#AskGaryVee Episode 165: Billboards, Production Capacity, & Gary Gets Salty

“of tech companies using
billboards to advertise? “Slack, Snapchat, Yahoo!,” et cetera. – Um. God, I’m a bad mood. (laughter) Evan, you’re seeing that
because, first of all, you should never put 100, and by the way, I speak
in absolutes on this show, so please let me use this moment, especially for the people
that catch this episode, or watch every show, contextualize this. I love to talk definitively,
’cause I don’t think people take action, and I think
it takes definitive stances to kind of move the needle. But there’s no situation
where 100% of actions is the right thing. There’s always a proper
hedge to everything. I really, really do believe
that, in your execution, and so in marketing,
when you’re in a Yahoo!, or a Slack, or a Snapchat, and
you’ve gotten to that scale, and you have that much
money, in marketing budget, there’s only so much you can allocate to 100% Facebook, 100%
Instagram, 100% digital. And when there’s these
big consumer brands, there’s a demo from, call it
the 45 to 75-year-old demo that people, like Snapchat
wants 45-year-olds to use Snapchat. Like that’s just straight up. And definitely Yahoo!,
it’s a mature brand, and Slack, is a SAS enterprise software that, you know, 52, 49, 63. I mean James Orsini, who’s in his 50s, is an executive at VaynerMedia, he’s helping make a decision
if we’re gonna use Slack, along with AJ and things of that nature. And they want that demo to be educated, and their belief is that
billboards is a place to play that. Look, I’m not high on billboards,
I think they’re overpriced because I think people are
looking at their mobile devices, but they’re not worth zero. And if you know that you’re going in and you’re gonna spend $7000
on this billboard a month, and you think it’s only worth 2300, but, that 2300, value is worth it to you, paying 7000, follow me here. Then that’s the right thing. Like, you know, that’s it. I mean, you know if it’s worth
spending $1000 on a dinner with the prettiest girl you
ever went on a date for, for the ROI of a kiss, if
you decided that the kiss was worth 1000, well then it’s worth it. And that’s what I think
on billboards, which is, you know, if they decide it’s worth 7000 even though they know
that they’re overpaying, well then that’s what you do. And so I think you’re gonna
see more television commercials for that reason from internet companies. You’re seeing it with Airbnb and Uber. When you saturate one medium, you have to go to another place
where you get more upside. Once you crush digital
like those companies have, overpaying for traditional
has more value to you. So it’s the timing in
which those companies deploy the media. They didn’t start at that place. They first got a better ROI. You’re getting all these
people digitally for, call it eight bucks a
head, 18 bucks a head. Well, now it’s startin’
to cost us $38 a head ’cause we’ve gotten everybody
and we can’t get no mores. So we’ll go over here and we’ll pay 52, because at least we can get new people, and it’s now worth 52 for us. That’s why. That was really good, considering,

– [Voiceover] Anthony asks,
“You recommend working for free, “but how do you know if
someone is just tryin’ “to get free stuff and
passing it off as exposure?” – You don’t. – [India] Cool, next question. – Fine. (laughter) You don’t, and that’s the point. Like, not every (bleep) thing has upside every single time you do it. It’s a net net score. You do it 38 times, DRock, you did movies for free besides me. And this just popped in my head. How many? – [DRock] At least 20. – 20? – [DRock] At least. – For people that looked like my profile? – [DRock] No. – How many that looked like my profile? – [DRock] Two? – Two, right, and then
you got a bunch after, that hit you, that’s right. So, how did those 20 work out for you? – [DRock] Um. – Yeah, I don’t expect you
to say bad, like I’m curious. – [Voiceover] One.
– One. – [Voiceover] I think one project fed me, for the entire three month thing. But the other 19, not so much. – Got it. And then, how about mine? – [DRock] Fed me pretty well. – Yeah ok. So you know, I mean, so I think that, I think you don’t. I think look, you can look
into people’s backgrounds, see their actions. I would tell you off of the, you know, exposure and hyperbole
of DRock’s free work, on this show, I’m probably
in a better position today than I was two
years ago to get people to want to do free work. Because they’re like,
well I want to be that. So you can look into
people’s history, if you can, but you just really don’t, you
have to use your intuition. Do you know how many meetings I go and pitch new business,
and then others I don’t, and I’m making a judgement call. Like it’s a use of my
time, my biggest asset, and was it worth going for three hours and flying, was it worth a day flying, pitching the business,
and then we didn’t get it? That was a bad judgement call, but then sometimes it works out. It’s a net net game. This insanity for the short term ROI, of every action, is so goddamn broken. What’s his name again?
– [India] Anthony. – Anthony, that you know, I think way too many
people are crippled. You don’t! You don’t know a lot of things. Shit, you don’t know almost everything. Like seriously, like
what do you know in life? Is this the right college? Is this the right friends? Is this the right boyfriend? You don’t know anything!
– [India] True. – You make decisions
and you (bleep) adjust and live with them. You counterpunch to reality. Work, too, this freelance
(bleep) high ground of like, nuh. It’s supply and demand, mother (bleep). Like if there’s people willing to do it, then that’s just the
(bleep), that’s the shit! (laughter) (speakers mumble off-camera)

“a higher demand than production capacity? “How do you manage
expectations when you have “two to three months of latency?” – You hire freelancers,
and you work on lower, what? (laughter) – [India] I’m sorry, I’m just nervous. – Ok, got it. You hire freelancers, and
you work on less margin. You go to your best people that
are there for the long laul, and you ask them to work more hours. So if they work seven hours, and they work 14 hours,
you can get more shit done. You adjust. You know, the end. You can’t be late for clients. If they want it, and
you’re late, you lose. Project manager, shaking his head, right? I mean– – PM’s dream. – Yeah, I mean look, here’s
something that’s subjective. The creative. Ooh, I like this video. Ooh, I like this sweater. Ooh I hate this sweater. Ooh I like your yellow shirt. Those things are subjective. What’s not subjective is,
it’s due on Wednesday. Oh we’ll give it to you a week later. They don’t feel good. So you either outsource with freelancers, and you make a lot less
margin ’cause it costs more per hour, or bites into your margin, or maybe you lose money
but you want to deliver for the client, and you keep
them longer and you play lifetime value, not the
ROI on every single thing. Or, you ask your team to step up, or you step up if you
have that capability. I’m not scared to make a video. I know Jason and DRock
can make it better, but I’ll do it.

– [Voiceover] Matt asks, “If
you could change one part “of Facebook’s API for
marketers and business pages, “what would it be?” – I don’t give a crap,
Matt, about this question. Like, India. But I think I’m now playing
into my character of this show. If I would, so I’m dissing myself, screw you, Gary. – [India] If you could change
one part of Facebook’s API for marketers and business
pages, what would it be? – I mean look, Matt, I
think it’s a great question, it’s very tactical. I think we as marketers
would always take more data. I want everything. Right, like, if I could
follow people around, I would do that. Like, so the truth of the answer is, any piece of data that
they’re not giving me, like I would love the
data of first name data. I want to target people
by their first name. I don’t think you can do that right now. So I’d like to reach out to every Gary, and be like, yo! It’s me Gary, as well. Let’s be boys, all Garys. So, I would love to target
people by first name. And I don’t think you
have that capability yet, so that would be one. And there’s probably 15
other cohorts that I’m not completely up-to-date on
of what we have access to and what we don’t, but I would
love to have more access, more data points. If I had the time to sit
down right now and have, ’cause it’s moving all the time. So if I went to the analytics
and pay team right now and said ok, let’s just do a quick update. Whatever the first
highest value data point on an individual is, that
I don’t have access to, would be the answer to this question. And that would be the
thing that I would have a creative idea against
that I don’t have access to, like first name targeting. Like that’d be funny, right?

“the end goal and the path to get there, “before you can begin? “Clarity before hustle?” – The clarity is everything. If you don’t know where you’re going, you will get lost. Ooh. I’m sure somebody’s said that before, but it’s the first time
I’ve said it and I like it. The clarity is everything. No question, my clarity
on my professional goal, the vanity professional goal
of buying the New York Jets, but more importantly the depth of that which is the process of
trying to buy the Jets, has absolutely, and then my real one that, psst, I don’t talk about that often, but once in a while on the show of like, getting everybody to be
guilted into going to my, like Sean you’ll come
to my funeral, right? – 100%.
– Awesome. So like, you know, that to me, allows me to interact the way, like making sure that
everybody comes to my funeral is probably the reason I need to get salty to have the tough conversations, ’cause I’m soft that way,
’cause I’m just love. And so, I’m just love. I also hate, I hate football. (laughter) So I think the clarity really matters. I think a lot of you,
and I’ve been reading a lot of your comments, especially on Instagram,
I’m really deeply entrenched there right now. So start leaving more
comments, ’cause that is 100% a place I’m gonna see them. By the way, actually,
let me take a step back. Thank you so much, Vayner Nation. The real answers to who are you. You guys saw. Like deep, like, deep. I’m gonna go review and read
every one one more time. I’ve read probably 40%,
I’m gonna read ’em all. Because, I’m just too appreciative that you actually did that. There was some deep stuff. Some very real stuff. Oh, join my email newsletter. We’re pushing that right now. (chime ringing) Ding. Link it, Staphon, in the YouTube and the, the YouTube and the Facebook. A lot of you don’t have your clarity. A lot of you are looking for the vanity, or the short-term things,
out of pain, out of ambition. And I have empathy for
both of those things. The truth is, you just gotta know. And it’s interesting somebody
left an Instagram photo of like, boring, about what I was posting, ’cause he was like, basically saying, I’m over trying to build a business. I travel a bunch, I don’t
make that much money, I’m happy as hell, and I was like, I replied and was like, I’m pumped. Like just so everybody knows, I don’t know if you guys are
getting tricked by the facade. This whole show, my whole energy is like, I just want people to be happy. Like, people pay attention to me, because I think they’re
gravitating towards believing that business
success will bring them a certain level of happiness. But like, I just want
everybody to know, forever, for the record, maybe
this is a Medium piece. For the record, while I’m salty. You can be pumped as
hell at $49,000 a year and boy do I envy the crap out of that. Boy do I envy, more than
anything in the world, somebody who is wired internally, to be able to get a commoditized job, where there’s a lot of them, to make a 40 to $60,000 a year pay, to then live a lower middle class, or depending on what part
of the world you live in, that you’re very excited
about just checking the box on those 40 hours, that is
not where your passion lies, come home and your whole
life revolves around the bowling team, drinking
beers with your buddies that you went to high school
with and never left town. I mean these are cliché
things but I’m being dead goddamn serious right now. Like, what the hell’s wrong with that? That’s (bleep) awesome! Like crap! That is tremendous! Like, that’s the best! I know this because I know
how upset I am about the Jets, that’s something I care about. I almost don’t care about
anything else this way, and it’s a better life. I’m a much happier person,
outside of my football life. Like, it’s great! You know, what is that whole thing, like, being naive is bliss,
or, what is the saying? – [Voiceover] Ignorance is bliss. – Ignorance is like,
there’s truth to that. Meaning like, it’s like
simplicity is delicious. That’s a good one, too. Like simplicity is
delicious, what is possible? Please don’t think
you’re watching this show because I’m trying to rah rah you, to working 90 hours a day. I’m just telling you what it
takes to make a lot of money in a hyper-competitive
business world in 2016. I’m not telling you that’s
the light to happiness. The light to happiness
is to be so self-aware, of what makes you tick, and go do that! But don’t (bleep) complain
that you’re not makin’ it, when you’re not doing actions to make it! Like, I don’t complain
about missing my family. You will not hear me say that. Because I’m not entitled to say that, because my actions don’t map to that pain. You’re just doing the reverse. You’re complaining! Like, woe is me, unfair! It’s not unfair! It’s talent, and work. Period. You wanna call it that
your parents had sex at a moment that turned you into a human, and didn’t give you a certain talent, that you subjectively wish you had? Cool. You think that’s unfair? Fine. I think you’re a dickface
because I think that the fact that you became a human being is the greatest thing that ever happened. But you’re more than welcome to say, oh, why am I not the prettiest, or why don’t I have Beyoncé’s voice. Like, fine. Like, shit I wish I was
6′-9″ and could dunk and pass for the, I
wish I was that LSU kid, light-skinned, friggin got moves, great! But it’s not what I have. Like, know who you are, go execute, but, if you sit and watch this
show on your phone right now, on the subway, and you’re happy. Because you’re so happy
where you’re going right now, whether to work, or leaving work, and going to the Knicks game. Or the lowly Nets game. Or your darts championship
with your homies. Like, that’s the only thing that matters.