- You should do this. - Okay, why do you think that?
- Because the products are not the variable of success.
The knowledge of understanding how to communicate to--
Yeah!
You got your perspective.
(crowd cheers)
I just wanna be happy, don't you wanna be happy?
(upbeat music)
Somebody was cryin' this morning, I was on Twitter,
they're like, fuckin' Instagram,
not getting the reach anymore.
us artists are gettin' fucked,
can't get as many people seein' it.
Now they want us to pay, mother fucker,
fuck Facebook and Instagram.
I replied to 'em like, shit's free.
(laughs)
I'm like, what do you mean they're taking away your shit?
It was, it's free.
(laughs)
They're like, oh, I didn't think about it that way.
(laughs)
Here's the biggest thing about that,
the only that are listening to you are other losing players.
The only other people that are cosigning your excuses
are other losers.
- I always have, state of my mind, future every day.
Like I know a lot of people say,
oh don't think so far into the future,
but I feel like I have to because I wanna see
what my self is like five to 10 years from now.
Like my biggest problem--
- Real quick, being thoughtful about the future's amazing,
but not letting it cripple you is the key.
- Yeah, 'cause my problem be
I would think so far into the future
I would start worrying about stuff,
and stuff that I wouldn't accomplish
before I leave this earth years from now that I want to do.
- It's great to have ambition.
But if you cast too much judgment on yourself
on a day to day on how you're reaching that ambition
you're gonna cripple yourself.
The fact that you understand that that is your perspective
means you're on the cusp of fixing it.
Only thing that I've ever seen really work in this scenario
where your DNA and your experiences
has made you look half glass full,
pessimistic versus optimistically blind,
is to fundamentally surround yourself
with optimistic people.
You gotta cut out pessimistic and negativity
and you gotta add on optimism and positivity.
It's as simple as that.
You guys should be lookin' around at each other
and whoever else isn't here and like in order,
who's the most optimistic, and not, don't,
there's a real fine line between delusion and optimism.
I'm gonna be in the league, but they're not even practicing?
(laughs)
- Story of my life, man.
- So, that's delusion.
I'm gonna be in the league and maybe you don't see it
but you see them at least doing free throws
five a.m. to six a.m. every morning
before they go on the bus.
Yo, at least he's trying.
And the more difficult your circumstances are
the more likely you're around pessimism.
My number one piece of advice of leaving here is
whoever the most the most optimistic person is here
become more friendly with them, straight up.
- You taught me about patience and I know
'cause it took a long time for you to get back to me
but I knew once you got back to me it was so like,
it was unbelievable, I was like,
this man finally got back to me.
(laughs)
This is unbelievable, but you just taught me like the game
and everything you said, I didn't understand it right away,
like I just needed some time to think it through
but once I watched more content,
once I understood I was like, yo, I got this,
and that's how we got back here today so I'm just grateful.
- I love you man, that's one of my favorite clips ever,
just like watching your eyes, we were right there,
just your eyes, it's the best man, it feels so good.
It's so real, like that advice I gave you is real.
My believe is that if you're a great drug dealer
you'd be a great business man.
I just believe that 'cause it's the same game.
There's a lot of drug dealers that suck at it.
(laughs)
Look at my man Moose.
He's breaking down these bags into nickels
because he's making more money that way,
and he's chincing, he's actually making three dollar bags
but he realizes that everybody at the school
doesn't know the fucking difference and doesn't care.
He's smart.
So, if you're good at or if somebody's good at it,
they'd be even better at flipping sneakers, or gear,
or going to the thrift store and flipping,
because it's the same fucking move.
And then when you have the freedom
of being not scared to get caught,
now you're fucking move fast.
Now you're a fucking entrepreneur
and everybody thinks, you know,
people are putting you on a pedestal.
(laughs)
- I love him, I love 'em!
(calm electronic music)
- [Woman] Every year since 2016
we've been in excess of 2.5 million, it's gone up each year.
- In top line revenue? - Yes, I think.
- Sales, cool. - Yes.
Yeah, that's the other thing too,
is like my questions are gonna maybe seem a bit basic.
- I don't care, I'm basic as fuck.
Do you know how many Harvard Business School people
have ever built a business doing 2.5 million?
A lot less than you think.
So I promise you, you're not basic.
The amount of humans that have walked around
that do 2.5 million in sales is low.
- Okay, thank you. - I mean it,
and the second you understand that,
and the same way with him why you're working at,
like, this is real, that's why I'm pumped,
this is why I love how the world evolved.
It's much more for like, that's real.
- [Woman] Yeah, thank you.
I mean, my husband's told me that too and he's my partner,
and he's like, you don't get it,
and I was like, I feel like we could be doing more.
- Well yeah, that's for sure, but it's not predicated
because you didn't go to business school
or you don't know the, I still don't know all the terms.
- [Woman] I said in an email to Nick the other day,
I was like, I have to Google half the things that Gary says
'cause I don't know what they mean.
- You ready for this?
I think I Googled them first seven years ago.
(laughs)
Like, my mom and sister are always out there like,
where the fuck did your vocab come from?
I'm like, osmosis, ya know. - I love that, repetition.
So yeah, so we're doing well on Amazon but I think,
to be completely transparent, I've stayed in that game
because it's comfortable and I'm good at it.
Like, it works, obviously it's working and so I've been--
- What's your gut tell you?
It's starting to not gonna work soon,
like what's your gut tell you?
You're leaving too much on the table?
- [Woman] Yeah, my gut tells me that I'm
avoiding actually pushing myself
and doing something that I'm afraid to do because
I'm sticking to what his proven to be our way positive,
that is comfortable and so I'm just like
staying in the safe space of like, I wonder if I--
- Well, do you wanna build something that is seven million?
- [Woman] Yeah.
- You sure? - Yes, 100%.
Our goal this year is do to 10
and I know that's aggressive, like I get it.
- It's not aggressive, it's just arbitrary.
- [Woman] Should I, I truly believe
if I put my mind into this,
I can do our social media, I can learn it,
I can get good at it, I can understand it.
- You should definitely do that.
- [Woman] Well, let me finish though,
I think I'll ask better questions
and when I'm hiring someone I think I'll care more,
but is it like, hey listen, that's the ego,
you need to drop that and you need to delegate?
- No. - Why do you say that?
- Because you need to know what the fuck
you're talking about, it's your business.
I've consistently stayed consistent on this which is,
if you don't know the craft
how are you judging the people you're hiring.
- [Woman] You also said here though
in another one of your videos you're like,
hey, you need to have 100 people doing 80%,
that's better than just you trying to do 100% by yourself.
- That's different, sure, everything else you're doing,
you should give away.
- Yeah, and I do. - Good.
I just contextualized it for you.
How are you gonna find those seven hours a day
to get great at social?
You're doing something now, I assume.
- [Woman] I'm not.
- Why, 'cause it's no autopilot?
- [Woman] So we have people packaging.
- I got it, so what are you doing?
- [Woman] Nothing, that's why I'm here.
- Well, good.
- [Woman] 'Cause it's like I'm either gonna
pour myself into adding 1,000 more products
in the next like 90 days or I'm gonna do this.
- You should do this. - Okay, why do you think that?
- Because the products are not the variable of success.
The knowledge of understanding
how to communicate to the end consumer are.
There's nothing more important
than being close to the end consumer,
nothing else matters.
There's another big thing that's gonna happen,
you're gonna make 1,000 way better products
after you're done with this
'cause you're gonna be in the trenches
and not in a fuckin' siloed ivory tower.
You're gonna have much better intuition on the product.
- [Woman] We're not trying to be Walmart,
we have a really awesome high quality, high design products
and our value proposition is just so much more
but how would you think about this issue?
- I think you always have to listen to your customers
but your customers are always gonna say that.
Listen and synthesize and make decisions, right?
Like, that's why both listening to your customers
to develop product is right and also whoever said,
if I listened to my customers
I woulda made a faster horse, is right, they both can work.
It's big data, people love to talk about big data.
Big data's very cute,
what you do with the data is what matters.
You could stay the course and keep your brand affinity
in the right place and win,
you could lower your price, and that was exactly right,
it was a 10% swing that totally changed
the course of your business.
You could lower your price by 10%,
nothing different happened,
and now you've just given up 10% margin
and maybe even hurt a little brand equity.
They've all worked.
Listening and then the beauty of business.
Business is talent.
How many of those people have you called?
'Cause I'll tell you what I'm good at,
and I don't know you two,
it's one thing to read it, it's another thing to hear it.
So maybe you take 50 of those people
and you actually call 'em
and you put in those 50 hours,
or those 25 hours on 50 people,
and then you say, now I've heard it,
they're full of shit, I'm out, right.
Or, I've heard it and, fuck, there's some,
I believe as leadership there's something there.
That's it, there is no right, it's contextual.
But you're listening which is huge.
Hey guys, thank you so much
for watching my video on YouTube.
I wanted to jump in here at the end because I'm working on
a ridiculously important project for me
and I have a funny feeling you can help.
If you drink wine at all
or know anybody that drinks wine at all
please go to Empathywines.com right now
and sign up for a subscription.
Whether it's a three pack, whether it's a six pack,
or whether it's a whole case of each for the year,
if you drink 36 bottles of wine a year
or give away 36 bottles of wine a year
please sign up for Club Empathy.
This project means the world to me
and I could really use your support.
(calm electronic music)