Why Is Nobody Telling Young Entrepreneurs This? | GaryVee Q&A With 2024 Summer Residents

0:00When you get out of judging others, who this is up there for me when you stop judging everybody you become capable of dealing with judgment because that's what's making you susceptible because if you're doing it you're thinking about them doing it and it's you up when you realize that nobody actually gives a about your life it's actually liberating it's not that they don't care it's just that they're worried about theirs and if you know that then you're fully free at the top of the things i like to talk about is patience and boy does nobody want it none of you fucking wonderful kids want to swallow patience and live it for the next 10 years but i promise you the bigger your ambition the more you have to fall in love with it and it's fucking hard especially now because so many of you in this generation are obsessed with the optics of being successful more than being successful.

0:55Everybody's flexing in one way or another. Even if it's not trying to get a million followers on Instagram, it's trying to impress your parents' friends. Like everyone's doing it for everybody but themselves. What you don't know right now, and this is actually huge advice, Ashley J, Clara, Marina, like, you know, Andrew, you know, everybody on here, Rohit, what you don't know is what it feels like to be 35 and I'm going to give you the preview. It feels exactly the same way you feel right now. If you realized all of you, how I sit with you today, this is going to make all of you laugh. This is no bullshit.

1:39It's so crazy how my life works. I literally sit here with all of you right now and I look at Josh C and I look at Natalie D. I look at you on the screen, Ryan, Julia, and I literally, this is real, I literally think we're friends. Meaning, like, we're the same age. Which is insane to all of you because I remember when I was 22, my cousin Bobby, who worked in the store, was 30, and I thought he was old as shit. So I'm sitting here and I'm like, yo, Orlando, we're friends, right? But I'm fucking 48 and Orlando's like, what the fuck are you talking about? You're as old as my dad. But I feel like we're friends.

2:20If you knew what I knew, you would slow everything down. I'm telling you from the bottom of my heart, I feel exactly the same way in my soul right this second as I did when I was your age. There's something that you mentioned about being sensitive, how being sensitive is important. And that's the way I feel with my family too. I'm from India, so you know how the stuff is back home. So it's like you either want to be all this or you want to work at a company, be safe, not risk it at all because your parents are aging, right? That's right. And you need to be there for them too, spend time with them.

3:03And it's either this or either that. Yeah, I would also say this. What's good about being 48 and not 22 is I know what it feels like to be a parent. Let me make this very clear to all of you and this might be the number one thing I say, it could literally change your life. I genuinely believe it. From the bottom of my heart, regardless of what they say, because they say a lot of dumb shit, your parents, I promise you, more than anything else, no matter how narcissistic and selfish they may be, given some may have parents like that, let me promise you something powerful. They just want you to be happy.

3:47and so too many kids do what they think will make their parents happy at the expense of their own happiness, which then leads to everyone being unhappy. Promise. So keep that in mind, my man. I was just curious your thoughts on what the most important, whether they're soft skills or technical skills or whatever it is, are the most important to develop in the first couple years of your career. it's the one this is a really fun thing to answer I would argue it is the acceleration of what comes natural to you balanced with closing the gaps on your most vulnerable part think of it like a bridge whatever the two most opposite things going on with you Soph so for example if your core natural skill is your compassion and kindness and leadership like you're just a fucking treat of a human being well good news that fucking matters and like more of that like expanding your charisma kindness compassion empathy but if you're like want to be in media buying and you're like math core technical skills is a softness equally going ham on closing the gap to create that rounding out if you're going to be someone who works in a company.

5:11So having a good eye on the expansion of your natural skills while trying to close the gap. You don't have to like, this is where school fucks people up. You're overspending time on shit that doesn't matter. If you're not gonna be technically sound at like math, like if you're bad at it, like you'll never be as good as JMO because it's a natural talent thing. but you need to close the gap a little bit so it's not some huge vulnerability. In reverse, if you're the smartest fucker here but everyone hates you, you better fix that shit. Those things, got it? That makes sense, thank you. You're welcome.

5:54And back to that just because I want all of you, like don't beat yourself up if from 23 to 24 you only did one of those things well. Like put things in 10-year windows. Like I'll be honest with you, I don't think I've done a great job as CEO this year. Like, I feel great about a lot of things, but we are just not in the financial place we should be. Real talk. But I'm not like, I'm a piece of crap. I'm like, hey, I need to fucking crush 2025. You know what I mean? Like, I just don't understand this beating yourself up all the fucking time. You guys need to stop. You know what I mean? Like, I love when like a 22-year-old like cousin or friend or acquaintance, like, I suck at relationships.

6:34I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about? You're 22. Like, please do not say you suck at anything. Please promise me you leave this meeting saying eliminating the self-conversation that you suck at something. You don't suck. You haven't even started. You might be off to a slow start. You might have not figured it out yet. But enough of this fucking beating yourself up shit. can we please commit to that can you guys give me some like thumbs up or yes or head nod like commit to that shit you're fucking you're a fucking baby like literally eight years ago I can tell you everything I did at work you were in fucking junior high you're fucking children this is the best you were literally in the best decade of your life and everybody's fucking stressed for what everything you're stressed about right now is something you wish you stress about in 20 years.

7:36Enjoy it. Promise. Hi, Gary. It's an honor to talk to you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. That's very sweet, Ange. Aw. But I have a question in pertaining just in general, but like, how do you deal with like a major failure and it was like your dream? And like, how do you like build a new dream and figure it all out again from scratch because that's what I'm dealing with as a 28-year-old. That's fucking amazing. So, Ange, are you willing to share your dream? I'm just curious. I don't want to share it right now. No worries. Of course. That's why I asked if you wanted to. By realizing I have no choice, Ange.

8:23Maybe I have no choice. Right. That's me. The reason it's so easy for me to deal, and I've dealt with plenty of heartache and losses is because I realize that time machines don't exist yet and that I have a choice to dwell in the sorrow which will lead me to not be able to make the next thing go well

8:49or be grateful that I even had a dream because many people don't, appreciate what the dream did for me in my youth as a North Star and all the fun that came along with the process of dreaming it and by challenging myself to give myself time to be sorrow and to grieve about the loss of this dream. That's fine, you're a human being. But be equally excited to the morning I wake up where I'm ready to create another one. I got ya. That's really great. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Ange, I mean this. You know, like, there is no time machines. You're fortunate that you had one. There are many people on this Zoom right now that don't have one.

9:38The fact that you had one was the gift. Not that you didn't achieve it. I will be uncomfortably fine if I don't buy the New York Jets. but I the reason I want to buy the New York Jets is because when I was 10 it was so far fetched that almost subconsciously I understood by giving myself such a big dream it would keep me busy in a good way do you know having the dream is the gift not the achieving of it as a matter of fact most people are actually depressed after they achieve a dream really? yeah because the process is the high, not the trophy. Because once you get there, it never meets your expectation.

10:24One of the most flattering things that happens to me in my life, I just did it this morning. I did a random breakfast because I'm a weird dude and just said yes to one. And the kids and the dad at the end just thanked me for living up to what they thought I was. Right? And it's like such a nice feeling to hear that. Like you didn't disappoint me. You were who I hoped you were. And it's because I think a lot of us, you know how they say don't meet your heroes? I think a lot of us live with cynicism or the fear of being let down on something they put on a pedestal. I view dreams that way as well.

11:02Many people achieve their dreams, but the way they imagine their dream is so different than the way their dream actually is that it's actually a depressing moment, not a fulfilling moment. So I would say you're very lucky that you've had a dream. that means a lot thank you so much you're welcome yeah please i've got me to do a couple in the room here team um yeah i was just gonna ask like i'm a resident so say hi say hi to everybody hey guys um what's your name tell everybody toby um so i was gonna say so i feel like i've made a lot of mistakes good because you know that's part of the process.

11:45Yes. Can you think of any ways maybe to deal with mistakes or examples of mistakes you've made in your career maybe that you've kind of moved on from? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot. I mean, to be very frank, I actually think life is predominantly mistakes with occasional wins. Like real talk. This goes back to my dream that all of you get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The way I deal with mistakes is, first of all I'm accountable but not beating myself up. So like what department are you in? Media. Perfect. I was hoping you were going to say that. I don't go home after those mistakes and say fuck I'm so much dumber than everybody on the media resident team.

12:29I go home and say should I do media? Though I use mistakes as opportunities to be self-reflective. Even though I might have thought I wanted to do media, should I? So first I use it as, is this teaching me anything? On the flip side, I also look at it from, if I want to conquer this, for whom? Like, do you want to get better at this to close the gap of insecurity around math? Or attention to detail to fit in? or are you just curious because you're going to enjoy the process of getting better at it? So I go very self-reflective even as a kid on mistakes and I go very hard on the two opposites. Is this just telling me like, fuck, maybe I should be an accountant or is this something that I want to get better at but for me, not for them?

13:36Thank you. I'll try to give you some mistakes. fuck what's really hard about so i've made so many mistakes but like when you're talking about i mean bro when you're talking about the shit you're talking about those are fucking minor things they can be major things because we can't really fuck up media and we got to pay back and like there's stuff but like i've said when we when email marketing built wine library like there was times where i sent all uh we had a do not email anymore list and one time i clicked and sent emails to only the people on the do not email and then Google could ban us and I couldn't send emails and it would destroy our business.

14:14That's scary. And people were mad. They're like, that's not fun. I've got seven trillion like that. Texting the wrong person of information that they can't see. I mean, I can spend the rest of my life telling you shit that I've done wrong. I think for you at this point, you need to figure out what I'm telling you. Is this telling you like, fuck this, attention to detail math is not where I want to take my talents or okay, let me like, I want to actually try to tackle this but for me, not to fit in or you know what I mean? Come from a place of enjoying the adversity versus closing the gap of insecurity.

14:53Got it? That's a big one. Oh, I like that one. Like when you do things because you want to enjoy the adversity and persevere versus doing it to close the gap of insecurity and judgment of others, then you should do it. But if you're doing it because you feel like you want everybody on screen right now to think you're just as good as them in media buying, that's a terrible reason to do it.

15:22Makes sense, thank you. You got it. My question was, if you're going to start all over again with no money, no resources in 2024, or going into 2025, how would you go about starting your own media agency? By, man, fuck, by, God, I wish I was starting it now. By making unlimited content of my opinions.

15:48Fuck, I wish. I fucking wish. If I started VaynerMedia today, at the time I started VaynerMedia, but this was the media landscape, we would have 700 ,000 employees. We would have been much bigger because I would have just put my thoughts on Wax aka posts all over the place and it would have led to much faster growth.

16:15Opinions on business rates and stuff? On everything, on marketing, on the whole nine. Now remember, Rohit, here's the punchline. I was right. so if you go make you or a sean or anybody else if you go make a hundred videos and you're wrong you're in trouble

16:38yeah thank you oliver that's you know like that's the part that i think people for you know i'm a very tough read in a lot of ways i think the part that most people forget is i end up being right Like that matters. Like I talked to this company seven years ago and said, TikTok, I'm giving you the preview. They all laughed at me internally. The reason so many people that have been here for seven years pay attention to when I'm talking is they can recount the many times they thought I was wrong where I ended up being right. That's how you build reputation and credibility.

17:16but you all have the luxury of working here and i think that's a huge benefit if you want to go down that path because i think you're going to say things right if you understand what i'm saying that's what i love about business it's the closest thing to sports merit matters right like bro if you and i played basketball right now somebody's gonna win like we one of us would know who's better. In life, school, politics, parenting, there is no version of that. The only other thing that kind of has winning and losing is business. Unfortunately, the way people pay taxes, the way they use politicians, there's more manipulation of merit in business than sport.

18:01But fuck, business is the only other thing that's got it. That's why I love it so much. I love the game. Notice how when I delivered, I don't think I did a good job. There was almost like a level of like me liking it, I like that. I like the humility that comes along with that, the challenge. It's not self-deprecation, it's accountability. These are all things that I wish that you all developed because it will lead you to a much more peaceful place. But everybody avoids it like the plague. This is what's happening in society that I'm trying to keep you all away from. Stop blaming people. You want to get much happier?

18:38Like much happier. don't blame presidents neither one of these two is gonna have that much to do with your life believe it or not definitely don't blame your parents that's where all of you get fucked up if you're mad at your parents be mad at your grandparents they're the ones who fucked them up and then if you're mad at your grandparents if you're lucky enough to know you're a great-grandparent find them and yell at them I always get pissed about this grandparents get such a pass kids are all pissed at their fucking parents but then they love their grandma I'm like your fucking grandma fucked up your mom.

19:10It's a real thing. I'm really passionate about this because what ends up happening is the person that you're demonizing right now, your mom, your dad, all of a sudden when you hear me say that, if you're lucky enough to know your grandparents and you really take a step back and think, all of a sudden you go from anger and resentment to your parents to compassion for them. Like, you're in control. Do you understand? Hey Gary, wondering what you think the biggest problem in the world is right now? Entitlement. You couldn't have asked a better question, my brother, to what I was just saying. It's really hurting us.

19:50I think we've lost complete, thank you Jay, I think we've, Pierre, you know, I think we've really lost it. I think we've lost the plot. I don't understand why you will spend all your time thinking about what's bad versus what's good. entitlement, man. It's, I don't know why people think the world owes them anything. For what? You know what I mean? Like, I don't, I think what worked for me, brother, is I don't think anybody owes me anything. I think it's why I work as a CEO. When I tell you for real, that like, for real, that I sit here in front of all of you, literally my brain says, I work for you, you don't work for me.

20:34I don't know what else to tell you that's literally how my brain hears it and I think that people are just like I don't know what do you think? I don't know that's why I asked I think if you look carefully brother and like obviously I've gotten to know you a little bit lately because we played some basketball and I even like the way you play it like and you grew up in the city and like I know a little bit about you like it's inconceivable to me of the little I know about you that you haven't been surrounded by kids that you know live a pure, entitled life. Like, bro, I really struggle being the son of a mom who had to go outside to go to the bathroom because Russia in the 50s and 60s was so ghetto.

21:17It really is a struggle for me to feel bad when I hear a kid say that they're crying because they can't go to Ibiza like their other friends. Like, the fuck are we talking about? like sorry that your parents aren't paying for you to go to Mykonos for two fucking weeks to fucking pop Molly, sorry like the fuck are you actually crying about you know what I mean like we're just so lost in the fucking I don't know what the fuck's going on but like I know it's real bad parenting and but I also know that just because you maybe were all over coddled or undercoddled or coddled to the left or right. Good news.

22:04You might be young as shit, but I have great news. You're now in control. You're a big girl, big boy. And so you're either gonna decide that you're gonna blame everybody from your parents to your teachers, to your circumstance, to what order you were born in your family, to whatever else you got going in your head. You're gonna point fingers in perpetuity. I prefer that all of you point thumbs because what might hurt for a couple of weeks of recalibrating everything is your fault actually leads to all your own happiness. I promise you, if you're in this meeting right now, this is as simple as I can say it.

22:42If you are in this meeting right now, let me give you the 800 million people I know your life's better than. There are 800 million people on earth that do not have access to clean water.

23:03800 million people can't drink clean water within a seven or eight hour window, depending on how they define it. What are we complaining about? Your Wi-Fi is not powerful in your apartment.

23:24There's no conference rooms available and it's loud on the floor. What are we complaining about? I just, I'm struggling. They gave you the wrong milk in your coffee? Like, I watch people complain and I'm like, we are lost. Lost. So. Yeah, thank you. You got it, my brother. So, not sure if it's different from like physical products like e-commerce, but how would you start over marketing as SaaS? Oh, I love SaaS marketing because I'm obsessed that LinkedIn continues to be the underpriced platform of organic reach. I would start a podcast that brought value to the industries that my SaaS product was servicing.

24:10So let's say I did HiBob and I was in HR. I would start a podcast around HR in general. Got it? So the more value in the macro I could bring, but then I could narrow it down when I do the right hook and tell them about my business in the podcast or at the beginning of the podcast or the end of the podcast. So I would create a podcast in the genre that brings value to the industry that I'm gonna be a part of and then I would chop up those pieces of content and fucking crush LinkedIn on best practices on the SMA excellence that I'm clearly obsessed with if you watched yesterday's meeting.

24:52Make sense? Yeah. link bro june linkedin organic is a fucking gold mine but like anything you have to be good at it

25:07which is why i'm so obsessed about everybody in creative and strategy starting to get into the analytics right which is why i keep pushing everyone to become a practitioner at content platform strategy right like really understanding the thumbnail the first second all that fucking gnarly shit. You know what I mean? Cool. All right. Say hi. Tell everyone. Hi everyone. My question is in some of your work, you've talked about how people want to watch like the modern commercial, something that doesn't feel like your typical commercial. And at least from my recognition, watching commercials when I was younger with my family, it seems like it used to be something that people enjoyed watching because our attention is so fleeting.

25:47People don't want to watch it. I just wonder, do you think - I don't think it's a fleeting attention I think commercials today just suck shit. I just think actually 30 years ago, 20 years ago, people were better at it. I do. I think the talent that used to be in advertising to make better commercials now does it for themselves. Okay. Do you think we'll ever return to that space where commercials are just better like they were 20, 30 years ago? I'd like to think we are that company. I'd like to think that what we do, especially when we do VV1, I'd love to think we can be that and I also think it's what we're doing on social right like the Doricel Bravo ad that's just a good ad you know and so yeah I'd like to think we can be that positive change Hi so I'm going to pivot here to a little bit of a sports question not about the Jets I'm ready for that Emma but I'm curious how what your take on the NIL college athlete rule changes has impacted VaynerSports and where you kind of see that going moving forward and how we can leverage it within our media and within our brands.

26:58It accelerated VaynerSports' growth because so many kids, we have an offensive lineman at the University of Georgia who has the ability to be a top 50 pick, first or second round, who's gonna sign with us, who would have never signed with us before because we were still growing as an agency, but because we do his NIL he got to know us and now he knows like it's completely changed everything for us because it's marketing and that's our strength. I think NIL is one of the best marketing opportunities for brands because I mean the deals we brought Caitlin Clark at$20 ,000 to brands three years ago and they would have had usage rights still today.