Tea with GV Ep #75: Why You’re Getting Views but No Sales

0:00Everybody this is Tea with Gary V. Thank you so much for being on. Aaron you got questions? I'm selling a book about people with autism that have gone on to live extraordinary lives But I have zero sales so far in the past three months My average view count on IG is 10k per video with one video getting almost a million views I'm paying for ads and driving traffic to my website. Viewers are there purchases are not what am I doing wrong? clearly something like That's crazy to me to hear that many views with that few sales for something that's so inexpensive so So friends, I'm going to teach everybody one of the great lessons of business right now.

0:37The number one reason I am sitting here today is because I spent all of 2007 to 2011 interacting with people in comments. The reason VFriends has had a very good launch just now, if you talk to Shep and Curvy and some of the kids on the VFriends team, they will tell you the one-on-one DMs and the content, excuse me, the community engagement, replying to comments in our posts has been everything. I will tell you that what I'm doing right now in this nanosecond is deepening the relationship I have with this audience. 100 % of why people are getting caught in this question is they think views means community.

1:31views do not mean community. Effort in talking to people on DM and in the comments and going live and interacting with people is community. These little interactions, when I mention names, when I engage, when I reply to people on text, when I took that flight last night and replied to four to five DMs, this is depth. This is depth. and I think the reason they haven't sold any books is no one gives a shit about them and that's because getting views does not mean people care. Getting engagement is where all of you have to get up. You have to get that up. You have to go back and forth. On Twitter in 0789, it wasn't even just one reply or a heart or a thumbs up.

2:18Somebody would say something about wine, I would reply. They would reply, I would reply. This was four, five, six, seven hours a night of engaging with 13, 15, 23 people. Rips will tell you, other people, Ross will tell you, people, Zach will tell you. Like in the chat, I keep saying, one person at a time, one person at a time, one person at a time. This is a one person at a time thing. There is no way you should have 10 ,000 views on average and some with millions and zero book sales. It means that the community can sense that you're not in it with them. The end. Yesterday I was in Nashville.

2:56I went to two different card stores. 30, 40 people. Not 5 ,000. 30, 40 people. Shake a hand. Kiss a baby. Hug it out. Answer a question. It is scaling the unscalable that will lead to the leverage you're looking for, everybody. Scale the unscalable. Dylan Y says, what does scale the unscalable mean? Dylan, it means to reply to people one by one in DM and comments on every piece of social media that you post and going live for an hour a day and just answering people's questions. That is the firm definition. So my question is, I mean, I know I need to build a personal brand. Okay. Just by, I mean, but I'm also not blind to the fact that I'm super blessed.

3:41Like I have a really good life. I'm 28 years old on Saturday. Okay, bro. and like my life my life by all any measure is good i have a good job great wife everything i'm also like i yeah i'm interested in a lot of things like barbecuing camping um i decided to go back to school for software engineering um and so my question is like how do i build a brand around that when i have so many interests but i'm not like super deep in any one thing by not overing worrying about that thesis. Like, why is that bad? Why is it bad that you're into barbecuing, outdooring, software, you know, engineering, the Utah Jazz, you know, beer, video games?

4:26Like, I talk about a hundred different things. That's my, I guess my thing is like, who am I and why would people even want to follow what I do? What's your full name? Kiefer Cox. You're fucking Kiefer Cox. That's who you are. but how do i bring value like how do i bring value to people to like say oh hey i'm just this this guy from utah doing what i think is fun by talking about shit you're interested in and seeing if people find what you're talking about interesting okay so it's not like because i thought like oh do i just pick a lane and and go deep into that lane or do i keep doing what i like to do what makes me happy number two okay yeah i guess i guess my main thing is just like who would want to see what I do?

5:14People. Have you noticed what the fuck is going on out here, Kiefer? People just follow people. It's true. That's true. Like, I'm not interested in your insecurity around this issue. Okay. Like, and by the way, the answer might be nobody. There's billions of people putting out content that nobody gives a fuck about because they are not bringing anything interesting. They don't have passion. Yeah. They don't have knowledge. Like, I don't know. Like, but for you to decide that nobody gives a fuck before you tried for a full year posting every day to see if people gave a fuck? And let me play this out for you.

5:56Would it be so horrible for this great life that you have that if you did this for a year and the outcome was that you didn't become fucking Gary Vee and you didn't make millions selling barbecue sauce, but the outcome was you made seven new really good friends in Utah because they also liked your shit and you just became friends through the process because they also barbecue with you and and they rock climb with you and like the outcome of this whole thing was that you made seven great new friends and you had videos on the internet that one day your grandchildren will get to watch and will be able to say, oh fuck, I was like grandpappy.

6:38I also had a red beard. I have a red beard like he did. And oh shit, he was into rock climbing like me. So you would have content on the internet that your grandkids would get incredible value out of and have great memories. You would find six to seven new friends. You might get a random barbecue company sending you some free barbecue sauce out of it. It sounds like there's a lot of winning even if you don't go on to become the most famous fucking person on earth around fucking outdoors. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Thank you. Yeah, I get, it's just weird coming from such a place of like, my life's good, like I don't need, I feel like I don't need to build a brand, but I'm also sold like, I need to build a brand.

7:19Yeah, I think it sounds like you want to build a brand. I do. So build a brand, try. And if it doesn't work, it didn't work. Who gives a fuck? Lots of things didn't work. Like my jumper didn't work this morning. Shit happens. like I don't know like things don't work all the time what do you think the second and third wave reactions to the AI-ification of life will be that's a very profound question Aaron thank you um I have no idea man meaning I do have an idea but people don't like my ideas I don't know if you saw that post we posted yesterday about the grandkids being AI and fucking people had all sorts of feelings of me I've never had so many people tell me I needed Jesus in my life I uh I uh look I think it's big I think it's fucking big I think that this is going to completely change the world in the same way that the internet did and that we are going to have a lot more time on our hands because a lot more is going to be done for us by machines that's going to open up for creativity for love for health and wellness I'm excited about that there'll be some economic changes but I think that the governments are going to play a huge role in this.

8:31My prediction as of right now, and this is a full guess, is that you're going to be looking at Russia, China, America, Saudi, India, actually creating a unified global, kind of almost like nuclear. The way nuclear was so big and was so profound and could change the world. The only way we're here is that there's been a lot of global government alliance. I think there'll be a lot of government alliance. I think China, Russia, America they're going to be scared of what this is all going to lead to I think you'll see some heavy regulation some heavy handed government stuff on this, that's how big I think this is that's my prediction for wave 2 and 3 governments are going to have a lot of burden to figure things out because it's that big big are we going to subsidize workers are people going to get paid to just be alive these are things things that we've not had to think about.

9:28That's gonna bother people. You're talking to somebody who doesn't like lazy. Imagine someone like me who thinks we're too lazy to begin with. Now motherfuckers are just gonna sit at home and get paid. But when you're talking about such profound technology shifts, everything's in play. And I think it's too early to start guessing. But I can tell you that, I'll say this to make this a productive question. Every person watching this show right now must spend one hour a day researching and using AI. Everybody, all of you kids, I'm telling you, one hour a day. One hour a day, no matter what. One hour a day.

10:02One hour a day. One hour a day. All right, let's keep it going. Erin, what do you got? How do I build connections? I grew up really shy. I'm a flight attendant, and I feel like it's a great stepping stone. I just need to take advantage. All of life is based on the following thing. We are scared of things, and the only way to cure that fear is to do it. I was scared to swim. The only way I learned how to swim was to jump in and finally learn how to swim. I was scared to ride a bike. Did not want to. There are very few kids on earth that were more scared to skin their knee than me. That's how much I did not want to skin my knee.

10:42Right? How could I get over it? I just had to eventually be a big boy and fucking go. I had to take my lumps and hurt my elbow and hurt my knee and finally got there. there is no way to break out of being an introvert until you start going up to people and saying hello and dealing with the thing that you feared which is rejection for so many guys so many guys that are watching this they missed out on the greatest moments of their dating life and they're hooking up life out of the fear of even asking in the first place looking at all these dudes behind you, Aaron, they all missed out on some of their greatest stories that they would have lived with forever out of just the fear of going up and saying hello because they feared getting rejected.

11:36That's life. You know, it's not super complicated. There's only one way to fucking defeat fear. Punch it in the fucking face. Because whatever you're fearing is always less scary than you think. I watched my sister get out of line from a water slide a couple weekends ago. Just got out of line. I also watched my brother's daughter, who's six, do it, and then my sister got out of line and left. Walked right back down. Fear. She decided in her head that she was going to be the first person ever to fall off the slide and die. She just decided that.

12:13Fear is the most fake thing in the world, yet it feels the most real. fear is what politicians parents and bosses weaponize against all of you fear is what spouses and boyfriends and girlfriends weaponize against you fear is what society weaponizes against you fear is the biggest issue in our society and right now fear is having a moment. People are more scared today than they were 20 years ago. It's really too bad. I feel bad for all of you, but I'm not going to coddle you. You're a bunch of bitches. You, let me say it slow. Y 'all are a bunch of bitches. And that's the truth. Like that's it.

13:08You're a fucking bitch. and why I say that is you have to understand that's true. Like, you're a bitch and as soon as you realize, wait, I'm the bitch, not other things, that's when you can actually address this issue. Like, you complaining about other people, like, that's you and so it's really, really liberating once you realize you're the bitch because once you realize you're the bitch, you can actually do something about it. When you think that the world's in control, the system's rigged, other people are lucky. Luck is a fun, I need everybody in this world to get the word luck out of their mouth.

13:55Does luck exist? Of course, no. That's everything. That's the whole thing. It's called serendipity. But if you weaponize luck, if you say, oh, Mike's lucky, Dustin's lucky. If you're the person that's using luck on someone to justify why they're doing something well and you're not, you're a bitch.

14:17Did we establish it this morning? You're a bitch. That's right, Dustin. I'm proud of you. That's it. That was enjoyable. Next. If your content hits consistently on TikTok and YouTube, so I don't think the content is outright bad, but it's not hitting on IG or Facebook, even with trying different types of content throughout different platforms, what do you recommend? Been posting consistently every day, everywhere, but no traction on Facebook or Instagram. That's unusual. So I'd love to understand, you know, when I, wait, so hitting on what TikTok and what? TikTok and YouTube. It might skew young or very, very specific.

14:55You know, I'm trying to figure it out. Like, look, Facebook and Instagram is harder to break out on because of the supply and demand of attention. But really it's, you know, this is where I sometimes need to be able to follow up because it's like how long and what? You know, again, for a lot, sometimes you don't break out for 18 to 24 months. You know, like I just don't know how long they've been at it, but it sounds like they're doing the right things. And I think, you know, I kind of think about it like chest muscles for me. Like I did all the right things for like seven years and still had not one chest muscle.

15:29Like my little body was just not, you know, built in a way that that's going to show. And then literally out of nowhere, I just did a different kind of version of a pushup for literally nine weeks and all the groundwork, it just showed up. It's nothing special, but at least I can see it. And I felt really accomplished, but it took fucking nine years. It was plenty frustrating. Like, you know, like, and so I think for a lot of people, like, I don't think he's or she's been trying for nine years and it sounds like they're doing the right thing and just keep it going, you know? Thoughts on starting and growing a business at 62.

16:03I just don't want to retire. Thank you. Yes. I mean one of my thoughts my thoughts is this is a very good idea 62 is a fucking child 62 is a fucking child like I don't know like I don't know what else to say like I know people think it's funny but like all you 20 year olds no shit you guys don't think 62 is young you're gonna be 62 and you're gonna realize how fucking young it is Mike how old are you now? do you think at 18 that you thought 27 was like grown right do you realize now that 27 you're basically the same fucking kid you were at 18 yeah that's it yeah and like you know what's my answer to that question answer is yes next erin how do you prove out the value of a personal brand in building or boosting a business brand intuitively and anecdotally we know it's invaluable and yet so many ceos fail or refuse to invest in their personal brand So what was the upfront part?

17:04How do you what? How do you prove the value of a personal brand? I mean, I think based on what I just heard, whether this is an employee or somebody who's running an agency that does that work for people, you don't. I'm not in the business of convincing people. I just want everybody who's watching Tea with Gary Vee right now this morning to know, I don't give a fuck if you do anything about the stuff I talk about.

17:31I mean, you're not my children. I mean, I'm trying to help. Like I'm out here pushing. I mean, forget gonna, I'm the fucking pushing P guy. Like I'm doing it, right? I'm doing it, but what do you want from me? Like, I can't fucking, what am I supposed to do? Like I'm pushing every day. Every day in my content, I have a full pledge team. I'm employing all of you for us to push positivity, practicality, tactics, and mindset to have a better life. But what do you want from me? And that's how I feel about this. You know, obviously VaynerMedia does that work. When a CEO's like, Gary, I don't think this works, I'm like, that's nice.

18:11Like, what do you want from me? No, of course it fucking works, you idiot. There's a billion examples of it. Like, but I'm not here to fucking convince you. I have conviction, I say this all the time, Have the conviction, don't convince. Like, if you don't want to buy what I'm putting down, don't buy it. I do not care if anybody who's watching right now collects VFriends. I'm just going to make sure all of them regret not collecting VFriends.

18:44I don't know what else, like what else? What the fuck else? I don't need to convince anyone about anything. These are my opinions. These are my observations. These are my passions. I think it's crazy not to build a personal brand, but oh, by the way, CEOs don't have to, like, do you know how many people have huge companies that don't have personal brands? I don't think the only way to win is to have a personal brand. I think it's one of the ways. So that's how I answer that question here. I'll get straight to it. I was just driving. I'm in the Virginia Beach, Norfolk area. Newport News in Virginia.

19:24I have a meal prep business. So it's about four or five employees right now. Last month or last year, we did about$450 ,000 in sales. This year, we're about to double. So about$750 ,000 on pace this year. Facebook, Instagram, doing everything that you can to the best of my ability. You know what I'm saying? like once once a day is you know getting there for me you know what i'm saying so yeah adding adding people to the team um got a videographer um so my brand is um three pds i'll just go ahead and plug it real quick so i got the jacket i had your i had yours on real real fast so we're a three pds um so we're based out of like i said the virginia beach area but we're expanding right now so right now the demographic that we deliver to and do pickup orders for um is just about 500 000 like demographic wise that we're like customer base.

20:16We're trying to expand to like the other side of the water, which is Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, that area, which is about a million customers. So we're already doing, you know, on pace, like I said, this year for$750 ,000 on sale, which I'm super grateful for. It's like, it's amazing. It's huge. How, I mean, the Facebook ads should crush for this business. Yes? Yes. Yes, absolutely. First of all, I'm really proud of you. Second of all, I want you to quadruple down on Facebook ads, quadruple down. All right, Mike, we're going to quadruple down on Facebook ads. Mike, what's your customer acquisition cost on your ads?

20:55We haven't really run a ton of ads. We do rerun them like on sale weekends, like March Madness, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, things like that. Everything else has been social organic for now. And so we're trying to... That's a huge mistake. You can't be doing$750 ,000 a year and not running ads of your best social organic content to the five and 10 mile radius around your business. Because you haven't even, you haven't even come, you have an addressable market of a million customers and you haven't even come close to starting to maximize that area. You're talking about expanding. You haven't done dick shit yet in the general area you're in.

21:34Yeah, yeah. So like when you, this is my question about scaling and me being the CEO, like the head, the number one, being the leader, like, how do you go from doubling year over year and still trying to like, you know, I want to keep balance, obviously, too. Like, it's me and my wife. So we're a husband-wife duo. So we're full time in the business and we have three other full time employees. But how do we kind of keep scaling and keep pushing, but not like overexerting, if that makes sense, like doubling year over year and then to even think about doing that again um because right now um we're in the area of norfolk state where michael big is um become the coach at the um college for football so that's kind of like a partnership and something that i've been working on and that's where i'm actually coming back from delivering meals from right now so um that's kind of like something else like doing the more uh b2b basically with the meals and stuff you're hiring people that's how you hire people faster yes and then you got to fire fast or promote faster depending on what happens with those hirings how many hours a week are you guys working don't bullshit me tell me the honest truth uh the honest truth the last five years i've been six days a week only off on on Tuesdays, pretty much 65 to 75 hours.

22:56Yeah, I mean, you're building a business for yourself and you want to live on your own two feet. 65, 70 feels like a bare minimum. So I think you're fine. You know what I mean? And we're doing the, I'm taking the advice of scaling back. So one of our other full-time employees, my sister-in-law, so she's actually moving in with us to cut back on our expenses and our costs for the next 16 months or so. Yeah, you're fucking doing it, man. I think you're doing it right. I think you should hire a little more. you know more hiring yeah but you also have to run ads because you'll get customers faster gotcha love you what advice would you give to a 21 year old in college trying to balance work and school I feel like missing out on school because I'm way too off balance and putting so much time on my work I think that's fine

23:47I mean these questions make me laugh I don't know, neither one of them are gonna matter in five years, how about that? Like, real talk, 21 years old, school and work, I have a funny prediction. At 26, it's not gonna fucking matter. The mindset you're learning, the habits you're getting are gonna matter. But the school work or the fucking current job doesn't mean dick. I got a secret for all you motherfuckers on this show today. Nothing matters. Yeah, Court. You like, how about that motherfucker? You guys want a real brain fuck? You want real brain fuckery this morning? Nothing actually matters.

24:37Like, it's all chill out here. It's all good. You like that shot? Like, everything, you are capable of fixing everything. Everything is fixable. Everything is fucking fixable. Like, because you could take dramatic action. This is what everyone's scared of. People are scared of dramatic action. I said to my trainer yesterday working out, I will move to Peru in the middle of nowhere and eat carrots and read books that were printed 500 years ago and be fine. Nothing scares me. I am not scared. The fuck am I scared of? What are you scared about, y 'all? What do you actually fear? The fuck are you scared of?

25:29It better not be opinions of fucking strangers. It is, Dust. That's what fucking kills me. I'm dying on this hill. I'm not scared of the opinions of my most precious loved ones. the fuck am I gonna worry about? Let me pick a random name here. The Guy Seeker on Whatnot right now or Quazo or fucking Salvatore. I don't give a fuck. Salvatore, fuck you. Like what do you want? What are you all scared of? The fuck are we worried about?