#AskGaryVee Episode 73: Podcasting, Building Legacy & The Chamber of Commerce

“that giving away some
of my best work for free “might mean others perceiving
it as less valuable. “Is this a true risk, “or is this where the right
hook balances it all out?” – Carlo, this is a solid question. You know, I think at some level, there is a risk about giving
away your best work for free. For me, that’s been the
gateway drug at some level, because I think best
work needs to be defined. It depends on what your work is. For example, I’m blown away by people who don’t realize that their best advice is exactly what you
should give away for free, because if you’re in the
selling-advice business, you really need to give contextual advice. So I can theoretically talk
about Snapchat being important, but then when I meet the tire company, we have to formulate it to
work within that context, and so that advice is
then gonna be specific. If you’re a painter, and your best work is the
greatest painting you ever made, and then you gave it away for free, that’s maybe a little
bit of a different game. But if you strategically gave it away, like to a very important museum, or to a very important billionaire, that puts it in the
prime spot in their home, could that then become the gateway? The problem is, with this question and this debate, is that when you are
doing something for free, it needs to be strategic, because what you’re looking to do by giving something for
free, is to create leverage, to then do something that is not for free. And so, you know, DRock
could’ve made a video for a bunch of different characters, and maybe it wouldn’t have
panned out to have the ROI that he received by doing
a video for me for free. And so, I think that often times, people look at this as
a blanket statement. To me, all the good stuff
I give away for free has strategic purpose. I understand why I’m doing it, and that’s why it becomes
so much easier to do, even though I don’t always expect the outcome of that action. And I think that becomes the big part. Way too many people do things for free, give away their best work for free, and then expect this windfall behind it, and when it’s not delivered,
they become disappointed, and within that disappointment, they don’t follow up, and do it again, and make it a replicable action, which has more upside in
three out of five times, where it brings value. You focused on the two out of five, and that kinda squashed you, so that’s my answer. – [Voiceover] Darth Bill asks,
“Should a new small business

“join a local Chamber of Commerce “in order to build a brand in
the community they live in? “I’ve never had much ROI
on networking groups.” – You know, Darth Bill,
the answer is probably, but maybe it’s not the group’s problem, maybe it’s your problem. Maybe you’re not good
at networking, right? And so, you know, I think you need to look
yourself in the mirror, Darth. And I’m gonna continue with the pause, cuz I don’t wanna leave it
that negative, cuz I like Bill. Even though I’m in a little
bit of a focused mood, there’s no reason to be zingy. You know, I think you need
to really know yourself. One of the biggest reasons I do go to a lot of networking things, and I don’t go to Chamber of Commerce, though I did, we were part of one. Brandon loved it. I (mumbles) freaking loved the concept of the Chamber of Commerce. I mean, you know, I think that you really need to know yourself, and if you don’t find yourself as someone who is strong at networking, or has that gear to go up
to people and say hello, and you don’t have that bullcrap gear, where you’re just going up to everybody and handing your business card, you know, then maybe it’s not for you. I mean, we really need
to bet on strengths. You know that’s a big thesis of mine. And so I would look at yourself first. If you’re not good in that environment, then maybe you shouldn’t
be putting yourself in that position. – [Voiceover] Heromoviepodcast asks,

“What value do you place “on getting out there
and pressing the flesh, “in order to expand your fanbase?” – Heromoviepodcast, can I call you HMP? I think I can. HMP, you know, I have
enormous value in it. You go into a confined area, where there’s like-minded
fans to exactly what you do. And, you know, listen, nothing replaces a nice little selfie, or a hug, or a high-five. You know, I think you use the digital world as a gateway drug, to then meet in person, to then solidify, and then kick back out
into the digital world to create amplification. So, I’m a huge fan of
pounding the pavement, showing up in real world places, and it continues to be a reason I go to things like South by Southwest, and I’m a big fan of it. I don’t think you can just
do it in the data world, we’re still human, for now. Robot culture coming, but
not right this second, and so market in the
year that you live in. 2015, hitting the pavement? Yes.

– Hey Gary, my name is Pavel Kravchuk. I’m here with members of Slavic Chorale. – [Both] Hi, Gary. – We just sang at
VaynerMedia San Francisco, and we have a question for you. Answer our question. We are a choir and orchestra that has existed for about five years, and we’re looking to grow. We have an audience of about 3
to 5,000 at our big concerts. In order for us to continue to grow, we need to get more corporate sponsorships from bigger companies, but they already support orchestras like the San Francisco Symphony. So how do we get them
to support us as well? – First of all, thank you so
much for coming to Vayner SF, and wowing them with your skills. You know, look, I made a
very classic, old-school Gary Vaynerchuk video from way back when. I’ll link it up right here, DRock. You know, this one is the cold call video. This seems to be a very
simple answer, my friends. I think that you guys may
be tremendous at singing, but selling might be a
very different thing. And so you need to find
who can sell and sing, or who can just sell, while you guys sing, because the truth is, you
just hit the ground, right? You like, there’s a billion places to go, and you just literally go ask all of them. I’m always blown away by people saying, “Oh, we’re in big trouble.” Like, people are supporting other things, or there’s nowhere to go. There’s always somewhere to go. Get creative. Like, you know, are they in San Francisco? Yeah, I mean, Jesus Christ,
you’ve got nothing but funded, read TechCrunch and Re/code everyday, look at every code company that just raised 50 million dollars, and go knock on their door
and say, “Give me 3,000.” I mean, like, you know, I
mean it’s like, it’s crazy. You know, this question to a salesman is like me asking you, “How do I sing?” Right? Like, you would answer, “You just sing.” Now, what the funny part is, is I just might suck at singing. Right? And you might suck at sales, and so I think you need to figure out who can do that for you, because the answer to your
question is extremely basic. Literally go to the phone book. What I mean by that is, literally hit up every single
business in San Francisco. All of them. Rick’s Car Wash to Google. From everybody from Rick’s to Google. That’s right, DRock, you
weren’t expecting that, were you? And so, Google, Rick’s Car Wash, and every company in between
gets hit up by you guys. Somebody’s gonna give you cash, and I’m gonna guess it’s gonna
be more than just somebody. – [Voiceover] Apollopoetry asks,
“When all is said and done,

– [Voiceover] Apollopoetry asks,
“When all is said and done, “how would you like to be remembered?” – This is a tremendous question. This finally put me in a decent mood. You know, look. I think, I think that selfishly, I would like to be remembered as the greatest human being
that ever lived the Earth. (bell rings) You know, we’ll try to
keep it basic and modest. You know, I’d like to think that, I’d like to think that
people appreciated my effort, in whatever way they define that, right? Like, the hustle culture
that I’ve created, that you know, is clearly, I’m so humbled by the notion that it’s inspired people to
work harder and create things, but like, the effort on
like, on an individual level, and like, all the behind the scenes stuff. Like, look, I often say, I live my life on a daily basis, with the complete intent to have everybody that I interact with, show up to my funeral. And I think the only way you can do that, is to be remembered as such a good person, that you created guilt, that people have to go out of their way on their busy days to
show up to your funeral, even though you only met twice
in two business meetings. And so how do you do that? You become memorable. I take advantage of like,
my extroverted personality, and like, the charisma that I was gifted, but I think you need to
back up that sizzle, right? And I take a lot of pride in my ability to be a practitioner,
and my ability to do, I’ve gotten better and better and better at like, keeping my word. That’s always, you know, tough, because, you know, I would
have all these ambitions, and I’m always on the offense, and that is something
I’ve gotten better at. You know, so I guess, you know, just a good human being who cared about, who cared about more
things than just himself.