- My question is, what was the hardest lesson
for you to learn with regard to putting up content?
(whoosh)
- I'm telling you now right now,
this is the single most important thing in our society
when it comes to business.
If you are not putting out content,
on the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
YouTubes of the world,
you are becoming vulnerable and irrelevant over time.
Most of you don't put out enough content
'cause you're trying to think about what to say.
Just filming yourself on your hustle
and talking about your truth,
that's the content you need to put out.
You have to make content for the internet.
Content is the gateway drug to growth in business
in today's environment.
(techno music)
About to head into this keynote,
this is in the real estate wholesale market here in Dallas.
Bunch of people who go out and get contracts
for real estate, and then flip them to other people
who are investors, so just a bunch of hustlers
doing their thing, grinding.
I understand that, we're in the back of a golf cart
chasing (laughs).
(piano music)
Making content on LinkedIn, and Facebook,
and Instagram, and YouTube, and podcasts,
will change the course of your careers.
Over time, if you do not have brand on the internet,
you will become more vulnerable to somebody who does.
So, you've got to figure out how you communicate,
whether it's video, written word or audio.
Please do not underestimate building personal brand
on the web, it matters, it will continue to matter
it's gonna continue to matter more.
And realize that you just have to document,
you don't have to make something up.
Don't front like you did a bunch of deals,
and try to act the part.
Fake it til you make it is some 1987 shit.
First of all, if you tell the truth,
you will have so many people admire,
your bravery for telling the truth,
that they'll follow you for just that reason.
I'm trying to lose out here.
I'm not joking.
'Cause that's the truth.
My man grabbed me before, why do I always
put out that piece of content that I passed on Uber
twice and lost a half a billion dollars?
I love telling that story.
It's an L.
I lost.
What people don't understand about that Uber story,
me passing, that's like my man.
Like the hundred people that I invested in,
that I just met like this, sat down and invested,
I passed twice on my man.
Like that was, that's on some meant to be shit.
Like it wasn't time for me.
(laughing)
- Like that's all I could.
But yeah, you know what's crazy?
Like I love telling that story.
It's just a game right?
It's just the truth, like the more you just tell the truth,
like that really happened (laughs).
(whoosh)
But if you think I care what you think about my L?
You're super confused.
(clapping)
(piano music)
- My question is, what was the hardest lesson
for you to learn with regard to putting up content?
Like whether it was something you were doing
that you shouldn't be, or something that you weren't
that you should have been.
- That's a great question, you know it's funny,
it's back to kind of how I answer that question.
I'm so not good
at thinking about
like the negatives of things?
Like it's hard for me to even recall.
First of all I was very early, right?
I was one of the first people on YouTube,
one of the first people on Twitter,
so I learned.
I've been so right so consistently,
that a lot of who I am right now in this room,
telling people to push,
the biggest lesson I had to learn is,
I kept being so right, but I didn't squeeze
every fucking ounce of it when I was right.
I don't play poker, but to use the analogy,
I would consistently have the fucking nuts,
have the best hand, but I wasn't going all in.
Right?
Like my great business regret is, I was right about
Google AdWords, I ran Google AdWords the day
Google AdWords started.
The day.
And it was one of the biggest arbitrages ever.
Right?
And I took my dad's business from three to sixty,
and everybody gives me dabs for that,
but always in my mind, you know,
"and he took his family's", you know,
when I'm getting announced in the stage.
Every time I'm like, shoulda been two fifty.
'Cause it shoulda been harder.
And I've been saying it now for three years,
and a lot of people here who follow me will tell you,
now that the Facebook arbitrage is not as good,
now that they're starting to see the Instagram,
if you've been paying attention to Instagram the last month,
it feels like it's starting to, that you're not
getting as many likes and views as you did.
Like I keep telling people, I'm like, this shit goes away.
It's like, I don't know how long people
have been in real estate like,
you find a new neighborhood that was fucked up,
and then it gets gentrified,
and you bought one house, and you're like
"fuck, I shoulda bought seven!"
So the one lesson that I fucked up with,
and I continue to try and get better at is,
when I got it, I squeeze the fuck out of it.
So for example,
right now I believe LinkedIn's really working for content,
so I'm going hard hard.
You're going to become vulnerable.
You know.
But that might be okay, because for a lot of people
if you're hard wiring is a behind the scenes man,
I'd rather you lose the 25 to 50% upside
of a personal brand,
than to do something that doesn't come natural,
or that you don't like.
But the thing that I want to challenge you
and people with that DNA,
is most people when they look at a personal brand,
they see "narcissism", they see "showing off"
I see "reputation".
And if you can look at it, you see where I'm going?
This is just like, I believe that a lot of quiet,
more introverted, more behind the scenes people,
disproportionally over judge people that are out in front,
and deploy cynicism, and see it as the worst version.
I just see I have a reputation.
Listen, good news, Nike,
especially if it comes natural to you.
There's a lot more people that build brands,
than personal brands.
There's a lot more Nike's, and the BetUs' and McDonald's,
than there are me.
You know?
And that's what you should do.
But, but, don't let video or pictures throw you off,
just even listening to how articulate you are,
I'm like fuck, his podcasts would kill.
So maybe you just go audio.
You know a lot of people, a lot of my female entrepreneurs
hit me up, they're like "Gary you don't get it."
I'm like, I do get it, I understand that you're held
to a different standard, and you're judged
by your looks, it's not a very complicated fucking concept.
(laughing)
I do get, like yes I understand you're judged
the way we aren't.
I got it.
And so for that reason, they don't like,
and I'm like, right, audio.
Or get over it and stop worrying about people saying
your eyeshadow sucks.
(laughing)
[Woman] - So what?
- Exactly, and more importantly,
like my big thing with comments,
just once and for all,
'cause I know so many of you are not
doing your thing because of judgment.
You should feel bad for people that took time
to watch your shit and leave something negative.
(laughing)
- Like when I think about like actually,
back to like being in your shit
and doing flight school and all that,
who has time to watch somebody's shit
and then muster up the energy to leave a comment?
Like think about where their life's at.
It's like, you know this is why I love athletes so much.
There are so many parallels to things I believe in.
Like you can't worry about fans booing in the crowd,
like you're going nowhere if that's what you're gonna do.
You can't make that adjust your game.
You don't even really end up hearing it.
Because you're in your zone.
[Man] - So, my question, my dream,
like my ultimate dream is to be on team Garyvee
doing community management.
And-
- You wanna move to New York?
[Man] - Yeah.
- Let's do it.
(cheering)
(upbeat music)
- I'm Oprah in this shit.
Ring the fucking bell.
(ringing)
(cheering)
(upbeat guitar music)