← The GaryVee Audio Experience
The GaryVee Audio Experience
Why IP and StoryTelling are Essential to Building a Brand in 2026
00:29:53
Loading summary
Transcript48 lines
- [00:02]
Red Bull Announcer
Ready to soundtrack your summer with Red Bull Summer All Day Play. You choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic, a deep end dj, a road dog or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track. Red Bull Summer All Day Play. Red Bull gives you wings. Visit Red Bull.com BrightSummerAhead to learn more. See you this summer.
- [00:27]
Schwab/Lowe's Advertiser
Trading at Schwab is now powered by Ameritrade Unlocking the power of thinkorswim. The award winning trading platforms loaded with features that let you dive deeper into the market. Visualize your trades in a new light on thinkorswim desktop with robust charting and analysis tools all while you uncover new opportunities with up to the minute market news and insights. ThinkOrSwim is available on desktop, web and mobile to meet you where you are. It's built by the trading obsessed to help you trade brilliantly. Learn more@schwab.com trading the only reason I
- [00:58]
Gary Vaynerchuk
have unlimited Batman and Iron man and Superman rookie cards is because we fell in love with the character. Not Stan Lee, right? Not Bob Kane, not Jim Henson, not Walt Disney, but Mickey Mouse and Big Bird and Batman and Superman. And so when I built we friends, I knew that trading cards was gonna be a big part of how we built the brand. But I knew that there was no way for me to actually build this universe without this is the GaryVee audio experience.
- [01:29]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
How's it going everybody? This is the uncanny Omar from Near Mint Condition, the home of collected editions. To my right is a gentleman that probably doesn't need introduction, but just in case it is Gary V. How are you Gary?
- [01:41]
Gary Vaynerchuk
I am well, my friend. How are you doing?
- [01:44]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Well thank you so much for joining me today. I know you're a busy guy, busy schedule ripping and running always. So I have no idea how you're on the topic sit here and talk to but that's what we're here to do. We're here to talk about comics and why comics and I have so many questions for you and I'm trying to condense them down to just a couple that you can take the time to answer. Yeah, why comic books? We were talking about Be Friends. Yep.
- [02:13]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yep. Go ahead.
- [02:16]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Is something that you guys are publishing and putting out and you've got wonderful people attached to the projects and wonderful people attached to the actual comics such as Jim Rugg who has kind of come out of from the hiding I guess because he hasn't been really doing a lot of things and this is kind of his first published thing and he's got to talk to him at Comics Ground and he's excited to be working on comics again.
- [02:41]
Gary Vaynerchuk
How did all that come about, you know, five years ago? Sorry for the empty shelves, everyone. I know you're accustomed to me having a lot of things. Usually I would have some great comics here to interject. Five years ago, I started this brand called Veefriends, a world of 250 characters. And from the day I created it, I knew comics would be a very big part of it because comics were a very big part of my world and my life growing up. I'm more known as a sports card trading guy. But in the 90s, I had multiple spurts. I was a Fantastic Four reader in 88, 89, 90. And then I, I bought a thousand. I bought, excuse me, 100, 100 copies of Carnage's first appearance, which was a good decision. Yes, I did. And I sold them at my baseball card show and did really well with them. And always, you know, grew up on Justice League and Batman, Adam west and Loves was a. I'm a very heavy superhero toy collector. So I have a massive Migos collection and I have a ton of Secret wars and superpowers mint on card. And I have cases and cases of toy biz action hero figures in my, in my attic right now. And so I did a lot with superheroes from a collectible standpoint. And then I have 4 trillion Valiant comics, Bloodshot number two and Turek number one and all that stuff. And that was a mistake. But comics was a bigger part. And action heroes and superheroes were a bigger part of my world than I think the public knew. And when I built Veefriends, I knew that trading Cards was gonna be a big part of how we built the brand. But I knew that there was no way for me to actually build this universe without comics. Ultimately, for anyone who's tuning in, that's new. There's a lot of people that collected Veefriends five years ago as a thank you to all my content or the things that I did as a NFT that got them a ticket to a three year business conference as a, as an investment or collectible investment in their minds because they thought I could actually make the universe work. But I knew for it to actually work, like here's a little Jay Lee, by the way, motivated monster, or adventurous astronaut, or witty and gritty, like, I knew that I had to tell the stories of these characters so that I had a foundation, you know, of Stories. Because the only reason you're wearing a Jurassic park, you know, like play or something that bubble. Bubble? Yeah. Like, you know, like the only reason. Everything behind your. The only reason I have unlimited Batman and Iron man and Superman rookie cards is because we fell in love with the character. Not Stan Lee, right? Not Bob Kane, not, you know, Jim Henson, not Walt Disney, but Mickey Mouse and Big Bird and Batman and Superman. And so I knew that it was going to get traction. It has gotten traction. There's a huge community around collectors. Everybody here, brother, that would go to ebay right now and type in be friends and go to completed items. They would be stunned by how much activity and passion there is around our universe. But I've said pretty consistently now for a year that the comic books are the most important thing we're doing. Cause this has to be way bigger than me for it to even have a prayer to be what I want it to be. And, you know, DJ Kaufman, Jim Rugg getting J. Scott Campbell to do the first cover. You know, all of this stuff is not by accident. Like, we are being thoughtful. We're trying to onboard net new comic collectors. This is live right now. Watch this. How many people in the chat bought their first ever comic or became a comic collector because of veefriends? Please say me. You know, and Omar. You'll see. Right now, I think we're gonna get several answers here. And so I think, you know, I think that has been a huge part of an excitement for me. Right. Creating new collectors. Right. But also doing all the right things, including to your point. I'm not sure. You know, I'm very flattered by you saying it, but you would be flabbergasted on actually how busy I actually am. But allocating this time to your show is a gift to me. Not just me, you know, doing you a solid. Because I. I wanna earn over the next decade, I wanna earn the respect of the comic community by showing up at Emerald City, by doing this show, but most of all by putting out really good stories with really great covers and really great art. And so, you know, it's been pretty exciting. I wanna thank the comic community as a whole. Anytime a businessman, if they don't really know where my heart is, comes into something new, there's always, and you know this. The comic community is going to be cynical to everything. There's so many flash in the pans. There's been so much bull crap, manufactured scarcity. So I anticipated it taking us a very long time to get to where we are. Even Right now, which is we're starting to get people in the comic world being like, oh, this is. Hey, this might actually have a chance to be something. And I will tell you, Omar, because I work on them personally, the stories are the most important part of me for this. For me, this is much more Jim Henson. You know what I would say? I would say for me personally, the Stan Lee X Men thing is a big part of it. You know, the mutants being outcasts, talking about social issues. Most of the comics that I've put out and we put out have real story behind them, real meaning around insecurity and confidence or accountability or why cynicism, lazy and like, you know, just really important things. And I'm proud, you know, of the stories we're putting out. And I'm excited to follow the great men and women before me and create these good comic books, great comic books. And then ladder them up to animated shows and movies and amusement parks. And we're really excited about the journey we're on. And I, I was very affected by superhero culture and I have a lot of it in me. I can nerd out on Plastic man and Mighty Mouse and you know, I'm in it way more than people realize. But I've been unusually quiet by my standards. Cause I'm a big showman in a lot of ways because I really overly respect the community and I just want to kind of tortoise versus hair of it. But. But I think our success has caught a lot of people off guard and has brought some cynicism, I'm sure as well. Like why are these comics selling for so much? But we are working with great high caliber people. I'm overtly in tune to going slow, but it's going fast as well. Cause there's a lot of good behind it.
- [10:02]
Indeed Advertiser
When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed sponsored jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. That's Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored jobs.
- [10:33]
Schwab/Lowe's Advertiser
Pool days call for cookouts and lots of laundry this Memorial Day at Lowe's. Save $80 on a Char Broil Performance Series 4 burner gas grill $199 plus get up to 45 off. Select major appliances to keep dishes, clothes, and food fresh. Having fun in the sun is easy with us in your corner. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's battle through 527, while supplies last selection varies by location. See associate or lowe's.com for details.
- [11:03]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
So you're. You're playing a role in this. It's not just you starting a brand with your name. You said you. You actually are writing some of the comics.
- [11:12]
Gary Vaynerchuk
So it's been really cool. We do these major comic the way we create our comics. So I drew every single character that exists. The way this product launched is I. With a magic marker, I doodled my whole life. I doodled every single character in this world. And then what's amazing is I videotape the way we do stories at Veefriends is we do three, four, day, two, day off sites. Me, DJ Kaufman, Jim Ruggs, Katie, you know, Chris Basson, Ally, and we. And I've got many of the characters developed in my mind for five years, but I don't have every aspect. Some is blurry, some are very distinct. I would say motivated. Monster comic number five, I wrote out. I mean, I. I wrote it in my words, and then it was written. But there's not a story that I'm not involved in. We videotape all of it. So we're gonna have incredible stuff for the documentary where I'm like. And this is what Gritty Ghost and Witty Weasel are doing. Obviously, there's some stories where a Katy, a DJ, a Jim will have even more of their DNA. But there's not a single book that doesn't have 20 to 50% of my DNA in it. And when I say my DNA, I'm like, this is the origin of this character. This is what this character is about. And so it's been really fun for me. Cause I've been digging even deeper into. Into the relationship of, you know, Kirby and Stan Lee and all this stuff. Like. And I'm like, oh, wow. Like, you know, some of the most important people in comic history were more similar. Like me. There was like, they brought different things to the table. I'm not drawing it. I'm not writing every piece of dialogue. But there's a couple of books coming out where I verbalized 85% of it. And so, yeah, I'm not the businessman and then hired good people to take care of this. I'm in this creatively in a really significant way, including that I invented and created every single character. Hey, everybody. Hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure, you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy.
- [13:19]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
You know, the comics medium is a very energy driven medium. It's people working together to make one vision come true. So you playing a big part of it really surprises me because as, as I said, I wasn't kidding. Like, you are a busy guy. So you having a story that others come and draw and letter and color just kind of surprising me that you, you have a hand in every single issue. Do you see yourself doing that in the long run?
- [13:54]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yes, at least.
- [13:56]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
How different is it now than when it started?
- [13:59]
Gary Vaynerchuk
All the way through until all the origin stories are done and then once the framework is set. As you can imagine, I want to give creative freedom for the people I team up with and work with, you know, in a meaningful way. So, you know, I, as far as like getting the 250 characters established, I need to be in the origin. Right? And so, you know, again, like, that's why interviews like this are so fun. Cause you can go deeper. For example, claybourne98 said, Ask this to Gary, his NFTs are a scam. He's a scammer. Gary's a fraud. I'm empathetic to that. Right. NFTs have such a tough brand out there, right, Omar? But you know, if, and I would never expect claybourne98 to do the homework on this because I see so many people put out so many false things. But like, if you go look at veefriends as an NFT, not NFTs, like there's incredibly black and white data on how it's still one of the most meaningful ones in the game and things of that nature. And the same thing with comics. I'm aware that so many people will assume what I'm doing and your assumption makes sense to me. That would be my assumption if I saw someone. But if, but unless people knew, like my relationship with Green Lantern or Hobgoblin or like, you know, I lived through when the Punisher and Ghost Rider were much more famous than Black Panther or Iron man, like no one would know that because I've not put out that content, you know, I promise you, for Jim Rugg, Jim came in, Jim was gonna work a little bit like on a side thing, and then came to an off site and hung for a half a day and left interested, going all in, you know, and you know, enough about the real OGs like Jim and others, they're not Gonna do that if they think it's fugazi. And there's been so much fugazi in the comic world over the last 40 years, you know, so, again, it goes back to earning the trust of the community. And I think the best way to do that is by putting out really meaningfully good stories, great art, and I feel very confident in my storytelling ability. Plus having great partners around me. DJ Kaufman deserves incredible amounts of flowers.
- [16:15]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Yeah, DJs been at the game for a long time. He actually, we interviewed him a few years back whenever he was doing things with the spreadshop.
- [16:23]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yeah, exactly.
- [16:24]
Depop Advertiser
He's.
- [16:25]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
He's been at it for a while.
- [16:26]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yeah.
- [16:27]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
And then Jim has been at it for a long time doing independent comics. So it kind of surprised me the way that you two started working together. Not. Not really that, oh, you got Jim Rung, but the fact that you got Jim Rugg to come out of doing independent comics to do something like this. So it's not just because, I mean, let's be just looking at your background and how much you make. You could have gotten anybody to come and draw this. Right. But the fact that you did it by getting somebody like DJ and getting somebody like Jim, I mean, that means that you're in it for the story. And somebody said this, and I was about to make this comment earlier, it's like the Marvel method on steroids. Well, the way that Stan Lee would write things was, here is the basic plot. Jack. Jack would go and draw the stories and then bring back the paper, you know, the pages, and Stan would write in the dialogue. And that was the Marvel method for a long time. And the way that you're doing it about, like, videoing it and talking about the stories with the creators, I mean, like I said, it's a group effort, so that makes sense. Makes sense that you're doing it that way.
- [17:34]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yeah, it's funny. Both Jim and DJ both gave me tremendous flowers. I was so humbled because I do massively respect their point of view. As they were going through the process, they're like, oh, this is really neat. This is a different style. Right. You know, like this. You know, they mentioned the mark. They educated me more. I mean, it was hazy to me. I won't. I'm not going to claim anything that isn't. The Marvel method was a little more hazy to me. Obviously, got very educated over this last year on many things. Marvel, dc, the history. But we have. Yeah, we have a similar process. I mean, I think, you know, and by the way, people, we've worked with, like, David Mack, you know, which we're starting to go deeper with. Even, like, I was incredibly humbled by the way. I feel Rob Liefeld has really leaned in behind the scenes with me. I think he sees it. You know, it's. It's. Yeah, it's very clear to me what I'm trying to accomplish. And I would tell you that a lot of it has to do with more Jim Henson DNA or X Men. X Men really gets me because that book using mutants to make social commentary of, like, let's not hate each other because we're different shakes me to my bones as I'm saying it out loud today. And I have real purpose. The reason I'm so involved in the stories is I have real purpose to what I want a countable aunt to mean. And I have real purpose of teaching patients through Patient Panda. And I have real purpose on how I want to talk about tenacity and accountability and modern parenting and lack of judgment and what compassion really looks like. So I couldn't rent out the truth. And so we created a process that works for me. I think it touches on some stuff now in that golden era of Marvel, and I'm sure there'll be many more people in the future that do a process that works for them. So we're not trying to replicate or advance or say it's on steroids. It's uniquely what works for us. And it's collaborative with. I call it with conviction. Right? It's collaborative with conviction. There are certain things that I need to be true in this character development, but I have so much love for all the different ideas my team has on these characters, and they blend into each other and they become whole, and it's a lot of fun.
- [20:01]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
So as I do collected editions here. And you. You. You spoke right to my heart whenever you said X Men, because they are everything to me. Without those issues of X Men as a kid, I don't think I'd be doing this. What I do now on YouTube. So how is it different now than when you first started? Because for anybody that hasn't read the Friends, for anybody that's not. Doesn't know what be Friends is what the idea is. Like, how is the pitch originally and how was the pitch now? Or these comics that you're putting out,
- [20:37]
Gary Vaynerchuk
they're pretty in, like, look, we're only a year in, so you can only change so much a year into comics. The brand's out for five years. We waited a long time to. I waited a long time to Find my dj and. And then it was like, okay, I'm ready. You know, right now they're kind of going down the path of how I saw it. So, for example, back to like, what was needed to be true for me. I needed Veefriends, the comic, like the Veefriends brand. I needed that to be like detective or amazing stories. It had to be the framework and I needed to use those comics to be first appearance.
- [21:17]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Right. Okay.
- [21:19]
Gary Vaynerchuk
And then if, God willing, notorious ninja motivated monster, adventurous astronaut. If they got real heat, we could spin it out and have notorious ninja number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So the A year in. The goal was to produce incredible origin story, first appearance comics. Our golden age when I'm older one day where like, you know, these were all the books that had the first appearances. These were the origin stories. And then be reactive if the world just overly fell in love with something. And be prepared for spin outs, which may then go into bookstores, may go elsewhere. Right now, we're direct to consumer. We're on live shopping. We're starting to do a little wholesale. Because the other thing is, we did bring an element of our trading cards DNA.
- [22:08]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
I saw that you guys were doing blind bags.
- [22:10]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yes. This was important to me because I'd be lying again, back to just being authentic. I love trading cards and I love a pack, and I love the excitement of that and the collectability of that. So. So it was important to me that we had a Vee friends brand that replicated detective and amazing stories. Right. And then be prepared for the consumer to react. And if we needed to, like, for example, rare robot has completely sold out. We don't even have rare robot anymore. There's a lot of heat around that character. You know, Adam Sips makes an appearance, a character that's caught the attention of many. You know, do I then spin that out and do I make that a broad distribution? Does that go into distribution? These are the things I'm thinking through. But a year in. That's right. Thank you for that. Yeah, we've been in the trenches trying to do the right things. Meeting artists, meeting collectors, listening. But a year in, my friend, I would say it's been the course, like what we set out a year ago has happened. We're putting out good stories that are starting to catch the attention of people that have no idea who I am or were even maybe cynical to my entrance. And they're like, wait a minute, you know? And every day you make good decisions, build a good team. The rugs of it all Somebody picks up a comic and like. Or goes to befriends.com because another thing is, I want people to read these stories. So three months after we put them out, the full comic is digitally available for free on veefriends.com comics. You know, that's. That's brought a lot of attention. People are like, wait, this is good. And when you have DJ and when you have Jim and Katie and Face and then you. And I'm very, you know, humbly. I think I'm a much better fictional storyteller than anyone would ever guess. I know even people on my team were flabber. I can't wait to go look at those videos when I'm older. Just jaw to the ground. Like, where did that come from? Because it's, you know, you'll appreciate this. I think a lot of creative people appreciate this. My creativity part of my life has been a very private part of my life. My doodling was private. The way I read books. You know, when my brother's 11 years younger than me, if he was here, he'd be like, Well, I knew because when I was five, Gary would put me to sleep when he was 16 and he would just tell me stories that he made up from the dome on the spot. And so it's been really enjoyable to like flex this part of my life. And I think it's gonna end up creating a universe that, look, I have the biggest dreams in the world. I want to build a Marvel DC Disney. But even if I land at Transformers or Voltron or he man or something of that nature, I have like really big dreams and I. I really think we can pull it off. And the best part is I think the stories sit in 1980s good. And I think there's an important time and need for that as well.
- [24:58]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
So your Yuri, if somebody wanted to get something, like, I love the fact that rare robot is the one that is out of breath.
- [25:07]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yeah, exactly.
- [25:08]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Living up to his name. If somebody wanted to get that, they could read it digitally through the website.
- [25:14]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yes, sir.
- [25:15]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Physical comic is out of print. You said you're doing direct to consumer. So you've set up a New York Comic Con. And I'm curious, are you interested in going into the direct market and book market to make this wide to go through comic book stores?
- [25:36]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Yeah, for sure. I mean, free comic book Day next year is a big goal and ambition of mine to really support, you know, Lunar. Like I'm paying attention to everything. Nothing is lost. I'm very deep into what our optionality is I'm also a real life businessman outside of this. So my relationship graph with the CEOs of Barnes and Nobles or Hudson News, like there's. And honestly like bringing it back to Seven Elevens and speaking to the CMO and CEO of seven Eleven, like I'm dreaming quite big. I think what's, what's really what I'm proud of at this point of my life is that and why two of the biggest characters in Be Friends are Patient Panda and Patient Pig. And most attributes do not have multiple characters. Is what I'm most desperate about is to earn, earn the respect of the core comic book universe. And I think that requires a pace that I'm thinking about and I'd like to get the brand universally known enough that it can sell through these stores when we actually put it there. Because, you know, this selling comic number one, people will speculate and that will happen. But what about 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7? You know, and so we're, we're. And by the way, this is a meta moment. Like I've been really paying attention to which shows do I respect? That's your point. Earlier. I don't look at the amount of subscribers or the amount of views or the amount of money or the amount of. Like, to me it's, you know, I was raised so well, I came from so little. I know the differences. And so we're just looking to build this nice and slow, but meaningfully. But we definitely feel strong in our DNA and collectability and in storytelling and one step at a time.
- [27:25]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Well, whenever you guys hit the milestone of collected editions, I know a guy that would love to talk to you all about that. Actually, I talked to Jim about coming back to the channel to talk about his role in all of this and maybe I could have him and DJing on. So people can.
- [27:39]
Gary Vaynerchuk
I would love, I would love that.
- [27:41]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
Be friends. Yeah, we'll have to set that up. And you want to keep this going. You want to keep being involved in all of this. And when you get it. I love the fact that you mentioned Free Comic Book Day and you're already thinking about publishing or I guess distributing through Lunar, which is I think one of the few choices you have these days with your age and Lunar. So I assume this is something that both DJ and Jim bring to the table.
- [28:13]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Like, hey, yeah, they break. They break. Yeah, they bring incredible institutional knowledge. But I'm a psycho when I do something right? Like, I knew this was happening three years ago and even before AI with Claude and Open Hand. Like it wasn't hard for me to do the research of, you know, who are the tastemakers, who are the coveted artists, what is distribution, which retail stores are doing well? Where are these things selling? What is the current market of, you know, the things I grew up with, with, you know, Hulk 181 and how's that doing? And like, you know, like, you know, it wasn't hard for me to pick back up the bicycle. Cause I knew a lot in the 90s. I've been out of it for a long time, but that's exactly right. They brought incredible relationships and understanding. And then I've also put in, you know, hundreds of hours of homework on the ecosystem and the current temperament. And then more importantly, I knew that no matter how much I knew and how savvy we were and what we understood, that if we didn't put out great books with great stories, with great art, like, who cares?
- [29:17]
Depop Advertiser
You thought this was your run club era. Turns out it was more of a thinking about run club era. The good news, someone's marathon training is about to start. Sell your workout gear on Depop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. They get their race day fit and you get a payout for trying. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now, Depop. Where taste recognizes taste.
- [29:47]
Blinds.com Advertiser
Did you know if your windows are bare, indoor temperatures can go up 20 degrees. Get ahead of summer with custom window treatments like solar roller shades from blinds.com and save up to 45% during the memorial Day Early Access sale. Whether you want to DIY it or have a pro handle everything, we've got you free samples, real design experts and zero pressure. Just help when you need it. Shop up to 45% off site wide right now during the Early Access Memorial day sale@blinds.com rules and restrictions apply.
- [30:18]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
That's what people keep coming back to, right? It doesn't matter how much you market something if people don't keep coming back to that book. It doesn't. It doesn't really matter. Matter, right? People don't care about the characters if people don't want to follow the story. Doesn't really matter how much you spend on marketing that first issue or second.
- [30:38]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Mark, Mark, Mark. Listen, I'm by the way, John. I know plenty about varying covers. Listen, I'm very fortunate. I run the most contemporary, most successful independent marketing agency in the world. I have 25 years of being good at marketing and now I have the company that does the best marketing for the biggest companies in in the world. All that marketing does is get people to know about something. If that something is a piece of crap, you're just gonna speed up everyone knowing you have a piece of crap.
- [31:09]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
That's true.
- [31:10]
Gary Vaynerchuk
No, you're right. So the DJ in the gym and the me actually being a person that has these stories in his heart, that's what mattered, right? And then being smart enough to. And a good partner to the COVID artist. So it's not just a check or a bounty. There's like a relationship and a conversation and an understanding of what we're trying to do. So. And then, and then showing up for stuff like this, you know, I apologize, I have to run, but I, I couldn't appreciate the opportunity to jam with you more. And I really appreciate a lot of people in the comments. I was kind of reading along to the best while focusing. I, I, I just, I'm just grateful to be in this place. This was a, this was one of my favorite places to be in the 90s with all my Mego Kenner Secret wars collecting and then the toy biz stuff and then the Valiant stuff, which didn't go so great, and Spawn and buying wizard number one, you know, and looking up the prices and tough stuff and all that stuff. Like, this has really been a really fun journey. And this is just another deposit now. And I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you, brother.
- [32:22]
Omar (Host from Near Mint Condition)
I appreciate your time. Like I said, I know you're a busy guy, so. Yeah, thank you so much. I wanted to know why comics? That was my biggest question, and you answered that at the very beginning. Thank you everybody for joining. Go and check out Be Friends. They have a website where you can read their comics for free or just their physical.
- [32:37]
Gary Vaynerchuk
Bye, everyone. Thank you, my friend, everybody. If you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded. I appreciate your attention and thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.