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- [00:00]
Gary Vee
Yo, Chatty. I call ChatGPT Chatty. Can you give me, like, the five best tools if I'm trying to build a sales team in 2026 to be an independent sales operator? Thank you, bro. Everything changed. Do you know how fucking nuts that is? And I can keep going and refine it if you ask that question better with some nuances you understand information is fucking useless, bro. This is why school's fucking stupid. And this is why I'm so tired of everyone saying anyone can do it. There's people out there that are scared to fucking ask a girl out. They're not selling shit. This is the GaryVee audio experience. How we doing? There are some themes I want to talk about, and as I've been hanging a little bit, we did a couple of smaller sessions before I hit the stage. You know, there are some themes that I'm excited to yap on. I guess the first one was a question that this young man, Michael, just asked me backstage, which was thinking about, like, what keeps one going? You know, I think of myself as a businessman, but I've many times in my life, especially early on, thought of myself as a salesperson. So you can imagine how at home I feel here. I also think very deeply about being a marketer and a brander. And I do think for so many of you, personal brand building is incredibly important and something to think about. But I think what I'm most interested in is what keeps one going. What's in front of a lot of you. How's this game gonna play out for a lot of you? How are you gonna build organizations versus just being the primary driver, all the kind of things of building out this game. I think a couple things stand out to me. I don't think most people believe me when I say this, but I will tell you that what has been very clear to me about my career and what is very clear to me in other people that I've seen achieve very substantial outcomes is I can speak for myself. I won't speak for anyone else. Business since I was 11 years old has never been about the money for me. And I think it's an interesting thing to think about when I think about this room, because a lot of people are early in their journey. You know, many of you in here, like myself, did not have money as a kid. And I think money's an interesting relationship and an interesting part of this game. I think it is very clear to me that I've made a lot more money in my life because it was never one of My goals. And I don't think that that means you shouldn't care about money if you're a normal human being. A lot of you have numbers in your mind that you want to hit and all that shit. I just think about it from this standpoint. For example, I have been working my whole life. I have never in my career burnt out from work, and I've never been close. And I think about that a lot because I also worked 120 hours a week in a liquor store for 12 years, every day. And now I don't even understand how I do the things I do to be very transparent, because I have 7 trillion different businesses, 5,000 employees, and it's constant 24 hours a day. Because I have 500 people in Asia and London, like, just 24 hours a day. It's forever. The phone is, like, always on, right? You all know this as you're growing. And I think the reason I never get close is because I'm not scared to go to zero. It's because I don't get validation for the watch that I have or how many followers I have or how many zeros are in my bank account. I believe a lot of people here do get validation from those things. And that, again, I have no judgment of that. In fact, I don't even have pride in what I'm saying. I'm aware that I just got lucky in DNA, circumstance, parenting. It was just a roll of the dice of how my shit played out. But I can tell you that I've met an unlimited amount of people in the last 15 to 20 years who get burnt out at 20 and 22 and 26 and 29 and 34 and 37. And it is because everything deep down is about outside validation or complacency. 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. Follow. It'll make my mom super happy. A lot of people here are starting to hit numbers they never thought they were gonna hit. And you start to get confused that you made it when you haven't even started. So I will tell you that everything you're going through is super interesting to me. Cause I love human psychology and how people roll and things of that nature. And so much of the content that I put out, and I appreciate the love when I hit the stage is because I think you know that when I make content, I'm trying to give you something that I know is true. And this is very important. I'm not giving you advice because it's how my life played out. I'm giving you the advice because I get 10,000 DMS a day, and I read them and I know what's going on out there. None of the things that come out of my mouth, the shit that I spit, comes from a focus group of one. It comes from what's going on out there. And what's going on out there really impacts what's happening here. And let me explain, there was some really fun banter in the session we just had where I think a lot about a thing that a lot of you are thinking about, which is how to build better teams, right? No one here is getting to where they really want to get to if they have big ambitions. If you can't build up a team, right? We all know that. What's been interesting is a lot of people in this space are confused about why their team is not that great. And it's so obvious to me, and I paid attention for two seconds, it's because the shit that's coming out of your mouth isn't smart. How many people here, by show of hands, thinks anybody can be remarkable at selling? Raise your hands. Great. You're out of your fucking mind. Now, maybe I did a bad job there, because maybe my definition of remarkable is different than yours. But I'd like to think this room understands that not everybody is born with a high ceiling of sales. DNA, do I believe that anyone on earth can get better at selling? I do. I can get better at skiing and singing. I promise you, I'm not going to the fucking Olympics. These are the things I think about. If you want higher quality team members, you have to have more realistic shit come out of your mouth. If you sell a dream, you get a bunch of fucking losing dreamers. You understand? I think about this quite a bit. I think what really needs to happen if you're gonna build a real team is there needs to be real candor. You have to talk about real shit. You know, if anybody can make 300,000 a year, well, then everyone would do it. I think it has to be smarter, tighter, because you're wasting an incredible amount of energy trying to build somebody into an athlete that can't run. And I'd rather have four people that could run that I can train than 33 that have no chance. And that starts with changing the calculus of how you see this. I literally have a marketing firm that has thousands and thousands of employees. And I literally, when I interview people, tell them to their face. I'm about to pay you. And usually if I'm interviewing, they're pretty senior. I'm about to pay you real paper to train you for a year. Right. That is a very different framework of why I've been able to build such a large organization. And I believe that this space can use a lot more of that DNA. And I think you will be very happy with what you will see, because it is not how many people come in the funnel to join a team is how many of them are actually capable. And you are to blame if you have shit coming in. And you are to blame if you do not spend time realizing how to make content. For here, everyone's crying in this sector about other people making content. That's bad. So make content. That's good. You can't control what the fuck people say. You can control what you say. So I think we have to be more on the offense in modern communication. And I think we have to really understand that we have to be thoughtful about what we're projecting to get what we want. You sell lifestyle, you get people that want lifestyle. You sell hard work and a decade of fucking eating shit to build something for you and your family. You get people that come in who want to eat shit and work hard for a decade to do something for their family. Make sense. So to me, that's intoxicating. What I just talked about is intoxicating. Knowing what a lot of people are going through. I just like. I don't know. I just gave you the actual answer to address the biggest thing that's going on in your business. My question is, are you going to do it? You know, I think of this a lot. I referenced this in the smaller session we just had. I think about business the way I think about the health and wellness and fitness industry. Who here, by show of hands, would like to get healthier? More muscle thinner, little healthier. Just raise your hands. Curious how many people and some people feeling good about themselves in a raise of hands. This is crazy to me. One more time, actually go high. How many people want to get healthier? Do you know how crazy it is? Do you know how easy it is to get healthier? Literally change up the bullshit that's going in your mouth and go to the gym and be disciplined. The end. The problem is it's hard. The way to build a much bigger business is that simple too. Everybody wants a better team. I'll give you the formula right now. I see a lot of people like pen and paper, make as many social media Posts as you can a day about the information you know, about the space and sales. Make it valuable to them. Tell them the real, not the fucking dream. Post as often as possible and put a lot of effort into the interviewing of the people that come into the funnel. And then when they come in, spend an ungodly amount of time to building up their game, not rolling the dice and seeing who's going to work out or not. You will be bigger than everyone else. I gave it to you. Actually, I'm pondering leaving right now. I really don't have anything better to say than what I just said. The only issue is I know literally 99% of you, real Talk with love will not do it at the scale and the discipline and the length that I think you should in my head based on the ambitions that are coming out of your mouth. Do you know any kids I meet every day? They're like, gary, Vee, what's good? I fucking fuck with you, bro. I'm gonna be a billionaire. I'm like, you surely are not, Like, rolling up with, like four fake watches. And like, I'm like, you're doing it for the game. You want the fucking prize that comes from the game? Motherfuckers out here in this room are doing it for the stuff, for the clout, for the perception that you made it to close the gaps of insecurity in your soul. I respect that, that I understand that's a human journey. But I'm telling you, that's the hard game to play, you know, because that game gets tough, because that means you care about what they say. I'm always fascinated to be in a sales environment because 8 out of 10 people are playing that game. For the 2 out of 10 that are not, I ask you if you're fortunate enough to be in the same mental place I was as a kid, I ask you to double down on something and for the eight out of 10 of you that it's resonating what I'm talking about right now, I need you to understand the single most important move in your life, which is the following. The reason things work for me and for other people that I see that build real shit. It's real shit. And they're actually really happy because I know unlimited millionaires that are fucking sad as shit. So many of the people that you all look up to, Social, I know them personally. They're not who they are on Social. They're not happy. The reason that others that I know are and definitely I know what works for me, it's this. It's really easy to build when you're in your own game. For you, yourself, and your family, it's really hard to build to impress them. Because if you're trying to impress them, you believe them. Do you know why I've been able to build every day? How many people here have been following me for more than 5 years? Raise your hands. I'm humbled, and thank you. And so, for one more time, I just want to see how many people so for I see you, I see you. 10 years. Let's go. The reason I've been able to do this every day for 10 years, darling, is. Is because when people say you suck in the comments, I don't break like a bitch. But that's not the interesting part. The reason I've been able to do this for 10 years and the reason I'm giving you the game that I'm giving you right now is the reverse. When all of you go in there and put a goat emoji, I don't believe you either. If you believe the accolades, you're vulnerable to the dissent. For me, I'm just detached from Gary Vee, from the admiration, from the paper, from the followers. I do this because I love the game. You know how they talk about athletes. I would say Kobe is probably the example most people refer to now that just love practice. Like, actually, like, love rehab. That's me in business. And honestly, that's what I want for you. Cause it's the only thing that will allow you to be sustained and growing forever. For me, I love this game of business, marketing, and sales way more than the shit that it gave me. In fact, I don't know if you can tell I don't want the shit. I don't need the shit. I need the game. The fuck am I doing here? What the fuck am I doing here? I'm not doing this for the paper. I lost money by showing up to this fucking thing today. Thank you. It's not even about the thank you. I fucking love y'. All. I want this for you. I know one kid who's the worst version and the reverse of me is listening right now and is about to switch up their game. I know as I stand here, I'm taking one kid in here who's all about Lambo and Rolex and, like, whatever, and I'm gonna break your fucking brain for the next 45 minutes and reset your shit, which is gonna mean you're gonna end up with 40 lambos, not one for a little bit, and then have to sell it because you have no fucking money anymore. This is really important shit when you're in sales. By the way, a lot of you have seen a lot of my content. Every talk is specific. This is sales. Sales has its own DNA, its own game, right? You want to be it, not look like it. You understand? You want to be it, not look like it. And here's why this is important. Once you stop building your paper and your reputation for them, the outside world, you have a lot more energy to put into your team. You understand? When you're not worried about impressing everyone else and you're worried about building up your fucking crew, what the fuck do you think's gonna happen to your paper? This is super important shit, friends. There's an incredible, incredible, incredible opportunity when you're in sales. In fact, kudos to all of you. I know this space. Some people got feelings. Real talk. I'm good at trends. You've seen me predict a ton of shit. Let me tell you what's happening right now. We're going into a barbell. Shit's about to go extreme. Technology, AI and shit. Like some people in this room's grandkids are gonna marry an AI robot. It's going extreme AI technology and it's actually going extreme. Analog and old school festivals, events, fucking rock climbing, going to restaurants, door knocking. Like old school. Like you see it already. If any of you got like a 12 or 13 year old in your family, like cousin, nephew, sibling, child, 13 year olds, this holiday season we're asking parents for non smartphones, like some flip Motorola shit, It's bending. And so there's a lot of opportunity in your space. There's a reason this space is growing. Big companies are outsourcing sales and analog is growing. So the opportunity in the macro is extraordinary. But the flavor of the space in one man's point of view is off. It's all the bad shit about the new game. It's all about this. It's all about what's in it for me. You know why your recruiting isn't going the way you want? When you post, you're worried about how much money you're going to make. When you're out there trying to get someone, you're thinking about what's in it for me. The second you think what's in it for them, the thing that you want to happen starts to actually happen. You'd rather just guess on 15 people and hope three people do it and move quick. I'd rather you get five people and put time and Effort into it and build them up and make them good. That's how you get good. This is old school. Grandma, grandpa shit. This is old. This stuff. This is your word. This is good stuff. And everyone's getting caught up in the sizzle. Like, I do my homework. People talk about numbers. 200,000, 300 people aren't talking about principles. If your opening line and sell is about how much money you're going to make, you're about to get some dirty, dirty ass people in. And it's confusing because some of you care about the money, but you're not dirty, dirty ass. So you think everyone's like you. And that's where you get mixed up. You understand? Everyone's not like you. So you have to give thought to what you're putting out there and how you're putting it out and what you're looking for. And you know this. It's just sales. It's not how many doors you knock, it's how many converted. Same with building your team. Over the last 10 years, I've been able to build one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. We had zero employees 15 years ago. We have 3,000 now. I have over 150 people that have been at the company for over 10 years. That's why we're winning. But that requires giving a crap about people. I promise you the biggest differentiation amongst people here from each other is who here actually cares about the human beings on their team. Not some tactic, not some angle I'm gonna give you on a social media post on some old Deep south pastor shit of like, do you love your fucking team or no? It's really cool. I love watching this all play out as we go crazier into like the future. The shits that's gonna actually matter is people that go old school and do like 1950s gentleman shit. It's fascinating and it's real. You know why? Because people have options. While you're out there being like, come with me, you can make 200,000, I'm out there saying, go do live social shopping and you can make 500,000 selling shit on TikTok and what whatnot. People have options, right? You're not competing against other ICOs, you're competing against the world for people's attention. People have options. I have. All these companies are like, why is nobody. They're like, these kids are lazy. I'm like, they're like, gen Z is lazy. I'm like, gen Z smart. The do you. Who wants to go work at burger king for $9 an hour. You can just go to Goodwill, buy shit, and flip it on ebay and make more. We got options. The people you're trying to recruit have options. We need to be smarter about what we talk about. It needs to be dramatically. All due respect, because I just did a little search of people saying, like, oh, Gary, Vee's at this event on social. Because I wanted to bring you value. I did a little homework. Some of you need to change up the shit that you're putting out. Way more truth, way more long term, way more good. Less quick, less easy. Who do you think is getting seduced by, like, it's super Easy to make $300,000 a year. Who do you think is getting seduced by that? Be smart. There's such an opportunity. This space is going to grow. And the key is very simple. This is the remote control of our society. Whoever wins on this platform wins. All of you as individuals need to win on this platform. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube. But you know that that's like going to the gym and eating right now, the question is, are you gonna do that? But more importantly for this crew, you all know that. But my question is, what are you going to fill these channels with? What's coming out of your mouth? How are you doing it? And I promise you that will be the differentiation of people in this room that make six figures a year versus seven figures a year versus eight figures a year. And I hope that really resonates with some of you. I'm ready for Q and A. We can start that up.
- [24:26]
Interviewer
I like to kick things off in a world of instant gratification, in a world where we're bombarded with what appears to be instant success all around young.
- [24:37]
Gary Vee
People, do you have a strategy?
- [24:40]
Interviewer
Or how do you coach the inevitable failures, setbacks that are going to happen to young entrepreneurs?
- [24:46]
Gary Vee
I don't know why we got it so twisted. Why are we comparing ourselves to, like, 17 people when there's 8.3 billion people? Entrepreneurs, like, literally, I roll up on people. They're like, gary, I feel like a failure. I don't have as much money as Elon. I'm like, motherfucker, the whole world doesn't have as much money as you. I don't know what we became infatuated with. Like, this one person's more beautiful than me. This one person has more money than me. Friends, I'm gonna say something right now, and I need everyone to pay attention. I'm on the board of something called Charity Water. As we sit here today. As we sit here today, 800 million people on Earth do not have access to clean water. That is on your table. I'm going to say it slow. I need everyone to hear me. Slow. 800 million people. 10% of the world cannot get to clean water within four hours. That's what I think. I think we need a perspective shift. Instead of comparing yourself to three random people that are the richest, most beautiful or most famous, why don't you compare yourself to the actual truth of what's going on in the world? And I have a funny feeling once you stop comparing yourself to those three people and you start to become grateful of where you sit in the world right this second, life gets a lot easier. And as far as failures, I'm trying to fail every day, bro. I don't even understand this fucking conversation about failing. Do you know how many fucking failures I have every week? Tons of shit goes wrong. We're fucking out here playing the game. If you're not failing, I don't even know if you're fucking doing it. This insecurity of failures, what happened? You lost money, you didn't do as good. This like, I had multiple people back there said I had a bad year last year. So so much fucking crying. Like I don't even know how we define failure anymore. People are defining failures on some shit 20 years ago we didn't even think about. Don't blame that shit on social media and the algorithm. What you saw somebody had a fancy car and a bunch of cash on a bed and that you up. That means you're fucked. That's you. That's not Instagram.
- [27:11]
Interviewer
So the game is the game is the game.
- [27:13]
Gary Vee
Yeah. This is fucking sports out here. This is y'. All. You signed up for business and life. This is grown shit. If you're not winning, let me tell you exactly what's happening. It's not your mommy and daddy's fault. It's your fault we lack accountability. We got so good at pointing fingers and throwing around judgment on everything. We're just a bunch of fucking 13 year old girls out here. And that's why, like, I should be starting to lose as an old lion, but I'm not scared because everyone's soft. I can kill every kid here.
- [27:59]
Audience Member
Is the gratitude aspect something you still have to provide maintenance on from time to time?
- [28:04]
Gary Vee
For me it's natural because, you know, it's like anything. Like, who here is actually, this is a funny one. Who here is really disciplined with health and wellness, eats right and really? In the gym, Just raise your hands, raise it high. That should be proud. You know, for the ones. Actually, I'll ask you, does it come natural?
- [28:21]
Audience Member
It didn't at first.
- [28:22]
Gary Vee
And then it became, yeah, like this morning I worked out. My trainer had to fly from Minnesota, where he lives, to be at the hotel this morning. Cause he knew that if he wasn't there, I would have fucking skipped. That's how much I think about this. So for me, gratitude, being grateful for what I have, having no envy or jealousy of anyone else, that to me is like natural. But working out is hard. But it was natural because I thought about it every day as a kid because I got fucked up a little bit. Both my parents lost a parent super young. My mom's mom died when she was five and my dad's dad died when he was 15. And I was born in the Soviet Union, so we were immigrants and I was the oldest. So my mom, starting at like when I was seven, was on some. If anything happens to me and dad, you're in charge of your siblings. I'm like, oh fuck. You know, I have this big theory that right now we're in an era where adulting is happening too late. I had adulting happen too early. So I went into gratitude, you know, like, oh, thank God mom and dad didn't die. You know, like real talk. So by the time I was 18, I'm like, I won't. It all just became nothing. I was so grateful cause I was so scared. And now you have like there's like this group. I'd like to think this group is not being affected by this, but they definitely have friends. And maybe there's some people in here. Like this whole like you're 26 and mommy and daddy are still paying for shit is a problem. Like I don't know if any of you are still in this game, but you don't want your parents to have say, I've got the perfect antidote, stop taking their money. So we have adulting happening later. We have like 27 year old dudes being coddled by their mom, having their fucking location on their phone, sharing with their mom. They're 27 year old grown ass men getting texts from their mom at 11 o' clock at night, being like, where are you? Where am. I? You guys know this, this is real. This is what's going on out here. Shit's crazy.
- [30:37]
Audience Member
A lot of people in the room are probably doing that. Not with their kids, but with their people that they're training them and they're going too far in that direction. And somebody has this belief that, like, this generation, you can't push it.
- [30:49]
Gary Vee
I don't believe it. I don't think it's a generational thing. I really don't. I really don't. I know it's. No, I think it's a fucking, like. Like, for the. Okay, let's talk about them. There's a lot of young people in here. Like, sometimes it's funny. People think boomers shit on Gen Z. I watch Gen Z shit on Gen Z more than anything. I have so many Gen Z winners shit on. They're like, bro, I'm like, you, Gary, Vee. My friends, they suck, you know? And I'm like. And a lot of times it's their employees, right? Like, that's on you. And again, I went to that on the speech. I think they're recruiting the wrong person because of what they're putting out. And then they're wondering why they're babysitting. Because. Because your fucking video that got him into your fucking feed into your funnel was some bullshit. Change the shit that's coming out of your mouth. You won't have to babysit as much. All right, staying on the young, right? So all these guys and girls are here. The young, competitive, addicted to progress. What do you think the hardest mind shift for a great salesperson? Making a way becoming a business owner. And how do you make it faster? I think the biggest adjustment is you expect everyone to work as hard as you, but you're making more money. So you're holding them to the same standard as you, but you're a hypocrite. How the fuck can you ask someone to work as hard as you if they're making less? It's called selfish. So the selfish switch is a big one. I think the other thing is being good leader. Like a lot of people that are good salespeople make terrible bosses and leaders. Right? Because you need such soft skills to be a great leader. But you can't create over coddling either. So you have to have compassion and empathy and all these incredible human skills. But if you do too much, you become a babysitter. And finding that balance, what I call purple, I'm sure it's not lost on you. Shit got really red and blue in America, right? In business, shit has gotten really red and blue, too. The magic is purple. That transition to purple is very hard. Gary, you know that term serial entrepreneur gets, like, thrown around a lot. Yes.
- [33:08]
Interviewer
And like every other person, I want to be a student entrepreneur and all.
- [33:12]
Gary Vee
I want to be a rapper. This is how I feel about it. I want to be a. I literally want to be a rapper, but I have 0.0 musical ability in my fucking body. So yes, I'm aware that everybody now wants to be a serial entrepreneur.
- [33:28]
Interviewer
And you know, my advice usually is, okay, well, get successful at one thing. And I know you build a wine business before you did anything else.
- [33:38]
Gary Vee
Yes.
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Interviewer
Could you have done the opposite? Is there such thing as serial entrepreneur to start with?
- [33:42]
Gary Vee
Yeah. I mean, look, you can be a serial entrepreneur, but are you a successful serial entrepreneur? Is different. By the way, I. Most of my real, I'm talking billionaire wealthy friends yell at me for having too many businesses for the hardest core fans in here. They know I have like nine real businesses. But I keep telling them, a, shut your fucking mouth, it's none of your business, and B, I'm not out here trying to maximize money. Can you be a serial entrepreneur? A lot of you should do more things because that would actually make you happy. You might make less money, you might make more money. But I think that money being the KPI, the North Star, keeping people away from their destiny. My destiny is I'm creative and curious and I gotta do a lot of shit. I have a TV production company, I have a sports agency, I have a massive marketing firm. I'm building the next Marvel and Pokemon, right? Like, I'm doing a ton of shit. Do I think if I put all that energy into Vayner X that we would be a billion right now instead of 400 million? Maybe.
- [34:54]
Interviewer
And when you, when you say not to tell kids they can do whatever they want to do and be whoever they want to be. So what do you say instead?
- [35:01]
Gary Vee
That you should explore everything, but you should realize that talent and natural skills is important. And what's the most important is being self aware enough to not be delusional. Back to rappers and business people. All of you have had friends. There's a young crew in here, so you should remember this from 5 minutes ago in high school and college when everyone's like, I'm gonna be a fucking basketball player one day. But they're not practicing. And they're also five foot four. Like, I don't want to suppress dreams, but I think self awareness is important. And I think that a lot of people make a huge mistake of not figuring out who they are. Do you know what my number one job is for my 3,000 employees? To put them in a position to succeed. How many people here are very organized? Raise your hands. Raise it High. Own it. High. Higher. Stop. Very organized. Great. Put your hands down. Who here is really not organized? Raise your hands. People are fucking different. How the fuck can I tell all the people that just raised their hands? You make a great project manager. These are the people in the second group are the people we fire after six months in Vayner because they literally try to be a project manager when they can't organize their own fucking life. Self awareness matters, you understand? So you can't be. Everything is not suppressing dreams, it's being real. And you know this. A lot of kids in here don't believe their parents because they told them they could be anything. And they know that their parents are on some bullshit. And they're like, fuck that. You stop believing people that sell bullshit no matter who they are. Right? A lot of people figuring that out now. There's a lot of people that rose in the last 10 years publicly selling some bullshit. And now they're just trying to do all sorts of random shit to stay relevant. Because bullshit eventually doesn't sell and parents sell bullshit. Hey, little Ricky, you can be in the NBA. Little rookie's five foot fucking four. Mugsy bugs did it. That's right. People do that shit all the time. I'm like, yes, one person in 40 years of the NBA did it. No, like, so I think, yeah, exactly, that's very common. Can we shift to sales a little bit? Yeah. If you had to delete one metric that sales owners obsess over, what would it be and what should they track instead? Well, they should track conversion. I don't even know what else you guys measure. This is sports. Yeah. This is why I love sales. You know what's amazing about sales? As long as you're telling the truth, you can't lie. Meaning no one here could be like, you like that one? That's good, right? But here's where I'm going with that. How much money did. How much shit did you sell last year? Like, if you're. You can't be like, yo, I'm fucking unbelievable at sales. I'm like, oh shit. How. How much did you sell last year? $28. That's why I love sales. The only metric I pay attention to in sales is conversion. I'm aware that there's open and conversion. I understand all the other math people wanna fuck around with. I like sales because I don't wanna judge you of how you do it, as long as it's ethical. Show me the number. If you wanna go golfing every fucking day and eat Fucking caviar eat. And your T and E is through travel and expense and your. But like, it's just. It's sales that's the best part of it. It's like sports. Do you know why we love sports? The whole world is full of shit, but you can't fake sports. And even that is starting to get weird with betting. But you know what I'm saying? It's merit. It's why I love ufc. It's the ultimate mano a mano. Somebody want. You can't get your ass kicked and choke the fuck out and tap out and then end the post game interview. Be like, I won. But people put on fucking Instagram entrepreneur and they've made zero dollars and zero cents. So, you know, I don't know what metrics you are teaching or they are coming up with or whatever the fuck you're thinking about. To me, I don't care how you get there, as long as it's ethical. Show me the number. That's the year you want to sleep. Like, I'm not one of these people. Like, you better work a hundred. Like if I. My sales team, you can work one minute a day if you want. If you beat everyone else, you're better. You guys like that part of sales, right? I assume, right? It's just merit.
- [40:10]
Audience Member
Talk about authenticity a lot. And I think some people are. I think it's still trying to find their voice. You remember watching this video any better? Back in like the early grunge days, there's like a moment where you just like screamed like a crazy person.
- [40:21]
Gary Vee
Yeah, that was the moment. Yeah.
- [40:25]
Audience Member
I think a lot of people here imitate what they saw before. And it's very much that type of business. Right. We're like the new person on the first day. They're learning what the person learned three weeks ago. The person, one year, teaching the person. And to some degree we want that because that's what. That's what builds systems and scalability. What advice would you give for people that feel like I have all this passion inside, I just don't know how to fucking express it. I'm not getting people, they're not getting. I'm not listening to feeling that when Gary says it or Raph says it.
- [40:50]
Gary Vee
It's a great question. When I hear that question, y', all, the biggest thing I think about is regret. I'm scared of shit about regret. Like, I'm not scared of much. Literally the only things I'm scared of in life are the health of my family. As you heard earlier. And regret. I think the thing I tell everybody to this question is, you'd rather die on your own sword than someone else's. You know what I mean? You don't want to be 64, 79, 86, 93, and be like, damn, I just. I imitated. Or I wasn't fully me. If only. You know, like, to me, the reason my whole thing worked was I literally was told everything I was doing when I came out the gate was wrong. I didn't wear a suit. I didn't have a watch. Cursing was super looked down on when I first hit the game. And I was like, I'd rather have nothing than do this bullshit. Do you know how many people are wearing a suit right now that don't want to? I don't want to live that life. And I also think the game's different. Like, I'm looking at everyone, and some people look nice, but I'm still like, you suck. But a lot of other people see it the reverse. They look at me and they think I suck. I'm not right. They're not right. You're not right. It's just life. But I have a funny feeling if some of the people in here who think it's right to wear a suit, but in their soul, they don't want to, ironically, would make more money if they wore their hoodie. And that shit interests the fuck out of me. I'm definitely not impressed with anybody's watches at this place. I don't even know what they are.
- [42:46]
Interviewer
Not that long ago, I saw an old video of yours on one of your feeds on the early YouTube days. They got a button up shirt.
- [42:55]
Gary Vee
Yeah. And the video.
- [43:00]
Interviewer
The point of the video is you had like 20 followers.
- [43:04]
Gary Vee
Yeah. And you're pouring your heart out.
- [43:09]
Interviewer
You're like giving a sermon about the wine, right?
- [43:12]
Gary Vee
Yeah.
- [43:12]
Interviewer
I started googling like you saw.
- [43:14]
Gary Vee
Yeah.
- [43:20]
Interviewer
When you're pouring your heart out to the mist, to no one, how do you keep going?
- [43:25]
Gary Vee
And did you know it was gonna hit? Like, I mean, you're doing it for.
- [43:28]
Interviewer
Years before it really popped off.
- [43:30]
Gary Vee
Who saw Rocky iv? The one in Russia? Raise your hands. Raise it. I just want to see it. All right, so Rocky iv, y'. All. This is the drago. You're like, if he dies, he dies. Like that one. I know a lot of you didn't see it. There's a scene in that movie that is never talked about. It's very subtle, which is wild. Cause that whole movie's broken down a million pieces, but it's subtle. I'VE Googled this and aied it a lot. It's rarely talked about. It's after Rocky wins in Russia and Drago takes the bike and goes, fuck. Because it was USSR versus usa. And. And Drago in Russian says, I was in the ring for me, not all of you. I was in here for me, not for you. That's the answer to your question, my brother. Why was I doing it? How did I. I didn't even think if it was gonna hit. I made that video for me. Meaning I wanted to make that video because I wanted people to start liking wine. Cause everybody before me that was talking about wine was a straight dick face, you guys. Who here has friends that are into, like, really into wine? Raise your hand. Anyone you know when they talk about that shit, you're like, shut the fuck up. So I was a street kid, but I knew all this shit about wine. And I was like. And none of my friends. This is before LeBron and D. Wade and all the fucking rappers gave a fuck. Nobody. I was 25, 29. I was so about wine. Nobody thought wine was cool. And I was like, no one thinks wine's cool because everyone that knows wine's a fucking jerk. You know, they're like, oh, that's a bad year. Everyone's all. Everyone here is, like, scared to order wine because you're gonna order the wrong one. It was so intimidating. I was like, fuck this shit. This new platform came out. It was a couple weeks old. I was like, this YouTube thing might be big. And I just sat down and I went to work. But I was doing it for me, but not for me, for my paper, for my heart. The reason I can beat everyone here, and I don't know if I can beat you or not, but the reason I believe I can beat most people is most people, especially in this fucking business, in sales, are doing it for this, and I'm doing it for this. And most people are trying to use this. And I use this intuition over everything, heart over everything. And so I didn't give a fuck if any of you watched, but I knew why I wanted to do it. Because I love wine. I loved wine collecting. I loved my dad. I wanted to build something, and I knew why I was doing it. The end.
- [46:16]
Audience Member
And that's your purpose?
- [46:17]
Gary Vee
That's. And that's my purpose. My purpose is to scratch my curiosity. My purpose is to be 99, laying there and being like, yo, I fucking did it. But did it for me is not. I made money and got famous. Did it for me was I was a good dude. I did right by my family, and I played every fucking game I wanted to play. And where do you think that come. Where does that come from? This is why humiliate for me. It comes from the fact that my mom is the greatest fucking mother of all time, period. It comes from the fact. It comes from the fact that I was born in the Soviet Union, and we came to America and we moved to Queens, and I lived in a studio apartment in Queens with seven family members, and we had nothing. It came from the fact that we had nothing. And on top of that, my mom was frugal as shit. So by the time I was 9 years old, if I wanted shit, I had to go shovel snow, sell lemonade, fucking get my own shit. I don't know what it's like to be like, I want this without knowing I have to get this. Do you know how hard it is to be hungry when you've been fed your whole life? How did this happen? I grew up in Jersey in. And went to Martin Luther King elementary School. I got to fights all the time. My four best friends made fun of me on politically incorrect shit 24 hours a day. We were street kids. Now kids are tough on Twitter because no one's getting punched in the face anymore. On some real shit. Like, I don't. You know, this is very Politically Incorrect. I believe this to my death. I don't believe you're even a man until you get punched in the mouth. So I got very, very lucky, which is why I sit up here, and I don't think I'm cool. I think what happened to me was cool. All flowers to Mommy and Daddy. All flowers. Flowers to usa all flowers to Jersey. All flowers to MLK Elementary. I'm just a byproduct. I'm just a byproduct. I have no ego. No, I don't need. I don't think I mean shit. What do you think about that? I sit here and I know if I die tomorrow, I'll have a nice 24 hours on social and you'll all share my favorite. Your favorite quote, maybe a clip. Be like, damn. I just. I saw him yesterday in Texas. This is crazy. But then it's going to be next Monday, and you're going to live your life. My friends, you want to really be happy in life? Get humble. Everyone out here trying to prove they're someone to everybody but themselves. Ooh, that was a good one. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. If I had. If I had musical ability My bars are fucking proper, but I just don't have any. That's why AI music I like. My rapper friends are about to be real mad at me. I really think I'm gonna have the number one album in the game in five years. Because I'm just gonna put in all my bars and be like, now make this some shit. Like, Metro boomin met baby. Like, boom. And I'm gonna be fucking. I'm gonna be touring and shit. Yeah. So that's it. Y'. All. Like, honestly, and you're young in the game and, you know, I wish you guys really knew me. Like, my people know me. I'm not saying this cause I made it. I made it because this was my whole life. I know a lot of you are like, yeah, easy for him now. I'm trying to get my first bag. This is exactly who I was when I had no bags. I made it because this was my mindset. And I'm trying to give you a little something because everybody else is selling you other shit. I'm literally starting a fashion brand. It's called Nice Guys Finish First. Because people have it mixed up. People think you have to be a dick. Sharp elbows. Right. Nobody here is competing with anybody else. The world is abundant. Nobody is taking your paper. You're taking your paper by worrying about everybody. House.
- [50:41]
Interviewer
I was going to say give up.
- [50:42]
Gary Vee
For G. We got a few more minutes. Like, what else? Yeah.
- [50:50]
Audience Member
A lot of these guys post zero content about their business. They're like an occasional Instagram story.
- [50:55]
Gary Vee
All the.
- [50:55]
Audience Member
All the adverts are through, you know, like, indeed or whatever. So people are going to take a message and they're going to go from zero to a thousand on Monday.
- [51:03]
Gary Vee
Yep.
- [51:04]
Audience Member
What's some advice for someone who's never tried to put out their stories?
- [51:07]
Gary Vee
LinkedIn's crazy. All I know, Instagram and TikTok. LinkedIn is crazy. I cannot push you harder to do good. Listen to my talk today. Put out the good stuff on LinkedIn and watch it flourish. But it's gonna take time. Like, I just don't understand why people give up on social media posting after month. Nothing good is easy. Nothing good is easy. So, you know, my advice is consistency. You know, we talked about it in the back room. I talked about it here. You guys know this. I believe this whole industry, from y', all, from you top dogs down. I think we need to be a little smarter. What comes out of our mouth to recruit, you know, it will change the calculus, you know, so that's what I would wish they would do as they're building out their team. You know, tools, recruitment tools, Anything, anything different, anything new, anything you see coming through. Let me tell you about information versus strategy and mindset tools. Give me one second, sir. Here we go. Little chatgpt. Yo chatty. I call chatgpt Chatty. Yo chatty. So I'm at this, like, ISO fucking summit right now with the dudes, and they're asking me what tools I should use to recruit a sales team or things of that nature. Can you give me, like, the five best tools if I'm trying to build a sales team right now in 2026 to be an independent sales operator? Thank you, bro. Everything changed. Got it? Information is worthless. Do you know how nuts that is? Tools, Apollo IO, HubSpot, Hyperbound, Calendly Zapper, AI agents, like. And I can keep going and refine it. Whether you thought that, if you all thought that was good or bad results, you know this. It's garbage out. Garbage in. Good prompts. You guys know your business better than I do. If you ask that question better with some nuances, I'm using X. What's better than Y? You understand? Like, information is fucking useless, bro. This is why school's fucking stupid.
- [53:42]
Interviewer
Seriously, though, it's that and stopping people on the street and talking to the wave and crossing a little bar than anyone who's got game.
- [53:49]
Gary Vee
Yes. But you know this. Like, it takes time to get good at that. And this is why I'm so tired of everyone saying anyone can do it. There's people out there that are scared to fucking ask a girl out. They're not selling shit. Facts. Like, you know, so, you know, I think it's about being smart, about who you want to come into your world. Right? And it's about more effort. It's lazy to be like, you can make 300k apply now. Okay? You understand? Go deep, and then when they come in, go deep. And when they join the team, go deeper. Like, build real shit. Because I promise you, you think you're impressing people, but you're impressing people below. You got it? I'm really glad that you're impressive to your fucking seven bozo friends. You understand? This is mindset. Who are you? Where are you going? Where do you really want to go? How long would you like it to last? How do you want to be remembered by yourself about you? You know, this is real shit to me. That's why I come to this, because I'm hoping to get one or two kids out of the fucking matrix of bullshit. And get them into this, because it will work. It always works. You know why this works, what I'm talking about? Even if you don't make as much money, you beat everybody else who made more money. You know this. We're getting older, right? Definitely. Yeah. You look fucking. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. You know what I mean, though, right? Think about, like, we're no longer nine. We're not 19, right? We're not 19, right? We're not getting carded anymore. Like, as. As you. As you get older, shit gets very clear. Why not tell them the truth now? And by the way, I'm all these things, and I make more money than everyone here, so, you know, nice guys finish first. And the whole world's got you. Believe in the reverse.
- [56:10]
Interviewer
We were honored to have you today.
- [56:12]
Gary Vee
Thank you. 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.