#AskGaryVee Episode 46: Life Decisions & Getting Punched In The Face

– [Voiceover] Iwona asks,
“How many punches in the face and failures can an ordinary person handle before achieving success?” – Iwona, the right word in that
question is ordinary person. What was it, an ordinary person? Yeah, and I think that’s the interesting part of your question. Which is this whole
notion that pisses me off that I don’t believe that the far majority of people right now who claim that they’re entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs. You know, I don’t get to claim that I’m an NFL quarterback,
and then I just am one, and that’s what’s happening, right? A lot of people that
don’t have the skills, you put that word ordinary
in for a very specific reason and it’s the reason I want to rant on this which is the ordinary person a.k.a. the person that’s not
meant to run a business can probably only handle one punch, right? I mean like, that’s just
what it comes down to. You know what my answer is, unlimited. You could punch me in the face 8000 times. I’m here to get punched, right? Like, you know I really do think of it like a UFC or a boxer. Have you ever watched
a UFC or boxing match, and literally watched
and thought to yourself holy crap, if I took one of those punches I’d be in a coma for the rest of my life. They’re meant to be in the octagon, I am not. On the flip side, you show me a world where all 420 of these wonderful and amazing people quit VaynerMedia, and I know exactly what
to do the next day. That’s how I roll. Those are the punches I can handle. Top 10 clients quit, cool. Can’t ship to a state at
Wine Library anymore, cool. I can handle unlimited punches because I’m pure-bred 100% entrepreneur. And so for me, to a person
that is a wannabe-preneur, who first punch in’s like eh,
I’m going to go get a job. From there, everybody fits
somewhere in between that. And that’s your answer. – [Voiceover] N asks, “Any
tips on how to get a mentor?”

– [Voiceover] N asks, “Any
tips on how to get a mentor?” – This is an interesting question for me because I’ve never, like
even when I had a mentor in my amazing dad, I like
pushed against it because… My mom and dad like, made jokes, like, that I want to be claimed and like I’m a Cabbage Patch kid and I came from nowhere. My dad always like to rouse
me when he thinks he deserves more credit because I
never wanted to have that. It’s actually probably one
of my biggest weaknesses is my lack of mentorship
or learning from others, like I don’t know, I like
being self contained. So I’m not the best person
to ask this question. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty
sucky to ask this question but I have answered it in the past, and I think we’ve touched on
this theme on the show before which is I think you just
got to go and get it, right? Like, and there’s some people
doing it right now like that one dude that wants
to get you fired, Steve. I like that dude’s bravado, he’s like how do I get Steve’s job? And like he e-mailed me, you see what I’m talking about these
last couple of days? – [Steve] Oh yeah.
– Yeah, what’s his name? – [Steve] Did you see my Tweet storm? – Yeah, and so like, you
know, that’s interesting to me because it keeps pounding
me and eventually I’m going to know his name because he’s like I want to be mentored. Now the truth is I’m not
looking for that right now. I don’t feel like I can deliver. I can only deliver a mentorship
through osmosis, right? We as a collective, had
a meeting earlier today and I think the youngsters all
picked up a little something that they’ll use and they’ll
like learn of like how to scale but I don’t want like a
hey, come here Johnny, I going to… I don’t want that. There’s people that do,
and I think the best way to get one is just to keep
asking the 5 to 7 people that you think can
deliver on that for you. Basically get to the point
of a restraining order without going over that line. Sorry Steve, but like
I really believe that. Steve just did this. I really, really believe that. You know, if you’re
listening on the podcast, like you know, Steve
just put palm to head. But I believe that, I think
you have to go and get yours but freak a girl out, you know. You can’t be, like, a stalker. You got to go and ask that
person and you ask them, and the other way to do it is to provide that person value first. The amount of people that
hit me up for mentorship where they hit me up, DRock! Right behind the camera right now. Hey, I want to make a
long form piece of content for you, on me, you know,
Cloud and Dirt, link it up. You know, what that led
to is what we have now. I mean, I’m baffled by
people’s lack of pains. You want something so
amazing from somebody which is their time and their energy and your opening question
to that person is hey, can you give it to me? That is insanity, how do
you provide value, Alex. I mean this whole room is full of… Alex takes a step in a different direction in his entrepreneurial
career, willing to come in as a community manager, show his face! Show this man’s face when this happens. Willing to come in at
entry-level job with the hope that hey, I hope that
I get noticed and then I can get into that inner
circle that Gary has. And when he was noticed and brought in, he said, you know I don’t
want to put you out here, but like, man I can’t
believe this happened so much sooner which, it happened
what, 4 or 5 months in? 3 months in, when he says so much sooner, he was in the, I don’t
want to speak for you, 18 months, 25, when were you going to give up at not getting noticed? – I was never giving up but
a year’s time was my focus. – So he would have gave up after a year. (laughter) But that’s the key, right? Like, he came in and he
wanted to pay it forward and his version of paying it forward and being in my ecosystem
was coming to Vayner, start at the bottom, work
it to the top, you know. And so, you know, you want a mentor? Why don’t you provide
that mentor with so much upfront value that you guilt her or him into mentoring you. – Hey Gary, Sean Bruce here.
– My boy!

– We’ve had a couple
opportunities to talk before. I do the sales and marketing for the Lancaster Hummus Company. My question today is what
was the biggest decision you made in your life that made you as successful as you are today? I’ve watched a lot of your
keynotes. I’ve watched a lot of your different rants
and ways and everything and interviews, but I
want to know what is your honest opinion on the biggest thing that you did that made you as
successful as you are today. Thanks Gary, and I look
forward to your answer. – Thanks brother. Man, I’m so pissed that
technology wasn’t around. I would have been able to… Is this was around when I
was around, we would have been able to play me
as a 14 year old asking some entrepreneur that
question on YouTube. So pissed, anyway! You know, I’m glad you
asked this question because I now can really, like, I
was going there in my mind. I know what the answer is,
it’s a weird answer actually. I think the biggest
decision I ever made was in fourth grade when I
got an F on a science test in Mr. Mulnar’s class, and I decided literally after, you know, first I hid the, I had to
get it signed by my mom. I don’t know if they still do
that when you get bad grades, like this was some 80’s stuff. But, yeah they’re doing it? I had to get it signed
and I was not interested in being punished, so I
didn’t bring it to her. Then I put it under my bed and
then it sat there for 2 days but then my, I was still
young, my conscience still had too much power
and like, I got scared and told my mom about it. By the way, three years
later I was flushing every report card directly down the toilet. You can evolve quickly. When you make the mental
decision that I made, no joke I literally
remember sitting in my room and having a weird, weird
kind of like crying, debating, like moment in fourth grade in my small bedroom deciding screw school, I’m a business
man, and I’m going to eat the pain of being punished
every four times a year during the school year,
being viewed upon as a loser or a kid that doesn’t have
a shot by all of society because I see something different. I have enough self awareness of who I am, I’m going to win and
literally, and this is weird as I’m a fourth grader and
you know you’re young… how old are you in the fourth grade? 9, 10, you know, and I’m literally
deciding that I’m willing to eat it for the next 8
years maybe even 12 years of my life where, that was
just a hardcore decision. And it’s not that I didn’t care,
like I went to every class. I just decided to hone in on my skills. That I would learn more
about selling baseball cards that later, at 14, became I would learn more about selling wine, I honed in. And so, it was the first
time, my man, that I made a decision that I was going
to fight society’s optics and deliver on what I thought
I was, and that’s what I did. – [Voiceover] Rollinson asks,
“Is paid promotion for jabs

– [Voiceover] Rollinson asks,
“Is paid promotion for jabs an effective way to build
an audience for right hooks?” – Rollinson, this is a great question. It’s something I’ve been
debating a whole lot. Now to frame it up for everybody, the notion is should
he, you, she, him, it, where am I going, I don’t know. But sorry, stick with me
here because I’m excited. Should we as a collective pay for jabs, meaning a non call to action. Not buy this wine, but should I create an infographic about the tempranillo grape and it’s just a did you know about… and it’s just a piece of good content. Should a spend three,
four, five hundred dollars on getting this awareness
to build up equity to then later come in with the right hook. I think the answer is predicated
on how much money you have. Right, like, if you have a
limited budget, you’re probably going to want to save it
for, hey buy this wine for $14.99, it’s a killer for Thanksgiving. You know, like, that is
probably what you want to save it for, but if you have
an overall marketing budget, if you’re a bigger brand, if
you’re spending real money, I think there’s enormous value in jabbing. I’m spending a ton of money on jabbing to build up awareness, to get
people into the ecosystem. So, I’m a big fan of
spending dollars on jabbing. Content that benefits
the audience that doesn’t have the direct R.O.I. to you, and you’re spending even more money on not just producing it but
getting it reach and awareness because I think of myself as a marketer and a brand guy not just a core salesman. That has to do with your finances. I can do that today, I
couldn’t do it 3 years ago. I couldn’t afford it,
10 years ago, forget it. So it depends on where your business is at but if you can afford it, I would allocate some level, 10 to 30
percent of your budget on just jabs, if your limited. If you’re a bigger brand,
big pockets 50, 50 even. Maybe 80, 20 on just the branding because you’re building exposure. I mean look, every TV
commercial, every billboard, 95% of those aren’t infomercial,
they’re brand building. That stuff works. – [Voiceover] James asks, “Do you

– [Voiceover] James asks, “Do you schedule time to be on social media? Or just jump on randomly during
the day as you have time?” – James, I don’t schedule crap, other than I completely live on my schedule meaning my admin, Matt, he
schedules my whole life. But if I was to be in control, I would not schedule anything. There has never been, you
guys all have access to me, there’s no 15 minutes get on social. Social’s in me, it’s not a
tactic, it’s my religion. So I do it every moment I can, it’s always top of mind
to be with my audience. I’m reading your comments, I’m reading your guesses on the almonds.