The Fastest Way to Scale Your Side Hustle with No Budget | Tea with GaryVee Ep. 66

Summary

Summary of "The Fastest Way to Scale Your Side Hustle with No Budget | Tea with GaryVee Ep. 66"

Podcast Information:

• Title: The GaryVee Audio Experience
• Host/Author: Gary Vaynerchuk
• Episode: The Fastest Way to Scale Your Side Hustle with No Budget | Tea with GaryVee Ep. 66
• Release Date: February 19, 2025

---

Introduction

In this episode of "Tea with GaryVee," entrepreneur and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk engages with listeners by addressing their pressing questions about scaling side hustles, building personal brands, and leveraging modern platforms for business growth—all without a substantial budget. Through a series of live interactions, Gary provides actionable insights, blending his trademark candor with practical advice.

---

Building a Brand vs. Short-Term Financial Goals

Key Discussion: Scott, an aspiring entrepreneur, grapples with balancing long-term brand building with immediate financial needs. After years of seeking employment, he contemplates launching a sweatshirt company but is uncertain about when to prioritize brand development versus generating income.

Notable Quotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk [00:57]: “Instead of asking. It's not even pushing. You're asking. And when you're asking in life, you're on your back foot.”
• Gary Vaynerchuk [01:55]: “You're asking for a financial goal. Right. And so you've got to ask and build brand in parallel, both at the same time.”

Insights: Gary emphasizes the importance of simultaneously pursuing brand building and financial objectives. He likens it to balancing physical fitness with dietary changes—both are essential for overall success. By creating content, engaging on social media, and maintaining consistency, entrepreneurs can attract opportunities while addressing immediate financial needs.

---

Leveraging Platforms: Whatnot and TikTok Shop

Key Discussion: Gary and Scott delve into the nuances of utilizing platforms like Whatnot and TikTok Shop for scaling businesses without significant investment. Gary shares strategies to maximize visibility and sales through these emerging channels.

Notable Quotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk [03:06]: “First of all, whatnot is amazing and I love it. And we're on it right now.”
• Gary Vaynerchuk [03:41]: “But how do you make whatnot work? You sell something that's good or interesting and make TikTok and Instagram content to drive people to your whatnot.”

Insights: Gary advises entrepreneurs to produce quality offerings and create engaging content on TikTok and Instagram to drive traffic to their Whatnot channels. He highlights the importance of eye-catching thumbnails and consistent practice to master these platforms. Additionally, he recommends starting with TikTok Shop due to its broader reach and ease of discovery.

---

Scaling Side Hustles with Minimal Resources

Key Discussion: Arun Nair, running a small-scale card-flipping business, seeks advice on expanding his operations without additional funding. Gary provides a roadmap to scale by diversifying inventory and leveraging Whatnot for liquidity.

Notable Quotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk [05:44]: “I think the best way to do that, believe it or not, is add more things to your flip game.”
• Gary Vaynerchuk [05:57]: “You've got to do that because you're going to be able to move inventory. That's one of the biggest problems with trading cards and anything.”

Insights: Gary underscores the necessity of expanding product lines to appeal to a broader audience. By utilizing Whatnot’s auction feature, sellers can convert inventory into liquid assets more efficiently. This approach not only mitigates the risk of stagnant stock but also enhances cash flow, enabling further business growth.

---

Managing and Scaling Teams

Key Discussion: Yara from Morocco discusses challenges in leading a team for her Airbnb management company. She struggles with getting employees to take ownership without feeling forced.

Notable Quotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk [14:49]: “Like, they can't feel that they own it as much as you own it, because they don't own it. Employees can't act like owners. If you want them to be like owners, you have to give them equity in the company.”
• Gary Vaynerchuk [16:25]: “You need to try 55 more people until you find four good ones.”

Insights: Gary advises offering equity to employees to foster a sense of ownership and responsibility. He emphasizes the trial-and-error nature of hiring, encouraging persistence until finding the right fit. Building a team that aligns with the company’s vision and culture is crucial for sustainable growth.

---

Handling Setbacks: Being Fired and Personal Loss

Key Discussion: A listener shares a scenario of being fired after requesting a promotion. Another caller, Mila, seeks advice on balancing work and side hustles while grieving the loss of her father.

Notable Quotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk [17:28]: “That is a manipulative, fucked up, toxic, bullshit company.”
• Gary Vaynerchuk [17:35]: “Dealing with your job and your side hustle while mourning the loss of a father is a game of patience and grace to yourself.”

Insights: Gary stresses the importance of recognizing toxic work environments and viewing being fired as an opportunity to move away from negativity. For those dealing with personal loss, he advocates for self-compassion and understanding that mourning processes vary for each individual. Maintaining side hustles during such times requires patience and a supportive approach towards oneself.

---

Content Creation Strategies for LinkedIn and TikTok

Key Discussion: Nate from Brick, New Jersey, seeks guidance on enhancing engagement on LinkedIn and content strategies for his digital startup. Another caller, Yara from Poland, asks about content creation for her budding rap career.

Notable Quotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk [24:12]: “If you're spending hours a day and it's finally just as of yesterday to the point where warm inbound leads are coming to my inbox and the page is working for me, so it's beautiful.”
• Gary Vaynerchuk [22:08]: “Be good at rap. I don't know if in Poland they have this saying, but the saying goes, you can't put lipstick on a pig.”

Insights: For LinkedIn, Gary recommends producing high-quality, engaging content consistently and interacting thoughtfully with others’ posts to elevate one's presence and credibility. For creative fields like rap, he advises focusing on genuine talent and authentic content rather than superficial enhancements. Authenticity and skill are paramount for resonating with audiences and achieving success.

---

The Future of Live Shopping and Social Commerce

Key Discussion: Mila discusses her experience launching a golf cart company inspired by Gary’s advice and inquires about the future of live shopping platforms like Whatnot, particularly for higher-ticket items.

Notable Quotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk [12:05]: “I think people will buy 700, 900. I mean, we've sold $800 vending machines on whatnot very easily.”
• Gary Vaynerchuk [12:51]: “I think in 2025, this year, that many people are going to sell items that are over $1,000 a unit on whatnot, on Tik Tok Shop, on all the other live streaming that I predict will come out live. Social shopping.”

Insights: Gary foresees a significant rise in the sale of higher-priced items on live shopping platforms. He encourages entrepreneurs to embrace live streaming, utilizing it to create engaging, dynamic selling environments that can effectively market and sell substantial products. By integrating live demonstrations and interactive content, businesses can enhance buyer trust and increase conversion rates.

---

Conclusion

In this episode, Gary Vaynerchuk delivers a wealth of practical advice tailored to entrepreneurs aiming to scale their side hustles without substantial financial backing. From brand building and leveraging new-age platforms like Whatnot and TikTok Shop to effective team management and overcoming personal and professional setbacks, Gary’s insights are both actionable and inspiring. His emphasis on authenticity, perseverance, and strategic content creation offers a comprehensive guide for aspiring business owners seeking sustainable growth in a competitive landscape.

---

End of Summary

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is the GaryVee audio experience. All right, let's get into first questions. We're t with garyvee. Scott, how are you, brother?

[Scott]

Holy shit. Gary. What's going on, brother?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Great to see you.

[Scott]

You too. Hey, thank you for the opportunity. I got two questions but they're kind of roll around the same thing and it deals with long term versus short term building a brand.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay.

[Scott]

What? I've been listening to you for five, six, seven years and you've always been talking about brands. And I intellectually I got, I never really got it in my gut until this like September, October. I've been looking for a job for two years. So I said, wait a second. I think Gary was right. I think I should be building a brand and pulling people to me versus pushing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Instead of asking. It's not even pushing. You're asking. And when you're asking in life, you're on your back foot. You're in the non leveraged position when you're asking.

[Scott]

Absolutely. So then I built my socials, built the bios, linked them all together. I did all that stuff, did it right. I was about to start posting, then you started doing whatnot. And I said, and I've been sitting on this idea of a sweatshirt company for whatnot. And I thought that was fantastic. And then I said, wait a sec, Gary was right again. I should have been building a brand the last six years. So my question is this. I would love to use whatnot. I'm thinking middle of May. How do I walk that fine line between building up my brand to make what not worth it, but at the same time do like the short term left hooks because I got to get paid because I've been looking for a job. So how do I walk that fine.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Line by doing both. If this was a health show and you're like, gary, I'd like to lose £20 and get stronger. You have to both actually go in the gym and work on gaining muscle while also eating a very different way than you've been eating two very different activities for the same goal.

[Scott]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're asking for a financial goal. Right. And so you've got to ask and build brand in parallel, both at the same time. What you've been not doing is building brand.

[Scott]

I realized I was late to the game and I realized that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But by the way, by the way, don't get crippled by late to the game. This hurts everyone. They're like, I was late to the game. I've heard you talk about this for seven years, Gary. By the Way I was late to the game in my health and wellness, I didn't start getting serious until I was well into my 38th birthday. I wish me and Mike, my trainer, who I was with this morning, joke all the time that if I started at 28, I'd look like a fucking Adonis.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Instead, I look halfway decent. Ish.

[Scott]

Yes, you look pretty good. You're looking.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I respect that. So thank you. But. But that's the punchline, brother. Like, please don't dwell that you're late to the game.

[Scott]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Please just start fucking doing the right thing, which is writing articles, making videos, putting out content on LinkedIn.

[Scott]

The end in terms of whatnot. So I understand what you're talking about. Talk to both of them. Build up the cohorts. I read your book many times.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep.

[Scott]

So focus on, you know, I guess, the left hooks, if you will, for the short term, finances, Focus on building the brand in terms to make whatnot make sense.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

First of all, whatnot is amazing and I love it. And we're on it right now. I would say that if TikTok isn't banned or if someone's watching right now, that's not in America or India. TikTok shop does both. Because when you go on, like right Now, I'm on TikTok, a lot of these people are on for the first time because TikTok just randomly shows you to people. You can be found on whatnot, but not in the same way that you can on TikTok. But how do you make whatnot work? You sell something that's good or interesting and make TikTok and Instagram content to drive people to your whatnot.

[Scott]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And. And make good thumbnails on whatnot. You know, when you open up the thumb, the whatnot thing, you're looking at different shows. The thumbnail matters too. You got to just keep practicing.

[Scott]

So it's like Tick Tock, I could be found. I don't need to come in there with a thousand, five thousand, ten thousand followers.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Tick Tock Shop is better. I'd rather you do. But Tick Tock. Start there. Don't you have a requirement to go live on Tick Tock? A thousand. Yeah, that. That's the issue.

[Nate]

I don't have a thousand.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I can go live. You can go live. Can you go and you can go live and you can have a shop? Yeah, we gotta look at that. Anyway, I'm gonna go to more questions. I'll get you more info on this, brother.

[Scott]

So start. So start with Tick Tock Shop. Build up the brand, keep doing what I'm doing and then eventually start with.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Social media content for free. You don't need, don't even worry about selling a sweatshirt right now. Make content about you.

[Scott]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do that. All right. All right, brother. Stay well. Nate. How are you, brother?

[Arun Nair]

Hey, how's it going, Gay?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good, mate. Where are you from?

[Arun Nair]

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

My man. It's a real pleasure to see you. How are things?

[Arun Nair]

Cold?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, it's cold as in New York. I live right by the Hudson. It's frozen. I see ice in it. We're, we're, we're cold today. What's your question, my friend?

[Arun Nair]

So I got a small scale card flipping business, I guess is the best way to put it. I sold trading cards.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Love it. Yeah, man, I love that, brother. Go ahead.

[Arun Nair]

Pokemon Magic Gathering, Digimon, all that stuff.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Anyway, I gotta get you into V Friends this spring. V Friends, Tops, Chrome coming out every hobby shop in the country. Big deal. I gotta get you on it.

[Arun Nair]

Right on, man. I'll be on that. Actually, I've seen your stuff at a couple shows I've been to. I just haven't picked it up yet. Just because it's hard to like. I've got a small business, so.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, by the way, it's also been expensive. VFriend stuff is expensive. The new tops chrome is actually incredibly affordable. So it's going to be a massive deal. But go ahead. How do you.

[Arun Nair]

My, my question is just like, how do I scale from like just being myself as like a solo operator to just getting a little bit bigger with little to no money? Money. Yeah, basically.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think the best way to do that, believe it or not, is add more things to your flip game.

[Arun Nair]

Basically I've stuck with cards for right now.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So like Pokemon, like yeah, one, it's expanding. Have you started your own Whatnot channel on this platform yet?

[Arun Nair]

No.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

A hundred percent. You've got to do that because you're going to be able to move inventory. That's one of the biggest problems with trading cards and anything. When you're selling it for my dad at the wine library right now is sitting on inventory. You can't sell when you're on whatnot and you put things up for auction. Even though you might not sell it for top dollar, you're going to be able to turn it into liquid. Right now where a lot of your money is sitting is in your inventory that hasn't sold. Right.

[Arun Nair]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I want you on whatnot this week.

[Arun Nair]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Doing auctions, starting this at a dollar and yeah, you'll build from there, brother.

[Arun Nair]

Yeah, because I started on like the website PCG player.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Arun Nair]

And then last year I actually started going to like card shows for my first time also. And like.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, but there's no card show tonight, brother.

[Arun Nair]

Nope, there's not. You're right. Actually, you know what? I promise you I'll do it Wednesday, so I'll do it tomorrow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love you. I'll look for it. I'll give it a share. Good luck to you, brother.

[Arun Nair]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Hey.

[Rhonda]

Hi, Gary V. I'm Arun Nair. I'm a big fan of yours. You really inspire me daily. And with your book the out of excitement. I'm not getting the name. Also jab, jab, jab.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right hook.

[Rhonda]

Yep. Yeah, I followed the same strategy and I was posting free job openings in a WhatsApp group and I accumulated over thousand people over there. And now I just hate my job. And that's why I'm gonna quit. Go all in. I am okay to fail for the next five years because I know I'll still be under 40 and young as ever. So I'm gonna start my own HR consulting firm because I have people. I'm gonna connect them with the network that I have built over the years. I'm gonna reach out to companies one by one, start by scratch. Because I'm open to fail. I am ready to try daily. So just want to ask you, what framework should I follow once I start my HR consulting firm?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Meaning when you say framework, like what value should you be providing for them or what?

[Rhonda]

For example, I have the people who are looking for job and in my LinkedIn contacts, I know the people who are looking for hiring. But I want to reach out to company in such a way that they give their openings to me and I directly filter and provide them the people. So how do you suggest me? You give me an advice of how do I go ahead with this in the best possible way.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think you know what to do. Like you know, it's, it's, you're, you're in, you're sitting in the middle on a two sided. What marketplace? People are coming in and then you're giving them recommendations. So I just think what I would say is high touch, right? High touch is what I would do. You've got to, you've got to make sure you're giving the level of customer service, customer service. Make sure that you're interacting on the phone, on zoom, on email. Like make sure you're making the people that are using you feel valued, make sense yes, yes, that's the game.

[Rhonda]

My distinction is that I ensure that there is a personal touch in whatever I do. I guide them personally.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's it. And then as you get bigger, you want to hire people that capture your essence. You know, like, are like. You understand? Got it. All right, brother. Good luck. All right, who's next? Here we go. How are you?

[TJ]

I'm doing great. How are you, Gary? I'm excited to talk to you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I am excited to talk to you. Where are you based at?

[TJ]

I'm in Austin, Texas.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Very nice.

[TJ]

I'm a massage therapist and an energetic healer and moving into creating TikToks Instagram. And I'm also an artist, so I'm trying to brand. And then we're kind of like you. We're into all sorts of collectibles as well. So I'm struggling creating my LLC so that we can protect our personal stuff.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What do you mean you're struggling to create your llc? You're struggling to come up with a name.

[TJ]

Yeah. Which is stupid because I'm an overthinker.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're not stupid, but you are overthinking it. Nobody. Do you know what the LLC name of Wine Library is? My dad's liquor store. No, it's Stecklin & Walker LLC, because he bought it from Harry Stecklin and John Walker. It means nothing. Do you know what my personal LLC is that one of the ones that I use registered LLC is Attention at Scale Means nothing. What.

[TJ]

What's.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What's your favorite color?

[TJ]

Green.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And what's your name again? First name again?

[TJ]

Rhonda.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I literally want you to register green. Rhonda Austin, LLC. That is the name of your LLC. I just named your LLC. It's called gra. LLC. That is the name of YOUR LLC. Go spend $267 or whatever the fuck it is. Register your fucking LLC. Here's why. What you sell in front of that LLC can be a totally different brand name. I don't need you to overthink your llc. That's silly. Do you understand?

[TJ]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Perfectly.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's it.

[TJ]

Great.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Great. Mission accomplished. Thank you.

[Mila]

Hey, man. How's it going?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good, man. What's your name? Where are you from? D.J. from where?

[Mila]

No, T.J. from Indianapolis, but I'm at. In Orlando, Florida, in the Uber right now, watching you. So we have.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good to see you, tj.

[Mila]

We're at the. Yeah, nice to see you too, man. You're my hero. So this is. This is, like, crazy.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Pleasure to meet you.

[Mila]

Hey, so my question is so Everybody go follow EA carts on whatnot where. I started a golf cart company because of you, Gary Vee, I sent you a dm. You need to check it out.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay.

[Mila]

But anyways, it's big. Anyways. So my question is, what do you see that the future of whatnot or live shopping on bigger purchases? I think it's gonna be huge. We're gonna be ready, but I think it's. It's something to come in the future right now. It's a lot of small things, but watch out outlook on that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, I think QVC and Home Shopping Network prove this. Infomercials prove this. I think you're right. I think people will buy 700, 900. I mean, we've sold $800 vending machines on whatnot very easily. So I think if you have a good product and you know how to market it, you know, and obviously with live streaming, what's amazing is you could literally take the phone with you and go driving around in the golf cart. Get people excited. And that adrenaline creates a higher percentage of converting. I'm a big believer that in 2025, this year, that many people are going to sell items that are over $1,000 a unit on whatnot, on Tik Tok Shop, on all the other live streaming that I predict will come out live. Social shopping. Excuse me.

[Mila]

And so, yeah, yeah, I think you're absolutely right. We've. We've taken on Instagram for EA cards. No, we've taken EA cards. We've taken your path with social media. We're about to sign, like, one of the biggest golfers on YouTube.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I don't think there's anything stopping you other than figuring out shipping and logistics and getting it right. But, I mean, I think you should be on whatnot pretty quickly. Almost weirdly, in the same way you are. Are you fucking driving? No.

[Mila]

So we're in the Uber. We're in the Uber model.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay, good. You're in the back. Okay. Uber driving. Good. There we go. Thank God. Cause you were just looking at me way too long. Consistently. I think that you should basically do this same exact thing. Sell on whatnot. I think you should. Somebody should be driving the cart while you're on live. You step out, you show it. Like, I. I think you have a very good chance of doing it. Well, don't guess or ponder if it's right. Do the action to find out if it's right.

[Mila]

100 agree. No, no, I think that's great advice.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's. That's it. Just do that. Just Try it next week and let me know how it goes. All right.

[Mila]

No, no, I absolutely will check out your DMs, though, because I wrote you a nice message. I don't want no favorites. I don't want you to follow us. I don't want any of that. But you're onto something and we're following it, so check it out.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you, brother.

[Mila]

Good luck. You'll be proud. Thanks, man.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm already proud. See you later. All right, go ahead. Yara. Where are you from?

[Yara]

I'm from Morocco and very nicely living in France. Yeah, so last year, I launched the company with my friend. So, basically, what we do is we go to people that have Airbnbs, and we take care of the Airbnb. Like, we clean it, we change prices, and we have a small problem, which is that we don't know how to lead people to be 100% in it. You know, like, we work with people, and we always have to go back and say, please, can you, like, can you do this again? Like, can you do it a bit better? And, like, we don't know how to lead without being rude and without actually leading.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, they can't feel that they own it as much as you own it, because they don't own it. Employees can't act like owners. If you want them to be like owners, you have to give them equity in the company.

[Yara]

Yeah, I mean, well, they have equity. That's. That's the problem.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What do you mean? Because.

[Yara]

Because, like, me and my friend, like, did the. The most. The, like, the hardest job of setting the website, of trying to find clients.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay.

[Yara]

And. And we are actually working with other friends to just help us, actually, on the logistics. No, no, to not just pay them. We will give them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. You'll give them equity. Yeah. Okay, well, then.

[Yara]

Good.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Then you just.

[Yara]

Yeah, of course. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Great. Then you just got to find people that are good. How many people have you tried?

[Yara]

Two people. Great.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You need to. You need to try 55 more people until you find four good ones.

[Rhonda]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

More people. Promoting and firing is knowing, but hiring or partnering is guessing. And so you've got to guess more. There is no right way you're guessing doubling down on someone or firing them and getting rid of them. That's knowing. You understand?

[Yara]

I see.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good. So good luck, brother.

[Yara]

Try as much as possible to get.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The results you want.

[Nate]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Try. Try it. Try as many different people as possible, but when you have someone good, make it good for them, and when you have someone bad, get rid of them.

[Nate]

Perfect.

[Yara]

Thank you so much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Love you. You're welcome. I need rapid questions. Let's go.

[Nate]

I got one.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Go ahead. How should I take being let go for employer request? How do I handle being let go by an employer because I got fired because I asked for a promotion? By kissing the ground and being thankful that you figured out that your employer's a piece of shit and you're out of that toxic, bullshit, fucking loser company. Anyone who gets fired for asking for a promotion is so lucky to be the fuck out of there. I mean, people have asked for raises and promotions for me and I've explained to them why not, but it got me excited about trying to teach them a path of getting there. That's good intent. That boss is scaring that employee and every other employee so that they don't ask for more money. That is a manipulative, fucked up, toxic, bullshit company. And that person, how should they react by fucking saying halla fucking Lula?

[Mila]

How do I balance my work and side hustle grind when I'm dealing with so much pressure and negativity at home after my dad passed away?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Dealing with your job and your side hustle while mourning the loss of a father is a game of patience and grace to yourself. I believe that people need to be much more graceful to themselves when dealing with mourning. Everybody mourns differently. Some people go headfirst into their work the next day, literally the next day. Other people need an entire year to really calibrate the loss. You can't judge yourself in either. If people around you are like Joey, you're just jumping back into work and not dealing with your feelings, that's okay, that might be true. But don't feel the pressure of other people's opinions on how you mourn. Everybody mourns their own way. If you're also not productive for a year, your business is down, your productivity is down. Don't beat yourself up. We all mourn differently. Give yourself grace.

[Yara]

When's the time you would choose to.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Save an employee over losing business? When's the right time to choose saving an employee over losing business because of them? That's a rough question and a great question because I've. I've always done too much save the employee. And I would argue that 8 out of 10 times it was the wrong call. My bleeding heart and compassion was wrong. The problem is the 2 out of 10 times that I was right, it paid for the other eight wrong times. How do you maintain a relationship with your investors and partners after a failed project? So they will. So they will Work with you again. Humility, accountability at the top. Right. And tenacity. So. Oh, there we go. Hat. You got to put your hat on. If you failed and you want to get those investors to invest in you again or partners to work with you again, you got to put on your hat. You've got to lean into humility. So you've got to own it with humility and accountability. And then you've got to be tenacious about over communicating to them the truth. The other thing I would say, brother, is you got to give them a good deal the next time. I mean, so many kids have come out to me after I've lost money investing in them, and we're like, invest in me again. I'm like, why? You know, especially if they did it poorly. So. All right, let me get this question. What's your name?

[Mila]

Hi.

[Yara]

Gary.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Hi, how are you? Hi.

[Mila]

I'm from Germany. Stuttgart.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Pleasure. Pleasure. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. What's your name?

[Mila]

Mila.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Mila, Pleasure. Go ahead. What's your question?

[Mila]

So I'm a content creator, and in the health niche, genetics and longevity, and I was wondering, how can I integrate whatnot?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do you sell any physical product, Mila?

[Mila]

Not yet. I'm waiting for my studies to be done by the end of this year, and I will be selling coachings and I'm writing a book also.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, when you have something to sell, then I think whatnot becomes a very smart platform for you. But until then, I would rather see you go live on TikTok to have people discover you. When you Go live on TikTok, it shows your live in people's for you page, and then they'll discover you. And I think right now, as you're building up your profile, you need discoverability. Does that make sense?

[Mila]

All right, yeah. But how can I build a following on whatnot?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do not become overly emotional about whatnot. As excited as I am for everyone about whatnot, I'm excited if you are selling something physical. Understood. All right, but so I want to make sure that you don't force it just because Gary Vee is saying beyond whatnot. If your product doesn't fit it right now, what you need to focus on is you have to be on TikTok Live. You have to be on TikTok Live.

[Mila]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay. All right.

[Mila]

So you're prioritizing TikTok Live.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. Instagram and tell and teaching people about all the knowledge that you have. All right, all right.

[Mila]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good luck. Well, I see I've got somebody. Who are you? Where are you from, brother?

[Yara]

Hello, Gary.

[Mila]

Hello.

[Yara]

I love to be here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Pleasure. That's right. I see two people. The other person will wait till this gentleman's done. Where are you from, my friend?

[Yara]

From Poland.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Poland. Very nice. What's your question, my friend?

[Yara]

What kind of content should I create as a beginner rapper?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, then you've got a rap. Like you've got to put out your fucking freestyles.

[Yara]

Yeah, but about TikTok other example, like what kind of content should I create to make it pop?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, be good at rap. I don't know if in Poland they have this saying, but the saying goes, you can't put lipstick on a pig. If you make the TikTok flashy and cool and great, but you're not good at rapping. It won't succeed if you don't make the TikTok special. But you just sit down and you rap into the camera and you're very good. It will work. Yeah. Let's get the next person up or ask me a question team. Oh, here we go. My man. How are you? Where are you from?

[Nate]

Hey, what's going on, Gary? I'm actually in Brick, New Jersey, but I grew up in Edison, New Jersey. Dude.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No. What did you go to Edison? I. Or do you go to JP Stevens?

[Nate]

No, I actually went to pvt. I went to vocational high school, but.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Very cool. What about middle school?

[Nate]

That was Thomas Jefferson. Tj.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And what about. I went to John Adams. And what about, and what about, what about grammar school?

[Nate]

Linda?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Now I went to Martin Luther King elementary. All right, brother. I love it. We're from the roots.

[Nate]

Great.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Talk to me.

[Nate]

Yeah, so I have, I have a couple of growing startups here, some pretty groundbreaking stuff. I have a 3D interactive studio that I'm running online. We're doing some crazy stuff I got to show you. I'm not kidding. What we do is insane, immersive 3D, incredible websites, beautiful. Along with that, we do just about anything digital that you could imagine. Dude.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So you have a service business, you do sites, you do digital. How many full time employees do you have?

[Nate]

It's three of us right now. We're beautiful.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And then you get some freelancers if you need something. Rando.

[Nate]

Absolutely. We outsource what we need to. Don't outsource much. We would prefer to learn ourselves.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

All right, so go ahead, what's the question? I know this game well.

[Nate]

Huge here, dude. But what, what the issue is is that we're kind of having to deal with some smaller, lower end clientele. And there's a huge gap in understanding and what we do, the value in it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let's break down the answers. Number one, how much content are you producing for the company on LinkedIn on an everyday basis? Don't bullshit me.

[Nate]

I have been living on LinkedIn, dude. I built a beautiful profile. I did it myself. I've been spending hours a day and it's finally just as of yesterday to the point where warm inbound leads are coming to my inbox and the page is working for me. So it's beautiful.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

More, more. And when you say working it, are you cold emailing or are you making content? Are you replying to comments? What are you doing?

[Nate]

All of the above. But right now I'm at the point where my page is set up nicely, so I'm engaging to try to obviously get more people and more.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What's, what's the name of the company?

[Nate]

It's MXNN Creates and our AI research division is Silzone. Again, we have our own proprietary AI model that we've already developed. It's in V1 Alpha and we're using it on every one of our projects.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And, and, and one more time, your. When you said my page is now set up, it's your personal account that's posting the content or the two companies posting the content.

[Nate]

I have the company pages up. I haven't really worked on that much. I just focused on myself first because of, you know, my credibility, my work history, all that. Really?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And you yourself. If I go to your LinkedIn right now, I will see posts from you multiple times a day.

[Nate]

Absolutely, dude. I have a lot of quality of my posts is insane, but I'm not getting a lot of engagement because.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, that means, that means it's not true. Not true. Not true. Excuse City USA okay, okay. Very important. And very important. Like what? The second you own what I'm about to say is the second you're gonna explode.

[Nate]

Okay, okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

When you say the quality of my content is insane, I'm not, but I'm not getting the right. Immediately you're in that place that I'm trying to get everybody out of my team will tell you all these characters, they will tell you I secretly get more excited when my content doesn't do well. Like right now, the last three or four posts on Instagram, I'm like, eh. And I get fired up because I love the humility that comes along with it. I never think my content's insane unless it gets a fuckload of views.

[Nate]

Fair Enough.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so you know your shit. I can feel it. Even in just the words.

[Nate]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Doesn't mean that you're great at content creation yet doesn't mean that you figured out LinkedIn and back to humility. It ebbs and flows. There's like a year ago today, we were terrible on Instagram. The last four months of this year, we got our shit together. So, yes, you may feel confident in knowing how you trained your AI, you may feel confident in your coding ability, your front end, your UI ux, but that doesn't mean that your content's insane. It actually means that it might be mundane because there's a lot of people that know it. So you've got to really think about the first three seconds, the thumbnail, the headline, the copy, and then the other thing, because I heard you say yes. So I'm gonna believe you. Searching more on LinkedIn on things you know about and leaving very thoughtful comments on posts that are doing, well, what we call Cass C@vaynerx Comments as creative going and being very thoughtful. This is good advice for everyone, whatever genre you're in. Going to a social media post, consuming it in your business, and then leaving a very good comment, whether it's very funny and that's good for your brand. Those are usually the ones that get to top. Or in his scenario, just fucking six sentences, breaking it down while the person's 90% right. But did they think about this one thing humbly, but with authority? And somebody reads that and goes, who the fuck is this guy? That.

[Nate]

Absolutely no. I can totally dig that, man. I definitely appreciate that advice.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Love it, bro. I got to run to a transition. We'll talk again. Keep coming here. I'm going to be doing a lot of this shit. And I'll see you in the comments. Say I'm the Brick Edison guy. I'll follow it up.