(drums)
- You recording?
(whistling)
Something's about to happen.
(radio static)
Madison Square Garden, New York City.
Feeling the vibes for real, like for fuckin' real.
Gonna be a good one.
Real good.
(hip hop beat)
- [Host] In addition to running digital agency VaynerMedia,
Gary also serves as CEO of holding company VaynerX,
which houses VaynerMedia and The Gallery,
a new publishing company that he started
after acquiring leading women's lifestyle property PureWow.
Mister Gary Vaynerchuk!
(audience applauding)
- [Gary] New York!
Madison Square Garden!
(robotic noises)
And so I implore all of you to
take a step back.
And realize that whatever excuse you're gonna tell me,
that your parents were alcoholics,
that you were molested as a child,
that you grew up in a shit country,
that you didn't have a mentor when you were a kid,
I respect the piss out of that,
and I believe it.
Do I believe that there are
advantages for being white males?
Of course I do.
It's black and white.
But do I also recognize that
if anybody that looks like you ever made it,
that that needs to be an important debate.
And do I realize, even more importantly,
that every one of you can be practical
and pay your dues
being a single mom taking care of three kids
but still,
the fact,
the fact that you can lay in bed at 10 PM
to one in the morning,
and do shit on this
is so fucking mind-boggling
and is so fundamentally disrespected as a collective
in this room,
that I implore you to take one big step back
and realize that grammy didn't have it this good.
You have to do the right things,
and you have to eat shit!
You have to eat shit.
Guys, get into eating shit!
(audience laughs)
I mean it though, I mean it!
I mean it!
I worked all of my 20's and early 30's.
Like, I didn't buy stuff, I worked every hour,
I didn't do anything cool,
and I was building my dad's business for him!
I ate shit!
Real shit!
Stinky-ass shit!
You know?
And I see everybody trying to get there so fast.
You wanna have a great mentor as a youngster?
Find somebody you admire,
and bring them 100 percent of value for
six and a half years and then see how it plays out.
Six and a half years.
Because when you're 28 and a half,
you're still young as fuck!
- The next question is
how do you stay motivated after a setback or failure?
- 'Cause what's the alternative?
(audience applauding)
The fuck's the alternative?
How do I feel motivated?
'Cause 400 trillion to one!
Gratitude,
I'm thankful for what I have
whenever I had something.
I love when people are like,
easy for you now.
No!
From the get!
I cried when I got two Star Wars figures
instead of one when I was six
because I couldn't believe my parents could
afford to do that!
I'm grateful, I'm grateful!
Gratitude!
Somebody's always got it worse.
And as long as that's the case,
then I'm good.
And don't forget,
I like setbacks!
I want them to judge me!
I'm actually weirdly kind of romantic about
having a pretty big setback.
I don't play that way.
I'm far less risky than people realize,
the way I work but
I'd be excited in a weird way
if I had a big setback
because then everybody would starting writing shit like,
oh I knew it.
See?
That would so motivate me!
Because rising back up like a phoenix,
and then sticking it to their fucking mouth
would be phenomenal.
(audience laughs, applauds)
- When you have a setback,
is there
a process to go through?
- 100 percent!
- What is your process of trying--
- I think about what the fuck just happened,
I try to understand what happened,
and I try not to do it again!
(audience laughs)
- Seems easy enough.
- Yeah!
Guys, all of you are in meetings and PowerPoints
and making structure for excuses to not do.
I have five minute meetings because
most meetings take five minutes.
I don't need to bullshit for seven,
eat some celery for three,
make a joke about Karen for five
and dick around for another eight.
Get shit done!
This is all about what's going on in your own head.
This is all about how you play.
I'm insular.
My level of zero give-a-fucks
about your opinion
is extraordinary.
Wow,
I wanna do the behavior that really maps
to you saying nice things about me.
You know?
Like everybody's just
Just, not in control 'cause they're not in their own head.
I'm insular.
And so, when I make a mistake, I own it.
And I really own it.
I'm not pointing fingers.
If somebody on my team made the mistake
which happens every day,
I hired that person!
I empowered that person to make a decision!
And so, I own my shit.
Period.
Scarlet letter for fuckin' days
and I wear it proudly.
What?!
What's your fuckin' opinion about it?
Fuck you!
(audience laughs)
Let's do one more.
- Okay.
(audience laughs)
When do you quit your job, and go all in?
- When do you quit your job and go in?
When you can afford it!
Happiness
is so unbelievably addictive.
And it makes me so sad
that so many of you created golden handcuffs for yourself
that aren't letting you leave your job,
because you need to make 130 thousand a year now
'cause you wanted 700 more square feet in your apartment,
or you wanted a BMW instead of a Toyota.
And so you're not happy
because you wanted two or three things
that mean absolutely nothing.
I promise you when you've tasted both,
when you meet people that have tasted both,
I make 180 thousand a year and I have stuff,
but I'm not happy,
and then I went making 94 thousand a year
but I'm doing what I love,
and I'm super happy and I have a little less stuff,
it is not even close to a debate.
So I implore all of you
to really dig deep inside of yourselves,
and try to figure out why you need that stuff.
I'm gonna save you time.
You're trying to close an insecurity gap.
Let me give you another huge hint.
Everybody else sucks shit too,
so do you.
Hey guys, just gave my first talk ever at
Madison Square Garden in the theater.
Next up, the whole fucking Garden.
Anyway, it went really well.
I'm super happy with it.
I'm sure you guys will see it at some point
in its entirety.
Talked about some other stuff,
had a little different cadence.
Same old shit, but a little bit different
which kinda makes it fun, so
D-Rock was solidly into it.
Baban liked it more.
That's mainly why I like Baban more than D-Rock.
Right?
You like Baban more than D-Rock too, right?
(laughs)
You know what it is?
D-Rock's got a big head.
Let's call it what it is.
- [D-Rock] I don't - Zack, you agree, right?
No, D-Rock, you do, you do!
This is real, some people say it!
- [D-Rock] You don't listen to people though.
- No no, but they're right.
- [D-Rock] You block it out.
- No, I say it
(group laughs)
[Gary] I'm speaking here in a little bit.
Hey brother.
- Hi. - How are you?
- I'm good, how are you? - Good to see you.
Vlog,
this man right here,
literally one of my favorites.
Obviously there's been a ton of influencers,
thought leaders, personalities that I've
interacted with in the last decade,
but we don't get to spend a ton of time together
because we're both doin' our thing.
But hey, he looks great.
Seriously, dude!
You look a lot better,
you always kinda looked good. - I look better?
- No no!
You always looked good but you've tightened it up
a little here, a little here
(laughs) a little here,
I mean, pretty good, man!
He's looking great!
Listen I gotta
I gotta say the truth.
Anyway, nonetheless
really one of my favorite guys.
As a matter of fact,
has an incredible show
but I was on it
on Chase Jarvis Live
four years ago, maybe?
And it's very difficult to listen.
It's why Facebook created EdgeRank
and doesn't allow you to see everything, right?
That was fat Gary.
(laughs)
And I'm just a fan.
And so if you don't know what he's doing,
make sure you follow him up.
Baban, let's make sure we link all his stuff up.
(kisses)
(audience applauding)
[Gary] Thank you.
And I think that,
in the creative field,
the thing that has hurt so many people I care about
is they want to rest on experience
or awards that are arbitrary, by the way.
Or, degrees or something other than the market.
You may not like it,
but the market always chooses.
- So,
if I'm going to pick up on that direct for a second,
I think
that's part of what I meant in
when I was beat,
what would be absorbed?
And I think there's also this
dramatic hesitation that
a lot of people say,
I can't do this, I'm not this,
there's some punk who's 17 years old
with a camera and she's gonna kick my ass.
And you're giving away trade secrets and
it's unfair.
(Gary chuckles)
And I think as photographers,
when I came into the industry a long time ago,
it was very much closed.
It was about secrets.
And I'm not gonna bring in
an assistant, because they're gonna learn from me.
And they're gonna learn my special lighting stuff
and then they're gonna go out and then
they're gonna use that against me
to take money.
I've literally had
death threats.
I'm not trying to over-dramatize it, but
- Well you're a pretty bad guy.
(audience laughs)
I'm just kidding.
- From people who've said that I'm taking money by
CreativeLive even giving away
three or four billion minutes of free education.
And
- The internet has given away way more.
- Yes, for sure. - This is like
I don't understand what people are debating.
Information has been commoditized.
You have to wrap your head around it.
- Yeah.
- That's just what,
you're more than welcome to live in your own head,
and create excuses.
The problem is, nobody gives a fuck.
Let me say something that might be a huge unlock.
99 percent of people don't do anything
about the free information.
The reason I give away all my best stuff
is 'cause nobody does anything about it
which leaves plenty for me to still do.
(audience laughs) - And for the one percent
that do, those become your new friends.
Those are your peers, the people you love!
- Let me tell you one other thing about those one percent.
They were gonna win anyway.
You can't stop winners from winning, my friends.
And then you can educate the other 99 percent,
and get all the admiration
and leave a wonderful legacy,
and live a fulfilled life.
That's the model.
Be in the yes business.
Instagram, yes.
Filters, yes.
Going live, yes.
Snapchat, yes.
TBH, yes.
Yes, yes, yes.
Why are you so fancy with your time?
Really, you don't have time for this
but yet, you have the ambition to get the
luxuries that come along with being independent?
We do not map our actions to our mouths.
If you have aspirations to win,
to crush it, to do it the way you want to do it,
you need to be in the yes business.
I at this point have
achieved enormous things,
and every day I deploy humility to download a new app
and taste it.
Yet, I see creatives always saying no.
And they come up with some arbitrary bullshit
of why it's not pure.
And then they get run over.
(audience applauding) Thank you guys.
(hip hop beat)
- [Man] You guys all peace-in'?
- [Gary] Peace-in'.
Let's go.
You want to take a quick photo?
Let's go.
Oh you went live?
- [Man] Yes!
- This dude went live on us!
- [Man] Heyyy!
- [Gary] Heyyy!
What up, Instagram?
One life, baby.
Just stealin' phones around here?
- Yeah. - That's how we do it.
(laughs) See ya.
- We out here, thank you.
- Take care.
Bye guys, thank you guys for coming.
(motivational pop music)
Alright.
Phenomenal day.
Double camera'ed out.
Great, great day.
D-Rock liked the second one better.
But he had the weird angle.
You weren't even like, looking at me!
Baban, where were you?
The other angle?
- Yeah.
- Thank God.
Anyway, great day.
(kisses)
Love to everybody, super happy with it.
Gave a lot of good advice today.
(motivational pop music)