#AskGaryVee Episode 172: The Last Episode of 2015

“with employees that slack
off, but are super talented? “Keep or fire?” – Mmmm. I deal with them the same way I deal with any kind of employee. Super hard worker, but maybe
slightly under-talented. In between on both fronts. Every situation in life,
let alone employees, only can be solved when
you believe there’s issues, and you have the luxury
and the responsibility. And let me say that one more time, when you have the luxury
and the responsibility of being the judge and the jury. The pressure and the onus is on you. I truly, truly, truly believe
that if there’s an employee at Vayner Media, and
there are some, plenty, no, not plenty, that’s not fair, there are some that are highly talented and are under-performing,
that it’s my fault. We haven’t created the infrastructure for allowing them to shine. Their bosses are not clicking with them, and so that’s not motivating them. We haven’t asked the right questions of the kind of interests they have. We serendipitously, you
know, the serendipity of what accounts they’ve been on. Tim how many different
accounts have you been on in your career? – Oh gosh, at least twelve. – And of those twelve, I would assume that some are more exciting than others? – Oh yeah, definitely. – Yeah, and that’s just real, right? There’s so much serendipity,
different bosses that you get, people move around, team
mates, things of that nature. And so, you know, I think
the way I deal with it is communication. You know, I have a full slate today, it’s the last kind of in-the-office day, I have a lot of meetings
I’m trying to get in. 10, five, 10, 10, five,
10 minute meetings. And a lot of the conversation
will be around that. And so I think it’s communication. You know, it’s like, hey, Rick, you know I think you’ve got
talent oozing out of your eyes, you’re clearly not
delivering on the hustle, which is an important variable here. What am I doing wrong? What is Vayner doing wrong? Instead of saying, Rick,
you’re lazy, you suck. You have to put the onus on you. When you’re a leader, when you’re a CEO, when you’re the organization, it’s on you. You’re creating the rules of the game. If you don’t like how
it’s played, change it.

“If you had an opportunity to
buy Instagram or Snapchat, “which one would you choose and why?” – Mmm, I sent you this one, because this one was challenging to me. I mean, look, these are
the two social networks. They are the two platforms that
live within a mobile device that people are giving their attention to. Actually let’s go round
the room real quick. Tim, Instagram or Snapchat,
what do you like better? You gotta pick one, one has to go away. – Probably Instagram, because
I wanna see myself forever. – Alright, Tim clearly establishing on the show it’s all about Tim. Britt? – Instagram, hands down. – Instagram, I like Instagram. – Yeah, so for me, I would
probably buy Snapchat. And here’s why, because of those answers. I truly believe that Instagram
is the social network of the moment. When I buy things, I
like to buy for 24, 36, 48 months out, when I invest. The way I built Vayner
Media, we were selling social media in 2009 and
10, you remember this, like, people didn’t want to buy this as much as they want to buy it now. I like projecting. Plus there’s one other
thing about Snapchat that makes me give this answer. Snapchat is a, I think that Instagram was a moving the ball forward in a Facebook, Twitter world. I think Snapchat is a complete
different paradigm shift. If it’s a completely
different way to communicate. It’s got different functionality. 30 to 40 year olds that have never used it are completely confused by it. I’m fascinated by that, that also feels to me like
there’s a lot of upside. I think a lot of 30, 40, 50 year olds understand how to use Instagram. It’s very native, it’s
basically like Facebook, boom, they’re there, that’s good. That’s the vulnerability of Snapchat, but I also think that’s the upside. If explained properly, which I think Twitter never
really fully accomplished, I think Snapchat becomes a beast. For me, watching the behavior, Snapchat is chipping
away on a daily basis. And only because of the way
I like to buy businesses, which is, what do I think
is the number one play, 24, 36 months from now? It’s Snapchat. That being said, I’m hedging against that, I’m not sold that Snapchat
is the biggest social network 24, 36 months from now,
because I do believe the Facebook, Instagram,
you know, WhatsApp, you know, Facebook Messenger monster is in its early stages. I am as bullish on
Facebook as I’ve ever been. And so that’s my answer,
that’s my rationale. – [Voiceover] Amanda asks,
“Do you use a meal prep service?

a meal prep service what do you think
the future services like that is I do not use a meal prep service I use mike
tells me what to eat but but I think those are great I think I think
everybody will have everything they want within two to three hours and that will
get chipped away over time I do believe and twenty years most people will be
able to have what they want within a five to one out five minutes one hour
window i mean the on demand at scale hyper growth is here and so I think
farm-to-table I think India will be able to eat radishes from a farm in upstate
New York as quickly as somebody can literally be like ok I’m getting the
radishes for India like I really think that if structures gonna be here think I
don’t think people really project technology well-meaning in 20 years from
today so many blowjobs will be obsolete so much technology will eat up the jobs
that so many people do at a minimum wage for lower-income that a lot of those
same jobs in the same way that a lot of drivers today you should be something
else that’s been replaced by technology when they were making forty eight
thousand a year but now has a new driver the making 92008 year so it’s a go
through so bad we’re gonna put you know these developers out of business or or
film developers out of business or whatever it may be yes but that all
sorts of things get created that are new to me people just so have class for like
20 or so of doomsday like when anyone from god damn radishes right now farm to table in the office instead of
going to seem less than winning thirty minutes or whatever she’s getting she
literally Hudson farms are not too far from you literally within an hour she
can have plucked out and on her plate and she’s gonna want that you’re gonna
pay a premium for that will pay $4 for those radishes and 87 cents because the
organic and biodynamic it’s my new tour like hand-to-hand like whatever it is
that’s why so future future Mrs good good we need help here we’re gonna pay
more for it it’s gonna come to us faster will have more choices will be more
convenient look at the spend more time on our lives with people and other
things we care about not the process of shopping for food or ordering food there
was a lot of stuff in that question

becoming more crucial to businesses
custom maps and much for them you tell me your media got it ok understood and
so what is the question going through the next half decade 2016
through 2020 and you have the chops to build an incredible app that people will
use like okay yes my just my belief is that that’s far and few between even the
Fortune 500 companies let alone rick’s lobster roll stand in st. Louis Missouri
right so you know I think the answer is yes but the commitment and dollar amount
and energy that needs to be deployed to building in consumer app that actually
brings value to individuals is very very very difficult I mean even things that
are hard core utilities like banking apps like are doing well but you know
not as well as you’ve really got to really think about it just hard it’s
really really hard so I would say for the ninety-seven percent are watching
here I would not recommend building an app for your business because I just
don’t think you’ll build it won’t be able to have the right ratio of the cost
of it for ya just just to be it’s kind of like you know it’s kinda like it’s
kind of like web.com 1996 95 97 98 I was there are a lot of people spent if the
$100,000 on building their website that the website then bring them any value
because they make a good enough website there was enough demand for their
website I can see I know what’s happening now and I could see it getting
worse in the small mid-size business world of building apps are yes you think
it’s necessary to learn the rules before you can break them that’s a really good
question do I think I think the answer

you can break them that’s a really good
question do I think I think the answer is no but I think you to pick up the
rules as you go in the beginning to then break them I think it’s ok to break the
rules with naivete and I think about being a media I don’t know anything
about the rules of agency world and I was breaking them without knowing that I
was breaking them and then as I pick them up the last four years I continue
to bring the ones that I wanted to break and I also learned quite a bit from the
first eighteen months when I didn’t know if I knew the walls when I first started
the intermedia I don’t think we would have innovated just as much as we
actually did so in a weird way I would actually say knowing the rules up front business and dot com I’m actually gonna
go with the different way often talk about naive eyes not knowing anything I
think the really great pattern is not knowing but then I respect the game I
respect the advertising industry it’ll just say oh we do it better i watch I learned I pay attention and so
it’s fresh money buys I don’t know the rules break them because you don’t even
know you’re breaking them and then as you mature into your 23456 journey from picking up the rules and
they continue to bring the ones that you think are worth breaking a special
because what you learn in the first eighteen months of not knowing the rules
will allow you to make really smart decisions of which was to break over
months 19 through 72 yep just smart I every one of them and I’ll take too much
credit

and face-to-face meetings how much of
that could be effectively accomplish what high-quality digital meetings 30%
of the things I travel for would have been just fine on skype the problem is
the other seventy percent is too valuable and do my best to navigate and
make judgment calls but I’m human and I’m flawed so that’s the answer ya think
I’d ever say that a lot just by Ron