- I think for me the game is I'm driven by gratitude.
Gratitude is my fuel.
I think most people burn out
because they're looking for money.
They're looking for short-term highs.
You know, when the game itself and the process
and gratitude is the mix of your gasoline,
you'll run forever.
When it's about getting a watch or buying a new home
or getting a new pair of Yeezys, you're finished.
And so I see a lot of people looking for quick highs,
I wanna get that girl, I wanna get that guy,
I wanna get that plane, I wanna get that car,
that is just not sustainable.
When you're like, I cannot believe I'm alive,
thank you so much and oh my god I can't wait to wake up
and fight and grind and try to win, I love the game,
you're unstoppable.
I just never run out of energy
because those two things never run out.
The game's forever and gratitude's forever.
So I am like every other human,
when something ends I also have a moment
where I don't have the energy
but for me, the game of trying to be a great entrepreneur
and the game of being grateful as the operating system
of your soul is a forever game.
You know what it is?
I like my lows as much as I like my highs.
Right?
Like I like losing.
I think it's part of the game.
I think it's appropriate.
I think it, I like being humbled.
'Cause then I get pumped, like, I love when I lose
and it's like I love when there's a new game that I find
where it's like pickleball or like smashball,
or like darts in college I remember. I was like oh really,
I love the feeling of getting my ass kicked at first
'cause I love the climb and I also am very into my own head
so I think a lot of people struggle when they lose
'cause they're worried about what everybody else thinks
and I'm like, I don't give a fuck what everybody else thinks
like they fucking suck at shit too.
Like I'm in my own head and so, you know,
the other thing now I will say this,
the thing I care about the most is the health and well-being
of the 10 people closest to me, right?
I do think that, god forbid, when one day,
hopefully very far away, whether it's parents
or something even worse,
that that will stop me dead in my tracks.
Real life stuff, not losing an account
or not making money, or making a bad deal.
Somebody quitting that's a good employee.
That can't stop me.
That doesn't mean enough.
- And you know what, what I've admired about you
is you just have a strong, internal frame of reference
to where, like you know, everything that's not in alignment
with that bounces off, right?
So for an average person who's not wired that way
and they're externally frame of reference,
would you say they should invest their time
being more internal or kind of like go with how their wired
and throw some things in there.
What would your advice for people
who are not wired like you?
- You know, I think nobody's wired like me.
We're all wired differently.
I would say a couple things.
Number one, you have to find a way
to genuinely appreciate yourself for your strengths
and your shortcomings.
Some people are just stunningly attractive,
some people, there's about 32 guys tonight
here in Dallas that are about to get drafted
that were remarkably athletic.
You know, I wasn't either one of those two.
And like, that's okay.
But I know how to sell stuff and I'm a good guy
and to me what I would say to people is
the judgment you're placing on yourself
was created through either a combination of DNA
or the way that you were brought up.
And you need to spend time with optimistic positive people,
that aren't judging you, to break out of that framework,
glass half full is a terrible way, excuse me,
glass half empty is a terrible way to live life.
Like looking at everything and being pessimistic
is the worst that could happen to you.
And you should do everything in your power
whether that is going and seeing somebody,
whether that is changing your friends,
whether that is abruptly getting up and moving to Peru
for the rest of your fucking life,
whatever you have to do to get out of a place
where you go negative, is something you have to figure out.
Whether you have to, listen, I'm not a doctor
but whether you have to get medicated,
whether you have to like,
my biggest thing is who do you spend time with
and who do you consume?
If you're spending all your time with pessimistic friends,
you're in deep shit.
If you're listening to the news all the time,
you're in deep shit.
The end.
- And what's cool about this is like I've seen this happen
to where you put up so much good will and content
in the marketplace to where you don't even need to sell.
Like it's done.
By the time people see you,
they already know they want to buy
versus people that try to do the opposite
of no value and just sell, sell, sell.
- That's because I'm a marketer and a branding guy,
not a salesman.
But I'm also a salesman.
Look at the earlier question I asked you.
You said what are you gonna do, I said sell.
I know how to sell, I know how to brand.
The best way to sell in the world
is not to run retargeting programs or affiliate marketing,
it's build a fucking brand.
Everybody, you think my man here is wearing those Nikes
'cause they cookied him?
Right?
Like everybody here is wearing, everything their wearing,
the underwear I'm fucking wearing is, what is it?
Calvin Klein.
It's fucking brand.
It's all brand.
That's exactly right.
I don't wanna ask people to buy my shit.
I wanna say I have a new sneaker out
and people buy that shit.
I have a new book out, of course,
and here's the best part,
and this is my most important fucking part
in the entire game, when I ask for something,
come see me speak, come buy my sneaker,
come buy my book, I give away all this free shit,
better than anyone.
I think I'm at the top of the game.
Free, free, if they don't, I understand.
I have zero expectations to convert.
Too many people are giving away shit,
when you give with expectation, you're a piece of shit.
You're not a good person.
When you give,
and you have an expectation,
you're a manipulator.
You're not a giver.
I give and have zero expectations.
The chips will fall where they are.
If it goes great, mazel tov,
if not, I wasn't providing enough value.
That's on me, I don't give, I'm not doing this interview
for any other reason then I know that it's leverage
for you and it's gonna put you on
and you can use it for other shit that you wanna do.
Know how good that makes me feel?
That's real life.
- And I think that the cool thing about that
is from a systems point of view,
that does not create resentment within you,
'cause if you were giving...
- Correct!
- You eliminate a certain negativity.
- I have zero expectations of everybody.
I could give a fuck.
I have zero expectations of my own employees.
Many will argue with me in my own organization
that one of my shortcomings is my lack of expectations.
It's just the way, I just have empathy,
I'm just overly, to a fault, I would argue to a fault,
empathetic and I brought it back
to create more accountability and candor
but yeah man, you're very smart to follow up
what I said by that, that was a very good job by you,
that's the right insight, I'm,
you know why I'm always fucking happy?
I don't fucking expect anything from people.
Most of you are unhappy because you've got expectations
of somebody, your mother, your friend, what you did at work,
your boss, your homie, I've got zero,
when I lend somebody 20 bucks,
I'm gonna pretend that shits gone.
I'm giving you 20 bucks.
- It's funny, I have one funny question here,
I was debating whether to ask. - Fucking ask it.
- I'm gonna ask it, the question is
what was your pay out from your dad's wine business
to build this business and my answer in my mind
dude, it's the work ethic, it's the grind,
- Financially it was zero.
Financially it was zero.
When I left, VaynerMedia was started by me selling a client
from Gillette an 80 thousand dollar program
and that was the money that was started.
The pay out was dick.
I had zero percent of the business.
I didn't get a loan, nothing.
I built that business for my family
'cause my family brought me to America
and raised me perfect.
And so, nothing, the pay-out was zero.
Zero dollars, zero dollars.
That's why when people talk shit, I laugh.
I competed against people that raised a million dollars.
You were given a liquor store.
I sure wasn't.
Like come look at my fucking taxes.
Come see me mother fucker.
I build my fucking parents liquor store for them, facts.
Now come see me when you've got an excuse,
oh easy for you Gary V,
you've got a three million dollar liquor store.
Dick face, go read the fucking articles.
I started in a company that was doing three million dollars
making 300 thousand in profit, I worked my dick off
from 22 to 34, 15 hours a day, to build a business
for my parents that I left at 34 with nothing.
Now tell me who had it worse.
Dick.
- (laughing)
There you go.
- Yeah, there I go.
And that's my thing, right.
For years I never clarified that.
The reason I'm not mad at people for saying it
is I didn't talk about it because, you know,
it was a family business, I didn't know like,
I didn't wanna put my family's business out there
but now I talk about it with fire
because I'm just tired of your excuses.
And fuck me, who gives a fuck what I accomplish.
Don't look at me.
Look at somebody who was born in the deep jungles
of like whatever and come to America,
my parents did it better than me.
Fuck me, my parents came here with nothing,
lived in a studio at 23 years old with a hundred dollars.
Fucking...
Forget me.
There's 50 million people that came from dick shit
and fucking made it.
So what the fuck's your excuse?
Entitlement.
You're fucking entitled.
If you ever bought a five dollar Starbucks coffee,
you're fucking soft.
If you ever in your life bought a five dollar
fucking coffee from Starbucks, you are fucking soft.
Globally, in the 7.7 billion people,
you're fucking fancy, you're soft.
A five dollar fucking cup of coffee.
Fuck you.
So I don't wanna hear it from the people in my comments
or people behind my back.
You live in fucking, you live in like 99% of my comments
are from people in First World countries,
like fuck you.
What?
You're best friend's parents bought him a BMW
and not you, you fucking soft piece of shit?
I can't deal with it, it's fucking ridiculous.
People are, oh you're mad at your homie
'cause their parents, their parents, his parents,
her parents paid for their Coachella trip
but you had to work to pay for yours?
You went to Coachella.
Like what is the matter with you?
- It's the expectation.
- Entitlement brother.
Fucking global entitlement.
You're fucking all entitled.
Period.
Nobody has anything to complain about.
Almost nobody.
Unless you're the worst human on Earth,
in the world rankings of humans,
you're 7.7 billion, you live in a cage
and you're a slave somewhere where nobody's looking
'cause that's who that person is.
Unless you're that person, stop complaining.
Can I say one last thing,
- Yeah.
- Because I know a lot of people are watching this
and are like, where's he going?
Here's my thing.
Millions of you have the hardships.
But when you're in the mindset of not complaining,
it's game over.
My mother lost her mother when she was five.
Her father then spent a decade in fucking jail.
She lived in Soviet Russia and she never complained once.
I just don't have time for everybody else.
- I think it's your mindset of having it 100%...
- The feeling is thinking somebody else is in charge.
I know why you're upset.
You actually think somebody else is in charge.
I understand.
I don't.
I don't think anybody's in fucking charge.
Not my parents, not my wife, not the government,
not fucking anybody, I'm in charge.
You're exactly right.
And here's my thing, just go there for a year.
Go there for one fucking day.
Go there for one day, see what it feels like.
- To be in charge.
- It's fucking everything.
- So when it comes to, another question that we got a lot is
all the algorithm changes for Facebook, Instagram,
I know it's crazy thing.
- It's a great segue, like, really?
After that whole fucking four minutes, that's what,
I love that you followed up with that.
It's fucking free.
It's fucking free!
Yes they changed the algorithm.
You should of been building up your email list,
you should of started a podcast,
you should of been on YouTube,
you should of done more collaborations,
you shoulda milked it harder when it was fucking nirvana.
It's on you, dick.
It's fucking on you.
I'm glad they changed the algorithm,
my email list for my library
used to have 90 percent over rates in 1997
'cause nobody was doing email.
Now it's fucking 12, 15, 19%.
The market changed.
Tough luck.
It's fucking free.
- And they complain about free.
- Instagram's free.
Like it's fucking free.
Like, what you're sad now 'cause the Detox Tea Company
can't give you as much money
'cause you're not reaching as many people?
Is that really where your life's at?
Sorry.
It's all about humility.
Who the fuck do you think you are?
That's what it's about.
You know why I go so hard?
'Cause I'm humble.
'Cause no matter how good it is right now
with all these people watching, I'm so flattered this guy,
like all this going on,
I never think it means that I'm special,
I gotta work harder tomorrow than yesterday, not softer.
And listen you wanna cash in and you worked so hard
making videos and you need a month in Costa Rica
to drink tequila, enjoy yourself
but know that you're giving something up.
'Cause while you're drinking tequila in Costa Rica,
I'm taking your attention.
(light music)