#AskGaryVee Episode 205: Negotiation Strategies, Logo Changes & the Apparel Business

“my work but I’m posting sitting
at a desk on my phone and email. “How can I add
variety in content?” – Well you got to be creative. Funny thing about this is
there’s a crazy thing guys. Crazy thing about creating
content both for social media, both for television,
both for books, both for magazine articles
it’s called talent. There are plenty of people that
can sit at a desk all day and produce amazing content because
they’re funny, they’re clever. They’re imaginative. They are creative by nature. So my answer is talent. James. You’ve got to come
up with an idea. Asking me to give you the
creative pillar is not a good strategy because
I can tell you that you could do it all day long. You can do a whole series on
Snapchat of random websites. Why don’t you just take your
phone while you sit at your desk and in-between important
things go to StumbleUpon click a button, random website
show it on the screen and you audit those websites. You add your two cents. Social commentary to every
website on the internet. You would never have to
leave your desk, ever again. But are you good enough? Are you funny enough? Are you quick-witted enough? One of the most famous videos is
when I cold called somebody and tried to sell them an ad
’cause I was good at it. That’s why it was good content.
I just sat at my desk. I think the answer is too many
people think that you have to rely on amazing scenery or
having a mix, a different day. I think my Snapchat
is all the same shit. It just me in my
face wherever I am. I’m trying to mix it up. I eat a banana here and there
and now I go to weird bathrooms. I’m trying. Have you seen that yet?
– [India] Yeah. – Thank you.
I travel a lot. I think bathroom
culture is fascinating. – [India] (inaudible)
restaurant bathrooms. – [Gary] Well there you go.
So there you go. Why would you
even ask me that? Hold on let’s start
over but you just said– – [India] There’s a difference
between really random creepy bathroom and you
Snapchatting from it and then curating a blog
of interesting bathrooms. – Yeah, super different, India. Anyway my man, James, anything
can be funny anything to be interesting it comes
down to the talent. If you’re one that
needs this visual support. This is a binary question
meaning if you’re not good enough in a mundane similar
situation to create something that’s interesting and
intriguing well then I don’t know you got to get a new job. Something crazy.
I don’t know. You’re stuck. There certain truths you’re gonna
sit at your job and do calls at your desk it sounds
like regardless. So instead of saying that the
defense, make it an offense. It is a mindset. Unless you’re willing to change
your job and travel the world and have all this great scenery
in the background like buck up Charlie, James.
And figure it out. I mean you can take a
whole meme just about, I could do a whole
thing just on Courtney. At the front of our. I could basically make Courtney. I can basically make
anybody famous if I want to. (India laughing) – I mean it is true. I like to think I’m a
little entertaining. Sean.

Sean from Denver, Colorado here. You can see the beautiful Rocky
Mountains in the background. My question for you
about negotiation. What are your best tips for
getting the deal done and making sure that it’s mutually
beneficial for both parties? – Sean, it’s interesting.
Great question. Thank you for heeding
the call for better video, better scenery in the background. I’m sure there’s a bunch there
pent up from a month or two ago. It’s funny. They’re one of the same. I’m very aggressive. And I very aggressively go
after a person and say look as quickly as possible I
want you to trust me. Tell me what you want. What is in your vested interest? If I can figure out what that
person wants and first I go with honesty and you know it’s funny
and when somebody is negotiating with you they don’t
want to give you honesty. And actually I use it as a
tactic to build a relationship. If I go at somebody and say look
you guys know this with, some of you know
this with salaries. It’s how I negotiate
almost everything. I just want to know. Because by the way, if you say
“Hey, I want to pay VaynerMedia “four dollars a month,” and I want
four dollars a month well then we just saved a lot of time. I’m like cool.
Let’s do it. I think my best tactic has
been the same which is honesty, truth and aggressiveness to extract the truth
from the other person. I’m naturally a counter puncher. In my marketing and
definitely in my negotiating. What do you want to
happen for how much? And if I can get them
into a truthful place. Now one of the keys to my
strategy is drawing a line in the sand. When I say to somebody
give me your best offer and if I can hit, I’ll do it. If they then give me an
offer that I can’t do I have to say no
and I can’t move. It’s all grounded in truths. I think you have to know what
you want and I think you have to try to extract from the
other person what they want. And you need to try to make
them feel comfortable that you’re in their best interest. One thing I do is I point to
my career at this point and let them know I’ve done everything
on lifetime value that I don’t need to make much money up
front it’s all of the long-term. I require that for my people. I require that for my partners. I just think the right way to
go there is go right at it. What’s going to
get this deal done? For me, I’d rather leave profit
on the table to get the deal done quicker. I think too many want to
guess the higher number. Let that one $8000 for this. I think too many people are like
12,000 instead of saying how much is it going to get done and
Staphon says 7500 if I’m okay with that because I want 8000
I’m like good, done, let’s go. Speed, movement, trust,
relationships finding a place where you can trust that
person you’re on the same page. That’s how I see it. – [Voiceover] Nishita asks,
“Gary, how do design changes to

– [Voiceover] Nishita asks,
“Gary, how do design changes to “apps that cause a negative stir
affect brand image or usage?” – Is this back Instagram?
– [India] Yeah. – This stuff
happens all the time. Remember when Uber
changed it’s logo? I think Uber’s new logo is
way worse than it’s old one. But that’s one man’s
subjective opinion. Even though all four
of you shook your head. Do you like the
Instagram one better now? No, no.
– [Garrett] Yeah. – Yeah, got it.
Me neither but whatever. Nobody gives a crap. If anybody still today still
cares about the Instagram design change then they don’t realize
that Instagram is a business and not a museum. In the context that I come from
if you’re making art that you want debated for the rest
of time it really matters. If you are talking about
business everybody complains about logo changes on
sports teams pro, con, logo changes of apps pro, con. It’s a fun thing to talk
about but if you noticed I got bombarded about it on social and
I didn’t even answer anybody’s question about it because I
didn’t even want to respect the question because for me from
a business standpoint it has 0.00000 impact on
Instagram’s business. Now the UI and UX if it makes
people stay on it longer, engage with that it longer, that has
huge impact but the logo itself as a matter of fact it does
have impact I’m not pooh-poohing design.
I believe in the design. For example, I think
I’m using Instagram less. The first week just because my
eye didn’t recognize the logo as much I hit it less times. Not even kidding. But I’m a focus group of one. I think net-net on a 60, 90,
100 day term, it doesn’t matter. I’m already back to my
normal usage on Instagram. It can be an issue but
I think a lot of time press over engages it. For example, when the Gap
changed it’s logo and that was a whole to do and they changed
back or when people have to do that a lot of times is
more about the press and the perception and then the
stock price more so than what’s actually happening
in user behavior. But sometimes it
could be a change. I don’t over, I think a name and
a logo can always be trumped by the quality of the product. Even bad press. When Uber’s getting
all that bad press. My friends, “I feel bad
what Uber is doing,” and they’re take an Uber
while they’re saying it. I’m a big fan of
actions over words. All the people that I hate the
Instagram logo but are using it .3 times more today
than they did a week ago, what does that then mean? It’s like saying you’re moving
to Canada if you don’t like the president and then not moving
which is what basically all of my extremist friends on the
Republican and Democratic side have done of the last 16 years. Everybody moved to Canada during
Bush every move to Canada during Obama and so far
nobody moved to Canada. Because you’re full of shit. And that’s just a higher
level conversation of the logo. What does it mean?
I don’t know. A lot of people like to
say things on social media. I like to know what you actually
do versus what you actually say. – [India] That’s good. Yeah that put the (smack).

“every day. How do you
feel when challenged “from the young
professionally?” – Tremendous. I love to be challenged
more than anything. I think one of the misnomers
of a cult of personality like myself is that we all love
yes men and women around us. I can tell you that look you
get the benefit of being right. One of things I hate about my
success and I knock on wood because I don’t want to jinx my
success is the longer I have it and the more that I have the
less I’m being challenged by the young or the less
experienced or the less winning. It’s very dangerous when
you’ve accumulated success that you’re not being challenged. I love challenging people
and I love to be challenged. What I love most about being
challenged is like 8 out of 10 times that I’m challenged in
something that I really now I feel like the person is
challenging me for the sake of challenging me ’cause they’re
playing that role ’cause they think it’s going to catch my
attention but then I’m actually in the game of the argument and
when they look like an idiot and they’re wrong by all standards
it actually makes them lose. Why I’m painting you that little
picture is when I challenge, I challenge with substance. It’s funny that I just
talked about presidents. Politics, healthcare,
macroeconomic issues, geopolitical issues, terrorism, health and wellness, boy, do I not challenge anybody. Boy, do I do a lot of listening and when I am at my worst
occasional pontificating about my opinion on it but boy
you will not see venom. If we all have brunch and we
start talking about something I don’t know about it’s
stunning how quiet I get. It’s just you only see
me in things that I know. You only see me challenging
things that I know. Of course, I’m going to
challenge Seth Godin if I don’t agree with him.
Because I know. I love when somebody challenges
me at this company and outside this company when I can taste
that they know that they’re talking about because
then you have some real frictions make diamonds. I want to get better. I want somebody to challenge
me but when you’re going to challenge me that TV or direct
mail is better and all you have is some bullshit from 1984
and you’re not a practitioner anymore and you have
nothing to back it up you’re gonna get eaten up. I love being challenged. I want the young to
challenge me all day. You saw me in the episode
with the 15-year-old girls for musically, I was listening. I’m not telling
them they’re wrong. They’re in high
school, they’re there. They’re like, “All my kids
in my class are on Twitter.” Cool. Respect, wow. So that’s that. And by the way that is a
focus group of one high school. It doesn’t mean Twitter is now
everybody GaryVee thinks Twitter is huge in high school. No, I think it is an interesting
thing to pay attention to because after that comment
hundred of more emails and comments of people like yeah
it’s true in my high school too. And by the way, tens, by the way
just to ground you, of like I don’t know what that
girl’s talking about. At my high school nobody’s doing
but tens to hundreds, you know? – [India] Last one.
– Last one.

asked if you were to build a
company in 2016 today from scratch what would you pick. Erase all your followers all the
companies that you have built up to this date. You said you would
choose something like Nike. So my question is at the
beginning stages of your company what would you do for
your three next moves. What were your top three
first moves be to help grow your company and keep in
mind you only have $3000. What would those three steps be? – Guys can’t get more specific? – Ads, an expo at a
convention center, inventory, what would it be? Let me know, can’t wait to hear
your answer and thank you for including my question
and today’s show. – What is the name?
– [India] Joey. – Joey, great question. The truth Joey and everybody who
is watching and so many of you are emailing me and please
by the way this is a good opportunity, Staphon, can you
put a little video pop-up you’ll do a little
editing for this one. Actually put a
picture I don’t make you. #AskGaryVee the search engine. If you have business questions, my new search engine
is unbelievable. All my questions all of my
answers transcribed all there in the search engine. So many questions about this and
the truth is Joey you clearly ask for yourself there so many
things you could be doing for your apparel business I guess
is why you referenced Nike. First of all, I said if you’re
in apparel the number one thing I would do it would try to get
Instagram influencers to wear your product at zero cost all
the way up to $1, $3, $50, $100. I think influencers
are grossly underpriced. I think the game is about
exposure and conversion and I think that too many people
don’t really understand how to run a business.
Make a lot of bad mistakes. As a matter of fact, I’m super
pumped that “Shark Tank” is now doing this “After
The Tank” TV show. I don’t know if any of
you have watched it. But Lizzie loves it. They’re showing people going
out of business because they grow too fast.
They don’t understand. There’s a real
cadence of growing. It’s like anything in life. You can’t get too
ahead of yourself. You can’t go too slow. You know it’s funny, a lot of
people when they start digging into my content realize
that I’m a real contradiction. That I believe in very
opposite points of view. And I think my answer
to your question is it’s a mix of 100 different things. I couldn’t give you, I’m not
going to give you what you want from this question which is
these three tactical things. I only give very black-and-white
tactical advice when I actually have hours to sit down and look
at your business and actually understand what
I’m talking about. I don’t want to look like an
idiot or have egg on my face so then I thought about
religious points of view. For you, you need to
get that shirt and you need to get
as much exposure. The same way you hacked your
way on to this show asking a question now you got exposure. I saw you put your little
Snapchat logo down there in the corner. Some people snapped it,
following you now. You’re looking for exposure. I think it’s a grind. For apparel
businesses are very hard. You need distribution,
you need awareness to me what I would
do is a lot of listening. I would tell you very honest
answer, Joey, if I were you as young as you look and
you look great, nice and young, super fit dude. Oh India likes it.
(laughter) What India said yeah.
What? – What do you want me to say?
No, you look horrible? – [Gary] No, no. – [India] Yes he’s fit.
– Yes, that’s exactly right. That’s right.
He is a fit man. Right, Garrett?
– Yeah. – [Gary] Yeah super fit.
– [India] Garrett agrees too. – Yeah, exactly.
Wasn’t a boy-girl thing. Just is he fit? I think that one of the things
that scares the living piss out of me is that a young dude like
you and so many young dudes and dudettes like you everybody’s
just jumping in and running a business. You know what I would tell
you to do, actually know what? I’m going there.
Screw it. You know what I’m
going to tell you to do? Shut your business down and go work for an apparel
company for three years. Go email every CEO of an apparel
company that’s doing over $5 million dollars a year in
revenue that you respect. All of them. Sit down grab a nice shake right, kale, nice kale shake and map every single CEO
in the world that has a $5 million a year or higher
revenue apparel business. Then to go to LinkedIn and
Twitter and email and tweet all of them. And ask all of them for you
to be there chief of staff, right-hand man and to work
side-by-side with that person for the next 18 months. That’s what I would do. Stake versus sizzle. There’s no tactic that
I’m going to tell you on The #AskGaryVee Show that’s gonna
set you up for success and to be very frank with you and I don’t
want to hurt your feelings Joey and I have a lot of respect for
you and is hurting everyone’s collective feelings my intuition
is somebody building a really big business in the apparel
space is not going to rely on one their tactics being
asking a business guru for advice tactically. So, I would take that 3000 bucks
and save it so that you can live with 17 roommates while you work
for Carol Thompson and her $9 million a year apparel
business and watch it up close and personal. India do it one more time
and I don’t do this for humble bragging. I think it’s important because a
lot of you know India and she’s been our eco-system, one more
time, four years in Vayner? – Almost four years. – India, three weeks in my
inbox, say it one more time different than you thought.
– Totally. – India learned more, it’s only
three weeks but just different. Just different. And you can’t buy that. India sat here and all god
damn shows with you guys. India’s written a ton of stuff. Has probably consumed way
more of my voice than she would ever want to. Yet in a 10 day period
being in my inbox, being close to the sun, she gained more context. I wouldn’t say learned
but holy crap, what? Yes. And that’s why so many of you
are jumping to run a business and I’m a natural
good businessman. A lot of you don’t
have as much natural entrepreneurial
DNA as I do. I think you need to learn from
the hip and I think the biggest mistake is you’d rather go get
and this is a different piece of advice for a lot of the
college kids that I’ve reached through
that one video. You’d rather go get that
job at $63,000 at the Gap and be number 17,000 even though your ambition
is to run your own fashion brand versus making no money teaming
up with 19 roommates living that ghetto lifestyle but being the
right-hand person but remember if want to start your own
fashion brand isn’t it much better to be very close to a
person that’s got a $3 to $5 million a year business
because that’s going to be your first step. Even if you’re at
the right hand of the CEO of Nike or Adidas or Under Armour or Coach that’s not the company
that you’re going to build. You’re going to learn
Corporate America skills. I’m just completely pissed
with the lack of, (sigh) it’s a lack of patience. It’s much cooler to say your
founder of the company, “Hey bro, what you do?” “Oh, I have my own brand. “I’m an entrepreneur.
I’m crushing it.” And Joey I’m not picking on you. This is a general statement. “I got my own business.”
That’s sexy. “I’m an entrepreneur.”
That’s a rockstar. That’s cool right now. Not as cool as “Hey
bro, what are you up to?” “Oh, I’m the Junior assistant
for Rikki Thompson for her underwear brand.” What? You went to
college for that? But I’m telling you right now
the person with the humility and the patience to the second
scenario is going to win every time.
99 out of 100 times. It’s just what’s
going to happen. I’m glad I got to say that.
I’m glad I came out. It is true.
It is super true. And when shit hits the fan and
it will and people can’t raise money and it’s not that easy. 3000 bucks is not a lot of
money to start a business. Too much dreaming right now.