We're Living in the Single Greatest Era of Human Opportunity.

27:25This is number one. This is number one. Living within the means of how much money you make will change your life. I know so many people making $312 ,000 a year that are in financial trouble and are stressed every day. I have equally, because the way I grew up was pretty humble, I know friends making$85 ,000 cruising. Because they're living a$49 ,000 a year lifestyle. They live humbly by American standards. They have Netflix, not Netflix and Hulu and Paramount. They make their coffee, not every day. They lease a more humble car because they're not trying to use a leased car BMW to, you know, exactly.

28:11And, you know, they're thoughtful. They buy one dad gang hat, not 39, though we'd love them to buy 39. And so, and I'm telling you, my friends, One, realizing that if you live within your means. Two, realizing if you want those means to be triple, the internet and social media and live shopping and affiliate, it's all here for you. No one's stopping you. No regulation, no government, no boss. That becomes intoxicating. And everything I just talked about the last three minutes is real. Now, whether you believe it or not is on you. How you see the world is how it is. I think it's when you become a dad too and you have your kids there, all that outside noise can either be silenced or amplified on where you are trying to go with your family because to me when I didn't have kids there was so many people just being negative.

29:03Oh, have you heard of this? They're always just judging. And it's not that they were judging me. It's that they were unhappy with their own lives. Of course. So they were just trying to throw and throw and throw and beat you down when you're trying to do something for yourself that's out of the world. Every human being, just let there be no confusion. every human being is imposing their inner truth on you. It's how humans work. And by the way, I don't think that, this is the key. That's not bad. You're in charge of understanding what I just said and deciding how you, I watched you just deploy real empathy to family you love who are in a tight spot emotionally.

29:44None of those people you referenced that you love that are drinking 20 beers, and I had uncles drinking vodka because we were Russians, not middle Americans. I'm Polish. There you go. So you know, all of those guys were imposing negativity because they themselves, but you got to a place where you were strong enough A, at 16 to make the jump. Now, obviously, you're even, you know, it's like working out. You're even stronger than you've ever been. So now you can deploy unlimited empathy and compassion towards them. But everyone who's listening, you getting mad at someone that's being mean or negative towards you is a silly concept.

30:22It means you're weak. It means you're weak. And there's so many people out there. No, that's the whole world. Yeah, it really is. And when I had my kids, I just was like, I don't care anymore. Yeah, that changes. But, man. If I may, if I may, you didn't care before. I didn't, I'm telling you you didn't. I heard it. Sure, respect, but you didn't. Nobody's leaving a four generation lineage of this block at 16 if you were hearing it before. You were not hearing it before. I want to toss in the other thing. Gray and I have gotten so much flack because of delusional optimism, but we are like... From who?

31:04Everyone, we know. No, but on the flip side of what you were just talking about too is we have a 45-year-old friend that has the chops to really kill it with the brand and kind of like doubtful of like if you should do it and we're like no we're gonna help you do it and you're gonna do it because you can do it and like or there's people like i always say we have kind of like horse blinders on when when building dad gang yeah because it's so easy to be like yeah but look what brand x and brand y is doing yeah and we've always just been like stop stop looking that they can win we can win and like the but but seriously like i think i've like gone overboard with optimism at times, like, the worst things will happen.

31:45And, and Greg and I are like, probably more, a little bit more this way, because he's ops. But like. But we're like. Somebody's gotta be practical around here. Yeah, yeah, the worst thing. He's the dad in dad games. We're the gang, that's the dad. And we're just like, whatever man, this is probably good for us. Yeah. And we find ways out of it. Because it's true. You know, sometimes people are like, yo, you're the fucking poster boy for toxic positivity. I'm like, okay, we're there now? We're at a place where we're trying to demonize positivity? Like, okay, please, I'll be the toxic Avenger. You know that weird green guy with the eye coming out of his fucking socket?

32:25I'll be that guy. If that's positivity, I'm in. I'm fucking in, put me in the sewage, make me fully green, swamp thing. Like, I'm in because I believe that it's not delusional. I actually, you guys know my content by who? By the people that are not optimistic I wouldn't call you that I always say this, number one thing I believe in life judge the judger judge the judger like notice how I'm like picking, I'm like who? oh Rick from high school? okay, do you want Rick's life? yeah Like, the thought to take advice from someone who you do not want to be like blows my mind. Yeah. Dare to trade places with.

33:16That quote always hits hard. It's so real to me. Yeah. Like, I remember growing up, I got so much advice too. Yeah. Because, you know, in the liquor store, like, especially with the liquor store, you know, I was trying to push my dad to do things and all these people were like, you know, this other liquor store is doing really well. They don't do that. I'm like, I don't want to be that. I get that they're doing a million dollars more than my dad's liquor store. I'm like, I'm going to be fucking, I'm buying the Jets. Like, I would never, ever, and to be frank, I have never had the capacity to really value anyone's point of view on anything.

33:54Because even if there's people that are financially successful at a level that I aspire to as a kid, most of the time when I got to know them even for a second I didn't want to be like them yeah you know like like for me if I had a if I'm looking at your guys hat I'm so honored to be part of this brand if I had to start a brand right now and I say this a lot I would start a fashion brand called nice guys finish first and like the hat or the simple thing would just say nice guy that is what I've aspired to my whole life. Yeah, that's what I found with the community that we have is just being able to be there for each other without having to say it because it is such a lonely road when you are having to block out all those noise and have the horse blinders on and when you are traveling through life and you hit some lows and your bank count's at zero and you're waiting for the next paycheck and you're pushing bills off and your kid is sick staying up all night, three nights in a row, you'll have to take him to the ER to get work, to do all that, and then all of a sudden you have to, you don't sleep, you go right into work, and then your wife is going through everything for postpartum and all of that stuff, and then people are still talking, and they're still talking.

35:07You know, it's just so, it's such a lonely path when you're traveling there where, now with dad being in the community that we have, I just feel like all of these dads have been able to embrace each other. And you know, to me, that's just been the biggest thing that - How much have you guys thought about physical meetups? We would love to. They happen without us. That I understand. How much have we thought, something maybe off camera. I'm like, I'm very big on the world going extremely analog. Yeah. Like I think the yearly conference is something definitely worth talking about. Yeah, golf tournaments, stuff like that we talked about.

35:40It's just so obvious. Yeah. Because you're right. And then on the flip side, what happens is when you have a good community, what I'm always trying to think about is, you know, it's crazy. You were just talking and you know, Train who films me, a lot of times when I get into my most competitive zone or what have you, he'll go like, he'll do this, right? That. And it's funny, he does it, and because I go there a lot, he does it probably, if we're filming for a day, it will happen at least once. And it was funny, I didn't want to, you know, I've been yapping enough in this session, but I wanted to let you finish.

36:13But when you were, you know, I have some, I have a very weird chemical imbalance that is my greatest gift. You were literally talking about being in the ER to three in the morning, dealing with, you know, everything you're dealing with, the fear of, you know, what's going on in that ER with the wife, with this. And I swear to fucking God, as you were talking, my brain was, my chemicals were going, yeah. Like there's something super crazy about how I'm structured that I desperately want to impose on the world. Like people ask me sometimes, like, if you could have anything happen, what would you do?

36:47I literally think about taking whatever the fuck my parents gave me whatever my chemicals are and put it into everyone because I'm telling you again I want everyone to hear this you three especially when you were saying that that sounded interesting to me. There's something about adversity and pain and like back against the wall and like me versus everyone and like getting shit on and like scars and like I'm intoxicated by it. I see you. Avatar Fire and Ash is now streaming on Disney+. It's the film critics are calling the best Avatar yet. Go, go, go, go! A true epic and completely jaw-dropping.

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38:08That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Yeah, because it builds in a whole lot of love. In a way that I'm telling you, like, you know, I know you guys know my stuff. I'm telling, this is why I'm doubling down on this, in a way that's darker than you think. No, I, so here's another one for you. When we had our second child on the way, Dad Gang's kind of doing its thing. Not enough to like leave our jobs or anything, but it's in motion. And we finally like are closing on a house. and excited to close on a house moving closer to my parents more child care yeah of course things are going to be great yep the day i go to sign i was a director of marketing for a skincare company and the day i go to sign on closing i get a random tuesday meeting hey i believe vc funded company we're all their investors are restructuring i've been there for two months and they're like so you're we got to cut you been there for two months i just got done with onboarding pretty much and then they're like yeah we gotta let you go and i'm like fuck i have this 11 30 signing appointment so i'm going in there they're like so to your knowledge are you still employed i had two weeks left so technically yes of course um even if you didn't the answer was yes in that in that situation but like because of stuff you've said because of things i've i've you lack the fear leaned into it and i go to my wife and i'm like so i don't have a job we're closing on the house second kid on the way.

39:38I just went into like this. I called it demon mode. And I was like, fuck that. This is great. We're gonna network our ass off. That's it. Reach out to everybody you've worked with. And in that one week, I had three job offers. And it was like, don't let the loss kill you. Like, it's kind of like a nice boost. You guys have followed my content for a long time. What we are doing right now is why I predominantly talk about mentality now. Yeah. I try to throw in live shopping. I try to throw in other stuff. But when you just told that story, 90 % of people won't do that, what you did. But I actually believe if they just listen to this, if they start to hang out with people like this, if they just change what they consume and change what they hang out with, if they're in that 90%, 40 % of that 90%, if they did that for a year, what they consumed, who they hung out with, would switch over.

40:39that drives my life. Mine too. Because we get so many messages all the time. There was this gentleman back in 2022 when we first started and we had like four SKUs at the time and he sent in a picture of his ID, this paperwork that said he was being evicted and he sent a message into our inbox and he was like, I'm getting evicted. I would just really love a hat if you wouldn't mind sending me one. Oh, you told me. Yeah, you told me that. Can I pitch something? Yeah. I'm making this up on the spot. I have no idea in our deal together what I'm required to do, but I'm throwing this out. I want to do something with you guys in August called Dad Hour, and we may do it once every other month.

41:17I do not have an hour every other month to give you, but I'm so hyped right now. We're just doing it right here on the spot. You need to figure out which platform, whether it's Google Hangout, Zoom, whatever can allow the most amount of fucking people to be on virtually. I want to do something with you guys called Dad Hour where we literally just do Q &A with people in your database and then you guys just like randomly give them hats and shit. I don't fucking care. We need to keep building on this energy. I agree. It's done. We'll do it in August, October, and December. I'll commit to that right now and then we'll be good for content.

41:50It'll be great for this community and then let's see what happens from it. But Dad Hour. Yeah. Love it. It's easy. Yeah. Yeah, we definitely like the analog stuff, meeting in person, getting on Zooms, was like talking to the community more is definitely something we want to do. Yeah, I'm feeling like very - And you're the master of building community too. Yeah, but it can only happen through what I just said. Right now, we're just talking too. We're not building community. We're building very good content that can be the gateway to community. But we're not building community. That's why we need Dad Hour.

42:18Dad Hour, there's gonna be a bunch of little faces on 40 different screens and 12 people or nine people are gonna get to ask a question. Me or you guys or us or we or me will answer some of those questions and that's gonna build community. Because one of the things I know I'm gonna do in dad hours is be like, everybody say what city you're from. And then brrrr. And then like four dads are gonna be like, oh, we're all in Wichita, Kansas. Yeah. And that's happening. Of course it's happening. But we could force more of it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the dad gang doesn't exist without our group chat. Of course.

42:49I mean, if we didn't all connect and we weren't staying in touch through this group chat, I mean, we were building a mini community not even realizing it. And you know what's funny, one of the things I wanna pressure all the dad gang community to when we're on Dad Hour is to start a new group chat with only positive people. Yeah. That's what, this is how I've gone through the darkest times. No shit. I'm watching very carefully. I understand. The delusional optimists are made fun of until they're no longer in your life and you realize how much value they bring. No, it'll be funny. I have a friend get laid off.

43:26It's true. He'll get laid off, lose his job, and I'm like, good. And he's like, the fuck are you talking about? I don't even find work. I'm like, this is your time. You're destined for that to happen. I would argue every single human on earth that has a job has a better job at their fingertips without realizing it. Yeah, 100 % agree. I believe that. Everyone I know. You guys should all quit. Right now. Right in their face. Not you, Train. I'm pretty awesome. Sure. But you know, I wish people knew that. Yeah, yeah. I really do. And it's so funny, the whole AI thing, obviously causing a lot of stir.

44:05If people just spent three hours a night learning it, it would be the thing that would create their world instead of the thing that took them out. It's so obvious. I mean, we're leveraging that like crazy. AJ and I will just nerd out every once in a while. I'm like, dude, look at what I just built in 15 minutes. I'm using it for the op side. We're using it for customer service. We're using it for all the PDPs. I launched a Shopify collaboration yesterday. So quickly. Train, what was it? I posted a thousand, I saw that. A thousand, fourteen pieces of content yesterday. Yeah. Dang. Across like 19 platforms or something.

44:37Last one I heard was like 462. That's right. You've just doubled it. It's called AI. Yeah. It's like, you know, by the way, I've added to, Train, have we added to my team or subtracted from my team? You know, this is not like, people don't get it. This is not about firing people. This is making 40 people feel like 400. Yeah. I keep laughing at companies that are like, yay, we're gonna fire everyone. I'm like, okay, good luck with that because the baseline of output pre-AI is what it is. In my world, I was a savant to all of you by having 30 pieces of content a day. Right, everyone, right? This is a year ago on content.

45:11Everyone's like, Gary Vee is crazy. 30 a day. We're a company and we're doing four. He's crazy. I'm sitting here a year later saying 1 ,000 a day. So what's gonna happen is the baseline, the baseline's gonna go up and like AI's amazing but one person with AI is gonna have a tough time beating two people with AI and 30 people with AI and so I don't know I'm genuinely I just think the output the impact the production of the human race is gonna explode with this oh yeah yeah I was talking to my in-laws and they've worked in the furniture industry forever selling furniture to retailers kind of demonizing AI when we first talked and I was like, hey, Jan is my mother-in-law.

45:58I'm like, give me all of your contacts for furniture stores that you've ever worked with and give me the lines that you're currently selling and I'm gonna make it so that you don't have to sit there and Gmail everybody individually about the furniture you want to sell them. And the next day, Bart, it's all I'm using. It's the only thing I wanna use. This is so great. So like it takes one convo to like. The home computer, the internet, the mobile device. All of it. It's all the same shit. Would you say, and I've been kind of thinking this, it's like internet came around, social media came around, and this is kind of like that third tier of demonization.

46:32Yeah, I think this is as big. Here are the real things. There is AI pre that, the blockchain. The blockchain's about to get a lot of praise. Right now it gets lumped into bad things, bad crypto scams. With AI, one of the horrible things that we're gonna, not the horrible things, one of the most, because I actually don't think it's horrible. Let me say it a different way. One of the challenging things we're going to have to get through is fake videos. Video proof has been the judge and jury of our society. There is going to be more videos of me on the internet in two years of me saying horrible things, fake things, things I've never said that you're not going to know if I said or not because you're not going to be able to tell.

47:13So we're going to go through a whole era. The blockchain is a decentralized server that is based on truth that is going to be very powerful in this area. So AI, the blockchain, the mobile device, the internet, personal computers. Those are the big ones. I think the blockchain is probably the one that's most misunderstood still for its high potential. But I actually think this era of AI is going to make people understand the value of the blockchain. And then obviously the mobile device is underestimated. The internet was very different when it wasn't available to us at all times in the real world.

47:56Like, you guys are of the age. Like, you have to go to your computer to get on the internet. Like, you know? Blocked phone calls if I wanted to get on the internet. Yeah, so. It's cool. Our generation got to grow through, like, VHS to Napster to streaming to iPods. Like, we really got to embody all of that. Yeah, and by the way, your kids are going to embody even more stuff. Yeah. Like there's stuff that we don't even know. I bought a DVD player just so they could see what it looks like. You're crazy. Yeah, but. You did go on a Blu-ray face. But like, you know, I'm of the age and we were poor when we got here.

48:32Like a lot of the kids that I knew had black and white television, not even color. Yeah. Damn. Yeah, bro. And that wasn't that long ago. Well, speaking of that, I'd love to kind of rap about our fathers. Yeah, let's do it. I have one probably biggest thing I relate to you on is I moved here from Poland when I was seven years old. Yeah. And my dad worked on still does. He needs to stop. Dad, you're done. Alaskan fishing boats. So we would live in Poland. He'd fly to Seattle, go out to Alaska for three months at a time. That's that. Yeah. Yeah. One of the most dangerous jobs in the world. And it's like, but through his hard work and dedication and like, I think of some of the decisions we make, I make that I'm like, oh, should I move?

49:19Or should I do this or take a risk here? I'm like, parents didn't know English. They were 35 years old and switched countries, right? Yeah. And the sacrifice behind that, I'm just like so thankful to them. And I think all of our dads, yours too, and Grant's like have made such like work for family sacrifices that it made us probably develop the brand even more so because of that kind of stuff. Every father is a blessing. one, his sperm became you. Let's just start with that. You don't exist without his semen. So let's start with that. Top that up. Thanks, Dad. Two, this is really important to understand.

50:00What fathers do for all of us and what we will do for our children is we will show them things that they want to be and we will show them things they don't want to be. And that's a gift. You know? I have a lot of friends who are living different lives than I lived, who grew up with far more than I did, and what they saw was they didn't want to work as much. And I don't judge that. I mean, I do a little bit because I'm funny like that, but, you know, like, I, you know, I mean, there's so many things my father taught me, and a lot of it was things I don't want to do. And I thank the world for that.

50:38Because it's on me. But he also taught me a lot of things I do want to do, and I know that my work ethic comes from him and it's one of my great superpowers. I also don't eat breakfast or lunch. My dad taught me that. Huge advantage. While my competition's having a salad for an hour, I'm dominating the field. You know, like, and so, you know. And so, right, because that's retail. Retail, we're, like, the store's open. Like, if we left the register, especially small retail, like you and I grew up with, you can't go to lunch. Like, the store's open. Like, what are you gonna go? In some small towns back in the day, it would literally gone for lunch, but that was not the mindset of the 90s.

51:18The store was open, you couldn't go to lunch. I don't think people even understand, you couldn't go to lunch. But most of all, what my dad taught me was, and that has saved my life. I was gifted genetically with the gift of gab. If I did not have a principled father who thought embellishment, embellishment, was a crime. Like that you had to be a fucking the truth. I do not believe I'm sitting here admired without that. I believe that what I'm saying. I give my mom so many flowers and everybody has seen that concept, but I'm gonna say it more direct with more truth than I've ever said it to honor my dad in this incredible partnership we have, I do not believe that I am an admirable man without my dad because at 14, 15, 16, when I still had a few minutes where I could change the course of my life, I believe I would have been like a lot of people.

52:21It's the reason sometimes people when they first meet me, they're like, wait a minute, because we can sense someone who's got the gift. Unfortunately, a lot of times when you have the gift, you become a fucking piece of shit. I could have started a cult. I have the gift to start a crazy crazy cult and could have like yeah but real real talk like I some people just have so much charisma they go on to become incredible politicians they go on to become cult leaders they go on to become incredible sometimes incredible religious leaders that are good they go on to become the people we put on pedestals Gandhi and Martin Luther King and like I was gifted that and what my dad did was converted it into it's just like it's back to me It's so funny that I get to say this.

53:08I said, fuck chemistry, and now I'm saying chemistry's the best. In the lab, my dad was able to add a part to the potion that made me a dramatically better version of myself. Do you think it's because he was embedded in your community? Like on a small mom and pop shop? Like he dealt with people? Nope. In fact, I taught my dad how to be nice to customers. I'm being dead serious. My dad viewed customers. You understand, I used to not understand it. You might understand this. my dad grew up in a culture in the Soviet Union for the first 25 years of his life where everybody stole everything because it was communism and the government owned everything so everything was black market and stolen.

53:46My dad looked at every customer that walked through his store before I started working for him as someone who was trying to steal. Yeah, I've seen my dad jump over a counter and chase somebody who was stealing. My dad chased someone that stole. My dad's 72 years old. Three years ago, my dad chased someone out the store and got into a fisticuff. No way. Swear to God. Three years ago somebody might saw my dad's phone. My dad was 69 years old. This was three years ago. My dad ran out. It was a woman, by the way. Oh my gosh. And like they taggled and he got it out and the bottle broke on the ground and he felt very proud of himself.

54:16My dad did the same thing. And I said to my dad, he's going to get shot one day. Damn. Three years ago, somebody stole my dad's phone and he tracked it and this is like the worst. And he went, I'm like, Dad, what are you doing, dude? Yeah. We'll buy you a new phone. Like, you're fine. No, no. No, that's my phone. It's the principal. It's like you can go teach him a lesson. The amount of men that have died on principal is staggering. You know? I think, to your point. Died, by the way. I was saying dead. Not saying, like, principal is really ingrained in a certain kind of man. I'm a little bit, I'm not as, like, delusional on that.

54:50I think safety matters. I think, like, play for another day matters. But some dudes will fucking, and by the way, when the shit really hits the fan, which does in mankind we are really happy to have guys like your dad and I. Big time. Yeah. I always say this especially when people get a little too soft. They're like fuck that guy. I'm like fuck that guy until China invades. Yeah. Find out how fast you love that guy. Yeah. You know what house you're going to who has the arsenal. Everybody that hates Joe Rogan likes him a whole lot more when China invades. You know like it's just real life and this goes back to manhood and again it goes back to balance.

55:28Lexington, everything in balance. Right? But like, you know, when shit hits the fan, my dad had a liquor store in a blue-collar town in Clark, New Jersey, where the store was right next to the bank that he deposited the money. This is a true story. It's like Bank of America Auto Shop. You don't know this story. Watch this one. My dad goes in on a normal day. This is fucking 30 years ago. The bank is getting robbed. Robbed. A bank robbery. he's like walking in as these guys are walking out he he and my uncle my mom's my mom his brother-in-law my uncle joseph are walking in because my uncle joseph at the time was managing that store eventually my dad sold him that store he throws my uncle into the car and chases the bank robbers no way do you know how insane that is that's insane no self it's not like he was caught i was like when i talked to him about it i've never told this story publicly i'm like where do you think that was going it'd be one thing if he did it today i'd be like okay like you can call you're a hero you're like it's here's the license but this is 1989 there's he's getting that money back i don't and by the way he didn't know what he was this goes back to principle like some men are just so why and that was my father that is my father and boy did i need that because my mom who's my greatest cheerleader she let me run loose on gift of gab because she rightfully saw it as a super power.

56:59But my dad's honor saved my life. My mom's always believed in me. That's amazing. Always believed in me. But my dad has always been that strict one too that laid that hammer down the best he could. Well, look, I mean, we are all kind of in a very similar place of like nurture and like the hunter. And I think we talk a lot. And that is what has thrown off a lot of young men. Is like, not, first of all, my father, I love him so much. I also have so much compassion for him. He did not have the mother I had. I knew my grandma very well. But I'm not mad at her, because I knew her mom. I knew my great grandma well.

57:35Because I was in the old country. Everybody had, you know, back in our part of the world, in the old country, everybody had kids at 20. Yeah, 19, 20. Yeah, so you were 60, you were a great grandma. Yeah. Like, you know, and so, not everybody has the same path we had. My dad's mom was challenging, his dad traveled a lot, and then he died when my dad was 15. And so like, you know, not everyone has the fortune of the parenting structure. And I want to say this because a lot of people consume a lot of my content where I talk about parenting structure. You can create your structure by the people you spend time with after you get out of the house.

58:17And that is important. Whether it was toxic and you find it or even yours, which was, it wasn't toxic. You were just a big ship and you needed a big piece of water. Yeah. I watched my mom work so hard. And she ended up doing well at Boeing, you know, but she worked so hard and I just wanted more for her. And I wanted more. I just wanted to see her enjoy life. We lived in a one-bedroom because my parents split before I was two. And we lived in a one-bedroom apartment in West Seattle. And my mom had the living room and she gave me the bedroom, you know, when I was like three years old. And so I just wanted so much for her.

58:52where I knew my dad was always gonna be fine because he had that. My dad was a community, still is, community-driven man, just loves him. And where does he live? In Rainier Beach in Seattle, Washington. And we just, you know, I knew he was always gonna be good, but I didn't know if my mom was always gonna be okay. Sure. And when you're a boy and your parents are separated and your mom, you become the protector for as you continue to grow, you know, from four to six to nine to 13. It makes sense. Yeah. And this is why I keep telling everybody adversity is amazing. That was true adversity for you.

59:25Adversity is the core foundation of success. It is very hard to have sustained success when you had a lack of adversity in your life because growing up, because when you then become grown and you face adversity, you haven't tasted it before. This is why eighth place trophies are a problem. One of the few, I wish on everyone to grow, to be born into a family that is not destined to have adversity. Why on earth wouldn't we want children to be born into homes of a happy marriage and la la la and picket fence? Why wouldn't we want that? That's why sports matter so much. If you got lucky, and there are people that get lucky, that are born into a nice sitch, it's awesome.

1:00:09Well then sports is the place where you're gonna get punched in the mouth. To then have those same parents eliminate the merit of sports really fucks up a child, which is why we have so many 25-year-old children. We have unlimited 25. Do you know how many 27-year-old men right now are walking around Earth and are being tracked on the family app by their moms? Too many phone bill paid for. But like really, like even forget about Nepo Financial. Yeah. That is, the story is old as time. Wealthy family, I'm talking about something out, yeah. Like financial is already a vulnerability. For sure. this new version this new 3.0 Nepo thing we have which is one family tracking system and you're a 28 year old man and you're out and about in the city and your mom is in Indiana texting you like why aren't you home honey you have work tomorrow and he's bro do you know this is real?

1:01:05this is real you guys know this? this is real I mean I don't know if you guys can see my goosebumps this may be the singular biggest issue of our time it may be you could men if you're listening right now if you are over 18 years old but fuck it I'll be soft if you are over 22 years old you are out of college or the age that you should be out of college or are out of college if your parents have a tracking system on your phone you're a fucking loser you must get them off and I do not care if the reason this is the reason they have it on because you're taking money from them. Most people still allow it because of the financial part.

1:01:53You are never, I'm gonna give Harmon Skernick, this is gonna be funny if anyone knows who he is, he's gonna get pinged. Harmon Skernick said one of the most profound things to me in my life. Harmon Skernick currently runs a very large liquor and wine, predominantly wine distributorship here in New York with his brother Michael. Great company. Called Michael Skernick Wines. Harmon joined later. I was in Italy on a wine trip. I was 25 years old. These wine trips were great because I got, you know, when you go to Italy for a week, you get time. Three hour drive to the vineyard. You get time with people.

1:02:27This is when I got to really know Harmon. And Harmon said something I've never forgotten. We got deep. You know, like, you know, especially on the third, when you get to the third winery and you have a little bit of wine and the other two, you can get deep, right? Yeah. He said to me that you're never fully a man until your father dies. And I don't know what it was. Now, I do know what it was. I grew up fearing my parents dying. I actually believe the reason I'm such a happy person is it didn't happen. I think I've basically been playing with emotional house money since I was 18. My mom lost her mom at five.

1:03:03I just told you my dad lost his... And we were from the old country. And I was born in the old country. And I was the oldest sibling. And my mom, every month, or at least it felt like every month, would say things to me like, if anything ever happens to mom and dad, you've got to take care of the family. I'm at like seven. I'm still peeing my bed at night, which I did until 11, by the way, for all the parents that are, if you have a kid that's peeing their bed to 11, just tell them Gary Vee did too. But I'm peeing my fucking bed at night, but also being told by my hero, my mom, if anything happens to the family.

1:03:36It was a big, I mean, my only recurring dream of my life was a nightmare of my family dying in a plane crash. It was a big part of my life. so I'm sure at 25 when Harmon said that it probably triggered right thank God I've still not felt that and for most of my life I've felt equally my father's father as I felt like he was my father but I will say that if you're 25 years old and your parents are tracking you on a fucking app like you are not a man you're an animal you're a dog and like you need to get off that and if the reason you're on is because mommy and daddy are kicking you a couple bucks each week or paying for your Uber or your Equinox or your rent.

1:04:20Or like, I get it. It sucks, but like go sell stuff on fucking eBay. Like get the fuck off the payroll. Be a man. Stand on your own two feet. Maybe you can't keep up with your other buddies and you might have to miss a fucking golf trip or a Costa Rica thing. And maybe you can't, you know, use mommy and daddy's money to take out prettier girls because you need the money to win them over. I don't know what's going through your mind. let me tell you the only thing that should be going through your mind. You are not a real man until you get off your parents' payroll. Yeah, amen. Amen to that. You like it?

1:04:51It's really, it's - He's actively being tracked. Like, but - I just deleted the app. Yeah, but bro, right? Like, I don't know, that's why I think I got the goose, like, I've never said that, that way. Like, that's the one. And I will tell you, you will honor, you will be more proud of yourself being off the payroll, living humbly because I know because I'm getting the texts and the DMs from the kids that are mad at their parents. I'm getting texts and DM from 27 year old men mad at their parents for giving them money. And that always, by the way, one of the only times I was consuming a trend, this is about seven, eight years ago because I've talked about this in different ways.

1:05:33It was the only time it took me a few months to understand what was going on because I couldn't comprehend the idea of being mad at your parents for them giving you stuff. Because I wasn't on the receiving end of that. You know, a lot of people try to claim I was. I built my daddy's business for him. My daddy did not give his business to me. Right, yeah. I think you've been pretty clear about that. Yeah, but I think a lot of people try to weaponize it. They still try to find out. Yeah, of course. But like, I'm in rarefied air. There are very few people that are as talented as I am that work 100 hours a week for 12 straight years to build a business for their family and leave with nothing.

1:06:12I started VaynerMedia in the conference room of another company when I was 34 years old because I didn't have enough money to pay rent. Yeah. So that's why I have so much passion for everyone. They feel lesser than, it feels good when you've got the extra bucks on this Saturday to go to the beach or whatever. It feels really bad on Monday when you know you're still sucking from the tit. Yeah. Of your mom, by the way, if you're trying to... Well, I think you might have mentioned it or heard it throughout this conversation, but we want to officially make it an announcement right here, right now.

1:06:52So it's been the three of us for four years now. EJ Grant and I running Dad Gang, building it from a text thread to now over one million hats sold in four years. That's incredible. Just past that mark, going into retail. It's been fucking awesome. Like, find happiness in your life. We found it. We love it. You just had a podcast you talked about. Get as close to the sun as you possibly can. Watched that the other day. We've all looked up to you, taken your advice, have stopped watching you so we can actually do the shit you say. and uh it's an honor you know to to bring you on to dad gang and have you you know help us take this to to new heights to more community to to just you know it's we're on the sun at this point you say get as close as you're on it and we're here and just for reference gary said if you want to what was it if you want to be like someone or get around them or if you aspire to get in a position like someone else, get as close to the sun as you possibly can.

1:07:53I'll let you emphasize that a little bit. Yeah, a couple things first. Thank you, man. With AJ and VaynerSports, actually we're filming on top of Fly Fish Club with David Rodalitz and Capon and Chef Connor with VCR Group, our restaurant group. With VaynerWatt, my TV production company that a lot of you are gonna get to know because we have a ton of shows we've sold and you'll be on Netflix and Hulu and ABC and see the VaynerWatt logo. I'm involved in businesses where I'm much more deeper involved than just writing a check as an investor. And none of those things could be successful if the 1A, AJ, David Rodalitz, Eric Wattenberg, weren't so remarkable.

1:08:37So I look for opportunities where there is remarkable execution. And you guys are that. I'm not here for fun. I've worked very hard to have unlimited opportunities Victoria's in the background right now. She's probably seen an opportunity for me that's meaningful come through in my inbox since we've been sitting here. That's how often it comes. And so I'm humbled and honored and feel very good about what I've created. But I have to say no to everything. So for me to say yes to get involved, you know, I'm involved. I'm now, you know, have equity in this business. But I'm required to do things. And you guys know this.

1:09:14The one thing I don't have is time. You know? I mean, it is the asset. Right, back to I need more time. Like time, let there be no confusion. Now, I talk about patience, so I don't mean, you know, but time is the asset. So, and I'm grown now. I know how to make good decisions. So for everybody listening on the other side, for me to do this is an incredible indication to my belief in what you guys are doing. And as far as bringing value to everyone's listening, yes, I do believe that you need to get as close to the sun as possible. when I started building VFriends, the most interesting meeting I had in the entire time was the two hours I got to spend with Bob Iger, who was the CEO of Disney at the time, because I'm building Disney.

1:09:58I'm building Pokemon. I'm building Marvel. I wish Stan Lee, wait, yeah, Stan Lee passed away, right? Yeah, like, I just got scared for a second. I was like, my brain broke for a second. I'm like, you can't say someone's dead when they're alive. But I knew, like, I wish Stan Lee was alive. It would be a very real thing for me to go find him right now. I wish Jim Henson was alive. If you look at the early videos of VFriends, I think that I'm building Disney. I've now come to learn I'm building much more Sesame Street. My character, I've really wrapped my head around what Jim Henson did. Do you know how important Sesame Street is, man?

1:10:35Do you know how profoundly impactful Sesame Street has been to create inclusion and eliminate hate? I aspire to be Jim Henson. Like V Friends for me is like really meaningful. I always call it my most selfless and selfish endeavor. And one of the reasons I wanted to do this is I find Dad Gang to be a very rare company that is selfless and selfish. It's selfish because you men are trying to build as big of a fucking company as possible. Why on earth wouldn't you want this to be a trillion dollar company? You're entrepreneurs. you're building. But when it has collateral selfless value, which I think inspired me to just make up on the spot right now, the dad hour.

1:11:21By the way, to break the fourth wall, that was spontaneous. They're like, they're pumped right now. They just got something they didn't know they were getting. Yeah, it was kind of how to be. It's because, yes, I want to sell 17 trillion hats. And yes, in my own mind, and we'll see how good of an advisor I am to you, I get excited about debating what other categories we could go into and what other ways. But the fact that knowing that two dads are gonna see each other in the airport today wearing this hat and feel a little more supported with a micro ounce of humanity. Like seeing somebody pass you by and just giving a head nod, yeah, you're getting it.

1:12:03You know, it's very similar to what's happening right now. It's why I love sports. Do you know what happened on the 30 minute drive here for me this morning? I am always on the phone did not look at my phone at all all I did was watch all the people interacting in New York City with each other wearing Nick's clothes it's special and sports is tribalism and humans are tribal and humans are tribal and that's our biggest gift and humans are tribal and it's our biggest vulnerability when tribalism is used to hurt other tribes bad when tribalism is used to give support to each other remarkable and dad supporting dads is one of the great ways to make the world a much better place and this is a tiny speck in that.

1:12:47We're an apparel business but it is a speck that is selfless. It's not just a swoosh which is also awesome. Just do it all. I like all that but it's fucking literal. Dad gang. We're in this together even though you might not think we are. If we can get people to actually believe that

1:13:09there it is dad gang Gary V fourth partner Gary V I honestly that's so humbling I will say 3B three partners with the B player you know I just honor people that are in the trenches day by day as operators that they are the true partners the way I view myself and I'll take it if you want me to be the fourth partner I'm in but in real life because I think you deserve these roses because I do have a funny feeling this business is going to get much, much, much, much bigger. I view it, you know, the thing that I'm starting to see that's very rare out there, I think this is new, what I'm trying to invent, is almost like the active chairman of the board member or a board member, right?

1:13:54A board member that does shit. Yeah, yeah. Right? You know what I mean? That just gives it the best. Yeah, an operating board member. Yeah, like, but I think I would not, I would not, I don't even, I don't even have the audacity to undermine your 18 hours a day when I'm not gonna be doing that to feel like I've earned four. I will only accept that if I strategically come up with something that you guys never had the capacity to come up with in the next five years that changes the course of the business. Then I will accept it. We will be back on video where I accept my fourth partner if I earn into that.

1:14:26Love it, love that. Yep, and same with AJ. I mean, so much love to him. Yeah, he's the secret sauce. Yeah, it's like, he's not on this conversation, but I just wanna give him his flowers. It's just like, I love how he strives to, out of, it's not even like hitting metrics or anything, just out of like human good over delivered. Well, you're gonna get me emotional right now.

1:14:57He's that anyway. That's who he is. he got a lot more of my dad's DNA. So he was kind of honorable to begin with. But the reason you're feeling that. So good, so good, so good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Get ready to save big with up to 60 % off brands like Rag & Bone, Levi's, Adidas, and Free People. Join the Nordic Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds.

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1:16:12He just wants to make sure that I don't under deliver on what I promised to this partnership to uphold my honor and name. and that's what's driving him to be who he is for you. And that obviously feels very nice for me. Yeah. He's the fucking man. Yeah, he's legit. You know, it's funny. When we started VaynerMedia, we started as 50-50 partners because we didn't know. We didn't know what the business was gonna be. We didn't know who was what. Back to sports, I was already an all-star but he was a first-round pick, right? Something I admire about AJ is somewhere about five to seven years in, you know, and I don't even know if I, and I have a lot of humility, but like, and I'm not a younger brother who's 11 years younger, so I don't know his framework, but I always appreciated, in a way that my father was unable to calibrate who I was and who he was when we worked together, my brother was able to.

1:17:13My brother was able to say, five years in, we're different. you're better than me. You deserve more than I deserve. You're more impactful. And I appreciate that. And I know why he did it because I was incredibly, and I am, because I don't want to shortchange myself and I also want to teach lessons. It was because, what my brother did was he honored my generosity at a time where I don't think I could have fought for my fair share. Yeah. I think it's a huge lesson to everyone. I think a lot of people will take advantage of someone like me. And I think to have the strength to not do that is something that I admire because my brother is uncomfortably talented and brilliant and all those things.

1:18:03To have the humility when you're an all-star to create a support system to your first ballot Hall of Fame partner is a level of humility and love that I think most people don't deploy in family businesses. Yeah, that's real. That is. And that's something important for you guys. It's impossible that all three of you are contributing 33.3 % to the business. Yeah. And it's impossible for all of you to contribute to the impact of the business at the same percentage, at all the same times. it will evolve. And it's important that you guys over communicate the way that AJ and I have. There was no going back to me and AJ because of tax law.

1:18:51AJ won on the VaynerMedia thing. But subsequent businesses we've done together, we've reconciled to the best of our ability. You guys are structured the way you're structured. Nothing, you do something next year that is just so overwhelming. There's nothing that can be done he can't just give if he's like my god he can't just give you 10 % of it there's tax it's hard but over communication with each other especially because you guys are so young there's a substantial chance look you might be emotional about dagging and think you're going to just do this for us there's also a chance that you're not and there's other things to life besides the business it's important that the three of you always know that who's doing what it's like it's sports it's like a team this season you just might have a great year and you might just tear your fucking ACL.

1:19:45You know? What a visual. But what's awesome about business unlike sports is you're actually signing lifetime contracts and you have time to reconcile but do not allow resentment to seep in when you think you're carrying an extra weight in a season. And know there are upcoming seasons that's important. Three partners is a very hard thing. You guys should be commended for your energy towards each other but you're still only in year four. And I think the reason I just told that long-winded story is one, to give my brother roses because he was also a child when he had the emotional capacity to know what to do.

1:20:29Not that I didn't earn that respect but you guys are brothers but you're not brothers. And only communication will make sure that this lasts forever. And obviously I'm sharing that with you guys, but I'm sharing it with everyone who's listening because there's a lot of dads that are in businesses with their siblings and their cousins and their dads and their grandchildren and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Family businesses are hard. And lack of communication is always the way for it to not work out. Yeah, we've been in a tech thread 24-7 for four years now. It doesn't stop. Yeah. The form factor or utility you created for communication doesn't mean you're actually having the real communication.

1:21:13And what you need to challenge yourself on is, you know, crying about micro things all the time becomes like bitch work. So you don't want to do that. But you do need to recognize if you've sat in something for three to six to nine months that's upsetting you or concerning you, you need to talk that out. We've experienced some conversations, haven't we? No, I'm just kidding. Oh, for sure. That's good. Yeah, I know. That's good. It's just, you know, it's like you're in this interesting phase. It's just like children. Yeah. Like companies are like children. You're now in year five. You know, like it gets, it gets different.

1:21:45Yeah. Having a seven-year-old. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. You know, you're gonna stop pooping your pants soon. Yeah. You know? Awesome. Well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hey everybody, if you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded. I appreciate your attention. and thanks for being part of this.

1:22:18Journey. See you later.