Codie Sanchez x GaryVee: AI, Marketing & Building a Lasting Business

0:00Today, we have a man who is not only able to predict the social media trends of today, He's been doing it for the past 30 years. He's got an audience of millions every single day listening to him about how do I go viral? How do I build big businesses? What is going to happen in the future? And today, we get into stuff that he's never talked about before. If you don't know Gary Vaynerchuk, well, you've probably been living under a rock. He has a multiple New York Times bestseller. He has multiple nine-figure businesses. But what I think is most interesting about what we talk about today is he's going to make some predictions on what's going to happen with AI for all of us.

0:37He is going to tell us the secret place today to find underpriced attention. So how do we get more money into our businesses by double tapping on this? And he's also going to hit you with what I consider to be like, I don't know, an adrenaline shot level of intensity about why to keep going, how to keep going when things get hard, and what it takes to be a business owner that survives over the long term. Gary Vee is somebody who's become a friend of mine over the past year. And listening to him talk about things I've never heard him speak about before on the internet was really a true pleasure.

1:13So I hope you guys have as much fun as this one. I'm gonna listen back to it because I wanna build businesses as big as this man did. Without further ado, Gary Vee. What are your craziest predictions when it comes to AI? Well, I've gone pretty viral lately because my craziest prediction is that most people's grandchildren will marry an AI robot. Fuck my life. Some of them will, not everyone's going to, but I think this is the biggest thing we've seen since the internet. It's that big. When the internet came along, my thesis when I was a kid was, oh, this is like, like I bet my life on it, and the bet was, this is the biggest transformation ever, and like everybody will be on the internet, and when I tell you, when I said that in 95, six or seven, people laughed.

1:58Laughed. when people are like, when they talk about AI, I don't think they realize it's oxygen. Like when I get excited about the blockchain, NFTs, Bitcoin, that is a big deal. When I get excited about social media, that was a very big deal. Email, Google search, these are big deals. This is a level above. This is internet and AI. Meaning, I view AI as almost boring to talk about because is it fun to talk about the internet as a foundation? Like no, we talk about the things on top of it. To me, AI is now like omnipresent. It's a reality of life. And there's a real decade of recalibration, reckoning, disruption, opportunity.

2:44I'm baffled at anyone who's not spending an hour a day learning about AI and using AI. I couldn't imagine. And I spend a lot of time prompt engineering, you know, just, if you don't know what that means, Google it or AI it. And that's what's so funny. like even Googling it I noticed I said to somebody the other day I'm like AI it like go Gemini it go Perplexity go Gronk it go OpenAI you know chat GPT it like it's like it's huge and it's like the wildest predictions are the internet of things it thinking for you it ordering like I think all of shopping will be done by agents for you based on your behaviors like it will know better that you wanted that outfit than you knew Facebook already knows me better than my husband with my shopping preferences.

3:30Most days know things better than husbands know. We're a bunch of idiots. I think that it is very clear to me that we are going into a transformative half century where AI will be like the piping of this reality. Piping, railroads, infrastructure, oxygen, whatever you want to call it. This is the biggest thing that's happened in a long time. let's give people a couple things to do on that somebody's listening they're like alright fuck it Gary told me to do AI what does do AI daily in order to get better at it look like inside of Twitter X using Gronk perplexity or Google Gemini or probably the one that chat GPT is so strong and so easy and common for people download it and use it every day like and then use it to like here's how I use AI hey AI like hey this is what I do actually almost every week what are the five AI apps that popped in the last week that I should pay attention to AI is answering that question for me so that I can go look at those apps and understand what's happening also real quick because I know a lot of smart investors listen here be very careful in investing in AI the reason I haven't yet is every week you think you just invested in the best X and a week later somebody crushes that the speed You want to talk about speed?

4:54The speed in which these apps are getting updated and better is profound. It is the first time that I am annoyingly an evangelist for tech that is not something I've invested in or own. I won't shut up about it. I'm like, whisper flow. Fuck the keyboard. The keyboard's gone. Oh, the keyboard's gone. Yeah, you just voice text, and it's perfect from now on. I mean, that's wild. What about the fact that nobody has to learn a language anymore? everyone's gonna have ear pods that like you're gonna talk to somebody they're gonna be speaking Spanish and you'll hear it as English and you're gonna speak English and they'll hear it as Spanish and Portuguese and Korean like there's profound things coming but the wildest one is we're gonna fall in love with these you know AIs and then we're gonna put that in love AI into robot bodies and those robot bodies are gonna go from looking like RoboCop to looking like you know Megan Fox Sydney Sweeney and you know that Megan Fox movie is a preview yeah does that make you sad?

5:54no it doesn't no no it makes me it makes me understand that this is how it's always been you know like cavemen were different than you and I were supposedly we were apes right? so like does it make our apes mad you know like shit changes like look I'm not people are always like Gary that's gross or like you need Jesus I was like, I'm like, look, I'm not advocating for it. Yeah, you're just predicting. Like, in fact, I'm like advocating for simplicity. I think it's, I'm sad for people that wear gold chains and fucking like take pictures in private planes. So like, I love when people are like, this is sad.

6:34I'm like, you're sad. You know, like, this is what's brewing. This is what could happen. You're asking for a prediction. I'm guessing, but it fucking feels like it's coming. I think you're, sadly, I think you're right. I do think it's a little sad, but that is every generation. But by the way, I go back to this. We're in charge. If you think it's sad as a human one day, you can parent and grandparent your kid into understanding the value of a human versus a robot. The problem is that we have to get more comfortable with being uncomfortable. The reason the robots are trending, in my opinion, long term is we want everything perfect.

7:18It's exactly why. You know? But by the way, like, are we, like, are we robots? Like, let me explain. Ozempic, vanity, hair extensions, boob jobs, fucking testosterone, HGA, like, makeup, like, you know, like, people can argue we're sad. We become very, very, very visual. Like, 40, 50 year old men and women, like, you and I, two generations ago do not look like the way we look. And those people can say we're sad. Why do we have to alter ourselves? What's plastic surgery? What's Botox? You know? Gary's going to be like this in 10 years, maybe? I'm probably not, but I don't judge people that are.

8:03I just judge when they say something sad when they're doing the sad thing. I remember in the 80s when boob, like I was a kid, but I remember when everybody frowned on someone who had a boob job. And now they're everywhere.

8:19you know what I mean it's true and so and so like I don't know is lip filler like sad to a woman from 1949 it sure is they think you're fucking sad zoom out huh so just because you think a robot's like like it's just gonna keep doing shit and I get what people are gonna say in the comments like yeah but that's still a human being I'm like okay like I don't know like okay. I hired an AI specialist who's so amazing. You walk into my office, the first time I meet the guy in person because we were interviewing him on a project basis. Anyway, he's sitting in the front area of my office. He's got a hoodie on.

8:57He's got those, what are those things called? VR glasses. And he's just fucking maestroing in front. And I'm taking a little video because it's funny. His name's Chadwick. He's brilliant. And his entire job is to see where AI can play in our companies. But I started talking to him about this idea and he pushed me really hard on our humans robots. He goes, should they be able to vote? Immediate reaction, fuck, no, they shouldn't be able to vote. He goes, okay, what about a human with a fake leg? What about a human with two robotic legs? What about a human with a neuro transplant in their head? Where does it become a human instead of a robot?

9:29And I was like, poof. Yeah. And by the way, it might not even be right. like meaning like like it could be the end of the human race and i'm like okay like i don't do you think i want that but my intuition is that my grandkids will be gone by the time that happens and like you don't get to control the future like what is this all date this is where this is where the whole politics thing has gotten me crazy like we've gotten to this era where people have the audacity to think the world should be how they see it i have passionate points of view we just spent fucking an hour on it. I don't think I'm right and I don't think it should be the way I see it.

10:10Like I just, and most of all, you can't stop it. You know, technology is undefeated. By the way, as I sign off, electricity demonized when it came out. Actually, the word demonized. When electricity was invented, people did not put it in their home and still chose lanterns and candles because the word on the street was electricity had demons in it. We're scared of new shit. I want to talk to you a little bit about building big companies. You've built a ton. And so with your current knowledge today, I'm curious. Let's say you had to go back, back to your wine days almost. Let's say you owned a laundromat because I'm into those things.

10:53So let's say you own one laundromat and you had to start your entire empire from one laundromat today. What would you do? What would be the playbook? content. Yeah, because you and I are part of a breed that admires a single laundromat owner. And I think you have really done a good job of tapping into something that I think is black and white, which we talked about the last time we hung, like this whole, whether you call it micro P or just practical business, obviously Main Street is the way you think about it. I think there's a huge opportunity for a lot of those people to build a brand. In fact, that's what I did.

11:33I built my brand. I am that person. I didn't even own the business. It was my dad's business. I was the person who built it. But my original content as Gary Vee, after five years or during the five years of doing the wine show, my original first ever thoughts about business and life and perspectives were literally out of a liquor store, one store, and I built my brand. I could have easily, if that's what I wanted, opened up 10 more stores, did micro M &A, and I would have built a very substantial franchise or independently owned multi-unit business, which would be worth a lot of money. And in today's environment would be a very attractive PE acquisition as every small business is going to get consolidated, it feels like these days.

12:24so I really the number one thing I would do is get into content for two reasons one if you're capable building your personal brand I do believe is a moat I've always believed that it was the moat I've talked about it for 15 years that it's the moat it is the one true asset that doesn't get commoditized even in the AI world you still have your IP it's your copyright it's you two if you learn to be a content creator the other thing that worked with me and this was hand in hand and this is what I want for this person is you start getting good at running ads and doing content for your business too so in my brain what I'm dreaming up right now is Sally's building up her she's like I did this this is how I bootstrapped it or I how I inherited it or whatever's real here's what I'm doing here's my day-to-day troubles here's how I think about it oh my god coins when when people stopped having change on them we had to put in And he's, you know, swiped her credit card or, you know, like, you know, just like the battle stories of that business.

13:27But also what she will learn in the story that I'm telling is she'll learn what really every, and by the way, I know a lot of small businesses listen. So let me give it to you very straight. Disproportionately, the biggest opportunity to grow your business, traffic to your business, average receipt size is to run. If you're a local business that people come to is to run 10 mile radius Facebook ads. And so Sally, in this journey of building up Sally, the laundromat entrepreneur, would also start to learn how to be good at these things, which she would then be able to use to run ads to her business, which is advertising matters.

14:06It's always mattered, and it will always matter. And so content. You know what's so interesting, too? In your story, I remember looking back at those old videos of you in your wine business. And today, everybody wants to have a set, right? we're on a borrowed set. This one isn't mine, but you know, they want to have this fancy set, but you know what the sickest set is today. You're actually a laundromat. I think so. You know, cause it's show don't tell. It's like, no, no, I own this. I'm not, there's no fluorescent lights here. Watch me do this. You don't think I own it. Look, I'm right here. I believe the best studio in the world is the world.

14:38I tell my clients, which are mainly fortune 500 companies. I'm like, look, let's make content at stores, in parking lots, at festivals. I genuinely believe that. I've always believed that. I was honestly the Pied Piper in 2009, 10, 11, 12 of no production value. Wine Library TV didn't even have a mic. No lighting, no lighting, no mic. Literally whatever the camera picked up. And so, yeah, I agree with you. I think that store as studio is a big idea. It's a good framework. Yeah, I think so. Store as studio is something that I've really championed more privately than publicly. So I'm glad we're getting to pontificate about this.

15:19and I think that's right. Yeah, and it means you don't have to have a bunch of money because I'm all about the great equalizer. Like yesterday, my husband and I were kind of laughing in New York because New York's such an equalizer city in some ways. In the best way. Yeah, so I could drive like a fancy black car, which sometimes I do, and guess what? If you hoof it or if you subway it, you're faster than me. And so that's a cool equalizer. That doesn't exist in a lot of other places, and so I think this is a good example for content. The best-performing ads for a lot of our businesses are exactly what you said.

15:49It's like, it's a window cleaner, cleaning a window and then it reveals a price. Like that's it. There's no production. And so - Production often, often, again, is disguising insecurity. A lot of people talk about production. If you listen carefully, it's just an excuse to not do. Anyone who says I can't afford it is full of shit. It's called an iPhone. You all have one. The end. Nothing else. Zero. I did it for fucking a half a decade. A$239 camera from Best Buy was the only thing I used. Nothing else. Nothing. Such a good point. You know, you've mastered these underpriced attention platforms at varying times.

16:39You talk about it in all of your books. At any given time, there's an underpriced platform. So let's give the people the non-Evergreen. What is that today? Where is the underpriced attention today? live social shopping, if you sell anything, and this is huge for your crew, if you sell anything, you know, that's not like a physical thing, not a service. VaynerMedia doesn't do this. I can't do this with VaynerMedia. We don't sell a physical thing. If you sell a physical thing, which a lot of you do, every one of you has to learn everything you can about TikTok, shop, and whatnot. W-H-A-T and O-T.

17:16Those are the two leaders right now. I expect Meta, Google, Twitter, everybody to get into this game. Live social shopping is the underpriced attention. There are a ton of creators right now who will never get millions of followers and make millions of dollars. But if they switch to being someone that sells something on social instead of making lifestyle content, they will make millions of dollars. So smart. I literally think garage sales and flea markets are going to happen in live social shopping. It's not just someone who starts a beauty brand. Or like those storage units. Kate, we're doing your storage unit.

17:48She has one here that she's had for two years. She's paying monthly fee. She's paying 25 bucks a month. We should just do it live on YouTube. Not YouTube because they don't have that yet. So I want to turn it into a YouTube video but do it live on Whatnot or TikTok. You can make a YouTube video because that's great because that's content. But the QVCification of social media is here. Listen to these stats. 30%. This is a stat. I'm always a little weird with stats, but this is real. China is fully here. China's got obviously one of the biggest economies in the world. Live social shopping in China, now by the most conservative estimates, represents 30 % of all e-commerce in China.

18:32Get the fuck out. A half a trillion dollar economy of live shopping in China that is bigger than almost every nation's economy. in the U.S. I just had the CEO of QVC. He put out this stat that I'm going to try to validate this week, but it feels right-ish. He's like, we're already at 6 % on live shopping in the U.S. and no one's even seeing it yet. What's that? Do we know what that is compared to what QVC used to be? Because it was like a lot, then nothing, then now growing. QVC has always been a ton. Okay. And it's not a lot. It was still doing an ungodly amount of business. There's something about the behavior.

19:17You're almost like paying for the entertainment. You're like tipping the host. You're like part of the community. I have this concept called commerce-tainment. So ready, how about this? You're a hairdresser right now listening and you sell shampoos and other shit, soaps and all the fucking shit in your place, right? You can go live on Whatnot right now. at the bottom of the screen is like this$12 shampoo and you could just buy it while you're teaching people how to use the shampoo on a customer. This is real. Tea with Gary V, which I really did really well during COVID. I've brought back. I love doing Q &A.

19:56On Tea with Gary V, I now do it on Whatnot, not on Instagram Live. I do it on all my socials, but I drive to Whatnot. I drink out of a VFriends mug and the mug is pinned at the bottom of the screen and while I'm doing the show, people are buying the mug. Get out. Commerce-tainment. I'm not even selling in that format. It's just subliminal right there. Yeah, or I'll make a reference. I'm like, hey, you like my mug? It's a mini commercial. It's not even a commercial. Interesting. Uh-huh. And you just like experimenting. That's part of your thing. You just never stop experimenting. Yes, after it's been validated.

20:34Okay. I have a trillion dollar stuff of stuff sells in China. Now we have those functionalities. It's going to happen here. Gary Vee, you're the man. Thank you for being here today. Thank you.