#AskGaryVee Episode 152: Competing with Elon Musk & Hulu Subscriptions

“just started his own
media wine resale company “competing with you in your neighborhood. “How do you respond?” – I would actually be, like I would be fired up happy. Because that is my game, not Elon’s. And so I, and this is the straight up truth. It is insane how I when
I hear that question, how obvious this is to me that I would absolutely destroy him and
he would fail miserably if he was trying to beat me in that game. In the same way that I would fail if I decided to, you
know, invent rocket ships into space and tesla cars
and things of that nature. When I play my game, whatever that is, building an agency,
building a wine retailer, whatever I do next. If I’m operating, right? Forget about investing where it’s a little bit of a crapshoot. Forget about JVs where I have partners. Me, me, Gary. If I’m operating, there’s
not a single person in the world that I’m
scared of at all ever because the only thing that can happen is both of us getting ours. There is nobody that is going to beat me. The markets are too big. I’m going to get mines. And so, I’m not scare of Elon, or Shmelon, or Zucks, or Cubes, or Ashton, or anybody about anything that comes to do with
the game that I’m playing because I’m going to win. I’m going to win. Could they possibly do
more business than me? Sure, I mean I’m not excited about that, but sure I guess it could happen. I don’t think there’s another
agency over the last 4 years that has grown at the size that we have, and in the liquor business
the same thing happened. But of course, somebody could come along with that kind of talent. But that’s not going to
stop me from getting mine, and so the answer to your
question is I would be pumped because I think there
would be a lot of people talking about why didn’t Elon use his mind and go and do start small businesses. And two, I would enjoy the
victory that I would get that would get me more screen cred for punching Elon in the mouth. – [Voiceover] James asks “Why
not go halves on the Jets

“or quarters and elevate the team “to the level only Gary could. “The owner has to see some
value in your methods. “Seems like this might be something “more realistic and attained sooner. “Is it all or nothing?” – James, it’s all or nothing mainly because the owner’s not interested. I mean, Woody Johnson is a billionaire. He’s doing his thing. He’s not outwardly reaching out to me. He’s rolling in going about his merry way. And that’s that. And he’s in control of that situation. I’m not worried about it. I’m focusing on what I can control, which is amass enough wealth and power and opportunity and narrative
and leverage and branding to give me the best shot
to actually pull this off. And so that’s why. Plus I would never go in for an ask. Right, I would never be like “Hello Mr. Johnson, why don’t you “sell me 25% of the company”
or things of that nature. Just not in me. I’m going to take it if I deserve it. I’ll get it if I’m good enough. And so I’m focusing
every piece of my energy doing things to put me in that position because the amount of luck and serendipity that has to happen for me
to even get that at bat, literally the passing of the company on, whatever Woody decides to do with it, hopefully, hopefully he
owns it his whole life and hopefully he lives
for a very long time and hopefully because I’m much younger I’m there in a position
to make that purchase if his family doesn’t
want to hold onto it. So there’s just a million
different variables that come into play that
have to fall into place but I just need to focus
on what I can control and really for everybody,
that’s the biggest thing. Way too many of you, and I’ve been really digging into my community in
the last three or four days. A lot of, this has actually turned into a really good question. A lot of you just worrying
about shit you can’t control. Like, it’s unbelievable. I don’t know what’s the matter with you. Like you can’t control it, the end. Like it’s not super complicated. You can’t control the weather. You can’t. Like, people literally
crying that it rained during their like flea market or food fair or I don’t remember exactly what it was. Like, okay. But like, like, and then
like, then I was like okay maybe it was just a single rant. But like seven tweets, I’m like wha. Like it rained. Like Mother Nature (censored) you. Take it like a woman. And like, you know, and so, you know. I just don’t believe in crying over things you can not control. And so I just think about
the things I can control and so please try to take this answer and understand how important it is to not dwell but instead reverse it and think about what you can
be doing during that time. You know if it rained, when it rained during times I’ve done flea markets, I packed up and went dollar
store and Toys R Us shopping. You know, I didn’t just
sit there and take my rain.

“on always wanting more in life? “Good, bad, and why?” – That’s a really good question. My point of view on this is both. Always wanting more in life seriously while being very very content
and happy at the same time. That’s what I am. You know, this is
something you may not know. Though I would be disappointed, and my ego, boy my ego
which is a nice part of me, would really take a hit,
if a little weird genie showed up right now, weird genie, got it? Boom! If the weird genie said to me, “Hey Gary, I’m the weird
genie of the future. “Bad news, you’re not
going to grow anymore! “This is it, you’ve plateaued!” I’d be like, oh! Like a big shot. But I’d be like, all right. Like, to me, like, I’ve
had a great run already. Like, I’ve done really well. And many people would be really happy to have these professional
accolades and successes as their entire life’s work. That would rip my heart
out of my body right now if that were to be true. You don’t have to animate
them ripping my heart out. No Mortal Kombat shit here. But it is probably
surprising to some of you because I don’t talk about it as much how content I actually am. And so my point of view on
it is a very strong balance of happiness and content
with what you’ve got while being very hungry and striving for real real victories and upside and the climb and the game. And so that’s where I’m at. And as you can imagine, as you’re probably listening to this, that makes me very happy. Like, it’s probably a big
reason I’m so damn happy. It’s a nice place to be.

thanking you for all that you
share with us entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs. So my question is that
Hulu made a decision recently to offer subscribers the option to have ad-free subscriptions and wanted to know what
your thoughts are on that. We will keep asking questions. I’m so glad that you keep answering them. Thanks Gary Vee. – You got it, thank you
for such a darling video. Loved your earrings by the way. I think it’s a smart business model. Some people value time, hate ads enough to pay for a subscription. Other people are willing
to go the other route. They don’t want to pay
for the subscription. I think giving customers
two or three options. My preference is three. I think there’s a lot of interesting psycho-data around that,
to how they want to experience a platform is very very smart. I think it lends itself
to higher profit margins, especially when you do three. And so I think that’s a
very smart move by Hulu. I do not believe that one,
especially if you’re a platform, one option is the way to go. As a matter of fact, if I
ever do a book by myself, self-publish, because I’m a free agent after this next book comes out. That’s right Harper Collins. Call me back. (laughter) I would probably do
some really interesting three different pricing models where you get different options. I think there’s interesting
dynamics around that. So I think Hulu made
a very smart decision. As a matter of fact, I haven’t
done a question of the day but I’m going to throw
one in for a little while. Just a little side question. We’d love to see how
many people would rather have one minute, well how
many ads are there in a Hulu, probably like three, two
or three minutes right? How many people are more into like, you’ll deal with the three minutes, or how many people would rather pay like the eight bucks or
whatever it is a month. – [Staphon] 13 for like the actual– – 13? – [Staphon] Eight for like the ads. – Got it. So I’m curious. – [India] YouTube just
announced theirs today. – Yep, YouTube Red. Saw that, haven’t dug in yet. But, yeah, I mean look. I think subscription
models are very smart. I think people are willing to pay for it if they get the value of the content. I think a lot of people
would pay for this show if I ever decided to convert it. Not a whole lot, but something. As another side question,
if you were to pay,

“have watched the #AskGaryVee show?” – Would 22 year old Gary Vee #AskGaryVee Show? Good question. The answer is no. Which is interesting, but true. 22 year old Gary knew he had it and didn’t want to
learn from other things. Which I don’t know if it’s
a strength or a weakness, but he believed in what he had in his body and I believed in what I was going to be and felt that my fresh naive eyes and my intuition was more valuable than putting things in my head which would then be known as well look at how that person
did it and they did it well. I truly do believe that one of the reasons that so many of you watch this show is because I say things different, I come from different angles, and I really do believe that’s because I don’t consume anybody else’s stuff. I think it helps me keep fresh. I think my stuff comes from operating. I think you know, just,
I’m giving you a wide view because the background changed. I think my stuff comes
from actually operating. I think my stuff comes
from an intuitive place. And I don’t, I don’t
try to consume anything. As a matter of fact I was at this event where there was an opening
key note during the dinner where I had to like meet with a client. Boy I really didn’t like it. It was a really bad experience. One I wanted to like go up, I literally wanted to go up on stage and hit him with a chair
WWF style and take over. Like all right! And you know like, I just don’t feel like that’s my learning style. So 22 year old Gary would spit in the face of
the #AskGaryVee Show. Sorry DRock. And that’s that. Missed you guys a lot. Really pumped to be back in the saddle.