The #1 Secret Ingredient to Growing Your Business

0:00This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience. Gary, good to see you. Great to see you. I have a lot of people that follow on social media, and I don't have the answers, but they're like, how do I become an influencer? And mostly what I've been able to say is, I'm going to talk to Gary Vee real soon. Because you don't want my advice. But I consume so much of what you put out. That's very kind. So if someone had that basic question of, how do I start and be an influencer, what would you tell them? the two things that always stand out for me are passion and knowledge so let's name it the pk framework right like i i think there's only two ways to become someone that people follow you're so passionate uh or talented i think we can add a t in there like you're just so inherently funny and so talented i think the reason i always go to passion is there's a lot of people that are talented but if you don't have the passion to get there the drive the the energy it's too hard it's actually too hard you know right now currently as you probably know four billion people are trying to become famous i think we can both agree that four billion people have not achieved it it's actually shockingly easy and shockingly hard to make it right now what's the easy part the easy part is distribution has been commoditized there's no gatekeeper you know when our grandpapies were growing up, if they wanted to be known, they had to go to Hollywood or New York and someone had to discover them, say yes.

1:32So many people gate kept distribution. The internet is now distribution. And if you're Sally Pants McGee in Peru right now and you have a smartphone and an internet connection, you have the ability to start making content that for some whatever reason people will give a crap about. And that is a level of meritocracy that I think is intoxicating. so that's changed dramatically I feel the same thing with music because I live in Nashville and so a lot of new artists or artists that maybe aren't new but haven't hit yet they're talking about hey how do I make it and it's like you have every opportunity because even 10 years ago correct it was you had to be signed to a record label because you had to have distribution that's right but now it's universal distribution yes and the previews were there a long time ago I don't know what just happened but it triggered me to a story.

2:23Mike Boyd, who is a very senior executive in my marketing company in the music division, met my brother the first day of college back in 2009 or, excuse me, 2005. And my brother calls me and says, this kid knows everything about music. I said, challenge him. Tell him to tell you a musician right now that eventually will get famous. He told him, three years later, or we're driving to a Jets preseason game listening to Hot 97. And my brother freaks out and I don't know why and he's like, oh my God, Gary, do you remember my freshman year when you said, thank you so much, to ask Mike Boyd who's gonna pop?

3:05It's this person. That person was Soulja Boy and Mike Boyd found him on MySpace. Really? Really. So even back in 05, 06, I think back to Young Jock, Rick Ross, All Gold Everything, how that song for Trinidad James blew up. You started to see some cracks, but now to your point, like TikTok is real discovery. Every A &R is living on there. They wanna see it work before they take the risk. It's not going to a bar at two in the morning and being like, Motley Crue's gonna make it. And so, yeah, I mean, I tell artists all the time and I have a lot of fun receipts on the internet. Gunna, Dochi, Sweetie, people that were so early in their careers where I'm like, you have a shot, but this is what you need to do and it's the answer to your opening question which is, and this is gonna hurt a lot of people's feelings.

3:55Quantity is a secret part of the equation that everybody who has pride does not want to admit is true. There's this inherent conflict between quality and quantity that so many artists and ideological individuals want to uphold but the truth is quantity is an incredible ingredient in breaking through. It is really at bats at making the piece of content that changes your life. And I'm a very big believer in it. Now, many people will make 10 ,000 pieces of shit and never make it. Quality has to be a part of the equation, but you'll appreciate this. Quality is subjective. What is handsome, what is attractive, what is fun, right?

4:45Quantity is not. And while we have this era of social media where you can post something with nine followers and get four million views, I hope everyone understands that is out of control. That is a mitzvah. That is a wild phenomenon. And I think many will regret when they look back at their lives, realize they were born during a time of opportunity and merit that was never pre-available. And I actually predict there'll be an era where the glasses or some other medium will come along and change our world and that the cell phone with the internet, with social media, was an incredible gold rush of opportunity for people that had passion, knowledge, or talent, hopefully the mix of the three and that's how you become the LeBrons and the Beyonce's.

5:32And I think that's where we're at right now, brother. I think when you say quality, some people will be intimidated by the word going, I don't know if I have quality or if it's good enough. To me, what I would often say is change the word quality for compelling. Yeah, that's fair. It doesn't have to be that you're the greatest guitar player or you're the greatest speaker. I don't feel like I am technically a wonderful speaker, but I can sell at theaters. I do a national radio show. I do the show on Netflix. I'm not a great speaker, but I can say things that people find compelling, or I can tell my story that I find compelling.

6:06I think that's what quality is to folks. how are you compelling how does it resonate whether you use the semantics of changing the word quality to compelling it comes down to self esteem versus insecurity if you're what do you mean I'm wildly insecure which is often one of the ways to get to the top I think about this all the time it's wild to see extreme and then even high levels of insecurity or confidence get you to a place I would say that if you tell someone who's like scared when Gary said quality that if they're insecure and you're telling them compelling, they're still like, well, I'm not compelling.

6:46They just changed the word. You know, my question very simply to start off this podcast immediately is when are you all willing to get the fuck out of high school? When are you ready to not live your life based on some random person's comment or your neighbor thinking it's silly that you're talking about skateboarding, even though you're a 48-year-old dude? When are you ready to just jump into the pool, kiss the girl, ride the bike without training wheels. When are you ready to be grown and see through something that's in your belly? You feel like you want to be out there. By the way, on the record, I don't think everyone should be out there.

7:25I'll tell you something interesting about me. Had it not been a vehicle for my business hopes and dreams, I don't even know if I would be a person that had social media. I don't know if you know this, I'm one of the most prolific content creators of the last 20 years, I share nothing personal. I'm actually wildly inherently private. You know, I was born in the Soviet Union, I grew up in a household that privacy was high valued. Had this not been about using notoriety and awareness to create opportunity for me professionally and for business purposes, I actually understand why so many people would never attempt to be known.

8:01I would have been one of those people. In fact, I never thought I would ever be known. I thought I'd be a business person. the calculus of the world changed. The internet, YouTube, Twitter, kind of really allowed me to see it. I was in the right place mentally and strategically at the right time. But yeah, I mean, I think this is a self-esteem and security game, to your point. If you have enough insecurity, you use it. It's a weapon. It's a weapon. You want to prove everyone wrong. If you have enough, if you got lucky like me where your circumstances of DNA, where you grew up and ultimately the parents you had and specifically for me, my mom, mine's like the other side of that pillow.

8:40There's such a extreme level of contentness and curiosity and I just feel good. And at some level I feel guilty. I feel like my mom did so right by me that I kind of used Gary Vee to do right by the world. It's almost my homage to my mom. Now you talked about what was easy, no gatekeepers, but what's the hard? Because you said it can be easy and hard at the same time. Oh, it's hard because you're competing with the entire fucking world. There's someone prettier posting right now. There's someone smarter. There's someone more compelling with their words. There's someone with more tenacity. There's someone with more grit.

9:17There's someone with more opportunity, circumstance, serendipity. This is pure merit. What do you find about people that succeed in art? And that can be music. It can be any kind of influencer. What do you think the through line is there? something out of whack yeah that's what i say yeah screw loose yeah that's right so now here's where i think you know i feel like reviving i think you're going to really resonate what i'm about to say if those screws are loose in the right way then you have sustained success if the screws are too extremely insecure like they're just levels if you're like blisteringly insecure oftentimes Sometimes when you get that validation financially, you get the guy, you get the girl, you get the house, you get the fame, it all fucking, that's why we've seen so many people burn.

10:09They had the wrong screw loose. And so, but yeah, I think something enigma, something out of, you know, I know I can speak for myself. I got fortunate that I was going through the school system in the 80s where they couldn't have diagnosed all the things they feed pills to kids for now. I was completely out of control. I didn't pay attention for shit. I was too passionate about my sports cards and my lemonade stand and being social and being friends. I didn't give a fuck about Saturn or the periodic table. But that worked out for you. And for me, in a bit of an outlier type way, I was that kid who got to have Napster.

10:53And I grew up in the South where until Napster, you got, what was it, at the stores. Correct. And what was at the stores was mostly a little bit of hip hop, a little bit of rock, but mostly country. And I grew up on country music, but I had Napster now. And you got so much exposure. Now I got everything. And then even with podcasting, I was 21 or 22, and I was one of the youngest to do a morning show on a major market. And people were like, this kid's so ahead of his time because he's podcasting in 2008. But it was, no, I was just in my 20s. You just knew. I was just doing it naturally because of my age.

11:26By the way, you know what's funny? I am one of those weird ones where I act down. Just because I'm a consumerist, meaning I also was podcasting back then. I didn't have the serendipity of age. I had the obsession of being consumer-centric. I demonized nothing. Do you know how many people become their grandma? You made fun of your grandma back in the day for not having a cell phone or using AOL Instant Messenger, and now you're doing the same thing with AI. because you're grown you're demonizing the new shit motherfuckers you became your grandma hey everybody hope you're enjoying the podcast right now make sure you follow the podcast that's why I'm interrupting let's keep going on this show but follow the podcast it'll make my mom super happy like you literally made fun of her 20 years ago for not knowing how to use the new shit and now you're like fuck AI it's not right and I've made the comparison to when streaming was happening people were screaming at it because nope, we're disc world.

12:28When downloading was happening, AI is now that. And now to be fair to everyone who's demonizing AI, this one's big. Didn't they say that about when Napster or LimeWire or we can - That was a small, that was an industry that was upset about losing its money. This is more like electricity and the internet itself. this is a technology that's gonna affect literally every single person. Like right now as we're filming this, there's six of us in the room. Every one of us, what we do for a living, is going to be affected by AI over the next decade. Now, I'm the person that believes if the six of us are good enough, we adjust.

13:12We adjust. You know, where was everybody when the search engine was invented and 100 ,000 yellow pages salesmen got blown out? Where was everybody when Amazon was ravaging through local bookstores? The reason everyone's on tilt right now, I don't know if you saw the commencement speeches, right? Everyone. Everyone. I was so glad I had one two years ago. I would have been dead. Now I'm good because I'm improv. I would have adjusted and be like, yeah, you're right, fuck AI. But these people stuck to their script and were getting murdered. People are scared and I'm empathetic to that. It is never exciting to be like, can I lose my job?

13:49how do I pay for my kids, my rent, my debt. I just ask everyone if you've stumbled on this podcast and you just happened, you know, you could have been anywhere. You're with us right now, walking the dog, in the gym, in the car. Use AI. Don't fear it, because if you put your head in the ground, somebody using it is gonna take your job, not it. And so I just implore everyone to play with it, because it's an inevitable, like technology laughs at human opinion. it always has it laughs like do you know stupid metallica looks historically like do you know bad that receipt for bill gates has got his own headaches but like the receipt on him on letterman like like everybody who tries to fight technologies advancements because they're worried about their money always looks silly so for me it's kind of like if you love the game you got to love the game not what it does for you.

14:45I like feel like, I bring this up a lot, Trane's a big Star Wars nerd, so I think he knows where I'm going, because I use this analogy a lot. When Obi-Wan's like willing to die to Darth Vader for the better cause of the Jedi game, that's how I feel as an entrepreneur. If AI was the technology that was gonna come along and fuck me up right now, and destroy all my businesses, I'm ready. I'm ready to go back to a studio apartment in Queens and rebuild, because I can't love the game. I can't love capitalism and entrepreneurship and merit and truth and the game only when it benefits me. I have to love it purely.

15:20And so I've been really enjoying all these entrepreneurs and capitalists and free market people be exposed for bitches. I love it. I love all these people like, it should be merit, it should be merit. But now that AI might come and get them, they're like, wait a minute. Where's the regular? Yeah, when you're getting fucked, you're like, where's the regulation? Well, this happens. It's like the whole thing with the, it's why the fuck the police thing was never gonna work. It's like, oh, police, police. But then when you're getting fucked, you're like, well, yo, 911, motherfucker. Yeah, it's like, no taxes.

15:51My house is on fire. I need the fire. Uh-huh. Yeah. When it comes to, do you think people that are creating AI have humanity in mind at all? Like the Sam Altman. Ish, ish. I think it's really fun to create villains. I think people need, like I think just how humans are, we wanna villainize people. I think a couple things. News alert. Do I think people have self-interest? Yes, I do. But do I think people are inherently direct pieces of shit and want death for everyone? I do not. Of course, there's some tough people that have come along in history, but I don't think Sam's sitting there and being like, oh, this is awesome.

16:28I'm gonna get all the money and everyone's gonna be fucked. First of all, I think the technology's so... If you really know what's going on... I don't know what that means, to really know, because I feel like I kind of know. I don't know if I really know. Well, if you really know what's going... I appreciate that. If you really know what's going on, I will tell you, because I'm fortunate to run in some pretty interesting tech circles, they're all scared of how big it really is. It's kind of a little Frankenstein. It's like this monster is pretty, and if you look, it's not hard to look this up.

16:55A lot of the leaders of all these companies do talk about like, hey, we're trying to figure it out. Like this is big, big. And so, look, I'll be honest with you, I'm much more concerned about governments than I am about entrepreneurs. like everyone's like oh Sam Altman and then when we have like police dogs with missiles on their backpack AI dogs running around like let there be no confusion everyone like Anthropic and OpenAI and all these companies they're very powerful you know what's more powerful? America and China and Russia like I think what we're fearing the governments the thing I'm most interested in is what is full-scale surveillance and police state look like in society.

17:40Like planner is kind of what it sounds like to me now. Like how the government's using it. That's AI. I mean, that's just, and they're in there. And it's just like, I just think people forget that government, for example, on the jobs thing, let me bounce around a little bit less daunting. If we have 30 % unemployment, let me give you the news alert of what's gonna happen. The government's gonna print cash and people are gonna work three days a week. And by the way, news alert, 90 % of people are gonna love it. Let me say it again. remember how much everyone loved COVID? You sat at home playing video games and drinking fucking champagne and the government's sending you money in the mail?

18:16People loved it. I fucking hated it. But again, you and I are sitting here for whatever reason. Like, I think, and by the way, what if extreme capitalism led to a form of socialism? Like, let's call a spade a spade. How many people on earth, let's just use America, how many of the 330 million people would love to work three days a week and make the same amount of money because the government's subsidizing it because they're taxing the 10 companies that made all the money. I have a funny feeling a lot and I have no judgment on that. I wouldn't like that. I want to create, I want to build. It's in my blood but I don't know.

18:53There's some really interesting untold stories that are gonna play out here in the next 20 years and I'm curious but honestly, real talk, I'm optimistic. I know the last five minutes, a lot of people got spooked or worried. I just would not underestimate the human being. What you're saying now reminds me of the conversation that Elon Musk was having. I've seen him have it in a couple different places where he talks about how in years there will be a living wage. It will be just that AI will do the jobs. People will be able to stay at home. There's no reason to save for retirement. And he's acting like this is happening in 10 or 20 years.

19:26But it is wild to think that, we'll call it super capitalism because my brain could result. You like that, right? I've been playing with that line. I'm like, wow, what if extreme capitalism triggered a form of socialism? I'm like, that's a brain fuck. After all 100 years of debating this, that was the outcome? Yeah, I mean, I never saw that 10 years ago. It looks very, you know, the Plinko board, like what path are we gonna take? It's definitely one of the paths. Especially if you understood how money is made. You know, if you really go very highbrow and very thoughtful, the world is predicated on weaponry.

20:05which then allows a country like us to print money in perpetuity based on nothing. We've been - We have more weapons, bigger weapons. You got it. Right? Like it just goes back to third grade. The kid that grew, did you have a friend that like was fully his full size by fifth grade? Yeah, big shout out to Garrett Van Fleet. Garrett Van Fleet, known in our parts of Western Jersey as first to touch net, last to touch backboard. Was a monster in sixth grade, has not grown since. We're that monster in sixth grade, and so is China right now, and that kind of keeps the world at bay because everyone's scared, and who would have ever thought that atomic bombs were actually going to lead to peace?

20:47That's the most counter-take ever if we're sitting and doing this podcast in 1949, and that's why I actually think this whole AI demonization reminds me a lot of the atomic bomb. It is one of my hypotheses. I don't know if I'm right or not, but I don't think a lot of people in 1950 thought the atomic bomb was gonna be the anchor to unprecedented peace. It's the ultimate checks and balances. There you go. So what if AI became the ultimate balance to work-life balance? Wow. So would AI within countries in your mind, is it a race within countries to have the ultimate AI because then you have the biggest atomic bomb?

21:27Yeah, but I think they get commoditized. You hit a certain level, much like atomic bombs, where it's like maybe, like I'm not educated enough, maybe our atomic bomb's slightly better than China's or vice versa, but the punchline is they're both fucking atomic bomb. I think AI's gonna, you know, everyone's like, which model? I think it's like big data in my marketing world. Eventually you realize that the IRS and Visa and MasterCard and Walmart, like everyone had enough data that it kind of got commoditized. I have a funny, and you see it now, right? It's not like I have to predict on this. Like most of this shit is like, oh, today Nano did this and tomorrow, like it all feels like there's 13 that are all Hicks field versus you know runway like it feels like all of them are kind of like one upping each other every fucking week and they're all just like gonna be fucking epic and like what a brain fuck like for example I think I'm gonna launch a music album because of AI I have a lot of things I want to say and I'd be a great rapper big issue I have no musical talent but the words I say are very much in that vein which I think has led to my popularity and I love hip hop and I want to make it for myself and then I just might leak it and sell 40 million albums.

22:36Do you feel okay with the booing at the commencement speech that will happen to you if you make an AI album of music? Yes, which is why I wouldn't do it until I felt the world felt that that was okay. Like I want to do it now but I have a very good feeling not only would I get booed, I might even get stabbed and I prefer not to get stabbed and very honestly, I'm too empathetic because I love the music genre and I love all of those artists, so many friends and so many people I admire. I know it's not the right timing now and I want to understand what the culture, what humanity feels about it, but the technology's there and I know it's going to happen.

23:17It's already happened. If we go less existential. Yes. And I got a lot of people from the states that I live in, Tennessee, Arkansas, Iowa, Alabama, that are watching this going, well AI doesn't really affect me, but I would love to know how it could affect me positively. How can somebody that has a normal job, going in, grinding away, how could they use AI to benefit their lives? I mean, a lot of ways. I mean, I think, you know, first of all, it's just opportunity. You know, again, it's internet, it's social media, it's pure opportunity. So I think first you just gotta spend five hours using AI to educate yourself about AI.

23:53It's very meta. So just getting on like a claw. Yeah, and by the way, like, you know, listen, I have offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I do a lot of stuff in Minnesota. Like, I've been very middle America out, even though I'm a Jersey boy my whole life. I don't think this is a middle America versus coastal versus first world country versus third world country. I think this is just mindset. There's unlimited people in middle America that are already deep into Claude and open AI, and there's unlimited people on the coast that are demonizing it. This is just a human binary thing of, are you an optimist or are you a pessimist, right?

24:27And I think if you're an optimist or if you're in the middle, if you're purple, not red or blue on this right now, I hope this is the podcast that just gets you to download it, at least taste it. You know, I'm not even gonna get into harnesses and personal computers and OpenClaw and like all the shit I'm already doing and others that are very off the charts doing. I think just using it for information. But like when we get into agentic agents, like eventually just so everyone knows, in 15 years, your AI is gonna be shopping for you, reordering stuff for you I think the biggest pro for AI let me just curveball this because I want everyone to hear this this is often the singular thing that gets people to look at this technology slightly differently the biggest pro is what it's doing in medicine here's a trade let me ask this very simple question if I told you that this is how life would have worked out if AI was not invented like just seven years ago you won't lose your job you won't but your daughter's going to be diagnosed with a deadly disease that was unable to be found without AI and will pass away at 13 years old I don't like it I just have a funny feeling everyone's going to trade the job part for the health and well-being and the extra decade with their mom and the extra 60 years with their daughter and I'm incredibly ecstatic about AI medicine because people's lives are about to be saved at an unprecedented level.

25:54So I'm very bullish on that. And as far as the job part, where does accountability come in? Right now you're listening to this podcast. You are being told information that you should put in the work of 50 to 100 hours to know how to use AI and that will help you either create a side hustle or get another job. Now the question is, are you gonna do it or are you tired, lazy, non-motivated, indifferent and you're not gonna put in that hours and this is your strategy and if you're listening at home, I've just crossed my fingers and I'm about to do the whole, I just blew a lot of air in my mouth, big cheeks.

26:30Is this your strategy? Because that is not a strategy when there's a big technology and people should know that. If you're grown, if you're over 40, you watch what the internet did. You watch what social media did. You watch what the iPhone did. You should not be delusional to how big of an opportunity and how much of a risk is in play with this new technology. It scares a lot of people because I think that's what gets the most, it's gonna strain the most. Those videos being fed the most because more people are commenting on them. The videos of AI doing good do not hit as hard because again, they're not getting the same amount.

27:03As someone who's been putting out content that is good for the last 20 years, I'm very aware that people peddling negativity and hate do better than me that are peddling love and optimism. I just don't care. I guess my point is a lot of people are just seeing all the negatives with AI because those videos do better and they're served more. And I'm asking people to be fucking adults and do 360 work and be accountable. They're listening to us right now. I'm telling all of you right now, verbatim, that AI is likely the best thing that's ever happened to you. Now what? Now you get to decide if you believe me or if you believe someone else.

27:41I would just tell you that, let me tell you my 20 years of receipts. I've made content for 20 years giving you all the angles of opportunity for yourself and I've told you the whole time that I cannot help you you can help yourself. Now let me tell you who's peddling all the stuff that's scaring you. You're not capable I'm gonna scare you and vote for me or give me your money and I'll help you. You decide who you wanna listen to.

28:06That's some real fucking talk. Yeah I agree with you because I've been able to see the advantages of it. I also understand the fears of it because that's what people are being fed the most because that's what's getting the most reaction. Yes, but at one point, is there accountability? There's not. Well, listen, I understand we're in the greatest era of pointing fingers and we don't like to point thumbs. I have a problem. You're grown and you will pay the consequences of your actions. If you literally are not willing to be accountable, if you do not want to put in the work to take advantage of these opportunities, maybe there's an argument that you should lose.