How to Find Balance in 2025 | Retirement House

Summary

Summary of "How to Find Balance in 2025 | Retirement House" - The GaryVee Audio Experience

Released December 20, 2024

Host: Gary Vaynerchuk

In this insightful episode of "The GaryVee Audio Experience," entrepreneur and CEO Gary Vaynerchuk delves deep into the art of finding balance in both personal and professional spheres. Through an engaging conversation with Brandon and other guests, Gary explores a multitude of topics ranging from generational dynamics and the evolution of media to the transformative potential of blockchain technology. Below is a detailed summary capturing the essence of their discussions, enriched with notable quotes and timestamps.

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1. Introduction to Finding Balance

Gary opens the conversation by reflecting on his multifaceted career, balancing roles as the CEO of VaynerMedia, founder of Veefriends, and active investor. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining calm amidst chaos, a skill he attributes to living authentically and fulfilling his purpose.

[04:43] Gary Vaynerchuk: "This is what I was meant to do. Some people are meant to be a stay-at-home parent. Many people are meant to be many things."

2. Physical Health and Longevity

Gary underscores the significance of physical health, particularly leg strength, in ensuring longevity and quality of life. He shares his personal fitness regimen, highlighting how consistent exercise contributes to his overall sense of relaxation and well-being.

[04:48] Gary Vaynerchuk: "There is a direct correlation to your leg strength and your longevity in living life."

3. Generational Perspectives and Respect for Elders

A substantial part of the discussion centers on the evolving relationship between generations. Gary expresses concern over society's disproportionate emphasis on youth culture at the expense of valuing the wisdom and experience of older generations. He advocates for restoring the balance by fostering mutual respect and understanding.

[03:35] Gary Vaynerchuk: "I don't wanna razz it. I'm not one of these Gen Z bashers. In fact, I'm obsessed with them in such a good way. But everything is best when it's in balance."

4. Impact of Media Evolution on Society

Gary critiques the transformation of media from a public service to a business-oriented model, lamenting the loss of unbiased, fact-based reporting. He reminisces about the "Mad Men" era of advertising and draws parallels to the current podcasting boom, positioning podcasts as the modern equivalent of radio.

[14:30] Gary Vaynerchuk: "So how do we make this valuable to today, today?"

5. Technology, NFTs, and Blockchain Explained

Demystifying complex technologies, Gary provides a comprehensive explanation of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and blockchain. He highlights the decentralized nature of blockchain and its potential to revolutionize ownership, contracts, and even personal documents by ensuring authenticity and security.

[58:07] Gary Vaynerchuk: "NFTs are non fungible tokens. That's what it stands for. It references something that sits on something called the blockchain."

Gary envisions a future where blockchain underpins all forms of contracts and ownership rights, reducing fraud and enhancing trust in digital transactions.

[64:15] Gary Vaynerchuk: "Every contract in the world, every deed, every contract... in 20 years will be an NFT."

6. Personal Growth: Self-Awareness and Leadership

Gary shares a personal anecdote about his journey toward greater self-awareness, particularly in his role as a leader. He admits to previous shortcomings in providing candid feedback to his employees, which inadvertently instilled fear rather than fostering a culture of trust and accountability.

[54:05] Gary Vaynerchuk: "I was like, Wait a minute. All of these people that are like literally so close to me and it's going so well, they're actually a little scared, because they don't know where they actually sit with me because I don't give them candor."

Reflecting on this experience, Gary emphasizes the importance of humility, vulnerability, and authentic communication in effective leadership.

[55:25] Gary Vaynerchuk: "Self-awareness is the great energy a human can have. Because once you know, then you get to decide if you're going to address it."

7. Practical Optimism vs. Delusional Optimism

Differentiating between practical optimism and delusional optimism, Gary encourages a balanced approach to positivity. He criticizes the notion of "manifesting" without accompanying actionable steps, advocating instead for a mindset that combines positivity with tangible efforts toward goals.

[68:38] Gary Vaynerchuk: "Practical optimism is you have to work for it too, right? Like, I think there's too much delusion in the world, like, this word manifesting."

Gary promotes "practical optimism" as a means to remain hopeful while actively pursuing personal and professional objectives.

[69:10] Gary Vaynerchuk: "If you want to wake up and decide everything's bad, good news, everything will be bad. But as someone who decides the alternative, you would be stunned."

8. Building Bridges Between Generations

Throughout the episode, Gary and his co-hosts stress the necessity of bridging the generational divide. They advocate for open dialogue, mutual respect, and learning from each other's experiences to foster a more harmonious and understanding society.

[46:29] Gary Vaynerchuk: "All I want for the world is to take the good shit that you all grew up with and leave the bad shit... find that middle."

This approach aims to blend the best aspects of past generations with the innovations of the present, creating a collaborative and inclusive environment.

9. Conclusion and Forward-Looking Insights

As the episode wraps up, Gary remains optimistic about the future, believing in humanity's capacity to evolve and improve despite current challenges. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on positive developments rather than dwelling solely on societal issues.

[48:37] Gary Vaynerchuk: "I believe self-awareness is the great energy a human can have. And I believe there is prosperity on the other side of this."

Gary also teases his upcoming book, "Day Trading Attention," which delves into modern business and marketing strategies in the digital landscape.

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Key Takeaways:

• Authenticity and Purpose: Living authentically and fulfilling one's purpose leads to a sense of calm amidst life's chaos.

• Physical Health: Maintaining physical strength, especially leg muscles, is crucial for longevity and overall well-being.

• Generational Respect: Balancing respect for elders with appreciation for youth culture fosters mutual understanding and societal harmony.

• Media Evolution: The shift from public service media to business-driven models has profound impacts on information dissemination and societal perceptions.

• Technological Advancement: Embracing blockchain and NFTs can revolutionize how we handle contracts, ownership, and digital authenticity.

• Leadership and Self-Awareness: Effective leadership requires humility, vulnerability, and continuous self-awareness to build trust and accountability.

• Practical Optimism: Combining a positive outlook with actionable steps leads to meaningful progress, unlike mere delusional optimism.

• Intergenerational Dialogue: Open communication and respect between generations are essential for a collaborative and inclusive future.

This episode serves as a contemplative guide on navigating the complexities of modern life, emphasizing the interplay between personal growth, generational dynamics, and technological advancements. Gary's blend of personal anecdotes, thoughtful reflections, and forward-looking insights offers listeners a roadmap to finding balance and fostering meaningful connections in an ever-evolving world.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is the GaryVee audio experience. Hey everybody. Actually, if you're a really hardcore listener, you know I never do this. I'm sorry to be jumping in the middle of the podcast. 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 cause 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.

[Brandon]

Gary, would you do the pleasure of introing yourself and telling us what you do and what you're into today?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I see what you all did here. It's so complicated. What I do, you do it. Everybody's watching. What I mean by that is, in hindsight, I really am a renaissance man. Meaning I'm an entrepreneur, but I'm really an entrepreneur. Like I have a lot of different things going on. And the modern entrepreneur, much like what we're doing here with all this filming, I'm a content creator and produce an ungodly amount of content on social media and on live streaming and all these platforms. But my day to day job currently is I'm the CEO of a 2000 person advertising agency called VaynerMedia. Kind of a contemporary, modern Mad Men for the people that understand that. I am the CEO and founder of something called Veefriends, which is a Pokemon meets Sesame street brand which where I'm building through collectible cards and cartoons and kids books. I'm a public speaker. I've got a children's book for Veefriends and a business book coming out. I'm a five time New York Times bestselling author and I'm an active investor and I invest in a lot of startups and companies of that nature. I own a sports agency called vaynersports, where we represent players like Aiden Hutchinson and Sauce Gardner and Kirk Cousins and Bo Bichette. So that's going extremely well. I'm on the board of Water and Pencils of Promise, which are two very progressive, modern charity entities. Very contemporary, very effective. I'm very proud of that. We do a lot of work in Africa in building schools and fixing the water crisis that the world has. I mean, there's so much else, but I don't want to really take up the time because I think we're here to like really do the show. Right? Yeah.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Brandon]

So is that all?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's it, brother.

[Brandon]

That's about it. That's it. Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But not really, like, on this half of it, like every day. Every day I help my father. I grew up in my dad's liquor store, so Wine library, which is right across the river here in New Jersey. Winetext.com, an invention I made for him. So I'm pretty active with my best friend Brandon and my dad on helping that business. Like, I got a lot of stuff.

[Brandon]

Do you ever relax?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Here's a funny one. And this, you know, this is why I'm so excited to be on this show. Because I talk a lot. I'm sure people behind the cameras. And as you've done your homework, you may know this to be true. I am very passionate about the people that are sitting with me on this show. You all. I believe society has gotten a little out of balance with our obsession with youth culture. Which I love. Which I love, by the way. I don't wanna razz it. I'm not one of these Gen Z bashers. In fact, I'm obsessed with them in such a good way. But everything is best when it's in balance. Our political system right now is a problem because it's too out of balance. That's right. Both to the left and to the right. And so I'm in using the politics in the red and blue. I'm a purple guy. I like the middle.

[Unknown]

Yeah, exactly.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I think, as you all know, definitely all of you know, when you were growing up, when you were children, when you were in your early 20s, society put our elders, the people that lived, put wisdom, respect for our elder. That was a pedestal. I grew up with that. I'm 48. I grew up in that real world. You definitely grew up in that real world. I think you know. Cause you probably feel it as you live your life. Cause you're in it now. We've lost that. I think that we've put youth culture on a pedestal. But we underestimate how much people that have actually lived life can bring to the equation.

[Unknown]

Amen.

[Brandon]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so I'm very happy to be here. First of all, thank you for that. And so, you know, I think, to answer your question, by the way, of how I just got to that rant, I'm always relaxed. And let me explain. And let me explain why. I think you all may know that you've lived enough life. Unlike most of the kids that watch My Content in Knowing there are many different versions of life. Some may seem the most chaotic and busy, but they're actually deep down, the calmness I Am calm in my chaos.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This was what I was meant to do. Yeah, right. Some people are meant to be a stay at home parent.

[Brandon]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

My mother was that. She was destined for that. She is the reason I am who I am. Other people are meant to be a scientist or Beyonce or LeBron James. Many people are meant to be many things. I believe when you live what you were meant to be, you are calm.

[Unknown]

Exactly.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I know that what I do for a living would be incredibly challenging for a lot of people because I have a lot of people that work for me that I know. Even a little extra responsibility cripples them. I have unlimited responsibility. I am a fireman. There's always something. I have 2000 employees just in the marketing company, let alone everything else. But I'm built for that. That's what I want, that's what I like. And of course there's tough days and moments and even months. But as far as why do I sleep like a baby six, seven, eight, nine hours a day, which is what I do, it's because I don't feel the pressure or the anxiety. I'm constantly relaxed. I'm relaxed right now.

[Brandon]

Is there any kind of exercise you do to stay relaxed?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know, it's funny. Ten years ago, I started to get serious about my health and I started to actually finally exercise and started to get more thoughtful about what I was eating. And I lost a lot of weight up front. It really was good. And everybody in that first year was like, do you have more energy? Do you have more? And I'm like, no. Exercise has not been a mental or a releaser or an energy booster for me in any shape or form that I can detect what I think it will do. And again, this is why I love hanging out with people that actually have lived life. You all know, and this is like one of the reasons I'm so focused on building my leg muscles. You all know that unfortunately, as we all get older, one of the things that's dangerous is falling. And there is a direct correlation to your leg strength and your longevity in living life. And I think a lot of, as you know, you grew up in an era where people didn't work out and exercise date when I was in the 80s, even for me, like people didn't work out every day. It wasn't a thing in the 50, 60, some did randomly here and there. But now that everybody has it on their mind, I'm actually happy that that's been a positive change. I think a lot of people who are watching all the Kids I'm looking at right now are genuinely in a better position to have longer, healthier lives because they do build up that muscle. And there's a direct correlation to that. So I don't feel it today, but I have a funny feeling when I'm hanging out and sitting in your seat talking to somebody, that all this work I'm putting in, I. I will feel it then.

[Unknown]

And I do three hours of Pilates.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

A week and it shows, baby.

[Unknown]

Yep.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's amazing.

[Unknown]

It's amazing. And the balance and everything that you get, you have to. You just have to keep moving. You have to keep moving.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. I think again, this is why I am like, I'll repeat it. And I'm sorry I'm beating a dead horse, but I couldn't wait to do this show with all of you.

[Brandon]

Wonderful. Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know that to be true, right? Like, again, this is, you know, because you're contemporaries, you see it, you see it up close and personal.

[Brandon]

Yep.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You see the world from a different lens than those kids do. And I think there's a lot of value in that. And you're absolutely right. And the problem is, luckily, thank God, people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 70s, 80s,' 90s especially, that conversation's rampant. That's something you all talk about amongst yourselves and other friends in this age group. Gotta keep moving. You're gonna die. Yeah, I think of. But I watch a lot of 30, 40, 50 year olds. I'm one of them right now that I'm thinking a lot about this. We're sitting all day. Sitting is our generation's cigarettes. Like a lot.

[Unknown]

That's so right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're all thinking about this. But I want even these kids to move more, make it part of your actual life. And in the 40s and 50s, you're seeing a lot of people not move. They haven't gotten to the part where they're as smart as y'all and understand you really gotta do it. And that's where a lot of damage is getting done.

[Unknown]

But my own kids are in their late 50s and they have always exercised every day. Well, that's incredible. But we set an example for them too. My husband was a heavy exerciser.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. And again, as you all know, and for the people that are watching, because I know a lot of new people are gonna be watching this show. Cause I'm gonna make sure a lot of people watch this show. Thank you.

[Brandon]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That was more of an enigma. That was anomaly, what your husband like, that was rarer. Today. It's really wonderful that people are taking care of their health dramatically more and at such young ages and get to.

[Brandon]

Take care of their mind. I still stress because of things I do now. No one else stresses me out. I stress myself out that I gotta learn to bring it down.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And why do you think that is, my friend?

[Brandon]

I aim towards perfection for myself, which is bad. Just do it. And if you make a mistake as I watching some other podcast and they said, you know, yell out, get it out of the way, give it 90 seconds, let it go by.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. The reason, you know, I'd like to double dip into that.

[Brandon]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think this is another place where I think all of you can provide a lot of value to the people that are watching. I believe that one of the great things about time and getting older is you become more wise to the way it really works. Now, you all know this. I'm about to say something. And you still got friends in your, in their 70s, 80s and 90s that are not doing this well. Some things, some people go to the ground with their shortcomings. They didn't learn the lessons. But I believe perfect, someone who seeks perfection doesn't realize that that is now. Well, you know, it's funny that it's a proxy for an insecurity.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's a, It's a fancy word for being insecure.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. It's. And then I wonder to whom and for what. Right. Because I believe most people will say with myself. But it's actually not as true as they think. I believe that most of us are insecure. And most of us, everyone in this room and everyone who's watching do a lot more things day to day, live their lives based on other people's opinions.

[Brandon]

Oh, sure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. That may be their parents, that might be their spouse, that might be their children, that might be society. And all these kids, they're growing up with new things that you didn't. They now have the judgment of strangers at scale on social media. Yeah.

[Unknown]

But a lot of people criticize the Z generation, saying they're all lazy and they're not going anywhere. And I so disagree with that same. My grandchildren are so active. And look at this room.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Not only the perfect Z generation, where can you ask?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And they're all very good looking. I don't know. Did you guys do that on purpose?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. And again, I say this a lot. And again, it's so exciting to have all of you, all of you grew up with people when you were in your teenage years and your twenties and thirties and you knew plenty of people who were lazy too. As if an entire generation of people is one thing or another, Right? There's always go getters and the boomers and ex and millennials and there's always people that are lazy. There are people who are accountable in every generation and there are people who blame in every generation. And so I agree with you. I think it's a very lazy narrative in the same way that I think it's a lazy narrative for Gen Z kids to blame boomers for the way the world is. As if there was. As if boomers didn't have grandparents. And I'll tell you what this is all about. The world is very good at dividing us, right? Gender, race, income level, country, religion, and as if the people and the world is people. As if people haven't spent enough time trying to decide why we're not the same. Now we've decided to add another thing, to not allow us to like each other generational like as we ran. As if gender and race and religion and country and income level was not enough to set them. We've now decided let's also hate each other based on what generation we're born in. It's really a sad. This boomer Gen Z thing is a complete reflection of a very sad moment we're in, which is we've really got to reset to loving thou neighbor, to putting civility on a pedestal, to start respecting our elders. Like we need some old school shit to get out of this.

[Unknown]

No, I think the success that this program has had is that we have turned aging on its ear. We don't, we don't ever get fooled into being old.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course, old old is such a silly concept. I know 32 year olds that are old, they sit at home all day and are just waiting to die.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I know people that are doing contemporary podcasts. I'm gonna guess you're not 32, you're a little older.

[Brandon]

35. Yeah.

[Unknown]

35, 36, 39, actually.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

These generalizations drive me batshit crazy.

[Unknown]

But I'm always saying you have to grow older, but you don't have to act older 100%.

Well, growing older is really great because if you don't, you're dead.

[Brandon]

That's exactly what doesn't help is today's media.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, that's right.

[Brandon]

The bad people. Oh, they get to. They get news.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

Someone of the same generation did something good.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But again, this is where I really value y'all. Y'all 60, 70, 80, 90 have to tell more stories on the Internet, for example, when Walter Cronkite was delivering the news to y'all, he was in the public service business. Right. And then the news became privatized. I love business.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But business, like anything else, has its shortcomings. Just like religion, just like parenting, just like government, just like schooling. And when the news became a business.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Brandon]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And at some right, when it was in the. When it was a public service, it. It played down the middle.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When it became a business. And there was a turning point in our society that I spent a lot of time researching. It's when. And you all remember this. There was a very famous kidnapping case in New York in the late 70s, early 80s, if you remember. This was profound. There was. And this. And this. The Summer of Sam. There was.

[Brandon]

Yeah, right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There were certain things that happened in the late 70s as news became business. Right. Where the news industry realized scaring people was good for business.

[Unknown]

Oh, God. Oh, thank you. Yeah.

[Brandon]

When I went entertainment and when. And they had theme songs for, you know, theme music for each tragedy.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. And the bar across and breaking news was always a plane and a hostage and a murder.

[Brandon]

They're still doing it. Car chases.

[Unknown]

They still do it. That's right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But y'all lived through the transition.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I caught the tippy tail end. And I like modern history and have done a lot of homework. These kids don't know the world you grew up in and the stories you can tell about. Like, this is what the news used to do.

[Brandon]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Forget about how you see politics. This is how the news used to be. And, you know. Yes. That's where we're at, brother.

[Unknown]

Like, unfortunately, you actually got real news and could make up your own mind. What a concept.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, listen, and you all know this, I'll give you another thing that I think is a good history lesson for the youngsters that I'm looking at. But knowing all the ones that will watch this, you all lived, and based on your ages, you were grownups going through a contentious decade in American history called the 60s. Right. So a lot of us right now are going through what would be a stressful, contentious. We feel it. Right. We're about to really feel it. 2024, election season.

[Unknown]

Oh, my God.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's going to be gnarly. Right. But y'all watched what happened, right? Oh, and as you know, one of the reasons that people started getting into in the 70s and 80s at work and even in their neighborhood of religion and politics stays in your house was we saw how much it Tore us apart by making it not just in your house in the 60s.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I believe that we're gonna see a very. History likes to repeat itself. I think all these kids are going through it right now and they want their jobs and businesses and we, not just kids, societies, asking everybody to commentate on everything and get involved in everything. And what I think people are starting to realize is people see things differently. And either we're gonna have to take a. We're gonna either decide to just hate each other in perpetuity and everybody, or we're gonna find a way to be civil and give people places where you can not have to worry about that. Like work and like a sporting event and like at the restaurant. You like that?

[Unknown]

Yeah. You mentioned something in one of your podcasts about you think that we are going back to the times of $61,000 a year and you know, we're gonna redo our values.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Unknown]

Could you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Could you talk about that? I'll tell you what you're touching on. So, like, there's so much. Right again, back to. Back to Gen Z, when Gen Z is pounded with headlines saying, you're gonna be the first generation that doesn't have it as good as your parents. The fuck is that? Like, what do they do with that? Of course they're not like, that's. So what I think is actually, back to your point, I agree with you. I actually think Gen Z and Gen Alpha behind it. There's another one coming, by the way. Gen Alpha, the real youngsters. I think that they're gonna be fortunate. They're gonna watch all this chaos. Gen Z's gonna be living in it. Gen Alpha's gonna touch it a little bit and then understand it. And I think. And again, I think all of you can help on this. I believe you all understand that there is no, no, no correlation to financial success and genuine happiness.

[Unknown]

Yes. And I heard you say that on a podcast, and my heart blossomed.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Unknown]

Because I think that's the only thing that can set us free.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I do, too. And by the way, I'm a businessman and I'm an entrepreneur. I don't go to this place where I demonize capitalism. And that's the human spirit. I'm not there. What I'm saying, sir, is the following. I believe more and more people are figuring out, and this is because of technology, because of zoom.

[Brandon]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Because of the way at a higher income level, private aviation is going down in cost. I believe more people are gonna live more simple lives. I think we've lived through a whole century of I need a watch, I need a car materialism. And I watch trends amongst a lot of youngsters who are starting to get it. And they're saying, you know what? You know what? I don't need to live in Manhattan and work 80 hours a week just to be able to get by on.

[Unknown]

A job that I hate.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Bingo. Maybe I should live in the Hudson Valley. I could still get to New York. I could be on Zoom all day, but my cost of living is way down. And I just. This goes back to what this Shiman said I'm worried about. Who are you trying to impress?

[Unknown]

Yep, exactly.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Because once you stop trying to impress anyone and you start talking to yourself, which is something that starts to normally happen at your age group, not theirs. I'm trying to bring your wisdom down to them because, boy, oh boy, could you imagine if you knew all the lessons you now know at 25.

[Brandon]

Yeah, back then.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right? So, right. So to me, I think I got a little lucky. You know, it's funny, this is very, very special moment for me. I know my mom is gonna smile when she watches this. When I was so. I was born in the Soviet Union, in the ussr. I immigrated here when I was three. I lived in Queens, in Rigo Park. We were very poor. I lived in a studio apartment with 5, 6, 7, depending how relatives were coming over from the old country. So very humble beginnings. And one of the earliest stories that I was told about myself is really very meta and apropos to this exact second. Even at four and three years old, when I would go outside as a three to four year old, I would gravitate and run over and sit with 70, 80, 90 year olds and talk to them.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I would not go play with children. I would go and sit. And it was just kind of this story that my mom would always tell me about me. I thought it was interesting and went into my, like 8, 9, 10 years old when I moved to Edison, New Jersey, and grandparents would come from Florida. For my friends in the neighborhood, I would always be like, tell me what you were doing when JFK died and how did NASA happen and World War II. I was fascinated or like I was always drawn to it. And then I forgot about it for 30 years, 20 years. It was just a thing I did when I was a kid. Never thought about it in my teenage years, never in my 20s, never in my 30s as I started to get more publicly popular and make content. And I started seeing the words coming out of my mouth were more grounded in wisdom and simplicity. I started realizing, wait a minute. This is why I hung out with y'all. Like, I'm drawn to it. This is why I'm so. This is the most excited about doing a podcast I've been in years. I'm drawn to this. This is it. This is the conversation. This. What you were doing, what you are all doing is one of the most important things. We must find a way to make popular culture. We must get back to not dismissing our grandparents. Not making fun of them because they don't know how to use the latest technology. No sitting down and fucking listening to them. Cause they actually know shit. Not taking everything that they. You know. There's plenty of dopey 80 year olds that don't get.

[Unknown]

Don't get it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brandon]

A lot of angry ones, too.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. Here's why. I love that you said that, my friend. Do you know that I live my entire life based on one premise? To not have resentment.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

To not resent. And do you know how you not resent? You don't have these issues where you ponder what could have been.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I don't want. I live my life based on. Will I regret this when I'm 80? The reason so many people are angry is because they didn't live the life that they wish they did.

[Unknown]

Exactly.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. They regretted their choices. And where they really get upset and please confirm this and please feel free to jump in, is when they didn't die on their own sword. Meaning something shitty happened and it wasn't even their own choice. Their mom made them marry that guy. Right? Real stuff. Real take over the board. Right. They took over to Ford and they didn't want. They wanted to be a painter or they were too scared to leave that job after three years. They knew that they didn't like working at Ford and they worked there for 40 fucking five years. Cause they were scared. All because they didn't want to live in a smaller house than their brother and sister.

[Unknown]

I know.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's humility. The thing that nobody has enough of is humility. If you have humility, then you're not scared of judgment.

[Unknown]

And you dance with the universe.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[Unknown]

The universe brings it. And you say yes 100%.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And if you say yes and it doesn't work, well, you're still okay with it because it was your.

[Unknown]

Yes, yes, exactly.

[Brandon]

I feel very lucky.

[Unknown]

You learn.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You learn.

[Brandon]

I feel lucky that all of us grew up when we did. And it was my. Our parents really were the greatest generation.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

And they taught us. And that made us better.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They lived through.

[Brandon]

Your parents lived through it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Absurd adversity.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Absurdity.

[Brandon]

But they didn't talk about it.

[Unknown]

That's exactly what I was gonna say.

[Brandon]

They didn't talk about it.

[Unknown]

Family secrets.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You like that.

[Unknown]

The family secrets are killing the relationship between us and the other generations.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Explain.

[Unknown]

Because people didn't talk about the abortions that took place. They didn't talk about when Uncle Harry got duty.

[Brandon]

Yeah. Or went away for a while.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Or went away for a while.

[Unknown]

They don't talk about it and they don't hear the stories.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And you believe. I want to hear this through. Because this is interesting for me.

[Unknown]

And I believe that that bred that anger and that hostility.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course.

[Unknown]

And it's like you hid that for me. And it's like. No, it just. That's what happened. And we didn't talk about it. But if we take the opportunity to sit down and talk to them about these things. We didn't hurt you. I've got a grandson that's angry with me now. I can't fathom what he's angry about. He's 30. He just turned 30, and he's just angry.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

And I feel that it's based on some of those family secrets because he's like, why didn't you do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, this goes back to a lack of empathy. Right. I said something. I saw some of the youngsters shake their head and I was pumped. I was like, this is something I've been thinking about. To blame boomers. You ruin the world as if there weren't generations before them.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's the same reason. It's so interesting you just said that. One of the things I talk a lot about is before you decide you hate your dad, remember that he had a dad. Before you decide you're mad at your grandma, Remember she had a mom. Like, we are so selfish in our judgment. And you know this to where I think all of you are going energy wise right now. There is a level of. No question. And this is a generalization. But there's. You can see the data. There's a. There's a level of accountability that you all grew up with that is not in fashion right now.

[Brandon]

Exactly.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There's a level of blame that is in fish fashion now. That was not in fashion when you grew up. That's just the way it is.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Whether that's right or wrong is a separate thing. It's just the way people roll.

[Brandon]

Yeah. We were brought up by the family. Mom and dad took care of you, our dads, at least I know my dad never talked about the war and found out later what he did. Like he didn't want to talk about that, I guess, you know, they just didn't. Yeah, it's fucking what they went through. What they went through. What they went through.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course. And well, by the way, that's a big part of what I think is going on right now. I believe that this is historical. In America, one of our biggest vulnerabilities and what we're all feeling right now is too many consecutive years of prosperity.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unknown]

And misunderstanding what prosperity really is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, that's because when you have that many consecutive years of prosperity, it's impossible for you to know and take it for granted. That's right. Your parents generation. When you're in the roaring 20s, in the 30s, right, and you're fucking loving it and you're out every night and drinking and everyone's bawling. And then the next decade is a world war and the Great Depression and you went from champagne nights in Manhattan to not having bread. You reset your shit. Yeah. And so what's happening is I can't blame anyone under 50 in America because it's been cruising the whole time.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And then when everyone's mad at Gen Z, I'm like, when they got out of school, the government printed money and gave them money to stay home during COVID Yes. It them up. Like, I get it. Like everyone's, everyone's equilibrium is different. And so to your point, like, we've had so many years of prosperity, like, well, you know this again, when you live a longer time, when people come, like, when you hear people complaining about what's difficult, you laugh to yourself. You're like, that would have been a walk in the park.

[Brandon]

You don't know, because as a kid you thought, this is life.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And oh, by the way, when you used to complain about shit when you were 20, your grandparents were like, shut your fucking mouth. Right.

[Brandon]

I'll tell you what to complain about.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. Because. Because what was going on in the. Right. In the late 1800s when your grandparents were kids and you're like, trying to get the timing here. That was real adversity.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like. Like people take things for granted. We just went through Covid and it was really hard. But like, penicillin is a new invention.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like. Like there's a lot like, Like, I just think that people. This is actually very funny. I was an atrocious student. Like, real bad.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

As successful as you are. You were.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I was an atrocious student. I was a D and F student. Not even a C student. A D and F student, but there was one class consistently that I was good at. History.

[Unknown]

History.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And it's funny, as I'm sitting here, I'm like, man, when I was this bad student in my early 20s, I was like, man, why did I get good grades in history? Like Bs and A, like good grades? It was because I was interested in it. But why I was interested in it is what's happening here right now. I believe that everybody who's watching this and all the crew behind the screen would be much happier if they understood history.

[Unknown]

Absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If they could contextualize. Because it's very easy to all of our points. If you hear Day to Day, you have a bad and this and that. It's a ludicrous. Gen Z has it better than Boomers by a thousand miles. Thank you. Like, these articles are ludicrous. I'm aware of what inflation is like. Can you please tell them about when you couldn't get gas in America in 1970?

[Brandon]

You had to wait in line.

[Unknown]

One time I was living in Hawaii and going from one part of the island to another and ran out of gas and a gas truck came by and saw me and got out and. And filled up my tank from the gas truck so I could get my children home.

[Brandon]

Yeah. I mean, who cared about people again?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You all were already grown when this happened. People used to hitchhike 24 7. There was nothing to be scared of. You picked up your. We are now in extreme isolation. Everyone is on an individual game. You know, you said something earlier. One of you over here. You said we were raised by our parents. We weren't just raised by our parents. We were raised by the entire neighborhood.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh, right.

[Unknown]

You get a whipping on one side all the way.

[Brandon]

No.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Mom, I love you. I was just about to say that when I. I am 48 and I grew up in a New Jersey in the 80s, that it was wildly appropriate for one of my best friend's mom to spank me in the ass or in the face.

[Unknown]

Absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Wildly appropriate.

[Unknown]

And when you got home, you got another spanking.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Spanking. And now I don't know if you know this. I know you all know this. No one gets spanked now.

[Brandon]

No. Oh, no.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And even crazy.

[Unknown]

Trust me, we know that now.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And wait. But it's even crazier that I can like wrap my head around though. I think it's an interesting debate. The one that Blows my whole mind. No one gets grounded anymore.

[Brandon]

Oh, yeah, no, I get grounded.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

All their toys are at home. Not. No, no, of course there. Of course there's a million people watching, say, yeah, grandma kids. But I'm talking macro parenting trends.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You would be stunned. Out of how many 100 parents right now that have a 6 to 12 year old, how many of them have ever been grounded? Ever? The answer is almost nothing. It is a shocking world that's happening. We're teaching people that there aren't any ramifications for anything.

[Brandon]

Consequences.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No consequences.

[Unknown]

Even the police now are not taking criminals off the street. They're just letting them go. Giving them a little lecture. Letting them.

[Brandon]

But they are criminals because they weren't brought up.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What was that? But this is another thing I'd love to get your point of view in. This is why I think fighting should come back. What do you all think?

[Unknown]

Fighting?

What, like fighting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, remember when we. Yeah, like when we all.

[Unknown]

Yeah, but they. They be.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They begin fighting.

[Unknown]

Fighting with the fist would be good, but they brought knives and.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Fair enough. I'm with you. I'm with you. I think one of the things where we lost our way was we all grew up. And like, I got into. I fought oded Weinstock. Oded, if you're around, email me. I want to find you. I fought Oded Weinstock after school in second, third and sixth grade. We had a rivalry. It was like Frasier Ali, you know, like. But really, I mean, this. Back to consequences. The reason everyone's running their mouth in the world is because when I grew up, if you ran your mouth, someone punched you in the face.

[Unknown]

Yeah, it's true.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Should we bring fighting back?

[Unknown]

No, I don't think we should bring fighting back. I think we should just learn how to prove to people that our egos are out of control and that we need to shift over punching people.

[Brandon]

But that comes back to the parents.

[Unknown]

Teaching from the beginning, brother.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Everybody wants to blame social media. Everybody wants to blame presidents. Everybody wants to blame everything. This is a parent conversation. The world is a parent conversation.

[Brandon]

Yeah. We had our neighborhood was. Mom was the matrix of the street.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So.

[Brandon]

And then if someone did something.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep.

[Brandon]

She'd go, oh, you know, Clara, my mom said, you know.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep.

[Brandon]

Don't do that. Oh, Clara said it then. Yeah, you're right. Get in the room.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep.

[Unknown]

But then there were fair fights back in the days of fights.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

You wouldn't show up. The jets and the. Whatever they were, they. They would bring knives and guns. All of A sudden, they used to slug them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

But now they bring knives, they bring guns, they shoot innocent bystanders.

[Brandon]

And what you mentioned is the neighborhood's important. Everyone, you community, leave your door open.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

People don't. People don't know their neighbors now.

[Brandon]

It's scary. It's like you don't even trust your neighbor. Leave our door open. We'll come back in a couple weeks. Watch.

[Unknown]

Most of us don't know our neighbor.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[Brandon]

There you go.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The key is these last 10 minutes. Right? These last 10. Don't worry about that. It's all real. This is what I like. These last 10 minutes that we've just been talking.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The question is, how do we not come across preachy? Right. Nobody's gonna listen. Right? Look, the last 10 minutes we were talking, we are talking with a great hope for better for the world.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But if you're on the other side of what we just talked about, it becomes that, well, in our day. Well, in our day, they're like, well, fuck you, this is my day. So the question becomes, how do we make this valuable to today, today? And to me, that becomes the question, which is. It's dialogue. It's not just like, for example, you started touching on it over here. Hey, at my age, here's the things that they had wrong back in the day. Good on you for having this fixed. For example, let's talk about real shit, since we're all here in your day, when you were in your 20s and 30s. And I know this is a very touchy subject, but I want everybody to hear this. Plenty of men hit their wives in their homes and no one did shit about it.

[Unknown]

To the moon, Alice. To the moon.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. So I would argue society has done a good job in making that better. That's better. So I think one of the things, as people who have so much to say, that's just one example. I can give you 30 more. I'm sure we all have 30 more that we know are.

[Unknown]

The me too thing has influenced every.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Woman being black in America. 1950, 60s. Like, I don't think they know. And so I think we need to talk about things that have gotten better.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And then things that we've just been spending 10 minutes on, on things that have gone too far. I'll give you an example of something I'm very passionate about. I despise eighth place trophies.

[Brandon]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Unknown]

So everybody can win.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. It's called eighth place trophies. When we all grew up, when I grew up, Even into the 90s you'd go and be in a baseball league and one team won and they got the. And everybody went home and said, the.

[Unknown]

Cardinals won this as it should be.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And then, and I believe this in a well intended manner.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Parents were like, oh, like I'll give you an example. When I lost in third grade on my team in baseball, I was the starting pitcher of that game and gave up a run and we lost three one. I cried for four hours.

[Unknown]

And you're still crying.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I still can't cry.

[Unknown]

I can see it on your face.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I'm so glad I got to grow up in that generation. But I understand that characters like me that really cried, like really cried. And when your 9 year old is crying, I get how parents well intended said, you know what, let's give everyone a trophy.

[Unknown]

Yes.

You know what happened to me in my life? We went to the basketball state championships.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. I love this. Stan, you're ready.

[Unknown]

We excited. The first year we went, we won.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Where was this, sir?

[Unknown]

Montgomery, Alabama.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love it.

[Unknown]

And so I looked over at the other team's bench and they were crying.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Unknown]

And I started crying.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You felt bad for them.

[Unknown]

I did.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're a compassionate dude.

[Unknown]

And I wanted. You know what? I'm probably the reason this thing was birthed. This is your fault.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I found him, everyone, this man right here. I wanted everybody to win. I get. You know what's funny? I mean that's a beautiful thing. Let me tell you what happened. One man's point of view. But who spends a lot of time analyzing this? We got into this 8th place trophy thing and what we started telling kids who were 4, 5, 6, 7 is losing is bad. Be careful. You don't want that. Losing is so bad that we and kids are smart. Right. You know this, this is where people get confused. Like again, probably your parents generation more than y'all. But kids used to work full time at 9 years old. They're tougher than you think.

[Unknown]

Like learning with me.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There you go. Now we baby people, 33 year olds are being treated like 4 year olds. Like this is the world we live in now. And so we. One of the biggest issues in our society is that people are scared to lose.

[Unknown]

Oh, that's beautiful.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh, this is what's happened. What you did not feel growing up was there was winning and losing and it just seemed super normal, like oxygen, like the sun coming up. Something in the last 30 to 40 years changed. Where we've demonized losing. This goes back to prosperity. You know another thing that happens with 75 years of prosperity. Parents have other things to think about. One of the reasons that this has all happened is parents are so in their kids shit because they have time. Y'all grew up in generation when everyone's being sent to war.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like when the mom is going to build bombs in the fucking armory in Midtown. Like, shit was different. And so there's just all these big dynamics. This was all long winded to say the following. Thank you, thank you to the six of you and to the team, because we need more. Like, my hope is that you have 87, 150 more podcasts that look something like this. You may be razzed by and be like, we invented. That's fine. That's y'all. But the world needs 500, 5000 of these shows. We need to get these conversations going right.

[Brandon]

We need them out here. Yeah. In there.

[Unknown]

Well, we try.

[Brandon]

We give.

[Unknown]

That brings me to wanting to ask you about podcasts, because in the beginning I thought, ah, podcasts. Now I see that so much information like this is getting out in podcasts. It's replacing the media.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's replacing the new radio.

[Unknown]

Yes. Yeah. It's fabulous.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course. And again, this is why I want you to tell history lessons. You all trying to think years you caught the tail like this. Will, maybe you were too young, but you all. No, actually, you all either touched on it or you were a hair young, but you definitely were close enough to it. You were the generation and definitely your parents that watched our society go from a radio first society to a television.

[Unknown]

Yeah, right.

I used to listen to the radio.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[Unknown]

Only the shadow.

Shadow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No. You saw the birth of television.

[Unknown]

We were so poor, we didn't have a radio.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You went over someone's house to listen to the Right. Right. The reason boxing and baseball and horse racing were the three biggest sports in America was because they were very good sports on the radio. You could picture it. Football, American football didn't take off until the television came along. Because it's not as good when somebody casts the radio.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But it's an incredible product when you watch it on television. So where I'm going with this podcast thing is again, back to history, back to wisdom, back to a presidential election. Let's talk about that. John F. Kennedy Jr. Does not win. Is not the President of the United States if the television isn't invented. If you remember this. Yes. Nixon kills in all the exit polling. Nixon killed him on the radio.

[Unknown]

Boy, did he win on the television.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's not on that television, you girls know. But on that television, his suit was tight. Nixon was sweating.

[Unknown]

I met him.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Yes, I did. When I was 19 or something in New York. He walked across a ballroom to talk to me. And for the next 50 years of my life, I said, and you talk about Kennedy women, you're talking about me.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I get it. And so, again, what we're living through now, these kids, me, in the prime of my business career, we're living through the world, going from a primary television society to a primary back Internet.

[Brandon]

Absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And right to where I'm going. And then everything that's old is new, except the distribution is different. Right, Right. What's different about podcasts and radio is, in the radio era, one man got to decide what was on the radio.

[Brandon]

Yeah. Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Got it. This world's real fun. Cause guess what? You didn't ask for permission. You just made this shit.

[Unknown]

That's right. And invited you.

[Brandon]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so anyway, things that used to be become new versions. The World Turns. There's really clear macro reasons we're going through all this, but again, I know I'm repeating it, but I have so much of it in my heart. I'm just so grateful you all are doing this.

[Unknown]

Thank you so much. And listen, will you tell us about the new book? You have a new book?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I do. I have a new book coming out in July called Day Trading Attention. And it's a business book, but it's a marketing book. It's a book about all that's happening. So the term day trading, as you all know, again, when you were growing up, that wasn't a term. The stock market was done a certain way and this and that. And then computers came along, as you all remember.

[Unknown]

Right. And you could day trade.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. In the mid-90s, it became a term.

[Unknown]

And while you're on that subject, I heard you say that you've never read a book in your life.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So he's done some homework. I've read like four or five. I read Joe Namath's book. Cause that's my hero. Because I'm a Jets fan. I've read very well. That's true. I know it's been tough. I've read probably six to 10 books in my life. But it's because in hindsight, I have a reading comprehension issue that I didn't know about. And so it's not that I'm mad at books, it's just that I can't retain information that way. Oh, okay. On the flip side, everything I've ever seen visually or heard auditorily. I remember forever.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But my reading comprehension's very poor. And to this day the team will send me a long email and I'll reply three minute meeting. Because I need to hear it. Right. And so this is why this is the journey of life. I didn't know that was the case. This is some of the things that got better. All of us grew up in an era where schools weren't looking for those disabilities shortcomings. They just thought you were not smart or.

[Brandon]

Move along.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. Move along. Now we have a system that analyzes kids differently. Does know these things. And it's lovely because a lot of kids who grew up with very bad self esteem cause they were bad at school. I got lucky. I had a mom who made sure I knew I was the best regardless of my grades.

[Unknown]

I love your mom.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Me too. She really nailed it. And I'll tell you why. You'll love her even more. She made me think the bet that I was the best. But if I didn't do the right thing, there was real fucking ramifications.

[Brandon]

That's what she gets.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

She was still a Soviet moment. So she gave me that purple. Right. She didn't make me think a d represented who I was. She wasn't that cliche parent that a, a, a, A. But if I was fresh. If I was. If I was. I mean. You know what's so funny when I say this. Do you know that I never disrespected my mom in my life. I wouldn't even.

[Unknown]

It wouldn't even dawn on you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It didn't even. A, I liked her too much and B, I was too scared to do it.

[Brandon]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Unknown]

That's the thing with my.

[Brandon]

I knew.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right?

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Both. Yeah. I was admired and adored her and fuck that shit. I'm not trying to.

[Brandon]

I never was scared because. Well, mom was so short. You know. Spankings didn't hurt anymore.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Got you.

[Brandon]

But dad wouldn't spank. But what killed me was when you say. Oh.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Disappointed.

[Brandon]

There you go. One word. That's all it took because I got caught doing a. We used to call it five finger discounts.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

I wanted to bring.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Stole some Jordan almonds.

[Brandon]

For them. For them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I get you. Yeah.

[Brandon]

The guy at the grocery store caught you. Caught me. You better tell your parents. I'm like a dummy. I told him yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What a different world.

[Brandon]

He said you grounded for a week. But I told you the truth.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

If you didn't, it would have been two weeks.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay.

[Brandon]

That's. And Then that's what said disappointed.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Again. Again. Consequence. Like. And. And it's. And. And. God. It's just finding the balance. It's finding the middle. All I want for the world. Cause I love the world. I love people. All I want is to take the good shit that you all grew up with and leave the bad shit. Cause you grew up with plenty of bad shit and take all the good shit that these kids have and leave all the bad shit and find that middle.

[Unknown]

And that's where we're really building a bridge between all the young people that we meet and us. And it's so exciting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So exciting. You know what else is exciting?

[Unknown]

What?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Your strawberry earrings. They are very excited.

[Unknown]

I wore these.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I like it. Thank you. I love them. I love them.

[Unknown]

Well.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, sir.

[Unknown]

Can you unpack for me? You said something about the earring thing threw me off.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm sorry. I apologize.

[Unknown]

I thought. Me too. When you did that, I didn't respect.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Intent matters. Luckily. Intense. Actually, That's a good topic. While you think intent.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When y'all grew up, when somebody made a mistake, we took intent into the equation.

[Brandon]

Yes. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so you were like, that's fucked up. But I knew he was like, today we're so quick to judge.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We're not taking intent into the equation. I see people jumping on people for such. I see it all.

[Brandon]

The little things.

[Unknown]

Little things. Guns and shooting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay. Nowadays, you've made your point on the guns and knives. It's there, but it's like there's. There's much more emotional warfare going on than guns and knives.

[Brandon]

Yeah. I don't care what he meant. That's what this is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What, that. Yeah, that. It's this. It's this lack of capacity for civility, for understanding. People are allowed to have a different point of view. Right. And it hits powder, kids. It hit it in the 60s. You lived in the 50s. You lived in the 70s. You know what the 60s was. And it's hitting now. And my hope is that there's prosperity on the other side of this. One step back societally. And I believe there is. The number one thing I am is optimistic.

[Unknown]

Me too.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. I believe in people. Do. I believe there's some stuff that I wish was better. Sure. And guess what? Every day that you. Breath. Breath the breath, there was some shit that was fucked up. And a lot of it got better and some of it hasn't. And so humans have done a good job evolving and moving it. I just think we're dwelling too much on what's Wrong right now in society, instead of being happy of what's right.

[Unknown]

Amen.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And that's going to make you depressed. It's hard to wake up at 25 or 95 if your entire perspective is based on what's wrong.

[Brandon]

Yeah, exactly.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. I believe the following sentence is the most important sentence in life. In life, you will find what you're looking for. So you wake up. That's it. If you want to wake up and decide everything's bad, good news, everything will be bad. But as someone who decides the alternative, you would be stunned. My circle of friends, my algorithm, I show my algorithm to some friends. They're, like, baffled. It's like kittens coming from a tree. Like, it's so positive. And they're like, mine. I'm like, you're choosing. You're choosing. Please.

[Unknown]

You're definitely choosing. You either have a half full or a half empty.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's it, darling.

[Unknown]

And you choose the half empty. You're looking for trouble.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Can I ask you all a question?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

In your experience, amongst your contemporaries that are still with us luckily, how often have you seen people change? Like, change, not slightly tweak. I mean fundamental, from negative to positive. Have you seen a lot in the fourth quarter instead of the first quarter? Meaning? Have you seen a lot of people change in their 60s, 70s, 80s, from who they were the first 50 years of their life? A lot.

[Unknown]

I think they get worse.

I haven't seen a lot, if you.

Live a good life. And I decided to make a conscious decision, decision that as I grew older, that I would be nice and learn how to be nice. So when I get old and out of control, I will still be. And I will still be nice. I had a pastor that had a stroke. And, you know, people, they really lose control over everything.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Unknown]

He never cursed. And bad. They were doing bad things to him.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Unknown]

He never cursed. He never spoke ill of anyone.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Unknown]

He had practiced that his entire life. And I. I wanted to do that. So for you, no matter what happens in the 80s.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And did you. Did you actively become a nicer person?

[Unknown]

I actively became a nice. Believe it or not.

[Brandon]

I didn't want to say anything, but. Okay, go ahead.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No, this is important to me. This is me getting this. I want this for me and for everyone. At what age would you say?

[Unknown]

Around in my 40s? Yeah, it's like certain things, it's like, this is not acceptable behavior.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You. This was you being accountable to yourself.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The way I'm acting towards others is not nice enough. I need to level Up, Right.

[Unknown]

And I wasn't a bad person. I get it now.

Is that an example of knowing how to read yourself?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, that's called self awareness, brother.

[Unknown]

Self awareness, man.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Self when I tell. And you know all this back to people in your lives, people you still know. There's nothing more frustrating when you can see someone and they can't see themselves.

[Unknown]

Amen.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh yeah, yeah, Right, right. That for us, especially when we love them, our mom. Right. Like it kills us because we want it for them. And I think a lot about self awareness. I think about how does one become more self? Aware? Right. There's a level of vulnerability. I think about therapy. Talk about another. Hey, there's a good one. Talk about something the world has done a good job with. When you were growing up, going to the psychiatrist. Oh no, Taboo, Cuckoo. Bad, bad. Now people find. And so what ended up happening, we took out our pain on our family.

[Brandon]

Oh yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So we would blow up on our family. Now people have found a way to go to a third party and be able to talk through things. That's a beautiful evolution in part of healthcare. Right? Yeah, that's right.

[Brandon]

Mental health should be at least.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So anyway, self awareness I think about a lot and I think it's grounded in humility, I think it's grounded in vulnerability. Another thing that we weren't taught. We were tough, but we didn't know how to use vulnerability to our advantage. Right. We didn't. We didn't. And so these are things I think about. But yes, that's self awareness. And it's why I believe to me, self awareness is the great energy a human can have. Because once you know, then you get to decide if you're gonna address it. Cause if you don't see it, you.

[Unknown]

Can'T, you can't fix it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But if you can see it, then you're starting to choose if you can fix it. And I think once people can see it, they're much more likely to fix. I think when people, a lot of us get mad and we say you're stubborn, they don't see it. Yeah, they don't see it, sir. Right, yeah. The second they see it, oftentimes they will start to make their attempts to fix it. But it is very hard to see your blinds with. I'll give you, I'll be vulnerable. I was a very, I, I, I was very well parented and I got very lucky DNA wise. And I've lived a very, very joyous life and I'm very proud of, of who I am and I'VE managed people my whole life because my dad eventually had a liquor store that I worked in. I took it over at 22, and I've been managing people my whole life, and I manage 3,000 people right now. And I was really proud of it. But somewhere about five years ago, I had a really low point where I realized my inability to be canderous to my employees. I'm very canderous in this setting, as Gary Vee, as a public speaker, as an author on podcasts. But if I love you like I love Dustin, because you've worked for me for five years and now it's more family than just stranger. Yeah, I wasn't good at communicating things that were bothering me.

[Unknown]

I love the story where you almost fired the employee who beat you at Rock Suit.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you. Well, that's called out of balance competitiveness. That's a different story for another podcast. But. But to go back to. Back to what we're talking about, sir, I had a moment, a series of life events, both personal and professional. I was like, wait a minute. What I used to think was my gift, which was I kept it positive, was actually me painting a fake picture to myself. I was unable to be canderous and get feedback from a good place because I thought that people would be scared that they were on their way to getting fired. And I didn't want them to be scared. So I tried to fix it in different ways. Inevitably, because I was still running a business, there would be moments where I would fire these people. And in essence, they were getting fired without warning because I wasn't even.

[Unknown]

Because you hadn't seen them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so now and then it got worse. So that was already hard enough that I knew people walked around earth that weren't happy with me because I did wrong by them. And I would make the excusable, and which would be my subjective opinion. They weren't good at their job. I let them be there for an extra year. I was beat. I was the one who was mad. And, you know, that's what was going on in my head. I'll tell you where it got really bad for me when I realized my most senior people, the people who've been with me for five to 15 years, the most comped, the most important, they were actually scared, which was my great pride that I was eliminating fear. That is my great. I believe a leader eliminates fear.

[Brandon]

Definitely. A good leader.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

A good leader eliminates fear. And I was, like, crushing that, I thought, until I had this real series of events where I was like, Wait a minute. All of these people that are like literally so close to me and it's going so well, they're actually a little scared. Cause they don't know where they actually sit with me because I don't give them candor. And now this has been going on long enough at enough scale, and it was devastating. I mean, truly, I can picture myself in my bathroom looking in the mirror. The moment I had, the moment where.

[Unknown]

I was like, authentic.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh my God, I've spent 25 years patting myself on the back that I eliminate fear. And I went too far to one side and created fear. And I was crushed. But that's right. Back to accountability, back to self awareness, to accountability, to change. And it has been a profoundly positive impact on my personal and professional life over the last five years. It still doesn't come natural to me. It's still the hardest thing for me. But when you go from a one to a six, you feel it.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm not like a ten like in a lot of other areas, but I'm on my way to an eight. And that's good.

[Unknown]

Yeah, authentic. That's the most important, amazing thing. Be authentic in this moment and I'll.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Jump in in a second. But I want to add one thing to that because I want everyone to hear this. Authentic, yes. But the way you make people feel matters. And a lot of people use authenticity and candor as an excuse to be mean.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Ah. So yes, authentic. But when delivering authenticity, remembering how you make someone feel is how it is.

[Unknown]

I think we've experienced a little bit of that in the last few days.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. I think one of the things that bothers me, I mean back to JFK and Nixon, they didn't see the same the world the same at all. These kids don't realize that the liberals and conservatives, things been going on forever.

[Unknown]

Forever.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But the level of civility they had to each other, the way these politicians talk to each other is amazing. It's like third grade bad kids. It's disgusting.

[Unknown]

No one ever spanked them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You should. It's always, you're gonna say something, sir.

[Unknown]

Oh, I get so into what you're talking about that I. I just lose mine.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Unknown]

You know, if I'm holding on to mine, I'm not listening.

[Brandon]

I'm humbled he won't fire you. Then.

[Unknown]

I'm humbled he'll think of that.

I'll think of it in a minute.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

No, yeah.

[Unknown]

Oh, I was going to ask you to. If you would please explain. NFT yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

NFTs. You're going to like this. I'm about to explain NFTs in a way that's going to really bring a lot of value to everyone in the room. NFTs are non fungible tokens. That's what it stands for. It references something that sits on something called the blockchain. Have you heard the term? The blockchain is what bitcoin sits on. Let me explain it. Okay, so the Internet. Let me take a step back to make this even more explainable. The Internet as we know it runs on servers. And I don't expect everybody to be nerdy and like technically like deep, but they run on servers that like websites. You call a server and it shows you the website they run on servers. No different than the phone lines runs on servers. Those servers are owned by people. Amazon owns their servers. The US government owns its servers. Godaddy owns its servers. Those are servers that are owned by companies, thus owned by people. Right?

[Unknown]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The blockchain are servers around the world that talk to each other, but nobody owns them. Why is that important? There is an entire ecosystem of technology being run that the code runs it, not the servers. All the servers can be taken away and new servers can do the thing. Meaning not America, not China, not Russia, not Facebook, not Amazon, not Google. Nobody owns it.

[Unknown]

Yay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Here's why. What that means is it becomes a decentralized, not a centralized depository. Why is that important? That means the tech. I mean, this is getting a little nerdy, but I'm trying to go macro. What it's going to do is allow for the world to have a technology infrastructure that is completely fair because no one can change it.

[Unknown]

Thank God.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay, okay, let me. I'm going very high for you to tell you why. I'm very bullish on NFTs. Not the way everybody in this room knows NFTs, which was a couple summers ago. Collectibles art. That's great. I like comic books and trading cards. All of you grew up when comic books and trading cards were worth nothing, right? And all those Superman number one and Batman number one and Mickey Mantle rookie cards that you all played with that are worth millions of dollars. You fucked up. Yes.

[Unknown]

Wait. My cousin invented Superman. And when I was four years old I had all these capes and Superman things and everything else. What do I have now? Threw it all out.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I wish. I bought them at a garage sale.

[Brandon]

For me. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Anyway, these decentralized servers, sir, are a big deal. Let me explain back to history lessons. The US dollar used to be attached to the gold standard.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You remember that. And then Richard Nixon, when he did finally become president, took us off. That led to a very different world that we're all growing up with that you didn't. Which is why there's so much money out there. Because you can keep printing it.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The reason everyone is fascinated, that is fascinated by Bitcoin is there's only a certain amount.

[Unknown]

That's right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

As the world becomes more digital. Digital currency. Ah, here's a good again. When people are like this. Cryptocurrency, it's stupid. It'll never happen. I'm like, what about credit cards? And when I talk to a 35 year old, they're like, what do you mean? But when I talk to someone who's older, everybody here remembers when everyone said credit cards would never take off because cash is king. Right. And I bet you some of you said I will never have a credit card cuz I'm not going to buy something I can't afford, I don't think. Right. That's something these kids have never thought of in their entire life. Yeah. The world. Right. So we used to live in a world where if the cash didn't exist, people couldn't even imagine it. You, I, I'm sure you, you actually remember the first time you got a credit card and the first time you used it, it was like magic. Right.

[Brandon]

It was different.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right?

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

These are why I want you all to talk like to me, a podcast where you get a lot of people and talk about what it was like when the world moved from just cash to credit cards would then help these kids understand why cryptocurrency is an interesting debate, a foregone conclusion or wherever they take it. So NFT sirs, ready for this?

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Contracts, Your marriage license, the deed on your home. As you all know, you grew up in an era where safety deposit box really mattered.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Right.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Because there were certain pieces of paper that all of us were petrified of losing.

[Unknown]

I still have that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

These kids know no idea what the hell we're talking about because everything is digital and the thought of losing anything is no big deal. DocuSign they. But our contracts were everything.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well what is interesting is their contracts still sit on servers that somebody else owns. Wow. Got it.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So there's a lot of interesting things that are going on in the world and you're only as safe as. And again back to your parents generation, when those banks failed and that money went away, the Great Depression came.

[Brandon]

Yeah, right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No kid that is on the other side of these cameras right now ever thinks about if they, if someone scams their credit card, the bank refunds them.

[Unknown]

So you don't have to worry, sort of. No, I just went through that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, we'll talk about it. I'll help you. None of these kids, they know that if they get a fraud alert and somebody got their credit card number and spent $2,000 in Vegas, that they'll get that money back.

[Unknown]

They'll get it back every time.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If they didn't, all of them would care about that privacy a lot more. And so what's happening is these dynamics are playing. It's a long winded answer to explain this, sir. I believe every contract in the world, every deed, every contract, an athlete signing a contract with a football team, that every contract in the world in 20 years will be an NFT.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It will be a non fungible token that sits on the blockchain because it is ironclad and nobody can touch it. And it's the safest thing humans have ever invented. Do I believe 1% of those things will be collectibles? I do. One of the biggest problems in high art, people that pay $20 million for a painting, is if it's fake.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

In the old world that we all are growing up in now, kind of tricky. Fake baseball cards, fake handbags, fake art in the blockchain world, not hard. It's on the blockchain, non touched. So do I believe, like trading cards, comic books, marbles, stamps. Remember when that was big?

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do I believe that NFT collectibles will be a thing? Yes. 1% of all the NFTs that are made will be collectible. But do I think it's a bigger thing that people are going to learn? And this is where it gets into, you know how you address fake stuff by having a blockchain. So for example, do you know what a deep fake video is?

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Proud of you.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is videos. That's right. Very good. We're about to have all of them. There will be millions of videos of me on the Internet in a couple years saying things I never said. Right, right.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And it's gonna be hard to decipher if that's me or not.

[Brandon]

We'll know the real.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you, my man. That's gonna change the world. But the blockchain, if I upload all my videos on the blockchain first and prove that it's real, and then it goes to the Internet, will be A source of truth that the world desperately needs right now, as you know, fake news. Well, guess what? When the world gets blockchained, it's going to get a lot better. And so I'm very excited about the future of NFTs and blockchain.

[Unknown]

Well, I'm excited with that explanation.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Unknown]

That's really exciting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you. Right. More understand, by the way, that's been the story of my career. If you ask me. What's worked for me for the first seven years that I made content on the Internet, it was about wine. Just wine. But as you may know, and you've also watched wine be something nobody cared about, really, in America, it was more bourbon and all that to wine got more popular in the 80s and 90s and 2000s. One of the reasons I took off was I was explaining wine in a way that people could understand because you know this. Do you know anybody who's really into wine in your friends or family?

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good.

[Brandon]

Nobody's buying library brands.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I get it. But, you know, what is happening is, as you know, wine people are pretentious. And so I came along and like, dumb. Not dummied it down, but just made it normalized. And I do the same thing with technology. I'm an average Joe and so I can process and explain in that way.

[Unknown]

You're not exactly average. You were born with that. With that thing in your belly. That's right. Makes you the way. That's why you didn't like to do schoolwork.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[Unknown]

Because you were too smart for the school. Schoolwork. But you liked the other parts.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When you're 11, you're kind of older than you think. And I would look at the world and I'm like, why don't all the straight A students make all the money and have all the happiness? Yeah. Like literally, that. That was a vivid conversation I had with myself. I'm like, if A's are so important, why are all these grownups that I know. Here are the A students I know doing just okay financially, desperately not happy. Here are some D's and F's and C students. Sometimes like that, but sometimes very happy. It was just very clear to me before I was even a teenager that success at school did not equate success in life.

[Unknown]

And so about the football player who was the rave of the whole school. And then later, his parking car.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's exactly right. What's popular in high school gets really unpopular in your 30s. And so. And so, like, that's life. And that's. And again, that's the. I believe that's the biggest impact all of you can do. And I feel it's the responsibility I have as someone who's happy. I believe negativity has gotten very loud, and I believe positivity stays pretty quiet within its circles. And I've taken on the responsibility to be very loud with my positivity, and I hope to inspire others to do so.

[Unknown]

You talk about something called practical positivity.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Practical optimism. Yes.

[Unknown]

Practical up.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What is that?

[Unknown]

Yeah, unpack that a little bit.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

As you know, we all have friends that are delusional optimists.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'll give you an example of delusional optimism. I'm gonna write my life's goal on a vision board, and then I'm gonna sit on my couch and look at it, and it's gonna come true.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. So what I call practical optimism is you have to work for it too, right?

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, I think there's too much delusion in the world, like, this word manifesting. Like, people. Like, some people literally think they're Yoda and are going to just think it to real life.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And it's because it's an excuse to not do. No, Gary, you don't get it. I'm spiritual. I'm in a manifesto. Like, no, you don't get it. Like, you could sit in an ice bath all day long. If you want to build an empire, you're going to have to work. Like, by the way, you don't need to build an empire. You can decide to go to the Hudson Valley and sit in a nice bath and live like, this is the point that I'm really trying to make. Live the life you want to, but be practical about what's coming out of your mouth.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. Like, where people are getting hurt is their mouth is saying one thing and their actions are saying something else.

[Unknown]

But don't you. Don't you think that people say, oh, I'm an optimist, and I'm da, da, da, da, and then they start complaining about whether the Uber driver is there in five seconds.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, this goes into things I think a lot about. I believe that. I believe complaining is the great pandemic. Thank you. I really do.

[Unknown]

That's number one on the list.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. See? And again, kids watch. Look at their body language. There's something to that. Again, it doesn't mean things aren't wrong. This is where people get confused. It's nuanced.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like people like Gary. But what the. What about this? I'm like, yes.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm like, what about it? Like, like, they're like, what about sexism? I'm like, it's real.

[Brandon]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm like, but if you spend every minute of your life worrying about these things, complaining about sexism and doing nothing about it, you are going to be very unhappy.

[Unknown]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And like, and again, there were things that your great grandparents dealt with that were bad. There are things that you dealt with. There are things we're dealing with. And our great grandchildren are going to deal with shit too. Humans are not perfect. But the point of this entire hour together, the point of my mission, the point that I hope the world gets better at, is there will always be something. The question is, what are you doing about it?

[Brandon]

Yes, do something. Don't complain.

[Unknown]

That's absolutely right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, and by the way, where this, where so many people have gotten confused and not just this generation. I love when people like this generation what both boomers on Facebook and gen Z on TikTok. When you say something on social media that is not doing something, that's the confusion.

[Unknown]

That's the confusion.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What are you doing? And so, you know, for me, when I feel passionate about something, I try to do action. You, you want to get into better shape. It's not about reading about push ups. Yeah. Reading that you're going to do push ups. It's doing push ups. Very basic mean I can't hire somebody.

[Brandon]

To do them for me.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We are getting to that.

[Brandon]

I wanted to get back we could for the NFT to dummy it down for me. If I do have documents, how do I go about getting them?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The question. Yeah. I mean that goes into something called minting.

[Brandon]

So you would.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So for you. Because I think I could see that we're wrapping up your next guesses here. But, and this is a long winded thing, but this is what I love about your question and for everyone, if you go to. How do I mint an nft? If you type that into Google.

[Brandon]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If you're, if you're like me, you'll have to watch a video or listen to audio.

[Brandon]

Yeah, yeah. Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Reading comprehension. If you have good reading comprehension, there's un million articles on how to do it and then you do it.

[Brandon]

Oh, okay. Gotcha.

[Unknown]

I love you.

[Brandon]

Thank you so much for your time and energy and just making our day and teaching us so much.

[Unknown]

And will you come see us again?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Come to LA 100% with us. Make people laugh in firm. Mint it on the blockchain.

[Brandon]

Mint it on the blockchain.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you for having me.

[Brandon]

Thank you. Thank you.