Why Sales is Just Bad Marketing

Summary

Podcast Summary: The GaryVee Audio Experience

Episode: Why Sales is Just Bad Marketing

Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Date: July 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this dynamic, candid session, Gary Vaynerchuk (GaryVee) dives into the core differences between sales and marketing, drawing upon his personal and professional experiences. Addressing business owners and leaders, Gary argues that overreliance on sales tactics often indicates weak marketing, and champions the critical role of brand, human-centric leadership, and leveraging new platforms like LinkedIn for B2B success. The episode also tackles people management, the importance of candor, team motivation, business resilience, and building brands that cut through the noise—especially in commoditized industries.

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Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. Gary’s Background & Setting the Stage

Timestamps: 00:00 – 07:00

• Grew up as an immigrant kid in New Jersey, with a DNA for hustling and entrepreneurship.
• Early lessons in his family’s liquor store exposed him to both positive and negative business dynamics, particularly around trust and company culture.
• Notable Quote:

  “We pull up to the store, he turns and looks at me and he says, keep an eye on the employees they try to steal.” (06:36, Gary)

• Contrasts his mother's "rainbows and sunshine" empathy and accountability with his father's defensive, distrustful approach.
• Saw firsthand the downsides of running a business overly focused on defense and suspicion instead of offense and trust.

2. Defense vs. Offense in Business

Timestamps: 07:00 – 14:30

• Too many businesses operate out of fear—what Gary calls “pre-bent defense”—rather than proactively going on offense.
• Advocates for embracing risk, accepting mistakes, and not dwelling on failures.
• Reframes business as fundamentally about "people and the human variable," both internally (employees) and externally (customers).
• Warns against clinging to long-tenured but underperforming employees just for their loyalty.

3. The Value and Pitfalls of Hiring Friends & Family

Timestamps: 14:30 – 18:15

• Starting businesses with friends or family can be great if you love the business for its own sake, not just for money.
• Problems arise if loyalty trumps actual quality and fit—especially if underperformance is tolerated.

4. Marketing Over Sales: Why the Mindset Matters

Timestamps: 18:18 – 27:20

• Gary proclaims that most B2B firms see themselves as sales organizations, not marketing organizations — a huge missed opportunity.
• Notable Quote:

  “Sales is just bad marketing.” (41:34, Gary)

• Champions LinkedIn’s current status as the “biggest arbitrage” for B2B, akin to early days of Facebook ads.
• Direct outreach and sales pitches are far less effective than content that positions the business as an informational resource.
• Encourages experimenting with creative formats—video, writing, audio—for marketing content.
• Advice:

  “If you’re not running significant LinkedIn ads right now for your business, you’re making a massive mistake.” (20:53, Gary)

5. Balancing Employee Focus and Client Demands

Timestamps: 27:20 – 34:27

• The biggest mistake Gary sees is companies valuing customers more than employees, which sabotages employee morale and thus long-term upside.
• If you generate plenty of leads (“strong funnel”), you gain leverage to prioritize and protect your team when clients are unreasonable.
• Investing in your people creates positive momentum that eventually benefits clients as well.

6. The Power of Candor and Emotional Intelligence

Timestamps: 34:27 – 41:00

• Gary discusses his personal journey from avoiding hard conversations (candor) to embracing what he calls “kind candor.”
• “Eliminate fear for my employees. Number one.” (30:14, Gary)
• Emotional intelligence, accountability, empathy—these “soft skills” are the true alpha traits in business.
• Predicts that with the rise of tech and AI, emotional intelligence will be the last differentiator.

7. Crisis, Pressure, and Mental Health in Business

Timestamps: 41:45 – 48:18

• Hosts and audience raise questions about coping with setbacks, pressure, and mental health for business owners.
• Gary’s perspective is rooted in gratitude and detachment from societal judgment:

  “When you don't actually care about people's judgment and when you don't actually need money for fancy shit to impress people, business is the best.” (36:38, Gary)

• Emphasizes resilience, adaptability, and willingness to let go of pride if necessary.

8. Q&A Highlights – Branding, Differentiation, and Practical Advice

Timestamps: 48:30 – 67:57

A. On Brand vs. Sales

• Building brand equity takes longer but is more durable and scalable than “quick hit” sales.
• Quote:

  “Nike doesn’t come to your house or spam you to buy sneakers. Brand is what everybody here should be trying to do. Nobody usually does it because sales is quicker.” (41:36, Gary)

B. On Creating Content and Personal Brand

• Whether or not you’re a “personality,” make content in your strongest format.
• Personal brands outperform logos—especially for businesses under $25M revenue.
• Quote:

  "The number one differentiation you have is you, the human being." (62:03, Gary)

C. On Standing Out in Similar Markets

• True differentiation often comes down to a word, a sentence, an analogy, or timing—honesty and clarity close deals.
• Quote:

  “A word. A word. What do I mean by that? The whole world works that way. People are so infatuated with differentiation. Most… business in the world is done where people can do it with somebody else.” (58:36, Gary)

D. On Motivating Teams

• Motivation requires personalized conversation, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
• If someone isn't motivatable, Gary’s solution is simple: let them go.
• Quote:

  “The most interesting thing about business is lack of accountability when you're in full control.” (65:04, Gary)

E. On Letting Employees Build Personal Brands

• Empower employees to build their own brands, even if they someday leave:

  “If they actually are an entrepreneur, you can't stop an entrepreneur… Let them build and get the short-term value.” (63:22, Gary)

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Memorable Quotes

• “Sales is just bad marketing.” (41:34)
• “The only currency for a business actually is attention.” (42:34)
• “Loyalty and reliability can’t be your number one value prop for someone on your team, if the ‘but’ is they make other people miserable or underperform.” (15:45)
• “Eliminate fear for my employees. Number one.” (30:14)
• “Once you start getting that framework down, you have a very different opportunity to grow your business.” (31:54)
• “There’s no right way to live this life. There's just figuring yourself out and living it.” (66:13)

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Key Takeaways

• Brand Over Sale: Building a brand takes patience but delivers sustainable results, while aggressive or spammy sales undermine long-term brand equity.
• People Matter Most: Prioritize employee wellbeing and development; they are your most valuable asset.
• Leverage LinkedIn: For B2B, LinkedIn right now offers a huge opportunity for both reach and precise targeting.
• Embrace Candor: Deliver feedback with kindness—“kind candor”—to foster trust and accountability without creating fear.
• Resilience Is Essential: Success in business is as much about mental grit, gratitude, and self-awareness as it is about strategy.
• Personal Brands Win: Individuals beat logos in most small and midsize business contexts; don’t be afraid to make yourself the face of the business.
• Attention Is Currency: Content is key, but context (platform, audience, format) matters even more.

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Recommended Listening Timestamps

• Gary’s Early Lessons on Culture and Trust: 00:00 – 07:00
• Offense vs. Defense in Business: 07:00 – 14:30
• On Employee Loyalty and Tough Choices: 15:45 – 18:15
• Marketing vs. Sales Mindset: 18:18 – 27:20, 41:34 – 45:43
• People Over Clients: 27:20 – 34:27
• On Candor, Kindness, and Emotional Intelligence: 34:27 – 41:00
• Q&A – Practical Branding, Sales, Motivation Advice: 41:45 – 67:57

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Final Thoughts

GaryVee’s energy, humor, and candor infuse this episode—perfect for business leaders wrestling with growth, scale, marketing effectiveness, or team dynamics. His prescription is clear: play offense, double down on brand and “soft” skills, and see people (employees and customers) as the heart of the business. And if you’re still relying on sales over true marketing, it’s time to rethink your approach.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is the GaryVee audio experience. You know, I have a very good sense of the businesses in this room. I have a lot of friends in it. You know, when I was building my dad's liquor store in Springfield, New Jersey, not too far from here, I realized how important technology was and was going to be. You know, I 45 now, and at the time when I saw the Internet the first time in 95, when I was 20, I had never owned a computer, right? And so what's interesting about that is that's just the way it was. And for anybody who's 45 and older here, obviously there's a lot more tech DNA here. So I'd assume maybe they had the luxury or the serendipity of parents who had Commodore 64, some Apple shit or stuff like that, you know, but that just wasn't my reality. But my reality was that I, from the time I was six years old, I was born in the Soviet Union. We immigrated here, and I'm an 80s Jersey boy, which meant I was outside 24 7. And so between my mom and the streets of Jersey, that's how I was raised. And my natural DNA was always to sell. And so from the time I was 5, 6 years old, lemonade stands, washing people's cars, like, it would snow, and everybody be fired up that we weren't going to school and they'd want to go sledding. And I'm like, ringing doorbells, trying to make five bucks, shoveling driveways for, like, two hours. And I was just that guy. And then I turned 14, and I was a DNF student, which was crazy rare for immigrants because education was the way out. And so my parents were like, cool, you're a DNF student. You're going to work every hour of your life. So basically, from the time I was in eighth grade through all of high school and college, I worked every weekend and every summer vacation. And my parents were gangsters. I don't know if you guys remember this, but the last day of school usually was a half day. My mom would be at the school in the half day, picking me up and driving me to work. They didn't even want to give me that half day. And so in that business with my dad, I learned the majority of what I want to talk to you about, which was everything that I did not want to do. And that's not. This is not going to be a crap on my dad session. But my father grew up in the Soviet Union, where every employee stole everything, because in communism, the Government owns everything, so everything is black market. And he also grew up in a pretty rough situation with my grandma. And he lost his dad at 15 and he was structured. This is literally not a joke. My parents moved from Edison to Hunterdon County, New Jersey, so I don't know how many Jersey people are here. But out West Clinton, Flemington area. So we would have a 45 minute drive on 78 to work. This is the first day that I'm ever working in my Dad's store. I'm 14 years old. For the last 14 years I've lived under my mom's world, which is pure rainbows and sunshine, kindness and empathy, but accountability, which is why I can get things done. And she just crushed it. Like I look at these books in front of me on the screen here and I know that there's one book that I am going to write before I'm all done, which is called Perfectly Parented. And I want to lay out how she did it. Because I sit here today with all of you with so much gratitude of how lucky I got who built me. So now I got my dad and my dad. So my mom and I share a lot of DNA. As some of you that know me here know. I'm very comfortable talking and I love talking and I'm always talking. My dad is the reverse. The man doesn't talk. So we're driving for 45 minutes. He doesn't say a word. A word. Now this is real now. And maybe for some of you this is more of a grandfather or father situation. It's old school life. Like I'm 14. I've literally seen my dad like 10 times even though he slept in the same roof as me every night of my life. He left at 7:00am, 6:30am to work at the store and he got home at 10:30. I've literally. And he worked seven days a week. So I've literally this two hands can tell you memories of my dad to 14. And now I'm in the car, he doesn't say a word. We pull up to the store, he turns and looks at me and he says, keep an eye on the employees they try to steal. So this is what I walk into and why did I go this direction with the opening from that second to me being right here with my natural DNA and how I watched my dad's business for those, especially those four high school years where I didn't have a lot of say, so I had to listen and watch more than talk or get things done. I purely watched what defense negativity and not trusting and building a family looks like the amount of money my dad left on the table. Because unfortunately he was raised in an environment where he didn't know how to trust was devastating. He would create a framework where everything was based on fear. When I think about the size of the businesses in this room and I think about the human dynamics and the consumer dynamics that really drive where your range is from your business, there's only two versions of where you're gonna go with your business. You're either going to play pre bent defense or try to be the 85 Bears. If you're a football fan and play defense or you're going to go pure offense, right? There was a very famous college basketball team in the late 80s, early 90s called Loyola Marymount. Maybe for some of you fans remember, there was a tragic death of Hank Gathers, a very famous player on the court. But the reason I bring it up is not to remember that tough memory. The reason I bring it up is that college basketball team used to win games 142 to 126. They had a run and gun system. And I think about it a lot because it's how I run my business. When I tell you the amount of mistakes that I make, it's stunning and staggering. I'm a human being, I'm making 100 decisions a day. When I tell you that the amount of time I dwell or even give it a second thought is almost non existent. When I think about small businesses and that's what we all are, including Vaynermedia. For me, there really isn't anything but people. When I think about this room and what you do for a living, you're selling people. When I sold wine, I had to taste those wines, which was a pretty good gig for a while. But I was selling wine. I had people, but I was selling wine. Vayner X, my holding company of agency right now is 1500 people globally, right? Singapore, Mexico City, Louisiana, New York, London. All we're doing is we're selling people, right? And ours is a little bit different in that your business model is really fascinating and I've always liked it. Because the reality is if you can figure it out, right, and create the right flexes, it can be quite profitable, right? Because you're carrying a certain amount of people. I mean, I always think about if I did this business, I'd be like, you're really in the business of like just holding your breath every second, hoping that if you've got 200 or 100 clients that six don't have an issue at the same exact time. And it's just right. I mean, it's not super hard to understand what you're dealing with. Thank you so much. I will definitely not drink it, but it's very kind. I have a major water issue. I just don't drink water anyway. You know, white wine, beer that I would drink. That I would drink. But what that speaks to. And I think about it a lot. And I've had a couple friends through the years be in this business and I've always been fascinated. Cause I think the business inherently is spending way too much time on defense. What if this happens? What if? What if? And I think a lot about what happens to a business like this that goes on pure offense and what triggers can be created with staff and partnerships and other variables that can scale so that you feel comfortable in selling in front of the inevitable opportunities or the vulnerabilities that come along with having that many clients with the potential of needing servicing and things of that nature. I think there's several things that run through my mind here today. First of all, probably the thing I want to spend the most amount of time on, which is this concept of carrying people on your team because they've just been around for a long time. And this one is emotional because some of this started as your actual friend or family became your actual friend because you've been working together for 6, 7, 9, 12 years. I think a lot about this issue at this level, which is the notion of how much value comes with actually cutting or limiting the bottom 20% of people in your organization. Right. So notice what I said there in a sentence, cutting or limiting. I have worked with family and friends my whole life. I have started every business with family and friends. I love it. I think it's a good idea. It's a bad idea for most people because they care about money more than happiness and their friends. Starting a business with friends or family is a bad idea if you care about money because it will always get to a place eventually where there's friction. Starting a business with family and friends, if you're a little more chill about money and you love business because you love the game, not the money, is a tremendous idea. So that starts the first question that you're really going through. Right. Second is if you're in a position where you've got long tenured employees and actually, let me phrase it a little bit different, if you're sitting right now and thinking as we're talking about your situation, if your number One value prop of the people you're thinking about right now is that they're loyal and reliable. But you've got a big problem if your number one value prop of the people you're thinking about on your team is that they're loyal and reliable. But you've got a problem because if the but is that there's a lot of other things that they don't do well. If the but is that they make a lot of other people within the organization not feel good, you've got a major problem. What you're really in is in the people management business, right? We're gonna get into just cause it's what I do for a living, of how I think you can dramatically increase your potential clients through digital because it's there. You know, I've got a lot of, like I've said, I've had several friends and acquaintances in this business. If you're not running significant LinkedIn ads right now for your business, you're making a massive mistake. I don't know how you plan on acquiring new potential clients, but I can promise you where LinkedIn is right now with ads and creative is the most reminiscent thing to what I saw with Facebook in 2013. And it's a huge arbitrage. And if you leave this conference with anything tangible for new business generation, I promise you, it sits inside of LinkedIn right now. You play in a B2B environment. As many of you know, how many people here consume content on LinkedIn? Occasionally raise your hands. High, high. I want everybody to look around, look around and notice what I said. I said, how many people here consume content on LinkedIn? As all of you know, just looking at the crowd. LinkedIn just five minutes ago, aka six years ago, was just for recruiting. It has transformed into a content play and that's why so many of you have raised your hands. The ad targeting is bafflingly good, but it's expensive because it's high value. So a lot of people hit me up, they're like, you're pushing LinkedIn. What, are they kicking you a bag in the back end? I'm like, are you out of your fucking mind? Gonna ruin my reputation for LinkedIn? Give a shit about LinkedIn? Sorry, I know I'm supposed to not curse, but I get ridiculous about this one. I don't give a shit about any platform I care about being historically correct. So my reputation is whole. What I know is that LinkedIn works because, go figure, when you can target the head of HR or a CFO or a direct Job description. And you know exactly who you sell to. Every one of you fully knows the title of the human that has decided to give you money. Now, a lot of times that's just the CEO. I get it right? Which is great. Then target CEOs on LinkedIn and then tell them why you have a value prop. And what's great is when you tell them you have a value prop that can be in written form, that can be in video form, that can be in picture form. My biggest preference is you don't make an infomercial. 80% of people do. They go directly into the right hook. It's all just trying to sell. Nobody here wants to be sold. You're gonna give somebody 1300ths of a second on their video if you know that it's going in for the sale. Meanwhile, you're technically strong. You know the common headaches. You literally can step back and look at the data, let alone you know it off the top of your head, sitting here of the consistent issues that people have. So instead of making it a sales pitch, you can make it an information center that looks like, what if? Or what do you do when this happens? You then actually get consumption of the video, which actually then leads to business. Because if you give good content, it's not very hard for them to click your face and send you a message. So there's two core worlds that I see for this group, which is how well do people understand the human variable of business, and how well do people understand the current state of how to get customers? That's it. There is nothing else. And I've rinsed and repeated that for 25 years. And that's why all my businesses do super well. I started a client service business in 2009. Right. VaynerMedia. I, you know, some of you, how many people here have grown up in a family business? Raise your hands. Just want to see. So the. So the. Great. Thank you so much. So the 20 or 30 of you that just raised your hands, if you're the second generation in a family business, you know exactly what I'm about to say. I built my dad's wine store for him, right? I worked for 12 years, made very little money because that's what you do in a family business. And at 34, I had to leave. Even though I took my dad's business from 3 to 60 million dollars, I had to leave. And I started VaynerMedia in another company's conference room at 34 years old. So when I put out all that content to the kids on social about patients. I lived it. I was 34, got grossly underpaid. I wish I didn't have a family business. I wish I was just an executive. Somewhere else I would have got a bag right left, had to start over. Started my company when my brother graduated college in Buddy Media's conference room in Columbus Circle above the Starbucks there and had to start a client service business even though I never had a client service business. I was a wine retailer and in the first two years I really didn't want to do it. I was still too busy with wine library and I wrote my first book Crush it and the Gary Vee thing started to happen. But then I saw the opportunity so I went all in. So I really started the company in 2011. And so in a 10 year window, VaynerMedia and now VaynerX, because there's eight companies under it, has gone from zero to $286 million in revenue based on just the two simple things I'm talking about, which is it's only about the human beings that work for me. Like my entire framework on the way I look at my business is the people that work for me, the customers of my customers, and then my customer. The number one mistake that a lot of my friends make in this business model that you're in is they value the customer over their employee. It's a fundamental destroyer of your upside when you default every time to being on the customer side, regardless of the information. When you've gathered on what the situation is at hand, you've immediately limited the upside of your business. Incredibly foreign for a lot of people, but so essential in the way that I see this world.

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[Gary Vaynerchuk]

why I'm so hot on getting you good at LinkedIn or anything else we talk about later is if you have a strong funnel of constant new business, it's going to give you the leverage to have your employees back over your customers back hand in hand. Hand in hand. I think that I have a new book coming out in November and because it was Covid and it was just like a really good I was really in my feelings when I wrote it, and I'm really excited about it. And it's called 12 and a half, and it's really about 13 human characteristics that I think really lead to actual business success. Because I think people are very confused on who wins in business. I think business is completely misbranded. I think people think you have to have sharp elbows and who's the most aggressive and who's the most alpha. And I actually genuinely believe that soft skills like empathy and kindness and accountability and things of that nature are actually the alpha skills that build very large businesses. But I called the book 12 and a half because I want to go vulnerable on you, because it's probably one of the more common things I've seen as a shortcoming. And it was my greatest shortcoming because my father was very canderous. You always knew where you stood with him. That was his favorite. I'm like, yeah, you stand hating you because you're mean. My dad was really great at Candor. I, on the other hand, because my mom's not. And I was very bad at it, I demonized it even more because the way my dad delivered the candor was so aggressive and negative, I wasn't able to separate the vehicle from what it was. So what's really interesting about that was it really was only about two or three or four years ago where I started really going into this place with me, with all my success. What was very obvious to me that my number one job as a business owner is to eliminate fear for my employees. Number one. 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. And the reason there was some fear in the ecosystem was because people didn't know where they stood. Because I would sit with who I thought sucked, and I would try to coach up. I would try to rah rah. I would try to team them up with somebody who was awesome and hope for some osmosis shit. I was trying everything. And then I'm sure. And I can see by the reaction of all of you, you get to that point where you just wake up and you're like, yeah, I'm firing Sally today. And I would. And Thursday. This is Monday. And Thursday, I'd walk back and be like, sally, have the best weekend ever. And Monday, I'm like, sally, can you come in? I'm like, sally, you gotta go. And then I was the bad guy because I Wasn't able to deliver Candor. And then Sally go back to her desk and everyone's like, I saw Gary say what's up to Sally super nice and give her a hug on Thursday, I'm next. And so I thought, thought about this a lot. And this is really hard to admit. And it's like, that's why I'm so excited about this book, I think especially for the people that follow me. I'm old school, Eastern European immigrant. Like my garbage stays in my house. Nobody knows anything about me. I'm the most public person. You've never seen a picture of my kids. They're 12 and 9. Like I'm in my own private life, right? And that's the way I run my business too. My headaches are mine. What I share to the world is the optimism is the good thing. It's not delusion. There's nothing but headaches. Being an entrepreneur, all of you know, everybody thinks this stuff is cool. This shit is exhausting, right? This is 247 pressure. I wish that when I come back next time around, I'm a number two. Being a number two is epic. Being a number two, you get a solid amount of the financial upside and you get none of this feeling of there is nobody besides me. From the day I walked in my dad's store full time when I was 22 to right now, I have been the single person responsible to make payroll. Have never raised money. Didn't even have a credit line in my dad's store. It's constant on you 24 7. And so. But being vulnerable and talking about how. How weak I was at candor has been really liberating for me and I really hope helps some of you because it really matters and the way I brand it in the book, some of you have probably heard radical candor as that's gotten some momentum. I actually think that that's an excuse and not radical candor. I just think candor in general has historically been an excuse for people to be mean to people. I'm just being canderous. You suck. You know, like that kind of stuff. And so I frame it up as kind candor. If you walk into the situation and know that you're delivering bad news, are you capable of finding the right balance of tone? And in that candor can you make. And I've been practicing this hard for the last 24 months. It's been game changing for my business. And can that person leave and say, wait a minute, Gary's actually trying to give me a chance to Write this course not. I'm gonna now walk in fear 24 7. That was a huge shift for me me perspective wise. And I hope that helps even one of you consider maybe having one kind candor talk when you get back to the office. It matters. This is only about people. Everything in the world is getting commoditized. The only thing that's going to be left is emotional intelligence. We are mapping everything else. This is a tech crew. You guys know I don't have to explain to you what's going on in the world. What do you think's going on? Where do you think AI is going? Where do you think all of this is going? This is all going in one direction. Which is unless you start really tapping into as an owner, as a leader, where you sit on the emotional graph of running a business. That is where all your financial upside sits. And leaving here with the mentality of understanding. You've got to focus on your people, not your customer, of course your customer. But that's default. I know you're thinking about that. I know that you're trying to have retention. I know you've got all your tricks and ideas and strategies and ideas and hopes of like how you keep that customer. What I want you to do is realize you're playing defense. That's amazing by the way. You have to play defense. There's a reason you play defense. You do want to do that. That is good. I just want that to be 30% of your energy, not 86. Once you start getting that framework down, you have a very different opportunity to grow your business. When you're spending 35% of your energy trying to get new customers in the most progressive way for the money you spend on it. Something interesting happens when you spend 40% of your time actually giving a crap about every person that works for you. For real. Not kind of not saying it because it's sounds good, but living it. A funny thing starts happening. And so getting that balance down in a monthly retainer service based business with a lot of customers, average 3,000 bucks a month life and hoping to do 7, 10, $15 million a year. I promise you it starts with your employees. It's next progressive marketing in a 20, 22 way. And then third, you can worry about what you've actually spent most of your time thinking about. That is the framework. So I think that's the framework I want to start because I really want to go into Q and A in detail of that framework. But I want to talk for a little bit more and then I'LL open up Q and A on the second part, which is getting customers, I believe. And this makes sense. I had a new CFO come in four years ago and he's like, this is a mess. And I'm like, break it down. And so he's breaking down. He came from a big holding company, agency life, right, where he's accustomed to having small top line growth and tons of profit. And so all defense. And he sits and we break it down for three hours. And then I said, yeah, but we also grew $30 million in revenue, which was whatever percentage at the time. And we kind of got into this joust, very good joust. Just cause it was like intellectual, like business debate, all great vibes. And finally I kind of like, you know, there's nothing more fun than knowing what you're talking about and playing mental chess with somebody. It's the best feeling on earth, right? I could see by the reaction, like your expertise, right? It's the best feeling when you know the game inside and out and you're playing it and you like the other person. It's nice. So I was in one of those moments and finally like, I kind of got him into that. You know, there's that moment where the person knows they walked into the wrong

[Audience Member]

spot

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

and he's there and he looks at me and he's like, let me say this is what he said. He goes, fine. Yes, new revenue does solve everything. And that's really why I want to spend time on marketing. You know, I don't. When I look around and look at everybody's face. Actually, let me ask this question. How many people here plan retiring within 10 years? Real quick. Not because you're gonna crush it and you're the messiah, but because you're old and you're finished. Raise your hands. Raise it high. Raise it high. Own it. Own it. I see half hands go high. Right? So for the six of you. For the six of you. For the 6 of you, you know, a 10 year window, you know, the world changes fast and slow, right? The world changes fast and slow. But for the 98% of the people in this room, when I think about how business people make their business decisions in a B2B environment, the evolution of the tactics needed in marketing and sales over the next ten years are staggering. Let's call a spade a spade. The majority of people in here are sales organizations, not marketing organizations. You're in the sales business. Call, call. When the reality is, if you actually spent 25 hours on my very subtle quick mention on LinkedIn. And when I say 25 hours, it's the same 25 hours I spent in December and January learning about NFTs, right? If you've seen what's happened in that space, in 90 days, I have done $91 million in revenue on my Veefriends NFT launch. The first 51 million I kept, which was in one week. The next 40, I've gotten a 10% royalty on every transaction. Last night while I was sleeping, I made $246,000 on the royalties of people selling my NFTs to each other. I didn't know what an NFT was nine months ago, but what I did when I understood something was brewing is in the height of my business, when I have a trillion things going on while I'm trying to navigate 9 billion other businesses, I just spent 50 hours learning what NFTs were. So when I talk about the thing I'm about to talk about, I never understand why. I know 98% of you are not going to spend 25 hours trying to master LinkedIn ads. I never understand it. Now I do understand might be predicated on lack of revenue needs. You just might be content and complacent. I don't even judge that. I think people have me very confused as a character on the Internet. I don't think you need to go crush it and go harder and never sleep, do you? I don't give a shit. I just don't like when people say something and don't back it up. It drives me crazy when someone's like, I'm gonna be a billionaire. I'm like, you're playing Xbox. I'm so confused. Right? So here's my point. And now I know I'm feeling something. Cause I'm standing up. If you knew how much admiration I have for all of you right now, it would touch your heart. Let me tell you why it's is today Wednesday? Thank you. It is the Wednesday. Thank you. It is the Wednesday. It is the Wednesday of Labor Day weekend. It is September 1st today. This is the most checked out week in the world. In the world. This week. From America to Shanghai, definitely Europe. Those fuckers don't work. This week. As we stand, we're in the middle of it. The Wednesday. This is the most checked out business week besides Christmas week in the world. And you are in this room listening. That tells me you're pot committed to what you do. I don't have a. I mean, I don't know if you guys can see the goosebumps. Please Confirm this. You can't be here if you don't care. You cannot be sitting here if you're not hungry. You can't. Why would you be here? This is checked out week. This is Jersey Shore life. This is upstate. Like this is checked out week. So I'm sitting here saying these, these people are here early on this Wednesday. So when I sit here and say, I know I can fundamentally, fundamentally transform every person's business here if they just spent 25 hours studying how to do LinkedIn ads properly, anybody can post an ad. I'm talking good. I can dribble a basketball. I'm not fucking LeBron. Please hear me on this. Please do 25 hours of LinkedIn on homework and start the way I did. You know what my first search was? What is an nft? Enter Please figure this out. Cause I'm telling you, once you do and you get good at it, everything I actually want you to do with people and the human stuff will become a lot easier when you have a flow of inbound customers. I have empathy of why you can't always be as sweet as I want. It's because if you fire that client cause I they're mean to your people, you might have a problem. I understand what it means to have to pay the bills. I get it. But I also know why companies stay in the same spot their whole lives. This business that you have owns you and you know it. And there's a way for it to not because mine doesn't. On the drive here, one of our biggest clients, $12 million a year client, did something with our scope for next year and handle it a certain way. And on the ride here, I said to Nick, who runs that account, I said resign the business. You know what kind of leverage that is. You know how nice that feels. I want that for you. And I know how to get there. And I've seen it 100 times and I know exactly what it doesn't look like and it doesn't look like. When you don't know how to scale marketing sales is just bad marketing. Thank you.

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[Moderator]

Wonderful. Thank you thank you, Gary. Now we're going to kick off Q and A, everybody. So we have some runners that are going to be running around with the mics. But before we get started, and I always say this, you know, there's been those days where we've been in a ball, crying in a corner, right? Because it's been so last Monday. Guys, let's not judge me, okay? Don't judge me. But you know what was the most traumatic? Or that one moment where you just questioned everything that you were doing and is this right for me or is it not right for me? Am I down that right path? Because I'm pretty sure we've all been there once or twice and probably just in the last week and a half. But what was that moment for you and how did you get yourself out of that state? Because I think mental health as well is very trying for business owners because there is all of that pressure.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And that's a really tough question for me because one of the things that really works for me in my career is I always tell people truth. The truth to your question is I've never even been remotely close to that place. But that's because when I look back and now analyze myself outside of myself, I'm like, right, I was pulling flowers from people's yards and selling it back to them. This was not my proudest moment. What I mean by that is that five year old kid that I'm referring to was always this person. There was no other gear. What you're referring to is my version of that was kindergarten through high school. My coddled in the corner. I hate life was school. There was never a version of that in business. There's also another reason I don't care what anybody thinks about me. So I'm willing to lose everything and go back to a studio apartment with eight family members. And I could care less if Twitter blew up and said, ha ha. Garyvee, you thought you were hot shit. I just don't care. Not because I'm cool, because it's just the way I was built. I'm in my own head, in my own life. I know who I am. And I don't do business for a Mercedes or for a Rolex. I do it cause it's my oxygen. I'm happier in the most pressure business spots because I'm not in it for anything else. When you don't actually care about people's judgment and when you don't actually need money for fancy shit to impress people, business is the best. So I just have Never been in that place. I just haven't now. I've been in challenging places. Selling liquor on the Internet was very hard, still is, but very hard. When I was innovating one day the state of Texas decided to just pick on us out of every store in the whole country and really clamped down on our ability to ship there. It was also one of our biggest states and overnight, as a $20 million business that was just three, or excuse me, four, five minutes ago, aka three years ago, we lost 4 million like that. You know, that was like hard because it wasn't that it was hard that I lost the 4 million. It was that it was hard that it wasn't fair, it was selective. I love losing in business because it's fair. People love capitalism until it's not in their favor. I love capitalism all the time. I like when I lose. I like what I like it. It's fair. It's a game. You're supposed to lose. Sometimes, hopefully I just win more than I lose. But that what I did then was I just went home and went to sleep at 3pm and I woke up the next day and said, let's go. I think one of the biggest challenges, the thing that separates the $3 million from the $10 million company in here is almost directly correlated with the person in this room's ability to deal with pressure when it hits and how they make the people around them feel when it hits.

[Moderator]

Leadership.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Leadership.

[Moderator]

Okay, we have questions, raise your hands. Okay, ladies, let's go over here first.

[Audience Member]

Hey, Gary.

Damon.

Finaldi.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Daniel. Damon. Damon. Really nice to meet you.

[Audience Member]

Been to your dad's store a bunch of times.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you, brother.

[Audience Member]

Still there. So when I look around the room and I see a lot of these brands, I see a lot of us could advertise and it's really hard to differentiate one brand from the other out in the market.

Right.

We're typically in these types of businesses, not celebrity or person led brands. So what would your advice be if we were going to spin up the marketing part of this? How to lead forward.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Nobody knew who the hell I was on February 20, 2006 and I made a YouTube video drinking three bottles of wine and nine people watched it. That you may not be a celebrity, but neither was any celebrity that came from the Internet the day they made their first piece of content. What you have is what I had. You know what you're talking about, right? And this is key. When you go to video form, if you decide to go to video form, the biggest reason people fail in Video is they try to be more over the top than they actually are. And I understand a mundane straight talk may not be the most dynamic, but I'd rather have 397 people watch you because they like your information than you having 500 people watching you. But they're in it for your shtick. But your shtick isn't real. Right. Remember the business you're in, too. You only need 397views. Cause I promise you, if you get your first video on LinkedIn and you do 25 hours of homework before you make it and you post it and you actually get two contracts out of it, I have a funny feeling you're gonna spend an hour trying to find my email to send me an email and say, I love your face. And I know that. And I know that because I'm in the point of my career right now where I get that email 15 times a day. And I promise you, if you ever get lucky enough, and I'm lucky to be in that spot that feels better than everything. This is real stuff that I'm telling you right now. You know what's fun about me, for me, when I analyze myself against other people, is there's never been a day that I haven't run a business. I'm not a motivational speaker. I'm not an influencer. I'm a businessman. I'm gonna buy the New York Jets. Do you understand how much they cost? I'm not doing that with fans or likes. I'm building businesses out here. It's just that people haven't realized some of the foofy stuff is actually the most important stuff. Stuff. Right. And so I think you should make content. But if you're a better writer than you are on camera, then write. But if you feel good on camera, then do camera. But if you like talking, but you don't like the way you look, you're allowed to. You're allowed to be insecure about the way you look. I'd like you to go to therapy and get out of that, because that's a bad game. But you're allowed to. And if that's your case, then do audio and post to audio.

[Moderator]

Thank you. I'm go back here first and then Carly over here.

[Google Chrome Sponsor]

Gary.

[Audience Member]

Appreciate you coming out. Adam from Las Vegas.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Adam.

[Audience Member]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Pleasure.

[Audience Member]

Thank you. Would you care to elaborate what you

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

said there at the end?

[Audience Member]

Sales is just bad marketing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. Nike doesn't come to your house or spam you to buy sneakers. Brand is what everybody here should be trying to do. And Nobody usually does it because sales is quicker. But I don't know if you heard the tortoise always beats the hare. And so people don't want to put money into branding. People make fun of marketing in businesses like this because they think it's a waste of money.

[Moderator]

Not this group. This group loves marketing. Right, guys? This group loves marketing.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I have some good news for you. That was not an epic reaction to your sales. I analyzed real quick, and I'm good at this. This group is cynical to marketing, and I respect it to no end. When you have a business around the size as this are, it's not excited to get fired up to $50k on a marketing campaign, and then you wake up two months later and you're like, did we? What did we get from that shit? But every decision you actually make is far more predicated on marketing than sales. And so my big thing is if everybody here was just willing to take a little less money home each year from their business and put it into marketing, you have to do good marketing. It's back to the LeBron basketball thing. I could practice all day long. I'm not going to the league. Right. So you have to get good at it or you have to find somebody that's good at it. But I promise you, once you build personal brand, which I think a lot of you should, if you feel like you're charismatic or you hold the table at dinner or like you're a good host at parties, like if you've got that in you, you should be running to make content if you got a little bit of that. And then if you're more introverted and not maybe, you know, I have parents that were embarrassed of their accent their whole life. Right. You know, a lot of you may know that immigrant story. That's okay. But then you can write. Like, writing a white paper on LinkedIn could go viral and change your life. LinkedIn is. And here's why I'm really upset. Again, standing. I've been talking. How many people here, follow me. Raise your hands. Thank you. So a lot of you know this isn't something new. I've been on this LinkedIn kick for a while, and it's not as good as it was three years ago. Three years ago when I was yelling about this. The cost of the ads and the amount of people that would see your organic content if you just post with no fans or was higher than it is now because people are figuring it out. It's a land grab of attention. The only currency for a business actually is attention. It's the only asset. Because once you have the attention, you have the ability to get them to consider to do business with you. That's what you're asking your sales team to do. But your sales team is destroying your brand. Because every time you bother people you're destroying brand equity, not gaining it, spamming, calling the. That's hurting brand equity. By the way, I love sales. Let me just go over here for a second. I'm into sales. Sales are great, but sales without marketing is a vulnerability. And what happens when your head of sales leaves you gonna just restart it. Cause brand doesn't go. So something to think about. And it's really the difference between 4 million a year and 20 million a year. It just is. And by the way, you don't need to do 20. You can do whatever you want. I'm just telling you what it is

[Moderator]

right here.

[Audience Member]

Good morning.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good morning.

[Audience Member]

My name's Amy and I really appreciate you being so grounded today. For us this is the perfect pandemic exit, sort of real talk.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you.

[Audience Member]

So one of the things I think about a lot is the roller coaster of business.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Audience Member]

You know the game of life. You roll the dice, there's going to be bad luck, there's going to be good luck, there's going to be unfair practices. There's going to be fair practices that slam you on the ground. How do you as a leader quickly reset? You said you went to bed at three o' clock in the afternoon. That's one way. And then how do you reset the leaders under you when these things happen? I think that's the trick. I'm trying to understand from what you're saying.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Hold the mic here because we may go back and forth a little bit. Thank you. You know, I've been in high stakes business. Cause when it's a family business and you're doing it for your parents, it's very high stakes. And then my career went into high stakes. And so my whole life, literally that 3pm is the one story in 22 years that I have. Everything else has just been gratitude. I'm just grateful. Like I don't. This is the number one game I play and this may help you if you're willing to go there emotionally. There are 8 billion people on earth. Everybody just close their eyes mentally. You don't have to physically close them for two seconds. Let's take a moment of silence. I'd like you to ask yourself where you think you rank if the world ranked a human based on happiness. Whatever you do You. You judge yourself on financial, health, happiness. Where do you rank yourself out of 8 billion people on earth? I'm gonna give us 12 seconds. I want you to actually come up with a number. I may even ask some of you. I may not. We'll see. I want your rank. Where do you rank yourself in the world? All right, let's start with this. There's over a billion people on earth that. That don't have clean water. You live in America. There's only 300 million of us, right? If you make over $47,000 a year, you're above the average in America. If you make $400,000 a year, you're in the 1% in the richest country in the world. I just think we don't have perspective. Business is bullshit. That's why I'm easy. That's why it's calm. I'm just not scared. What? Like when I talk to my friends like this over dinner, like, you know, I'm like, what, are you gonna lose your Ferrari? Like, you don't have the humility to. To trade in your BMW lease for a Toyota. You're incapable of selling your home and renting a townhouse. You're incapable of that. I just think people fear bullshit. That's why it's so easy. That's the reset.

[Audience Member]

But to bring it back to a much more existential level, I mean, there are some businesses that are struggling to make payroll, not make the Ferrari payment, or there's a business decision that's completely life changing. Do you combat that with gratitude also?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course. Because the existential doesn't matter if you don't have the foundation. You said, let's take it back to how we're gonna decorate this room. I'm like, the fucking concrete and steel that hold up this building is what we need to focus on. I appreciate that. What I say is, maybe you're not good at business and you should get a job. It's okay. You know, like, for me, there's levels to it. I don't know how to win a game when somebody's scared of making payroll all the time because that means they're not good at it. And that's okay. So one of the things I think about is fundamentally eliminating fear. When you eliminate fear, you actually have a better chance of making payroll when you have the perspective of what we're actually doing here. Set right. Like most people are crippled by the judgment of their inner circle. Most people can't wrap their head around shutting down their business because they don't Want to hear about it from their sister or their mom or their friend, Right? It's pride wrapped in insecurity. So I, you know, I don't know, cut down your costs. Like, it's so, you know, I'd have to sit down with every person here individually and be like, you take too much money home each year. And then I would ask, what are you buying with that? And I would look at all the dumb shit you buy and say, stop buying it. And then you would be able to make payroll. Thank you.

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[Moderator]

We have a question.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There's such a big question for this room of, like, why do you have a business, right? Like, is it because you think you'll make more money that way? Is it because it's gotten cool? Is it because you stumbled into it? Cause you were doing your craft and you're like, well, there's more opportunity. It's all awesome. None of it's wrong. It's just good to know. Once I knew for me, somewhere around 33, I'm like, wait a minute. This is me playing. This is me playing. I'm playing. I need to do this forever. Cause I'm playing. I'm like an athlete that loves their sport. Oh, my God. This was a big one for me. Oh, my God. Back to the 8 billion. Oh, my God. The greatest athletes of the world wake up at 36 and they're finished. And they have to live 50 more years not doing what they love more than life. I'm doing this shit till I'm 90. There's no retirement here. I'm not going to golf in Florida. I'm dying at my desk. And by the way, there's a lot of people that would if they read that sentence, if you tweeted Gary said that, they would all say, that's so sad. I'm not saying hustle and work until you believe it. I'm saying this is my hobby. It's the same reason, if you follow me heavily, why do I wake up at 6 o' clock in the morning and go to New Jersey to garage sale. Cause I like it. That seems weird to people. It seems weird to me to golf for four hours. I have no interest in sailing. I don't want to ski. But you may think it's epic, the end. But like that to me is like, if you can get what we just talked about down, something happens. I've seen it, I watch it. It's like. Which then kind of makes you look at the whole situation differently. Right now the people that are stuck in what you're talking about are in a hamster wheel and they can't step out and realize they just have to take a step to the right to get out of the wheel. Gotta ask those questions. They matter. They really matter. There's so many people in here. That's not fair. There's probably a small percentage of people here who'd be much better off not having a business. That'd be awesome. Like, you know, it's that insecurity pride thing. It's like that. My greatest strength is my interest, let alone my ability to take a step backwards.

[Moderator]

Next question we have up there.

[Audience Member]

Hi, Gary Terry from South Jersey.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

How are you?

[Audience Member]

51st state. Two quick questions, if I could. The first is about the kind of Jack Welsh get rid of the bottom 10% thing in today's market. I'm sure you're seeing this in your countries. I mean, how do you do that? It's almost impossible to get anybody to

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

come take a while. You don't. Terry, we've got six more months of this and then you can. Okay, like I don't. People like so many business owners right now want to like burn the government down because, you know, it's better to stay at home and make more money. They also have such thoughtful points of view on this, such lack of, of thoughtful points of view. A lot of my friends who have businesses, especially in like retail or restaurants, things of that nature, those checks are going into the system. So it's a double sided combo. But in the question you're asking, like, I have so many people that are so emotional about this. I'm like, you're incapable of six more months of waiting. Like, this is not going to last forever. So it's just a moment in time. I don't even think about it twice. It sucks. We have all sorts of headaches in every business that come in. I'm like, okay, deal with it.

[Audience Member]

Right?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Audience Member]

Second quick question is I do do LinkedIn ads and been working on it, trying to get it better and better. But as LinkedIn ads and LinkedIn in general get more popular. There's obviously a lot more noise there. Any tricks or tips for separating yourself?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

How many different pieces of content do you run actual ads against?

[Audience Member]

Mostly we're doing direct inmails now with like the AI process. We're doing video and.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And we're doing something in feed creative with ads that are targeting the types of people you're trying to reach, not the inbox stuff that is sales marketing. In the feed, different pieces of content where the picture or video has a planned media against it. To whom is supposed to see it?

[Audience Member]

Yeah, probably none.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's why it's not working.

[Audience Member]

Okay, thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You're welcome. Let's make sure we get some over there at some point too. And I'll just go a little further on that. When you know, let's use South Jersey. When you know you're targeting businesses within a 10 mile radius because strategically you like having clients locally because you like the retention aspect and you know that you're targeting South Jersey businesses that are in the liquor business. Well, then your video's gonna be like, are you an Eagles fan? He's like, yeah, I am. Do you sell liquor?

[Audience Member]

I do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We can help you. Like, when you know who you're targeting. And it doesn't have to be that overt. What it can be is literally you talking with a glass of wine and an eagle's flag. 51st state, my man.

[Audience Member]

Hey, Gary. Matt Solomon. I'm the guy that keeps texting you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep. At Sullion Hall.

[Moderator]

Yeah.

[Audience Member]

And I'm actually the number two guy you were talking about. I was traveling the world while this guy had to write me some big commission checks and worry about payroll and all that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Of course.

[Audience Member]

But you know, you're putting out so much content. You know, I see you on TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, everywhere. Is there particular pieces that are really resonating with your audiences that you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's different, right? On TikTok, when I say fuck college, they go wild. Go figure. Doesn't hit as well on Facebook. So what I like about what's happened here for the last three, four minutes is you're starting to hear some nuances that matter. The context matters more than the content. Like who's gonna see it? Who's gonna see it? What's the mindset? Forget about the demographics, the age, the sex, the gender, which matters. The mindset, what are they into? What's the slang? You know, even the terminology I use is different on TikTok than it is on Facebook. You know, there's A lot of slang terms a 63 year old businesswoman and man are not gonna know that I may use in TikTok. So I'm very contextual. All of it's resonating. It's why what's happening with me is happening. It's why I know it will work for everybody. Meaning we all have upsides to our charisma, our talents, our thing. But when you haven't even done it yet, that means there's, you know, it's kind of like when you first start losing weight, if you got off track, that first week is awesome. They come off, then it gets harder. Same with what I'm trying to have you do in marketing. Once you really get it down, that first run is just gonna work. Cause you're at zero. Right. And it gets into the nuances. Which is why I'm so grateful for your question. Which is why I wanna do Q and A. Because you can be like, I'm doing LinkedIn, it's not working. I'm like, but you're not. Here's the subtle difference. Right?

[Moderator]

Great. We have a question over here.

[Audience Member]

Hey, Rafael from Dallas. Hey, Rafael, how's it going?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Real well.

[Audience Member]

Hey, so quick question. I know a lot of guys Here are MSPs, solution providers, service providers. They're all kind of selling sort of the same stuff, right? And a lot of times even reselling some of the same vendors.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Right, of course.

[Audience Member]

So we talk about separating brand and distinction and all that stuff. When a lot of these guys are kind of doing similar things, especially in the eyes of their prospects or clients. What do you think is the key to creating like brand separation or real distinction in a market that's similar to this?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

A word. A word. What do I mean by that? The whole world works that way. People are so infatuated with differentiation. Most of the business in the world is done where people can do it with somebody else. A word. A word. In a video that you said, it's what every salesperson in here knows. A single word, AKA a sentence, an analogy, timing. Right. I mean, here's the good news. I always laugh at what businesses worry about for the customer that customers don't worry about. They just need somebody to fix their IT. They're not like, oh, Barry's here. Well, I know 64 other providers. They're just happy Barry's there. And if they're like a little more sophisticated and want to do an RFP or check a couple things, they're going to pick three people they've heard of. Or from word of mouth. And then they're going to make a decision on the presentation. And that presentation, whether in deck form or word form, is going to come down to a word or two. I think a big thing that you can really do is. Is lean heavily into honesty. Honesty is the greatest closer of business. If your pitch is predicated on pure 100% truth, you will close a lot more business, even if it is a step away from where you think your advantages are. If you start with the truth is all four people you're talking to are the same. And the only difference is their effort or the serendipity of how their staff is staffed. And they at the moment, it changes the potential relationship with the prospect. Something to think about.

[Moderator]

Thank you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, but don't worry about. You're not differentiated. Neither is almost everything, really.

[Audience Member]

Hey, Gary, Todd.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Bill, by the way, I apologize. The things that are differentiated, one, on brand, the logos, you're like, this shirt's the same. The swoosh shirt. Look at everyone's sneakers. They're the same. You could buy every sneaker. You don't even wanna know what I paid for mine. Right? So brand. That's why I care so much about brand. Right. Then you're just differentiated before you even started. But don't worry about not being differentiated. Cause you're like, what are you going to do about that? Start wearing clown noses? Or like, you can't be not differentiated, Todd.

[Audience Member]

All right. Hey, Gary. Todd Billiard. So great segue to my question. You talk about branding. Big fan of branding. So like my buddy Paul Brophy here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Audience Member]

Does he build the brand? Paul Brophy, or is he building the brand Summit Business Systems.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, let's ask. Let's ask Paul.

[Audience Member]

Paul, what do you think? Some of business technologies.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Why?

[Audience Member]

Because it's more recognized and global and it doesn't just generate around me.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What's so talking. I don't think it's that global, with all due respect.

[Audience Member]

Global in a local format.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I can't hear him.

[Audience Member]

Global in a local format, but it's

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

still not a globe.

[Audience Member]

Or you're Peter Meyerlin. He's a little slow in the morning.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You know, Fair enough. Fair enough. Here's my point of view. Most humans will answer the way Paul did. And I understand why it feels like there's more scale right behind it. However, when you build around yourself, when it's your business, humans are dramatically more differentiated than logos. This great differentiator that you're all looking for. I don't know if your mom ever Told you that you're a unique snowflake and an individual. Good news. She was right. The number one differentiation you have is you, the human being. I'm a big fan of building around personal. If you're willing to. If you're not and uncomfortable with it, then don't. But it will absolutely outperform any business that's doing less than $25 million in revenue on its way to that will always get there faster. Building around a human versus a logo in today's environment, with the way that content works on the Internet, where The Internet is 100% the place where brand is built.

[Audience Member]

So as a follow on to that has business owners in here and obviously their employees, should they encourage their employees then to build on their own individual names or build towards the corporate brand?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is a tricky question. I am pretty pro employee doing what they want. And if they leave and build a great business and it hurts me in the short term, that's actually a win for me. I also am very aware that that's not shared by 87% of this room. So my answer is let them build however they want to build and get the short term value. And if they actually are an entrepreneur, you can't stop an entrepreneur from being an entrepreneur. A lot of people try to suppress their employees from doing exactly what they're doing, which is always a bad formula. So I let them and I'm happy when they go that route because you can't stop somebody who's gonna be on their way to winning anyway. And by not stopping them, you're actually getting more value while you have a pit stop at your business. And most people don't see it that way.

[Moderator]

Okay, our last question. George, you're up.

[Google Chrome Sponsor]

Hi, I'm George. I'm from Philadelphia. I'm an Eagles fan and I like liquor.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

George, how are you? I actually love the Eagles. Actually, as a Jets fan, I love the Eagles because we both hate the Giants. That's true.

[Google Chrome Sponsor]

And Dallas. And Dallas. But the Giants for sure. How do you get people to actually put some intensity into what they're doing?

[Audience Member]

Right.

[Google Chrome Sponsor]

Like as a business owner, you know, you're into what you do, you're aggressively going.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You mean how do I motivate my team? Yes, easily by sitting down with them and asking what actually motivates them and

[Google Chrome Sponsor]

what if they're not really super motivatable?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Well, then you fire them.

[Google Chrome Sponsor]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

The most interesting thing about business is lack of accountability when you're in full control.

[Moderator]

Sorry.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Nothing pisses me off more like from a good place than when my friends that own their businesses cry about shit when it's 100% their fault. Like, news alert for all of us that own a business. How many here own a business? Everybody who just raised their hands 100% of every problem in your business is 100% your fault. And once you realize that stuff gets good. I think people have a one size fits all motivation game to the their employees and that's why it doesn't work. They're baffled that their employees aren't motivated by money when a lot of people that are employees are motivated by the balance that they can create with the salary they make. And that's beautiful. I'm so much. I know more people who make 60,000 a year working for somebody that have happiness than the people that I know who make 10 million a year owning their own business. There's no right way to live this life. There's just figuring yourself out from a self awareness game and living it. But your question's easy, right? You start with. And by the way, as business owners, especially if you want retention, you need to be prepared for. My favorite thing that happens at Vayner. Vayner gets an ambitious kid. She or he is 23, 24. They come into my office, they sit down and they drop one of my favorite doozies. Gary. One day I'm gonna run this company and I'm fired up. I'm like, good. Cause I'm getting old. And I'm like, I'd be happy. Please God. And they're on fire. And they're working their face off and they're talented. And then they turn 27 and they come in and they're like, gary, I'm in love. And I'm like, awesome. And they're like, but my significant other doesn't want me to work as much. And I'm like, mazel tov. Amazing. And then they have a child. And then this like, things evolve. At 24, you may want to run the world and then you decide to other times your life might evolve and you're thrilled to make 313,000 a year, which is an extraordinary amount of money, and have some level of balance and have a beautiful life that's also great. You may then change your mind when you get divorced and you want to run the world again. All of it. All of it. All of it. As a leader, as a business owner is good by me. I am mentally prepared every second of my life to be prepared for what the person that works for me wants to happen in their life and I build a framework to be able to adjust to it. That's how you build billion dollar companies. And the closer you can get to this nirvana, the more business you will do.

[Moderator]

Wonderful. Thank you very much, everybody.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Gary V. Thank you.

[Moderator]

Big round of applause for Gary.

[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.