MicroVee: The Worst Business Advice I Ever Got — And How It Made Me Win or

0:00Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Gary V audio experience. Today, we have another micro V for all of you. This one's a deep dive into the worst business advice Gary's ever received. Pulled from an interview with Fortune's Mossimo Marioni, this quick hit is packed with reflections on success, mentorship, and the advice Gary wishes he got when he was 25. If you've ever struggled to define success, this one will hit. Let's get right into it. A gentleman once told me, Gary, in retail, you can do price, selection, and service. You've got to pick two out of those, and that's how you build a business.

0:32and I sat there as a 22 year old and I'm like fuck you I'm doing all three and I built the biggest wine store in the country or one of them and it was because I didn't take that advice and it was bad advice I think when you operate something you should do everything you can for a customer What's the best business advice or career advice you've ever received? You know I'm comfortable saying what I'm about to say I think I taught my dad more than he taught me I know that's like it's just real life I feel that to be true but that motherfucker taught me that my word was bond and that you needed to honor your word.

1:05And I believe with my personality of gift of gab that there was a worse version of myself that was in the cards had I not been parented well and he tweaked me in a way of like old school. My dad literally thinks a slight embellishment is like an aggressive lie. And that was a jolt to me because I grew up as a sales kid and I would tell Harry, I would be like, where's this from? I'd be like, oh, it was found in a rare attic. It's like, I would do anything to get her to buy this bell. And that is, my father changed the course. So that's the best advice. Your word is bond. Like, that matters. You're a successful, very successful entrepreneur, best-selling author.

1:46What achievement are you most proud of? The fact that now at 48 years old, there is a substantial amount of human beings that walk around the earth that are asked, what's it really like to work for Gary? Or what's he really like? And that I know that 93.7 % of them have incredibly good things to say. And that is by far my biggest accomplished professional. Was there ever a point where you considered yourself a success or is that an ongoing, evolving journey always? Yeah, I think I decided I was a success probably when I was 10. I played it reverse, I think, in hindsight. I kind of had this really early framework of, I think I figured out that school doesn't matter and that being nice and being good at something does.

2:38I've never thought of it as success. Like, I don't think today, like, I'm a success. I kind of feel like I've always felt that I was a success. I think that's really good mothering, to be frank. And I think that, I think the luck of the draw of humility as a dna tree um not to be not to be uh in conflict to conviction and competitiveness and i think i'm you know it's a funny mix but honestly i've never thought that i i've made it or i made it i've never thought in the terms of success successful people never often do is that true yeah yeah that's cool yeah makes sense but i sat next to your parents i think for the lunch yes uh very humble very lovely people yes thank you they do you know if they ever considered you Because they must have done something that they thought, my boy.

3:27Yeah, actually, you know, it's funny. I'm going to go run and ask them right now. Actually, I'm not even kidding. I don't think I've ever asked them, like, what was the moment? And they may say when I did the Conan O 'Brien show, that was wild. I was running a wine store in New Jersey, started this YouTube thing, and then six months later, I'm on the Conan O 'Brien show. Or maybe right away, because I built a family business pretty big. But, yeah, I mean, as someone who has a 15 and 11-year-old now, I get it. Like, I think, you know, all the little things my kids do well, I'm like, everyone, you know, like, it's what we do.

3:59It's a very fun thing. I'm enjoying getting to an age where my kids are a little bit older, where I can even appreciate more why my parents are proud. Like, I get it. You just, when you love your child so much, anything they do makes you kind of weirdly proud. Yeah, absolutely. And as a father too, I tell you. You get it, right? Look at how fast they ran, you know? I know. Oh, my God, you know. um whose career inspired you when when you were when you were developing your businesses or maybe still does no one and that's not an audacious bad statement i just didn't look at it that way um richard salzman owned a liquor distributorship i have no clue how big or not good it was i love that his people adored him and ironically the reason i probably just brought him up is he just passed away.

4:48And my father texted me from the wake, I was traveling, and he said, you will not believe how many people were there. And I smiled like a fucking motherfucker because I'm like, that's the life. Forget about the accolades or that. And it was people like that, the Richard Salzmans of the world, more than the Bill Gates or the Steve Jobs or the JP Morgans. I was inspired that you could be rich successful but nice. I hated nice guys finish last from my earliest of age and I think now that I'm getting into my middle part of my life I hate it even more. And so I was always inspired by kindness that didn't compromise financial success.

5:34Sounds like you're saying something like the sum of who you are is more important than the sum of what you have. Do you know any very rich people have four people show up to their funeral? Yeah. I think that's life. Yeah, very true. So this is one you've probably been asked in numerous guises over your time. What are the foundations and fundamentals that you need to build success that you think you can narrow down to a few things? Humility. And on the other side, blind, audacious, optimistic conviction. Polar opposites. hard work like real hard work but so much self-awareness that you know when you need to rest competitiveness but you understand it's a game so you don't actually hate that's the framework i live in very opposite traits that create that strength of accomplishment and do you have any particular habits or repetitive things that you've done throughout your career which have you know stood you in good stead and and you believe have been sort of the cornerstones of yeah i i have a uh framework of like aggressive perspective every day that something bad is going on which is every day when you're at the scale i'm at i just remind myself that if everything was going great and someone in my family was sick that i wouldn't care and so what has made me very capable is I am completely detached from my public persona and my professional success.

7:15I don't get my validation or affirmation from it and so I would say aggressive perspective. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Gary Vee Audio Experience. We will see you next week for some more incredible episodes.