No More Excuses: The Playbook for the Next 5 Years | GaryVee Aspire Q&A

Summary

Podcast Summary: The GaryVee Audio Experience Episode: No More Excuses: The Playbook for the Next 5 Years | GaryVee Aspire Q&A
Release Date: April 3, 2025

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Introduction: Embracing Accountability and Action

In this episode of The GaryVee Audio Experience, host Gary Vaynerchuk delves deep into the critical themes of accountability, leveraging social media, and embracing emerging technologies like AI to propel one's business and personal growth over the next five years. Through a dynamic Q&A session, Gary challenges listeners to shed excuses, take control of their destinies, and harness the unprecedented opportunities of the digital age.

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1. The Unmatched Power of Social Media Marketing

A. Real-World Insights and Lessons Learned

Gary begins by sharing a candid backstage conversation he had about the efficacy of social media marketing. He recounts hiring a dedicated TikTok specialist based on advice, which initially seemed promising but led to frustrations:

"[00:57] Gary Vaynerchuk: I got a little bit of a bone to pick with you..."

Despite setbacks, Gary highlights the resurgence of social platforms, emphasizing that organic content remains a powerful tool:

"[03:11] Unknown Speaker: This era that we're in right now where you can post something on a social network and it's free... it's free."

B. Diversifying Platform Strategies

Gary stresses the importance of not limiting efforts to just one or two platforms. He underscores the significance of platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts, and Twitter alongside TikTok and Instagram:

"[06:25] Unknown Speaker: ...accounting for all or most social platforms..."

He advocates for mastering various social media channels to maximize reach and engagement, noting that each platform offers unique advantages for different business objectives.

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2. The Imperative of Embracing Artificial Intelligence

A. AI as a Transformative Force

Gary and his co-speaker explore the profound impact AI will have on businesses and daily life. Gary emphasizes that AI is not a future possibility but a present reality reshaping industries:

"[09:26] Unknown Speaker: I don't predict things. I just am always on it... Live social shopping is the next frontier of opportunity..."

He highlights examples like live social shopping and virtual influencers, illustrating how AI-driven innovations are already generating significant revenue streams.

B. Preparing for an AI-Driven Future

Gary urges listeners to immerse themselves in understanding AI's implications for their businesses. He recommends dedicating substantial time to research and integrating AI tools like ChatGPT into daily operations:

"[19:00] Unknown Speaker: ...start the journey of spending 50 to 100 hours of research time on what's going on in AI..."

He warns that failing to adopt AI will leave businesses at a competitive disadvantage, as AI will increasingly handle convenience-driven tasks and consumer interactions.

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3. Building a Long-Term Vision: The Marathon Mentality

A. Patience Over Instant Gratification

Gary contrasts the sprint-oriented mindset prevalent among entrepreneurs with his own marathon approach. He illustrates this through his endeavors like VeeFriends, emphasizing patience and long-term planning:

"[34:19] Gary Vaynerchuk: When you play long, I could be a very, very resentful old man... It's in my soul to play it long."

B. Balancing Work Passion and Personal Well-Being

While Gary acknowledges his relentless work ethic, he also shares personal struggles with discipline outside of business. He underscores the importance of loving what you do to sustain long-term commitment:

"[31:00] Unknown Speaker: ...I didn't like the wins. The hard work was something I embraced because I love the process."

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4. Accountability and Self-Esteem: Taking Control of Your Life

A. Eliminating Excuses and Taking Responsibility

A significant portion of the discussion centers on personal accountability. Gary passionately urges listeners to stop blaming external factors and take full responsibility for their lives:

"[24:20] Unknown Speaker: ...if you want something financially, being good at business is a good idea. Otherwise, shut the fuck up."

B. Building Self-Esteem Through Positive Actions

Gary advocates for self-empowerment by controlling one's environment and mindset. He suggests practical steps like curating a positive social media feed and limiting exposure to negativity:

"[47:11] Unknown Speaker: ...start searching positive things on Instagram and liking it all... You control your life and remove negativity."

He emphasizes that true happiness and success stem from internal control and proactive decision-making.

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5. Overcoming External Validation and Embracing Self-Love

A. Dismissing the Fear of Judgment

Gary highlights how fear of negative comments and external judgment holds many back from pursuing their dreams. He encourages listeners to focus inward and build genuine self-worth:

"[45:37] Unknown Speaker: ...you have no idea how good life gets once you stop complaining and once you stop blaming."

B. Cultivating a Resilient Mindset

By fostering self-love and resilience, Gary believes individuals can better navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship and personal growth. He stresses that embracing mistakes as learning opportunities is crucial:

"[48:14] Gary Vaynerchuk: ...your foundation of the way you feel about yourself is broken, you've lost."

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6. Practical Steps to Harnessing Social Media and AI

A. Developing a Comprehensive Social Media Strategy

Gary outlines a straightforward, actionable plan for listeners:

1. Create a Comprehensive Content Plan: Engage across multiple social platforms, not just the popular ones like TikTok and Instagram.
2. Invest in AI Education: Dedicate 50 to 100 hours researching AI and its applications in your business.

"[26:02] Unknown Speaker: ...go change your newsfeed... watch 15 puppy posts. It's a simple way to boost your mood and productivity."

B. Implementing Consistent Action

He emphasizes that success requires consistent effort and adaptability. By taking daily actions aligned with their goals, listeners can bridge the gap between where they are and where they want to be:

"[40:15] Unknown Speaker: ...if you take this seriously, every little dream you have becomes achievable."

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7. Personal Anecdotes and Inspirational Stories

Throughout the episode, Gary shares personal stories and experiences to illustrate his points. From his early days managing social media solo to building a $400 million advertising agency, his journey serves as a testament to the power of perseverance and strategic thinking.

"[29:23] Unknown Speaker: ...VaynerMedia, my advertising agency, I don't think most people realize that it's 2500 employees... a $400 million a year business."

His reflections on balancing personal passions with business commitments provide relatable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs.

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Conclusion: Taking No More Excuses

In wrapping up, Gary delivers a powerful message urging listeners to take immediate and decisive action. He reiterates the importance of accountability, continuous learning, and embracing both social media and AI to stay ahead in an ever-evolving landscape.

"[53:31] Unknown Speaker: ...It's so easy to blame. It's so fucking easy to blame. That's why it doesn't have good results. Everything good in life is hard. Get the fucking work."

Gary leaves his audience with a call to action: eliminate excuses, harness the tools and opportunities at their disposal, and commit to a disciplined, long-term strategy to achieve their ambitions.

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Key Takeaways:

• Leverage Multiple Social Platforms: Diversify your social media strategy beyond just TikTok and Instagram to maximize reach and engagement.
• Embrace AI Early: Invest time in understanding and integrating AI technologies to stay competitive and innovate within your industry.
• Adopt a Marathon Mindset: Focus on long-term goals and patient growth rather than seeking immediate gratification.
• Take Full Accountability: Stop blaming external factors and take control of your personal and professional life.
• Cultivate Self-Esteem: Build self-worth from within and minimize exposure to negativity to foster resilience and drive.
• Consistent Action is Key: Regular, strategic actions aligned with your goals are essential for sustained success.

Gary Vaynerchuk's candid and motivational discourse offers a robust playbook for entrepreneurs and professionals aiming to navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape over the next five years. By internalizing his insights and applying his actionable strategies, listeners are empowered to eliminate excuses and achieve meaningful growth.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I got a little bit of a bone to pick with you, please. Okay, so we're gonna pick a bone. Okay, so about maybe seven months ago, you were at an event, me and you're backstage. I was talking to you. I said, okay, Gary, you see what we do? It's like your second or third event. I was like, what, what piece of advice would you give me of what we could do for marketing different. We are now can you if you remember this yet or not? And you thought there for a second about like that you're like. And you said, I tell you what I would do. I would take part of your marketing budget and I would, instead of running ads, I would hire a full time TikTok only person. Y and you said, all I would have that guy or girl do is just tick tock, tik tok, tik tok. And you said, you don't understand. You're like, you have no idea what would go viral. Like the thing you think will go viral won't. And this stupid shit of like it's Magic Johnson dropping a cup goes viral. Remember this horrible story you told me? So I did that. Okay, okay. Dude's right here. We hired him from California. He moved to Florida to do tick Tocks. We're going to fire him today. Now listen, I needed you to fire him. So check this out, bro. So we. He was, he's a great, He's a great. And we've had some. His chef hit Bang bang, whatever he does aspire. He's doing something for me. Listen to this, bro. We, we, we. He had this video they wanted to shoot. I shoot this video for. Yeah, four days ago, this thing, it finally hit 2. Hit 2.2 million views. Like 200,000 comments on this one. Stupid ass. A tik tok video that we shot then, then People magazine reached out, said we want to do an interview. Newsweek reached out, we want to do an interview. Today show reached out and said we want to do an interview inside of this. So my issue is I should have done this like 20 years ago. Where the fuck were you 20 years ago in my life? Because that's all free. Like you know, you know how hard it is to get on people to get interview for that shit. And it worked. It fucking worked, bro.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, I mean, look, I think for everyone here, I need to say this very clearly. This era that we're in right now where you can post something on a social network and it's free. I just need everyone to wrap their head around what I'm saying here. It's free. Free when you post it, of course you can run ads, but the story he's telling right now, it's free. This era that we're in is going to go away. And everybody here who's been listening, you know, when you just said, where were you?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I was here, you were there. I don't know what the fuck you were doing.

[Unknown Speaker]

But I think a lot of people, like, a lot of people know I've been on this for 20 years, and I've been very consistent. I. I wrote Crush it in 2008. Right. It came out in 09. We're talking about 17 years ago.

Wow.

I've been, you know, if that made some of you feel old, trust me, I get it. So I've been here. This era will go away. The phone that a lot of you are holding right now is going to look ancient in a decade. We are literally within the decade of glasses or something else. Circumventing the phone. Once the phone does not become the primary device, the social networks and the feeds don't work the same. When the printing press was the most important, the people that wrote books and newspapers won. When the radio became the most important, the people that spoke in it and were listened to became the device. Then a television came along and completely changed our society. This social network moment is incredibly important for us. Unlike every other medium, there were gatekeepers and very heavy expenses to have big moments. Now, all of us with our phone in there for free, can change the course of our life, our business, our passions. You know, I could literally end this talk right now on this rant. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. The only agenda I have to get across to everybody here, regardless if you're the biggest fan of me and have consumed me for 15 years or you have no idea who I am right now as you sit here, is for all of you to understand how significant the opportunity is in front of us to take advantage of the last five or six years of this window that has created a level of democracy and meritocracy around opportunity that has never in the history of the world been accessible to a human being. I could not implore you. And for most of you, if not all of you, social has been around for long enough that you're taking it for granted. You're taking it for granted. And just like what you just felt, a lot of you've been posting for a long time and the thing hasn't happened, and that's because you just might suck at it. But what's cool about being sucky at something is all of you sucked at walking.

Yeah.

Like you couldn't walk and then you learned.

Yeah.

And so the reason I've been doing what I'm doing and continue to be passionate about this is I know that once people in this audience get over their insecurities of worrying about people leaving negative comments or being insecure that they only get seven views and they think that that's bad or all the normal things that humans go through in their journey of getting to actual self esteem and comfort and self love. Once they get over that hump, which more than half of this room has not gotten over yet, then you get into the second part, which is the tactics. The reason I wrote my last book, Day Trading Attention, was I went very deep into the tactics. Thank you. And so, you know, look, I really don't know how else to say this other than if you do not attack the free social network. And I mean all of them. Another issue here is for some of the people that are winning, they're only winning on TikTok or Instagram. And I will tell you right now, the most important platform for me of the last month, for me and my team is Facebook. Proper, classic Facebook. So I think most people here are not on enough platforms. And definitely most people here. Don't take the thumbnail the first three seconds, the copy, the strategies, the real skills of actually getting your video to get 500,000 views instead of 49. But all roads, politically, socially, and definitely in business and marketing. All roads. What's Today's date? The 13th, 17th? What's a 12? All roads on March 12, 2025 lead to social media. Organic content, organic, not paid. All roads lead there. And regardless of what you want to accomplish in this room, every person, sell something, get clients, become famous or something much more noble. Raise a couple bucks for your pta, win local office because you want to fix the pothole on Main street, be a better father or mother. All roads lead to this distribution platform. And I could not implore all of you to get more serious about it. Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay, so you just said something that's very unique. So obviously platforms have been around for. We're coming on 20, 25 years. They've really been around. You just said that in the last, let's say the next. You know, there's crystal ball, but within 10 years that you think this whole thing is going to change on its face, Basically, I do. So we're on the. You're saying we're on the back half and on the way down of the hill on social media. Not the growth of it but. But it going away and changing something else.

[Unknown Speaker]

Look, I. I get a lot of credit for predicting things. I don't predict things. I just am always on it. And then I talk about right, for example, right now, how many people here sell something physical? Can you make some noise? Just make some noise so I get a sense. So every person that raised their hand and made some noise, every one of them should be paying attention to live social shopping. TikTok shop whatnot fanatics live ebay, live like that is not me predicting whatnot's doing 3 billion in gross sales on the platform. Most people here have no idea who the fuck whatnot or whatnot is.3 billion. So I'm not predicting that live social shopping is happening. It's already happened. It's been happened in China for 10 years. And whether you sell T shirts or vitamins or bikinis or sneakers or banana chips, you should be really focusing on live social shopping because it's the next frontier of opportunity over the next 36 to 40, 48 months and first mover advantage really matters. I can promise you. Like you, a lot of people here wish they got more serious about TikTok when I was yelling at the top of my lungs in 2017. I'm sure of it. So I'm not. You know, I don't like to predict. I like to move fast when shit's happening. But it is very clear to me that Meta Facebook Inc. Has a major agenda to get us off the phone and onto their device. And they are hot. Committed to these glasses. I also have the luxury to have witnessed future forms of the glasses by going out there and playing with it. It is very clear to me that whether it's them or Apple or Google or Microsoft or a Chinese company that we are only going in one direction in technology. Innovation continues to happen. I'm sure a lot of you are thinking about how AI might hurt you. Let me just remind you technology is undefeated. It's undefeated. There was when the car was being made. The guy that owned 30,000 horses made fun of the car and said it wouldn't work. Not because he was dumb, but because he had financial vested interest in the car not winning. Yeah, a lot of people here are making decisions about things because it isn't what they want to be happening. The only reason I think I've been successful in business is I know that business doesn't give a fuck about my feelings.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Zero concern.

[Unknown Speaker]

So I don't want to Predict, but I think it's unlikely that in 10 years that the mobile device, the way we know it is as primary as it is right this nanosecond. And if that's true, the way social plays is going to be different. And that's where AR&VR and other things that are looming that we've heard about for a long time start to become serious. So, yeah, I mean, I guess for me none of us know, but what we all know is that every day businesses and humans are going viral at scale and it's changing their outcomes. Or if you don't even go viral, if you're just good at it, your business or your financial impact goes up by 20 or 30% because you're good at it. And that's good too. So I just, I just want people to take it more serious.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When, when I was watching recently a video you were making on content, imagine that. And you talked about something and I said, man, I want to ask you about this. You were talking about, you were having a conversation about AI.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And you said, people are going to regret not building their brand as AI is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and you're tying AI and what's going to do into you needing to make sure you have built your brand. What's the connection between those two?

[Unknown Speaker]

The connection there is AI is I'm going to stand up for this because I got excited. AI is so fucking big that it's like almost hard to like break it down. Like whatever the fuck you think it is, it's crazier. The speed in which AI is gonna really affect our lives is substantial. Let me give you an example. AI getting really strong and voice devices are gonna really confuse people. For example, the Alexa in your home. And I know a lot of people like to shut it off cause they're like, it's spying on me. I'm like, that's fine. Like Jeff Bezos doesn't give that much fucks about you, by the way. But I think that when you come home and this is the world I see when you walk into your kitchen and you're like, alexa, my son is having a sleepover tonight. Three friends are coming over. One's lactose intolerant, one's gluten free, two of them love spicy food and one kid is Persian and I'd love for him to feel at home. Can you please order dinner for all of us? We're going to eat at 7:30 tonight. Thanks. When that then takes that and orders from four different places and delivers you A perfect meal in what I just said. For real. You have to understand then, in that scenario, Amazon has all the leverage because it's going to decide where that sale is going to go. That's called not having brand. Alexa, can you send me a pizza tonight? I have 20 people over. That's different than, Alexa, send me Pizza Hut tonight. I've got 20 people. Got it.

Yeah. Yeah.

We are going into a place where all that's been happening over the last forever, but accelerating the last 30, 40 years is we choose convenience over everything. There are people here that are fucking broke ordering fucking $28 bagels on fucking seamless.

Right?

That's how much we give a shit about convenience. Even when we can't afford stuff, we'll pay for time. AI is going to make everything convenient. You're going to have AI agents shop for you in the background. Like, you have no idea how big this is going to be. And so if you're not a brand, the human is not going to choose you. You're going to choose it generically. You're going to talk and make decisions based on general principles. I need Sneakers versus I need Reeboks. I need pizza versus Pizza Hut. I need business advice versus I need business advice from Gary Vee. Brand is the only thing left in a world of technology at scale, and that's what's going to happen. Wow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So in that example there, what you're saying is, because when you hit that example of AI, if. If they don't know your brand, you're basically leaving it up to whoever. Let's example Amazon to decide.

[Unknown Speaker]

Whoever sits in the middle, whoever's the toll booth wins. Right? Seamless comes in, and now it has leverage. Uber Eats has leverage. You're not ordering direct from the restaurant because we all remember if you're over 40, you remember, like, literally having a menu in your fucking kitchen drawer, getting the phone number, calling the fucking place. Kids, it was wild. Now, we love an Uber Eats or a Seamless. That's so much faster. That's gonna feel, in 15 years, the way it felt to call a restaurant and stay on hold. Because AI is gonna do it for you in a way that's gonna. We're gonna be so connected. You're gonna be wearing devices of your health. The fucking device is gonna order you food based on how. How you're feeling that minute. Friends, you're fucking robots. You just don't realize it yet. I'm being dead serious, brother. In 15 years, I believe most of us will be wearing some form of health device. And that device is gonna order us dinner, not us. And we're gonna love it.

Wow.

So what happens in that sense? You're not making the fucking choice. You're not deciding to go to fucking Luigi's tonight and get pasta. But if you love Luigi's enough or you give a fuck enough, you will override. We still are not like completely helpless to this technology, but I don't think people realize how few things they give a shit about. And that is going to play out. And that is where all the opportunity and all the vulnerability is as all of you game plan for the next 10 years.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So on that, on that note, I mean, the crowd is like dead silence.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, people are like, what the. They're like, gary, you know, the robots gonna kill my kids. Yeah, better be ready.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So in that example there, let's. Can you break it down a little bit into what someone should be doing then? Whether this is five years off, 10 years off. I'm sick and tired of you fucking being right and me like, I don't fucking know, maybe. And then I'm getting my ass handed to me five years later on some shit. So it's.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's a big deal. Like, like. Let me give you an example. Who's in real estate here? Hans? Have you guys seen what happened to the company in Portugal that created an AI bot and did 100 million in sales? Anybody aware of that? Make some noise.

Yeah, wow.

Exactly. My friends, this isn't coming. This is here. I really need you. Listen, this is super important. We are by nature as humans hypocrites. You're gonna go home tonight and scold your children about. Get educated. It's important to have knowledge this, that and the other thing. And meanwhile, this AI thing is happening and you're putting your head in the sand. What should everyone do tonight? They should go home and start the journey of spending 50 to 100 hours of research time on what's going on in AI and what does it mean for their business. And how do you do that? You do that by actually using AI download ChatGPT and be like, ChatGPT. What does AI mean to real estate? You know, like, we've got to put in the work. This is coming and it's coming fast and it's disrupting everything and it's just gonna be the same old movie. Some people here are winning on social, but they don't wanna learn a whole new thing like AI or this. Again, this is just the way it is. And so I think people are Very naive to what's going on out there. Let me give you another one. Everybody now wants to be a fucking influencer, right?

Yeah.

Well, bad news. Virtual influencers are coming and they're gonna win.

Yeah. Yeah.

There's a lot of people here already following someone who's not actually a human being. They don't even realize that that's how good the tech is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I've dated seven of them online. It's like, wait, you're not real.

[Unknown Speaker]

And by the way on that joke in Japan, this is very advanced VTubers. There are people in Japan that are married to virtual people. Married? Forget about like getting tricked and it's like an only fans thing. No, no, no, all the way. I am married to a person that doesn't exist. Most of the people in this room will have a grandchild who will date a non human. Thank you. See you next time. But you know what's funny about that moment? Like what? Like when you like. You know what my favorite moment is? When I say something like that right now. So many people in the audience were like no way, Gary, no. And then I remind them that you do understand that if we went to your great great grandparents grave right now because there's some new technology and we can rebirth them by putting a little pill in it or fucking and sprayed the fucking thing and they popped up and they. Let's say that existed. If we all went to our great great grandparents grave right now, sprayed it, they popped up, they're alive, they would fucking want to go back into the ground.

Yeah.

Because the shit that we're living blows their mind like people are. Listen, I was an atrocious student, but I was good at history and I never understood why I liked it until I got older where I realized how much I rely on it to make my decisions. The reason I end up being right when I do predictish is because I ground myself in history. Let me give you an example. I know a lot of you don't know this, but it would help you understand why I see the world the way I do. When electricity was invented, do do you know that most people were scared to put it into their home and continue to use candles because the word on the street was there were demons in the electricity. And do I have to remind some of the 40 and overcrowd here who said they would never give up their BlackBerry because it had buttons on it?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That one hurt, that one stung. I did that one.

[Unknown Speaker]

And again over 40 year old crowd let these 20 year olds know the stigma of online dating in 2003, 4, 5, 6 people met on match.com and lied how they met because it was so embarrassing. Now it's the only way people do it. Yeah, my friends, shit changes whether you like it or not. And when I think about coming to things like this, I always think about like, how do I bring value? Like, why do people want to continue to listen to me? People paid, people stayed to the end. How do I bring value if I can bring you any value? It's that if you say the word no in business, you're already in trouble. The only word if you're a no person that you're allowed to change that to is maybe because so many of you are going to lose or you limit your upside because you're addicted to the word no. And that is the most dangerous word in business. With technology you must. With consumer trends, with the way the world moves, you must be committed to maybe not. Yes, that's where you get in trouble the other way too. You get too ahead of yourselves. And no has value in other places, protecting your time, keeping you away from things. But when it comes to what's happening in the world, you can't use no. And so many of you love to use excuses to not do new shit. You know, what was the big one last year, two years ago, everyone's like, oh, Gary TikTok, I can't do it. Fucking China.

China.

You know, people love to do some USA American pride to disguise. You're fucking lazy.

Yeah, it's a crutch.

Yeah, that's a true American trait. Right now we're lazy. Yeah, we're fucking soft because we've had too much prosperity. You must go do your 50 to 100 hours of AI research or it will fuck you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Maybe think of this. I was interviewing Mark Cuban a while back and it was in Dallas and I asked about AI. So what's your thoughts on AI? And his answer was he's like, how often do you use apps on a daily basis? And if you stop and think about it, it's like non stop. You're constantly. When you open your phone, then it goes to an app immediately. Right? And he's. And his answer was he said as much as you is an app on a day daily basis of your life, AI is 10 times more powerful and will be bigger than all those apps combined. That was his viewpoint of AI. Where's heading?

[Unknown Speaker]

I'm sure he knows this. You know, it's 10,000 times. It's not 10. This is really big. And again, bringing it We've gone pretty high level here today on the first couple things. If you decided to come to this, this is a good place to go if you're here. My brain goes to like, what the fuck are you doing here? Yeah, right. And where that goes next is this is a room full of people who are hungry and ambitious to do something. Right. Like you decided to fucking come. Like, I don't know. I don't. I mean, you didn't come here to fucking sit in dark and just hang out like. Like you fucking came because you're trying to make something happen, I assume.

Yeah.

What bothers me about something like that is just coming to consume this information isn't doing anything.

Yes.

Yeah, you could have laid in bed.

Yep.

And consumed. Please act. Please act. And so very simply, I'm gonna make this simple. This is like a foolproof formula, in my opinion. Pretty basic. And guess what? The cost of it is free. 99, what I'm about to tell you is free. But you have to do something. Number one, you must have a comprehensive plan on making content for social networks. There's seven of them. There's LinkedIn and YouTube shorts, not just TikTok and Instagram. Facebook regular is exploding again. There's Twitter. It fucking matters. And number two, you must do 50 to 100 hours of research on AI. You must touch it. If you do not have ChatGPT on your phone right now. The fuck are you doing? Yeah, the fuck are you doing? And don't give me like, I don't believe in AI. No, you're fucking lazy. You're fucking entitled. Or maybe you're, you know, of a certain age where you're just hoping that you could just ride it out before it takes you out. No, really, People do that. They're like, gary, you don't get it. I'm 60. I'm like, what the. You're 60? Like, I'm like, are you retiring in the next three years? If they're like, yes. I'm like, okay. But even in the next 40 years of your life, when you're retired, you probably want to use these tools to just make your life better. But people use these noble political frameworks to actually use as full pledge disguises to the truth, which is you're lazy. That's exactly right. Notice how the claps were not as.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I was like, we love to tell.

[Unknown Speaker]

Everybody else to do work but ourselves. This is work. This is work. By the way, on the record, technology doesn't come natural to me either. I don't like to do mean it. I get pissed when new comes along. Like, I get. I do well with it. But when I saw Musical ly, which became TikTok, I was like, ah, fuck. Like, another thing I have. Like, I'm not pumped either. Like, if the world would slow down, I'd be chilling. I'm winning. But it's just not the way it is. The game is not built that way. And what's crazy is it's high stakes poker. These new things that come along, you either ride them and explode, or you kind of put your head in the sand and they start to chip away. And fuck you, you. And so please do not underestimate what's happening here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let me ask this question to you, because this is something that I, I, I would think a lot of times back in the day when I would look at you and you say, right? And so probably maybe some of the crowd is saying this to themselves, which was a hypothetical excuse for me to be lazy. And that was. I was like, yeah, but Gary has a whole team, right? Gary doesn't actually do social media. Like, Gary doesn't. He's not actually doing it. He's got 25 people. Motherfucker. He's out here doing. And I just. Just to be clear, I have seen you backstage on your phone posting shit. Like, I've seen you do it.

[Unknown Speaker]

There was also the seven and a half years that I did it every single day before I had one employee.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

By yourself?

[Unknown Speaker]

That's right. There's, you know, there's that part too, y'all.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, you know, like, like, people are just always, like, so confused. Like, listen, work is part of the equation. I know that. We got, like, weird for, like, 10 years where people trying to convince you, like, work wasn't part of the equation. You know, I remember, like, people got mad at me for using the word hustle. I was like, fine, I'll change it to hard work. Like, work is part of the equation. But. Yes, go ahead.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No, it's just, it's, It's. It was an excuse that I came up with that I, or, or what people do.

[Unknown Speaker]

I apologize. Is not in my industry. Gary. You're right. But not in restaurants or. Gary. Cool. But not. No, no, you. Technology is coming for you. You ever see Friday the 13th? Yeah, that motherfucker is coming for you. Like, it's. I do not understand how people don't get it. And so one of the reasons I want you to use social is if you're doing social heavy, it doesn't make the Jump to AI. Feel as hard when you do AI. You know, if you're staying on the sidelines, it just gets. It gets further and further away from you. It's hard to, like, go to the glasses when you're still on a flip phone, you know? And so we just need practice. I'll use this analogy. I'm trying to get y'all to do shit every day. Like, you're training for a marathon so you can then run the marathon. It's hard to go, like, eating chips and fucking beef jerky on your couch and drinking beers and not doing anything physical for a year, and then just getting up in the morning and running the fucking New York marathon. That's what a lot of you are doing with your business by not doing all the steps every day. As the technology keeps moving, it gets harder for you and the gap gets bigger. You become more discouraged and it's fucking game over. But it's shockingly easy, even for the least discipline in the room, when you realize how much pain is on the other side if you don't do it, and more importantly, how much. Once you look at it from a different angle, it becomes a lot easier. By the way, I lived this for the first 38 years of my life. Going to the gym and eating well was the worst. To this day, 11 years later, I still struggle. This morning, my trainer's like, I need you to get into the gym. I'm like, oh, but I gotta go to Florida. You know, Like, I'm fucking. When it comes to working out in the gym, I'm loaded with excuses. Which is why I know when I see it on your faces, when it comes to business, in business, I have none. I'm a fucking robot. I can go 19 hours a day, every day. And this is why I talk about liking what you do. The reason I can do that, and this probably will resonate to you, because I feel like you'll have this angle. You may know this. I don't try to maximize for money.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, there's a lot of people, you know that are similar to me, that are not at the same tier as me, that maximize for money way better than I do. I maximize for liking what I do, which then enables you to do it at all times. When friends struggle with this, I'm always like, well, what do you like the most? And, like, one friend will be like, I like to ski. That's my favorite thing in the world, right? I'm like, well, imagine if you skied for 15 hours a day for A profession. He was like, that's fucking awesome. I'm like, that's how work is for me. And so I'm very disciplined at work because I love it. But I'm not disciplined in the gym because I fucking hate it. But I do it because I'd like to live longer and a higher quality of life. You know, if you want things financially, being good at business is a good idea. Otherwise, shut the fuck up. And I'm serious about that. That wasn't a joke. That's the poison of complaining and entitlement. A big thing that's holding a lot of people back is jealousy and envy and pointing fingers. If you use the word, that person is lucky, you've lost.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you weaponize luck, you fucking lost. Even the one that's so easy. Oh, that kid was born into a family with $100 million dollars. They're so lucky. I don't know if you guys know rich kids. They're predominantly losers.

Yeah, Eddie.

Yeah. Look, it's. It's. It's one of the most devastating things for somebody that comes from little. When they build, they see their kids. It's very hard to be hungry when you're constantly fed.

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let me ask you this question here. I'm going to piggyback on something you said and tied into a big piece I want to talk to you about a while ago you're talking about, which is very true of how you do this. You do not try to monetize everything that you do or every little detail. You do not play that game. When I look at you, though, I've never seen anybody play a better long game than you. You have a great long game. And when I think about the long game right now in your life, I think about Vee friends.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And your fucking long game on that is out of, like, I'm a visionary, but that shit is like wild. How far along you play, how many.

[Unknown Speaker]

People here would consider they are a fan of me, follow my stuff, know me a little bit, Just make some noise. Thank you. I would tell you that 95 to 98% of the people that just gave me that love have no clue of what I'm doing with this Speed brands thing for two reasons. One, I am playing long and I'm patient. Two, the NFT thing, the news cycle got weird. It got too hot too fast. And then all the greed and the scam came in, and the brand of that kind of tilted the conversation. But I sit here in front of all of you right now And I'm telling you to your face that over the next 30 to 40 years, I am building a Pokemon Marvel, like, world for real. Like, your fucking grandkids are coming to my amusement park.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's why.

[Unknown Speaker]

And I'm doing it, and I'm doing it day by day, quietly. Which is weird cause I'm so public. But to your point, you pay attention. Like, if you watch carefully, you can see it. Ironically, this May 7, my Vee friend's Topps Chrome comes out, which is gonna be trading cards in every hobby store in the country, which will be kind of like another brick in the process. That may hit some people's radar, but yeah, I like marathons. This was earlier to the comment I made in 2005. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, when I was doing it all by myself 15 hours a day, answering, I replied to every single person that tweeted at me from 2007 to 2011. I literally went to sleep at 4 o'clock in the morning every day. Like, literally did that. So that's what Veefriends is now, which is really fun. Because I'm such a public figure now, it's hard to do something in the shadows, which is, ironically, my preference. I'll give you another thing. For as many people that know me here, almost no one here realizes that VaynerX, VaynerMedia, my advertising agency, I don't think most people realize that it's 2500 employees. I don't think most people realize it's a $400 million a year business that I started from scratch. Most of those people have no idea that I co founded Resi and, like, I do. It's funny, for such a loud guy, the things that I'm kind of most proud about and do best, even my nonprofit work or things of that nature. I almost analyze myself as I'm halfway through this journey. Like, I think about being 100 years old and I turned 50 later this year, which is fucking insane. Thank you. But it's in November, and my mom would be super pissed that you wish me a happy birthday before my birthday. Big Russian superstition. Yeah. It is interesting how I play. You're right. I definitely think I play. I always say, like, I'm a marathon runner in a sprinter's world. Most of my contemporaries run fast. They're trying to make as much money as humanly possible as quickly as possible. And really, in a lot of ways, a lot of my contemporaries give no fucks about the collateral damage that comes along with that. And I don't judge, actually. Like, everybody has their own circumstances. I'm not even sure if I'm right, by the way. When you play long, I could be a very, very resentful old man. I'm being serious. I think about it a lot. I'm gonna be very vulnerable. Here I am playing so long, I'm leaving so much money on the table, so much on the table that if it doesn't work out, like, you know, I could be 83 and be sitting there and be like, fuck, man, maybe I was too far to this side. And, like, I think about those things. But at the end of the day, and I think this will resonate with a lot of people at the end of the day, for a lot of us, we are who the fuck we are, with all our strengths and our weaknesses. It's in my soul to play it long.

Yeah. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When. When again, a lot of people talk about playing the long game. Not everybody does. When you see the friends. Right? Yeah. Because I remember when I. I launched Money Is and I went to your office to do the first podcast. Right. And I remember getting there to Hudson Yards, walking in and thinking, they gave me a tour. And I was walking around this place thinking, what the. Because I thought you had like, 30, 40 staff people there. Because you never lead with all the other stuff.

[Unknown Speaker]

Most people think I'm a motivational speaker and I like, you know, a social media guy. Yeah. And I don't think most people realize how much of a side hustle Gary Vee the whole thing is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's a web that's huge of what's inside of it. I've tried it in research, and it's like there's so many different things that are happening inside of it in that just without getting into all of them. Do you play that daily CEO role of all of those?

[Unknown Speaker]

I am the active CEO of Vayner X and VFriends, for sure. Vayner Sports is run by my brother, but I'm very involved. Then there's Vayner Watt, which is fairly new, which is a TV production company. There's not a. I mean, I have a lot of businesses, and in all of them, I am minimally an active chairman at a minimum. At a minimum. Right. The two things that I don't run day to day are Vayner Watt and Vayner Sports, and I'm very involved in the TV production company, which is new for me. And you'll start seeing our logo on TV shows next year. It's super cool. I Can't wait for that. But, yeah, I'm very in it. Look, I work. I work 12 to 17 hours a day, and I don't eat lunch or breakfast. And when I say at work, like, I'm looking at Dustin ironically. Like, he knows. Like, when I say work, like, I don't do lunch. Like, I barely go to the bathroom. Like, every minute is fully booked. And I love that. And that works for me now. But if I wake up tomorrow and I'm like, I don't want to do this. I'm working too much, or this and that, and I've ebbed and flowed. I used to travel all the time. Post Covid. I traveled less. This year, I'm starting to travel a little bit more. You know, I think one of the biggest mistakes that people in this room make is they judge themselves negatively without realizing they could just change. Like, if I wake up right now and be like, what the fuck? If I look back at this clip in a year and be like, what, I'm an idiot. I should spend more time family or this, that. Like, I can. Like, I don't know why we cry over spilled milk. I don't care how fucked up you are. That was yesterday. It's a really big deal. Like, it's very. This is really important for everyone here. Like, regardless of, like. Like, I have no idea why you would ever not be your biggest fan. Like, everybody else is gonna boo you. Don't join them, especially when you are actually capable of changing your. It's real talk. It's real talk.

Yeah.

So, you know, that's where I'm at.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Very deep. We're coming to end here. Let me.

[Unknown Speaker]

Can we go a little extra?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's your world, bro.

[Unknown Speaker]

Let's keep going.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You want more business? Some more business stuff?

[Unknown Speaker]

I'll do anything.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I was gonna ask you. On a different note, the Jets.

[Unknown Speaker]

All right. See everybody. Yeah, the Jets. Oh, boy.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Number one. Do you still want to buy one day?

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes, I would love. I think it'd be really cool if I went from a Russian immigrant whose family didn't have enough money to. Enough money to buy a jersey to go through life and get to a place through the American dream to buy the actual team. I think that'd be really cool. But again, to me, the enjoyment of trying to buy the jets is dramatically more exciting to me than if I actually buy the New York Jets. Like, people ask me a lot, like, what if? Blah, blah, blah. I'll give you a great example. What if my dream was to buy the Dallas Mavericks, Right. I would have been like, okay, Cuban's there. He's not that much older than me. Maybe when I'm 90, I'll be able to buy them for a couple of years. And if I outlive him and then out of nowhere he sold and I would have not been ready. If the Johnson family decides today to sell the Jets, I'm not there. I've done really well. I'm very proud of my life financially, but I'm not in striking distance. I need another 15 or 20 years to really get there. So to me, what's been awesome about it is I will be super fine and very happy for the person that buys the jets if I'm unable to. But I really enjoy trying. And I think I just wish more people in this audience. I really do believe the unlock for you to get more financially successful is you falling in love with the trying versus the obsession of the achieving.

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know, reminds me of Nick Saban. He's such big on. You have to enjoy the journey, the practice to win the championship. It's not about winning the championship. It's about enjoying that practice to make sure you hit it.

[Unknown Speaker]

I think I'm so psycho. I don't even like the wins. Like, it's. My brother's really all over me on this. He's like, yo, you're broken. Like, good things happen. Like we sell Rezi for hundreds of millions of dollars or all these things that happen to me and I'm a little bit like, eh. Like, you know, I'll give you a good example. I don't know how you all roll with vacations, but when I have a vacation, the best part of a vacation is the weeks leading up to the vacation. Like, the second we get there, I'm like, ah, it's over. And so I got very blessed in that my hard wiring enjoys the process. I like the losing. I like the pain. Right. Like, I really do. Like, I'll use a fighting analogy. If I was a boxer, I would prefer to get knocked down in the first round and, like, lose a tooth and like, try to battle up from that. Most people fold. And I've spent a lot of my life in the last 20 years trying to get all of you to not because why? And I've come to learn so much of it is outside validation. I'm just shocked and devastated and pray that more people in this room could stop worrying about other people's judgment on their lives. Definitely strangers.

Yeah.

The stranger, the social media stranger thing blows my mind. You are not following your dreams because Sally pants 96 leaves a comment that says you're fat. There are literally people here who are not chasing their dreams because Donnie Knoxville 463 said you're stupid.

Yeah.

Like people are literally. There are grown ass fucking people in this room thinking they're still in fucking sixth grade.

Yeah.

I don't want that for them. I don't even want them to listen to their parents or spouses or siblings. Imagine what I think about them listening to fucking strangers who don't know who the fuck you are. We gotta get insular. You gotta get into your cocoon. You need to get into your fucking place where it's fucking you and you. It's fucking you and you. And you need to realize you're the fucking best. You're also fucking human. So you will make unlimited mistakes. But good news, here's the secret. Everybody else sucks too. So you're good. And I need people to get into that fucking mindset. Because me telling you to do AI or social or all this other stuff, if your fucking foundation of the way you fucking feel about yourself is broken, you've lost. And I want to remind you that if you sit here right now and you do not have self esteem, you don't feel good. That's other people putting that shit in you. And unfortunately you decided to listen. Get that shit out of your fucking body. Whether it's therapy, whether it's fucking meditation, whether it's canceling people in your fucking life, if your fucking sister is miserable, if your sister is miserable, maybe you don't need to talk to her four times a day. Maybe you can talk to her once every four days. I'm not saying cancel your mom or dad, but I'm saying you gotta limit negativity. So many of you were crippled because you watch too much fucking Fox News and cnn. Stop watching politics, Stop letting negative negativity into your fucking body. No matter what the source is. The news, social, your fucking siblings, your mom, and by the way, back to social. Unlike the news and your auntie, Social is you. If you don't like what your newsfeed is sending you, start searching positive things on Instagram and liking it all. Watch your newsfeed change. Your news feed is not positive pushing propaganda on you. Your newsfeed is exposing who the fuck you are.

Yeah, that's good.

It's real.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's good, bro.

[Unknown Speaker]

My friends, I'm telling you right now, if you do not believe me, I'm telling you, fuck the. I'm not. I'll even let you wait a couple weeks to do your 100 hours of AI. I need you to leave here. Literally. Type in an Instagram search. Sunshine, rainbows, bunnies, puppies. Search it, click on posts like all of them. Wake up next week and be like, watch. You open up my Instagram. It's all New York Jets, Sunshine, rainbows, puppy. It's positive as. Yeah, China and Zucks did not give me a pass. I control my life. You control your life and parents while I'm on this roll, you don't like. Like, I get this DM every day. I don't like TikTok on my kid's phone. I'm like, good motherfucker, Be a parent and delete it. Don't fucking yell at me. Be a fucking parent. If you don't think that your kid. You don't like that TikTok's on your kid's phone, delete it. And don't give me. Well, the. Their friends have it. Be a fucking parent. The second. The second you realize you are 100,000% in charge of your life, you win. Back to what Florida's all excited about, that everyone moved here. That's what those people did. They didn't like paying state taxes. They didn't like the politics. They moved here.

Yeah.

By the way, you don't like America, Good news, you can go to Sweden. You don't like your boss, be a big girl and quit. You don't like your dopey husband, divorce that motherfucker. I'm being dead serious. I need everybody to understand this. All of your unhappiness is that you've believed all the people that told you they're going to take care of you and you're not in control. All of the happiness in life is realizing you are 100% in control of your life and you are capable of making tough decisions that might hurt for a couple of weeks and months, but can lead to long term happiness. So stop fucking crying. Stop pointing fingers at everybody else. At what age? At what age?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

42?

[Unknown Speaker]

At what age is it finally time to stop blaming your parents and realizing you're a big fucking boy and girl and can change the outcome of your life? What is the age? Yeah, is it 18? Is it 22? There's literally 544 year olds sitting here right now that still blame some shit their mom did in 1971. Yeah, no, everybody had parents that did wrong. Dumb. You do dumb shit too. It is time to be fully accountable and realizing you're in control. And then I Promise you, my friends, once you cross over to the best side of the world, which is fully accountable side, every little dream you have becomes achievable. And until then, you're going to keep going to conferences and thinking you're doing something.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Would you, when you look at this is the truth, man. I've interviewed you, I don't know, six times now, now, and I've never interviewed you like this. Like you, you are on fire tonight, bro.

[Unknown Speaker]

I'm on fire. And I know I need to go. I'll tell you why. I feel a huge sense of responsibility. I got lucky that I am able to communicate, right? Some of you are just super attractive. Some of you are athletic, some of you are, I don't know, good at carpentry. You know, I, I got gifted with the ability to communicate. What I just did for seven minutes is the most universal truth. It is a hundred. It's a hundred. I'm not sure about a lot of things. I am super sure about the last six minutes of that rant. And yeah, I feel motivated today. And I want it so bad for you, honestly. Yeah, I want it. You know, I just want it. You have no idea how delicious it gets once you stop complaining and once you stop blaming. You have no idea how good life gets.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love the idea about the Even. You said even before you do the AI, like, go change your newsfeed, your fyp In a real way, bro. That is like, in a real way, we get bombarded and we think, oh, man, this is what they're sending me. No, you clicked on that. And based off what you clicked is what they used to do. That stuff inside of it. That is genius. And we don't ever think about it, though, is what. You know what I mean? Like, you never think about, like, oh, I should go click on puppies and just click on 15 puppy posts. And I bet you in the morning when I wake up and watch a puppy run across the yard, I'll be.

[Unknown Speaker]

Way happier in a way that would make your head spin. It's so easy to blame. It's so fucking easy to blame. That's why it doesn't have good results. Everything good in life is hard. Get the fucking work. I'm out of here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Gary, Vee. Thanks, bro.

[Unknown Speaker]

You crunched that.