The Power of "Maybe" in Business & Marketing | Best of The Pivot Podcast

0:00AI. No. I'm like, maybe yes. Right? No. Yeah. Yeah. It could end up being no, but I start with maybe yes. Because if you start with no, you're cooked. When you start with no, it's over. When you start with fear, it's a wrap. The world's all fucked up because fear is on offense. How am I so patient? I have no choice. I want to win. When you're not doing it for anybody but yourself, it's slow. in the macro we're the best in the micro we pay attention to the 0.1 of the worst that's a bar of fuck man give me some this is the gary v audio experience you have a hustler's mentality right like your focus is like hey you got to continue to work you got to continue to put yourself out there and give yourselves opportunities to succeed Sometimes though with the hustler mentality comes impatience.

0:57Yes, sir. How are you able to know I'm trying to get this thing, I'm trying to move this needle this way, but I need to be patient to allow that to happen through my consistency. Because I want to win. You know, I love talking to athletes and you know how much love I have for all of you and you're the professional athlete community. Is it a good idea in professional football to throw 45-yard bombs on every play on your opening drive? You're gonna pick the ball off on a second play. I just don't understand how people understand. How am I so patient? I have no choice. Like when you are trying to make it happen quick, often it's because you're insecure.

1:34You know this, a lot of us came up different but in similar ways. People want it so fast because they wanna close the gap of their insecurity. I wanna make a quick money because I wanna buy that watch, I wanna have that car, that'll let me get the girl, and then you all be like, he did it. when you're not doing it for anybody but yourself, it's slow. You know what's cool about the internet is the receipts are there. My early content was like black and white advice. Like be on YouTube. It's gonna be big. Use Twitter like this. Facebook is this. You know, the apps are gonna be important. So, you know, I was really like given more like CNBC business stuff.

2:12And then I was like, wait a minute. Why is no one doing this? And then I would be out and about. And now all of a sudden I'd be at a conference where a thousand people would be there. and I didn't even know better back then. I would just stay and talk to everyone after a talk. My first talk, I stood there for seven hours talking to everyone because I thought it was crazy. People wanted to talk to me and I was like, wait a minute. People are insecure. I don't even know if I said it that way. Back then, I was just like, oh man, I'm built different. I got lucky. My mom, my dad, all that stuff. So the real answer is because I want to win and shortcuts is an easier way to lose.

2:49Would you consider yourself a visionary? I think I have visionary tendencies. I think that I'm very good at seeing around corners. I'm incredibly intuitive. You know, I keep going to sports because it's my favorite thing and I'm with you guys. Like, secondary play. You know, you get to the high levels, you gotta be careful because everyone's good. But like as a kid, backyard football, I was so good at picking the ball off because I would just watch the quarterback. Like, I'm just, the anticipation. You know what I'm very good at? Not saying no. That's an interesting place to go maybe. Might unlock something for someone.

3:26AI. No. I'm like maybe yes. Right? No. No. Yeah. But you still got to navigate it. It could end up being no. But I start with maybe yes. Gotcha. Because if you start with no, you're cooked. When you start with no, it's over. When you start with fear, it's a wrap. The world's all fucked up because fear is on offense. Both sides of the political aisle, all the bosses, all the corporations, everyone's weaponizing fear. They're all doing the same exact thing. I'm gonna scare you on immigration. I'm gonna scare you on socialism. I'm gonna scare you on, like, just all the same stuff. It's fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.

4:13So anything new, you know, So the internet, people thought that, again, I'm a little more grown than you guys, people thought it was really stupid. You guys were little, like I was just getting into the business world, everyone thought that was a fad. There was unlimited articles that I looked up to those magazines saying the internet will be done, this is stupid, in five years we'll like, and social media, that you guys know. Social media was corny when you guys were, right? I was like, I don't think so. Like all the nightlife guys that I know that are my age that run all the best spots, they laughed at internet kids back in the day.

4:51Now they recruit them. They're the most important people coming through. Right? So I'm just very good at, you know, Super Bowl, let's go take it to your game. Super Bowl I, 30 ,000 empty seats. You know what that meant? 30 ,000 empty seats. It was not a big deal. Now it's, well, 30 ,000 empty seats. and empty seats, forget about. Tune in and all this, so, you know, I'm very good at maybe with a sleaning to yes, I'm also very good at willing to put myself out of business. When you start making paper, let me give you an example. I've watched you guys from day one, which is why at Cannes I'll give you love, I want the brands to invest in you, I want you to win bad.

5:36I'm still mad at you for that game, I bring it up every time for that Jets game, you really hurt us in that one. and I'm mad at all of you actually as a Jets fan but now you guys build and like I'm watching this and like this I mean I'm like so joyful right now and I'm like but here come AI influencers and here comes this and what if podcasts starts to fall up most people when they work so hard for seven years and they get in the spot where they're about to cook and some new stuff comes they're like that's bad what they're really saying is I'm scared but sometimes when you're seven years in and building what you need to build you might need to jump on that thing to double accelerate instead of you're gonna lose anyway.

6:21One more sports reference you can never be in prevent defense in life because just like in football you will lose. What fears do you have as a leader in your space? What are some of the things that are true that could truly be negative that you would warn people against? the only thing I'm personally scared about is the health of my family. Real fucking talk. That's real, right? Like, I'm not scared of AI at all. Humans have shown consistently. You actually want to get off your fear of AI? Go read about the history of electricity. Go to the library because that's the only place you can get this.

7:01It's crazy. Libraries are important, y 'all. Because I like doing research. You like it too? I love libraries because everyone just thinks everything's on the internet. A lot of stuff's not on the internet. But you gotta go to the library, it's weird as hell. And once in a while, I do it. Rarely, once every 10 years, I did it for AI. I knew the answers to AI were in electricity and I was struggling to get enough. So I just went to the New York library and literally read old articles from the New York Times in the 18th or 19th, it's crazy. And it's all the same, man. People were scared shitless.

7:31Listen, we now know it. Could you imagine being around with electricity? Everything was candle. people thought there were demons in it people would not put electricity in their homes because they thought there were demons in it humans are scared of change in a real way people hear something that scares them AI's gonna do this it's gonna be written with biases right that was the first thing 18 months ago we better be scared of AI because all the white dudes from San Francisco ironically were here are gonna write it and it's gonna be glad for minorities and women. Okay, next. The one that's got everyone shook.

8:11Do you know why everyone hates AI, right? Everyone's scared to lose their job. Straight up. 100%. By the way, electricity changed everyone's job. You thought this was your run club era. Turns out, it was more of a thinking about run club era. The good news? Someone's marathon training is about to start. Sell your workout gear on Depop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. They get their race day fit and you get a payout for trying. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now. Depop. Where taste recognizes taste.

8:51Pool days call for cookouts and lots of laundry. This Memorial Day at Lowe's saved$80 on a Charbroil Performance Series 4 Burner Gas Grill. Now just$199. plus get up to 45 % off select major appliances to keep dishes, clothes, and food fresh. Having fun in the sun is easy with us in your corner. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid through 527. While supplies last, selection varies by location. See associate or lowes.com for details. I'm last terminated. Yeah, I get it. I get it. My belief is the following. Man, are you familiar that there's something called the atomic bomb? Are you familiar that it's been around for 70 years?

9:37I just believe in humanity, bro. Real talk. I believe in the human spirit. Straight up. And so, I want to have this analogy. Please. The way you use the analogy, I want to make sure it's clear. In your mind, it's, hey, we can have these things, like the atomic bomb. Yep. But if people do the right things with it, it won't lead to the extinction. Better than that. Humans have shown we do the right things in the net. In the micro, a knife is bad. Let's talk about the knife. We should ban him. Someone stabbed someone yesterday. In the macro, we're the best. In the micro, we pay attention to the 0.1 % of the worst.

10:27That's a bar of fuck, man. Give me something. That's real shit. I never see anybody say that on the show. That's some real shit. It's a mean conversation. I adapt myself.

10:46I think about this every day. I don't know what happened. Thank you, God, for the mom you gave me, the circumstances you gave me, my inability to be confused. I walk around earth every day and I see nothing but love. Straight up. I'm aware that if you're looking for negativity or hate or you're shook, rubbernecking, the fuck are we looking at an accident for? Nosey, yeah. I get if you turn on the news. I get how the algorithms work. There's no politics in my algorithm. There's a lot of Jets football, Knicks, cards, wine, happy, joy, rainbow. By the way, I can change every, don't believe me about the algorithm?

11:30Everybody, don't believe me that you're in control of the algorithm, not the algorithm on you? Right now, everybody, stop the podcast, go to Instagram, go to search, type in rainbows, enter, like three posts, out. Go back to the search, put in happiness. Like five pieces of content, out. This is the most important part. Type in Gary VEE, follow that account, like three things, go out, put it down. Come back in the morning, show me your stream, email me, Gary at VaynerX, tell me what happened. The algorithm isn't controlling you, the algorithm is exposing you. You want one today. I am one today.

12:11You want one today. I'm clear, I'm clear today. Man, do you know why I'm so excited about AI? Because I have zero musical ability in my body, but when they make this AI music, I've got real bars. I'm gonna be the biggest rapper in the game, I just can't sing. I just can't flow I have none of that shit I got that white fucking man shit in me but the AI is going to give it to me I'm going to be like alright give me a Metro Boomin fucking beat and give me a little baby Cadence and wheezy on the end prime wheezy like Carter Ford like boom but all my words now play I'm going to fucking own Spotify I'm going to own because the shit I've got to say is so fucking real and I'm often counter cultural because I don't fucking follow.

12:57Hey everybody, I 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. I have a question about evolution. Please. You don't become an all-time great without evolution and you continue to use sports. I'll use sports. Tom Brady, greatest career of all time. Yes. Greatest player of all time. Please don't remind me. But he got me involved. Hell yeah. The first Super Bowl it wasn't about Tom. No, it wasn't. He had to make sure he didn't make a mistake. It was about defense.

13:28I remember that game. To MVP Tom Brady. They don't win at that point. And then he becomes the greatest of all time. Wins three more. Goes to Tampa Bay. So that evolution of, what is it? Sir Isaac Newton. Right, whatever he said. He was like, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Everybody was like, ooh. And he was basically kind of just like. That was a real bar, by the way. Yeah, he was like, you do some stuff. He was basically like, you do some stuff. He was like, you do some stuff. I just have a hundred percent. But that's how knowledge adds because at that time nobody never stated.

14:01Yeah, that's right. There are some people who may know what you know, G, but they don't state it. They don't put their brand behind it. They don't put their name on it. They're not willing to deal with the ramifications. That's how I'd ask you. What has made you so willing to say, I believe in this. I'm willing to not only put myself in it, but put you up on it too. Complete lack of fear. You asked me a real question. What am I scared of? I gave you a real answer. so if the only thing I'm actually scared of is the health of my family I'm not scared about getting canceled on the internet for 48 hours I'm not I'm not scared of losing money I'm not scared of going all the way back Rye the thing that scares me to my bone is that my favorite Rocky is Rocky 5 when he loses everything and goes back to Philly bro when he loses everything you remember Rocky 3 he's got the robot and shit before he went to Russia.

14:54Like he was rich. He was rich. And I don't know why that Rocky came out when he goes back to the Philly hood because he lost it all. And I was romantic about it. Like shook me. I'm literally straight up getting goosebumps. There's something almost romantic to me of losing everything and going to zero. Hearing the whispers from all of you being like damn. He really fucked up. He wasn't that good after all. I'm like on some, You know who I would have been as an athlete? The best. Which is crazy because I love the Knicks. Just below the Jets. I would have been a badass fucking villain. I want everybody in the arena to boo me.

15:34Which is wild because no one does. I'm like loved. But in my reel, I'm just not scared of anything. I'm with me. I'm with myself. I'm in my cocoon. I know I have nothing but good intent. So even if I make a mistake, I have the grace to give myself because I'm a human. I will apologize if I am wrong. I will stay back. I will be vulnerable when I understand. I've been on a three-year run telling people that candor was a kryptonite for me as an operator. I'm just not scared, my man. What's sexy? You talked about Rocky going back to Philly. What's the beautiful part or romantic part or sexy part about that?

16:16Is it the losing of it all? That it's not scary. Ride, that it's not scary. No, okay, but I'm saying like, what makes it romantic? Losing it all or having a building? Chance to build it again? I do love the ride to the Phoenix. Because there is a part of me that says, I'm not scared because I'll build it back up and I'll be like, told you. But really, it's, I just, you know this. Man, do I know you guys know this. when you come from a place of less and then you get to a place of more, most people go into defense. They do not want to go back. And I just have this weird like, I can live in an apartment that has a rat in it with like a bullshit TV.

17:03Like I don't know, like I can eat$2 fast. I don't want to for my health, but like I don't know what it is, but it's just, I'm not trying to do dumb shit to make it happen but I'm just I'll give you one when people get the most on tilt about America like America falling I'm like alright like I'll go to New Zealand and start like you know I don't know like I don't know I've got you know I don't know it's biblical what you're doing right it's the story of the parable of the talents yeah I don't know it but okay So the parable of talents is this. God, Jesus talked about people who all had talents, and there was some part of it, they buried their talents, and someone else went out to multiply.

17:50And in burying your talents, the fear of finally having something and being so scared to lose it, you didn't multiply to honor God. And in the way that you're living life, you are saying, hey, look, I have these talents, I have this ability. now that I've built myself into something I'm not too scared to lose it. I'll continue to honor it by building more and I think that's a difficult thing to do. But it sounds easy. There's at some point when you can't lose. You get so much money you can't lose. You get so much investment that you can go and get your 10 % or 100 million and then now I can't lose moving forward.

18:32Yeah, it's funny you say that. My financial advisor hates me. That's not how I'm playing. It's also funny that money is like the framework of the combo, right? Like, I don't know, I've had a wild relationship with money my whole life. I'm great at it, but I do not respect it. I definitely don't have, I don't like it. Yeah, it's really interesting. You know what I like? And this is real talk, I like freedom. So the reason I got D's and F's in school was like, I'm like, no, I'm not doing homework. Bro, I did not open a textbook in four years of high school. I got zeros in every book report. I did not do homework.

19:12On my Scantron, I did A, B, C, B, A, C, B. I had freedom in fucking the system. That's what I like money for. I have freedom. But sometimes, you know this, I actually think most people get money and lose freedom. So, I have money. I view it as optionality. but it's not my jail and so yeah I mean I'm detached that's another thing lately a lot of people have been giving me flowers around humility like you know as my whole thing keeps going and more people know me and I just think it's because I don't believe that I'm great either like it's just really zen shit like you know as you get older you're like I'm like damn like all this shit people are talking about stoicism, Buddha I'm like shit that's like I've been that and that was because I lost a lot as a kid immigrant got picked on for not speaking English then sports played 24-7 early on dominated first second grade I was killing it hand eye coordination crazy but then you guys know this fifth grade all of a sudden speed strength agility athleticism all this shit got caught up and then like business business I'm trying to sell shit 900 people say no one says yes you start to fall in love with the micro no I'm in love with the micro no in fact too much success early on I always am scared for kids really good looking and really good at school and really good at sports I'm like mm-mm you're about to get caught I see a 16 year old that like just is like that guy like looks too good he's got the girl wins too much in sports and straight A going to Penn or Harvard tennis first I'm like mm-mm this motherfucker's gonna walk into some fire at 26 and not know what to do.

21:03I didn't have the athletes right now. That entitlement. That's right, because you guys didn't grow up in the era of all this AAU, once, four, all the, like you guys grew up different. Right, we grew up understanding not to put, I always say, the shine before the grind. Yeah. We grinded first and then all of that came. It's tough for these kids, Fred. Fred, you would have been on, there would have been an Instagram of a clip of you as like an eighth grader getting offers to Alabama. Like it would have been, it's just, they got it different. Which is why it's all about parenting now and getting, we need to get in our caves with our crew and get our shit basic.

21:44Because the world's complicated. We got to get basic. I need your help. Please. Man to man. Man to man. How can I stop spending money on Whatnot? I can't do it either. It's so fun. It's crazy. Yeah. Whatnot is a live shopping app that has collectibles and we're just buying cards, opening up packs. We love that game. It's our casino. It has everything. And I hear you talk a lot about TikTok. TikTok shop, AI influencers. You're paying attention, my man. Thank you. Of course. Thank you. Because we have some stuff. Oh, you guys. You guys are... You're not alone people buying cards. Yes, sir. Come on, man.

22:22That's crazy here. It's more than cards, Chan. It's really not. It's really more than cards. And when I talk about what not, and TikTok shop and AI influencers, like really I've been working behind the scenes before I bring to my people what we're trying to do with Pivot, performance energy and a lot of other stuff. This needs to be on TikTok more than what not because of the way that algorithm works. I'll talk to you about off camera. Let me answer yours. I do it for investment purposes. Like I made real money. I bought a Super Mario, you know Mario from Super Mario? I bought his Japanese rookie card on eBay 24 months ago for$35, it sells for$3 ,500 now.

23:01That's just a good investment. Yes, sir. You know what I mean? When you can do that, G, and I'm listening to you, and it's like a thing with football players. Yep. Right? It's when your entire self-worth is attached to your career, what do you do when that career goes away? It's tough, man. It would be akin to you saying, I had to move back in my old neighborhood. My guy, that's why I started VaynerSports. I was so infatuated with the depression that came along with the transition. Infatuated. How do you separate that, right? Because you're a builder of businesses. Yes. How do you separate your self-worth from what you've been able to build?

23:41Because my mama made me see, like drilled in me so consistently that my self-worth had to be based on how nice I was. I just got very fortunate, bro. That's real talk. my mom just, that's what it was. By the time I was 17, I fully have my self-worth based on how you men talk about me behind my back when I'm not here. That's it. Nothing else. And I get it, but it's just true. And then that's why it's so awesome. That's why I'm unstoppable. There's a great term in boxing. A fighter that has nothing to lose is a dangerous fighter. This is why someone who's like seven and 19 knocks out a kid on the come up at 21 and 0 that person just said fuck it I don't give a shit like you know what I mean and he said the club he's like and it's like you know and that's kind of I have that mentality because I'm just not attached to my 21 and 0 I'm not attached to my best season in fact it really this is a weird one going on with me right now I came out the gate hot this year in fact you guys said you're on one I'm on one actually.

24:53I actually called my brother two weeks ago and said, bro, just on some random theatrical shit, because I knew I was locked in, I said, bro I don't usually call him in the middle of the day we talk at night. He's like, what's up? I said, can you look up Jerry Rice's career? He was like, what? Like just it was super left field I was like, can you pull up Jerry Rice's career? He's like, okay, what's going on? I was like, what was his best season? He like looks, he's like 95 was kind of crazy, 1800 I go, bro, this is like two weeks ago, three weeks ago, mid-January, three weeks in the year. I'm like, bro, I might have a 95 Jerry Rice season this year.

25:32I've done more. This is real talk. I have done more. So I had a funny vacation. I usually travel warm weather. I was in New York. Me and my wife, she's like, you know what? And I just had time, right? I just started doing stuff that I don't normally do. I was just like, and I wrote this thing called Intentionality and Impact. I'm very improv. I'm very improv. I'm very osmosis. I value longevity, continuity, vibes, loyalty. And I say, you know what? I got too much going on. I got eight or nine real businesses going crazy. And I got like 30, 40 people around me who've been with me for 10 years. And I'm not really giving them enough direction.

26:17They're just homies. They're in the family now. They're doing shit. But I was like, you know what? And I just started writing down, what are the three things I want VaynerSports to get done this year? My restaurant group, which is exploding. Vayner, VaynerMedia is going to do $400 million in revenue. It's a big ass company. Not in value. In revenue. You know, VaynerSports is exploding. You know, I'm pretty excited. Oh, I'm going to probably be in Pittsburgh. We have Sonny Stiles. We rep from Ohio State. He's going to be a top 15 pick. So we're excited about that. you know, V Friends is completely out of control.

26:48I'm literally actually, no bullshit, building the next Marvel and Pokemon in front of everyone's eyes. But it's like the third thing I'm doing and no one can see it. And like I'm building this crazy podcast network I decided this year where I'm gonna do four shows. I'm gonna build a network where I'm the Ryan Seacrest. I'm like doing all of them. But I'm gonna build a network. So I've got all this stuff. And then I've got these incredible people. Sid on my team who's run my content. Hannah Park, my chief of staff. Justin Avello, my brother-in-law. who's in my bed, and I'm like, everyone here can do more to it.

27:17I just started writing down, what do I, and I'm just fucking locked in. And like, what's been done in 30 days on this? Cause you know, the student doesn't come out that often. Like I don't do that often. So when I did, but it wasn't the action, it was where I was at. I was ready to make 26 crazy. And it's all just so easy for me because of what, we talked about the good shit before I just got there. So the reason this is all gonna work is because I'm okay if it doesn't. My question to you would be young people who watch our show and I love the social media posts where there's a young entrepreneur or someone who's searching and they ask you a question, you answer them.

27:57Three things, if you said, hey, these are three foundational principles of building a brand or business and here's ways to start, what would those be? Maybe a weird one first that I really believe in. Number one, curiosity. The real stuff that I'm seeing is people that are curious because there's so little friction to do shit now. So number one is curiosity and the action is take full advantage of ChatGPT and Gemini. Literally, the stuff I'm doing on this thing, I'm curious. I'm like, why did this happen? When did this happen? How did this happen? Why did this just happen? Break this, the fun one.