- [Kris] The CEO of Vayner Media.
He's got a YouTube show,
written five best sellers,
Fortune Magazine 40 under 40.
He is amazing.
He's in studio.
His name is Gary Vee.
- Yo.
(cheering)
Love it.
- [Kris] Welcome to Virgin Radio.
Welcome to the Kris Fade Show. - Thank you.
- [Kris] What did you put your money into back in the day
that people were like what are you doing and now...
- So back in 2007, I put almost all my money
into Facebook and Twitter and my financial advisors
and all the old liquor store guys I knew,
people were just ridiculing me.
- [Kris] Why?
- Well they thought everything was a fad.
My whole career, everything I've done
people have been telling me is a fad.
When I launched an ecommerce wine site in 1996,
the internet was a fad.
When I started running Google ads instead of newspaper
and direct mail, Google was a fad.
When I started my YouTube show, YouTube was a fad.
When I invested in Facebook and Twitter, that was a fad.
Everything that I do tends to be a fad
or isn't gonna happen.
Usually when most conservative or people above
or older or successful than me say something
I'm doing is a fad,
I've come to learn that's when I need to triple down.
(laughing)
- [Kris] Okay I get that.
It makes sense.
There's a couple things I wanna play for you right now.
Number one, were you aware that there is a Filipino star
called Gary V?
- Very much.
(laughing)
- [Kris] Kyle, can you come up?
Kyle, you're Filipino, Kyle.
Kyle, because...
- He's huge.
- [Kris] I said in studio the other day, I said,
"Oh my gosh, we've got Gary V coming in."
One of our presenters, Jay Scar, who's Filipino says,
"Oh my gosh! Gary Valenciano is coming in?"
- [Woman] She was so excited.
- [Kris] And I went, "Who?"
He's a huge Filipino pop star.
He's this guy...
- He's very big.
Even when I showed my friend who's Gary V is,
I said Google him.
So Gary Valenciano comes up on Google.
- I know, I saw his face.
When I first started having internet kind of notoriety,
a lot of people...
I mean, he would always show up.
It would always be brought up.
I think I've done a good job in the last five years.
I've closed the gap.
I have a lot of respect for him.
I've listened to too much of his songs.
- [Kris] We've got him on the phone right now, no we don't.
(laughing)
- I was hoping.
- [Kris] There's something else that I wanted to...
We're talking about our kids.
You're a family man as well. - Yes.
- [Kris] Just real quickly again, I want that advice.
Juggling the family and the business and the life.
How hard is that?
How do you make it easier?
Is there a way?
- I think it's actually stunningly easy
as long as you don't succumb
to other people's opinions on how you should parent
your children or the current state
of what's politically correct.
It gets very easy.
Parenting comes very easy to me.
I have great intent but for example,
there's a big Thanksgiving kind of recital
in the morning for my kids this week.
I'm gonna miss it 'cause I'm here.
I'm not happy about it but I'm not crushed.
I'm not gonna judge myself like I'm the worst dad
of all time.
Showing your kids how to live happy
is the number one thing you can do for your children.
- [Interviewer] 'Cause your mother
was very influential in that factor when you were younger.
- Huge.
But my dad worked every minute 'cause we were immigrants.
He never came to anything I did
and very honestly my mom didn't go to school stuff either.
She was kind of like an immigrant lady.
She was to herself.
Basically for me it's very binary.
Do your parents love you and put you in a position
to be happy?
Everything else is checking the box for everybody else.
- [Kris] Talking about my kids.
This is what I've got right now for you.
I've got my girls, Noushie and Kikki
doing some of your...
Have a listen to this.
(laughing)
Have a listen to this.
Here we go.
Gary V read by Noushie and Kikki, my daughters.
- [Daughter] Let me tell you...
(laughing)
I believe one of the most fascinating excuses in life is
I'm so good at so many things
that I don't know which one to pick.
- She's right.
- [Daughter] I think it's an excuse
and I think it's ego.
I think it's a vulnerability.
(laughing)
I don't wanna waste my time
'cause I'm so good at many things.
- So good.
- It's an excuse to not do. - Truth.
- [Daughter] And it's the worst one
'cause you're trying to act cool
while not doing anything.
Pick something and (censored) do it.
(laughing)
- [Kris] These are your words.
- It's amazing.
- [Kris] And that's a big one,
worrying about other people's opinions.
- It's huge.
- [Kris] You always hit that one
and that's a big thing, right?
- After doing this for about seven or eight years
where you're getting 1,000 comments back
in email, DM, whatever it may be
it took me a long time but I'm like, oh my god,
it's judgment, it's other people's opinions.
It was so foreign to me 'cause I was in such a cocoon.
I never listened...
So many things that kept me away from bad things
as a teenager was I was in my own head.
Nobody else's opinion penetrated me
which didn't lead me to those actions.
So it was foreign to me to realize
oh my god, the rest of the world lives a different way.
And that is why I'm trying to suffocate that
because the more I can get people into a place
of feeling confident about themselves for themselves,
it's unbelievable what happens when you can actually
cut out the noise of judgment of others.
It's a big deal.
And honestly, and it's fun to be in this region
because it's a phenomenon outside the US,
even though it's big in the US.
It's parents.
The amount of people right now who are listening
who are living their lives 100%
based on their parents' opinions is staggering.
Now, let me create some clarity.
If you want your parents to pay for your lifestyle,
well guess what?
Then they own you.
But if you don't and you wanna be happy
and you don't wanna be an engineer
or a doctor or an entrepreneur or whatever it may be,
you first have to get off the payroll,
be a big boy and girl and then you have to do.
You may have some short term pain
where your parents are disappointed
but long term you'll have a far healthier relationship
because the only thing your parents usually
are worried about unfortunately is the judgment of others.
- [Woman] What are they gonna think?
- It's your aunt that is the hidden issue.
'Cause your mom's trying to make you a lawyer
because she wants her sister to think you're successful.
It's a very complicated mindset but it's the truth.
- [Kris] Talking to you when the mics are off
is even more interesting.
(laughing)
He doesn't stop.
- [Woman] No.
- [Kris] You get people coming in.
You get artists and superstars and all to come in
and they turn it on when the mic's on.
- Interesting.
- [Kris] And when the mic's off, they're off.
- Interesting.
- [Kris] They just sit there and you're on
and you're just, I love that.
- And honestly I have empathy for people
that need to shut it off.
For me, this is like the most fun.
Social media, the timing of my life is laughable to me.
To me I love people so much,
interacting with people is my oxygen.
- Yeah, but you were asking about us as people.
You were asking about how we started.
Not many people do that when they come into the studio.
- [Woman] It's a human connection.
- It's a human connection.
- Well it's funny.
Social media is so powerful which you're on
and this is what for us as radio presenters,
it's the first time in our careers
that we can interact one on one
with people that listen to the show.
So after the show, I will get on to Instagram
and reply to nearly every single Instagram message
that I get.
We couldn't do that 10 years ago.
This is a new...
Even the radio is an old school platform.
It's now new school for us.
- 100% and it's really the origin of my career.
When I was doing the wine show on YouTube
there wasn't that many people watching
but every single person that mentioned me or wine even
on Twitter I engaged with and I used to do it
for nine, 10 hours a day and it's really
how I built myself up.
For everybody who's listening
who's trying to become an influencer--
- [Woman] I was just gonna ask, yeah.
- It's not just taking a nice picture from the frame.
It's also engaging with the three people that say that's...
The audacity of somebody who wants to become famous
and they get five comments and they don't have time
to say thank you?
I'm like, you're not going anywhere.
- [Kris] I love that reply to the comments.
In studio too, three people listeners of this show.
We put it out last week to ask Gary a question.
- I love this.
- [Kris] We got over 1,000 entries
and I'm gonna bring in Jeremy, Kyle, and Emma.
Please welcome to the studio.
(cheering)
There's Gary V guys.
- Hi, so nice to meet you. How are you?
- How's it going? - Hey brother, how are you?
I met this guy outside.
He had Krispy Kreme and everything.
(laughing)
Good to see you.
How are you?
- [Kris] Good on you guys.
Congratulations on being here.
I'm so glad that A, you listen to the show.
Thank you so much.
I'm gonna bring Jeremy up first.
Jeremy if you can come up to the microphone over here.
This is what a lot of people want.
This one on one time with Gary V.
This is a moment for you, right?
- So yesterday I was listening to his podcast in the car
thinking I wonder if I met him, what would I ask him?
And now, 24 hours later I'm sat in front of him
or stood in front of him.
So quick question.
We are actually launching an online travel agency today.
- Wow.
- After a year and a half of work, we're launching today.
So the timing is unbelievable.
- Karma.
- [Kris] What's the name of it?
- It's Kulu Tamam which means everything's cool in Arabic.
- [Kris] Could you spell it for me?
- K-U-L-U.
- [Kris] K-U-L-U, yep.
- T-A-M-A-M.com.
- [Kris] Okay, cool.
- That's a good start to the company.
- So, as part of the launch we're trying to build the brand
around an event and we've signed with Emirates Holidays
to be a official travel agent for
the Asian Football Cup in January.
- Amazing.
- We're gonna run a competition to win trips to the event.
How do we boost that engagement with the contests
with a very, very small budget?
- To me it's all about Instagram DM.
It's about DMing people on Instagram, letting...
Now, not just trying to get them to build awareness for you.
Asking them, hey, this is what we're doing.
What can I do for you?
This is what's important to me
and just literally day by day,
we were just talking about it.
Day by day, in the trenches, 100, 1,000 people a day.
I mean, in the beginning when you're hungry
to launch something it should be
hand to hand combat but I think influencers
are absolutely the underpriced media of today's world
and especially in this market when I look at it
and so just DMing 5,000 and I know that sounds daunting
but it's just what you have to do in the beginning.
5,000 different people saying we need awareness for this.
What do you need?
And then bartering.
- [Kris] Love that advice.
- Period.
Good luck my friend.
- [Kris] It's Kulu Tamam.
Is it live now if I go to it?
- It is live.
- [Kris] K-U-L-U T-A-M-A-M.com.
- Correct.
- [Kris] Congratulations Jeremy.
I'm glad that you're...
Get you a photo with Gary shortly, my man.
- Thank you so much.
- [Kris] I'm gonna bring Kyle up next.
Kyle.
Good morning.
Here you are with Gary.
Where are you from Kyle?
- I'm from the Philippines.
- [Kris] Nice.
- Very nice.
- [Kris] What do you wanna say?
- Gary, I've been watching all your videos,
even before Instagram. - Thank you.
- So I know you lay out all the recipes of success.
It's about grind, it's about hustle, or everything.
But my question is it's about the mindset
but the question may sound so cliche but
how do you get motivated despite all the factors
that comes into your life?
- For me it's about doing what you like.
I really believe in that.
It's funny, I get asked about that question,
how do you get motivated and for me it's very simple.
It's what I like to do.
I don't even feel like it's a thing of motivation.
It's what I would do if I was getting paid nothing.
For me, if you love your process, then you win.
It's kinda like going to the gym.
It doesn't come natural to me.
For other people, it does.
And they love going to the gym
and so they don't think it's hard and I think it's hard.
I had to hire somebody to travel with me
to get me into the gym.
So for me, can you put yourself in a position
to do something that you like.
Then you'll be motivated.
Most people are chasing something
they think has money in it.
Cryptocurrency, influencer, startups, entrepreneurship,
banking back in the day, whatever it might be.
They chase the money and then thus
it's hard to get motivated
because all they care about is the money or the success,
not the nine to nine, seven to seven,
nine to five of everyday.
So for me, interacting with people,
talking about business, running a business
is what I love to do.
It's why I got D's and F's as a child in school
'cause all I wanted to do was sell stuff
and be a businessman.
So now I just do that.
Too many people think the thing they love the most,
music, art, cooking, doesn't have any money in it
'cause they don't understand how the world actually works.
Playing video games used to not have money in it.
Now it has a tremendous amount of money in it.
So I would tell you to try to put yourself in a position
to like what you're doing.
Then you won't even think about motivation.
- [Kris] Nice. Love it. Well done.
Emma.
Please welcome to the microphone with Gary V.
- Hi, Emma.
- [Kris] Take a go. Go ahead.
- So I've just completely forgot...
(laughing)
- No worries.
No worries. We're here.
- [Kris] That's all right. Do you need a bit of time?
- We're here. We're here. We're here.
- No, no, no. That's fine. That's fine.
So I've been running a business
in Dubai for six years.
It started up just something small
to work around the kids
and I see the potential in it.
It's got potential but the social market change
is so much.
Everything's changing fast
and it's hard to keep up with it.
So I guess my question was...
- What was working for you when you say the social...
- [Emma] Facebook.
- Okay and now?
- [Emma] No.
- Why?
Organic or ads?
- The ads. I don't understand them.
It changes how it reaches...
- When you run ads, it's about not only who you're targeting
but the biggest issue right now
is people aren't making enough content.
So you had an ad working that's not working?
You need to make new ads, lots of new ads.
50 videos, 50 pictures, you see where I'm going.
Facebook works better than ever.
Instagram ads work better than ever.
The problem is most people have one picture or one ad
or two that work.
Then they keep running it, it stops working,
and they think Facebook doesn't work anymore
without realizing it's the ad that's not working anymore.
Do you understand?
It's as simple as that.
- [Kris] You can have some more Gary.
- And Instagram influencers.
Like the first answer.
- [Emma] I started that, yes.
- Especially in this market.
- Gary V, you spent nearly an hour with us.
Really appreciate your time.
Thank you so much for joining us in studio this morning.
Ladies and gentleman, he's gonna be at
Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival
(clapping)
Gary V, one last...