- Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable for a period
of time, is actually a great life skill.
(motivational bass music)
You got your perspective.
(crowd cheering)
I just wanna be happy.
Don't you wanna be happy?
- Elia, I'm so happy for you to meet Gary.
- Thank you, I'm really happy as well.
- (indistinct) before we started?
- So I was studying, Maha, all about how I relate to you
in the way that you used to think about school a lot.
And I really feel like the same.
And I have that entrepreneurial mindset that you have.
And I always...
I follow you on TikToK and Instagram,
and I watch videos every day.
And every time I hear you talk about something
that I can relate to, I completely relate to it.
And me and my parents always have this debate about school.
And I tell them like, I want to start a business.
I want to get into drop shipping.
I want to do this.
And then my mother's like, "No do chemistry
and then all of that."
So when I heard that my dad was working with you,
I was like, "Dad, I watch Gary V every day.
He's one of my idols, like really," and then he was like,
"I'll try my best to get them to meet you."
And when he told me that that he organized the meeting,
it was like this is like the best thing
I could ever ask for.
And so I want to really thank you so much
for this amazing opportunity.
- Of course Elia, you can't imagine
how that feels to be heard.
So thank you so much for those kind words.
Is there anything you want to focus on on this conversation?
- I mean I wanna get your perspective on what
I should do your advice on how I should act.
Because like, obviously there's the side
of my parents telling me one thing,
and the side of what I really want to do.
And then, there is also this like mental place.
That it's like my parents are providing me
with everything and they're really amazing.
And I love them so much.
And they give me great advice,
but on this specific thing,
I really feel like I want to try and explore my
strengths and my weaknesses and learn from my mistakes.
If I start a business or drop shipping
or whatever it is, early.
And I just, I can't get that across to my parents.
- I think a lot of times people in life think about
"or", when the answer is actually "and".
I wasn't able to convince my parents
either to not go to college.
You know, I didn't want to,
- [Elia] Yeah.
- And I went for four years
because I loved my parents so much.
And I just, I think...
I'm sure Maha can tell you the same thing
and anybody who's lived a little bit.
Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable for a period
of time is actually a great life skill.
And honestly, no matter how much,
including myself, one loves entrepreneurship,
the vacation
that is being young
and just going to school is, that's what I...
The reason I was able to be okay the last four
or five years mentally was, I basically said, well
this will be my last real vacation
before I go into my real life.
And so, I think what I was fortunate enough was my parents
didn't stop me from doing business stuff on the side
because obviously I worked
for my family's liquor store business
and I was doing my sports card
and flipping and garage sailing.
And so- - [Elia] Yeah.
- If you're in a position where your parents
aren't completely stopping you from doing things on the side
and saying, no you can't, you're forbidden.
You must only study.
If you're lucky enough that you can do both,
I would tell you that you've plenty
of time in front of you,
- [Elia] Yeah.
- To do what you want.
But I do think the sooner you can start tasting, you know,
drop shipping, influencer marketing, NFT, cryptocurrency.
All this stuff looks easy on paper.
It's good in theory.
But then when you do it, it's much harder than people think.
And I think the sooner you can taste the ups and the downs
it's kind of like exercising.
You'll be more prepared for when you do it full time.
It's like prepping for a fight.
- [Elia] Yeah.
- [Gary] You'll be ready to fight.
So I think, are you in a position where you can start
doing some of this stuff on the side?
- [Elia] I think I can.
What I spoke to my dad about was doing this in summer.
And my dad had a meeting with an American businessman,
and he's based in Arizona.
And he has a lot of friends in real estate and everything.
And he came to our house a week ago, and I have plans to go
and visit him in Arizona and expand my knowledge
about, because I'm really interested in real estate
as well, doing real estate in the future.
So I basically planned my whole summer to do that.
And what my dad tells me a lot is that,
he says that I'm lazy.
And I don't disagree with him, I can be.
I have the tendency to be lazy, but I also...
- You're lazy 'cause you're disinterested.
- Exactly! Exactly 100%.
- When I was 13 to 18,
I was told by many, many people that I was lazy.
They just happened to be people that were at school.
- Yeah.
- And maybe my grandma sometimes
around the house, because I didn't want to
hang a picture,
but it makes me laugh so much
because people thought I was lazy,
yet my life's destiny was to be synonymous with work ethic.
- Yeah, I really feel like if I had something interesting,
when I watch all those videos about business
and marketing and real estate, I spend like three hours,
just watching and just listening.
And it's so interesting.
And I'm so captivated in the moment.
But as soon as I switch back to my chemistry class
and they started talking about all this other stuff, like
in two minutes, I'm so disinterested.
So uninterested in whatever they're talking about.
- I lived your life my friend, I understand.
It got so bad for me that I started bringing
wine magazines to school
and I would read them in the middle of class.
Like literally. - Wow.
- I basically realized something.
I realized that my high school was more interested
in me passing because they were going
for a blue ribbon status in New Jersey,
which required everybody graduating.
I realized that I could,
as long as I showed up for school, that I was going to pass.
And the second I realized that,
I basically read wine magazines in class
or fooled around or daydreamed or doodled or whatever.
I think the key here is perspective.
One, you're not missing out.
Today it's NFTs, tomorrow it's VR.
The next day, it's something that
not the three of us could even imagine.
- Yeah.
- So I think we've got to make sure
that you don't have anxiety of missing out.
Once you have a good relationship with that,
what you need to do is just focus on learning as much
as you can, around the things that you're passionate about.
Ultimately, your parents will be okay no matter what,
as long as you're healthy and happy,
but you might have to have a little bit
of pain in between now and that success.
- Yeah. I mean one story about that you were talking about,
that really sort of got me really interested was,
I remember when you said that it was,
it was I think around Christmas time
and you were in the working in the liquor store
and you were making crazy amounts and hour.
And this lady that lived like two hours away,
she ordered this pink rose bottle or something.
And then you had to get in your car
and drive all the way in the snow.
And then I felt like I was...
When I watched that video, I literally I said out loud,
like, this is so genius.
This is so what I want to be doing.
I wanna have my business.
I want every customer to know that whatever they order
is going to be there, that's quality.
That's what I study.
And I'm in a better position than maybe when you were
when you were in school.
Next year, I only do three subjects that I like,
so I'm going to do business, economics and politics.
So I told my dad that next year,
I can get like everything that,
all the grades that I would need and everything
because it would be interesting.
And I told my dad, like, I'm going to go to university.
Maybe not, it's like more of a safety net.
So if something happens, I have a plan B.
I have a degree to fall back on something that
people look for when they're hiring.
- By the time you're hiring in six...
Let's say you go through that
and it's university four years for you.
Is that how it works? Or three? Or four?
- Yeah four years, yeah.
- By the time that'll be five years of school,
it sounds like, 'cause you have one more year.
Is that what you said Elia? And then university?
- I have two more years.
- Two more years, I mean, that's six.
Then you try to do your thing.
Let's say it fails after two years.
In eight years, the amount of businesses
that are going to be hiring without university is enormous.
I would tell you to think
about it differently, and perspective matters.
Instead of thinking about it as your fallback plan,
because the reality is, if you keep networking,
I mean if you just stay in touch with Maha, just her!
Just her, for the next eight years,
every six months, 'hello' texts, whatever,
she'll be more likely to help you get a job
that's meaningful for you,
then your university.
I promise you getting a job with me is more
about your relationship with Maha than some piece
of paper of some school that I've never heard of. Promise!
(Maha giggling)
- I think the key is perspective.
I think if you think about university
as something that you want to do for your parents
because they've done so much for you,
you'd be surprised on how it feels going through university.
I believe that if you think, I believe that in your heart
that it being a fallback piece of paper is bullshit.
But I don't believe that you think going
for four years for your parents is bullshit.
As a matter of fact, based on the way you're talking,
I think that it would make you happy
to do that for your parents.
- It would make me happy.
And I know that because the thing is that my dad,
he went through the normal process
and it was really hard for him,
and he had to work so hard.
And it was such a disadvantage because of his circumstances.
There was Civil War and everything when he was growing up.
So for him, the fact that he made success as an employee
and as like working for a company after so many years
and the growth of the company with,
while he was with them, exponentially grew.
So that's why I always completely understand my dad
when he tells me like, you have to go to university,
this is the only way, like, what else are you going to do?
No job is going to look for you without a degree.
And then I always tell my dad like, dad,
take a quote from Elon Musk, "The people that I didn't go to
Harvard, but the people that worked for me did."
And then my mother was like, and then my dad always
tells me how many Elon Musks are there in the world?
And I told him-
- The problem is there's a lot more.
They're not Elon Musk, but the amount of people
that are entrepreneurs that were not built for school,
that have gone on to successful, but more importantly,
happy lives that have far more college educated students.
Literally almost everybody that works for my companies,
the 1500 current employees and the tens
of thousands that have worked for me in my life.
Literally almost all of them outside of a couple
scrappers at wine library, stock boys, have been on paper
more educated than me.
Forget about my financial success in comparison
to the majority of them.
It's the sheer happiness of living what's in your DNA,
that is so important.
- [Elia] Yeah.
- [Gary] I view entrepreneurship like I view art.
I really do. I really do.
I believe that artists, who are truly artists,
are happy to live by financial humble means to be able to
draw or to doodle or whatever they do.
And if that means they'll make $63,000 a year
scrapping by a side job and selling a couple of paintings.
That if they truly are a true artist,
not one who thought they wanted to be an artist,
to become Banksy or make money or be famous,
or be a rock star, and date models.
I mean, truly, I am an artist and I love it.
I believe they're happier than a chemical engineer
making $800,000 a year.
And I think that's why I associate
with entrepreneurship so much,
more about the freedom of being happy about doing
your true mission than the financial success
that's associated with it.
Because when I got into it,
it wasn't cool like it is right now.
You understand how crazy it is for me to have
young men like you, say that I'm your idol.
There was no thought that businessmen or women were cool.
When I was your age, athlete, musician,
but never even, the most famous businessman
that was doing something progressive was Bill Gates,
and his glasses were the size of my head.
(Elia giggling)
- It was the furthest,
it was (indiscernible) culture
for the progressive businessman or very old people,
like a businessman on TV would be a 70 year old man
with white hair, right, Maha?
So, it's very fascinating how things evolve,
but I would tell you that I think,
'cause I have to run right now.
I just realized. I apologize.
But Elia I think, A, let's stay in touch.
- Okay.
- B, convert it to the fact that
you're doing it for your parents.
And I think you'll enjoy it a lot more the next six years.
And just- - [Elia] Thank you so much.
- Just keep talking to your father about what you believe.
- Thank you, thank you so much.
- History will prove you right.
- And the "and", that's school to your side hustle.
It's "And".
- It's "And".
- [Elia] Yeah.
- Maha, I saw you recorded this.
- Yeah.
- Let's chop some of this and put it in my content.
It will make (indistinct).
- Exactly. I was going to send it to the team.
Such good stuff.
- [Elia] Wow. - Cheers!
- [Maha] Thank you Gary.
- Bye.
- [Elia] Thank you so much. Thank you.
- You do Botcher. What's up! It's Gary V.
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