- It just, listen, it comes down to
a million different things.
For me, my intent is legacy, right so --
- How do you define legacy?
- I want everybody to remember that I brought them value.
(upbeat keyboard music)
- Oh so, pleasure.
- Good to see you.
- Four or five time? - Yeah.
- Each time we publish for your book, (mutters)
- Yes.
- We are talking history, amazing time for us.
That's your book? Polish --
- Yes.
- How would you pronounce the title?
That's my first question, the title, for the interview.
- Przebu Sie.
- Przebu Sie! - Przebu Sie!
(mutters) If I could talk about this new book,
published in Polish, "Przebu Sie".
What does it mean, "Przebu Sie?"
- Crushing it.
To me, it means that you're living your life
in a way that makes you happy, right?
If you're succeeding financially, emotionally, mentally,
and you're taking advantage of the current state of
the internet and culture in achieving that.
So, it's not a zen mindfulness meditation book, it's --
I believe that the internet is grossly underrated,
I believe human beings are grossly underrated.
You put one and one together, if you execute
and get educated on what's actually happening in society,
you really can start taking advantage of it.
- You know, I read this book like five times,
and it's worked in all the business in my life
but I think that many of people want to believe
in this book during the reading
because it sounds like strange things, do you know,
small things on social media.
- Yes.
- Can you talk us a bit more about this?
- I mean look, if it was so easy,
if everybody believed it, I mean,
it's a truth, you know, like look.
I mean go read the Amazon reviews for the first book,
"Crush It," 2009, everybody told me...
- "BS, BS?"
- "BS, BS, snake-oil salesmen.
"The internet's not gonna be real.
"People are gonna make money on YouTube?"
- And now?
- And now, I'm laughing and they're not.
To me, to be very honest, and you probably know this
about me because we've hung out a bunch.
I'm not interested in convincing anybody in Poland,
or Schmoland, or America, or Schmerica,
or China, or Schmina, that I'm right.
I'm putting things on the record,
and I'm letting the chips fall where they may,
and I have a funny feeling that
I'll be on the right side of history,
and if somebody is pessimistic, or lazy,
or struggling with something inside
that makes them say "No," not, "Yes," I'm empathetic.
I don't think I'm special,
I think that I'm sharing my points of view,
just like you're allowed to share your point of view
and say, "No, not really.
"This is all bad, the internet is bad.
"This won't happen, not in my country,
not is this, da da da da da."
Cool, you can be in the "no" business.
I'm gonna be in the "yes" business.
- Before this interview, I asked my community,
"What would you like to ask Gary?"
- Yes.
- And most of them asked the same questions
as you answered in this book.
- Yes.
- And my reply was, "Hey, here's the book with answers."
So my question for you is, why are people arguing
the same questions all the time
without looking themselves for the answers?
- They've heard the answers,
they wanna hear it one more time.
- (mutters) different.
- People want reinforcement.
- Make sure that that's the right path.
- Or they've heard you, but they haven't "heard" you.
I think a lot of, you know, and maybe even for you,
and you know, and others even,
people that have gone on to get a lot of success from me.
I get a lot of emails that are like,
"Hey, in the last year things have worked out, thank you.
"P.S., I've been listening for three years.
"I don't know what it was about episode 219,"
or, "I don't know what it was about this podcast,"
or, "I don't know what--," I mean plenty of people are like,
"I don't know what it was about "Crushing It"
that was different than it's gonna be,
that was different than Jab Jab, that it was different,
and so it's been interesting.
And by the way, what drives me to continue
to say the same shit forever.
You never know when it's gonna be this way,
with that lighting, with that adjective,
on that platform, right?
- Yes.
- I may say the same thing for a decade.
Listen, I only have 25, 30 points of view.
What I'm good at is being relevant on the new
and emerging things, whether it's voice or podcast or video.
Look what's going on here, right?
It's the (mutters), the filmer,
the filmer's forgetting film, it's very, like--
For me, these are the things I predicted would happen.
They seemed laughable years ago.
They are not being laughed at by everybody as much anymore.
- Yeah, probably at the beginning,
other people laugh at you, like you're doing (mutters).
Most of them were saying you're like an asshole, you know.
- That's right. - Looking (mutters) a camera.
- Charlatan, self-absorbed.
- That's what they think, and I the same.
They told me I'm narcissistic because I'm coming
to the street with a camera pointed at me,
and they forget that I'm putting content for
my community to make they like better.
- Listen, it comes down to a million different things.
I, for me, my intent is legacy, right?
- So define legacy.
- I want everybody to remember that I brought them value.
- Right. - Period.
I want to be remembered that I brought value.
I like it, I like the feeling.
It makes me feel good, sorry.
And so, to me, that's how I think about it,
and so for me, of course I'm doing this,
'cause that's what I want.
To me, there's not a lot of things people want in life.
There's money, there's admiration, there's love.
There's these things, and all this stuff
is very basic to me, it comes simple.
I just don't care if people think I'm the best or the worst.
I'm in my own inside, and so that's why
I will always innovate, because I don't fear.
- You don't fear. - I don't fear.
So if Daily V was a flop, if my sneakers were a flop, what?
- Nothing, (mutters) - That's it, entrepreneur.
- This book is about patience.
- Yes.
- Can you talk us a little bit more about patience?
- I think patience is one of the
great secret weapons of my success.
- 'Cause you look like you're not patient,
but you are in the long term,
but short term you're very quick, right?
- That's right, micro speed, macro patience.
Clouds and dirt.
- So what do you advice our Polish viewers
and readers about patience?
- Look, everybody's always trying to prove s--
The reason I'm patient is I'm not trying to
prove anything to anybody else but myself,
and I have my whole life to do that.
- You focus on your own shit.
- For my whole life, to do that.
When you're not patient, you're worried about other people.
You wanna be successful, so your mom was proven wrong,
so your brother was proven wrong, so you proved someb--
You're doing it for somebody.
Your lack of patience, you need more mo--
You're not patient because you need more money,
because you have to buy a BMW,
so that you look successful to your classmates.
Not smart, not smart, and so patience goes
hand-in-hand with being inside your own self.
I'm so thankful that I only guide within my own self.
Otherwise I'd be living my life in a very different way.
- You know, this (mutters)
and most important, I think this book is saying
"We know this shit." There is nothing new in the book.
But when I look at the Facebooks and YouTube,
there is nothing there.
(Gary laughs) You know what I mean.
- Of course I know what you mean.
There are people who do,
and then there are people who judge the people that do.
- Yeah.
- I fuckin' do, which is why I respect what people say.
I don't want them to say that.
I respect it, but that's a
much bigger indicator on them than me.
One of the great things I've been able to accomplish,
in my own mind, is this incredible place
where I'm at right now where I think I'm just a mirror.
I genuinely believe that people, when they consume me,
expose who they are based on their reaction of me.
- They leave you, like, comments, likes, what?
- If they think I'm great,
they're in a positive, accountable place.
If they think I'm shit, they're in a negative,
"I want to blame somebody else," place.
And it's 100%, and so I just think I'm a mirror.
So I don't take it personal.
You know why I invoke reaction?
Because I suffocate people's bullshit.
- Yeah.
- You know why people don't like me,
when they don't like me?
They don't like that I'm exposing them.
They like to hide in the shadows of their bullshit.
So, if you guys wanna hide, you can hide, Facebook.
I'm just gonna have Facebook join.
You can hide all you want,
but I'm gonna shed the fucking life on all these truths,
and you're gonna have to fuckin' deal with it
one way or the other, 'cause that's the fucking game.
Because that's me bringing--
That's the most valuable thing I can do.
By the way, I don't talk about that many things.
I don't know about healthcare, I don't know about,
you know, health, like, I'm not a know-it-all.
I know about communication and human psychology,
and buying and selling, and business.
That's all, not a lot. I talk a lot.
I talk with a lot of confidence
'cause I talk about the shit I know,
just like somebody who's been teaching swimming
for 30 years can talk with confidence too.
- Yeah.
- I've been doing business for fuckin' 37 years, for real.
Ds and Fs, for real,
because I've been doing business for 37 years,
and at this point, I feel like I'm pretty okay at it,
and I'm willing to talk about it.
But ultimately the reason people struggle
is 'cause I don't let--
If I let you get away with your bullshit,
I'd be like everybody else who's selling them all this shit.
- But (mutters) you think that I am cool.
You're not, you're just lazy, I will show that you are lazy.
- But you know what I would say?
You're lazy for a reason, you know.
To me it's not like people are lazy.
Why are you lazy?
- They're afraid of something.
- Right. - Or becoming (mutters)
- Right, let's go further.
You grow up in a co-- Let's talk about Poland.
You know I was born in Belarus.
I know that if you're born in Poland,
the history of that country,
and the cadence of that individual,
and the history of your grandparents is a factor
that is not a factor in America, but it's not a bad factor.
I think adversity is an advantage.
I think, with the internet,
the people born in more difficult situations,
minorities, tough countries, actually,
weirdly, are set up for more success.
So I look at your adversity as a positive.
Look, the hero of my life is my mother.
Let me tell you about my mother's life.
She was born in the Soviet Union.
Her mother died when she was five.
Her father went to jail when she was 10, for 10 years.
She had an older brother that she was the older sister of.
She married my dad, who's a piece of work.
- Yeah, that's the most difficult thing.
- She had a child at 20.
She came to America with 100 bucks.
She worked her fuckin' face off every day of her life,
and didn't have a housekeeper,
didn't take a vacation, didn't go anywhere.
She's the most positive, phenomenal person I know.
How the fuck do you think I'm gonna cry for you?
- Sure, sure.
Other people are talking about your Jab, Jab, Right Hooks,
but we focus only on the right hooks.
- Yeah, 'cause the right hooks are more fun.
- Fun? But most of them doesn't work.
- Right, 'cause if you only throw right hooks.
- And I know that some people are giving a lot of jabs,
but they cannot right hook.
- Correct.
- They're waiting for too long, (mutters) for money.
- Too left, too right, you understand?
- Yes.
- Too idealistic, too selfish, you know, I get it.
Why do you think I wrote a book called,
"Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook"?
- (mutters) - That's the one.
I can't wait to sell and throw
right hooks for my sneaker on July 16th.
I can't wait to announce my secret wine project in the Fall.
I can't wait, I love selling.
- Me too.
- I just love giving a lot too, because you win three ways.
First of all, here's a big part about giving.
I don't give away free content better than anyone
because I expect people to buy my stuff.
- You just give it because you want to give.
- Correct.
Would I like them to buy my stuff? Of course.
Do I care if they do? Ultimately no.
Because if I gave with expectation, I would lose.
- So how would you pull, like,
a right hook with this book, for Polish people?
Why should you buy it, or not?
Because it's the greatest book ever written, Poland.
(host laughs)
Look, it's not about why they should.
Here's what I think.
I have a long track record of success,
I think I've proven myself to a lot of people
that I'm in it for the right reasons,
and I don't think it's expensive to give yourself a chance.
I mean you can go read, I don't know,
watch the videos for free, listen to my podcast for free.
I don't need--
Listen, I want to sell because I appreciate your support.
I don't know what you're on the hook for,
but for me, you know,
I don't wanna convince anybody to buy my stuff,
believe in my stuff.
I wanna put out the best work I can,
and then the market decides.
Warsaw, the suburbs of Warsaw, and the whole country
decide if this is a quality book for them, not me.
Now look, I think coming in the Fall
is going to be a big deal.
I don't know how many of these fuckin' things
you've got sitting around, but I have a funny feeling--
- Millions!
- I have a funny feeling you're gonna have a lot less
in October than you had in September, so I'm excited.
I will say this, I cannot wait to come.
I cannot wait to come.
I'm bringing my dad, who doesn't go to anything.
- I don't really mind.
- So it's gonna be great, we'll do that,
and so it'll be fun. Lookin' forward to it.
- Thank you so much.
(upbeat keyboard music)