You’re Not Supposed To Know Where To Start

29:23I have no idea. you know, is it 5 % and throwing out to these other things that might happen versus, you know, where's the, and one other question. Please, let me bang on that real quick. Yes, we can get a picture, but we'll do that at the end. But to answer your question, I think of it as three stages. The majority of people here are spending their dollars in something that I think has less of an ROI than Facebook and LinkedIn and podcast advertising right now. So I would spend 70, these are arbitrary numbers, Intuition, I'm going 70 there, I'm taking my 100 or 80 of the traditional stuff, Google search, direct mail, I'm taking that to 20 and then I'm doing five or 10 % of weird new stuff just to get myself used to it.

30:06The problem is 99.999 % of this room is not going to do that because within the first 100 days you'll have a decline of leads and they'll bail because they're soft.

30:20Hi. Hi, Amy Ruffeka. Hi, Amy. So, fascinatingly, we are in an industry that's super traditional. We're lawyers, doctor, or accountant, right? Yep. We're one of those three. But we barely rank above prostitutes in trust, according to all the media and the surveys. Because a small group that show up on television historically look like such douchebags nobody trusts. So my question to you is on social media for the long play, how do you build trust? By not being a douchebag. I mean it. By being a douchebag, that's how you build the trust? By not. By not. By not. And I'm making a joke and I'm trying to really frame up the conversation.

31:06we as animals are always inherently cynical to something that feels fast. By the way, it's my great issue as a personality. I'm so Jersey fast hyper that so many people judge me at first based on my energy, not the words out of my mouth. There are so many people. How many people here, watch this. How many people here by show of hands started out thinking I was full of shit and a douchebag? Right? So like, thanks, Abe. So, you know, so I think it's how things are said, it's the context. Everything is like, have you been wronged? I'm gonna hook you up. Call this number now. We got this. And it's just, it's built up.

31:46Whereas instead, nobody's educating. Who's putting out the five minute video of like, hey, if this happens, here are three things you need to think of and be out. And be out, not and call me. Or if you want more information on how to really do it, Then you, like everyone's so, basically everyone in the industry treats the customers the way, you know, scummy dudes go to the bar at 11.30 at night. They're trying to close in that moment.

32:19And a little romance goes a long way. Right, ladies? Like just give me five fucking seconds. Fuck. Fuck. That. So, on social media then, you're saying just push out as much educational content as you can. You know, you did raise your hand. So, you consume a little bit of my content? Yes. Great, so you know how I always say, watch what I'm doing, not what I'm saying? Yeah. I am putting out my best advice every day. There are literally agencies that are built 100 % on the back of watching my content in the morning. I get emails from, hey Gary, funny story. My company watches all your stuff in the morning and then that's what we sell and we sometimes even steal your own customers.

33:05Ha ha ha. Two things run through my mind. One, fuck. But for a second, then I go, and that's why I'm gonna be the top dog. The world is abundant and there's confusion on that theory. Too many people here think they're competing directly against the person next to them. They're confused. Number two, yes, I think you put out all the best content you can possibly bring to somebody. There are plenty of people that never need to use you and waste dollars. If you're the lawyer in this room that educates the world of how not to use you and waste dollars, you will be the biggest person in this room.

33:46Doesn't come natural. It's a little different, but that's how the biggest things in the world are built. Of course you gotta play it differently to be much bigger. You can continue to play in the margins, grow 3%, 2%, 9%, until you don't.

34:06Sir, how are you? Thank you. Hey, Derek, how are you doing? Thank you. Oh, I'm, you don't have a mic, right? The gentleman in the back with the mic. You don't need to get a mic, brother, sorry. Go ahead, sir. Thank you. Anthony Knowles from Phoenix, Arizona. Hey, Anthony. You said produce content at scale. Can you define what you mean by at scale? How much content do you produce now, Anthony? Very little. You mean zero.

34:38I know you lawyers. Here's what I would say. Couple things. I think that Facebook and LinkedIn is a really good place for you to do original content. I think Facebook groups is an incredible place for you to join, be part of the community, but don't go in hot. You're just part of the Arizona group of professionals and you're bringing value. When I started my career, you're part of the community, which I know has worked for a lot of you that haven't, the people in here who haven't advertised leveraged being part of the community and built a word of mouth kind of business. So, listen, even if you did a thought of the day, How long have you been doing your job, sir?

35:1822 years. I think that is, you know, one of the things I'm talking a lot about is I believe one of the most under-conversated issues in our society right now when it comes to inclusion and diversity and acceptance is ageism. I am fascinated by the growth of technology creating a narrative where we completely have not valued wisdom and experience anymore and that if you're like over 50 and your font size on your text is big, you suck. I think that's completely backwards. And I actually think a huge opportunity is to lean into experience. I think if you did something called, you know, 22 seconds on my 22 years of experience on LinkedIn every day, and you just talked about things you learned or things you thought, you will not believe how much value for your own business you get when you bring value into the world.

36:08Even if you talk about how you built your practice, a fellow lawyer in Ohio may subconsciously refer you an opportunity. Like doing good and putting out good stuff is always the right thing to do. So I would, you know, for you at this point, just something that made you do something consistent. Notice how I framed up an idea that seems kind of easy. It's like, okay, that's not, you know, you see where I'm going? The other thing you could do is film, literally film meetings and things of that nature. Obviously so much you could never share with disclosures and things of that nature, but there might be some internal meetings.

36:41Just getting into the habit. This is no different than being wildly obese and out of shape and you have to start working out. You gotta start somewhere. And if the first day you're not running 47 miles, that's probably what the story is. You know, like for most of my life I didn't work out and five years ago I got serious and that first workout is the most laughable thing to think about of all time. You know, you gotta start somewhere. If nothing else, just your opening post, just everybody leaves here today and makes one post on LinkedIn. LinkedIn's wild right now. LinkedIn's going through a Facebook-like moment.

37:14You could have no followers. You could post something and a thousand people will see it because there's so much consumption and not enough content. That is a tremendous, even if you did a hello world post. Hello LinkedIn, I'm starting this. I'm gonna try, I went to a morning keynote that inspired me to do this. I'm gonna start putting out content of things of how I built my firm, what I've learned, things that I think people should look out for in my expertise, tips. So that's what I would say, sir. Thank you. You're welcome.

37:46Hi. Hey. Hey. Oh, we're good. What's up, Gary? I'm Ali Awad, and I get my clients a lot of money. My question is this. Jesus.

38:00Go ahead, bro. So there's a huge age difference here. Some of us are in our 20s and 30s. Some of us are in our 50s and 60s. Not a lot of us have the benefit of being on billboards, radio, TV ads for so many years. So we want to talk about practicality. I know you bring this up all the time. I started doing some social media right when I was in law school. Last year was my first full year in business. I spent about$6 ,000 in ads and made a little over$3 million in revenue. I realized, you know, this shit kind of works. Practically, if you're saying you made a specific number,$4 ,000, and you're putting out mailers or billboards, practically, if someone has$4 ,000 to spend, where do you think would be the best?

38:44Facebook ads only? And is it more important in the marketing dollars or in the content creation? The marketing amplification dollars. The content creation when you have such limited money should be you and an iPhone. Okay. The distribution of dollars, and the reason I say Facebook, Facebook's, you know, first of all, Facebook's dominance from 50 to 90-year-olds is remarkable. and there's a lot of business to be done there. So Facebook's not cool. I don't give a fuck about cool. I'm trying to build businesses out here. So you can also be crazy contextual on Facebook. You know you're targeting 55 to 60 year old people in Chicago.

39:20You make a reference about the 86 bears. You make a reference about Illinois. You make a reference. You make context in your video. You know who you're targeting. Plus it costs nothing. A hundred bucks to get in front of in a feed a ton of people that are 55 to 60 in Chicago. Facebook. Awesome, thank you. You got it. Yes, sir? James Dutton. Hey, James. I'm from here in Georgia and in a very rural area. Okay. And there's several attorneys in those various counties that we practice in that for 40 years, for 50 years, have just been killing it. They're the brand. Makes sense. If somebody wants a criminal defense attorney, they go to this guy and that's it.

40:05Even though that guy's retired and it's his associates now that are the ones doing it. How do you... So run a Facebook ad to that area. Yeah, how do I overcome that level of... You make a video and you say, hey everybody in Thomas County, it's me. Fun fact, you know George Thompson that you all use? He's been retired for four years and you're actually getting Carol.

40:35That would be the ad I would run. And then I would quickly move and be like, and by the way, this has nothing to do with George Thompson and I'm sure Carol is lovely, let me tell you about me. And then you'll build. Thank you. You're welcome.

40:54Who's got the mics, let's make sure we spread out. Hey sir. Yep. Hey Gary. How are you? I'm excellent. I feel excellent. Good. I'm Howard Spava. I'm a trial lawyer from Savannah, Georgia. Okay. I've got 35 crisp videos. I've had a charity since 1999. I'm in all the parades. Here's a problem I have. Here's a problem I have. Please. I don't care what anyone says. Good. If you have someone who's catastrophically injured, you're never going to get full justice unless you do one of two things. Go in the courtroom and get it or be willing to go in the courtroom and get it. Okay. Otherwise, they laugh because they paid you$3 million at mediation and they would have paid you$20 at trial.

41:36I understand. Here's my problem. Those guys you're talking about on TV, in Savannah, none of them, the only one I've ever seen at the courthouse was getting sentenced for stealing from his client. They don't get full justice. And they sell people down the river. They take the quick money. Most of the time, they take the million that's offered or they take the two or they take the three at mediation. Makes sense to me. Yeah. Well, here's the problem. I've got 43 years in martial arts and I'm a warrior. Okay. And I like to go in the courtroom and change people's lives. And some people are so badly injured you can't do that unless you go in the courtroom.

42:14Okay. But see, they call the guy on the truck or the hammer. I mean, I get calls. I get cases. I'm blessed beyond means. But how do I keep... That's your fault. That's right. And so I need you to tell me beyond what you've said. I just fucking told you for the last 35 minutes. Beyond what you've said.

42:36What you were just saying was super compelling and I genuinely believe you much more than other content and you need to put that on Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter. All right, well, one question. Please. It's nice to go all over the country and try cases, but I don't want 50 states. I don't even want our 159 counties. We have unbelievable commercial trucks with timber and logging in the ports in Savannah. Those are the cases that I want. I want all the catastrophic injuries by trucking. So only run your ads in your area. Don't put out a single piece of organic social media content in your life.

43:14Only run content against the target area. You can run ads only to people in the specific zip code, in the specific age group. My friends, this is a game of headline reading versus being a practitioner. The amount of opinions in this room about what social media is or things of that nature are opinions. I run ads every day. I'm a practitioner. Like you said, sir, you're a practitioner. They play one on TV. These days, you've got two choices. Buying a new car or making the one you've got run like new. We know which one we'd choose. That's why at Firestone Complete Auto Care, we have thousands of ASE certified technicians nationwide trained to spot an issue with your car before it becomes a problem, no matter the make or model.

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44:48I don't understand why people don't spend 10 hours on Google or YouTube consuming information to become educated on how to make pictures and videos and run ads on the seven platforms that we all know our society is living on. To this young man's point, there was never a time when a young man with 6 ,000 bucks could build that much revenue because it cost too much money to do radio television. Guys, I built my daddy's store on radio, television, direct mail. It was hard. This shit's way easier. You just judge technology because you're old. Or because you're ideological. This is not an old or new thing.

45:25There's a lot of 20 year olds who are like, I don't like that my friends are on the phone. I'm like, who gives a fuck? You're trying to sell t-shirts. They're on the phone. Go on the phone. People are making decisions about their marketing of their business based on their subjective opinion of society. Nobody cares about your opinion that the kids don't go outside. Nobody cares. You think it's weird that they use Tinder? Fuck you. Like, I don't understand what we're doing here. When did you have the ability to judge society? Who the fuck are you? I'm serious. By the way, I don't think my opinions are right either.

46:05I only, this is why I don't guess. I promise you every word that you're about to hear has already happened. I'm not guessing. Because I don't want the vulnerability. This is not opinions. Sir, run Facebook and LinkedIn. You can run ads on YouTube that are based on what people search on Google. If they're searching for attorney in Savannah, Georgia, but then they go to YouTube to watch a Georgia Bulldogs highlight, you could pop up and say, are you from Savannah, Georgia? And they're gonna be like, oh shit, that's weird. But at least they're gonna know who the fuck you are because you're losing the people who they know who the fuck they are.

46:42Just like that dude, back there just like everything else. This is very obvious. This is black and white. I don't know what emotional hurdle you need to get over to get into this. I don't know if you don't realize how content you actually are. I don't know if you don't realize that the words coming out of your mouth from ambition don't match your action because you don't actually mean it. I don't know what, but I know it's happening. And that's what we need to break through here today. Gary, I've followed you for years, read your books. I love your energy, thank you. Thank you, sir. And my friend, as you can imagine, when I hear that as the parting shot, and I want you to win versus the alternative, I need you to start doing.

47:25You need to leave this conference right now and go home and run$1 ,000 worth of ads. I'm a Chris X client and I'm now running on all those. Bro, I don't care if you're fucking the Lord Jesus Christ. I need you to go fucking home and run ads. Thank you.

47:49I like getting churchy in the South. Yes. Hey Gary, I'm Gabriel Sanchez from Los Angeles. Gabriel, pleasure. Big fan. Wake up every morning on the treadmill listening to your podcast. Thank you. Awesome. A lot of value. Thank you. Thank you. So personal injury, Laura, Los Angeles. I have some of the, it's super fierce competition. Yeah, that makes sense. Sometimes I'm surprised. I even exist here yeah I got guys spending millions of dollars a month in advertising some of the biggest firms are in Los Angeles they're all over the world yes I got like 12 attorneys personal attorney is just in my building so most of my business all it's all referral based start off with five clients about four years ago we have 190 now my question is a lot of these firms a lot of the big competitors already are they're starting to do the video ads They're already on social media, paying Facebook, Instagram.

48:41They're doing that. That's what pisses me off. Yeah. Because I've been yelling about this forever and I wish you did it four years ago and I don't know when, you know. Yes, that's what, wait. There's only one feed. It's not like there's a separate feed for personal injury lawyers and then one for sneakers and then one for, wait to the biggest companies in the world, stop spending on dumb fucking TV commercials and start spending properly here, the price to get into a Facebook feed is not gonna be 12 bucks, it's gonna be 450 bucks. My friends, this hasn't even started. To answer the punchline of your question, you have to be better.

49:19More contextual, more specific, just like early Google. At first, I bought wine. That was good. But then everybody figured out the game. Then I had to buy Cabernet. That was good. Then everybody figured out the game. Then I had to buy Caymus Cabernet. Then everybody figured out the game. Then I had to buy Caymus 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. Then everybody figured out the game. Then I had to find some weird Portugal wine and buy that. You gotta get more specific. You've gotta make a video in Spanglish. Half Spanish, half English, only targeting 44 to 49 year old women that live in the outside. You see where I'm going?

49:53And then you've gotta make the, you have to pick the target and then make the video for them. When I make a video of like, hey 60 year olds, don't you hate all these fucking 25 year olds that are getting all the action on YouTube? it explodes because I target 60 year olds and they hate 25 year olds.

50:13You understand? That's genius, I love it. And what the big firms are going to do is everyone in Los Angeles. And so they're going to sell vanilla to everyone and you need to sell chocolate, mint, chocolate chip, triple decker and you need to make it contextual. Got it? Got it. I literally sit in my office, make a video that's a macro point and then film for like five minutes saying, hey Detroit, hey Cleveland, hey. Contextual. This is a context battle, not a content battle.

50:47Thank you. You're welcome. Hey. What's up Gary? Brent Sibley, personal injury lawyer from Miami. Thank you for the selfie outside. You got it. I'm actually already running that selfie on Instagram as an ad right now. I respect it. I fucking love it. I shit you not. Just don't make a douchey. No, it's just me and you. I'll tell you what, you'll love this. There's people that grab me in the street, we take a quick selfie, or in the airport, and then I find it, because they tag me, and the caption are like, long full day meeting with Gary V, strategizing the future. Nope, just put legend is in the house.

51:19That's all I put. And then I jump in the comments, I'm like, you're a fucking dick. I know you're going to call me out if I put some bullshit in there, so I'm not about to do that. Go ahead. Anyway, here we go. About a year ago, I saw something from you saying how underpriced stories were on Instagram. Instagram stories, right? Just for everybody, there's the Instagram. Mean feeding, the stories, the ads in there are super underpriced still to keep going. So I pretty much took that to heart. I was at a point in my life, had my first child, said, I need to make an impact. So I'm gonna go all in on the stories.

51:50The stories are linked. My Instagram, my Facebook, they're linked. And I have about 1 ,000 followers. Probably 10 people in the room have already come up to me from this week and said, I love your stories. I'm going ham. but it's a personal thing, I'm all jabs. I'm barely asking for anything. People love it. How do I, I'm struggling to push that and grow that and get my people to share it. When I put some ad budgets on the stories, people get confused because they're like, who is this guy just talking about being motivated or having a child? He's, you know what I'm saying. How am I gonna grow that personal brand?

52:24It means you're running the ads poorly. Like think about it, you're going too generic with the ads So if you're just showing up in a random person's feed in story ads and you gave them no context on you, then you become vulnerable because you're back to the vanilla business. Where, as if you target, where do you live? Miami, out of Turo. Right, if you're like, Miami, what's up? You know, or, I mean, you could target Dolphins. Are you a fucking Dolphins fan? No. Worse? No, no, no, no. I gave up on the NFL a long time ago. Respect. Do you like anything? I like Tiger Woods. He went to... Next. So that's why.

52:58and then as for the first part, the right hook, like if you're looking for something for them to use you or what have you, it's okay to ask. Like nobody's trying to give more value than me but you're wearing my sneakers, this gentleman is wearing my sneakers, I'm not even wearing my sneakers because when I have something to sell, I'm happy to ask. It will not convert as well as the dream sounds. Not enough people buy empathy wines for the value I've given them. Not enough people sign up for wine text. Not enough people use VaynerMedia. Not enough people use, you know, buy K-Swiss sneakers for all the value I'm giving which is free and at scale and the best in the world.

53:36But the bottom line is, that's okay. Give, give, give, and then ask. Because the net is still bigger because the casket is so wide. Is it sometimes sad? I mean, I don't, bro, you know how weird it is to get emails? Hey Gary V, nine years ago I was super poor and now I have$47 million because all I did was watch your videos and did it. And then I'll apply only once out of every 10 times because I like learning. Hey bro, by the way, did you buy Empathy Wines? Oh no, I didn't get to it bro. Fuck!

54:0847 million? Couldn't throw a guy a case? You know? As long as you understand that give, give, give, too many people when they give, and this is what is wrong with 90 % of the marketing in this room, when they give, they have expectation to get in return. Which means they're not giving, they're manipulating. That's what free e-books are, but then you get them. That's what, a free consultation call, fuck you guys. You're not giving me any value. You mean an opportunity to be sold to the whole time? Fuck. You know it, and I know it, and most importantly, they know it. Why don't you actually give a free consultation call, film it, tell the person you're filming it, hey Ron, I'm giving you this free consultation call, I'm filming it for my Facebook because I feel very comfortable with what I'm gonna say.

54:59Is that okay with you? No, it's not okay with me. No problem. We won't fill. Hey, Karen, I'm about to give you this free consultation call. Just want you to know I want to film it and put it on my Facebook. Is that okay with you? Yeah, that's fine. And then actually give the best possible advice that may lead to not even having a transaction and then put that video on Facebook and LinkedIn and watch your miraculous lead gen explode. There's a tactic. There's more details. There you go. Hi, how are you? Hi, my name's Kat Tomini. I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hi, Kat. My husband over here is the trial lawyer.

55:30I see him. Good looking dude. Good job. I'm a huge fan. Thank you. I love, I have a lot of your personality traits. Good. You must be amazing. I am. But the biggest, I've just started helping Frank with his marketing at the office because he's been practicing 32 years, top trial lawyer of Louisiana. My biggest concern is we handle quadriplegics, catastrophic accidents. I understand, sensitive stuff. And I just don't, I mean, I don't know where to begin with that. Well, you don't share that. It's no different than me choosing not to share my children because I don't want to put them on blast and I'll let them decide if they want to be known instead of what most people do which is it's cute and they get three extra likes and they don't think.

56:21You're not gonna put out content. What are you gonna ask for somebody in such a terrible, this is why I love you already. One, I love him because he looks like he beat the shit out of anybody. Two, I love you because you're asking the right question. That's so awesome, of course not. What are you gonna ask somebody to make a video that's in such a terrible spot for your own personal gain? Of course you're not, so you don't. You don't need to do that. I'm not looking for testimonials out here. Nobody believes them anyway. Let me save you time. Nobody believes them anyway. Hi, I see you. What's that, I see it.

56:53Great, for the one minute left. Yeah, I'm gonna go a little late. So, I, I, they don't believe in the testimonials anyway. I'm looking for him to story tell about certain things he saw from the mindset of I don't want this video on Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter to lead to business. I want it to lead to reputation and legacy which then will happen to lead it to business. When you go into that mind frame all of a sudden he's telling like you know real stuff like you know let me tell you I still continue to tell everybody which is why I do what I do of trying to get service providers to tell people how not to use them.

57:38Or to your point sir over there like really educating them why settlements are so high it's no different by the way I'm going through this in my business My brother and I have a sports representation business. Vayner Sports, you know, every kid in Georgia, you have to recruit, what a talented state. Nonetheless, a lot of agents, oh, Atlanta just benefited from this. Ronald Acuna just signed a long-term contract that was so horrible for Ronald Acuna, but great for the Braves, because his agent wanted to sign it early because they didn't want to lose him before arbitration. Tell truth. The truth always wins.

58:22You don't need to go into that content. Maybe they want you to go into that content. Maybe that person who is in a super bad situation enjoys watching his videos because when they Googled before they started working with you, they watched 15 of them and he happens to be funny and it's interesting and they were so grateful at the end of the process, they actually tell you, I'd like to do a video with you and then you can if you want but don't let it be a testimonial. tell the joke about the fries you ate. So we just did the video and it came out great. Okay. There's some parts that I'm, you know, we'll market on Facebook and stuff like that and maybe some for our website, I think.

58:58Okay. But I need you to make content every day. Okay. Like, I want to know what he thinks is gonna happen with the LSU game tonight. Like, this is about building reputation. Guys, we did this in the cafes and at the PTA and at the Chamber of Commerce and at the stop sign at the high school football game. That's how you build your business. All I'm asking you to do is what you did in real life to do digitally. You didn't roll up to everybody when you first started your career and said, use me. No, you like started networking. You can network with content. Thank you. You got it. Sir. Okay, we'll go there.

59:38Yep, ma 'am. How are you? I'm doing great, Gary. Awesome. The question I have, And I know you've told us, build content, brand, reputation as a means of basically early adaptation. But you know people and you know what they think about lawyers. What other kind of things can we do to be early adapters in this field that you can think of? Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College Deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller.

1:00:23Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. Whatever your thing, it could be anything. Canva helps you make that thing a thing. Canva is a simple online tool thing. It's a way to design with our magic AI tool things. You can social media your thing, generate images or videos of your thing, make decks for presentations to show your thing. Whatever needs to be done for your thing, Canva can make it an even better and bigger thing. Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. Keep the mic. I want to make sure I understand the framework of your question.

1:01:05When you say early adopters, because you were going towards the end of that question around trust, and then you kind of pivoted a little bit there at the end with early adopters. So what I want to understand is, are we talking about the content you can put out on the places where people currently are or start building early reputation on things like TikTok or when anything, go ahead. I'm thinking like adaptation like you did with your wine business. You know, you were out there, you did Google before anybody else did Google and yes, that you're providing value, providing value, but one of the things that's a threat is that people think lawyers are just out there to money grub.

1:01:41Most of the lawyers I know are out there to help people. Yes, we like getting paid for our work, but that's why we do what we do. I think that's the content that needs to see the earth. Okay. That's what's so exciting about this. The last generation of content, to this gentleman's point, was people that were more marketers than they were lawyers. I think that you should put out a podcast each week can talk about helping people. And I think leveling up your ideas works too. Like if you started, where do you live, ma 'am? Colorado. Great. If you started the, you know, Colorado Helping People podcast, literally, the CHP.

1:02:25Welcome to the first episode of the CHP. Today I'm interviewing Karen Thompson, an incredible doctor from downtown Denver, and the whole macro of the show is helping people as the show brings people value. even a small group of 400 people that listen to it in Colorado, the likelihood of 12 of those people using you once they even, you don't even have to say what you do and they'll probably become your clients and notice how I called it the Colorado because I want it to be narrow so it's a small listenership but it's contextual and you'll get the benefit. Well and that's actually less my concern is me getting the benefit but how we might be able to reach and provide things to the consumers.

1:03:06Like, again, you know what people want, and that's what you give them, and you give them. But I don't know exactly how to bridge that gap between, you know, hey, come in my office, sit down, I'll talk to you about things and bill you hourly. What ideas, you know, I guess more my point was, what can we do to really provide value to the end user? Do a Q &A show. Okay. One of the things I did in 2013 or 14 was I started the Ask Gary Vee show because I took questions and if you have a LinkedIn or a Facebook or a Twitter, you can post, anybody have a legal question of me, you take four of them and you do a Q &A show and you answer it and now you're providing value.

1:03:50Excellent, thank you. Q &A is a great way to start. Thanks Gary. You got it. Sir. Hey Gary. How are you? My name's William. I'm with my wife at CrashATL.com. I got a good question. You're big in the black community online. How are you able to translate the different cultures and actually win? Because most people try to go into cultures and take. But a lot of my counterpart here do take. But I'm saying, how can I take as a minority in this game? you know? Well, I mean, look, whether it's African Americans, you know, I grew up in the Soviet former, like a lot of community likes to work with that community, right?

1:04:38So you already have a leg up. It's just that you have to know whether you look like you or me or that lovely lady to just ask the question. At the macro, it's value. Okay. You know, the reason athletes and hip hop artists like me is when I DM Gunna, when he has 800 followers on Instagram and I speak to him about navigating how to build up his profile, he remembers that. I'm not hitting up Gunna today. I'm not hitting up DaBaby today. I'm hitting them up when they're on the come up and trying to give them game that allows them to navigate business. That's why it works. And even better, I ask them for nothing because I know reputation matters.

1:05:19You know, the reason we're gonna break the whole sports agency game and do the whole Jerry Maguire on everybody's face is because we're gonna bring more value to the kids. It's not super complicated. So the way you break through is A, if for example you wanna go after the African American community, you know you already got a leg up. They're gonna trust you more on the get. And all you have to do is provide them value. You don't take advantage of that. You lean into bringing more value. It's empathy. Appreciate it.

1:05:51Sir. Hey, thanks so much for all your comments. Love them. So, with my firm, we've started doing Facebook and LinkedIn. I wanted to know if there's any other platforms you'd recommend to start shuffling a little bit of the ads to? How much money and content a day do you spend on Facebook and LinkedIn? We spend about two grand a month. Right, Facebook and LinkedIn. Okay, and there's no other platforms like Instagram stories? Okay. One final question. And here's why. I like Instagram stories. I do think they're grossly underpriced. But I love Facebook and LinkedIn because it's very, very, very much going to be a place where a lot of people here do business.

1:06:33There's business to be done. And if you've been listening and you go narrow and you go demographic, psychographic, sir, it's contextual. Even the words I was using with you are more, like, it's not acting different. It's just relevance. People have different slang terms. I can't go to the Upper East Side and talk to an 84 year old woman and use the word slat. She's not going to know what the fuck I'm saying. You know, so you have to be contextual, right? Slang matters. That's not disrespectful. That's being a chameleon and being empathetic if you actually mean it. So, you know, the thing that I want you to do is really be contextual in those two platforms because they're grossly underpriced with their targeted ads.

1:07:19LinkedIn is underpriced on organic. Now, if you post organic, you might get somebody from St. Louis. I don't know how your industry works. I assume, maybe I'm wrong, that referral business is a potential. So if you have somebody super interested in you, but you're here, and you don't want to litigate or can't in St. Louis, thank you for confirming, I assume. I mean, I'd probably be the, I could walk into your business tomorrow and in three years make more revenue than everybody here just on referrals. Don't make me do that. It would hurt your fucking feelings. It's what I did in the ad world. I was the liquor store guy coming to Madison Avenue, billion dollar companies, they took shits on me until they did it.

1:08:03It's all the same fucking game. That's why I'm walking into sports, I could walk into anything. Whoever provides the most value always wins. It just takes a few minutes. People aren't patient. They can't wait to get that first check to buy that dumb shit to impress people that they don't even give a fuck about. One, thank you. That's what's really happening out here. Final question, what do I have to do to get a selfie with you? My wife said don't come home. Run up here right now, sir. Awesome. Oh, you're actually running, shit, okay. You took that very literally. My wife said don't come home without a selfie.

1:08:47Awesome. Real pleasure. Take care.

1:08:52Hey Gary. How are you? My name's Russell. Doing good, how are you? Good. I've been practicing law 16 weeks and...

1:09:05You know what's funny? You delivered that so great. You even got me and I'm looking, it's a little dark and I'm like, you know how your brain can work fast. I'm like, this man's about to say 16 years. Did he start when he was four? Like, go ahead. Well, my background was in video marketing before I went to law school, so I know this shit worked. But now I work for my father and his partner, who are the 70-year-old guys who are going to retire in six years. Okay. They just want to preserve the business. One of the partners complains about spending$400 a month on his legal library for online research instead of books.

1:09:37So how do I convince them in the value of this stuff that I know is going to work? Because I'm going to be running the business one day. One of two ways. A, you deploy empathy and wait your fucking turn because they built a huge business.

1:09:55Or you do B, which is what I did, which is put heavy pressure on the system on a daily barrage of words until they succumb to your annoyance.

1:10:08You know what's really interesting about, and I know I gotta wrap up, I'll try to bang one or two more out, but what was really interesting about the answer to that gentleman's question, if you heard both of my versions, it's probably the best way I can sum up how I think about the world. This is about practicality. The answer I just gave that young man is actually practical. In a family business dynamic, when somebody new comes in, who absolutely often is much more right about the contemporary way to do something, often there's too much audacity and lack of patience, and it's like whatever, and we don't take into account that these two gentlemen, the father and the partner, had worked 45 years to build this thing that we get to walk into and we just need to deploy patience.

1:10:48I want to remind everybody of my story because it means a lot to me. I walked into my dad's business. I built a business from three to$60 million. I worked seven days a week for 15 hours a day and at 34 years old, I left that business owning nothing and I never paid myself anywhere close to the proper amount because we poured all the money back into the business. I was an executive that built something from three to$60 million and I never made over$120 ,000 a year because that's old school family stuff and at 34 I had no net worth because I didn't own the business because if you're part of an immigrant or family business, you know how it works.

1:11:21You don't get it until they fucking die. So I then started my next business, VaynerMedia, out of the conference room of another company because I didn't have money for rent and that's why it's easy for me to tell people to be patient. that's why I believe in this that's why I believe doing the right thing is always the right thing yes sir Edward Lake from Long Island and Florida two questions for you first first of all your voice alone good or bad great brother I can monetize that thing for at least 10 million okay we can talk we can talk we can talk go ahead I can do some voiceovers let's go how do you handle by the way by the way I apologize this matters I want to talk about real life I have a funny feeling that not every person in this room's dream and happiness forever is being a lawyer.

1:12:15Let's talk about this. Sir, I believe if you made videos the way I'm talking about that it is not a ridiculous thing to believe that somebody would reach out to you cold saying, hey, what's your name again, sir? Ed. Hey, Ed. That's perfect. Hey, Ed. You know, I happened to catch your video about this legal issue. have you ever considered voiceover? And then miraculously, this is real. This is real. This is how the world is actually working. I know you didn't grow up with something called the internet that opened up every gate and there's no gatekeepers anymore and was gonna completely eliminate the value of all the gatekeepers.

1:12:54College, resumes, and all sorts of other shit. But now we're living in it. And so anyway, I just wanted to. So now I get to ask my question? Go ahead. See, even your personality, I fucking love you, Ed. Here's my question. Everybody wants to do business with you personally. When they hire your media company, they want you. You're wrong, Ed. Ed, you're wrong. That's what I'm asking you. Well, I'm giving you the fucking answer. How do you... By telling them up front, you don't fucking get me. Okay, so you're branding yourself, but they're not getting you. Because my organization follows my fucking religion.

1:13:27But when you're a trial lawyer... Wait a minute, this is important. When you're a trial lawyer, your reputation... So charge more, Ed. No, no, no. is based on your... Ed, I understand where you're going, brother. Yes, I sure do. They want you. Correct. Now, I'm gonna give them to an associate and they're gonna go, but I wanted you. Ed, there's only two fucking things when you sell yourself. You either tell them they don't get you up front, but Susan and Ricky are your fucking cronies and this is how we do it, or you say you want me? Pay me fucking five times more. There's people who pay me$100 ,000 an hour to consult.

1:14:00And that's my question. Charge more, Ed. But wait a minute. So what you're saying to me is you personally is worth more than the people who work for you so then when you're handing them off to the people who work for you, you're saying they're not as good as me because I'm not charging as much. That's exactly what I'm saying, Ed, but what I'm saying to them is my people are better than the alternative. Ed, you just have to be better than the fucking alternative. Show me that. Why are your people better than somebody who's now branding themselves who has time for me personally? That's really my issue.

1:14:30How do you take a law firm with 30 lawyers and market yourself. I'm in the same business as you, brother. I'm literally in the same business as you. I'll tell you why. Because I'm a better fucking operator. Okay. Because I educate my people. Because I have process. But you have to get people to believe that's the truth rather than, oh, I'm branding and then I'm just going to turn it off because I really don't want it to work. That is how life works. Yes, I have to get them to believe it. But here's what I do. If I sense they don't and many don't, Ed, I don't try to convince them. I go to the next guy or gal.

1:15:09Fair enough, fair enough, okay. The second part of this is, how do you handle the negative reviews, which you seem to get a lot? I read you all, you know, I'm on, and we get, part of the reason, okay, let me back up. We do a lot, a lot of Facebook advertising. Yes, sir. Five, six figures a month sometimes. Love you. And when you put a Facebook ad, a legal ad, Roundup, everybody's probably seen it. You get 90 % of negative reviews and I'm concerned about that hurting the reputation of your law firm already exists and how do you handle those negative reviews? I reply to them as often as I can. Keep it with Ed a little bit here because I'm wrapping up and just in case, because Ed's asking great questions and we might bring some value here.

1:15:53Number one, how long have you been running five or six figures on Facebook? A couple years probably. So my intuition is actions over words are important. So I have a funny feeling Ed because I can feel you because I see you're no schlemiel. I have a funny feeling you continue to believe that that's a good thing for your business. I do. Here's why. Here's why it's working. Attention as I started this talk with is the number one asset in society. As much as people don't believe lawyers, people actually don't believe other people's reviews as much as we think they do.

1:16:51Or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Okay, fair enough. And that's why it's working for you, right? You've been doing it for a couple years. I don't know, but you see, I don't understand it. Because if I look at the comments, 90 % are negative, yet I'll get leads all day long. So I can't really understand. I gave you the answer. Because people don't believe other people's reviews as much as you think they do. And because it's your baby, just like when people say things about my company, it hurts more. It's funny to say some other kid's ugly, but when they say that about your kid, you want to fucking kill.

1:17:31So you're taking it in that way, which makes sense, but the other people don't, which is why you're getting leads all day. That's the actual insight. 99 % of people fucking talk, and they act different. I'm glad that everybody's a social media warrior. I love all the keyboard warriors. and then people go and fucking do totally different actions. And because we know that about ourselves, that's why we don't believe in reviews as much as you think. Thanks, Ed. And thank you, Atlanta. Thanks, guys, for listening. Please, please, please share the podcast and make sure you've subscribed because a bunch of you aren't subscribed.

1:18:13And more importantly, a bunch of you listen every day and haven't told your friends it's the best podcast in the world. I'm watching. Have a great day. Thank you.