- On this episode, I talk about mentorship, paying for jabs,
and the single greatest decision of my life.
You ask questions, and I answer them.
This is the #AskGaryVee Show.
Hey everybody this is Gary Vay-ner-chuk
and this is episode 4-6 of the #AskGaryVee Show.
Before we get into the questions today,
I just want to say and you could probably
see by the intro I'm a little jazzed up.
I could be a little tipsy but not
really, it was just very little.
Really enjoying the show, kind of missed it.
When did I tape the last episode? Last Wednesday?
- [DRock] Thursday.
- Thursday, it still feels like way too long.
I miss all of you. I appreciate the banter.
We've got an update on the Almond guess question,
I know we haven't done that.
But before I forget, I will have
a show Tuesday and Wednesday?
We lookin' good? - [DRock] Wednesday.
- Wednesday, not tomorrow? - No I don't think so.
- Weird, I'm going to try to do tomorrow
but like, nothing?
- [DRock] It got bumped out.
- It got bumped out. I'm pissed.
Anyway, I have two more shows.
Wednesday I'll officially do it, but I'm scared I'll forget.
And it's a Wednesday, and that's a tough day
because I'm going to my parents'.
I want to wish all of you a happy
and very healthy Thanksgiving.
And uh, yeah that's it man. Let's go.
- [Voiceover] Iwona asks, "How many punches in the face
and failures can an ordinary person handle
before achieving success?"
- Iwona, the right word in that question is ordinary person.
What was it, an ordinary person?
Yeah, and I think that's
the interesting part of your question.
Which is this whole notion that pisses me off
that I don't believe that the far majority
of people right now who claim that
they're entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs.
You know, I don't get to claim that I'm
an NFL quarterback, and then I just am one,
and that's what's happening, right?
A lot of people that don't have the skills,
you put that word ordinary in for a very specific reason
and it's the reason I want to rant on this
which is the ordinary person a.k.a.
the person that's not meant to run a business
can probably only handle one punch, right?
I mean like, that's just what it comes down to.
You know what my answer is, unlimited.
You could punch me in the face 8000 times.
I'm here to get punched, right?
Like, you know I really do think
of it like a UFC or a boxer.
Have you ever watched a UFC or boxing match,
and literally watched and thought to yourself
holy crap, if I took one of those punches
I'd be in a coma for the rest of my life.
They're meant to be in the octagon,
I am not.
On the flip side, you show me a world
where all 420 of these wonderful and
amazing people quit VaynerMedia,
and I know exactly what to do the next day.
That's how I roll.
Those are the punches I can handle.
Top 10 clients quit, cool.
Can't ship to a state at Wine Library anymore, cool.
I can handle unlimited punches because
I'm pure-bred 100% entrepreneur.
And so for me, to a person that is a wannabe-preneur,
who first punch in's like eh, I'm going to go get a job.
From there, everybody fits somewhere in between that.
And that's your answer.
- [Voiceover] N asks, "Any tips on how to get a mentor?"
- This is an interesting question for me
because I've never, like even when I had a mentor
in my amazing dad, I like pushed against it because...
My mom and dad like, made jokes, like,
that I want to be claimed and like I'm a
Cabbage Patch kid and I came from nowhere.
My dad always like to rouse me when he thinks he deserves
more credit because I never wanted to have that.
It's actually probably one of my biggest weaknesses
is my lack of mentorship or learning from others,
like I don't know, I like being self contained.
So I'm not the best person to ask this question.
As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sucky to ask this question
but I have answered it in the past,
and I think we've touched on this theme on the show before
which is I think you just got to go and get it, right?
Like, and there's some people doing it right now like
that one dude that wants to get you fired, Steve.
I like that dude's bravado,
he's like how do I get Steve's job?
And like he e-mailed me, you see what
I'm talking about these last couple of days?
- [Steve] Oh yeah. - Yeah, what's his name?
- [Steve] Did you see my Tweet storm?
- Yeah, and so like, you know, that's interesting to me
because it keeps pounding me and eventually
I'm going to know his name because
he's like I want to be mentored.
Now the truth is I'm not looking for that right now.
I don't feel like I can deliver.
I can only deliver a mentorship through osmosis, right?
We as a collective, had a meeting earlier today
and I think the youngsters all picked up a little something
that they'll use and they'll like learn of like how to scale
but I don't want like a hey, come here Johnny,
I going to... I don't want that.
There's people that do, and I think the best way
to get one is just to keep asking the 5 to 7 people
that you think can deliver on that for you.
Basically get to the point of a restraining order
without going over that line.
Sorry Steve, but like I really believe that.
Steve just did this.
I really, really believe that.
You know, if you're listening on the podcast,
like you know, Steve just put palm to head.
But I believe that, I think you have to go and get yours
but freak a girl out, you know.
You can't be, like, a stalker.
You got to go and ask that person and you ask them,
and the other way to do it is to
provide that person value first.
The amount of people that hit me up for mentorship
where they hit me up, DRock!
Right behind the camera right now.
Hey, I want to make a long form piece of content
for you, on me, you know, Cloud and Dirt, link it up.
You know, what that led to is what we have now.
I mean, I'm baffled by people's lack of pains.
You want something so amazing from somebody
which is their time and their energy
and your opening question to that person is
hey, can you give it to me?
That is insanity, how do you provide value, Alex.
I mean this whole room is full of...
Alex takes a step in a different direction
in his entrepreneurial career, willing to come in
as a community manager, show his face!
Show this man's face when this happens.
Willing to come in at entry-level job with the hope
that hey, I hope that I get noticed and then
I can get into that inner circle that Gary has.
And when he was noticed and brought in,
he said, you know I don't want to put you out here,
but like, man I can't believe this happened so much
sooner which, it happened what, 4 or 5 months in?
3 months in, when he says so much sooner,
he was in the, I don't want to speak for you,
18 months, 25, when were you going to
give up at not getting noticed?
- I was never giving up but a year's time was my focus.
- So he would have gave up after a year.
(laughter)
But that's the key, right?
Like, he came in and he wanted to pay it forward
and his version of paying it forward
and being in my ecosystem was coming to Vayner,
start at the bottom, work it to the top, you know.
And so, you know, you want a mentor?
Why don't you provide that mentor with so much
upfront value that you guilt her or him
into mentoring you.
- Hey Gary, Sean Bruce here. - My boy!
- We've had a couple opportunities to talk before.
I do the sales and marketing for
the Lancaster Hummus Company.
My question today is what was the biggest decision
you made in your life that made
you as successful as you are today?
I've watched a lot of your keynotes. I've watched a lot
of your different rants and ways and everything
and interviews, but I want to know what is your
honest opinion on the biggest thing
that you did that made you as successful as you are today.
Thanks Gary, and I look forward to your answer.
- Thanks brother.
Man, I'm so pissed that technology wasn't around.
I would have been able to...
Is this was around when I was around, we would have
been able to play me as a 14 year old asking
some entrepreneur that question on YouTube.
So pissed, anyway!
You know, I'm glad you asked this question because
I now can really, like, I was going there in my mind.
I know what the answer is, it's a weird answer actually.
I think the biggest decision I ever made was
in fourth grade when I got an F on a science
test in Mr. Mulnar's class,
and I decided literally after, you know,
first I hid the, I had to get it signed by my mom.
I don't know if they still do that when you get bad grades,
like this was some 80's stuff.
But, yeah they're doing it?
I had to get it signed and I was not interested
in being punished, so I didn't bring it to her.
Then I put it under my bed and then it sat there for 2 days
but then my, I was still young, my conscience
still had too much power and like, I got scared
and told my mom about it.
By the way, three years later I was flushing every
report card directly down the toilet.
You can evolve quickly.
When you make the mental decision that I made,
no joke I literally remember sitting in my room
and having a weird, weird kind of like crying,
debating, like moment in fourth grade
in my small bedroom deciding
screw school, I'm a business man, and I'm going to eat
the pain of being punished every four times a year
during the school year, being viewed upon as a loser
or a kid that doesn't have a shot by all of society
because I see something different.
I have enough self awareness of who I am,
I'm going to win and literally, and this is weird
as I'm a fourth grader and you know you're young...
how old are you in the fourth grade?
9, 10, you know, and I'm literally deciding that I'm willing
to eat it for the next 8 years maybe even 12 years of
my life where, that was just a hardcore decision.
And it's not that I didn't care, like I went to every class.
I just decided to hone in on my skills.
That I would learn more about selling baseball cards
that later, at 14, became I would
learn more about selling wine, I honed in.
And so, it was the first time, my man, that I made
a decision that I was going to fight society's optics
and deliver on what I thought I was, and that's what I did.
- [Voiceover] Rollinson asks, "Is paid promotion for jabs
an effective way to build an audience for right hooks?"
- Rollinson, this is a great question.
It's something I've been debating a whole lot.
Now to frame it up for everybody,
the notion is should he, you, she, him, it,
where am I going, I don't know.
But sorry, stick with me here because I'm excited.
Should we as a collective pay for jabs,
meaning a non call to action.
Not buy this wine, but should I create
an infographic about the tempranillo grape
and it's just a did you know about...
and it's just a piece of good content.
Should a spend three, four, five hundred dollars
on getting this awareness to build up equity
to then later come in with the right hook.
I think the answer is predicated on how much money you have.
Right, like, if you have a limited budget, you're probably
going to want to save it for, hey buy this wine for
$14.99, it's a killer for Thanksgiving.
You know, like, that is probably what you want
to save it for, but if you have an overall marketing budget,
if you're a bigger brand, if you're spending real money,
I think there's enormous value in jabbing.
I'm spending a ton of money on jabbing
to build up awareness, to get people into the ecosystem.
So, I'm a big fan of spending dollars on jabbing.
Content that benefits the audience that doesn't
have the direct R.O.I. to you,
and you're spending even more money on
not just producing it but getting it reach and awareness
because I think of myself as a marketer
and a brand guy not just a core salesman.
That has to do with your finances.
I can do that today, I couldn't do it 3 years ago.
I couldn't afford it, 10 years ago, forget it.
So it depends on where your business is at
but if you can afford it, I would allocate
some level, 10 to 30 percent of your budget
on just jabs, if your limited.
If you're a bigger brand, big pockets 50, 50 even.
Maybe 80, 20 on just the branding
because you're building exposure.
I mean look, every TV commercial, every billboard,
95% of those aren't infomercial, they're brand building.
That stuff works.
- [Voiceover] James asks, "Do you
schedule time to be on social media?
Or just jump on randomly during the day as you have time?"
- James, I don't schedule crap, other than
I completely live on my schedule meaning
my admin, Matt, he schedules my whole life.
But if I was to be in control,
I would not schedule anything.
There has never been, you guys all have access to me,
there's no 15 minutes get on social.
Social's in me, it's not a tactic, it's my religion.
So I do it every moment I can,
it's always top of mind to be with my audience.
I'm reading your comments, I'm reading
your guesses on the almonds.
On that note, let's segway.
Why don't you tell the VaynerNation who you are
one more time and tell them what happened.
- I'm Staphon, and I had to count almonds.
(laughter)
- Hold on, come over here before you give the punch line.
First of all, you guys were way closer...
Not being hardcore quant, realizing you guys
were going to be able figure out the math,
you guys as a collective scared the piss out of me
because the guesses were coming in so in
the general range, the good news is nobody won.
Good news for me and my wallet, the bad news
is for my heart and my excitement,
nobody won because I would have loved somebody here.
But because I love winning and losing,
you're about to hear a story, this person is not
being compensated, not half way flown here.
I'm not going to his, no.
Nobody won, you guys lost.
Go ahead, Staphon.
- Someone did come close though.
BoostLax came in with 423, and the count was 424.
So you were off by 1 almond.
1,424, whatever.
(laughter)
- You missed it by one, man.
One almond, one almond.
Episode 46 in the bag,
one almond that's devastating.
A trip, could have sat here, we would have been boys,
could have changed the course of your life.
One almond.
(laughter)
Guys it hurts, but that's winning and losing.
That's the way it is.
Question of the day.
What wine are you pairing with your Thanksgiving dinner?
You keep asking questions, I'll keep answering them.
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