Why Positioning Yourself as a Production Company is Your Biggest Opportunity

Summary

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Podcast Summary: “Why Positioning Yourself as a Production Company is Your Biggest Opportunity”

The GaryVee Audio Experience
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk | Date: March 31, 2026

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Main Theme: The Shift from Traditional to Production-Minded Business

Overview:
In this episode, Gary Vaynerchuk delivers a keynote and extended Q&A to an entrepreneurial audience, focusing on why every business and individual must position themselves as a “media production company” to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunity created by the current digital landscape. He stresses that attention is the new currency, and only those who master content creation, distribution, and social media relevance will thrive in the coming decade.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Digital Environment: A Land-Grab Opportunity

• Gary sets the tone by emphasizing that we’re living in an era analogous to the early days of New York real estate or the Louisiana Purchase—obscene value is available to those who act now.
• Quote: “I genuinely view what's happening on the Internet right now, similar to when somebody bought up New York for fucking nothing...the Louisiana Purchase was a fucking steal. And I actually genuinely think that's what's happening on the Internet right now.” (03:35)
• The internet, especially social media, is still in its infancy. There's never been a time with so much opportunity for anyone, regardless of age or background.

2. The Only Currency: Attention

• Attention is everything; it supersedes product, service, or reputation.
• Quote: "We all trade on the same currency, and that is attention. Attention is the number one currency in our society." (09:00)
• The “romance” of how things used to work is irrelevant. If you can’t get attention on mobile/social, you’re invisible.

3. Social Media: Not Optional, But Foundational

• Social is not just a “nice to have”—it is the Yellow Pages, the billboard, direct mail, AND TV commercial, all in one.
• People from any industry must view themselves as in the media business first.
• Quote: “You were a media company first. And then whatever else you do for a living, you have to start understanding that you’re a media company now.” (21:13)
• You don’t have to be the face yourself, but you need to control your message and content.

4. The Cost Barrier Has Disappeared

• Distribution is practically free. Production is cheaper than ever thanks to smartphone tech.
• Excuses Are Invalid: "I don’t want to hear your bullshit excuses that you don’t have a fucking camera or the lighting...it’s all bullshit." (22:09)

5. Q&A Highlights: Tactical Advice and Deep Dives

a. Creating Content While Still Employed

• Rich, Retired Marine Pilot (23:11): Wants to showcase authentic veteran stories.
  • Gary: Just start. Authenticity and effort matter more than perfection—sponsor money will come. (25:14)
  • Quote: “Go interview, just do. ... Don’t show it if it’s not good. It’s not scary, just don’t have to show it.”

b. The Sales vs. Marketing Debate & The Disappearing Middleman

• Question: Where to bet—sales skills or marketing for future-proofing?
  • Gary: Both matter, but the internet compresses the middleman. Sales skills always transfer, BUT being too transactional is dangerous.
  • Quote: "Make sure you don't become too transactional because that's when you become your most vulnerable.” (28:15)

c. Daily Vlogging, Personal Branding & Authenticity

• Advice to vloggers and content creators:
  • Don’t pander—be authentic. That’s the only scalable long-term path.
  • Quote: “You’ve only got one move to really be successful, which is to not pander to the camera and to live your true life and see if people give a fuck.” (29:25)

d. Real Estate and Technology: Is the Agent Dead?

• Real estate will be upended by tech, but humans aren’t going away unless they resist technological change.
• Biggest threat is resting on a good reputation—word of mouth is shifting from backyard BBQs to digital shares.
• Quote: “Literally there's not even gonna be an opportunity for people to give you the word of mouth. Cause they're gonna be endorsing people with a share on Facebook instead of giving your name out at a barbecue.” (35:53)

e. Youth, Optimism, and Patience

• Encouragement to young entrepreneurs: patience is key, avoid debt, “you could literally do nothing right for the next seven years and still be young as fuck.” (39:15)
• Happiness > Money: Find what fulfills you; don’t play for someone else’s scoreboard.
• Quote: “My trading desk is on happiness.” (51:23)
• “Who are you playing this game for is super interesting to me... almost everybody in this room is living their lives to the judge and jury of somebody outside of themselves. And that fucking blows.” (52:46)

f. Building Direct-to-Consumer / Retail Advice

• Don’t assume your demographic “doesn’t buy online”—learn from the data and hire experts if needed.
• Quote: “You're making it convenient to your strengths and weaknesses, which is the quickest way to go out of business.” (57:36)
• For brick-and-mortar: anticipate a decline, keep expenses lean, and consider digital expansion instead of committing to more physical space. (61:03)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Attention:
  “Before you tell me how great you are... you need my attention to even be able to tell me that. And if you don't have it, you fucking lost.” (09:19)

• On Change:
  “I'm not super special. The reason I'm gonna win at the highest levels is I don't fight reality. ... my complete investment into how it actually is.” (19:35)

• On Production & Ownership:
  “Maybe you invest in a nice camera instead of another fucking suit.” (22:10)

• On Authenticity:
  “Tell your truth. ... If you're actually running a marathon in six years, you could have everybody who's buying their first house.” (50:06)

• On Immigrant Mentality:
  “Immigrants have the advantage. ... We know the alternative. My kids are fucking gonna be losers.” (59:00)

• On Time:
  “Time is everything. It’s why the mobile device is so important. It’s saving you time.” (42:27)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00–08:48] – Gary’s opening: Framing the digital land-grab, urgency, importance of attention
• [08:49–23:11] – Deep dive on attention as currency, social media’s dominance, mental models for success
• [23:11–28:14] – Q&A: Content creation advice for transitioning veterans, sales vs. marketing debate
• [28:15–44:38] – Personal branding, vlogging, authenticity, real estate tech disruption
• [44:38–52:46] – Patience, happiness vs. money, advice for young/unproven entrepreneurs
• [52:46–58:38] – Direct-to-consumer, retail, and e-commerce strategy
• [59:00–62:12] – Immigrant advantage, brick-and-mortar business, expansion advice

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Memorable Moments

• “Go hire somebody who’s sold to that lovely lady on the Internet ... and then when you hire them, you get real fucking close and siphon that information out, because it’s your fucking company.” (57:27)
• “What gets you somewhere is irrelevant to where you’re going.” (62:04)
• Gary repeatedly declining one-on-one mentorships, reinforcing the value of time and why asking big is key—but being self-reliant is better.

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Final Takeaways

• Commit to being a media/production company—no matter your business or role.
• Attention is the driver; mastery of new platforms and authenticity is non-negotiable for success.
• Act now; the opportunity window closes quickly as technology and consumer habits shift.
• Excuses about gear, age, or learning curve are invalid—the cost barrier is gone. All that matters is the decision to start.

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For listeners looking to future-proof their hustle, Gary's message is clear:
You are a production company. Act like it—or get left behind.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Make sure you don't become too transactional because that's when you become your most vulnerable. This is the GaryVee audio experience. Thank you guys so much. Super pumped to be here. Quick little six hour flight this keynote and take a red eye home tonight. So hustling look. I think there's a lot that I want to cover. I see the mics here, so I definitely want to do some Q and A during this talk as well. I've been getting some context to the audience makeup and so obviously a very entrepreneurial crowd. There's a lot going on. It seems like a good amount of you have some context for me. I'm sure some of you don't. But what I really want to speak about is really just the current state of things. Right. Like the thing that I think we'll index for anybody in this room, whether today's your first day or you've been in it for a while, whether you're in a B2B environment, a B2C environment, trying to build your personal brand, trying to sell homes, trying to start an app, whatever it may be. I want to really kind of go on the things that I see that are happening that will bring the most value. And then I think through Q and A, we'll go into the stuff that brings more individual value. And I encourage you to be selfish when you get up here and ask your questions. I think the place to start with a healthy mix here of young faces and some that are not as young, along with my face that is not as young, is the following, which is for the 20 year old crowd in here, the early 30 year old crowd, there's a lack of context, of realizing how special the environment we are in is because it's the only one you've ever known. This is what you've grown up with. You've grown up in this environment, you've grown up with the Internet. And there's a lack of understanding of how ridiculously big this is is. On the other hand, the people that have been successful for 10, 15, 20, 30 years, there's an understanding that all this new stuff is different. But there is the cliche, fear and curiosity versus the tried and true. That is super interesting. And so for me, the thing that I want to really drill home in my opening statements is the following. I really need this audience to understand that we are obnoxiously fortunate to be in this position right this minute. Because actually this is fun because I know there's a lot of real estate DNA here. I genuinely view what's happening on the Internet right now, similar to when some of the great cities, somebody bought up New York for fucking nothing. And when I mean nothing, I mean dollars, not millions or a hundred, There was human beings who actually bought. And I, I don't even know this is where. I wish I did a little bit better in school, but the Louisiana Purchase was a fucking steal. And I actually genuinely think that that's what's happening on the Internet right now. Now I think it's 10 years in. The consumer Internet that I'm passionate about is really only 20 years old. It was really Windows 95 that got normal people to figure out how to get onto the Internet. It was AOL, we're right, it's really only 20 years. But the web 2.0 into social media Internet is really only a decade old. And I think everybody here now, whether it's the presidential election or Brexit or the Arab Spring or something that happened in your family amongst eight people, I think everybody realizes now, unlike a decade ago when I was talking about this, that this is big shit, that this is not some little cable TV extension of main tv. This is not some fad that's gonna be around for a little bit. This is the fundamental shift of how human beings interact with each other, which is the currency of our lives. And so I guess the thing that I'm trying to frame up for a lot of you right now is I don't think this room, including myself, actually understands how big of an opportunity this is in whatever you care about. You sit in this room, as I do today, caring about business aspects of your life. But this goes far beyond that. I mean, we're in a world now where just 10 years ago, if you did online dating, you were weird and awkward and lived in your mom's basement. And now it's the only way people do it. Like, we need to understand how big this really is. Because when you start understanding that this is oxygen, that this is oxygen, that this in its current form and soon contact lenses, when everything is virtual reality or AR or AI or wherever it goes, that this is our currency, literally so many of you would struggle to function without your cell phone by your side, you would not realize the detox that you would actually go through. If you didn't have your phone, you run to the Apple Store. Run to the Apple Store. When you lose or break your phone, you cry for the four hour delay that you have to wait. And by the way, many of you are going to sit as I say this right now, and think it's sad. I don't. I think it's evolution. I don't think it's sad. I really don't. I think it's the thing. I think it's the thing. I think people thought a lot of things were sad, like the television and the telephone and the car. People thought things were sad always when it wasn't what they grew up with. Right? There's people that said they always think it's not important until it becomes mainstream. I'm 41 and grew up on the east coast. Hip hop wasn't supposed to be a real thing. It is the main currency now. This is what always happens with humans. And so I tell you all of this because I can get into the deep details of what do you do on direct message, on Instagram or what does it take with work life balance and work ethic and how do you do Facebook ads and all the cliche shit that I know you're gonna ask me. But before, but before, but before we get into that, I really want to get everybody. I feel like if the one thing I can do for everybody, if you leave here and realize that this is all just the beginning, that it's never going back, that it's way bigger than you think. I mean, I have people email me every day selling 8 million dollar homes from one one Facebook ad like, this is real, like this is we're here. Like this is not coming. This is not your 14 year old daughter. This is now. This is happening right now. And if you haven't quanta, if there are people in this room that haven't fully committed to being relevant in the mobile device for their business. They're basically not relevant. They're trading on the history of what got them here. You're trading on the word of mouth of the people that you've done business with in the past, but that dwindles every day. And if you have any interest, how many people in this room are actually retiring in the next five years? And I don't mean you're gonna fucking crush it and buy an island. I mean you're just fucking old and you're finished. How many people, five years, Raise your hands. Love it. Five. Got one, two. Great for you. It's an interesting debate, right? Can you hold on to what got you here for the next five kind of hold onto it. It'll be diminishing returns of attention and, and things of that nature. There'll be other young upstarts that activate against the opportunities. But for five years, even though that's a long time. I actually think all the stuff that I believe in the most, you could probably hold on. Right. For everybody else, this is binary. You're basically in the same position right now that every person that owned a bunch of taxi medallions and black car services did the day before Uber started. For everybody else in this room, except for those two lovely people who, by the way, both look pretty fucking good, and I'm not so sold. Are completely done in five. For everybody else, you're basically the owner of four very good bookstores in your town the day before Amazon decided to get serious. Your entire life, regardless of industry over the next decade, will be eaten up by technology. And either you're on the eating side or you're on the other side. And I don't think most people here want to get shitted out. Right?

[Event Host / Moderator]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And so for me, for me, this is not fun games. This is, like, really important. Because you have to understand, regardless of what you do in this room, regardless, there's only one thing I'm sure of. We all trade on the same currency, and that is attention. Attention is the number one currency in our society. Before you tell me how great you are at what you do or how great your service is or what you do or how nice you're fucking dressed, because this crew rolls that way before you do that. You need my attention to even be able to tell me that. And if you don't have it, you fucking lost. And the attention of our society is right here. And you may think it's sad and you may not like it, but it's the punchline and the romance of how you want it to be or how it used to be is fucking irrelevant. This is reality. So now I say to myself, if we all agree that this is it, right, that this is the dominant place for the attention of our consumers, well, then you gotta start looking at social media super differently. Cause social media, my friends, takes up 50% of every human being's time on this. And now all of a sudden, it's not just a nice to have or this emerging kind of thing or kind of cute. Now all of a sudden, it's the Yellow Pages and. And the billboards and the bus stop ad and the direct mail and the local commercial and the TV show, if you're lucky to be one of those four realtors, and all of it in one place. And here's where it gets crazy. There's no gatekeepers. There's nobody in between you and the person you're trying to reach on this platform, except the platforms itself, which is why Facebook's such a big company. Got it. And so this is a mindset shift. I recognize that 20 to 80% of this room is not pot committed to this environment. Even the most committed young players. And when I say young, just real quick young mentality, it's not an age thing. There's a bunch of 27 year olds running around like it's 1942 and there's a bunch of 61 year olds that fucking try everything and are fucking pot committed is a mentality. So 20 to 80% of the people in this room, to me, they're just not pot committed. And for me, when I know something's happening, Google in the early days which built Wine Library, Facebook and Instagram influencers. Right now, I'm not a poker player, but I do know this. If you have the best hand, it's a good idea to go all in. And so we have a little window here. I've been doing my thing for 20 years. Not forever, but long enough to know this. I've only seen it twice. 2001-2003 Google, which, oh, by the way, Amazon and ebay built their entire businesses on the back of Google. Underpriced attention. Everything still works. Somebody raised their hand, got in line with Gary. I do direct mail and it works. Mazel tov, Rick. I know that it can still work. I just also know that you can do Facebook ads as direct mail and convert four times more. So you spend $10,000 for X and I could spend $10,000 for 4Xs. It's not about what doesn't work or works anymore. It's what's underpriced and what's overpriced. Television commercials can work. It's just not fun to spend a million dollars on them today compared to 1974 when we didn't have remote controls and actually fucking watched them. So this is what I think about, this is what I trade on. And we all know it's going only in one direction. The number one job dream of every 13 to 16 year old in America is to be a YouTuber and or an influencer. That is literally what they want to be in their lives. This is now over. That's it. The amount of people that don't have cable is staggering. The amount of people that will never get to page 106 in a magazine to see your ad is staggering. Your car's gonna drive your anywhere you want to go. For you, it's happening now. This isn't coming get a new Tesla shit does all of it, like this is real. And so what I don't think people know and why I brought up the five year question is if you think back to 10 years ago, we're just getting the first iPhone. Yeah, guys, 10 years ago, none of this shit existed. YouTube and Facebook are babies and are like for very small niches. We don't have smartphones yet. Like where do you think this is going? So what I'm fearful of is while you sit and debate and if you should be doing Facebook or Instagram influencers or Snapchat or have a blog or sort of vlog or do a podcast while you sit and debate this minor leagues shit, which is right now, the major leagues, the majors are coming. What are you gonna do about Alexa skills? When people are like, Alexa, I wanna go to open houses. And Alexa tells you which open houses you're going to and if you're not playing there, where are you? 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. They'll make my mom super happy. Right? Like where, where are you? Because what I'm most worried about is I'm worried about all of your digital DNA. If you're pushing against this shit, you're really going to get ran over in the next decade. You'll never be good at augmented reality if you weren't good at Facebook. I mean, right? Right? I mean, like, how are you ever gonna be ready for the next shit? And if you're still fighting this and like super pumped to like spend your money on a fucking bench ad. So I guess where my energy is clearly going, since I never really know what the fuck I'm going to talk about, is I think the stakes are higher than you think. And I think that when you wake up in two years and see that Ralph Lauren polo has gone out of business, and when you wake up in two or three years and see that Gamestop is out of business, when you start seeing it and you're seeing it, right? And you can feel it. I mean, any of you that are, have you been to a mall lately? I mean, shit's just sad, right? And what does happen? There's a lot of youngsters in here. Let me go into a 15 year old innovation talk. What does happen when we have self driving cars and we actually enjoy our commutes and all of a sudden prime real estate is not as prime as it used to be because all of a sudden an hour and 15 minute commute, when you can do everything in it, all of a sudden becomes a more interesting thing for humans to do. You guys know macro trends? The cities in this country over the last 30 years were dead. And they've surged over the last decade because the youth is more interested in living in the cities, because the dynamics have changed. What happens when people actually figure out it's not a good idea to own a home? Because the math is super intriguing and the game's changing. And so I really want to push everybody to understand this is big stakes. This isn't. How am I going to build my personal brand on Instagram, Gary? I don't give a fuck, Ralph. This is. Do you actually understand the era that you're living through? Like, this is the industrial revolution. This is like getting electricity. This is big shit. And this is big shit not only in your business life, but in the dynamics of who we are. All this stuff going on wherever you are, on politics, this is not him or her. This is the dynamics of media in our society. This is the dynamics of all of us having media 24 7. This is what's happening. We're about to change. And so bringing it back to the micro business, that means a lot of money is about to be made and a lot of money is about to be lost. And what I haven't figured out is how many of you are willing to draw a line in the sand and say that you hate all this technology stuff and aren't willing to put in the 20 hours to read and watch videos to educate yourself out of your raw emotion when it's gonna wipe you out. And I think that's awesome. I think you deserve to go directly out of business if you're not willing to put in the work. I do, I do. If you're wrong about what's about to happen and you weren't willing to put in the work, you deserve to lose. And so that's what's going to happen. And so I would say this, Please, please understand that this is the beginning. We are definitely, definitely going to live at this point, in my opinion, in an augmented reality world, which means what you see happening with Snapchat and Instagram, where you have your face and then puppies and fucking Coachella things and all that stuff that's about to go super far, you're all going to wear contact lenses in 20 years, where you're seeing the real world, an augmented world and a virtual world on an everyday basis. Blended always and forever. That's what's coming. And so, look, I'm just as pissed as everybody else and I'm not looking forward to the robots killing all of us, but they're gonna win. And so we might as well enjoy our time now. And I'd like you to be on the side of it instead of against it. I'm not super special. The reason I'm gonna win at the highest levels is I don't fight reality. You're brutal. I'm brutal in my complete lack of romance of how it should be, and my complete investment into how it actually is. Right? And that's the right guys. Do you know how pissed I was that social media came along? I had digital media figured out I was winning on email and Google AdWords. Like I'd won. Like, it was devastating. I was like, fuck, this is gonna work, you know, and by the way, and you're gonna see it. You'll watch 53 year old me completely be obsessed with VR, AR, AI, or whatever else that is about to be invented. I have no idea that I'm gonna believe your attention will be. And you're all gonna actually see it. The first time, nobody knew who I was this time I'm so associated with this stuff. When you see me in seven years and whatever the Facebook feed of the day is, and the video's gonna be like, you're still doing Facebook, you fucking asshole. And you're gonna be like, what? Isn't that what he believes in? No, I believe in trading attention in the day that we actually live it. I believe making my actions allow me to sell what I want to sell. And when I say sell, I mean selling a home, a pair of sneakers, or raising awareness for Crohn's disease because my brother AJ has it. Or raising money for the PTA or whatever it may be selling or bringing awareness to whatever matters to me. And as we all know, what matters to you, today was different than five years ago. And in five years it's gonna be different again. And that's just the way it is. And so I implore you. And I see a line starting to gather. So if you wanna start gathering in line. Cause I don't think I'll get to all of them. This is a good time to start moving. I implore you to understand. Yes, I believe in social media. B I. I think that's a slang term for the current state of the Internet. People call YouTube and LinkedIn social media sites. They are not. As a matter of fact, there's Only one social media site left. It's called Twitter. All the other ones are just content push. There's no back and forth really in a lot of places anymore. So that's just a word. Don't get hung up on it. Everything you see that's happening with me is cause I'm trading attention. I believe in sound. I think every person here needs to wrap their head around the following statement. Statement, which is this. You were a media company first. And then whatever else you do for a living, you have to start understanding that you're a media company. Now. That may mean. And for a lot of you, it means that that's you, you. For others, you don't have to. It doesn't have to be you. Right? The Huffington Post wasn't Ariana Huffington. And every post, every. Like you could be the platform. But you better realize you're in the media business because the cost of being in the media business is now zero. In distribution opportunity in production. It's so low. It's so low. Drock and I did an episode of DailyVee, our vlog. Yes, that came out today. My latest vlog right now on YouTube was all filmed on this, you know. So I don't want to hear your bullshit excuses that you don't have a fucking camera or the lighting and all this. Everybody's in the fucking excuse business. Every one of you is running through your head right now of why you're not in the media business or why you're not doing this. And it's all bullshit. It's because you have decided not to. It's binary. This is simple. Either you're in it or you're not. Cause once you make the mental decision that you're in it, maybe you invest in a nice camera instead of another fucking suit. I think it's on. How are you? Do you guys have to turn this on or. Let's see what happens. There we go.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

Hey, Gary. I'm Rich from Austin.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Number one.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

I'm a retired attack helicopter pilot for the Marines. And I brought a patch for you, for you and Drock. Can I bring these to you?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thanks for your service, brother. Thanks so much. Okay, please.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

All right, so real quick, I know there's a line. So I work full time. I don't have time to do what I want to do yet. My plan is this. Another pilot and I want to get together, we want to go around to successful veterans in all types of industries that we know and interview them for free. All right? I don't need your fucking money. I don't need anything. I want to show veterans who are gonna transition because it's incredibly difficult. And there's another problem. There's also a group of veterans that think they're entitled to shit.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

All right?

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

And we need to dispel both those rumors.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

So what I want to do is go interview and just paint the picture like, hey, here's what you can be. The only thing that's not allowing me to execute, and I'm over analyzing Danny for sure. Is that I want them to be authentic.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Is your take the risk. Everybody's scared to waste time when time is your number one asset that you have. So go interview Charles. And then three fourths of the way you're like, fuck, this guy's so full of shit. And don't show it. So. That's right.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

So what I mean is, I guess

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

part of the vulgarity is authenticity is what attracted me to you. I was like, holy shit, I've never seen a guy like this. And I don't want them to hide behind whatever logo they work for or whatever.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

And then not to see the real picture. I want them to know, like, hey, there's still that guy or gallon uniform there. Right there.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

You know what I mean? So I'm not sure I don't want to.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

How about financially? Can you do it now? Because there's. I have a really good idea. That's why I'm asking.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

I collect retirement. So that's good. And then my full time job is great. I would have limited time, but my partner and I want to go probably three or four interviews a month. Just fly out to wherever and do what we got to do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Great. So I mean, a, Your ability to get a sponsor for this is very high. Like most businesses can't get a sponsor on spec. But because of the subject matter, literally, if you just cold emailed the top 1000 corporations in America, you'd probably make so much sponsorship money you'd be like, fuck. Anyway, I think, you know, I mean, I don't think that's bad. Valid what you said. Just go do the interview. Do your best. Like maybe get an extra sponsor to hire somebody to vet people so they can really vet. But like, that's not scary because then you just don't have to show it. It would suck to fly somewhere and it didn't work out. But you can hire an intern or a $38,000 a year employee who could do ridiculous research on anybody to get you to third and a half base. And then you watch something for 10 minutes and make this gut decision.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

Thank you so much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're welcome.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

What's up, bro?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

How are you?

[Direct Sales Professional]

So you did a video on sales versus marketing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Direct Sales Professional]

About a month ago.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Direct Sales Professional]

So my question to you, and you alluded to it earlier when you said, you know, what happens if people decide they don't want to buy a house anymore? I'm in direct sales. Been in direct sales for seven years and a lot of people in this room are. My question is, where in the future, say five to 10 years in the future from now, where are you pushing your chips? Are you pushing it into sales and sales or are you pushing it into marketing? Reason I'm asking is, you know, with Amazon and your boy Jeff Bezos and Tesla, they don't do tons and tons of. They don't spend tons and tons of money on marketing or on advertising, I don't think. I don't know.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They do.

[Direct Sales Professional]

They do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay.

[Direct Sales Professional]

So my question, I guess is, is they both work. They both work.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They both work. Right?

[New Entrepreneur / Listener]

They both work.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They're the two foundations of how shit gets done. You either retarget people, affiliate all the tactical shit that sells something, or what is much more interesting, which is people don't even realize why they bought the shit they're wearing right now. Because they were marketed to marketing. Marketing and branding is just grown up sales. Sales.

[Direct Sales Professional]

So in the future, when people are able to buy anything they want to and just go through an experience on their phone.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Right.

[Direct Sales Professional]

Does that cut out the direct sales portion of it?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course it could.

[Direct Sales Professional]

Okay, so where are you putting your money in five to 10 years for like the car industry, the home industry?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right. I mean, I think, look, I think who. I think what the Internet does and technology does is it squeezes the middleman out. Because the Internet is the middleman. And so, yeah, I mean, I think I'm putting my money on whoever's making shit because they're going to be able to, at a much higher level, do the sales and marketing themselves and not be at the mercy of the middle. However, that market will always exist. Cause guess what? A lot of people aren't good at sales and marketing. Right? So there's. I wouldn't worry. You're a young dude. I wouldn't worry. Like, your sales skills translates forever 100%.

[Direct Sales Professional]

I just started the business, that's why.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But I would say that. I would say that. Make sure you don't become too transactional because that's when you become your most vulnerable. Yeah. Gary, what's up. Life is good, my man.

[Danny Gould (Drock)]

Hey, Gary, what's going on? Danny Gould selling Silicon Valley. It's my drock right here, Dusty. So I have a YouTube channel right now, Facebook channel.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Really?

[Danny Gould (Drock)]

Right now I'm doing a lot of just daily vlogs, right? And so you talk about reverse engineering and bringing value, disproportionate value to those that you're trying to market to as opposed to what you expect in return. And you know, right now my business is doing really well, my real estate business, right. But I'm looking at this blog thing as more of a long term, like, you know, personal brand, celebrity type of endeavor.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right.

[Danny Gould (Drock)]

So then, you know, I understand how to bring value to my community per se. But then like, how as a daily vlogger, do I actually bring value to people that I don't even know that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Or that are not in real estate, Right.

[Danny Gould (Drock)]

Or that are not in real estate or have no interest in real estate.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think, I think you've only got one move to really be successful, which is to not pander to the camera and to live your true life and see if people give a fuck. That's the right answer, right? Because either they are or they aren't. But the thing that you need to trade on is your truth. Because that's the thing that's scalable. Cause it's always there. You know how fun it is for me to always just always have to be me. It's super exhausting to try not be yourself. And it doesn't scale and people taste it. So the reason reality TV worked was it was a little further than acting, but it's still full of shit, which is why vlogging is better than reality tv. And I think the thing people that you see pop are really in their zone. They're not trying to become a celebrity per se. They want what celebrity brings, which is celebrity is the number one arbitrage in our society. Like it is the number one arbitrage in our society. It's leverage at scale. But I think when people try to pander to comes off. So my biggest advice for you, man, is to just live your actual life. I think the biggest problem for the modern young male entrepreneur vlogger personality is they're fronting to a lifestyle that isn't always true to the reality of what they're living. Then it just gets convoluted, right? It's like people are starting to already get called out for making pretend they're taking private flights, but they're not. That's hit the right. So I would give you a really good piece of advice from somebody who I think really knows what he's talking about. Just live it. Just live your fucking life. You'll do much better.

[Danny Gould (Drock)]

Sweet.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you. Take care, Dusty.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

Holy shit. This is a dream. First, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart and express my deepest gratitude for all the content you put out. And just since I started listening to you a couple months ago, just how big of an impact you've made not only in my business, but my life. I think everyone here can attest to that. And I just want to give you a huge round of applause.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

One thing that I've really been paying attention to you with lately is don't listen to what I say. Watch what I do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

And so for me, in business, what I'm trying to do right now is just really scale and build a great culture and build a great team.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Awesome.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

So I want to know, what do I need to do to earn the opportunity to fly out to vaynermedia for the day and just be a fly on the wall and shadow you? Because I just want to learn and I just want it so bad. And I'm going to do whatever it takes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Done.

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[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Direct Sales Professional]

Thank you.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

How's it going?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Gary, right? You don't get if you don't ask my name's Mike. That's pretty freaking awesome what you just did for that guy. He's probably gonna change his life. So I'm a real estate agent with Intero. I just want to know what's probably my favorite thing about the real estate industry is the team dynamics. Right. So. So what's the future for real estate agent? You think we're gonna be taken out by. I don't. I don't think so. Humans are not going anywhere until the robots kill us. So. So I think, I think so. Here's how I think about it. I think there's a tidal wave of technology coming. I framed that up right. But I don't think it wipes out humans. I think it wipes out humans that decide not to get their surfboard and jump on it. So I think what's going to happen to real estate agents is. First of all, the real estate industry is fascinating because it reminds me, you know, the tech industry, the startup tech world now reminds me a lot of real estate now that I've been in it. Because the real estate industry has cycles when it's so good that losers win. And, and it's true. It's just true. And so, but, but it's not just the real estate industry. Wall street has that. The tech industry has it. But it is extreme in real estate because the crashes are extreme. Right, Right. So I think I would tell you, far more scary to me than what's happening with technology and real estate is people's blind belief that it's always gonna be good and they over leverage themselves. I'm just so fascinated by. And when I say over leveraged, there's people that buy up stuff and you're over leveraged and you have debt and then there's just people that are just selling and making commissions, but they're over leveraging themselves in the way they're treating their lifestyle. Like they think it's a good idea to buy shit and not save money. As if the market will always be good. And then when the market's not good, then it's not good. So I think real estate is fine. I don't think there's any major stuff happening other than I think, I think that the people in this room that use the new technologies to build their firm or personal brand within it are gonna disproportionately outshine people. And the people I'm most worried about are the people who have very good reputations in their market, because that's always been consistent for the last hundred years that you can Trade on your reputation and word of mouth. And I think they don't realize that the word of mouth is about to shift to only the digital environment. And so literally there's not even gonna be an opportunity for people to give you the word of mouth. Cause they're gonna be endorsing people with a share on Facebook instead of giving your name out at a barbecue. And it's gonna happen faster than people think. So that's my fear. It's the people that have tried and true reputations in their market and have seen generations before them trade on that. And they got caught because they're in this moment. And six years from now, there's going to be seven upstarts, not one that is going to take the market from them. Appreciate it. Gary, really quickly, what's your favorite Logic 3, one song. He's my favorite artist. That's why Bobby Trentino, I think. You know what's interesting before, it's funny, I'm thinking about the new album that he just dropped. Let me go a different route with you. You know what I really like about him, why he won and what I'm trying to get across here. Bobby and Russ and Kyle and all these characters are winning and they're gonna be the biggest hip hop artists in the world on everything I've been talking about for the last 20 minutes. Got it? That's the deal.

[Young Entrepreneur (23 years old)]

Well, what's up, gary? So I'm 23 years old, entrepreneur. I believe it's in my DNA. And you've really made me question that. So the reason why I wanted to ask you this question. Been kind of holding out. Every one of us in this room has to battle mental strength, right? Like when shit hits the fan, your bank accounts are negative. It's your third failure, right? Like, what do you do? So we, we hold on to the optimism, right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And that comes from mental strength 100%. Especially when your optimism is blind and doesn't have practicality wired into it.

[Young Entrepreneur (23 years old)]

So my question for you is, if you are an entrepreneur and it's in your DNA and you listen to your intuition and that's what gives you your. Your optimism, how do you. How do you create the difference between mental strength as the source or intuition

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

is the source, you have to make sure that your intuition is speaking, not your delusion, right? That's the key. And that's a. And by the way, they're kissing cousins.

[Young Entrepreneur (23 years old)]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So here's what I would say. I would say that in my delusion, I'm an athlete, right? Like, I want to be. I've got competitive spirit, I'm a good team captain type. There's a lot of things there. But going on to the playing field, I'm gonna consistently lose at the highest levels and can't make a living doing it. So here's what I would say. I don't want you at 23. First of all, at 23, you're golden, right? You're golden because you could literally do nothing right for the next seven years and still be young as fuck. The only piece of advice I'm gonna give you is do not collect debt. And so if you have already and you have credit card debt or what have you, do you or don't you?

[Young Entrepreneur (23 years old)]

I mean, minimal AR is above debt, you know, your balance is out.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Get rid of that. Like go work at fucking 7:11. I don't give a fuck. Get rid of that. Get rid of that. Never buy another thing in your life and live with nine dudes and do your entrepreneurial thing for the next decade.

[Young Entrepreneur (23 years old)]

Cool. Thanks, Gary.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

How you doing, Gary?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Really good.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

Excited to see you, man. I watch your videos all the time.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

I have a brand called Next to Get. Next to Get's all about taking action.

[Rich (Retired Marine Pilot)]

Yep.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

You can't be next to get unless you take action. So I know you love the Jets.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I do.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

So I got you a shirt that says Next to get the New York Jets.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love it. I'll wear it. Give it to me. One more question, though. Go up there, make sure they hear you. Thank you.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

So I know you say when you get the jets, that's going to be like the worst day of your life.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

But it actually should be one of the best because then you got to figure out how to get them be next to get a Super Bowl.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Exactly.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

They got to be next to get a Super Bowl.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Look, I think. I think the reason I say that is a. There's a little truth to it, I think for me, no question. One of the reasons I think that I'll be successful. It's really funny that you asked this question prior to the advice that I just gave. Like, for me, it sounds exciting to be 23, have no money, live in a basement for seven years and try to do your thing. I genuinely like that. Because I love the game. Right. I love the game. And so to me, that's what a true bred entrepreneur is, which is it has zero to do with the stuff. It has to do with the game. And so this game that I made up for myself somewhere around fourth grade to buy them has Been the narrative in the background for me the whole time. And so there's a little bit of that going away. But at the same token, the reason I talk about it is I don't want people to get confused. I want them to realize that if you fall in love with the journey, that is the ultimate gift in our lives. Because that's just. That's happiness. Right? Like, we're spending so much time at work. Like, when you actually just get practical and look at the data, the amount of time that you will all spend in your careers as a percentage to your overall time on earth is extraordinarily high. So just, it's super important to make that something about more than dollars. If you're unhappy, if you're neutral and money's there, awesome. I'm just scared of people that complain, that's all. I would tell you that 98% of my advice is for people that complain. Why in the world would I have advice for you? If you're good, like, you're good.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

So one more thing I have to ask is I would love to be able to meet with you and maybe you can become a mentor or business partner. I know you can help me grow.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There's no shot.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

I gotta ask. Gotta, gotta ask.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I just don't have that. I get you like that dude that got lucky and got the first thing and is gonna come to visit Vayner. I'll see him for 4.8 seconds.

[Direct Sales Professional]

That's all right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know, like, and it might turn into 19 minutes or it might turn into four hours. But like, I never want to bullshit somebody and the one thing I don't have is time.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

Gotcha.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Time is everything. It's why. It's why the mobile device is so important. It's saving you time.

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

Take me out at next to give. Check me out.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

I will. Yo, Gary. How are you feeling today?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Phenomenal.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

That's great to hear. It's awesome just talking to you. I've been following your content for the last year or so and you taught me what hustle really was. I thought I was working. I've been. I own my business for the last four years. I'm 20 years old now. So I started speaking on teen suicide prevention. I was 16. After some experience I went through. And right now I'm really growing my media and I'm really focusing on being a media company. So I started podcasting and the question I have is with daily vlogging. So this might also drock might jump in, but I'm logistically thinking of daily vlogging. And what's the process of getting of your daily vlog getting up on YouTube? Do you post it the day after you film it? Is it the next week?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We've done a bunch of stuff. I think the first couple of weeks it took us like three days. Then we went through a period of a long period of doing it the next day. And now we're like on a two day delay. Even though we have more people. I mean, Drock went through a hardcore year of like filming the whole thing and then having to edit it and getting it out the next day. I think you can do anything. I mean, I think you can't cripple yourself. Right. My buddy Ken Casey stopped vlogging. So the next day I was like, I'm gonna vlog every day to pick up the thing. But then literally in my blog yesterday, I was like, you know, the summer's coming, I feel like I need a little more time with my family and don't wanna be thinking about producing content. So maybe I won't. I think it's about reverse engineering what you can get done. And for me, only two years ago, three years ago, there was three people on my team making content. It took me, me four years to build up VaynerMedia to have one person work with me on my content. Prior to that it was just me. And now I'm at 15. I mean you build, you build and you do different things. And so I think, I think the process is as fast as you fucking can.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Okay? So do you think it's valuable? Do you think a daily vlog is valuable enough over something like sales? Because I do a lot of sales to high schools, colleges, conferences.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is the classic branding versus sales. Right?

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think you need to sell at the most minimum to make you whole for whatever you need, pay your bills. Right. So that, but. And then invest as much as you can in building your brand.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

So media comes after sales you would recommend.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You got to pay your bills, bro.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Exactly. Well, right now I'm living at home.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well then you're fucking smart. So to me, now it's just becomes a question of how much money you want. My big recommendation is, listen, I only give advice that I took myself. I'm a big fan of that. I took over my family liquor store business and I grew up from a three. At this window that I'm talking about, from a three to a $45 million business in my early 20s. Right. I'm 27 years old. I built a $45 million business. And I was paying myself $37,000 a year, but I wasn't the typical dude that needed money as a leverage to get girls.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

Exactly.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

And that's the thing is I don't need a lot of money right now. So I'm wondering whether to build myself up as a speaker without really worrying about the sales aspect of it. Of course.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

And as you say that, I think that's what Gary Vee would say. I hear your head. I hear your voice in my head sometimes. And I think Gary Vee would say that sometimes I dream about you answering my. Actually, I had a question earlier last night, I dreamed about you answering my question. So your content is so effective

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

now off of that little story. Watch what I'm doing, not what I'm saying.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Yes, yes. Got it, Got it. Thank you so much.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

How much time is 20? Good.

[Marketing Manager for Non-Profit]

Hi, Gary Vee. First, I want to say thank you again. Everything of your podcasts, all of your videos on YouTube are kind of my real education. College was just the paperwork. I am a marketing manager for a non profit organization, which is a unique position that I'm very fortunate to have. Now part of my job, and it's a new job, is I'm building up our presence on social media. I have three different target audiences. I have the women we serve, the volunteers and donors.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep.

[Marketing Manager for Non-Profit]

My question to you is, does it make sense to use one platform or each platform, but one account? Right, One account to target all three. Okay. Instead of focusing on one platform per group.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. Because the way we consume content in social is not binary. The content finds who it needs to find. It's not email. 1996, where people open up 90% of their email. Got it. It's just one feed. We don't even know who the fuck it's coming from. You're looking at the content, not the little logo that's delivering it. Got it?

[Marketing Manager for Non-Profit]

Yes. Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're welcome.

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

Hi, Barry, my name is John. First of all, it's a dream come true. Six months ago, I wrote it down. I'm gonna meet Gary Vaynerchuk and here I am right now.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good shit, bro.

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

It's awesome. And then I met Danny Morell. Wanna thank Danny real quick for having that vision and clarity for making it happen. I'm with Interro Real Estate. So what's up, guys? It's actually my first week in real estate and I'm super excited. I'm door knocking. My question is, what were you doing last week? What's that?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What were you doing last week?

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

I was calling and door knocking and hustling.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Love it.

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

And I'm doing Facebook Live, I'm doing videos, all this stuff. But my question is, when your parents is saying, when you bring the clients or talk about the clients, that, oh, you don't know what you're talking about. Oh, you have to make sure all this stuff is correct. Or what if it embarrasses us? What would you say to that?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, I would say your parents are probably right a lot more than you realize.

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

Right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

If I was in real estate for the first week, right. What I would probably do. So, like, I'm now actually super interested in watching one of your Facebook lives. Because. Because what I'm curious about is, are you faking it till you make it or are you documenting the journey of a young man trying to learn the industry? My intuition is number one, what I would do, what I would do if I was in week one. How many, what team were you on again? Let me see all the people that wooed again, me. If I was standing there, I would straddle up real close to all those wooing people and spend one year shutting the fuck up and listening me. Because then you'll learn, you'll taste, then you'll know what to say. You're not gonna lose your charisma and showmanship. You're a baby. You just don't know what the fuck you're talking about yet.

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

I have a follow up question. Should I keep doing Instagram stories? Stories. Just documenting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And dude, I think it's far more interesting. It was the advice I gave that other young man, tell your truth. A lot of, you know, you may lose a lot of people who are like, I'm not going with this dude on his third week, but if you're actually running a marathon in six years, you could have everybody who's buying their first house.

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

Thanks, Gary. Appreciate it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I think, I think now I'm gonna pander to the crowd. How many people over 40, right? So the thing that I think is super interesting for me, for everybody that just raised your hands, nothing's changed. Technology is not gonna allow bad things to all of a sudden populate. Right? Like, tried and true is tried and true. All that technology's doing is exposing things. You guys haven't changed because of all this technology. You've just been exposed.

[New Entrepreneur / Listener]

Hey, Gary, thank you so much for being here. And Danny, I'm really excited. I saw a video that you're doing the other day about success and that somebody who's entrepreneur and makes $150,000, that's a lot higher form of success than someone who's, you know, 9 to 5 not doing what they want.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's not about being a job or an entrepreneur. My trading desk is on happiness. My point there was if you're making 150,000 a year at being a lawyer and you're not pumped, or you could be making 98,000 a year selling slime on Instagram, but it's your dream because you love making slime with your 8 year old. I think it's a worthwhile debate. I'm just blown away by people that are literally willing to binarily be dramatically less happy for an extra $8,000

[Mike (Real Estate Agent)]

so

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

they can go on a fucking cruise, bro.

[New Entrepreneur / Listener]

So my question was, based on that delineation there, how should people be thinking about their success? You also talk about natural born entrepreneurs. Like, as much as you would want to be LeBron, that takes a certain amount of natural talent. So what can you speak about success and the role that patience plays in

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

that instead of that? What are you asking me? What's your situation?

[New Entrepreneur / Listener]

My situation is I'm new, right? I'm listening to everything that you're saying. Days sometimes don't go well. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna turn on Gary Vee, see what he has to say, try to get some golden nuggets. And I want to know, a big thing that you talk about is patience and that role that that plays when you're young and you're starting. And so I wanted to kind of hear what you say so I could kind of like put that in.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Who are you playing this game for is super interesting to me. So one of the tough things that a lot of young people in this room have is they've got chips on their shoulder because they want to prove their mom wrong, because they want to prove that their older sister isn't the only star in the family. You know, where I'm going with this is very simply, almost everybody in this room is living their lives to the judge and jury of somebody outside of themselves. And that fucking blows. And so where I'm going with you is there's a lot of questions I'd like to ask, but the first one is, for what and for who? The reason I win. You know, there's a scene, it's really funny because I was born in Russia in the former Soviet Union. There's a scene in Rocky 4 where Drago loses at the end, but he takes the mic and he's like, fuck you. He Talks in RUSSIAN I understood it. He was basically saying, fuck you, Russia that wanted me to beat this America. I was fighting for myself. I was in this ring for myself. The reason I'm winning, young man, is cause I'm in this ring for myself. I don't give a fuck what anybody says about me. Nobody. Now that, that, that is a blessed. That has nothing to do with me. That has to do with my DNA compounded by extremely strong parenting and environment. Right? So I don't say that as I'm cool. I'm telling you my truth. And I'm trying to get as many people as close to that as possible because I don't have the answers for you. But what I can tell you is if you do it for yourself, if you're judging yourself, shit gets worse real easy. I have zero bad days because I'm in that binary place of knowing my intent and doing what I do. And then the only thing that can drag me down is outside forces around the health of my family and friends. And luckily for me, the far majority of those days aren't gonna be the critical days where I lose some of them. Right? That's it, man. Like, what are you trying to do? Is it about the money? Is it about proving something to somebody? Because if you're trying to prove it to yourself, you have your whole life to do that. You have your whole life to do that. Guys. Life. As a lot of. You know, I love football. Let's call it 80 years. It's getting better. Even closer to 90. Just break them down in four quarters. Like, do you really? This is why I hate flashy 25 year old young entrepreneurs. Do you really want to be up 21 nothing in the second quarter and lose 37 to 28? Because you sure are acting like it. So that's what I'm intrigued by, bro.

[New Entrepreneur / Listener]

So what am I? Are you asking me the question or. That's it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm confused, man. I'm asking you to figure out who the job is.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Yeah, go ahead.

[New Entrepreneur / Listener]

Last question. I do a video every day, 30 seconds or less with people in their favorite quotes. Can I do them with you before we leave?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Yes.

[New Entrepreneur / Listener]

All right. Thank you.

[Clothing Company Owner]

Can I give you my card?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Sure. Hi. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Didn't realize I was coming to Right Hook Con.

[Clothing Company Owner]

So

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

go ahead.

[Clothing Company Owner]

So I'm not a real estate agent. I own my own clothing company. My company turned 5 yesterday.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Congrats.

[Clothing Company Owner]

Thank you. We're a wholesale company and my target audience actually is women over 40.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay. And we, yeah, I'm a female over 40 motherfuckers.

[Clothing Company Owner]

So we're wholesale and we sell to a bunch of different stores. We are very successful in wholesale.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And are you doing, are you doing direct to consumer yet?

[Clothing Company Owner]

We have a very small part of our business. Only about 5% of our business that's sold dot com. Yes. Our challenge is our demographic buying online. I know Snapchat and Instagram and Facebook, the younger generation, they buy online.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know, you're probably out of your mind, right? Like completely.

[Clothing Company Owner]

Well, we, we've done surveys. We've asked our customers your surveys. I'm trying to figure out what the best platform is for my age grain

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Facebook

[Clothing Company Owner]

and converting that to a Facebook

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

store or selling it, driving them to your dot com. Like, do you know much fashion is sold to 40 to 60 year old women in E commerce in this country?

[Clothing Company Owner]

A lot.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Okay. Because you just told me your demo is not doing that. Do you know what I mean? You're just, you might not know how to do that.

[Clothing Company Owner]

That's my challenge.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I don't know how to. No shit.

[Clothing Company Owner]

On the wholesale side, yes, we know that part. But on the retail end of it, it's just trying to figure out what

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

best avenues you need to invest your money into. Bringing somebody who has a dot com direct to consumer fashion, female background, and let her or him be your director of E. Com direct to consumer and go do your thing. You're making it convenient to your strengths and weaknesses, which is the quickest way to go out of business. That's not, you know what I mean? So I think you know that. I can tell. So I, you know, I don't know your business, but I would make a little less money and immediately hire somebody who can flat out and call references, go hire somebody who's sold, you know, to that lovely lady on the Internet, you know, and hire them and then site and then, and then when you hire them, don't go, okay, great, I got Ricky or Sally and go do your thing. You get real fucking close and you siphon that information out because it's your fucking company and you don't want that to grow to 38% of your business. And then Rick's got all the fucking leverage. Right,

[Event Host / Moderator]

Guys, last. Yeah, last question. Guys, last question.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Sorry, everybody in line. Sorry. He's a real dick.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

Hey, my name's Dellison. Thank you for the motivation. I actually think I look up to you because I'm also an immigrant and you give me a good example that success can actually be reached no matter where you come from. So thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Immigrants have the advantage. They really do. I really. And by the way, American born people dominate. But the advantage is we know the alternative. My kids are fucking gonna be losers. Like, you know, you know, it's just hard when you've got it and don't work for it. So I'm glad that's the case. But I want you to realize how good of an advantage you actually have.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

Yeah, actually my youngest brothers actually tell me all that time, all the time they say, well, you just work harder because you're an immigrant and you have the immigrant mentality.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And you should look them dead in the face and say, that's right, motherfucker.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

I'm actually recording it so you'll hear it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And then also tell them that you're also working smarter. Now what? Dick.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

It's all right here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I hate that fucking argument, Gary. Yeah, it's cool you hustle, but I work smart. Me too, dick face. Now what?

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

Yeah, I do both. So here's my situation. I. I recently started a business on my own. Good for you. Thank you. And so it's been going pretty well. It's a retail business. It's a brick and mortar mortar business. And I know that you actually talk about how brick and mortars are possibly going out of business soon if their

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

economics are too tied into unrealistic leases and they don't have alternatives. Right. So it's. Remember how I said like everything, everything in media can work. It's what's underpriced and overpriced. Retail is not going to die, people. It's just retailers are not going to pay $87 a square foot when the way we buy now, it should be 61. Got it. And instead of spending their money on fixtures, they may allocate 25% of their space for you to drink coffee or for a band to be there. They're need to draw, they have to change. This is all about change. So that's what's on my mind. Keep going.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

So my thing is I have an opportunity now, because the business is doing well, to expand into a second location, which is also brick and mortar. But my.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let me give you a good piece of advice.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Make whatever projections you have or whatever your business is currently doing, just siphon out 20% of it. Like just make pretend you lost 20% of it. And if the math works, then go for it. Okay, got it. Just anticipate the decline.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

The 20% decline, is that over?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's my intuition that the macroeconomic climates of what retail is doing will affect you. You may not even ever feel that. You may feel 50% of it, but you can't be blunt. Well, what do you sell?

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

I sell fitness supplements.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Fuck, man. Like, like, like people buy that shit at scale on the Internet. So, like, don't get fucking crazy. Like, you know, like, keep that in mind.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

Yeah. So I sell this stuff online as well. So my question was whether I should take the second brick and mortar store and continue doing business online, or if I should just take that full lump of money that I would invest into a brick and mortar store which got me here in the first place, and just take it all and invest it in my E Commerce.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What gets you somewhere is irrelevant to where you're going.

[John (New Real Estate Agent)]

Got it.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Got it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Perfect. So I think you know the answer. You don't need to pay homage to that store that got you there.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

Gotcha. Okay.

[Direct Sales Professional]

And then this.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

This other question too is kind of interesting.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh, no, no, no, no.

[Young Entrepreneur (23 years old)]

That's it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Oh, it's not fair. I told you it was a tick. All right, all right, all right.

[Dellison (Immigrant Entrepreneur)]

Well, thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you. You know what? Gold digger, cuz.

[Event Host / Moderator]

I like that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

One more go.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Is it all right with you, Gary? You made me.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

You helped me realize that I need

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

to quit my job selling cars so I can actually go into business for myself.

[Young Entrepreneur / Podcaster]

So I'd like to thank you for

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

that and I'd really like.

[Event Host / Moderator]

Come on.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

No, get up, get up here. Come on. You can come up and you can ask. Go ahead. Oh, you're taking a picture. Got it. Okay. Hi.

[Fan / Attendee]

Hi, Gary.

[Danny (Fan / Entrepreneur)]

Oh, my gosh.

[Fan / Attendee]

Okay. I came down here from Northern California just to say thank you for all the content you put out, because I found you when I was at a really tumultuous part of my life. And my life just being like, fully accountable and just not going for perfect.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Just getting

[Fan / Attendee]

myself. Just getting it done and just making micro adjustments has just quantifiably made my life so much better. And I just wanted to say thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're welcome.

[Fan / Attendee]

Can I take a selfie?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I like your skirt. Awesome.

[Event Host / Moderator]

Awesome.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Give Gary a round of applause, everybody. Thank you so much. So hold on,

[Event Host / Moderator]

I gotta. I gotta tell you guys a little story.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know, it was.

[Event Host / Moderator]

It was kind of awesome because, you know, I. Last night, I highly respect this guy. And I'm gonna tell you why. Because, you know, I had this illusion that, I mean, I know he says he works hard, but, I mean, I didn't really understand how hard he works. So I'm Thinking if I'm gonna do an event, I'm gonna fly in the night before, you know, relax, hang out for a little bit, wake up the next day, maybe I'll do a little workout, you know what I'm saying? And maybe do some work in the room. And then when it's time for me to speak, then I come up and speak.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know that.

[Event Host / Moderator]

That's normal, right? Well, last night I noticed on his Instagram story, I'm like, he's not on an airplane yet. And then this, this morning, you know, I'm stressing, I was like, the money went through, right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Because it was a lot of money, right?

[Event Host / Moderator]

And I'm stressing, I'm watching Drock and I'm watching Gary, and I'm watching both of them and they're still, still not like on their way to the airport, right? And then it was like literally like 10:00 clock a.m. and I finally see you guys on your way to the airport. I get off stage and the dudes are literally walking in from taking maybe a three minute shower. We sit down on our podcast and, you know, afterwards we're just kind of shooting the. And the podcast is done, which went fantastic, by the way. And I go, so what's up? What are you guys doing after? Because, you know, I'm ready to like invite him to my house to come back, barbecue, hang out, have a party, relax. He goes, oh, I'm gonna hop on a plane.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I got a red eye.

[Event Host / Moderator]

Like, the guy literally woke up this morning, got on a plane, flew here, talked for a little bit. Is gonna get on a plane and go back. Like, that's legit, people, that's legit.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So give him a round of applause for that. Thank you. Take a red eye, land in New York, drive an hour in New York, early morning traffic, take a quick shower and then go do an 11 hour day and then hop on a flight and fly to Ghana. Oh, I'm up Pencils of Promise. I'm part of a nonprofit called Pencil Promise. So I'm gonna go build some schools, check on what we're doing.

[Event Host / Moderator]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you, 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.