The Harsh Truth About Why Your Content Isn’t Growing | Tea w GaryVee Ep. 70

Summary

Summary of "The Harsh Truth About Why Your Content Isn’t Growing | Tea w GaryVee Ep. 70"

Released on March 20, 2025, "The Harsh Truth About Why Your Content Isn’t Growing" is the 70th episode of Tea with GaryVee, hosted by entrepreneur and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk. In this episode, Gary addresses a series of listener questions, providing candid, no-nonsense advice on various aspects of business, content creation, and personal development. Below is a detailed breakdown of the key discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode.

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1. Maximizing Job Applications for Recent Graduates

Questioner: Braden
Timestamp: [00:13]

Key Points:

• Quantity Over Quality: Gary emphasizes the importance of applying to a high volume of jobs when searching for employment. He criticizes applicants who apply to only a handful of positions, urging them to broaden their efforts.

  "You need to be applying to 30 jobs a day. A lot of people... like, six different jobs. I've done a lot." — GaryVee ([00:26])

• Alternative Work Opportunities: He suggests exploring unconventional job platforms like Craigslist for day-to-day work to build skills and gain immediate income.

• Proactive Networking: Gary recommends leveraging personal networks extensively, advising listeners to reach out individually to acquaintances and former classmates to promote their job search.

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2. Growing a Local Podcast

Questioner: Jamie Johnson
Timestamp: [01:25]

Key Points:

• Groundwork Promotion: Gary advises Jamie to personally share her podcast with everyone in her local area through direct messaging and networking.

  "Take the link to your podcast and text every person in your phone that lives locally." — GaryVee ([02:13])

• Targeted Advertising: He recommends using Facebook ads with a highly specific geographic focus (e.g., within a 10-mile radius) to build a local listener base.

  "Run ads that are very specific... 10, 20 mile. You can target by mile radius Facebook ads." — GaryVee ([03:50])

• Engaging Potential Guests and Listeners: Instead of featuring company executives, Gary suggests inviting potential clients and local business owners to be guests, thereby attracting a more relevant audience.

  "Ask the people that you're trying to get business from to be your guest." — GaryVee ([05:27])

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3. Utilizing Live Social Shopping for Service-Based Businesses

Questioner: Seth
Timestamp: [06:28]

Key Points:

• Commerce Tainment Concept: Gary introduces the idea of "commerce tainment," blending commerce with entertainment, and discusses its applicability beyond product-based businesses.

  "There is something that is going to happen out there called commerce tainment." — GaryVee ([06:28])

• Content Adaptation for Services: He suggests adapting live shopping strategies by focusing on storytelling and showcasing expertise rather than directly selling products.

  "I think you need to make a deck or a full pledge video or a presentation of how you story told and why it worked." — GaryVee ([07:40])

• Authentic Engagement: Gary encourages leveraging personal narratives and consistent content creation to build a loyal audience that resonates with the service offered.

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4. Leveraging Viral Moments Without Compromising Integrity

Questioner: Aaron
Timestamp: [06:53]

Key Points:

• Focus on Storytelling: Gary advises Aaron to concentrate on the storytelling aspect that made his experience semi-viral, rather than solely seeking tangible outcomes from the opportunity.

  "The opportunity is a silly one, though. I think you need to learn from how you created the opportunity more than the opportunity itself." — GaryVee ([07:27])

• Persistence and Documentation: He encourages Aaron to continue attending events and documenting his experiences, emphasizing that persistence will eventually lead to desired outcomes.

  "Just keep going to games and documenting, and eventually it'll happen." — GaryVee ([10:03])

• Content Value over Immediate Gain: Gary underscores the importance of providing value through content, which in turn attracts meaningful opportunities and connections.

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5. Staying Motivated as a Multi-Business Entrepreneur and Homeschooling Parent

Questioner: Cheyenne
Timestamp: [11:15]

Key Points:

• Resilience Amid Challenges: Gary acknowledges the immense challenges Cheyenne faces but underscores the importance of perseverance and accountability.

  "Life is hard sometimes and that's good." — GaryVee ([16:14])

• Delegation and Hiring: He addresses Cheyenne's hesitation to hire by questioning the underlying reasons, encouraging her to overcome fear and seek assistance to manage her workload effectively.

• Exploring Nonprofit Involvement: Gary suggests alternative avenues for Cheyenne to satisfy her passion for nonprofits, such as joining boards or volunteering, which can provide fulfillment without the immediate commitment of a full-time role.

  "Start small. You can volunteer or join a board for a little while." — GaryVee ([16:14])

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6. Distinguishing Optimism from Denial

Questioner: Braden
Timestamp: [17:00]

Key Points:

• Role of Humility and Self-Awareness: Gary defines the boundary between optimism and denial as being influenced by humility and self-awareness. Without these, optimism can border on delusion.

  "If one lacks humility and self-awareness, they become delusional. If they have humility and self-awareness, it becomes optimism." — GaryVee ([17:00])

• Feedback from Trusted Sources: He recommends seeking honest feedback from a selected group of positive and practical friends to gauge whether one's outlook is optimistic or delusional.

  "Find your five most practical positive friends and ask them what they think about your idea." — GaryVee ([17:00])

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7. Building a Social Media Presence as a Chiropractic Student

Questioner: Patrick
Timestamp: [18:44]

Key Points:

• Journey Documentation: Gary suggests that Patrick document his journey to becoming an accredited chiropractor, creating a narrative that followers can engage with until he can legally perform adjustments.

• Caution Against AI Avatars: While acknowledging Patrick's idea of using an AI version of himself, Gary expresses skepticism about its effectiveness and cost-efficiency, ultimately encouraging Patrick to engage authentically.

  "Nobody's gonna give a I think nobody, nobody." — GaryVee ([19:50])

• Quality Over Quantity in Ads: Gary highlights the importance of targeting high-value customers through well-crafted ads rather than aiming for mass reach, which may attract less committed clients.

  "The creative is the variable. So it sounds like he was running ads just to get as many people as possible, yet they weren't as high value." — GaryVee ([24:07])

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8. The Future of Influencer Careers

Questioner: Braden
Timestamp: [24:27]

Key Points:

• Sustained Growth of Influencers: Gary affirms that influencer careers are not only viable but will continue to grow, becoming more ingrained in the business landscape.

  "Influencers are only going to grow... Everyone's gonna be famous to 15 people." — GaryVee ([24:27])

• Long-Tail Fame: He introduces the concept of "long tail" fame, where micro-influencers cater to niche audiences, ensuring sustained relevance and income potential.

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9. Live Social Shopping for High-End Photography Services

Questioner: Viviana
Timestamp: [25:24]

Key Points:

• Suitability of Services for Live Shopping: Gary explains that live social shopping is better suited for product-based businesses rather than service-oriented ones like photography.

  "Services don't work as well on live social shopping as items." — GaryVee ([25:48])

• Alternative Revenue Streams: He suggests that Viviana could leverage live shopping by selling related products, such as camera equipment or photography prints, to complement her services and showcase expertise.

  "You may want to start selling camera equipment. You may take photography of landscape and sell prints and original photos." — GaryVee ([26:32])

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10. Improving Visibility for Daily Vlog Content

Questioner: Drew
Timestamp: [27:28]

Key Points:

• Content Quality and Value: Gary bluntly states that the lack of views is likely due to the content not resonating with the audience, urging Drew to enhance the quality and value of his videos.

  "It's not too saturated. You just stink." — GaryVee ([27:28])

• Audience-Centric Approach: He emphasizes the necessity of focusing on the audience's needs and interests, rather than seeking fame for its own sake.

  "How about actually giving a shit about the audience, right? How about caring about the audience?" — GaryVee ([27:58])

• Constructive Criticism: Gary advises embracing honest self-assessment and being open to change, rather than blaming external factors like algorithms or personal circumstances.

  "When you blame the algorithm... you're a fucking loser." — GaryVee ([28:00])

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Concluding Insights

Throughout the episode, Gary Vaynerchuk maintains his characteristic forthrightness, delivering tough love to his listeners while providing actionable advice. The overarching theme revolves around accountability, perseverance, and the necessity of aligning one's efforts with genuine value creation for the audience. Whether addressing job searches, podcast growth, or content creation challenges, Gary consistently underscores the importance of hard work, strategic planning, and authentic engagement.

Notable Closing Remarks:

"How about giving a shit about the audience? How about trying to provide value to the audience?" — GaryVee ([27:58])

"You're chiseling like on these settings. I'm being tight because I want to bring value to everybody." — GaryVee ([20:31])

Gary concludes the episode by reiterating his commitment to delivering value, signaling more in-depth and extended content in future episodes.

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Final Thoughts:
This episode serves as a candid exploration of the hurdles faced by individuals striving for growth in various facets of their personal and professional lives. Gary Vaynerchuk's unapologetic approach challenges listeners to confront their limitations, rethink their strategies, and prioritize authentic value creation over superficial metrics of success.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Tea with Gary Vee. What episode number is this?

[Aaron]

70 or 70.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

70. Episode 70 of Tea with Gary Vee. Good morning. Great to see all of you. Let's get the first person on the show. Aaron, you got a question.

[Braden]

Question from Braden. I saw your video from yesterday. I'm also 23, just graduated from college and don't really know what to do. I'm applying but not hearing much back. Would you recommend. What would you recommend I do with this free time? Develop new skills. Get a job asap.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

First of all, what I'm most scared about is how many people say that they're applying to jobs when it's only three or four or five jobs. Right. Like, when you're desperate for a job, it needs. You need to be applying to 30 jobs a day. A lot of people like, like, I get this all the time. Like, Gary, you know, I'm so desperate for a job, I'm just laying around. I'm like, how many jobs did you. Well, like, six. I'm like, six what? Six different jobs. I've done a lot. I think people have lost their way in understanding what a lot is. You can go to, like, literally, you know, Craigslist and find people that need you for the day to, like, move some hay in their barn. Like, I don't know. Yes. And get skills. So, like, I don't know. Like, I just think that people need to go a little bit harder. And I think what is harder has been. Been really, really redefined, unfortunately, and I think it's hurting people. Everybody get over to GaryVee.com whatnot download this app this is whatnot, a live shopping app, which I'm very hot on. Live shopping. My man. What's your name?

[Jamie Johnson]

I'm Jamie. Jamie Johnson.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Jamie Johnson, where are you from?

[Jamie Johnson]

I'm from South Georgia.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Feels like it. My man. How are things?

[Jamie Johnson]

It's pretty cool, man. It's cool to be on with you. It's cool to be on with you. My question, my question is I've started a podcast here, the Southern Executive Experience for my family's business. Trying to grow interview business people in my area. And just, you know, I'm having. My biggest question is how do I get my podcast to go locally? I've got. I've had some good guests. I just can't seem to get it any. Any views, you know, or any local views. Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm six episodes posted. I got another six already in the queue, but so I'm really early. I know. I'M early, but I'm just like, my wife doesn't even see my content, so I just know what's going on.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Couple things. One, the first thing you should do is take the link to your podcast and text every person in your phone that lives locally, all of them. You literally start with Aaron Anderson and you end with Zachary Zakoski. And you lay down at night for an hour, every night, two hours, three hours. If you want this, brother. If you fucking want this, you lay down and you go and you ping somebody you fucking went to high school with that you know is still in town. And hey, Sarah, it's been a long time. I did a new podcast. Don't know if this is important to you or not, but it'd mean a lot to me if you listen to the first couple minutes. Right. And so first you do ground battle. Next you post your podcast on Facebook. Okay. And then you run ads for $100 for people that live within a 10 mile radius of your home.

[Jamie Johnson]

I've heard, Yep, yep, I've done that's the only traction I'm getting is when I do the ads.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And how much are you spending on the ads and how, how I've done about two.

[Jamie Johnson]

I'm doing two, $200, I guess on YouTube right now.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No, not YouTube. I didn't say YouTube. Facebook. Because Facebook targeting ads are real tight. You can target by. What town do you live in specifically?

[Jamie Johnson]

I live on St. Simon's Island. I'm on the corner of the state, but I cover the whole state of Georgia is my territory.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, you can literally, literally run ads that are very, very specific to. I would say go start with closers. Georgia's a big state. Start with 10, 20 mile. You can target by mile radius Facebook ads. Not Instagram, but can be mixed. But I love Facebook proper and I love it for your audience and that's what you need to be doing.

[Jamie Johnson]

Gotcha. Gotcha. One rather quick question. I'm in a B2B business, local family ran business. My biggest problem right now is finding the, the experts in my company to come help me with my content. They're all scared to be on camera. They're all scared to do these things. We're very successful. My father's built a great business. I'm trying to take it to the next level, trying to get it more online.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Are you their boss?

[Jamie Johnson]

I am not. I'm their boss's son. I am. You know what I mean? I run my, I run my territory very similar. I've worked for my dad Most of my life. And he's just. The past seven months he's just allowed me to start making content for the company. So I'm just earned that right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Are you, Are you. Have you had your dad on?

[Jamie Johnson]

Yes, he was on my first podcast. It was awesome. It was great.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Have you asked your dad to encourage the executives to be on?

[Jamie Johnson]

He has and I've gotten one on. It's just old school techno, old school mentality, just not wanting to be on camera, I think. But it's.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Who do you want as customers?

[Jamie Johnson]

We are in the office equipment I T space, so we're mainly looking for IT directors and we sell copiers.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's who you should be asking to get on the show. Not your executives, but potential clients of your business to talk about their business. You see where I'm going, brother?

[Jamie Johnson]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If you email somebody and say, hey, I want you to buy copiers, facts and shoes, whatever fuck you sell.

[Jamie Johnson]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And that's, that's hardcore selling. But if you reach out to them and say, hey, I have this, the Southern Executive Experience show and I'd love for you to be a guest to talk about your journey in your business. Now we're flirting, you understand? Yep. Now you're warming up the lead. You understand?

[Jamie Johnson]

Yep, absolutely.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Now you're creating the opportunity. So they should be. I don't want your executives. I actually want you to ask the people that you're trying to get business from to be your guest.

[Jamie Johnson]

I, I've started that. I've got a lot of those in. I've got some local customers, I've got a few prospects that have been on. I, I've been watching you for a long time. But you, brother.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Hold on. Brother a lot. And you have 12 episodes.

[Jamie Johnson]

Well, I moved as fast as I can record them. As much. As fast as they say yes. As fast as they say yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That I respect, brother. Listen to me. $100, 20 mile radius, 50 mile radius of your, your HQ. Got it?

[Jamie Johnson]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good luck.

[Jamie Johnson]

It means the world to me. Thank you so much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do it, Aaron. Ask your question team. You got somebody coming up next. Beautiful, Aaron, go.

[Braden]

Okay. Seth asks how would you utilize live social Shock shopping like whatnot or TikTok live for a medical service like PT business. No product to sell, but cool service.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know, I would probably create a hat and do what I'm doing with Tea with Gary Vee. I think that there's something that is going to happen out there called commerce tainment. I believe in this concept of commerce Tainment right now, we have a lot of people doing live shopping. If you go to whatnot or you go to TikTok shop, it's all QVC. If you watch this show, this is commerce tainment. All right, here we go. What's up, my man? What's your name?

[Aaron]

What's up, man? My name is Aaron.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Aaron. What's good, bro?

[Aaron]

Okay, so I have a question. I recently kind of went like, semi viral about an experience, almost meeting Steph Curry at the NBA game, at the warriors game. And so, like, I have nothing but good intentions, even though, like, we couldn't meet because of media and stuff. But how can I leverage the opportunity without, like, compromising my integrity? Like, I'm not trying to get anything crazy out of it, but I also don't want to waste the opportunity.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, the opportunity is a silly one, though. You know what I mean? Like, I think you need to learn from how you created the opportunity more than the opportunity itself. My guy.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I mean, it was like, pretty much based on my storytelling. Like, I just.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right.

[Aaron]

So I would become editing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love that. So become a full pledge storyteller. Meaning this. I'm so happy you're on, bro. I'm so proud of you. The way that you just responded to me. You get it? You're not going to get any. What are you going to do out of the opportunity? Sell T shirts that say I almost met Steph Curry? Like, you know what I mean?

[Aaron]

No, no, no, no.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What? What? You're. What? You're. You're. You're thinking the right way. A lot of kids, like, you wouldn't have thought the right way. You're thinking the right way. You need to use. You need to make a deck or a full pledge video or a presentation of how you story told and why it worked and why. You can do that for other people or other brands. If you want to go that route or if you want to build personal brand, keep doing it. Come up with the next thing. Come up with.

[Aaron]

Well, ironically, my content beforehand was like showing all my Steph Curry cards. I've even sent cards to like, like young kids who asked me for cards. And I gave out some cards at the warriors game. I kind of just did like, I did Steph Curry content anyways. And then like, his team saw it, but it didn't. It didn't really go like. We thought like, it was a crazy story, but. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What did you. What? Talk me through it. What did you.

[Aaron]

Okay, so. So I was told by his bodyguard to stay after the game, and I did. And he's like, okay. And I had my rookie card. Like, my tops 09, 1, 2, 3 rookie card. And. Or 3, 2, 1. And so he's like, I'm gonna see what I can do for you. He told me, you know, I'm gonna try to get Step to come back out of the locker room. And unfortunately, I just, like, ran out of time, and I was like, I had to leave the arena. So, I mean, I've been in contact with him, and it's. It's less about, like, fulfilling that. It's more like, how can I use this for good? Like, there's a lot of kids out there who would love a Steph Curry card. I got, like, 200 extras.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let's go backwards.

[Aaron]

I want to now get it in, like.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I got it. What? I got it. Let's take a step back. What would you like to happen? Like, real talk. Real talk. What would you like to happen? Selfishly, forget about selflessly. The kids. Yeah. What the Are you trying to accomplish for you, which is allowed.

[Aaron]

I mean, best case scenario, like, to fulfill meeting him, but. Well, good.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Just keep going at it then. If that's the number one, just keep. Like, Steph is a good dude, and he probably want. And he'll. He probably wants to meet you. Just keep going to games and documenting, and eventually it'll happen. The end.

[Aaron]

I mean, I'm from Dallas, and they were just in Dallas last night, and I was going to go. The only reason I didn't is I didn't want to be a pester. Like, oh, like, dude, we said we'd try, and you're here bugging again. Like, I don't want to be that guy.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, that's very sweet. Then that's fine, too.

[Aaron]

Okay, well, maybe I'll come to New York and we can go to a Knicks game against the Warriors. I think it's, like, March 4th, right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm actually away. I know. I wanted to see. Because Draymond's my guy. I wanted to go to that game. I'm actually not here. I'm away. But, my man, listen to me. Listen to me. Like, I want you to focus on the storytelling part.

[Aaron]

Yeah. See, a lot of people told me I was. I was Dragon and that I talk too much. But, like, it also got, like, half a million views, so I don't know. It's kind of funny.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Just keep playing. You understand?

[Aaron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Stay well. Who's next? Karen, you got something?

[Braden]

I got a question, if you want. It's sort of long. I'm a stay at home mom to two children who homeschools and runs two full time businesses. At night I'm worked to the max with little to no help. I love my businesses and the sense of independence they give me, but how do I stay motivated to keep this up? She also says sales have been down for one of my businesses lately. So I've been in a depressive funk lately and I'm hesitant to hire someone.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is tough because I have to ask her a bunch of questions like why hesitate to hire someone, right? Why be in funk? These are real questions. Business goes down sometimes when you sign up for business, there's ups and downs. Business is like sports. Some days you win, some days you lose. Like this concept that business is always businesses. Like relationships. You guys been in relationships? Sometimes it's fucking good. Sometimes there's challenging times. You guys hear about this thing called fucking life. You know the fuck life is? You know what life is? I don't know if you know this, but in fucking life shit happens. Sometimes it's fucking awesome, sometimes it fucking blows. It's fucking life. Like, what the fuck? I don't understand. Like, the real question is, where's your mind at, everybody? Where did this global pandemic called entitlement become the norm? And she, by the way, this is how I'm reacting to a woman that is fucking doing it right. Did you say racing? Three children and fucking two. Three businesses and homeschooling. She's got six kids because those businesses are kids, my friends. I'm telling y'all, crying isn't gonna fucking do it. Like, it's just where it's at. I think that she's amazing. I admire her heavily. If you're in the chat, do you know her name? Cheyenne. Cheyenne. You're impressive. Don't get down, you know, like. Like fucking swallow it. Like, it is what it is, y'all. Like it's fucking hard out here. Like life is hard sometimes and that's good. All right, get me somebody on screen. Who we got? Sarah. Sarah, Sarah. What's good?

[Cheyenne]

Hey, Gary, how are you? Good. How are you doing?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good. Where are you from?

[Cheyenne]

I am currently in Westchester, New York, but I grew up in New Jersey. Going to your family's liquor store. So thank you for parties.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you, thank you. Where were you in Jurors in Union.

[Cheyenne]

And then Berkeley Heights.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right there. Right there. I love it. What's good? What can I answer for you?

[Cheyenne]

I was wondering. I'm trying to figure out if I should stay in A really safe corporate job or. I've been interviewing at a nonprofit that I'm really passionate about, but it has a ton of red flags. So six months ago it was putting a jump. Now I am like, maybe the timing's not so good.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, I mean, look, I think you should go with your intuition and I think your intuition knows that there's red flags. Go interview with a different non profit.

[Cheyenne]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I. Are you just desperately trying to get out of your job or.

[Cheyenne]

No, no, my job's safe.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's good.

[Cheyenne]

It's got a lot of great perks.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But your heart, your heart, your heart is really taking you towards a nonprofit.

[Cheyenne]

Absolutely. But I have tons of life responsibilities, so it's that balance.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What about, what about joining a nonprofit board or donating some of your evening times to nonprofits at first, if you want to scratch that altruistic itch that's running through your body, which I admire so much.

[Cheyenne]

I love that idea. It's been really hard to find a board, but I think that'd be a great plan.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I mean, there's a lot of small charities out there.

[Cheyenne]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know what I mean? Like, like it's not, it's not that hard to find a board. Like it's not gonna come to you. It's gonna be you with a glass of wine at 10:00pm, you know, emailing, like, I apologize one more time. Virginia, did you say. Where were you?

[Cheyenne]

Westchester, New York.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Westchester? Excuse me. I mean, fuck, even easier. There's fucking a drillion of them in Manhattan. Westchester, Long island, upstate New York. I think you literally search charity in the area and you just send emails and be like, look, my heart's in a place of giving and I'd love to be a volunteer or join a board. You know, that happened to me. Like, I'm busy. I got responsibilities, I got ambitions, but I find time to do work for charity. Water and Pencils of Promise and other organizations. And I think you can do that.

[Cheyenne]

Does that make it more of a side hustle?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I mean, you know, because you're talking out of multiple sides. Right? Like, you know, definitely don't join this nonprofit because you can smell it. I know. You know, multiple red flags is not a good way to think about things. And then, and then when you went to, I've got responsibilities. Well, like, I mean, like, what's gonna happen? You're gonna join a non profit and then a year in you're gonna feel the financial pressure and you're gonna be upset again instead. Instead, I'm sure You have a busy life, but you still can find a couple hours a month, a couple hours, an hour a week, or whatever it is to volunteer or join a board or an advisory board to a nonprofit and start. You know, I think people think all or nothing too much. For a lot of us that are like, I want to do this, I want to do that. Like, when you want to do something, sometimes the way to do that is to start small. Everybody's become so absolute. Like, I gotta quit my job and join a non profit. No, no. You can volunteer or join a board for a little while. You see where I'm going?

[Cheyenne]

Yeah, I do. That makes sense.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Makes sense, right?

[Cheyenne]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

By the way, what that also does. Only one hat left. Rips. You know what else that does? Is it allows you to taste it. You may find out you don't like it. Let me tell you what I found out about nonprofits. There's a lot of bullshit in them.

[Cheyenne]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Not the two I mentioned because I've stayed on there. But a lot of nonprofits are just doing to be socially cool. Not for the right reasons. Some nonprofits overpay their executives and the money doesn't even go to the nonprofit. There's a lot of out there.

[Cheyenne]

Is there a good way to figure out what's the. And what actually is good?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I actually trust you because you went through a process where you see red flags and you didn't jump. I think what you need to do is go kiss six frogs until you find your prince.

[Cheyenne]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're welcome.

[Braden]

Sophia asks, what's the difference between optimism and denial?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And denial. Maybe delusion. I'm gonna answer the delusion. Cause I don't know what the. You know, it's a very fine line. This is why it's so interesting to me. Optimism. This is why people don't like optimism in their brain. They think it means delusion, right? Like, people are like, I'm gonna be Beyonce. And everyone's like, the fuck are you talking about? Rips? You're not gonna be Beyonce. Rips. You can't sing, right? This is why I'm so obsessed with self awareness. One of my favorite V friends, Self aware hair, an optimistic otter. I have a lot of comic books and stories that I wanna tell about self aware hair and optimistic otter. Because there is a delusional element. You know, I think. I think being realistic and I think the missing ingredient when it comes to delusion versus optimism, the missing ingredient is the humbled hedgehog. Humble hedgehog. The answer to your question, Aaron and Safiya's is humility. If one lacks humility and self awareness, they become delusional. If they have humility and self awareness, it becomes optimism. And that is a very fine line. One of the ways that you can, if you're listening and you're confused, one of the ways that you can really figure this out is to find your most positive friends and ask them to respond. Not your cynical friends, not your grandma that always says Brown. Wow. Not fucking Debbie Downside or whatever, you know. What was her name again? Debbie Downer. You know, I don't need Debbie Downer. You need to find your five most practical positive friends and ask them what they think about your idea. And if you get, you know, 0 for 5 from them now, you're delusional, you know, and so those are things I would do. All right, who's next? Give me somebody on camera.

[Patrick]

Patrick, how's it going?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good, brother, how are you?

[Patrick]

Good. So I had a question. I'm a chiropractic student and I graduate in November. I'm gonna start my own business. I want to start my social now I can't do any adjusting type videos because I can't adjust until I graduate. But I can do like nutrition, mobility stuff.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You could also do people getting to know you and you could like make the whole series about the road to adjusting. You could like tell people that you see where I'm going. Like we could all follow your journey until you actually can adjust. And by the time you can adjust, many of us will want you to adjust. Us because we followed your journey and we know that you can adjust, but you're legally not allowed to adjust.

[Patrick]

Right. But I was thinking about using. Using AI to make an AI version of myself to then post content. Doing that, I don't know if that would be not a great thing to do if I should just do it myself. My thought was I could save a lot of time.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, you could do that.

[Patrick]

I like being able to type out what I needed to say.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, but bro, it's gonna cost you real money to make an actual AI person. That's money right now. Do you know how much like to make a really good AI like per. Like that one that's gonna be video, not just image. Is that what you're saying?

[Patrick]

I was thinking about setting it like a podcast setting where the AI is just kind of there. It's not really moving around, but it's just talking.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I see. You could. I mean, I'm not in love with that. Nobody's gonna give a I think nobody, nobody. But what about.

[Patrick]

Okay, yeah, I get it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What about you doing.

[Patrick]

I think I'm just gonna do that now that I talk to you.

[Braden]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know what I mean? By the way, this is what, by the way, this is awesome. This is. I love where you're. Let me give you some flowers. You're. You're thinking, you're strategizing right now, brother. You know, you've heard me talk about AI and other people characters, right? You're thinking about, you're about to go to ads. Like you're thinking, but what's bro, you can't imagine some of the delusional, potentially delusional, ridiculous shit that comes out of my mouth all day to myself and to others. You're refining, you're chiseling. You know what I mean? You're chiseling like on these settings. I'm being tight because I want to bring value to everybody. Like I'm always, I'm doing, you know, like what I think about this shit. All. What if I retire and just do coloring books? Like I'm thinking about shit all the time too.

[Patrick]

So I do have one more question for you. If you have time, please go ahead. When I saw you talking about doing ads and then know, putting it in whatever radius of your area after you post something that does. Well, I've talked to other chiropractors that have done social media and they've talked about how when someone comes in from seeing social media posts, they kind of like just want to be adjusted. They don't retain those patients a lot. They kind of come and go. And what would you do to help filter out those kind of people and really focus in on the people that want to continue to come.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Would do it to see how real that is and find out if their content is creating those kind of customers and if their actual personalities and skill sets are not retaining either. Like, like there's so many variables, bro, that to that what people told you. And by the way, here's my favorite one. How many chiropractors have told you that? Tell me the real number one. I, brother, I was going to bet my life that it was two or less. And so next time you say that, don't say chiropractors, say a chiropractor told me. You know what I mean, brother? Yeah, listen, listen.

[Patrick]

But it made me think this is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Super important when it comes to marketing to get customers in a 2025 world. Do you think you should listen to me or do you think you should listen to this one? Chiropractor.

[Patrick]

And the real answer is I just bought your book.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. And more importantly, brother, you've got to live it for yourself. You know what I mean?

[Patrick]

Right? Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And is that chiropractor boring as shit?

[Patrick]

No, actually he's pretty awesome. I like him a lot.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's awesome. So then listen, he or she? He, he. You know, he. How old is he?

[Patrick]

I think 33 to 35.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. So he's probably analyzing like the word of mouth clients he's gotten versus social media. But I have to look at his social media. Maybe his ads are leading to lower value people. I run a lot of ads for wine. My dad's wine store. Some of them are very expensive, but if I get one customer, I know they're going to be very valuable because I'm being very specific with the creative of the ad. They that will get me a customer. That is very high net worth. But it costs me a lot more money to get one than the 50 I can get for the same amount for the lower customer. But that customer may only buy $20 wine. Once you see where I'm going. The creative is the variable. So it sounds like he was running ads just to get as many people as possible, yet they weren't as high value. If you make videos or pictures for those ads, that really speaks to people with heavy issues. Right. With fat, you know, with fascia, like, like with soft, like.

[Patrick]

I also want to do a lot of nutrition because I'm partnered with a nutrition company right now that I work for.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's it, bro. We got it. We got it.

[Patrick]

I also saw like the social shopping with that. I think we need to start.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, I think you're right. We got this. We're good. Go. See you. Love you.

[Patrick]

Awesome. Thank you. Appreciate it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're welcome. Let's get to the next question. Aaron.

[Braden]

Okay. Family on board is asking. I have an mba. Started and sold a business last year. Do you think influencers have a future as a career in five, ten years from now?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. Next. I mean, there's Aaron. I don't know what to tell you. Influencers are only going to grow. I wrote a book. When I'm dead, people will understand how profound Crush it was. You motherfuckers on my team. Can you go read Crush it. Do you understand? Mason, right? And Mace. When's the last time you read Crush it? Mace, please say how crazy that book is. I wrote that in 2008. It came out in 09. It literally predicted everything that happened. The word influencer is not in there. But that's all I talked about. I think Influencer is a huge business because it's Long tail. It's Long tail. Everyone's gonna be famous, Aaron. Everyone's gonna be famous to 15 people. Andy Warhol's 15 minute of fame or whoever said that is now gonna be. Everyone's going to be famous to 15 people. Everyone on earth will be famous to 15 people. At least the world's changed. Hi darling, what's your name?

[Aaron]

Viviana.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Viviana, where are you from?

[Aaron]

New Jersey. I'm in Bridgewater.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let's go. The Bridgewater Mall. I've done baseball card shows there when I was a kid. I know it well.

[Aaron]

I'm a headshot photographer and I am interested in live social shopping but I don't know what I should be selling like gift cards reduce. I'm kind of high end so I don't want to be portrayed as cheap. So I want to be able to do that on live social shopping but I don't know what to sell.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of businesses that are not ready for live social shopping and this is why I'm obsessed with this term commerce tainment. I think what you could be doing is talking about photography and yourself almost like you're doing a live. And yes, maybe you could, you know, run a disc but you'll have to give up 11% to whatnot on, you know, and so if you're going to discount and then give up 11%, it's really not worth it for you because you're not selling an item. So sometimes you don't have to force it. Like I don't force Pinterest and Pinterest is an incredible platform but I don't force it for me. And you know, I'm not so sold that you have to use live social shopping even though it's an opportunity because you have a service.

[Braden]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And services don't work as well on live social shopping as items. Now you may want to sell items, you may want to start selling camera equipment. You may. That also then gives people awareness that you're a photographer. So people may buy camera equipment from you or stumble on you while you're selling camera equipment and then they see how knowledgeable you are and then they may sign you up or hire you to service or you may take photography of landscape and sell prints and original photos. You could, but you're going to need to sell something to get the highest value out of live shopping.

[Aaron]

Okay, that makes sense.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Cool. All right, thank you. Interesting. Let's get my next question. Aaron.

[Braden]

Yes? A question from Drew. A huge passion in making videos and now make Day in the Life videos. I post every day, but I'm not getting any views. I post on every platform. Is it too saturated?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's not too saturated. You just stink. What's his name?

[Braden]

Drew.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Drew, you stink. Now, this is a good thing. I stink sometimes, too, team. You know this. We sucked all of 2024. Sid. That's not me and you. We were not good. We sucked. It's real talk, Dustin. We sucked. By our standards, we suck. We didn't suck overall, but we were fucking average out there in an era where for a decade, we've not been averaged. We've been way better this year. Is there any confusion? Braden Wright. We're better. We caught some heat late Q4. You're just not winning right now, bro. The algorithm, aka human beings. I love everyone who's like the algorithm. You know what the algorithm is? The customer. The customer thinks your shit is whack. What's his name? Drew. Drew, people think you stink, you're boring, you're not interesting. Now the question becomes, now what? Aaron, who's talking behind the scenes? She came on the team and she said, yo, motherfuckers, we could do YouTube better. This is how I need the fucking thirst. First 30 seconds to be. This is what I need the thumbnail to be. I need you to stop putting fucking all the shit in one bucket. She strategized. He's in the chat. Drew. There he is. Drew, I see you, my guy. Thanks. Loyal hat. Exactly. Drew, I love you. You're such a fucking winner. Drew. When you are happy that you suck, you can fix. When you blame the algorithm and your mama and Donald Trump or Biden, you lose. When you blame the government, your parents, or the algorithm, you're a fucking loser. And when you blame yourself, you're a winner. If we can teach the world to fall in love with saying they suck with, we win right now. When I said that, people got triggered because we're in an era where people fucking got soft. There were people who were listening now who like me and said, oh, Gary, they're not. See, you know, like, I get it. And there is mental health issues, of course, but a lot of people that are just soft, they're like, I'm anxious. You're not anxious. You're lazy, you're entitled, you're not accountable. And you're using that as a weapon against the world to feel bad for you. Fuck that shit. Yes, Tyler. Look at Tyler. You've been around me a long time. That one hit you, right? And that's hard, what I just said. And I know people want to get feelings on me, and this does not confuse many people who are born with chemical issue. There's shit out there. But if you're a person that has weaponized other people's actual grief to disguise your entitlement, laziness, shame on you. Because you're actually making a lot of us struggle to figure out who's really struggling or not. Literally, I would argue one of the worst people on earth is someone who's weaponizing mental health issues because of their entitlement and laziness, thus making all of us confused who's actually got issues and not. Shame on you. Shame on you. Yeah, that's a boom. That's a hard thing to say. Nobody wants to say this, what I'm saying out loud. Fuck, I'm upset. I'm upset, Aaron, because it's making it hard for good people who want to help, because people are like, I have mental health issues. And then their fucking work from home, camera off. And then you look at their social, and they're playing fucking fortnight motherfucker. Piece of shit. Yeah, Dustin, that's what I said. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Drew, who I fucking respect the shit out of. When I said to Drew, you suck, Drew was happy. Drew's like, yes, that's a winner. Why are you not popping off? Because your content's not good. You're not bringing value. You know why most people's content stinks, Aaron? Because they want to be famous and they don't give a fuck about the people that are watching the content. Oh, how about that part? How about actually giving a shit about the audience, right? How about caring about the audience? How about trying to provide value to the audience? You think me selling $2,000 worth of pins on this show is worth this hour? The fuck do you know? Do you fucking understand what's going on in my life? My real business friends make fun of me for doing this hour. How about actually bringing value? How about allocating time to bring value? How about trying to fucking help? Thank you for joining me on Tea with Gary Vee. I have great news. As this year progresses, there will be more tea with GaryVee. They will be longer. They will be in other hours. I'm bringing fucking value.