“your clients must expect to meet you. “How do you manage that?” – That’s an easy one to manage. You know, very honestly,
this is a huge misconception. This company’s called VaynerMedia. Yes, I’m the frontman, but I do not convey that they are buying me to anyone, and when we get into new business, Trouty, you do a lot of new business. Show Trouty. Trouty, how often do you find that people think they’re buying me? – Less and less these days. – And what happens when
you think that happens? Well, or when it happens, what do we do? – We quickly convince them that there are a lot of smart people behind here by showing them great work. – Very PR of you. (all laughing) The very simple fact
is I’m not selling me. We let people know upfront
that there’s no buying me. I mean, look. The Million Dollar Man in WWF was right. Everybody’s got a price. You can buy me. It’s just a lot more than you think. And so we’ve built a
company, something scalable. I have no interest in being in every room. I’m running the business. I jump into things backbone
all day, all the time because it’s our company
and I’m part of it, but you’re not buying me. So we just convince them
by telling them the truth. – [Voiceover] Heather
asks, “Gary, I’ve watched “every episode, but guys outnumber women.

when starting up
VaynerMedia from scratch?” – Seth, you know this
is another place for me to give a little bit of insight. Believe it or not, yes, not
doing Wine Library day to day with my dad. Yes, the notion of
taking the risk of being in another family business and
not ruining the relationship with A.J. Confident on both fronts. The hardest thing was actually
being crippled by options. The notion that over
the first nine months, it was very difficult
for me not to think about the fact that me and
A.J had 800 other things we could have done and did
we pick the right thing. I think a lot of people
who are watching this are always crippled. I get this a ton, which is
why I picked this question. Well, I didn’t pick it, you
know, Steve picked or we picked, you know, how did we pick it? – [Steve] This one was collaborative. – This was a little more
collaborative, right? You tried to give me a different question and I said, “No.” No. I like this one, because it
allows me to give an answer to my audience that I see a
lot of you struggling with. It’s been asked of me a
ton on email, twitter, and other places, which is, at some point, you’ve gotta
put your big boy pants on and say, “I’ve made this decision.” And you move on. The buyer’s regret or remorse, or like, did I do the right thing? Or crippled by options is
something so many of you are struggling with. And I struggled with it as well, especially with all the
opportunities that I’ve been able to be given. I’m so fortunate that I’m
struggling with, like, should I do a national TV show? Should I extend the fund by 10 times and do a quarter billion dollar fund? Should I quadruple down on Vayner? You know, I’m crippled. I’m crippled by options, which
is a blessing and a half. And so the hardest thing
was, in 2009, was like, is this the right thing? Don’t forget, Vayner
started in 09, May of 09. Misha was born in May of
09 and Crush It! came out in October of 09. So there was all those
other things going on. The struggle, the hardest thing was not starting the business. It was second guessing, was it the right use of
my time and A.J.’s time and upside and talents at the time. And that’s it.

for vetting clients,
specifically at VaynerMedia?” – Dan, answer number one. Do you have enough money? Dan, answer number two. What I’m really looking
for, to not make a joke, and you know, this show’s putting
me in a better mood, guys. I gotta be honest with you. I forgot that that’s what
Wine Library TV did for me on these Mondays where I want
to annihilate people’s souls. Putting on a show with my
community does help my feelings. I need a lot of comments on
this episode, by the way. I need comments in there. I need, I need, comments. Anyway, you know, the things
we’re looking out for is, are they creative? The number one thing I’m scared of is we have a ton of creativity and we can do real work. But if people want to
follow a very strict process of how they’ve always done it versus how we’re supposed to do it. I’m petrified in that. So really there’s no way to do it, because everybody says
they want to be innovative and do the new thing and
invest in the future. And then you get into practicality and the first thing
that’s cut is the future, which is why so many people lose. So everybody’s into defense versus offense when times get tough. For me, when times get
tough, you go harder, not eh. Anyway, so I’m trying to sniff out if people have the
stomach to be innovative and do things differently. To take some risks, but be practical, but have a little more
patience for that practicality and that ROI to present itself. – Gary, I’ve got a very
serious question for you.

“was it for Misha or VaynerMedia?” – Mark, I left it for VaynerMedia. Misha was already two
years old at that point. This is August ’11, that I
think I shut down Daily Grape. You know it was five and
a half years of every day doing a video show, and
it just ran its course. I mean, the thoughts of
doing a video show every day would like freak me out right now. (comical clicking) (comical clicking) – [Voiceover] Andrew asks:
“How do you change the culture