#AskGaryVee Episode 167: Golf, Screenshots, & Gary Goes on an Epic Rant

“has been boring for way too long! “What would #AskGaryVee
do to create a bad a- “golf coaching business?” – Well golf is boring. I’m just kidding with that. So wait, Matthew starts
with golf coaching, – [India] The golf coaching world’s been boring for way too long.
– [Gary] Got it. Now look I mean, every world
is boring in a lot of ways outside of heavy entertainment
genres or high energy genres until a personality comes along. I would say for the
common American financing and finance news was boring
until Jim Cramer came along. I take a lot of pride in the fact that a lotta people through the years, tens of thousands maybe
hundreds of thousands, have told me that wine was
boring until I came along and so you’re always one personality away. You know Howard Cosell
changed sportscasting. I think you’re one extreme, high-energy, entertaining person away from changing an entire culture. And so this is quite basic. I mean to me any time
something becomes exciting it’s on the back of a human
being making it exciting. And so, Emeril Lagasse made chef culture, you know, less boring by saying pow or whatever he did right and that was in the early 90’s. So the answer to your questions is, and I assume you’re
alluding this way Matthew, listen Matthew if you’ve got the chops, if you’ve got the charisma,
if you’re entertaining enough then you will be that person. And I think that’s an important thing for everybody to understand. Everything is based and
predicated on the actions, you know everybody who wants
a change, you know my tagline on Wine Library TV is we’re
changing the wine world whether they like it or not. Caught a lot of people’s
attention and brings a lot of people coming to me
around this question. If you, you’re actions
have to represent the thing that you want to happen and
so please anybody who’s trying to change the hair extension
world, or the art world, or the music world, or you
know whatever, the making apps for the iPhone, like
whatever thing you’re trying to change you’re either
changing it or you’re not. Your actions are creating
your change and so when I hear that question, if you’re
not putting out the content that’s compelling and
entertaining experience well then there’s no talking about it. Like if you’ve been doing
it, then it’s happening and if you’re not doing it, it’s
not happening and saying that you’re gonna do it or asking me to, for the answer to it,
it’s just the actions. It’s every single boring
world can be changed. Science, there’s people that
make science interesting and literature interesting,
it’s out there. Like LeVar Burton made reading
interesting with his rainbow. I mean like you know anybody can do it. So, that’s the answer. It’s just a human being coming
along and being entertaining within the genre and having the expertise to not have the experts
laugh them off the stage and make it seem like they’re
a comedian, just doing that. And I think that’s what it comes down to. The equal parts, you actually know what the hell you’re talking
about with golf lessons and golf culture and really know golf and can really teach and then you’re also ridiculously handsome and
charismatic to execute that entertainment factor.

“of screenshot reposts on social–” – I like screenshots. – [India] Yeah (laughing) – [Gary] (laughing) I
got you with that one. – [India] I was like yes.
– I just like ’em. – [India] Say something else. – I just like for you to
know that I like them. – [India] Now we know.
– Okay. – [Voiceover] “How do you see
brands protecting themselves? “Do we say goodbye to copyrights?” – Listen copyright is on,
on, is, is on watch right? Like copyright’s been put on shade like it needs to understand
it is being trolled. Yeah, and on the fip side there’s
a lotta push the other way but yes, we’re not you know, we’re not in the same world as
we used to be anymore. Technology has created a scenario where, we all collectively
have to figure this out. I mean music was put
on blast by Napster and then we had a whole decade
or two of innovation. Apple came along, figured out
how to make it compelling. YouTube came along found out
how to make it compelling over time, at first it
was not as compelling to the copyright people. Yeah, I think, listen we
will never fully get away from where somebody creates something that they’re not being compensated. I don’t think, we’re too far
down the culture of that. On the flip side it’s a rub because the truth is a
lotta people want people to use their stuff. They want both, they want both right? They want to use, you want
them to use your music or picture in the commercial
so you get commercial success but you wanna be compensated for that. The truth is there’s so much
content and so many things that can be used that alternatives
of things that are free are becoming more and more of the fad. I think that much like we
answered the Adele question, which worked out for her. I think, you know, I think we use shmadele and I think this was three
or four episodes ago. I think every person whose
watching and listening needs to make a decision for
themselves if they’re better off letting people use their stuff or not. I watch people use my
imagery all the time. Somebody made a salty
V t-shirt on TeePublic, the team hit me up,
they’re like whadda we do. Do we wantta take it down? I decided no, that’s in my
benefit, that if people buy that I won’t make the 18
cents or four dollars or whatever it is per shirt that’s
okay ’cause it’s valuable for me at this moment. On the flip side people use
my image to sell like bullshit like information products
where I don’t believe in it, that’s bad. I do tell them to take that down. That’s a copyright issue
’cause that’s falsely making it look like I’m endorsing some bullshit $300 ebook or course. So I think you have to make
an individual investment. Weigh the value props,
you know there was a vine for, I brought this up
before, where the girl used a booty shaking song in her twerking video that made that song shoot up. It was like 10 years old,
shoot up to number 10 in the iTunes Store. If they would’ve taken that
down, they would’ve missed out on all the sales of the album
which they made money on. So you’ve gotta be
strategic in this new world. It’s not a one size
fits all kind of answer. What’re you looking at India?

“do not come first. “Employees come first. “Do you agree or disagree and why?” – I agree and Matt, Matt? Matt, I agree and I’ve been
pounding that for 166 episodes, so at least 40 times, so
I feel very comfortable in kind of dodging this
answer ’cause I think one of the things, the repetitiveness
of the show is something I challenge myself with always recognizing there’s so many new people watching and there’s a lot of people watching
so I’ll just go very fast. This doesn’t get my juices
going and I’m not trying to diss Matt, I assume you’re
fairly new so I’m excited, it’s not even close. To me it is fundamentally my
employees then my customers then my own interests and
that has been the backbone of my success. I feel like you end up
with a whole lot if you go in that order and I think
my actions have spoken to that at this company. I’ve got a lotta people that have worked in the agency industry for a long time and have been surprised by how
hard I push back on clients. We’ve fired a client historically, which is sacrilege even
though people say it and so yes I think Richard’s correct. And I think anybody
successful like a Branson, that’s built an actual organization. Not as a single entertainer,
or as an investor, or somebody built a product. Somebody that actually built a
600, a 6,000, a 60,000 person organization or a six person organization, successfully recognizes how
much value in the people there really is. I also happen to like people
which makes it even easier for me so just keeping
it very basic I say yes. I’m curious to your strategy
of picking that question India. – Well, I know it’s been
awhile since we’ve talked about that POV you have and we’re getting so many new viewers and
I checked the last time we really talked about that was
like in the 40’s episode so. – Fine, come with real
data and answers India. No, really good job, yeah so
now that India’s guilted me into going a little bit deeper here. – [India] No I wasn’t–
– No, No listen I mean well I appreciate it, I’ll
go a little bit even further. To me it’s a very big deal and, and, and it’s so surprising to
me law firms, consultants, agencies, where they
actually sell people’s hours. That they’re not completely
infatuated with that process. I get it for Wine Library,
where like we were selling wine. The end result was a
transaction with wine. The end result here is a transaction with another human being
against their hours. So again if you were in a
business where that is the case, you run multiple gyms
and you have trainers, you again law firm, consultants. Anybody who’s listening
to this who has a business that people’s hours are being
sold should be religious, I mean cultish about caring
about their people and then anybody that’s selling a byproduct of it your results are gonna, the shelves are gonna be
stocked better at Wine Library. You’re gonna get a better
answer out of recommendation from Wine Library if you
care about your people, even though the end result
product is a bottle of wine or if you go into a bicycle
shop the end result is still selling a bike but if
Ricky is happy when he came into the shop and you come in
for a bike, he’s gonna spend that extra 15 minutes
enthusiastically tryin’ to tell you that this tire is better than
that tire, that shit matters. – [Voiceover] Jacob asks
“Would Gary take 20 minutes out

“of his day to watch #AskGaryVee?” – No, I would not watch the show. I know I’ve lost viewers
because of this answer. I’ve watched that, it happen. I’ve actually been curious
’cause there’s been like 10 or 11 people emphatically
saying I’m not watching anymore ’cause you, I get it. And then I kinda like
follow, like I tag them and I kinda like follow-up
and I’m like oh crap, I really lost them. Which makes me happy and sad. Misha used to do that, my
daughter used to do that. She’s like I’m happy and sad and so that’s where that came from. And so, the answer is I wouldn’t because it’s not how I roll. But I also would’ve never
watched one episode. So I think that’s an important thing for the people listening and watching. The way I learn is different. The way I do things is different. And there’s no right or
wrong, as a matter of fact my biggest issue is that I
wish I had a little bit more of that in me. I wish that I would read a
book or two here and there or I wish I consumed people’s content that I was aligned with
or could learn from. It’s just, I’m just too
into the anthropology of just watching. I’m sitting at the
Knick’s game last night, tough double, tough overtime
loss to the Rockets, Michael Lang if you’re watching screw you. (Gary makes squeaking noise) I spent all my time watching
everybody on their phones. And by the way it was an Instagram, Snapchat only world from 16 to 46. New York crowd but super
fascinating so that’s how I learn. I learn by watching, I
learn by watching all of your behaviors in the
comments and then seeing what you do. I learn by all of you being so honest about telling me your truth, learned a lot about a lot of you individually. Helps me interact with you so
I’m on that side of the coin. So the answer is no, I
would not watch the show.

“for someone who finds out
that they’re not cut out “to be an entrepreneur?” – Oh yeah, I get it
Malik ’cause you played, I’m just kidding. Being an entrepreneur
is not some great thing. It’s just as good as being anything. It’s just as good as being
a great, I mean listen as much as it’s amazing for
me that I inspire people to maybe build businesses
that then is a gateway drug to happiness in their
life, I’d be, I’d feel really compelled to be financially secure, have better work, life
balance and be a brain surgeon and save people’s lives on a daily basis. Like there’s a lot of things,
or like some of the things, do you know, you know maybe
not as financially rewarding but if you’re wired to be
a great guidance counselor. Impacting teenagers through
those really difficult, and being a guidance
counselor in a high school for real and if you’re not
mailing it in and full of shit and only wanna be there nine
to three and you’re out, if you really are in it. It just comes down,
you know it’s funny, so that would be cool to
be a guidance counselor which leads me to the point
that made me think of this which is if you’re really passionate. And I don’t use that
word as you guys know. I kinda stay away from that
’cause I think it’s kind of a bullshitty word, but if you’re
truly passionate and really into what you do and you
really give it your all. Like if you really do, whether
you do it for yourself or within an organization
that you believe in or within an organization
that you think will get you to the place you want to be one day. Which is really what I try to build here. Which is one of those two things right? It’s a place you want to be,
around me and that energy and that success and that
machine for the rest of your life or you feel like the
things you learn at Vayner over a two, six, 12, 19
year career lends itself to the things you want
to do in the future. If you’re lucky enough to be
in one of those scenarios, regardless of what you do, if you passionately get up in the morning. If you got up this morning
at six a.m. like I did and were fired up to go, of
course ’cause the Jets won, but fired up to go and your
to go was you’re gonna go in the office and from nine to
four you’re gonna clean teeth and work on cavities ’cause
you’re a badass, motherf- dentist that loves the teeth
game well then you’ve won. My advice is if you figured out
you weren’t an entrepreneur, well then you’re just like
one of those contestants on American Idol. That went there, you gave
an at-bat, good for you, kudos. You stood in front of Simon
and he said you f- stink and you’re like crap and then
you went home and it aired a couple months later and
everybody laughed at you and on Twitter they said you
stunk and you’re like alright maybe I’m you know weird
and maybe I can’t sing. Now what you need to do
is comma, move on and try to figure out what you can
do, what you are good at and more importantly what do you love? And then there’s the other big
semicolon, I don’t even know that’s definitely not the
proper grammar, but like there’s the other parallel thing. Which is you don’t give a
crap that you suck at singing. You can’t breathe and believe
that you can do anything else. You’re just gonna sing. Awesome, go get a job at a karaoke bar. Go, work at a music store
and just sit there all day and sing. There’s absolutely this remarkable balance of what makes you happy, what
makes you the most money. Some people are just blessed,
lucky or grind their way into it or were born with
the talent of like being able to do both. I would tell you that if
I could make enough money to make me happy because I
want it, because I like it. I like the game, it’s the
game of it more so than it but go, I’ve often thought
about fully retiring and just garage saleing. You know? But the problem is I just have
too much other ambition and other things I want to do and
it’s really not predicated on the money but like the
garage, I’m very close, I’m one DNA strand away from being a guy that makes $87,000 a year
garage saleing every day. And that’s cool and I have
so many friends and relatives that are rip crap happy that
tried to be entrepreneurs, failed just like I would fail to be a professional
hockey player or a singer, and have gone on to
massively happy, it’s just about being happy and so my
advice for an entrepreneur would be dust it off, be
like alright that’s not me, even though it’s a hot
thing to be right now, and let me go figure out
what I can do that is. To me the magic is what’s the
thing that you can do the best that you like the most? What’s that cross section? And then that’s a great place to be right? It may not be perfect,
you might not be like Kobe who loves playing, you
can see it in his face, loves playing basketball more
than breathing and happened to be phenomenal at it which
is why you become Kobe. There’s a reason there’s Kobe. There’s a reason there’s Madonna. There’s a reason that there
are these one-named people. Cher, you know, there’s a reason, let’s cut to the chase. Because they happen to have
at the inflection point, the passion and love and
desire and the talent for that thing and found that thing. Which is a whole nother category of things to be successful. I feel like I’ve had
that but I also recognize in so many not that exact thing or the upper-middle class version of it. The eight on a 10 point scale, the 7.2, the 9.1, the 5.4. That’s what you’re lookin’ for you know, that’s what you’re lookin’ for. And then there’s the balance
of risk and practicality. So many people are not
born with the risk gene of an entrepreneur. You’re just not willin’
to take the chance, it’s just too scary. I just don’t know the other way. It was too scary not to get F’s for me. I’ve always fought the system. I can’t conform to what
people think is right. It’s just not how I see the
world, it’s just not what I see. So, I think tripling down on you. If you found out you’re not entrepreneur, you probably weren’t
self-aware to begin with to realize that you weren’t
gonna win in that anyway. You’re probably just following
a narrative of what’s sexy or what’s attractive and you need to take a big boy, big girl
step back in your life and say okay let’s get really real with ourselves. What is the thing I’m best
at that I like the most and then triple down on that. Put yourself in that position. Quit your job or quit the failed startup and go start whittling
wood ’cause you might just be great at it and you can
sell the goddamn little statues in an amazing museum shop in Wyoming. Be happy as goddamn hell. Make a good buck. You’re one Instagram photo
away from somebody saying look how amazing this is. Now you’re the wood
whittlinger for the celebrities and like this is real,
you know but this is real. This is how shit goes down and it’s funny and I know it’s a funny thing. I’m glad I got you India but
what do you think happened with DJ’s? They just loved it so much
and so they made 500 bucks on the side at parties. DJ AM, I watch Doc U, and
then he became the one that did it for Madonna’s parties and then he got paid a million
dollars to be the DJ in residence in Vegas. Funny things happen when you
triple down on your strengths. A lotta times the world comes to you. A lotta times the world comes to you. It may not seem like you
can make, too many people are like I’m awesome
at this and I love this but it doesn’t make a lotta money. I hate that because that is
the place to go ’cause all of a sudden the world comes to you. 1979 I’m a great chef and I
love cooking more than life but I’m not gonna be a chef
because it only pays $50,000 at this restaurant and I’m the help. Yeah until that 22 year old then in 1995 is 37 and celebrity chefs are now a thing and she has her own show. I mean like, that’s what I think. Cool, that was fun,