The Garyvee Audio Experience

#QOTD: What's the greatest holiday gift you've every received? - India K. :)With an organization of the size of VaynerMedia, of course you need a balance of employees that are highly skilled in particular focuses as well as those that are considered to be 'jacks of all trades.' So for me, of course both work, but truthfully, I'm a firm believer in the importance of being a 'jack of all trades.' So, for the purposes of drawing some lines in the sand, I don't agree that everyone should focus on one particular skill.Many people would argue that if you try to know a little bit of everything, you'll never get to the point of mastering anything. My argument? Bullsh*t. I don't buy it. I think I'm perfectly capable and skilled at 19 different things and that's just the way I roll. Look, you need to be able to adapt and you need to be able to evolve your skill-sets depending on the particular situation. In my world, there's NO room for excuses. So when I hear people make the excuse that they can't do other things beca

#QOTD: Are you coming this Saturday? Yes or No? Also, I need your recap of the first 50 episodes of the #AGV show. What's the best thing that it's done for you?When people bring up my competitors I tend to respond in a condescending way. Quite honestly, I dislike my competitors (in the context of the game/business). When people bring them up I try and tear them down as quickly as possible. My competitors? Oh, you mean those people who are trying to win awards while I'm over here trying to actually sell sh*t? Deep down, I'm just not a fan of my competition. Anything I think that'll make somebody realize the value in working with us is something that I will push and fight for throughout the discussion, no matter what. Look, I'm a salesman, a talker, with great tact and enormous empathy. Hence why I win as often as I do. I can read a room and I know in real-time how to navigate the conversation and find my way to the top and win that discussion. Others? They just can't. They may just not be good enough to commun

#QOTD: Do you think that your culture (wherever you're located) has gotten soft? Do you think we should we have 7th place trophies?High-end wine is as much of a hoax as the art world is and as much of a hoax as a high-end restaurant charging $10K for a a once in a lifetime meal. It's as simple as supply and demand. Is a stock price a hoax? My answer? Yes and No. I used to think that the amount I was being paid for my speaking engagements was a hoax, but then I realized that I was getting compensated for what I was doing for that event. Is an actor quietly getting $8 Million for a movie a hoax, as opposed to an athlete who constantly gets ridiculed for being over-paid? It's all an arbitrage. That same actor is putting people in the seats and ad budgets are being leveraged against the appeal of that actor/actress.So, can I taste the difference between a $10 wine and a $100 wine? ABSOLUTELY. I live it. It's what I do. The beauty of wine is that everyone has their own palette -- similar to how people have differe

#QOTD: How was your Thanksgiving? AND, what's your Jets vs. Dolphins prediction for tonight's game?I literally spend ZERO time focusing on my competition. I don't look to the right of me or the left of me -- It's all forward moving for this guy. I focus ALL of my time on people, the teams around me, and our focus for the future.Do I know what the competition is doing? Sure, to some level - but I never go deep as my understanding typically goes as far as reading headlines and hearing some of the buzz of the industry. The biggest mistake I see entrepreneurs making is paying too much attention to those around them. Sure, take a look back once and while to see who's on your tail, but at the end of the day your focus needs to be on your own domain. If you can focus all of your attention to accomplishing what you set out to do, full-steam ahead, you'll win. Not only will you win but you'll be able to razz the competition a bit while you ignore them :) I find that not paying attention to your competitors is actually

#QOTD: What weaknesses of yours are you giving thanks for? And be honest. This will help you.Someone by the name of Tommy Mottola (look him up) once told me that he wouldn't try and sell anything until the artist he was working with and the product they were creating (in this case music) were ready. And I agree with that to some extent because if you're going to sell something you need to make sure that those ready to buy it can actually do so, but it also needs to make sense for the context involved. So let me explain. If you're able to achieve and execute on business objectives by building out content and pushing your product or business without the need of a fully built website, then by all means, go for it. By creating content you're beginning the journey of how your story will unfold. The reception of this content will also allow you to test and learn and understand the best approach to creating future content once your business and website are ready for the masses. That process you simply don't want to

#QOTD: What wine are you pairing with your Thanksgiving dinner?The biggest decision of my life? Deciding to finally focus on what felt right to me. At an early age I received an "F" on one of my Science tests. From that moment in time I understood that no matter how many people tried to tell me the importance of school, I knew deep down inside that it wasn't for me. And although I knew it would bring me nights upon nights of punishment, I decided that school couldn't be the one thing I focused all of my energy on. From my "flower business," to the lemonade stands, to the baseball card collection, I knew early on that I was a businessman. Although I had felt it inside, it wasn't until I made the conscious decision to focus on these skills that things began to change for me and my outlook on the rest of my life would be forever different.The moment I made the decision I knew that I would be looked at by society as different, and I understood that, but I made the mental decision to accept that and focus on what

#QOTD: Watch this on video and guess how many almonds are in the jar next to me. Whoever guesses it right will be flown out to NYC to join me on a taping of the #AskGaryVee show!! It's funny to hear that people are referring to cellphones and other mobile devices as the "second screen." As far as I'm concerned, in this DVR'd world we live in,  most of us are on our phones, scrolling through our feeds as commercials, and sometimes the actual TV shows, are being ignored. I'm pretty certain we're at a moment in time where our mobile devices are indeed our 'first' screen of choice.  When it comes to retail though, it makes sense that we refer to our phones as the "second screen" because it certainly holds true that our eyeballs serve as the 'first screen' when we're walking around. What's really resonated with me recently with retail  is how people are behaving when they're out and about and shopping around. People are literally IGNORING the promotional end-caps that brands spend tons of money on, simply because

#QOTD: What's the last app you downloaded? The humanization of business. Manners of Marketing. Thank You Economy. They're all same. Now that the Internet has allowed consumers to have more control, businesses are expected to behave differently and interact with their communities in a way that humanizes their messaging. Unfortunately however, brands haven't fully embraced the mindset that I thought would have been exhausted by now.  My prediction with the Thank You Economy was that by 2015 everybody would be on board. Unfortunately, that is not the case. People just haven't adopted it at scale and therefore how can it really be over? Nobody's ruined it. This might actually take forever or never happen at all although I know that those practicing it are getting real results. I see those emails every day.  And so, my prediction was incredibly off. It just may never happen at scale because companies can be heartless. Heck, even I'm heartless when it comes to money. I know that business is all about the wallet and

#QOTD: Just show me some love!! Everything trickles from the top. For a long time I used to talk about the "rich-kid syndrome" and how they didn't have it in them to hustle their way to building a sustainable business. What I've learned, however, is that this doesn't apply to everybody.  When it comes to business, like anything else in life, it all stems from the top. Just like a business' culture stems from its leaders, the way a child sees the world and their approach to life all comes from how they were brought up. When I meet with these "rich kids" I spend almost all my time trying to figure out what their past was like. How did their parents raise them? Did they spoil them or did they make them work for what they wanted? And so, this really has nothing to do with the kids themselves but more so about who their parents were and how they decided to pass on the family legacy.  I know that my kids are going to be "rich kids" but that doesn't mean I'm going to spoil them. I'm not going to let them become soft

As a teacher and any professional looking to expand their personal brand, my advice remains the same -- Cut out the crap, stop wasting time on non-important things, and hustle to build your brand.  If you want to build a more scalable brand you need to put out content. Utilize the technology around you like SlideShare, Spreecast, and Google Hangouts which allow you to further establish your credibility, and where you can also charge people for participating if they're willing to do so.  Use your content as a gateway to drug to allow you to further establish yourself and your brand. What I really see here is that people are just loaded with excuses. Do you really want to build your brand or do you want to watch 'Homeland?' Do you really need to take that hour long lunch? LUNCH? C'mon!! There's better ways to use our time. I'm not saying you shouldn't eat, but do you really need that much time for lunch?!? As with anything in life, you just need to figure out your cadence. What do you really want? Are you wasti

#QOTD: How long have you been following my work?Wanting to be an entrepreneur and being an entrepreneur are two very different things. If I were a young and aspiring entrepreneur I would go out an hustle my face off in any which way possible. The best way to become something is to first act like something. Sell, sell, sell. Understand what it takes to provide value to somebody. Learn how to communicate your value proposition enough so that it registers with your 'customer' allowing for you to accomplish what you've set out to do. Go out and find mentors. Go work for free and under people that can show you the ropes and serve as that point of contact when you need it. Learn the hustle and taste the game. Put yourself in the position to win. You can read as many books as you'd like, but they're not going to make you an entrepreneur. The only way to become something is through doing. And so, start hustling. Start doing whatever it takes. Even if that means selling the very shirt off your back.

#QOTD: Want to win a dinner with me? I need you to predict how many episodes of the #AGV show we'll wind up producing once this is all said and done. Those that guess right will be selected to have dinner with me. Deal?   They way I prioritize my time is by making the best judgment call possible in that particular moment in time. I frame my process by selecting two sides of the spectrum: What's the most on fire and needs to be tended to immediately, and what are the more high-level ideas that I can work on and flesh out? I'll take care of things like employee issues or client concerns (the biggest and most time-sensitive problems) and balance it by going on the offense on the things with the biggest upside, like company culture, visions for the future, buying the Jets ;), etc.  I never focus on anything in the middle. VaynerNation, I warn you, the MIDDLE is DANGEROUS. Stay away. 

#QOTD: How bad you want to work at VaynerMedia?The transition from being a "doer" to becoming a leader can be very difficult. Quite frankly, it scares the crap out of me. It's hard to go from "execution-mode" to then becoming a manager of a team. These are two very different things that can cause some issues if not handled properly. When you're a leader, you have to be the bigger man/woman in any given situation. You can't simply impose your will because you're now the "boss." A leader listens. They swallow their pride and work to make sure the team is executing as needed. A leader needs to empower those around them to do their jobs but they also need to be able to take the hit, and eat crap, because things won't always be easy, and at the end of the day, they're the ones leading the charge.I firmly believe that the transition from doer to leader is the same as the transition from leveraging your EQ rather than your IQ. Leaders need to listen and empower their team to become leaders themselves and take owners

#QOTD: Let me know what the next 3-5 years look like for your business. What do you have planned? What are you looking to accomplish?   Micro-Content is the idea of making content specific to the context of a platform. It's the idea of utilizing videos and pictures, quotes, and written words that work specifically for the multitude of platforms that exist (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc) -- which if I might add, was the context behind my latest book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook ;) So, how do you make good micro-content? First of all, content is subjective. It depends on the viewer and why they're in particular place at a particular point in time. I understand that a 40 year old woman will have a different mindset when she's on Pinterest vs. Facebook. Does she have intent to shop (Pinterest) or is she just catching up with her world (Facebook)? That's how you need to focus on your story-telling strategy. You need to be mindful of the psychology behind the user's intent and the nuanc

#QOTD: No question for this one! I need more banter!! I'm looking at you, VaynerNation ;) I absolutely hate when people send auto-messages after they've gained a new follower. I have actively un-followed most of you when you do this because it speaks to your intent on the platform. You're looking to scale social media on a platform like Twitter that's simply not scalable.  Twitter is the only true social network because it functions like a town square. A place where you can jump into conversations without sounding/looking creepy. The other networks are pushing content where Twitter is still the place for actual conversation.  When you go and auto-reply in a "town square," you're the same as the guy walking around just dishing out their business card at a conference or networking event. YOU'RE THE GUY THAT PEOPLE HATE. It's the wrong move. You're not putting any effort into engaging with people. You're auto-replying in the town square and providing no depth, no value. What do you honestly think is going to hap

#QOTD - Are you a chugger, or did you have a turning-point moment, and if so, what was it? If I were a realtor, the thing I would do more than anything else would be to review the establishments in my area. If I'm selling homes in Millburn, NJ, I'm putting out a daily piece of content featuring the the school, then I'm interviewing the individual teachers. I'm reviewing every single local shop: The wine store, the sandwich shop. I'm interviewing people who have lived in the neighborhood for 50 years. I'm putting out content to make you romantic about the area.  People pick where they want to buy a home for a lot of reasons. Some of them are practical: Public transportation, distance to schools. But how about making it a little warmer and interviewing Mrs. Robinson the 3rd grade teacher? I remember a realtor telling me that someone moved to Short Hills because of Wine Library (That was such a cool feeling, by the way). So I'm doing daily content about the 20-mile radius around the area where you're selling hom

#QOTD: What do you think of GaryVaynerchuk.com? Questions, comments, concerns? What’s your $.02? Email is definitely not dead. As most you may know by now, I’m a big fan of marketing in the year that we live in. And so, email remains to be a very killer opportunity.  Email is a channel that you can control without being at the mercy of all these other platforms that are out there. But, we also can’t be naive to the changes have been made, such as the promotions tabs that GMail implemented recently. Sure, email is falling off and these changes have caused us to lose touch with some email lists that we may have been paying attention to prior, but it’s still very much in play so long as we leverage it wisely. Are open rates at 90% like I had in 1997? Absolutely not. But, I still believe email is very much something to be considered. There’s no question that email will certainly be less valuable in 3-5 years. Heard me say marketers ruin everything? That’s where this fits in perfectly. That’s what this is all abou

#QOTD: Are you a Vayniac or part of the VaynerNation? What's the difference? If I were to go back in time and start all over again, I would change NOTHING. From 22 to 32, for the first ten years of my hustle, I remained quiet and I put in the work. I did the work that allowed me to have the audacity to go out and build the Gary Vaynerchuk brand.  The notion that there's people out there that are growth hacking, and getting exposure through other people's podcasts, and leveraging the brands of others to build themselves as "experts," is LUDICROUS. What are these people actually experts in? What have they accomplished to be deemed an expert? Here's what I did and why I think you should listen to me when it comes to business. I am in the midst of building my second $50M plus business in a 5 year window. Is it $50 Billion? No - but it's a very substantial business. I was ahead of the market and I executed. I put in the work, I built up the business at a speed many can't comprehend, and I did the things that allow

#QOTD: What is your favorite candy? First of all, if you want to increase engagement with your content, you need to make sure you're putting out quality product. Once you know that you're hitting the right notes with the material you'e putting out, you need to put your efforts into business development.  When an opportunity presents itself, pounce on it. Hustle. Be mindful of the environments and conversations you want to get involved in and be sure that you're offering them value in exchange for what you want from them -- exposure.  When I didn't have the base that I have now, I was out on the streets hustling for Wine Library, formerly named Shopper's Discount Liquors. I was walking into any business that might be relevant to my community and passing out flyers and coupons one-by-one to gain more exposure. Nobody gave a crap or knew who we were but I knocked on doors and made sure we got the exposure we needed.  So, can you biz dev? Are you willing to hustle to make it happen? Are you willing to work 15+ ho

#LINKS iTunes! - https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id928159684?mt=2 I am one of those people who used to think that tons of companies were overvalued. However, I was eventually proven EXTREMELY wrong. As I learned throughout the early Internet days, inflation happens, the world changes, adapts, and now I'm starting to wrap my head around the notion that things aren't actually as over-valued as they may seem at first sight.  But, this notion of over-under-valuation is definitely a doubled-edged sword. There will be plenty of businesses overvalued due to early-stage hype, but if something has proven to have won and you think is the future of infrastructure, such as an Uber, then we need to start paying close attention.   And of course, there's plenty of people that have lost money buying into "over-valued" companies, but then again, many have won. When we need to start looking close is when things hit scale. In the early Internet days, many people thought Amazon and EBay were over-valued, until of course, the wo