#AskGaryVee Episode 159: Charisma, Hashtags, & The Lonely Road to the Top

– [Voiceover] SaltySnapz
asks, “People say the road “to success is lonely. “Do you feel that’s accurate? “If not, why do you think
it’s a common sentiment?” – You know, I think
people use that statement because the truth is, I mean first of all, it depends on how you define success. In the context of what this show is about, which is business success, obviously we talk about a
lot of life stuff as well. But, you know, when you’re the CEO, when you are the founder, the conversation that’s not being had, everybody sees all the nice
things that come along. But every single thing that
happens in this company that’s wrong is my fault. Every snarky comment on social. Every kind of, like, sad face. Every email bullet points that I, every Friday I get bullet
points from tons of Vayner Media employees and 80% of them have a bullet that’s like,
“Rick is stretched too thin “and is crying in the bathroom.” That’s devastating. It’s very tough to be
at the top of something, even when it’s going great. Vayner’s going great. This is not even, like, you
know Wall Street collapsed and we lost a lot of clients
and we have to have layoffs. This is, like, we’re
rolling and we’re the best and we’re crushing and there’s
always things to worry about. Because you know that there’s no, “Oh, it’s India’s fault.” Everybody here, at some
level, all the way up can still say (snaps
fingers), “It’s Gary’s fault.” I can’t and when you say it’s my fault, there’s a really tough burden emotionally, forget about financially,
that comes along with that. And so I think it can get
very lonely, you do recognize. It’s amazing to me, for
as much of a communinary and extrovert as I am, how
much I keep in my own mind. How much is going on in
this noggin every day. Calculating, strategizing, thinking. And there is no vacations. I desperately love national holidays and, like, I can’t wait for
Christmas and Thanksgiving because everybody else is checked out and that’s the only time,
that’s the only time that I’m able to be off. I have my 40th birthday
coming on Saturday. I’m going away with my family. This is an incredible moment in my life and I will not be able
to be 100% checked out. Because then those, you know
and that Friday and that Monday the world is moving, this world is moving. My responsibilities are moving. I’m always one phone call away from a fire that I have to address. It is a very intense, lonely
place to be, at the tipy top. And so, when you think about, you know, I always think
about, like, “Is life fair?” Right? There’s always things that happen, there’s things that we can’t control. But the notion of, like,
somebody getting compensated a lot of money for things that we, do I think somebody making
20 million dollars a year to be an athlete or an actress. We never talk about
actresses and actors, right? We love to zing on athletes
but, like, actors make, like, the big ones make like
eight, 15 million dollars to make a movie. But still, at the end of the day, it’s because they command the market. People want to pay attention and there’s enormous amount of pressure. As I’ve lived my life and
started spending some time with A-list celebrities, there
life is, I mean, it’s intense. Like, I really secretly
think that I could be an A-list celebrity. That I literally could go
on TV and be a breakout hit. Like in a Mad Money
kind of like, you know, not like Jennifer Lawrence. I just don’t have the looks. But in a Mad Money, kind of like Regis, kind of like Andy Cohen way. But man, real celebrity status is intense. You just have nowhere to
go and so there’s that. Or an athlete where the
physical shape that you have to, 18, you know, 10 hours a
day of putting in that time. People look at the outcomes
they don’t think about what’s coming along with
it and the pressure. The pressure to know
that if I get hit wrong, that my entire life collapses, especially an athlete
that has a short window. Or the pressures that we’ve, look, I don’t think it’s a coincidence
that some of the greatest artists of all time pass
away in their mid-20s because of the intensity. It’s intense, it’s intense. It’s very lonely and so it
could be extremely lonely. I, ironically, and you’ll
find this wild, I love, look I want random extra
people in the room. So, like, I love being around
people more than anything but I’m also very comfortable in my own, being one-on-one with myself. So I’m good but I know that I’m emotionally stable as fuck
and it’s intense for me. I can’t imagine people that
are not as fortunate as I am pulling from both directions. Ambition but humil, you know. Like, do you know how content I am? A lot of people watch
this show and you hear I wanna buy the Jets and you misunderstand really where I’m at. I want it all and I
wanna win the whole thing but if I never win again,
if I plateau at this level, there’s an amazing amount
of content in my body for all my hunger. And that balances me
but I couldn’t imagine if that was tweaked just a little bit. If I really felt the pressure because there’s enough pressure from a day in and day out standpoint. It’s intense, it’s intense. I think people say it I
think much like stereotypes or statements there’s
always so many truth to it. I think the reason so many people say the road is lonely because
to really be successful, in the context of business especially, you’ve gotta make seven to 7,000 decisions that are critical and you can
only make them with yourself. It’s an intense moment on a daily basis.

“before we knew who he was. “Who is someone we don’t know today, “but will in the future?” – Are they commenting
or are they liking it? – [Don] I was getting hammered
at first for a bad angle but I think I cleaned it up.
(everybody laughs) – Okay, got it. Okay, good, good to know. Wasn’t really asking about
how they were dissing you. Are they enjoying the content? – [Don] Yeah.
– Okay, good, good, good, good, good, good.
(everybody laughs) – [India] From Kyle.
– Kyle. – “You thanked Travis Kalanick in ’09, “before you knew who he was.” – Oh, this guy’s asked
this questions a thou. I was, you really made him
sweat this one out, India. – [India] I didn’t.
– I saw this question on social a lot.
– [India] Really? – Yeah, yeah I saw it. Anyway, go ahead. – [India] “Who is someone
we don’t know today, “but will in the future?” – The reason, who asked that?
– [India] Kyle. – Kyle, the reason I didn’t
send India this question and say, “Hey, you need to ask this.” Because I saw you
pounding it over and over. So, great perseverance. Way to get on the show. Is ’cause I don’t think
I have an answer to that. There is one entrepreneur, a
guy by the name of Ben Cera who created Facefeed, who’s
doing some consulting now on the west coast, who I think is magical. C-E-R-A and there’s an
amazing amount of people that I think are real winners, just tons. But nobody that makes me feel like they, Ben Cera’s the only one
that makes me like he’s got a trillion dollar execution in him. So that’s the answer. And the truth is, it’s still
early intuition on Ben Cera. Compared to with Travis, I just knew. Which only speaks to the
Uber miss on the angel round multiple times even more baffling. It’s really the great mystery of my life. – [India] That’s unusual.

– [Voiceover] And your last, “Hey Gary, “to what extent would you say “your success is due to your
showmanship/charisma factor? “Thanks!” – Angel, I think my
showmanship and charisma is a major fact, my
charisma is an absolute, being charming is a stunningly
important personal trait. Being likable is really
cool and I, especially, have a weird thing going on
because in my public persona, especially when I’m on
stage or performing, I get very competitive. Very, like, I wanna rap
battle the world, right? Like I want to beat everybody. So I’m combative and I say
things that most people don’t want to say so it makes
a certain group uncomfortable and actually makes them
not like me as much. So then when they meet me one-on-one, and that charming, kind
of real person plays out, I even get extra credit. Yeah, listen, I think it’s a major factor. Now, on the flip side, I
can rattle off 50 people, which I won’t ’cause this is a dis, that are massively charming,
massively charismatic but have no depth. It’s classic sizzle and steak. I think I have both. Now do I think a steak that
really sizzles sells better? It sure does and so I would
almost say maybe it’s 50%. All right, if you wanna go
basic, it’s 50% of my success because having the goods
to back up that hyperbole and charisma and
excitement and showmanship is a major thing. There’s a lot of people faking this show. There’s a lot of content
on YouTube and out there. There’s a lot of people that are trying, there’s a lot of people
doing quote pictures the way I do them or videos the way I, I’m not talking about you, DRock. (everybody laughs) And doing videos the way I
do and there isn’t traction because I think people can smell it. So you have to be able to back it up. But I don’t run away from it. I definitely think that, I
hate when people don’t think that they’re lucky. Like, I don’t how to not quantify my charisma, my personality
as anything short of I took great features from my parents. Who just, my parents
deciding to get married, unfortunately even though, if
my dad ever watches the show, which he doesn’t, mom, make
sure you show dad this part. As much as I’d love to
take credit for mom and dad getting married, I just can’t. My dad always likes to zing me
for taking credit for stuff. Yeah, I think my personality
is a major factor. I’m also equally happy to
know that my work ethic and my tenacity and my
skills and my compassion are equally factors in my success. – [DRock] Does your mom watch every one? – I think my mom’s watching
almost every one, yeah.

GiantThinkers.com.
– [Gary] Giant thinkers. – Recording this from Sydney, Australia. I am an author, a blogger,
a podcaster, a speaker and CreativeLive instructor
that helps emerging designers be employed. I have a “what would
you do” question, Gary. Currently I have one book
and CreativeLive courses for all of us bloggers
and podcasters out there that are looking to better monetize. What would your next right hook be? Would it be to create another book, potentially a video course or
even a membership component? Cheers. – That’s a good question. Ram, right? Ram, great question, big
shout out to Australia. Looks like Australia next
March for the book tour is becoming very realistic. So going down under could be fun. Haven’t been there since
I’ve been in the wine world. Not true, actually just
remembered I flew in and flew out for a business talk
three or four years ago. Ram, I think it comes down to what’s the best product you could put out? Whatever form you think
that you can execute in. Whether that’s a second book
’cause you’re a great writer or an online course ’cause
you’re charismatic on video or a membership site because
you think you can provide enough value worth paying for
in a differentiated market, and yes you can taste my cynicism there, or continuing to build
up your brand to become more of a persona that
gets to publicly speak. I think speaking is a very
lucrative way to monetize one’s personality. I think it’d be really interesting
if, since it sounds like you’re teaching other
people to become employed, I think it’d be really
interesting for you to do more of that yourself. So instead of teaching
people how to make money, maybe you go out and get employed more so that you can speak to, like, “I did a million dollars
worth of gigs this year.” I think you know that from
me, I’m cynical to people just teaching for the sake of teaching. So I enjoy the fact that I’ve built, of course with AJ and team, but, like, I’ve built a
machine that does, soon to be, a hundred million dollars
in social media work. It sure give me a lot of
oomph to say now, like, this stuff works ’cause these companies don’t keep us around
’cause I’m charismatic. And so, you like the recall there? Recall. Go ahead, Stephon. Stephon? (laughs) Hey, Stephon. Hey, Stephon, over there.
(everyone laughs) Talk to Staphon.
(everyone laughs) And I’ll take a recall
(laughs) component here. Little rusty, a week away and… I think all of those are viable options. And for everybody who’s watching, you can tell the back-end
ones were the ones I’m more excited about because
I love proof in the pudding. I love proof in the pudding. I love proof in the pudding. That make you think of Bill Cosby, too?

“What the hell.” – That’s a really good point, Kylie. I saw that question,
too, come through social and I wanted, I mean,
I dodged that (laughs) as quickly as I could. That’s a shortcoming,
I’m not doing a good job. I’m really screwing up
Instagram, ‘specially. I’m not happy with myself. This is a lazy, and I never
talk of myself in lazy, I’m doing a poor job. As a matter of fact, I’m gonna fix this. Team, we need to get our shit together. I need you to help me here. Can we get, like, seven to 10, we did this once and I
didn’t execute on it. This is the second time around. We need, I need to understand
better what hashtags I need to be using on Instagram. I just don’t have the time
to put in for the homework. Find the white space, not the ones, not “entrepreneur” because that has a lot. Like, what’s the long tail version. Kylie, great question. India, great job of asking the question. This is a shortcoming. You know, I, like any other human, go through the ebbs and flows
of not doing things well. As a matter fact, I don’t think
I handled my personal brand all that well up until
the #AskGaryVee Show because I was so busy executing. This one’s even worse because
I’m actually doing it. There’s no reason I shouldn’t
be adding four to seven strategic hashtags per post
for discovery of new people. I just need to get better. It’s a lack of practitioner execution. One that angers me that
we had to address it and maybe even ruined my week now that this has been exposed. (everyone laughs) No, listen, it’s a great question. This is one of the few times,
and this hurts my feelings, but this is one of the
few times I need to say, “Don’t look at my behavior. “Do it the right way.” You need to be using. It’s a free discovery
tool in these channels. I think I’m mailing it in,
specifically on Instagram. So, what the hell is,
I’m dropping the ball. And that hurts.