#AskGaryVee Episode 9: Ice Bucket Billionaire

– [Voiceover] Kyle asks,
“What’s an area of life that you haven’t given
your fullest efforts?” – Kyle, great question, and I probably was willing to answer it because of how good I feel about this question. There were two places, 36 months ago, that I was struggling in. One was kind of the non-profit NGO. I was giving my dollars,
but I wasn’t giving my time. Now I am a very proud member of the board of Pencils of Promise, and I’ve gotten more involved with my time
which is the real asset. I feel like I’m checking
that box of giving back outside of my own family
and things of that nature, and so I feel good about that. And the other one is my health. I would say health was the
clear answer only 35 days ago. I guess now, maybe a
little bit more Gary time? Between kids and the
businesses, and now working out. AJ’s been pushing me, he’s
got into golf a little bit, I don’t feel like I’ve
been able to figure out, or crack, or hack, Gary time. I guess the Jets do that, but
then that’s really September to December I get that
Sunday for five, seven, eight, nine hours depending
if it’s a home or road game. I think January through September, finding something that’s just for me that I really enjoy is something I should probably figure out. But the truth is, it doesn’t
feel right to me right now. The kids are two and five, I
wanna kinda allocate to that, the health, I’m just
prioritizing other stuff. Hopefully, next two or
three years, Gary time. – [Voiceover] Shai asks, “How does

humor play a role in business?” – Shai, this is a really great question, and you’ve been known to
ask me great questions. Oh, you though I forgot about WeWork? I actually think it plays a role, but I would say it plays a role in the way that it plays a role in all of life. Humor happens to be one of the most attractive personality traits. Look at the tragic events of
this week, of Robin Williams. The enormous emotion,
an outcry and sadness and feelings that have come
from the American public, shows you how much a comedian can get very deeply ingrained in the world and he was one of those greats. I honestly use humor, a lot
of you watch my keynotes. I like to fancy and think that a lot of my keynotes take on a
stand up comedy routine. I find myself having the ability to drive difficult HR conversations
and selling things through to clients or
to the general public by leveraging humor. I think humor is an
enormously attractive trait that is a very important part of business, but no more important
than the other things that people are very
attracted to in others, which is caring, and
empathy, self awareness, gratitude, kindness, beauty, it’s just another core tenant that
if you’ve got it, use it. – [Voiceover] Mike asks, “Is
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

coming out in audio book form?” – Mike, I’ve been dodging this question on Twitter for months, so congratulations for
penetrating Episode Nine. The answer is, I was
supposed to do it in December of last year, January,
I kind of lollygagged. The two full days in the
booth just became unpractical, ’cause VaynerMedia is exploding, and so… I’ve been watching this guy. I’ve been watching you, Aton! (laughter) This time, I’ve got your number. (laughter) We got him this time, guys, we got him! Where was I? Don’t edit any of this, where was I? – [Voiceover] The recording
booth was unpractical. – Yeah, it was unpractical, VaynerMedia is exploding with characters, and so I just haven’t gotten to it. The truth is, we’re thinking about having somebody else read it. It’s just kinda one of these
things that is dragging now, and is lending itself to me not doing it, which I know is now going to get a ton of boos in the comment section, and I apologize. – [Voiceover] Jason asks,
“What’s the hardest thing

that I’ve had to deal with, hands down, it has to be the fact of
siphoning off of Wine Library TV, Daily Grape, that routine of six years, and really leaving the day in, day out operations of the family business, that is the most emotional business. Working with my dad, kind
of this transition of being day in and day out with my dad, to being day in, day out with my brother, enormous emotion comes with that. I probably never even realized
that that would ever happen. It was a very big brain twist for me, that I would be transitioning
out of the family business into another chapter of my life, and I struggled with that quite a bit. A lot of heavy emotion, the relationships with the people at Wine
Library, my dad and I dynamics, just all these very interesting things that was happening right
when Misha was born. It was a very interesting time in my life. I was growing up, and
transitioning and changing. I dealt with it with what
I deal with everything, and really, probably the
cornerstone of my happiness. I dealt with it by over-communicating. The level of communication I had with the people involved was very high and allowed for it to happen. And so, that’s what I did. – [Voiceover] Damien asks,
“When you have a billion dollar

potential business plan without the financial resources and the inventory, where do you start with funding?” – Damien, this is one of those questions that I like picking for the show, because I’m always scared to be too rude to the audience. You guys are smiling. Okay, now I’m freaked out
that Aton’s doing stuff. Oh, you guys are worried about how much I’m about to thrash Damien? Got it.
– [DRock] A little bit. – Damien, the answer to that
question is very simple. We’re in a bubble of financing right now. There are people that would finance this venture just on idea. It’s happened, people come in with a deck, they have nothing. People give them money for
a piece of the business, and they go on and do it. That’s your only option,
there’s nothing else practical. Any time somebody sets up a question… Do you know how many people have emailed me with the title, “About to Help You Buy
the New York Jets,” or “Gary, Open This Email and You Will Buy the New York Jets,” or “I’m Gonna Help You
Buy the New York Jets,” and the next line is, “Hey
Gary, I’m a fan of your work. I have a billion dollar idea.” Ideas are (bleep).
Everybody’s got an idea. Steve, you have ideas? – [Steve] I have all sorts of ideas. – I have unlimited ideas. If you have the idea that’s nice. If you don’t have the dollars, and if you don’t have the inventory, or even if I have nothing,
and so the only way you do something about
that is go and get dollars from somebody to, I
assume, get the inventory. I don’t understand what the inventory is in this exact question. The reason I’m answering this question is for the entire
VaynerNation to understand that practicality matters, right? Passion, which I’m loaded
with, is great. Right? Ideas, transcend the world, great, agreed. But, in execution, in practicality, is when these things become true. That’s what matters, that’s what the people we all look up to have done. They’ve taken from here,
and they’ve made it happen. That is massively important,
and that is something I push all of you to start
spending some more time on. Question of the day for Episode Nine,