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Podcast nation. Before I get you into today's podcast, big announcement. As you probably heard at this point, because I had John from Stan on the show, I am an investor advisor to an incredible startup called Stan. Stan Store. I'm sending you right now to GaryVee.com, garyVee.com Stan, go check this out. We've done a GaryVee Stan store challenge, which actually has a weekly call with me. This is built for everyone who's been affected honestly by my overall content. The tech stack, all these features, and the minimal costs per month that Stan Store has built is really the tool that was needed for this world that I envisioned when I wrote Crush it, when I wrote Crushing It. And this overall thing I'm thinking a lot about lately, which is the individual empire, right? This creator entrepreneur slash entrepreneur creator economy that I think is gonna eat up the oxygen. Very honestly, the thing that so many of you want in your life and the reason so many of you are not there yet, is you've got the strategy for me. You've got the ambition within yourself, but you don't have the tools for you to fully maximize it. And I believe you can find that at Stan Store. Stan Store. But specifically, I want you to sign up for it through my challenge because I want to get access with you. And plus, there's a bunch of cool things. So if you want to go see those cool things, go to garyvee.com Stan S T A N Now to the podcast. This is the GaryVee audio experience. I just wanna thank everybody. I'm sure there's a lot going on in your world. My main objective here is a little bit twofold. I've been thinking a lot about influencer creator marketing. I get so many DMs from people. Please, everybody. Mel, way to kick it off. Please everybody, use the chat. Social media, so we all get to know each other. I've been thinking a lot about this ecosystem. I'm sure it's not lost on everybody here. There's more and more competition coming in every day. I feel like we're gonna wake up in a couple years. Not only will every human be an influencer or creator, but there's gonna be AI influencers. And I've been thinking about how do I bring more value? So one thing I've been thinking a lot about is doing this more often from the sense of just having an hour a month where I'm just doing Q and A and trying to share with everybody things I'm seeing from the brand side. Or the algorithms. You know, I'm very aware that based on some of the DMs I've gotten from some of you, I've had a long history of putting out stuff and people benefited from it. But smaller groups could be really cool. So on the selfless part of my brain, if you're interested after this meeting to be part of like a group where I'm just doing this kind of for free, feel free to let us know and we'll start sending invites. I want to build a little bit more of a community around this. Cause I think the stakes are getting higher and it's getting harder to break out. On the selfish part, I'm incredibly excited about what's happening with me in two weeks. Two weeks from today, we are putting out my first cartoons for my Veefriends world. But if you haven't been following, I put out a kid's book that was wildly successful this summer. The trading cards are going crazy. I'm literally trying to build the next Pokemon meets Sesame street. And the YouTube kids show that drops in two weeks is a monumental moment. And obviously I'm looking for as much awareness and support on that as possible. Viewing parties like green screens, anything of that nature. So if any of you are interested in supporting or know people that might, it would mean the world to me. You can email me. I'll put my email here at GaryFriends. And then again, just to do something fun, I was telling the team, I wanna build this influencer community. I wanna do this value. But I think it'd be really cool if I could actually preview to them the cartoon. Like literally the first humans to see it outside of me. And so I think we're gonna do that today as well. I'd love to spend as much time potentially answering people's question on how to out game the algorithms or how to do brand deals or anything of that nature. I want to get the juices flowing there. My part is pretty simple. Two weeks from today, Veefriends cartoons launch. And I want as many human beings to watch it as possible. And anything that you can contribute to that would be very, very, very humbling and meaningful to me.
B
That's great. Do you want to take some questions or do you want to show the episode first?
A
I actually think I'd rather take questions. So, like, I'm kind of doing two things here. I really want to build out a version of this for creators and a version for TikTok affiliates and shop. I think karma has always been my go to formula. As I've gotten busier, I feel like karma's been harder for me, and so I want to lean into it more. So I'd like to do that. Actually, premiering the cartoon is not going to take too long. So, you know, Matty, Bram, anybody, feel free to unmute or raise your hand and Jack will call on you. Literally anything. Like, I'm at the forefront of social creative. YouTube, brand deals, changes, connected TV, like, management. Like, I'm, you know, building out teams. A lot of you are doing, like, literally anything you want. I'm here for you. So let's do that.
B
Yeah, we actually got a first question here in the chat from Ivy and Ari.
A
Let's unmute them. I want to. I want to hear it.
B
Ivy and Ari, if you're on. If you want to unmute and ask a question.
C
Hi, Gary.
A
Hi.
B
Good morning.
A
Good morning.
B
I was wondering what inspired you to create a cartoon.
A
So thank you. So everybody actually in the chat tell write the number of years you've been following me, if any. I'm going to assume most have if you're here, but if you got that number, I'm gonna use that to answer this question. So as you see these numbers come up on the chat. If you see them, some of them are quite long, and then some of them became much shorter within two or three years. Obviously, a lot of you were affected by this. I was very loud six years ago about TikTok. I'm like, TikTok, TikTok, TikTok. Because it was similar to what I saw about YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. That has been my knack on understanding social. When I exploded on TikTok, as you can imagine, my audience went from 18 and up 20 and up to 13 and 14 and up. And obviously I started to see the effects of people consuming my content at 13 and 14. And I'd like to think that most of you know, I'm, like, wildly optimistic and positive, but not delusional. This is not foo foo. This is real to me. Like, it's practical and accountable. And so what happened was as I was starting to feel the feedback of what happens when you get to someone about good, true content at 13, 14, 15. I'm sure this will resonate with everybody. If you start getting in the right mindset at 14, that's going to be better than if you start course correcting at 22. Right. Like, it's never a bad time to start earlier in anything. So that really affected me. What I really. I have two children, and many of you have followed me Long enough to know I talk a lot about being parented well. And I just started really paying attention. And I just felt that modern parenting, at least from one humble man's point of view, of the 8 billion people on Earth, I thought there was three or four topics that we could talk about that were a little different. I thought 8th place trophies was a bad idea. I thought paying for your kids after they're 18 was a bad idea. And so I thought there was things that kids should learn. And it was predominately around where I'm going with the book. Meet me in the middle, right? Patient Pig and Eager Eagle. Being patient and being eager is amazing, but out of whack, it's a bad thing. And so I got inspired to leaving a positive deposit of the middle at a younger age. And I also always wanted to build a collectible business. Cause I love that world and I've always. So I just thought there was this mix of Pokemon meets Sesame Street. And listen, a lot of you have heard this from me. I think you should do things you want to do. I think when you're 90, you're gonna be upset, every one of you. I just saw Kenyatta just answered. I saw Adrian just shake his head like, do your thing. Because I'm telling you, when you're 90, you're gonna be sad if you didn't do the thing that's in your stomach. I know a lot of you from afar, I know a lot of you have built a foundation to be able to do more things. But a lot of you are scared to do new things because you won't get as many likes. Or you're scared to lose your audience instead of realizing you're gonna gain a bigger audience. I was the biggest wine personality in America in 2011, but I wanted to talk about business and mindset too. And I was willing to lose that for something else. And so I didn't want to. I didn't want to live my life and not give an attempt to build one of the most important kids brands in the world, like Marvel and Disney. And I was like, let me go for it. And so here I am.
B
Love that. Bram, do you want to go next? Yeah, sure. Hi, Gary.
A
Hi, Bram.
B
So this is Bram. I'm Gerpr. I logged into his name, but yeah, firstly, can congratulations on be friends. Our daughters love the book. So do we. And I'll just keep it short. So I am a content creator. I have my own separate page which is where I do my brand deals. And then we also started A kids company where we do. It's all about gratitude. Gratitude, books, sweaters, now. So my question is, I have a good following on my personal page, and they're two separate pages, so do you think I should be putting them into one?
A
No. Good news, everyone. The algorithm change of the last three years has taken this completely out of the equation. No more thinking it's individual pieces of content. You could start a third one and post a good piece of content there. And, I mean, I have big pages, too. And literally, I think everyone here knows this because you see other people with like 500 followers and you're like, how'd they get 13 million on that view? The whole game changed. And so I wouldn't overthink that the following is now a vanity thing more than I believe in the next 24 months, they're gonna eliminate even your followers as a reason for the content to be seen. It's crazy how this is all going. And so I would just focus on making very good content. Depending on what page, you can even create a third page. You could create another page called Gratitude. Gratitude, Gratitude. And post there for learnings and test. I do that with different pages. So it's now down to the individual content, not the page.
B
Got it. Okay. And then one last question. I have to ask you what you're.
A
Grateful for today, so you may know this about me. Gratitude is way up there. Gratitude Gorilla is a monster character in my world. Like, I'm obsessed with gratitude. And so, as a matter of fact, there's a. I don't know if you know, there's a fish that's called a Gar G A R. That's the name of a fish.
C
And.
A
And another character in Veefriends is called Grateful Gar. And it's really. I really think of it as myself. Even though there's a Gary B. Gar, I view the Gar as Gary, too, because I'm very grateful. I am grateful every day that I wake up and nobody that I love passed away. I keep it simple. I only leave gratitude for health. Everything else is manageable. You know what I mean? And so I'm always grateful that. That my loved ones and people I care about are okay.
B
Yeah. Amazing. Tina, do you want to go next? I would love to. First of all, thank you for my copy. Gary, how are you?
A
Good.
B
So I have to tell you, the highlight spot of the entire book, okay. We loved all of it. My five and a half year old did. My younger one, which I know you mentioned 4 to 8. She was kind of like, I don't know what's going on, but thought the pig was cute. Was the line when it was saying something about a dodo bird.
A
Yes.
B
I had to pick her up the floor. She was laughing, like, couldn't stop laughing, like, dying. Laughing, like the funniest thing she's ever heard.
A
That's awesome.
C
Thank you for this book.
B
I also took a lot of lessons, honestly, as a creator, as a content creator, about being an eagle and a patient pig. So took some own personal lessons out. My question for you is on Threads. Okay, so Threads is this hot new spot I've been growing, growing, like, super organically. It's been fun and refreshing as a creator, honestly, to just get out there and just feel what I guess it used to be like, yeah, y' all were, yeah, like crazy. And so my question for you is, I feel like I have a good rhythm now on really kind of maximizing what my posting schedule will be using chat gbt, and I'm getting really good engagement. But now what? Like, how are people monetizing it? Like, I keep seeing, like, these bonuses, but to me, that seems like smoke and mirror.
A
Yeah.
B
What do you recommend?
A
So I think monetizing comes in so many shapes and sizes. Everyone, obviously, I think you all are aware of this. The size and scale that you need to be at in views to actually make your monetization from the platforms, giving you a share of ad revenue is very large. Like, you know, there's a lot of strong people here, me included, but all of us combined, we don't have the reach of a tenth of what Mr. Beast is getting to be able to get those kind of real dollars. I think monetization comes outside of the platforms. So you're building reputation, you're building brand, and then you're able to create monetization outside of it. So if you're getting a cadence of organic growth through Threads, while everybody's looking elsewhere, I think you double down on that because the attention is the most valuable thing. And then there's a million ways, books and clothes and product and consulting and speaking. And I mean, you could literally go on forever. And I think all of you are educated enough to know that, and new things will pop up of ways to monetize. But I think, Tina, if you've got a pattern going and it's working, especially with something like Threads, where you're basically outflanking people, not realizing that there's action there, I would go hard.
C
Okay, that's. Thank you.
A
You got it.
B
Thanks, Gary, for the Invite. Glad to be here. Josh, do you want to go next?
A
Adrian, we literally made it for that comment you made, brother. Like, I wanted to make it in a way. I saw the comment you just made while we're waiting for Josh to pop up. Like, I appreciate the honesty. Like, I'm the same way. Like, if I like someone, I always want to like their soup or their wine. Wine was the worst when I was in that business. Like, people would invite me to their home. I'd, like, sleep in their house in Napa, and then wake up the next morning to, like, have to taste the wine, and then I wouldn't like the wine. It was, like, the worst feeling on earth, you know? So, like, I appreciate that comment. Go ahead. Dude. I was so nervous.
C
I was like, dude, I don't know. Back to the, like. Like, this shit. But it was really good.
A
Thank you, man. It definitely. It definitely has, like, I saw Rob, bro. It definitely has, like, the Teen Titans, like, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Like, I definitely mixed in, like, similar to what Tina said about the book. Veefriends is very focused on actually making parents think. Like, there's some real episodes in here that are gonna poke at parenting, which I'm excited about. Anyway. All right, Jack. Sorry. Go ahead.
B
Go ahead, Josh.
C
Okay.
B
Hey.
C
The episode was awesome.
A
Thank you.
C
I'm excited to show my kids.
B
Thank you.
A
Thank you.
C
So my thought is, anytime that my wife and I have had success, we've been super laser focused, and I'm kind of more of the entrepreneur, she's more of the baker, and so I'm always.
A
Trying to pull for more ideas and more things.
C
I'm always, like, amazed by you because you have so much going on. You have so many ideas. When is the time to just focus one thing, and when is it time to have more ideas and go out? Because I'm always ideas, she's always focused.
A
Makes you guys a good team. There's a lot of answers to this first. And this is. I'm really glad we're doing this first. You need to decide what success is. Let me be very clear. One of the reasons I'm challenging to follow if you don't get this kind of time with me is, is I am not trying to maximize fame or money. I'm trying to maximize me being happy. So when I do things that fail miserably and I lose money, time, and effort, I'm not sad. I'm happy because I did it. That is not what most people do. It's also the luxury after doing it well for 25 years. Right. So to your wife's point, Josh, like, I focused on just building wine library for my dad the first 12 years of my career, right? And then when I was building VaynerMedia, I mean, there's something for the hardest core Gary Vee fans, they know this one very nerdy fact about my career. There's almost no content from me in 2006 to today. Literally 18 years. There's almost daily content for me, except from 2012-14, there's very little. Some public speeches here and there. I was so laser focused on building the foundation of VaynerMedia, I put Gary Vee on the shelf. And that's because I sensed that it was time to focus because I wanted to build a foundation that would allow me to do more. So by the time I popped back up in 2014 with the AskGaryVee show, I had a couple people able to help me that worked at VaynerMedia. Prior to that 2006-12, I did everything myself. So, you know, I think for all of you, this is gonna make sense. There's moments when you have to hit while the iron is hot, whether you're growing, whether you're growing your fan base, whether you're deals are coming in. What I do, Josh, is I respond to what I'm feeling. So if I feel like there's something and look, how do you tell somebody like Josh, like, what the feeling is? It's hard to say that, but I will say this, and I'm saying this for everyone. You also have to know what you're doing this for. I literally, today on the elevator coming into my office, was reminiscing about early wine library when my life was simple. I was making $48,000 a year. It was simple. I was opening a store and closing a store every day. That's what I did. And it was awesome. And I love what I do now, but I love that too. And so, you know, I think one thing that I hope all of you. Cause all of you have gotten to some place of public success. I hope you have the humility and the kindness for yourself to know when you don't need to grow. As a matter of fact, this has been a year like that for me. I've not really grown the Gary Vee thing as much. I've been very focused on veefriends and Vayner X and my personal life, to be honest, kids my personal life. And I'm okay with that. I saw today somebody post how many views they got this Last month on Instagram, it was their post and it was 20% more than I got this last month. And this is somebody that I know for a fact learned from me seven years ago. I was happy for them, not sad for me. And so I think eliminating envy, eliminating jealousy, realizing that nobody else's life has anything to do with yours. Saying things like, they, I hope all of you can get out of your vocabulary. Things like, oh, they copied me and now they're growing or they got like all these things that I know slip into the mindset of what we all do for a living. Nobody's taking away from you. And if you're not growing, it's okay to take a breath. Some days, some weeks, some months, and even some years are just a reset or you're focused on something else. I am very professionally obsessed. I am super ambitious. I'm super into this. I love what I do. But having grace for yourself is also important. And so, for example, if she's the straight man and you're the creative force, as long as you guys are over communicating and not creating resentment or tension, just keep communicating. And you know this, it probably already has. It ebbs and flows. It ebbs and flows. Some days, some weeks, some months and some years are better than others. But being here's a big one. But being comfortable with being uncomfortable is a real talent. Like, right? Like not being able to figure out how to grow for six months and being okay with that and enjoying the challenge or at least being neutral while you go through the muckery. It's important.
C
Sweet. Thank you so much, Gary.
A
Appreciate it.
B
Thanks, Josh. Appreciate you coming out. Rob, do you want to go next?
C
Okay, unmuted properly. We good?
B
Good.
A
Rob.
C
Okay, good. So I'll reverse a little bit here, Gary. So what we want to accomplish as a family is the opportunity for our family to continuously do what we want. It's too strong of a word, but be able to be together. We got a race lifestyle right now. Even as the kids get older, you know, girlfriends coming in, boyfriends coming in, you start thinking about, and that's amazing. And I just want to give opportunity where if they want to stay close, then that opportunity is there. They want to move around the world, of course, that's their choice. But right now, as a lot of their friends are working, you know, nine to five jobs or, you know, part time jobs, and you know, we make videos and they, they get paid much better, just make videos. We're a very, very blessed family. So what we're wanting to do now is we know that it can all go away tomorrow. And if it does, that's fine too. The family will still be the family. But we want to strike while the iron's hot. And so when. Right now, I'm hearing you talk a lot about organic content, and it seems like what we've been able to do is we have found a pattern where we do See. Every day in my head, I'm thinking, like, this is gonna be the last day. It's like, people are gonna be bored with us and move on. We're done for. Been thinking that for three years. It's just, you know, my thinking. But then we end up having the best month ever. We think of an idea, and all of a sudden it gets us 100 million views on Instagram. So it's just insane what stuff happens. But I'm trying to. I want to be smart. And as you talk about organic content being more and more important, is there something we could do as a brand where basically the only thing we do is get attention? And we've been very blessed that brands have come to us and paid for us to create content for them, but that's all that we've done so far.
A
Well, I think, you know, look, you have such an unusual thing with the tall family. Like, I think, you know, your next transition is you can debate making a product for tall people. I mean, and it doesn't have to be clothes, you know, like, you have a very tall family. This is not a gift that I understand. So you need to figure out what else you all know. Right? And so, like, I would say the fun thing, Rob, especially for you, Cause I know you a little bit, is to play around with a product that you can sell on TikTok shop and whatnot. I couldn't recommend that more for you because you're not gonna lose your spot on what you're talking about. And the kids are getting older and. And they are gonna move around, and things will change. But for you, what won't change is using this moment of attention, you might be able to create a very small 5 to $25 product that you could sell for the rest of your life. I would highly recommend you looking into that, and I would recommend it not being close. I would think a lot about what can you make. I think everyone here, no matter what you do, should get very educated with TikTok shop and whatnot. I believe live shopping is what social media was 10 years ago. It's really big, and it's about to explode. And whether you sell your own product or other products, like as a retail store. Right. Whether you become Apple or you become Walmart, both are interesting. So think about it. Cool. Let's keep going.
B
Thanks, Ramachina.
C
Sorry.
A
Yes, go ahead.
C
We need to make some content I think will do well. Is there ever going to be a list of anywhere of the heights of the V frame characters?
A
Oh, that's fun. Yeah, send me an email on that. I got an idea on that. I actually have something brewing long term, like medium term, up region. Reach out to me on that. That'll be fun.
B
Love that. Thanks, Roo. Hi, it's Adria.
A
Hey, Drea.
B
I have twin girls, Cody and Haven. And we've started this crazy media company as I like to call it. And I'm a person who likes to kind of seize opportunities and I don't know how many chances I'm going to get to just talk to Gary Vee and so here's my question. We started a podcast, my girls and I, and I wondered if you'd to want to come on the podcast.
A
I love it. Send me an email right now to GaryFriends. It will be next year because I'm not doing anything the rest this year and I would be happy to look at it.
B
All right, we'd love to have you on. My kids are. I call them kid tripeneurs. So they love you.
A
I love you.
B
I introduced them to you and I can't wait to show them the cartoon because I. I'll tell you anytime you're helping a parent out by teaching these kind of lessons.
A
I literally did a very long interview with Parenting.com last week about this and thank you for touching on this. My tweaking to modern parenting is not judgment and critique. Parenting is the hardest job. There's not a single parent that doesn't have a kid right now that's over 25 that doesn't have opinions of what their parents did wrong. Not one. When I tell you I am writing a book called Perfectly Parented, this is true. And I could sit here for the rest of my life and tell you things my parents did wrong. It's impossible. It's the way the game is. So I have huge passion for veefriends, books and cartoons to help parents. Because if a kid sees it while they're being entertained, there's an episode with a countable aunt. One thing that is not happening in modern society is accountability. Everything is everyone else's fault. Meanwhile, everything is your fault. Like that's how life actually is. And so, like it Just thank you for saying that. I'm so passionate. I pray that is the word I will use. That every episode helps at least one parent not have to address some topic with a kid. Cause they get them their selves through veefriends.
B
It will.
A
Thank you.
B
Thank you.
A
By the way, while I've got all of you. And I see that Tyler's putting in links. Tyler, can you please put in the whatnot link for the conference room sale I'm doing soon? I want everyone here to see it. I want them to learn about live shopping. Everybody please download this whatnot app and, like, follow this and watch me. When is it, Tyler? Next? This Friday. What's that?
C
23Rd.
A
23Rd. A week from today. Beautiful. You've got to watch A week from today. I'm telling you, you're gonna learn from it. Watch what I'm doing. Some of you that have watched me for a long time, I used to say this a lot. I need to bring it back. Watch what I do, not what I say. I think you need to watch this. I think you're gonna find some real opportunities for all of you. All right, let's keep it rocking.
B
Maddie? Yeah, go ahead. Can you hear me? Okay? Yes.
A
Yeah.
B
Awesome. Hi.
A
Hi, Maddie.
B
Thank you so much for having me. I'm Maddie. I'm honored to be on this call. I'm very new to the parenting world. My little baby is five weeks old.
A
Wow.
B
Very new.
A
Congrats.
B
All the parenting advice. But honored to have this book and can't wait for him to understand it.
A
Thank you.
B
But I thought I would take this opportunity to kind of look at this new chapter of my life, because I started in music and built a lot of my audience that way, and that's still part of my life. But I've moved into more of the lifestyle and travel space and obviously now this whole new world. And just letting my audience into this process, the good and the bad, so far, has really connected with a lot of them. And I was just curious what you've learned in this space and if you see Elaine here, because I feel like everything was super curated and then it was super stretched down and, like, raw.
A
Yeah, I think. Matt, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Maddie.
B
I just. I feel like there's a balance in that, and I don't want to just be focusing on negative things, but also include people in on the process. So I'm just curious if you've seen any sort.
A
I watch it all the time. The answer is everything works and everything doesn't work. This Is real, right? And I've watched people go through the ebbs and flows, right? Like right now there's so much data that supports that people that over curate are not doing as well as they used to. But then everybody who loves curating and making everything look polished and the grid look good, sees somebody explode who only does that. And then they wanna gravitate towards it. Cause they like the aesthetics then, you know, like. And so I need everyone to hear this nice and slow. There's no right answer. There's right answers for you at right times. And so if you wake up and be like, man, I love even the way you asked the question, man, I've let people into a lot of the challenges today. I just want to do something like bubbly and good do that. The thing that I'm most worried about is that you are all talking yourselves out out of doing what you feel in your stomach. Because you think there's a better way. And then when you do something that you feel in your stomach, what I'm scared about is it doesn't do as well as your other content. And you give up after one post and you archive it and try to act like it didn't happen. The level of insecurity. Please watch what I'm doing. I keep putting out all sorts of stuff. I'm me and I happily leave shit that doesn't do well on my page. Please remember that you're not in high school anymore. Here's how I'll say this. You know how like a hundred years ago people didn't know a lot of things we now know? I mean like real stuff like penicillin and like, don't smoke and like just real shit, right? I always think about, what in 50 years are people gonna know that we sit here today and don't know. Some things are obvious. Like drinking out of plastic bottles is like pretty obviously gonna end up being like, no, you shouldn't do that. That I can wrap my head around. I'll give you one that I don't think people have figured out yet. Some of you might be aware of this. Cause maybe you or your family have dealt with this. I think we're starting to understand gut health a lot more than 25 years ago, right? And there's a lot of convo in that. Similarly, I think that I'm gonna make a prediction in 75 years. It will be common knowledge that your gut is the primary brain and your brain is secondary. I think we've all been taught to not listen to our gut, our intuition I actually think intuition's the answer to every quiz. So, Maddie, what I would say is, like, if you feel it, don't use your secondary brain to talk you out of.
B
Does. Not a lot.
A
I would argue that it does that a lot for almost everybody. And I will tell you, not that I've been right all the time, but the reason I am so calm always in the scheme of things is because I listen to it. And I think, especially with math around, social. All of you or all of you, I promise you are overthinking it. Remember how you got here was by not overthinking it. Most people don't realize the thing that's gonna make you grow more is the thing that got you here. But then you get to somewhere and you start to overanalyze. You know, like, so intuition. Okay? Some days are good, some days are bad. Don't hold it back, you know? And also don't share something you don't wanna share. I think again, some of you followed me for a long time. I think you know this. I don't share my personal life. I don't want to, but I don't judge other people that do. I think it's awesome if that's right for them. But, like, don't do what you think you need to do, right? Do what is good for you. And also be thinking about the future. I think again, since a lot of you do a lot with kids, pay attention to your child. There may be a time pretty early on, before 5 or 6, where you get a sense of, should they be public. Some kids rock with it. Other kids. You may decide. Even though your kid is the one that the audience likes the most, it's your kid. And you can tell they shouldn't be out and about. Be strong.
B
Thank you.
A
You got it.
B
Thank you, Maddie, for your question. Congratulations on your new baby. Gee, I don't know if you saw in the chat, but Rachel said that her husband sells on whatnot and makes a killing and so does so does his mom. So pretty cool to see.
A
I'm desperate for everyone to learn about live shopping on this chat. Because I really feel like the high that I get from the DMs, from all of you, like, thank you. You changed my life. I couldn't be more excited. Cause I know just based on who's on this call, one to three of you are gonna explode. And it gets real, real on there. You start selling $4 million a year in makeup and making 50% profit, making $2 million. And you love it. Cause it's like a mix of QVC meets social media. It's crazy. It's not for everybody, but if it's for you, it's really for you.
B
Daniel, do you want to go next?
A
Jack? I love how Tyler's like, wait a minute, this is just turning into a Q and A session. I better make sure they all remember there's a cartoon. Ty. Got you, baby. Don't worry. Don't worry, my guy.
C
That was the show link for the whatnot.
A
I know. Oh. To the whatnot. Thank you. Even better, brother. Even better. All right, let's keep it going.
C
All right. The wheelchair dad online. I just first want to tell you thanks for having us and for the book and everything. It's been awesome.
A
Thank you.
C
My question is kind of based around what you came on. Kind of suggesting too, is it has to do with getting brand deals and just kind of how, what suggestions do you have to get noticed or to really start firing some of those off? I see at times like certain content creators will just start booming with a bunch of them, you know, one after another. And it's just like we have a pretty large following, but it's just been more difficult trying to figure brand. Figure out brand deals. I don't know if it's.
A
Is it harder to figure out how to get them incoming or harder to figure out when they get. Get to you what to do that works for both of you?
C
Incoming. Probably incoming.
B
We don't get offers for brand deals. Like we hear other people saying that they get all these offers from people and we just. That's just not something we get very often.
A
Yep. And do you, do you ever reach out?
C
We've been starting to do a little more outreach.
A
Yeah. Dan, I think, honestly, brother, I think it's a light up for you. Do either one of you like the idea of spending 30 minutes to an hour listening to music and dming brands and being like, hey, if you ever wanna check us out, let me, let us know.
C
Yeah, I think I can settle into that.
A
Yeah, brother. I think it's. I mean, for me it's the most fun. I'm aware that it's not fun for everyone, but I'm telling you right now, it's pretty like, I don't know, it's like therapy for me. It's relax, like having an hour where I like. And by the way, this is what I do when I say hello to some of you. The reason you hear from me is I literally am on a flight and I'm just like, you know, What? This is more fun for me. I don't do it for brand deals, but it's what I tell everyone to do, and it works. And Tina's right. You can use ChatGPT, but believe it or not, that's like, the next step, in my opinion. Literally, you DMing every single product that's in your house and saying, hey, Twizzlers. Just wanted, you know, me and the fam love your stuff. Hey, head and shoulders. Just want you to know, like, you would be stunned, stunned if you literally just started with everything your family uses and just say, like, big fans. If you wanna get real fancy, like, if you pour yourself a bowl of fucking Cheerios and take a photo and DM them, like, you have 700,000 followers on Instagram, it's gonna catch the attention of brand managers and agencies. So I just think this is one of those scenarios where you gotta go out and take it. And I think, again, like, working out, like, meditating, like, watching tv, like, reading a book. Like, everybody here has different things they like to do. If, God willing, you can get into a place where you enjoy that hour a day, you will see unlimited deals in six months.
C
Awesome, man.
B
Thank you so much.
A
You're welcome.
C
Thanks.
B
Thanks, Daniel, for coming on. Roland, do you wanna go next?
A
Like, Dan, Dan, real quick? Like, that fun photo you had with you guys drinking the icy, right? Like, if you just DM that to them and be like, we love your stuff. But you could also take that photo and be like, you know, we love. We're an ice cream family. And you can just literally go from top, you know, literally from Jerry's, all the way down. Like, you could just hit them all.
C
Okay, I've had that. Mike, we need to do it. Act on it.
B
You're just talking about, like, DMing on Instagram.
A
Yeah. Like, literally DMing, like, 40 different ice cream brands one night, like, and it's like you could literally go into chat. Have you used ChatGPT yet?
C
Yes, I have.
A
You can literally go in there and be like, can you give me the Instagram handles To the top 25 ice cream brands in America? They'll give it to you. Boom, you're off and running. It's really. I mean, again, I love business development, so it's the most fun. And it is literally, literally back to, like, crafting a message when you're fortunate enough, like, you are to have this many followers. Literally just a DM that says, we love your products over here. Keep it up. Literally that.
B
Thank you so much.
A
You're welcome.
B
Yeah, really good advice. Thank you.
C
Thanks.
A
You're welcome, brother.
B
Roland, the floor is yours.
C
How are you doing, Gary? So you said something maybe a year and a half ago online. And we were, I was dealing with, you know, just a lot of, just people, you know, you don't ask for, you know, a lot of followers, you know, they kind of just like gravitate towards your page. And then I was dealing with, like you were saying, posting what I want to post versus what they want to see. And then I found out a balance of the two and now I'm leaning more so towards what I want to post because one thing you said a while back was don't be afraid to take a break for two weeks or two months because you'll always come back stronger. And you know, I took a break for a while because my brain needed it.
A
Good for you.
C
We came back and then it was kind of like, okay, they. People missed. People will miss your presence. But what is your take now? Knowing that that was a year and a half ago. What is your take on disappearing for a while?
A
I believe in it the most. I mean, somebody wants. I have a very viral clip in my world where a kid comes up to me at a Super bowl radio row and he goes, what's your take on health and business? And I'm like, well, if you're dead, you're out of business and people just, you know. And so similarly, if you're burnt out, right? If you're just like. And everyone gets there, brother, when I tell you there are very few people, ro in life that like working the way I like it. And even I, 712 days a year wake up and I'm like, I don't wanna do this anymore, right? And I'm very aware that I'm in like outer space. Fortunate. And I know many more people struggle. I mean, my podcast, the AskGaryVee Show, Tea with GaryVee, DailyVee wine, library, TV. I've stopped things I don't wanna do all the time, regardless of how well they do. And if you don't wanna post for a day or a year, then that's going to be important because. Play it out. I always say this to my friends and people in these moments. Play, Play it out. So the worst downside is you're out for so long, you lost your moment, right? I know what everyone's worried about, but like, no level of money. Cause that's, you know, forget about silly things like vanity, there's no level of money that's worth the alternative that you stayed the course and you really hit rock bottom. I don't think people understand the capacity of a human when they become unhappy. Like, when you get to real unhappiness, you start to do silly things to cope, and those things are very damaging. And less money is not very damaging. You just live a less bougie lifestyle, you know, Like, I don't think people get it. And so I'm pumped that you've been able to taste that. The fact that you've been able to get off the treadmill and are on the other side, you should be golden, really. Even though you, like any other human, are still gonna be worried about the momentum loss. But you've gotta do you. Because those two right there, they're not gonna care about how much is in your bank account in 15 years. They're gonna care about your relationship with them. I promise. People have it super twisted. I have unlimited trust fund baby friends. They're not that happy. Like, you know, and we have to focus on that for real.
C
Thank you.
A
It was nice seeing you at VCon, my man.
C
Oh, yeah, always. That was an amazing trip. I didn't know what to expect. I was like, what is Vcon? And I was like, wow, this is the best creator event I've ever been to. Like, so thank you for putting that on. That was amazing.
A
Thank you, brother.
B
Love to hear it. Thank you. Claire, do you want to go next? Hi there, I'm Claire.
A
Hi, Claire.
B
Instagram, Channel, Live, Leap, Learn. But my question is this. I tend to post a lot about just my life. It is literally how we live. I do a lot of outdoor nature stuff, but I also do a bit of public speaking. And the topics I talk on, I relate to you, Gary, a lot because I talk a lot about parenting and families. And it's in an area that's a little controversial. So my question for you is it is what I do. I am the person who will always post what's in my gut. Good, bad, and different. I never take it down. It goes how it goes online, but how do you deal? Or how would you navigate the area that I'm kind of in? That's more, I guess, controversial, but up.
A
And coming, I think. As long as you don't deploy, like, to me, it's word Claire. For you, it's word smithing. Right? If you're like, hey, this is what works for me and my family, yeah, then it's. Then it's literally wordsmithing. And I've learned this cause I'm very convicted. And so I said it in this interview. I don't know if anyone paid attention, but at one point I said in one human's humble point of view of 8 billion people. And then I said what I had to say. Right. And so to your point, if someone's wildly passionate one way or the other around homeschooling or not having a TV growing up, as long as you're like, hey, this is my, my subjective opinion of what can work, I always say things like, here's a worthwhile debate. It may or may not be right for you. I think if you do just a tweak of wordsmithing, then you've done your best.
B
So that being said, when I go on podcasts, I never get the tweak part that I put in before. It always ends up being the clip that they post.
A
Right? Right. And then like, for example, people try to take me out of context to get reach and then I come in and leave a comment that says, hey, by the way, the first four seconds of this sentence said out of full respect for moms, but okay. And if you fight for your truth or you get to the ultimate place, which is you become wildly comfortable with judgment out of context and you know, your intent is good. It is scary to me how good my intent is while watching some people try to take me out of context for their vested interest. Fascinating. But I'm okay with it because as long as the people that actually know me, for me, I'm very focused on something very specific. The more you actually know me, I wanna make sure you like and respect me more. I can deal with judgment of strangers and it just becomes practice. But I think, thanks for having me. Really valuable.
B
I followed you forever.
A
Thank you. Honestly, I feel like from what I've seen, because I'm always paying attention, I think you're well intended. Keep contextualizing it. If someone's trying to, you know, use you out of context for their own well being, leave your comment. If they delete that comment, you can make a green screen or a stitch and be like, hey, and by the way, I'm always the bigger person. Even if someone did that to me, I'm always like, hey, this person might have their reasons that I don't know of why they decided to do this. Just for clarity, here are the first six seconds of what was actually in there. You can go hear that on the full podcast. I mean, shit, it's one of the reasons I like filming. I film myself doing every podcast just in case someone wants to play around. That's Also fun. And so there's a lot of ways to think about that. And also, at the end of the day, there is one other thing. We are not world leaders who are dictating people's lives. We're also just humans living life, and it's all ultimately not that serious.
B
Right? Well, that's how I feel.
A
That's how I feel. Like, at the end of the day, I know I've done a good job. I know that a lot of people know me. I know I've left a pretty solid positive impact that a human can. And I also know if, God forbid, I died Tomorrow, I'd get 24 hours of tribute from the people that liked me with their favorite clip or what I did for them. And then a week later, everybody would be back to life. And I think the more you live your life that way goes back to what I told Ro. We need to focus on our inner circles, because unlike the rest of the world, that will give me 24 hours and then move on to their. I also know that the 20 people that are closest to me in life, they'll be very affected if I, God forbid, passed away tomorrow, and they would deal with that forever. And so I think we should live our lives that way.
B
I'm right there with you. Thank you, Claire. Appreciate the question. Nate, do you want to go next? We have about three minutes left, but.
A
Everybody, I see a lot of hands up. Like I said earlier, I know some of you joined a little bit later, or maybe I didn't see you on screen. This is the beginning of me. I'm gonna start doing a little bit more of this. I just have more value to give, so I'm gonna start little communities. One in the live shopping and affiliate space of one in this space. So if this was interesting, hit up whatever emails you got. Like, I'm gonna start doing this once a month because I just feel like I want to put that karma into the world.
C
So I kind of jumped in with your content in 2004 when you came back, which is really cool, and have highly benefited from it since. So as we continue to kind of navigate the shifting of the algorithms and stuff like that, like, and as you said, content is kind of like, the key when it comes to a lot of these things. Followers tend to kind of just fall to the wayside at this point. Although I have seen a shift and maybe can kind of speak into this where, at least for Instagram, for instance, I've seen an uptick in, like, stories and even, like, your first 24 hours of having a post go to your followers.
A
Yeah, they're constantly. Well, look, I mean I think most of you, if you look at your Instagram, most of it is hitting predominantly your followers and then you could see non followers. If it actually quote unquote went viral, I'll be honest with you, they're going to keep playing this forever. As much as I think follow count has declined in some ways, I actually think the way they should do it is have two feeds. One is interest and one is the people you actually want. There was a startup called Path that I think they should. That all big platforms should incorporate. I think all of us should have one feed that has our top 140 people we wanna follow so we make sure we see all their stuff and another one that acts like. So there's. I think just keep in mind it will continue to ebb and flow, but a hyper focus on making good content every day that brings value will always play itself out.
C
And real quick, if we could finish, maybe I finish off this like, you know, as I continue to get busier. As you see an actual.
A
I see it, I work at a job.
C
So being able to be busy in real world stuff and making content and being blessed to be able to be consistent with all of that. Also being a father.
A
Yes.
C
How have you navigated being so Busy ever since 2014, even working as much as you have and still being present.
A
Still being in your kids. I'll tell you how, by not beating myself up like work, life, balance, by whose standard? Who gets to decide? I guarantee if we do a survey right now, everyone's got a different answer. And oh, by the way, I know plenty of parents that come home at 5 o' clock every night and don't pay attention for shit about their like, what are you deciding? So Nate, I think it's about effort. By holding myself accountable, by not being delusional that I'm choosing work over to kids and I'm making up some excuse and by living a mantra if I can, I will. Right. Like we're all living different lives and sometimes. And by the way, let me go fully. You're also allowed to be a human being. You're allowed to. This is real for every parent. You're allowed to miss a recital or a game or a class thing for something that is either a fire at your work or even let me blow your mind here, you just chose to do something for yourself. You're allowed. It is not a hundred zero game. I love my dad the most. We have a crazy good relationship. He showed up for nothing. In my entire life, not one thing, not one video game, not one parent teacher conference. He didn't know anything about my childhood. Nothing. There's no perfect system. You gotta just do the best you can and you gotta react to the truth of the situation. In fact, I would argue that a lot of kids are incredibly depressed and insecure today. Cuz their parents did go to everything and they over coddled everything. I think a little adversity, I think little Johnny not having his dad come to the big game is a shockingly good thing for little Johnny. Not always. Can't feel neglected. But I think a little balance and the force would be nice. So I think Nate, by knowing that you're trying and caring about your family and doing the best you can.
C
Appreciate that. Thank you.
A
You know what I mean. So anyway, I gotta run to something else. I know the team is gonna send you guys assets, green screens, anything that anybody can do for the premiere in two weeks. It is a big moment for me and it would mean the world to me. If you know, other families or kids stuff people, you can introduce me to them to email. I'm grind these next two weeks and then I'm hoping to get this really going as a monthly thing and I'm thinking about doing it for like two, three hours a day like on those days because as you can see, I want to go deep and I know this group will just get bigger and bigger. So I hope to see you around. I hope this brought you value. I know that my answers are also helping everyone. So it's good we're all dealing with similar things, but slightly different. So thank you and I hope to see you soon and I wish you nothing but the best.
Podcast Summary: The GaryVee Audio Experience
Episode: Listen To This If You Want To Be An Influencer In 2025
Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
In this dynamic and unscripted Q&A-focused episode, Gary Vaynerchuk (GaryVee) addresses a community of creators, parents, entrepreneurs, and influencers about the evolving landscape of influencer marketing and content creation—especially as we approach 2025. He shares strategic advice on breaking through heightened competition, algorithm changes, live shopping, monetization pathways, and maintaining authenticity in the age of AI influencers. The episode is rich with practical, actionable guidance for anyone serious about growing and sustaining influence, cutting through vanity metrics, and building a personal brand or business that matters.
Increased Competition & AI Creators:
Gary predicts that soon, every person and even AI entities will function as influencers, making the space even more crowded and competitive.
“We’re gonna wake up in a couple years, not only will every human be an influencer or creator, but there’s gonna be AI influencers.” (02:00)
Emphasis on Community Building:
Gary plans to establish tighter communities through recurring Q&A sessions to drive deeper value and networking among creators.
“I want to build a little bit more of a community around this. Cause I think the stakes are getting higher and it’s getting harder to break out.” (02:48)
Algorithmic Shifts Favor Content over Follower Count:
The game has shifted from page-centric to content-centric—a single post can go viral regardless of following size.
“The algorithm change of the last three years has taken this completely out of the equation. The following is now a vanity thing...” (09:57)
Timestamp: [09:57–10:52]
Strategic Use of Multiple Pages:
It’s viable to experiment with multiple, even niche pages; the focus should always be on quality content, not consolidation for follower metrics.
"I am grateful every day that I wake up and nobody that I love passed away. I keep it simple." (11:13)
“The size and scale you need to be at in views to actually make your monetization from the platforms...is very large.” (13:05)
“I am not trying to maximize fame or money. I’m trying to maximize me being happy.” (16:11)
Live Commerce as the Next Big Thing:
Gary evangelizes "TikTok Shop" and live shopping platforms (e.g., Whatnot) as underused opportunities for creators to launch and build sustainable businesses.
"Live shopping is what social media was 10 years ago. It’s really big, and it’s about to explode.” (24:53) Timestamp: [24:53–25:15, 27:28–34:17]
Product Ideas for Niche Audiences:
Example: A family of "tall creators" should consider launching a product specifically for tall people, not necessarily apparel, leveraging their unique brand.
Balancing Vulnerability, Privacy, and Curation:
There’s no “one right way,” says Gary—follow your intuition (or “primary brain”—the gut), and don’t post for the algorithm over your own sense of authenticity.
“There’s no right answer. There’s right answers for you at right times...So, Maddie, if you feel it, don’t use your secondary brain to talk you out of it.” (29:31–32:12)
Kids in Content:
Be mindful about your child’s exposure—and be willing to pivot if you sense it doesn’t suit them, regardless of audience reaction.
Navigating “Balance” and Guilt:
“Work-life balance, by whose standard? Who gets to decide?...There’s no perfect system. You gotta just do the best you can and react to the truth of the situation.” (50:39)
Proactive Outreach:
Don’t wait for brand deals—initiate DM outreach to brands you genuinely use and love.
“Literally, you DMing every single product that’s in your house and saying, hey, Twizzlers...You’d be stunned…if you literally just started with everything your family uses.” (37:15)
Timestamp: [35:25–39:38]
Contextualizing “Hot Takes”:
Phrase opinions as personal points of view, not universal truths. Lean into humility via “wordsmithing.”
“As long as you don’t deploy...like, to me, it’s wordsmithing. Right? If you’re like, hey, this is what works for me and my family, then it’s literally wordsmithing.” (44:09)
Staying Calm about Misrepresentation:
“It is scary to me how good my intent is while watching some people try to take me out of context for their vested interest. Fascinating. But I’m okay with it..." (45:15)
Ultimate Perspective:
Focus on your inner circle (“the 20 people closest to me in life...”), not strangers’ opinions ([47:20]).
On Authenticity and Reinvention:
“Do your thing. Because I’m telling you, when you’re 90, you’re gonna be sad if you didn’t do the thing that’s in your stomach.” (08:50)
On Gratitude:
“I only leave gratitude for health. Everything else is manageable.” (11:24)
On Platform Shifts:
“The following is now a vanity thing more than — I believe, in the next 24 months, they’re gonna eliminate even your followers as a reason for the content to be seen.” (10:00)
On Brand Outreach:
“If you pour yourself a bowl of f–ing Cheerios and take a photo and DM them, you have 700,000 followers…it’s gonna catch the attention of brand managers." (37:30)
On Taking a Break as a Creator:
"If you don’t wanna post for a day or a year, then that’s going to be important...” (40:39)
On Dealing with Controversy:
“As long as the people that actually know me, for me, I’m very focused on something very specific. The more you actually know me, I wanna make sure you like and respect me more. I can deal with judgment of strangers and it just becomes practice.” (45:15)
Gary wraps the session by committing to more frequent, small-group interactions for deeper value and expresses gratitude for the supportive community. He reiterates that the path to influence lies in authenticity, community-building, proactive experimentation, and relentless execution—regardless of algorithmic shifts or the opinions of the crowd.
“I hope this brought you value. I know that my answers are also helping everyone. So it’s good we’re all dealing with similar things, but slightly different. So thank you and I hope to see you soon and I wish you nothing but the best.” (52:34)
For aspiring and working influencers in 2025: This episode serves as a playbook for staying ahead through authenticity, tactical experimentation, and keeping focused on what matters most.