Chasing Purpose Over Profit: Finding Meaning in Your Work

0:00This is the GaryVee Audio Experience. Hey everybody, before we start today's podcast I put out a new deck I know the pyramid deck changed everyone's life Go to garyb.com slash attention A free, how many pages is it Sid? A free 47 page deck That is free That will change your business, your life, your brand, your world Go check it out Now to the podcast Thank you Okay, so here's the idea We have five questions and we want to invite the audience to ask some of the questions. Please. I would love to. You speak a lot about speed. Speed. And then slowing down. Yep. And then speed again. Yep. Could you tell us a little bit to all these people that is here why it's so important to speed up and then like make some passes in order to create a plan?

0:56We're all human beings. I don't think this is gonna be confusing to any of you. There's certain times in your life that you're very high energy and you're excited and you wanna do. Then there's certain times when you're tired and you need rest. I am shocked by people's inability to not judge themselves. I'm gonna say that again nice and slow. I am shocked in the inability of humans to not judge themselves. When I'm going hard, I don't think I'm burning out. I don't think I'm hustle porn. I don't think I'm a workaholic. I think I'm being practical in what I feel in that moment. When I am resting, when I take a weekend, a month, there has been years in my career where I've been slower than I was because of things happening in my personal life.

1:52I don't think I'm a loser. I don't think I lost it. I don't think I'm complacent. I think I'm a fucking human being. Stop beating yourself up.

2:06I think that's a great way to do it. You want to ask something? Yeah, I was telling you a question. Like I was telling you backstage, I have a podcast I started almost three years ago and I've seen it in the podcasting industry where it was so much. Where do you think it's going now? Because I mean people were on Instagram before and then it was TikTok and now it's a podcasting world so where do I think come at the end of the show? I was doing podcasts in 2010 when you were a thought in his mind. I love it.

2:39So I'm gonna give you a really good answer that's gonna help a lot of you. This is actually, thank you for asking that question because it's gonna allow me to say what I'm about to say. This may be the single thing that helps the most people in here. I'm passionate about this one. I think everybody thinks in or and I only think in and. So I think podcasting will keep going and I think social media will keep going until there's a huge shift in distribution. It's why I talked about glasses. But with glasses, I don't know how many of you have used the meta glasses but the audio is incredible. Most of my friends that are now wearing the Ray-Ban meta glasses no longer have AirPods.

3:26That's how good the audio is. So when I think about that, I look at all the people in the audience with glasses. In the future, when I'm speaking, I'm gonna be thinking, are these guys listening to a podcast while they're watching me? Because it's that seamless. I'm not kidding when I say we're gonna be robots. It's one step at a time. This is the beginning. Do you know what? I want all of you to stay for a second and remember the last time you either lost, broke, or really, really, really fucked up your phone, how you reacted. You see? Step one. Step one. You literally, like if I literally came now and said, bad news everyone, I have to take your phone and you can never have another one, you would be fucked up.

4:17Step one. So, I think podcasting will stay. I think because podcasting is radio. This is just, you understand? Social media will stay because social media is television and magazines. Everything changes and nothing changes. You understand? And so that's the game. You're welcome. Change on the distribution. I focus on distribution. And once I understand what's happening in distribution, I only focus on the creative that can work on that distribution. That is how it works. So when cable was invented, that changed the world. Just like when television, I mean, my friends, you know, if you're lucky enough to have somebody in your family who's 100 years old, talk to them.

5:06They didn't have a television. Phone. So, you know, people are bad at history. I was a very bad student, but only one subject that was very good at history. And I never understood and now I understand. It's how I think. I think in pattern recognition. I'm good at the future because I'm very strong at the past. You understand? Yes, the history. Yep. So we have one question in the audience already. Okay, over there. Hi Gary, it's a pleasure having you here. What's your name my friend? My name is Juan. Juan, pleasure. so i i really admire your perseverance and content creation and you i feel you really do it from your heart yes and like i feel like if you do it i inspires me that i can do it myself too so thank you for that thank you and my question would be what would you recommend me to would be a key thing to build authenticity when developing my personal brand and to connect with others by never saying anything you don't believe in.

6:17And I'll expand on that for all of you. In 2009, 10, 11, 12, when I was starting to pop off, there was other people, because we all kind of predicted Twitter and Facebook. But then I watched all of them guessing because they wanted the feeling of predicting something right. They were just guessing. The reason most of the things that I say come true is because I wait till it became true. Let me give you an example. One of the biggest opportunities for everyone in here today is selling things on social media and live shopping. One of the biggest things that can change someone's life in this room is live social shopping.

6:59TikTok shop. Literally going live and selling product. It is going to be humongous. and I'm talking a lot about it and 90 % of the people don't know it and in three years I will get a lot of credit but there are multiple people right now making millions of dollars a month selling stuff. The other thing I'm very good at is I also do. So once I realized it was happening I don't know how many of you follow my VFriends my Pokemon Marvel thing but I'm selling we sold$40 ,000 worth of t-shirts in my office last week in two hours. As me as the host, as me as the strategist. So when you want to talk about doing, I never ever talk about anything.

7:44You want authenticity? I don't talk about anything I haven't tasted.

7:53And that's that. That is why we call this community the doers. They are doers. That's what you're pursuing with. I love it. Thank you, Gary. Thank you for coming. I think this is the dayable because some weeks ago, I was dreaming that I was in this place asking you this question. Amazing. What's your name, my friend? Alex. Alex. Nice to meet you. Do you have any advice for us to get our own purpose? Because sometimes we're just chasing money, and we're not sure if we want to do this for the rest of our lives. Yeah, don't chase money.

8:37Maybe today, this is a thing that don't feel my soul or maybe. It makes you money for now. Yes. But that's okay. This goes back to what I said earlier, Alex. If right now, look, money, like I talk, and a lot of you know this, I talk a lot about like don't do it for the money. But money is a thing in our lives. It's okay, don't demonize money. I'm an entrepreneur. I like making money, but I don't like making money to fill my soul. I like making money to give me optionality to fill my soul. And you don't need that much money. Long ago, not seven figures, not eight figures, not nine figures, six figures gave me plenty of optionality because there's another thing I didn't do when I started making 100 ,000 a year.

9:30I didn't start buying things to impress other people. There's a real interesting thing about money that nobody wants to actually talk about. Most people want money to buy things to hide their insecurity. The fuck do you think these watches and Lambos are? So there's nothing wrong with you seeing something or doing something right now that is helping you make money that's good for you and your family. You're also a young man. The first 12 years of my entire career from 22 to 34, I worked 100 hours a week building a business for my father. I didn't start my career until I was 34 years old. I was definitely not making money because my dad didn't pay me shit.

10:19And I was building a business for him. But that's what was in my soul at that time. And then when it wasn't, and I wanted to build something for myself, I went and did that. So you shouldn't beat yourself up because you haven't found your purpose yet. You should actually be happy that you realize that you haven't found your purpose yet. Ooh, you like that, right? That was some shit, brother. That was some shit. Ooh, that was a good one, Dustin. You better clip that. That better be on fucking Instagram next week. So, bro, that's it. You know? The improv is so much more my natural place. So that's it, bro.

10:59you're welcome hey everybody actually if you're a really hardcore listener you know I never do this I'm sorry to be jumping in the middle of the podcast but the truth is I'm like shitting the bed on this everybody else is getting people to review on Spotify and Apple and like the Vayner Nation does none of that because I've never asked so if this podcast has ever meant anything to you please go to Spotify or Apple right now and leave a review by the way even if you give me a one star review because you think it's shit I respect it but just leave a review an actual review four or five stars and the actual details of why yeah that would mean something for me so thanks now back to the podcast so we have another one hi hi um i spoke today about ai what i want to understand how your company is about services creative services so how you are facing this digital transformation of ai in your own company and your services too to me ideas are still going to be the punchline.

11:57I know how to use AI. A lot of people are gonna know how to use AI. To your point, anybody who makes content will be affected by AI. If I can make a video or a picture in three seconds for no money and instead it would take three people $50 ,000 to make it, that's disruptive. I don't think we get paid for the doing. I think we get paid for the thinking. and so the word prompt engineer is gonna be something everyone eventually is gonna know. So to me, I'm happy for the thinkers because it's the thinkers, the people with the ideas, the creatives that are actually getting the leverage from AI. The creatives are not getting put out of business.

12:43They're the architects. The masons are getting put out of business. The people who just hear your idea and then make but don't have an idea of their own. That is what AI is going to do in our world. It's gonna do a lot of things in a lot of worlds. But today, I feel that people are still confused because it's early. But by the way, let's say the AI gets so remarkable that it's doing the thinking. I'm never scared about technology putting me out of business. I take it on as responsibility that if I see it, I have to change my business. If my marketing company has to start selling mangoes and hot dogs or hats, then that's what I will do.

13:26I am not romantic. I am not ideological. Those are things that get you out of business fast. First of all, thank you so much to Fred for making this experience possible for all of us. Thank you. Thank you, really much. Clap it up, what the fuck?

13:52Thank you. You're welcome. To be honest, since last Tuesday, I didn't know who you are. Right? And it's pretty fucking amazing and crazy because the Tuesday, I asked to chat GPT, who are the best marketers in the world. And you were in that place. And I started following you by LinkedIn. And that night I connected to Fernando Ansures and I won this wonderful pass. But what I want to know, please, is who or whose are your mentors and how did you find your passion and how you don't quit in this passion. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.

15:03Mentally, passionately, emotionally, my mentor are my parents. That's it. Professionally, marketing, you're my mentor. And he's my mentor. The reason I became who I became in marketing is I've never read a marketing book in my life. In my life. I've written a lot of them. I have only, since I was six years old, been mentored by you. All of you. I've been 100 % for the last 43 years of my life making every marketing decision by watching human beings. The humans are my mentors. They're my boss. They show me. And when social media came along, I accelerated because I didn't have to just watch them in real life anymore.

16:00I could consume them at scale on social media. There hasn't been an election that has surprised me, not just in America, anywhere. There's not been a fashion trend that has surprised me. There has not been a decline or an emergence of popular culture. I talk a lot for a lot of people because I put out a lot of content. But 99 % of what I do for a living is listen. I'm watching. And so my mentor is the world. Hello. There you go. Hello. There you go. Thank you, Gary. Pleasure. I'm Lucas. Lucas. Hello Lucas and I just want to share a little story. Please. Last year I saw you for the very first time in Cannes, in Cannes Festival.

16:44Yes sir. And you inspired me a lot. Thank you. And I cannot believe that today I shared this stage with you because I just opened the event today. Amazing. And I just want to tell you that if I did it, you also can do it. Yes. Okay, so cheers for yourself and thank you very much. Thank you, Lucas. You're so inspiring. Let's clap it up for our opener today. I have a question. I have another question for you. Do you predict trends? I don't predict trends. I'm very fast at observing trends, then jumping. I don't have any fear of wasting my time. Many of you, you like that? Many of you don't jump on things because you think it might be a fad.

17:33And you're like, well, if I give TikTok all my energy and it disappears like Vine or like Peach, well, that was a waste of time. You're wrong. The reason I was so good at Snapchat and TikTok was all the hours I spent on Vine and Social Cam and Photo Booth, apps that you don't even remember. I learned the craft of short-form video on other platforms and then one stuck. You value your time when your time is not that valuable. Yeah, that one fucking hurt. You notice? You notice? There's a lot of people with ego and they're like, I don't have time. You have fucking time. I have 3 ,000 employees. I produce 50 pieces of content a day.

18:15I have three full-time admins just to check my email. And I have time. The fuck are you talking about? And where is Gary's league going? Where are you going? I mean, if I was born in America, I'd be going to the White House, but I wasn't, so. So, you know what, honestly, I know, that's a little bit of a joke. I already, I'm not going anywhere. I've been where I'm going. I am a person that deeply loves his family. I'm a person who deeply loves positivity over negativity and I'm a person that feels guilt with how fortunate my circumstances were. I was born in the Soviet Union, one of the worst places in the world to be born.

19:06And I got lucky enough to get out and come to America where entrepreneurship was championed instead of demonized. I was also born to the single greatest mother that the world has ever produced. And the way that she played me, I got the luck of the DNA, but then she also molded me. I have guilt and gratitude of how it worked out for me and now I'm incredibly passionate to use those gifts that I was given in the way that I communicate and the timing in the world that I live in where I can reach everyone to try to do for all of you what my mom did for me. So where am I going? I'm gonna be in the same place for the rest of my life, I promise you.

20:00I'm gonna build businesses, I'm gonna spend time with my family, and I'm gonna continue to put out information that I think could help people with no expectation in return. I am comfortable to sell things when I'm excited to sell them. But I don't see much changing for me because this is who I've always been long before any of you knew who I was. Amazing, amazing. One last advice. Oh, you have one last question. Hi Gary, my name is Veronica. Hi Veronica. I'm a holistic therapist. Yes ma 'am. And a holistic consultant. Amazing. We are facing a shift of paradigm. Yes. An epoch is ending and a new epoch is coming.

20:40In previous time the codes were left in stone. Now the codes are left in digital. So every content we are doing is plasming the huge matrix and the internet. Not the internet. The blockchain. What you're talking about, this is why I'm obsessed with the blockchain. The blockchain, the internet is owned by corporations and countries. The blockchain is owned by no one. The real artifacts of our society will live on the blockchain, not the internet. What's your position about this new human with new consciousness and with a new wifi that it's a racing? The Mayas call them the sixth race. Yes. I'm a very big buyer of what you're talking about and you probably know that because you could probably see what I'm talking about.

21:32No, I didn't know your good work today. I'm talking about right now. I watched you watch me. Of course, of course. So I knew. Yeah, look, I think we have spent the last hundred years overly logical. The last hundred years, we have put the brain on the pedestal. The next hundred years, we will put the gut on the pedestal. I literally, look, you see? I wish you could see my goosebumps. My friends, the last hundred years, more, the last three, four hundred years, we have put the brain on the pedestal. The next pedestal will be your intuition, will be your gut health. It will change the world in a very positive way.

22:19The faster, the better, in my opinion. I'm so thankful for your question because I get to say this as I'm leaving. The number one mistake you can make is to not listen to your intuition. The number one.

22:35I will tell you why. If you go with your intuition, you will be stunned how much better it is than your brain. But more importantly, when your intuition doesn't work out, because there's a lot of variables in life. You might have made the right decision, but something weird happened. You'll still feel good. Most of you are anxious and not light because you're fighting your intuition. The result won't matter. The process of following it will. I hope you hear that. Love you. Love you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here.