the face and like a, and like gets really punched in the face and he like spits a tooth out and he's bleeding and he looks back at you and now you know you're in trouble. That's how I fuck with life. Like when life punches me in the fucking face, I'm like, okay, life, I'm about to fuck you up in a good, you know. And so I'm okay with being in the. In that. But to answer your question, yeah, that little thing, the love of my 7, 10, 12, 15 inner circle, then the second tier is the people around me. Every day they become family to me. Then I can start worrying about dumb shit like, oh fuck, I fucked up that investment or my business in trouble or I gotta shut down this business cause it's not going as well. But like people booing me and making fun of me, of my public losses doesn't even register, right. I think it's athletics for me. If athletes, if my beloved jets and Knicks reacted every time the home crowd booed them, they'd be off. They wouldn't be them. And so yeah, I think that is Nick. I think humans and you know this, you've been famous your whole fucking oak for a long ass time. Every person's now going through being judged by everyone because of social media.
- [29:18]
B
Right.
- [29:19]
C
And you know this, most people don't have the stomach for it. Yeah, you've watched a lot of people through the years of you coming up in Hollywood and fame, who checked out or who left or who couldn't, didn't get to the levels they could because they didn't have the stomach for the feedback.
- [29:34]
B
Yeah, right now you get it more.
- [29:37]
C
Than ever before because it comes from everywhere. Right. And you can't control it. When you were coming up as a youngster, if you had a good PR team, if you had connections, the New York Times wouldn't write that shit.
- [29:46]
D
Yeah.
- [29:47]
C
You know, like there was, there was a different game now some young bloggers trying to come up and they're gonna expose your shit. And that's just the world we live in now.
- [29:55]
B
It truly is. But you've been able to control your.
- [29:57]
C
Narrative mainly Because I'm tight. Meaning I'm not doing a lot of, like, I haven't been able to control it. Real talk. I really haven't. Meaning I just don't do that much shit. You don't have to control it. Yeah. I'm just like, I'm with my family or I'm working or I'm at the jets and Knicks games and that's it.
- [30:12]
D
Yeah.
- [30:13]
C
Like, you know, like, it truly, I haven't controlled it. What I did well was I understood it. I knew in 06, back to what I do for a living. I knew in 06 that no one was gonna hide. So whatever dumb shit I was contemplating.
- [30:28]
B
Right.
- [30:29]
C
You know, I was like, I knew that I was gonna get there. I knew I was gonna be known and I knew everyone was gonna know everyone's business. And then I got lucky. And most of. I'm not trying to do too much dumb shit anyway.
- [30:39]
D
Right.
- [30:39]
B
Right.
- [30:39]
C
And that's. That's. I controlled it by controlling myself.
- [30:43]
D
Yeah.
- [30:44]
B
That's awesome, man. I mean, it's a great perspective. One of the things that I can definitely say I was super impressed by and just even getting to experience it first hand. And I would love to know how you even created. I mean, I heard a few rumblings and stories of how it all came about, but Vcon, I mean, what made you want to create that? I mean, it's changing the world. It's inspiring so many. But then just to bring the amount of people together, what was your ultimate purpose? And you know, go ahead and talk your shit a little bit about all of the stats because I thought I'd kill it.
- [31:23]
C
Yeah. Before. Before I talk about the three years of econ, which is a lot of fun. You'll find it interesting. I think for the academic students here, they'll find it interesting. I do want to say we've done it three years and I want to give you some flowers as well. You crushed that Fireside chat, got enormous accolades.
- [31:39]
B
Oh, thank you.
- [31:40]
C
And I think, and for me it was really exciting because one of the reasons I really wanted you there is I continue. I'm going to continue the flower tour. I think you're wildly pun intended, underrated as an operator and an entrepreneur and really your work ethic. And so I was excited for my audience to get a sense of you a little bit more than besides, whatever, however, they've crossed paths with you. So three years ago, Veefriend started. I knew I wanted to build a Pokemon meets Marvel world. And I saw NFTs as a way to do that, similar to the way that Harry Potter did it through a book. Similar to the way that Pokemon did it through trading cards and video games. Similar to how Disney did it through animation, Marvel through comic books. I'm a big studier of how IP is built and IP is built in every medium, but it always starts with something. And I noticed three, four years ago that the NFT thing was gonna be real. And I still believe it. I know that most people listening, and this is why I'm bringing it up, got caught up in the greed and the ridiculousness of the NFT space summer three years ago, two years ago. But please do your homework on what non fungible tokens are, what the blockchain is. And I do believe, like art, if you go back to the history of contemporary art in the 50s, 60s and 70s in New York, 99% of those artists aren't worth anything, right? But Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol worth a lot.
- [33:02]
D
Yeah.
- [33:03]
C
And same thing's gonna happen with NFTs. That crazy. Three years ago, 99% are gonna go to zero. I made videos about it at the time, right? But I expect Vee friends to be one of the five to seven that become highly collectible, so. But when I launched it, I also wanted to use the full advantage of NFTs. And what that was was it wasn't just a digital collectible, it was also a ticket to three years of a super conference. Since I spoke on the stage at south By Southwest in 2009, I've always wanted to have my own right, and that's what VCON is. But I knew that I wanted something different. I wanted tech and, and I wanted business, but I wanted more mindset and I wanted to put on the right kind of people. So 10,000 people last three years max. 10,000 people, we get about 7 or 8,000 depending on the year. We did Indianapolis, we did Minnesota. I wanted to do smaller cities, big cities, but smaller cities than la, New York, Miami, just to take over the town. This year I went for it, did it LA Live, wanted to do it in la. And I appreciate it. I could even feel it because we got a few minutes after. Yeah, you could tell it's a different thing. The energy's proper, it's this balance. The reason my book's purple, the reason my kids book is called Meet me in the middle, the reason if you've been listening to me the last 30 minutes in here, I'm obsessed with the middle purple, not red, not blue. It's purple. Yeah, it's not like Republicans or Democrats have everything, right? A normal human being can see that. They like some shit from both. But right now we're in the same. Where you got to be all the way here or all the way there. Meet me in the middle. Parenting. I've already brought it up. I know that parents love their kids, but we've over coddled these fuckers. They can't live life. We've made zoo animals, then we send them out into the jungle and they get eaten in one second because we're over coddling. So that's why. So my whole purpose is to get people in the middle. I'm about that rugged life. Fight, win, competition, fuck athletes, police, trophies. I'm about that. But I'm also about compassion, kindness, being a good mentor, loving people. So that's what the whole jam of econ is, the middle.
- [35:02]
B
Meet me in the middle. I love it, man. And it's really, it has. I learned so much and just hearing other people's stories and their journeys and stuff, and it's just like so many entry points and so many components of bringing, bringing entrepreneurs together, bringing motivational speakers.
- [35:19]
C
Together, bringing that every health and wellness. Somebody interviewed me at Super Bowl. I was done with Radio Row. Some kid just rolled up on me and the camera, he goes, gary, what's your take on health and business? And I said, if I'm dead, I'm out of business. That was the entire video. We posted that the amount of people over the last five, seven years that I posted that, that reach out to me about that. So we talk a lot about health. Like, you know, I'm go, go, go. But I sleep seven, eight hours a day. It's the 16 hours that I'm awake that I go hard, right? So that old era when people like, I only sleep three hours, I'm like, that's bad. Yeah, like that you're gonna lose. Like, so it's, it's all the. It's a whole plethora of things that need to be in balance if you really want to go there and even if you don't want to go to the places you and I have gone, just finding your own happiness in whatever achievements you're trying to do professionally or personally. Like I can tell you right now, especially with the way the world is right now, the people I probably admire most, parents who really find the middle. Because I think parents are too left, too right.
- [36:24]
B
Love it, man. You know, you dropping so many gems in this, in this session, in the class, and normally the how I wrap the session up. We always talk about lessons.
- [36:35]
C
Yeah.
- [36:37]
B
What would be Gary Vee's greatest life lesson?
- [36:42]
C
Man? That. I mean, I think it's. To me, it's that it's. It's captured in this sentence. Life is how you see it. If you're looking for the world to be fucked up, got good news for you. Open your phone, turn on the television, grab a newspaper, you can get it fed to you all day. But if you want to see positivity, let me say it this way. Nick. This is actually crazy ass shit. Today, 99.9999% of human interactions with each other are going to be wonderful, nice, kind and at least cordial and respective.99 0.999%. I'm serious on this. Are going to be minimally neutral, cordial all the way up to nice and kind. And the world spends all of its time on the tens of thousands because there's a lot of interactions in the world on the tens of thousands of 0001 horrible, negative things. Life is how you see it, right? Life is how you see it. You want to say everything's fucked up. Knock yourself out. You will. The biggest life lesson that I believe that I've learned is choose fucking optimism, not delusion. You got to be practical. You got to fucking work. But like, stop buying all the bullshit everyone's selling. The whole world is selling fear right now to control your ass.
- [38:15]
B
Fear, man. All the accomplishments, everything from the space of being a businessman to being a motivator to be a restaurateur.
- [38:26]
C
Everything. Yeah. I gotta get you to Fly Fish Club, my guy. When are you in New York next?
- [38:31]
B
Next week.
- [38:31]
C
Good. Come through. We built a. This is just super random ass shit. But maybe this is valuable to somebody. New York is going through what London went through. If you ever been to London to anybody. Most of the best restaurants are private clubs. New York, big shout out, zero bond. They changed all of New York. Scott's amazing and now all these clubs are popping up. But I opened up Fly Fish Club. The first week was crazy. Last week, I'm excited about it.
- [38:55]
B
Nah, I can't. Count me in. I'll definitely pull up to the club. I gotta ask this though. And wrapping it up, one of the most successful people I've ever sat across in so many ways. Not just business and entrepreneurial, but as a father, as someone who lived their life just in a solid way. What is Gary Vee's five steps to success?
- [39:18]
C
One, be kind, comma to yourself. First two, it's fucking Work. Do not buy any of the bullshit they're selling you. That there's some quick scheme, some shortcut, somebody got lucky. It's always work. Three, if you've got employees, you work for them, they don't work for you. This is a huge one, Nick. I think the moment you realize that just cause you pay someone their salary doesn't mean that you fucking can treat them like shit, that you own them like that. Like, the second your mind shifts to I work for them, it gets crazy. 4. Absolute life lesson. Pay attention where the attention is. We didn't go as deep into it, but this latest book, the fact that everybody who's listening dream can be achieved if they got epic at TikTok or Instagram or YouTube shorts, blows my mind. And five, none of this shit really matters. On some real shit. And I'll give you the tactic for this, if you leave this show with anything, go volunteer for one hour at a retirement home. One hour. Spend one hour with somebody who's 90, that's not your grandpa or grandma, and really chop with them. Hour. One hour. And you will realize everything you complain about is nonsense. When you're 90, you just wish you spent more time with people you loved. And you wish you did shit you liked. Too many people are just doing shit they don't like in a relationship, right? Professionally, facts. One life, man. Bro, you're dead forever. Yeah, you weren't born forever. You got this little fucking rip. Dikembe Mutombo. You see that today? Broke my heart, man. Like. Like your life is short. I remember when that incredible dude was at Georgetown. He was a kid. Now he's gone, just like. It's so fucking live.
- [41:17]
B
They say what we get, at best, we get about 30,000 days. And that's if we healthy.
- [41:21]
C
It's crazy, man. It just, you know, just squeeze the shit out of this.
- [41:26]
B
Stop. You maybe get 80 summers. What you gonna do with them?
- [41:29]
C
Stop crying about dumb shit. I know your boss is a dick. I know your sister said something nasty. I get that you're flat, you got a flat tire. But all this shit is nonsense.
- [41:39]
B
Yeah, man, that's powerful. Step one, be kind to yourself.
- [41:44]
C
To yourself. You can't be. The reason most people aren't nice right now is because they're not happy.
- [41:51]
D
Yeah.
- [41:51]
C
If you're not nice to yourself, you're finished.
- [41:53]
D
Yeah.
- [41:54]
B
And he said to work no way around it.
- [41:57]
C
Please tell them, Nick. Because really, bro, you really lived it.
- [42:00]
B
I do.
- [42:01]
C
You really live it.
- [42:03]
B
Even when people were like, man, why do you work so Hard still. It's like it's just in me. It's in you. I enjoy it.
- [42:10]
C
Me too.
- [42:10]
B
My vacation is my vacation. I live by that.
- [42:13]
C
I would rather work than ski, than play tennis, than go sailing, than lay on a beach. It's my game.
- [42:20]
D
Yeah.
- [42:21]
B
Then three employees. You work for them.
- [42:25]
C
It's a big one.
- [42:26]
B
That's a big one.
- [42:27]
C
I think so.
- [42:28]
B
At that level, you know what I mean? Everybody won't get the opportunity to have.
- [42:32]
C
But even. But even if somebody has two employees, if you're a three person accountant firm, if you don't realize that those two people, you work for them and it goes to other places, like coaches, you're coaching for them. It's not about your. It's not your titles, it's their. Once you go to that place, it changes.
- [42:51]
D
Yeah.
- [42:52]
B
And four, pay attention to where the attention is.
- [42:55]
C
Yeah. If you want to be mayor in your town, understand Facebook. If you want to get out of your shitty job, you can put number two and number four together. Work. Instead of coming home and watching Netflix, why don't you start a shopify and sell some shit? Why don't you go to whatnot and fanatics live and learn how to do live shopping. That's the next game. Like you can work and if you know where detention is, you will maximize and then you can make a living and then finally leave your job. Your side hustle at night can get you out of your shit job. Your complaining at night is not getting you anywhere.
- [43:25]
B
Right. And like you said, last but not least, none of this shit matters.
- [43:30]
C
That's what makes everything from one to four easy. Once you realize that all those hard things from one to four become manageable. Love it.
- [43:39]
B
Can his class session. We out of here.