- On this episode we talk about impatient clients,
root beer, and what I would do if I was running
for President of the United States of America.
(rap music)
You ask questions, and I answer them.
This is The #AskGaryVee Show.
(rap music)
Hey everybody, this is Gary Vay-ner-chuk
and this is episode 94 of The #AskGaryVee show.
It's Lizzie's birthday.
It's my wife's birthday.
Happy birthday darling, I love you.
I'll be leaving here shortly and coming to hang.
Yeah, really excited.
Super pumped for episode 100 on May 18th
in New York City at 4:30 pm.
RSVP up.
Actually, question of the day.
Are you coming, and if not, why?
India let's get into...
show India,
the show.
- [India] We have 590 saying yes on Facebook.
- Yeah but the 590 yes, India,
is like if you read the comments,
there's like 400 saying yes, I just said yes
to like follow along, so I really need to get a count,
VaynerNation.
- [India] A lot a Vayner employees.
- Is that what it is?
We have 500 just from that.
- [Voiceover] Thomas asks, "What do you think
is more important in business?
IQ or EQ?"
Oh geez, I'm showing some real Tom Selleck stuff here.
You could have warned me.
Did you see two episodes ago?
It was like, seriously weird.
Who asked that?
- [India] Thomas.
- Thomas, I- (static)
I'm making scratchies?
Am I making scratchies?
You know you don't get to edit this either.
Making scratchies for you.
Alright, who?
- [India] Thomas.
- Thomas.
By the way, the black and white version of this show
is way better than the stuff that goes on color.
Thomas.
I think it's massively important for the entrepreneur
or CEO or leader to be self aware.
The answer to your question is both.
It's about doubling down on your strengths.
For me, EQ.
I actually think I'm an IQ below average,
and I think that I'm an EQ all time great.
And thus I go all in on EQ,
and that is building the foundation of my success.
It allows me to give back to my community
in a way that I think most people
in my position today don't,
which I think builds me leverage.
It allows me to build a culture here,
and just a lot of different variables, and so I bet on that.
it allows me to have instantaneous relationships,
and so I tripled down and put myself in a position
to be EQ, but there's plenty
of people who win on just quantive data.
There's a lot of people
who are watching this show right now that are just
sitting in their room by themselves
running math, and data, and building tech,
and that's what they like.
They don't want to jam with anybody else.
They don't want to be bothered by anybody else,
and they'll make millions and billions
and hundreds of millions or tens of thousands, but be happy.
And so, I think the key is self-awareness.
The answer is both.
The real answer is to figure out
which one are you, and by the way,
most people aren't 90-10 or 80-20 like I probably am.
Most people fall onto 55-45, 60-40, 70-30,
but plenty of people fall in the other categories.
Try to get to a place where you understand yourself,
and understand what your strengths are.
Too many people try to be like me,
because it's sizzly, and it's sexy, and people want
to be charismatic and on stage,
and then there's plenty of people like me
that wishes- I mean I wish my math skills
were as strong as AJ on the spot,
where I could make some other business decisions,
where I don't have to hedge, so we've all got something,
and you just need to accept what's yours,
and go in on that.
So the answer to your question is both.
It's just individually different depending on the person.
(laughs)
Yeah?
(background chatter)
Nice, yes it is, you're right.
Make a note, Staphon, don't forget for your mental.
Oh, I almost had a disaster.
By the way, there's fear.
I think there was fear on that video.
You know, replay that DRock.
Slow down the fear, the fear part.
There was fear, I know.
I know they saw it.
- [Voiceover] Chef Lizette asks "What's the biggest mistake
"you see people making in social media?
"Is there something you've seen that impresses you?"
- Chef, it's great to have you back on the show.
I like how you're leading the question.
I know you me to say something about the VaynerNation
on Meerkat, but I won't do that for you.
So I haven't seen anything that's impressed me,
because I'm not paying attention to anybody,
so I have no idea.
As far as what are people doing wrong,
equally, I've been so head down over the last four
to five months, I've not been paying close attention.
My intuition is that people are still doing a very bad job.
On Twitter, I see nothing but right hooks.
On Facebook, I see very bland,
non-contextual, non-targeted content.
I think people are...
I think Instagram is probably been the place
where there's been the most innovation.
People are trying a lot of different things cause of scale.
I think Snapchat, there's some people putting together
some great stories, so I think the cool stuff's happening
on Instagram and Snapchat, which is too bad,
because Facebook is still the juggernaut.
I think Pinterest, Promoted Pins, I've been seeing
some really interesting stuff.
Faithbox, an incubated company here,
Willie's been hitting some pay dirt there.
I'm really impressed with him.
It's a little humble brag of our own thing,
but I apologize.
It's the only things I'm paying attention to.
Truth is, I'm just not paying attention enough,
because I don't need to because I know exactly what to do,
and that's what I'm focusing on, and that's that.
(laughs) Take that.
- [Voiceover] Luke asks,
"You've repeatedly mentioned your love
of root beer over the years, why root beer specifically?
Any we should give a whirl?"
- You know I grew up a huge root beer fan.
The flavor just hit me right.
I grew up drinking coke and root beer heavily,
really grew up on soda, which is why it was so hard
to siphon off of it.
It's crazy, I'm about to hit a one year mark
of not drinking any soda, which is insane to me.
Yeah, I actually pulled up a list,
because I wasn't recalling what I love.
But here's some of the ones I've-
I mean, Henry Weinhard's is incredible,
like just incredible root beer.
I'm also a very, very, very big fan-
where is it here, I've already forgot, of Hosmer Mountain.
Big fan of that, it's in Connecticut.
You were shaking your head, you know that?
- [India] No I've just heard of it.
- Got it, cool.
Pirate's Keg root beer, which is in Rochester.
Love that, huge fan.
Thomas Kemper, I've drank a lot of that root beer.
Huge, huge, huge fan of that.
Virgil's is a good one that I think a lot
of people can find, but more like an entry-level
out of that group.
And, that's it.
So there's a couple of root beers for you guys to try.
As a matter of fact, side question,
we'll have several this episode in Facebook and Youtube.
What is your favorite root beer, if you love root beer?
- [India] Is it like wine?
- Yeah, I think about root beer
the way I think about wine, actually.
- [Voiceover] Chetan asks, "What's the best way
to deal with impatient clients?"
Chetan, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, Chetan.
You know, I'm gonna say something pretty interesting.
I have pretty extreme views on this question.
Meaning, I think the answer to the question is brute force.
I never waver, ever, ever.
When a client's pushing back, and they're like
well this isn't going to work, I push back equally
with 10% more gusto in the other direction,
which is, it works, I see it work all the time.
I see it work for myself, I see it work for my clients.
I see it work for other people,
and you're just not doing it right,
we haven't had enough time to pull it off yet,
blah blah blah blah blah.
So unwavering, and then number two,
equal with my unwavering, I just don't give a crap
if they fire us or give up.
I just don't.
I know how this is gonna play out.
I love being on the right side of history,
and I'm willing to give up my short-term money
for the long-term, I-told-you-so sucker.
Let me just say that again.
This is what makes me happy person with clients.
This is why I can do client services.
I am willing to give up my short-term money
for my long-term I-told-you-so sucker.
And that's it.
So I win either way.
I win if I'm able to forcefully convince them
to stay the course.
I keep my monies.
I win if they say get out of here, you're fired,
because I'm going to see them on the street
in three years and be like, now what punk?
And I love that feeling.
I like that more than the money, actually.
Thus, it's all good for me.
- [India] So now what punk?
- [Voiceover] Shaybod asks, "What advice would you give
for candidates running for president
on how to utilize social media for their campaign?"
- Shaybod, I think most intriguing thing to me,
and I don't know if it will ever happen,
but I think when it happens I'll be like,
damn, if I was born in America that would have been me,
because truth is if I was born in America,
I would 100% be a politician and try to become
the President of the United States.
But because I wasn't, and I can't be president,
I'm selfish in the fact that I can't be the top dog.
Makes the game completely not interesting.
Fuck being a governor.
And so anyway,
what I would do is go rogue as rogue.
I would come out the gate, throw every skeleton I've got
out there, all of them.
I mean I don't care what the person does.
If that person did drugs, cheated on their wife or husband,
stole money, punched someone, stabbed someone,
like all of it, all of it, all of it from the gate.
Get it out of the way, because it's ammo
against the thing I want that person to do,
which is then go transparent as hell.
Right, like throw it all out there,
leave nothing for your competitor to dig up on you,
because you've now taken control of it
by throwing it out there.
You may dip, people may not want to vote for you,
but then you start building momentum from that bottom spot,
and you start going in the direction of pure Meerkat,
Periscope, pure content at scale,
pure Q and A sessons, all day, every day.
Pure and utter transparency in a world
where you've created the leverage
by throwing every skeleton, I mean all of them.
I don't mean the ones you're okay with.
You're okay maybe saying you cheated on your spouse,
or you did drugs, or you stole cash,
but you feel bad that you punched your mom,
but that's then that's ammo.
You've gotta let it all out, all of it, all of it.
Is the punch to mom funny to you?
- Yeah, a little bit.
- Okay, cool.
You gotta go all out, and then what you've done
by doing that is you've created leverage on the other side
for you to be able to be as transparent,
and then what happens is really interesting.
Then what you have is momentum in the other direction,
because you've been transparent with America,
but your competition and competitor haven't.
Now you're at the debate, and saying
what about you Staphon?
You know it's kind of, you know what it is?
Oh my god you know what it is?
It's literally Eminem's last battle in 8 Mile.
That's exactly (laughs) that's literal.
It just hit me looking at you, cause we talk about hip hop.
Like I was, it's literally, I was about to say,
but I know something about you.
That's really what it is.
I actually think,
so my advice is the way Eminem won the last battle
in 8 Mile, the movie, is the way I think a politician
can revolutionize politics in America.
As a matter of fact, before I die I think that will happen.
Because I think technology will push us into a corner
of not allowing the shadows of society to exist.
It's crazy the way I live my life now.
I would be a totally different person
if I wasn't so self aware of what's
going on with technology.
I would be a worse moral person, I just would,
and nobody's perfect, but it's crazy to me
that I'm a better man, because I'm scared that somebody's
gonna meerkat it, tweet it, instagram it, see me out
doing this, that, the other thing, it's just the way it is.
And so, that was funny, pretty cool.
That's what I would do.
That's it?
I thought this was a great show.
I feel that this is a great, great show.
I'm gonna give Lizzie and her birthday all the credit.
Questions of the day, we talked about.
Coming? If not, why?
Rootbeer, list them.
Momentum is in the air VaynerNation.
I'm around in New York quite a bit in the month of May.
We've banged out three shows this week.
We're banging out the rest of the shows this week,
and next week, and a lot of the following,
and the following.
I mean, we're here, get ready for this momentum.
Are you ready for the Vayner tide?
You keep asking questions, I'll keep answering them.