Gary Vee: USSR to CEO, the Immigrant Mentality, and Building Legacy | E170

0:00You guys are gonna be blown away by this. We would sit there and watch people surf the web. Like, watch them. Like, I stood there for two fucking hours before I got to get on the keyboard, watching Pete from Maine and others get on the computer and do different things. And even then, what was super interesting was everyone was scared to leave AOL. You just stayed in AOL. Like, there was this browser, I remember, it would just be like the World Wide Web, and we're like, we're not gonna click that. That's like, that's too crazy. I got finally on the computer at like 12, one o 'clock in the morning.

0:29You know, I typed the two things that I knew, baseball cards and wine, out of a fucking movie. I literally remember seeing the reflection of my own face in the monitor saying, this is it. I just knew.

0:45Welcome to In Search of Excellence, where we meet entrepreneurs, CEOs, entertainers, athletes, motivational speakers, and trailblazers of excellence with incredible stories from all walks of life. My name is Randall Kaplan. I'm a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and a host of In Search of Excellence, which has started to motivate and inspire us to achieve excellence in all areas of our lives. My guest today is Gary Vaynerchuk, who is known the most as Gary V. Gary is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, venture capitalist, public speaker, six-time New York Times bestselling author, and one of the world's leading experts on the topics of marketing and social media.

1:21He is the CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency that represents Fortune 1000 companies and which has more than 2 ,000 employees and 13 offices around the world. He is also the co-founder of many other companies, including Gallery Media Group, the Sasha Group, VaynerSpeakers, VaynerCommerce, and VaynerSports. Gary, thanks for being here. Welcome to In Search of Excellence. It's so nice to be here. Let's start at the beginning, and I want to start with your dad. We'll talk about your mom separately. He moved. He was born in Babarisk, USSR. He moved to the United States when you were three years old.

1:55Didn't speak English, had no money. Talk to us about Arlene Newman and Bob Siegelman and the big breaks that people can have when they move to the United States and how they influence his future. I right off the bat adore you because, you know, I've been very fortunate over the last decade. I've been interviewed a lot, a lot, a lot. The fact that you get to go to Bob Siegelman and Arlene means real homework has been done for that. That means a lot to me. And it's really nice to actually have a platform to give them some love. Because my father was very inspired in 1971, four years before I was born, when Jack Siegelman, their parents, the father of Arlene and Bob, came back to America.

2:43Jack left the Soviet Union. Jack left the Soviet Union in the 20s, I believe, when he could still kind of get out right after the revolution. And Jack was my dad's grandmother's brother. And he was the only one that went to America. And he had the brains of the family in a lot of ways. He saw it. He saw what was coming. Jack is a much older man, came back to Russia in 71. and my dad was really taken aback by a statement when he just looked at my dad, who was 16 or so at the time, 18 at the time, and just said, you need to get to America. And it stuck for my father. There was an incident that happened in the Soviet Union that became world-focused on Walter Cronkite, big thing.

3:27And there was this deal made between Israel, Spain, and America with the Soviet Union to get some Jews out of the Soviet Union. Only a couple hundred thousand were able to leave in the late 70s. I was lucky enough to be a part of that. The way you would do that is there was an organization called Highest that deserves a lot of credit. And you'd go to Austria, then Italy, then you would go anywhere. Many went to America, some went to Australia, some went to Germany. While we were in Italy, we got a letter in the mail that Jack passed away. This was the person that was going to kind of look out for us when we came to America with nothing.

4:01When we get to America, it would have been very easy for Jack's kids, who were in their 50s at this time, very well off. Because Jack did very well for himself coming to America and did the American Dream in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, 60s. Construction business? Construction business, predominantly. It would have been very easy for them to look the other way of their lost relatives from the Soviet Union. But Arlene especially was incredibly gracious to my father, got him his first car. And one of the things that Jack owned in his real estate empire was a small liquor store in Clark. So the organization that got us to America kind of put us up as refugees in a studio apartment in Queens.

4:48And my dad did a bunch of side jobs the first six months. But the break of him being a stock boy in that liquor store that Jack once old, that now Bob was really running. He was the older son, so he was kind of like the main guy. But Arlene was a very feisty, prominent sister. And so they really co-owned that empire or whatever they inherited from Jack. And they were doing their own separate things. And that is where my father's American dream was hatched from two bucks an hour being a stock boy to eventually being the manager of that store to eventually saving up money and buying a piece of that store from Bob.

5:27All in five years. Which is remarkable if you think about it. And so, I mean, I think, you know, a lot of times people are like, Gary, you would have never been here if it wasn't for your dad. I'm like, true, but my dad would have never, if that's true, then my dad would have never been here if it wasn't for Arlene and Bob. And if that was true, then Arlene and Bob would have never been in that position without Jack. And if that was true, and so, you know, I think we all as human beings, you know, self-made is a very funny thing. Because it's unbelievably true, but it's also very contextual. It's like Lucky.

6:05Lucky is very weaponized by those who do not want to do. But even though luck is very much timing, serendipity is very much part of anyone's story that builds something. It is clearly just one small ingredient of the outcome. And so Bob and Arlene were incredibly important to my parents and helped in many different ways. My name is Gennadzi. That's my actual name. Arlene literally named me by telling my parents, name him Gary. And so, you know, I think very prominent. Bob, unfortunately, passed away many years ago when I was just starting my career at my dad's liquor store in my 20s. And Arlene is still kicking, and I hope her family shares this clip with her.

6:52So let's talk about your mom, Tamara, who also came from the Soviet Union, came here in no money, didn't speak English, had a tough life in the Soviet Union. Dad died at five years old? Mom died at five. And then Dan went to prison for 10 years for being Jewish and went to the Gulag in Siberia. So talk to her about the influence that your mom had on you. You know, I would argue that my mom, you know, my parents are very influential in my life, like for many, but very for me. And I would say my mom is probably the person that probably is the one who gives me the most fuel to tell everybody on the other side of these podcasts that you can do it.

7:32please don't complain about silly things. Choose optimism. Because when I think about my mom's life, it's remarkable to think about the energy that she brings to the world. Much like I, in a lot of ways, am the emotional rock of so many people around me, my mom was that for everyone. When I think about how little that rock was watered, you know it just it was in her it was her dna um she is the strongest person i know um she's just incredibly strong and she made me very strong and you know obviously just even already hearing how this interview is going to go i'm sure you've seen how much i speak about her and how I revere her.

8:24And I admire her to the depths of my soul. And she was a perfect mother. She did plenty of things wrong, but everything that I hold near and dear, everything that I know is a core ingredient to why I'm successful. It's very easy for me to point to both of my parents, but my mother had the luxury because my father, you know, something I admire about my father, We had so little, but my father was hell-bent on allowing my mother to stay home and mother. And so through his 15, 18 hours a day of work ethic and with her talents in our household,

9:08you know, when I talk about any time I'm brought up, even that intro, when I hear six-time this or great this or the accolades run right through me and I'd point towards them and that makes me happy. Did they ever say the four words that I think are the most important four words in English language, I believe in you? 100%. They said those words out loud? My mother, who was much more of a communicator in my life,

9:39not only did she say that, it was a constant currency in my life. like I would speculate if I can recall properly there was probably not a day in my life between five and 15 where my mother didn't give me some sort of version of that and not like checking the box like it was her natural communication and point of view on you know early on in my life I remember just how often she said I had a golden heart. So anything I did that was nice for another person or for a relative or for my sister, it was always reinforced with you're a golden heart, you're special, you're a star. There was never a day where I didn't feel I was capable.

10:31And let's talk about in the second grade, you grew up without money, and then she stayed up till midnight one night. Yeah. I mean, this is a very emotional story for me. It's why it's pinned as my main Instagram post on my account. So, you know, I moved to Edison, New Jersey, which is amazing because it was an incredible place to grow up in the 80s. And, you know, how old are you? 55. So this is perfect. We grew up... One of my best friends is from there. From New Jersey or from Edison? Yeah. Edison. No way. Yeah. Peter Warman. Shout out to Peter. Peter. We need to hang. So, you know, Peter will confirm this.

11:18Where did you grow up? You're sure right. Right. And so did you play outside a lot? Played outside a lot. So we, like, you know this, and I'm sure you think of this as a parent. I sure do. As much as my mom and dad raised me, Edison, New Jersey raised me. I mean, I've been saying it a lot lately because I just can't get out of my mind. for the kids that are listening, there used to be a commercial at 10 p.m. when we were growing up that would air on network television that would say, it's 10 p.m. Do you know where your kids are? Because our parents literally didn't know. We were outside all the time.

11:50You might forget to know if they even came home for dinner. So I was raised by Edison, New Jersey, and by my friends around me. And my friends loved football. Literally before we started this show, we were talking about football because I ran into Eric Godfrey and Robbie Turnick and Bobby Duffy and these kids that were playing football and I became a huge Jets fan and my friend Eric Godfrey had a number 24 green t-shirt and again this was a lower income town in New Jersey so it wasn't like a authentic custom made jersey it was just a t-shirt with the number 24 on it didn't even have Freeman McNeil's name on the back, but it was just a t-shirt with the number 24.

12:33And another kid, I don't remember his name, he had an 85 and that was Wesley Walker. And so now we're playing football all the time. And I wanted a Jets t-shirt too, a jersey. We couldn't afford that. And my mom made it very clear. She's like, we're not buying one. $30 at the time. Right. And probably 10 with inflation. You could probably get one at Kmart for 10 bucks or Bradley's. But we just did not. The only clothes we had as kids was the liquor T-shirts my dad would get as promotions from the store. Like literally, I did not buy a T-shirt until I was in college because every T-shirt we had was a liquor promo T-shirt.

13:16There were eight of you in the studio apartment. Yes. My core family was two. Those cousins, my grandma, they lived elsewhere. We eventually moved at us. it was just me and my mom, my brother, my sister and my brother came later in 87. But like, the bottom line was, the only money, the only thing that money was used for, until I was 12, was food and shelter. The occasional toy was a monster thing, if me and my sister were to get a toy, a toy. I remember my brother was going to be born in January of 87. I'm laughing right now because I know my sister's about to hear this line and she's just laughing Hanukkah 86 was monstrous my mom was overcompensating for the fact that we were about to have another child and I got three wrestling figures and the wrestling ring and I thought it was like you would have thought I got a Rolls Royce and caviar for life it was just absurd so back then money was just for food and shelter and savings it was all about saving money which is talk about something that no one talks about anymore.

14:24Saving money was the currency back then, as you know, probably as a child. It was in the ether. Now it's not. Anyway, there was no thought of getting a jersey. And I was disappointed, as any seven-year-old would be. And my mom would stay up to midnight for a week or two, or I don't know how long it took her, but she knitted me a Jets jersey and put my favorite number at that time was five, still is. And I still have that jersey. It's got a number five. It's got my name, Gary, on the back. And it is my prized possession. And the reason when I take photos now I put up the number five is it's just a little head nod to my mom, who is my hero.

15:04Did not having money motivate you to be successful? And what's your advice to kids who grew up with a lot of money who may not be as motivated? Because I've seen it both ways. Our summer intern program, there's 32 kids, about half have money, half don't have money. And I've noticed throughout my career, a lot of the kids that have money, they'll say, oh, I don't need to work this hard or I'm unhappy in my job. I'm just going to leave and I'll find something else.

15:37I hope you're enjoying this video so far. But before we jump back in, I want to know if you've ever thought about what you need to do to reach another level of success in your life. Over the last 25 years, I've been an advisor to more than 50 companies. I've invested nearly 100, including Google Lyft and Seagate. And I also co-founded a company that today is worth more than$15 billion. I've been incredibly blessed in my journey. And at this stage of my life, I want to give back. I want to share the lessons I've learned so you can reach incredible success way faster than I did. In my own journey, I've learned that having the right mentor is a massive advantage to achieving our goals.

16:09I'm hugely passionate about mentoring others. I'm looking for a few hungry entrepreneurs who are excited to take action on their journey to incredible future success. So if that's you, I've got an opportunity. In the description of this video, there's a link where you can apply to work with me. All you need to do is answer a few simple questions. And if you're a good fit, my team will reach out so we can build a game plan together. All right, now let's get back to the video.

16:33it's a very complicated question as you know i'm sure based on your background and mine we've given this a lot of thought especially when you have children and have done well and your kids are raised in a different environment than we were and you can't fake environment right and to your point earlier it's hard to be hungry when you're constantly fed and money gives you optionality to be able to choose. I don't want to grind through this. And the ability to deal with adversity and to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations is probably the most important skill set one can learn if they want to enjoy life, period.

17:17Peace of mind and lack of anxiety and content are far more interesting than private planes and Rolexes and houses in Cabo. So what do I think? Do I think not having money motivated me to be successful? I don't think so. Let me explain. One of the things that's interesting about growing up in Russia or the Soviet Union and then Queens in like the housing projects and then Dover and then Edison. I didn't even, I didn't even know what money was. Meaning when everyone around you doesn't have shit either and you're pre-internet and you're not really watching a lot of TV, like you don't know. So when I think about that and then I think about, I definitely did not know we didn't have money when I was six when all I wanted to do was have a lemonade stand.

18:20I definitely did not know. I actually thought we were good, like real good. My dad really grinded. And so, I don't know, we were in the mix. There was kids that I went to school with that literally didn't have lunch money, that wore the same clothes, that smelled. I grew up in a lower middle class. I wouldn't say ghetto or poor, but like poor for sure at first. So anyway, punchline being, I did so many money making activities long before I had any context of money or where we sat or what was out there or what was possible. And then even when I learned like what a Mercedes was when I was 11, it never crossed my mind that I wanted one.

19:05I still have never had a real high end car. What do you drive now? Nothing. I have a driver, so that's even more ridiculous than a Cayenne car. But when I had money, I got a Jeep Grand Cherokee. And to me, I never thought of a car or a watch or clothes as a proxy of validation. So I think for me, and I think this is for other people too, the game. I was, you know, I look at the lights in your studio right now, you know, like in the summertime, like those lights that buzz the, you know, like I feel, I always think about those little mosquitoes or things that go into the light. They can't help it.

19:48I was wondering if they like, no, they're about to get zapped and die, but they just can't help it. And that's how I feel about entrepreneurship. I think I was purebred. I think I was born into it. I think, I think, and you know this, some of the people that we've been lucky enough to meet along the way of success that are very wealthy actually have kids that are fucking grinders and love building businesses. That wasn't a hunger thing. That wasn't a necessity thing. It's their DNA. So DNA is powerful. For me, it wasn't envy or need. I see so many people motivated by they had it hard and they saw money as the way out and there was a chip on their shoulder.

20:30I don't have a chip on my shoulder. I have a curiosity in my stomach. I am so curious to how good am I at this skill? How do I play the game? I'm viewed like chess, like boxing. I like the craft. I think a lot of us have experiences as a kid that helped shape our future. We all do. I was bullied. I stuttered. Talk to us about Dover and some kid making you drink pee. Making you drink pee. But then making you drink pee. I've never heard such a thing. I can't believe you brought this up. I know I've only brought that up in one or two interviews, which again, I'm giving heavy accolades to anybody involved in the research team for this interview or you yourself.

21:14Very impressive. But what's even crazier about this is I literally thought about this either today or yesterday or the day before. In the last 72 hours, I thought about this. I don't even know why. I do know why because it probably meant that I knew this question was coming. That's a whole other story for another day. but it's really fascinating you just brought that up uh i remember it very well i was in dover i cannot even recall what the kids look like but i remember one was tall i actually think i'm starting to remember i think one of the kids name was elliot he was the alpha kid there was four or five kids i was fucking five maybe six and again my mother grew up in the soviet union in the soviet Union, everyone's scared of the government.

21:57So there was no kidnapping. There was no crime. People were just scared. What did that mean? It means kids were outside playing by themselves as early as four. By themselves. I remember my mom telling me to take care of my sister when we moved to Edison. We played outside. We moved in September, August of 82. My sister was born in July. My sister was three and played outside with me without my mom anywhere near. like that's just how it was so anyway obviously if that's how it was that's how it was for me we moved to dover i'm five i'm outside just fucking outside you just literally again you may know this you're just trying to find kids that are doing shit i found these kids they were not good kids and uh and yeah i remember it vividly like i remember it's hazy but it's vivid you know kid runs off to the side peas in the pepsi can i'm i'm very sharp i have common sense i'm not very like i'm very i have a lot of common sense and i'm sharp that's a core strength of mine i have good instincts i know when dangers is a wrap like i i come from like street not like the streets but like i'm a i'm a i'm a jersey kid like i'm not getting tricked like my wallet's not getting stolen like shit like that so i knew something was like i knew what was that's what that's what i most remember about it i knew that it wasn't pepsi but they were able to force me to take a sip you know like and it's not fun to drink another keith's pee you know and i really go home and tell your mom and yeah i'm sure but like you know like the truth is like i don't you know i remember like not drinking it like you know putting the lips you spit it out.

23:43I remember, you know, it's so crazy. And this was foundational for me. Bullying has never penetrated me. Meaning, even then, it's funny where my brain's going. It wasn't fun, right? It wasn't like I enjoyed it. But I don't think of it as like this iconic event. I think of it as a good story that paints a picture of like, not everything is rosy. but I can give you a lot of those events. Like when I think, I had twins move in, big guys, they were Andrew and Gregory, they were in fifth grade when I was in second grade, and Edison, they were tough kids. They were the biggest kids in fifth grade. I was the smallest kid in second grade, and we played football every day, and did make pretend WWF wrestling.

24:31I was getting my ass kicked every day, and they were like bullying definitely by bully standards. I view them fondly as my friends. I just think there was a lot of adversity. I'm sure, I mean, I cried all the time until I was 12. Yeah. I'm very emotional. Yeah. Like, even you getting emotional is, like, starting to trigger me. Yeah. Like, I'm like, I cry. I cried every day. I mean, almost, you know, my mom said, don't worry. You'll be more successful than all these kids one day. And it did. I had a chip on my shoulder big time. Yeah. And, you know, to me, I'm competitive. like i want to win and maybe the chip is so deep that it doesn't even look for me it's just so healthy i'm just always so happy like i i want to win but i don't want you to lose does that make sense yeah like i don't when i compete i don't think i'm taking something from someone i love capitalism in its most purest form because it's just who's better and then like let's all go home.

25:38It's not a winner take all. It's very abundant. Anyway, back to the Pepsi story. Yeah. But like my mom, again, I mean, you have parents in 2025 going to like yell at teachers for a C. That wouldn't even register it on my mom's radar. Yeah. If I came home and said, mom, these boys made, you know, made me drink pee. She'd have been like, okay. Or my dad, like, this is when my dad would show up once in a while. I remember one time we're playing baseball when I was more like 11 in Edison and the guy in the corner like yelled at me and my friends and like it was really not like nice. It was definitely like overly aggressive and like I told my mom, my mom like told my dad and my dad like rang the doorbell and said, don't do that to my son again.

26:20Like I was like, oh my God, my dad like showed up out of nowhere to like be a hero. I like that. Like, but yeah, my parents didn't, like it was the fucking 80s. You didn't get involved in like too much shit. Now everything's so fucking sensitive back then it was just like you know like she would comfort me and then she would tell me to wipe it off and it was easy for me to wipe it off you mentioned you grew up with the gene entrepreneurial gene you had a lemonade stand at six years old you thought about franchising you did franchise you set this up on a street yeah i mean just so to make it clear for everybody But franchising was spending the whole day convincing my other friends to stand behind the lemonade stand so I could pick up the cash at the end of the day.

27:08Okay. And then you did a number of different things as well. You sold blow pops back in the day. You sang Christmas carols as a Jew. Yes. So how does a Jew... That's Robbie Turning's favorite. This is the favorite one. Silent Night. I got it all good. Go ahead and sing a verse. No, no, no. I'm done. That's all I got. And this one is the one that I find most interesting. You pick flowers in your neighbor's yard and then you went back and you sold them the same flower. So how did you do that in particular? And are entrepreneurs who aren't born with the gene as successful as those who are born with the gene?

27:49No, they're not. I mean, they're just not. And I'll jump to that part and I'll go back. Let me tell you why I believe that. I believe that anybody can get better at anything. But I do think talent is a real life thing. How can we not believe that? Back to me not wanting to go more verses, I promise you, if I sounded like fucking Aretha Franklin, I would have finished that song. Back to us talking about football, I promise you, if I was fucking Aiden Hutchinson, I'd be in the NFL. That's my boy right there. The best. You know, so, you know, to me, this concept that entrepreneurship is not a skill is a ludicrous one, if anyone believes it, which I don't think most people are confused by that.

28:33And so I believe everybody in this circle, I'm looking at everybody in the room right now, right? I believe eight of us all got different things. And entrepreneurial talent is one of them. and by the way, somebody in this circle who's less successful entrepreneur than you and I might actually have it. I think having it also draws you to it back to the bug in the light, but let me play devil's advocate. But they didn't put in the hours against that talent. My brother loves golf now over the last 10 years. He's so frustrated that I won't take it up because he knows that the eight or 10 times I've played with him and he knows by the other sports we play with each other, I'm probably more naturally gifted at golf than he is.