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So Gary, you're out there in Sydney, Australia.
No, I'm already in Hawaii. I was in Sydney for 11 hours.
Oh, dude, you are a hustler. You're a machine, mate. I love it. I love it. So, look, man, I'm really excited because you and I caught up about two and a half years ago. I was in the Vayner Media offices with you.
You know what's funny, man? You actually mention quite a few things and you're like, 'I think this is going to happen in the future. I think it's going to look like this.' And for sure, without a doubt, it looks like it right now. So, yeah, I'm excited to have more of a conversation about the future and where you see things going. And also, I've actually brought my community into this this time. It's not just me asking the questions. I've actually tapped into the Addicted to Success community and got them to come up with some questions for you. So, if you don't mind, man, I'll start smashing through the questions and let's work it out.
I got to catch this plane. So, the quicker the better.
Okay, awesome, mate. Let's get straight into it. So, Gary, what do you feel is your superpower?
That's a good damn question because I'm super fond of myself and I think I've got a lot of them. I'm gonna go with self-awareness. Gratitude and empathy were right there, but I'm gonna go with self-awareness. I just think I know who I am. And I think that allowed me to not screw people. You know, you know this. Everybody watching and listening knows this. There's so many hustlers. I mean, 20% of the people listening right now think I'm a hustler, right? Because they've only seen one or two things and they haven't done the homework yet. And so I think self-awareness has allowed me to know what I'm good at, which has allowed me to become successful and not at anybody else's expense. When you know yourself and you know that you're good, you don't need to take shortcuts. You don't need to rip people off. You don't need to do the wrong thing. And so self-awareness has made me successful.
Excellent, man. Excellent. Do you feel like you've become more self-aware because you create content quite often? You got to tap into your own self to bring the best out.
Yes and no. At 13 or 14, I quit school. I mean, I stayed in it, but I started getting D's and Fs because I knew that I was a businessman. So, that's a very young boy realizing what he was about. So, I had it. I think I dig deeper into it. And I think as a communicator, as somebody who's trying to help other people either figure out how to figure out self-awareness or realize that it's important or double down on it, I think that I've tapped into it more as a communicator. I'm not sure I've been able to exponentially grow my own self-awareness.
Yeah. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So, dude, your book is out right now. #AskGaryVee. I love that you jumped on YouTube and did the whole Q&A thing and it's developed into this book. Now, was that fully intentional? Like, when you started shooting the videos, was that your intention or is this just something that you stem from?
Love it. I love it. I wish I could say it was serendipitous. I guess it depends on what you think is cool in life. This one was very intentional. It was intentional to build my brand around my Q&A skills because I think I'm good at it. You know, you interviewed me two and a half years ago. I'd like to think you've interviewed a lot of people. You recognize that when you ask me questions, I'm good at it. I'm quick. I'm sharp. It's got teeth. I know what the hell I'm talking about. Like, you know, it's a place where I separate myself from other people. I don't need slides. I'm not a puppet. I don't have somebody in my ear. So, yeah, I wanted to build my brand more as a Q&A guy. And I wanted the show to happen. I wanted a book to happen from it. And then I wanted my keynotes to basically take a town hall Q&A format for the rest of my career.
Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. And you know what, man? I got to say, you've inspired me as a speaker myself now to really not step up with slideshows and PowerPoint presentations. I'm just going out just giving it my all, man. And doing it from a place of authenticity and it works. So, thank you.
When you actually talk about stuff you know, you win. And when you use slides, a lot of times you're talking about stuff you don't know.
Actually, I interviewed Simon Sinek, right? And I asked Simon like, you know, what's your key to becoming a great speaker? And he said to me, he said, 'I cheat.' I said, 'What do you mean cheat?' He said, 'I just speak about what I know. That's it. I don't speak about anything else.'
Him and I are homies and we've talked about this.
Yeah. I mean, I will. It's why I come across cocky and egotistical because I only talk about the things that I'm the best at.
And it makes me, you know, like if you talk to me about healthcare or world economic issues or oil, oil price, or artificial intelligence or a hundred other thousand billion things, I would come across very humble. You want to talk about marketing and building businesses, especially in 2016. Yeah. I'm going to bring it like that. And that's why I stay in that place.
Yeah. Yeah. And you bring the heat, man. For sure. For sure. What has been the number one lesson that you've learned with launching this book? Because I know, you know, you've done some campaigns with the other books that you launched. I've read them all. They're awesome. With this book deal and the campaign, what do you feel you've done different this time that has really worked well for you?
It reminds me that my thesis that I live on, which is branding and marketing is better than sales and transactions, is true. I mean, when I wrote Jab, Jab, I'd been undercover for a while, right? Like, I've been building Vayner Media and, as you know, because you're a student of the game, I wasn't really out there. And so, what I learned was by doing the Ask GaryVee show for 18 months, by putting out so much content, by redoing my GaryV.com website, by putting out a podcast, by building the brand, by the time I got around to selling the book, it was sold, right? So, I sold three times the amount of books, four times the amount of books in the first week of this book than I did of Jab Jab. And that only speaks to my brand was bigger. It was my brand, right? Nike doesn't have to make the best sneaker. They've got Nike. If you and I start a sneaker company, we have to make the best sneaker.
Got it. Got it. Makes total sense. So, look, I've got a great question here from one of the fans of yours. He asks, 'If you could ask one person, dead or alive, a question and they had to give you the most honest, truthful answer, who would you ask and what would you ask them?'
I would ask my grandfathers. Both my grandfathers passed away before I got to meet them. I would just ask them, you know, if I could really ask them if they were really alive, if this question went that way, I'd ask them, 'Yo, what you see I'm doing, is that real? Like what do you see that in you? Like were you like that? Were you unbelievably handsome and charismatic? You know, like I would just ask them, you know, how it was in the old country, how they hustled, you know, cool stuff like that.
Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Look, dude, you get asked a myriad of questions about entrepreneurship, motivation. I mean, we talked about this, you know, a couple years ago, but what's one question that people never ask you that they probably should based off the knowledge and experience that you have now?
I don't know if there's a question, bro. I think that I'm surprised that people don't realize that I've built two businesses, one at 50 million, 60 million, and one at 100 million that have nothing to do with selling people masterminds or ebooks or any of the cliche stuff that, like, I'm surprised that people don't. I think my personality confuses people and they don't understand how much of an operator I am, how much of an actual business man I am, not a motivator or pundit or talking head. So I guess questions around leadership or organization or P&Ls or real business stuff isn't the sexy thing to ask me because of the way I portray myself on social, I guess. I don't know. But sometimes when people are like, oh, like when they take a jab at me, a stab, make fun of me or try to argue with their buddy if I'm good or not, I'm confused that people haven't reconciled that I'm building actual businesses. I mean, my first business was a bricks and mortar liquor store and an e-commerce wine business and I was 34 years old before I started talking to the world, right? I'm not a podcaster or a pundit or a journalist or a coach.
Even though some people see you like that, man. They see you as an inspiration. That's for sure.
And by the way, I am inspirational. I'm motivating. I'm a good communicator. I'm a great head coach kind of guy. And I'm flattered by that. I'm just not just that. And more importantly, I don't like being put in the same breath as people that sell information products and masterminds because I'm not that. I'm not putting out Instagram quotes so that you then click my URL in my profile and then sign up and pay me $10,000 a month to tell you how to make money. That's not what I do for a living. I put out the best content in the game every goddamn day for free and then every three years I ask people to buy an $18 book.
It's a big difference, bro. And it's a good game plan because I can actually build businesses. It's not a good game plan for everybody else who thinks they can start a business. It's a better game plan for them to sell people information and access because they can't build a business. But that's also what pisses me off, that people actually listen to these people because they've never, like, why don't you ask your mentor or your coach or your mastermind group what business they've ever built besides selling information to people? Shouldn't that be a prerequisite?
The problem is a lot of people listening and watching right now want to also then sell people. They don't actually want to build a business. They just want to play that Ponzi game of being somebody's coach. And that's real.
Yeah. That's real. That is real. So you obviously see yourself as a creator, right? And so, how do you stay away from consuming too much? Because I know you're on all these social media platforms and I know that obviously you're building brand and building exposure.
The only thing I consume is my audience. I don't have a clue what you've been up to for the last two and a half years or Seth Godin or Guy or Ferris. All my homies, all I know are crushing it. All I know are brilliant. All I know are the best. I just don't know. Do you know how many podcasts I've listened to? Zero, zip, zilch. And I know Lewis and Alter and Art of Charm. I'm on those shows, but I don't consume it. What I consume is everybody who listens to those shows points of view on the content that I put out so that I can adjust to the audience.
Wow. That advice right there is a game changer. So, anyone that's listening, start implementing that.
Yeah. Do that for a year and see what happens. You'll be blown away.
Yeah. Excellent, man. Thank you. Thank you. So, if you had all of your skills stripped away from you, right, and you were able to only choose one skill to be extraordinary at, what would that skill be?
Salesmanship. Cuz it's survival, right?
Like maybe I wouldn't be as noble. Maybe I'd be more of a douchebag. Maybe I wouldn't be as successful because I think being a marketer I'm better. But if you're not a salesman, you will lose. You will lose.
Amen to that. Amen to that. Yeah. Grant Cardone and I were talking and he said when he wakes up in the morning, he's like, 'Where's my money? Someone's got my money.' And he's like, 'You got to get out there and ask for it. You can't wait for it to come to you.'
Yeah. Hell yeah. Got to grab it.
Yeah. So, last time we chatted, you were telling me, you were like, 'Look, man, you need to be on Snapchat. Snapchat is the future.' And surprise surprise, it freaking is. So what do you feel now is the next and, by the way, real quick and make sure all the homies that are listening right now know how long ago that interview was.
