#AskGaryVee Episode 99: Human Interaction, Being Selfish, & What Happened to Blogging

“I feel like it’s not as popular as it was “a number of years ago. – Jared, good question about blogging. Blogging, you know, what’s
happened with blogging, is blogging is massively important it’s just not the thing
that people talk about. Not only that, blogging became so big it become the establishment. I mean if you have a website and you’re putting out content on
it, you’re blogging. And what has also happened
is social networking has in theory become the micro
version of that blogging. And so now everybody in theory, as a matter of fact
Twitter was flat out known as a microblogging platform for many. Zak? Can you just show Zak’s face? (laughter) I feel like you were
hacking the show, right. Like you put them on knowing
that I would respond to that and then get on camera.
– [Zak] I just want fame. Got it, okay, okay, cool. That was amazing. Twitter was known as a
microblogging platform. So I think Facebook and Instagram and you know Medium, there’s platforms that
people are now using. Because what people
started understanding was they want exposure. If you’re blogging you
wanna talk to the world. What people aren’t as good
at is actually getting people then to come and see that. They’re relying on SEO back in the day and things of that nature. What people realized is that people are living in Instagram and in Pinterest and in Facebook and in Twitter. And so they’re now going to
the people and blogging there. You know, telling a story in your home and nobody’s there is quite lonely and not that interesting. That was what would
happen to a lot of people in the blogging sphere. Whereas going to town
hall and getting on there and grabbing a mic and talking, maybe some people will listen. But maybe that person was better. Everybody’s talking, everyone’s listening. So it’s just the evolution. The thesis of people wanting communicate on the Internet hasn’t changed, the formation, the way it’s looked at, the terminology that we
use, the new, you know, recarnation of it is just what
you’re living in right now. – [Voiceover] Soundspace
asks, “My business is

“completely digital, “focused on exclusive
and shareable content, “how important are real life meetings?” – Soundspace, to me,
real life meetings matter because human beings make
all decisions, right. Like, so far, thank God, the
robots haven’t taken over. But it’s coming. But, you know, hopefully,
I don’t think I’ll see it. But it’s coming. And so, while that’s still the case, real life meetings matter because there’s just so much context that can be done in human interaction that
doesn’t happen over digital. You can’t map everything. I feel plenty of emotions over Twitter and things of that nature, but the energy in the room is lost, right. Like the energy in the room is lost. And so, to me, that is the
part that matters so much in the equation of real life. To me, I always say the
digital is a gateway drug. Hey, Kim.
– [Kim] Hey. Digital is the gateway drug
to the human interaction. As a matter of fact,
it’s funny, not Andrew, who didn’t know who the fuck I was, but a lot of the people
here on the team, and Zak, but a lot of people here on the team– India, did you know who I was? – [India] When I started here or when I started your team? (laughter) That answered that question. There was a gateway drug
happening before they got here which created context, but then, meeting in real life takes
it to a whole other level. You could work for the company and then you have a
whole different context when you’re on the team. (laughter) You know what I mean. – [Voiceover] Frank asks,

“How did you meet Willie Morris, “and what attracted you to Faithbox? – Frank, you know, Willie, Faithbox, I’m an early
early angel investor. True angel investor in
both Birchbox and Barkbox and believe in the box of
the month business model. Especially when you lay
your media on top of it, which those companies have done well. I really wanted to be in that space and really thought of like, where’s the biggest open space? What’s a big business to
be in in the box space? And, you know, religion is a big business. And so, I thought that was fascinating. It was in the back of my mind. It was brainstorming. Phil Toronto, who is a
principal at Vayner/RSE was aware of Willie through maybe a girlfriend’s girlfriend, friend. He was leaving Amazon, coming to New York, I take a lot of serendipitous meetings. We sat down. We hit it off. I thought he had the right make up. He had great hair. And we made the move. That’s about it. It wasn’t super complicated. I had an idea. Got to know him a little bit. There was some correlations on passion around that subject matter. It clicked. And away we go. And he’s really kicking it in right now. Faithbox is really looking on the up. I’m really excited about
that company right now.

– What’s up Gary? It’s been a minute. Listen, I wanna talk about being selfish. How do you best make
decisions in your own interest even though they might negatively
affect people around you. That’s family, business,
personal, friends, anything. Let me know. – You know how long I’ve known this kid? – How long? – I think there may be a video of him actually being on Wine Library TV. – Really? – Like, eight, nine years ago. Okay, play it again. Jackson. – [Voiceover] It’s been a minute. Listen, I wanna talk about being selfish. How do you best make
decisions in your own interest even though they might negatively
affect people around you. That’s family, business,
personal, friends, anything. – Great question. Great, great, great, great,
great question, Jackson. There’s an interesting
part of your question. I truly truly don’t think that when I’m being selfish, it’s coming at the
detriment of somebody else. And so that’s how I handle it. I think I’m always
selfish and never selfish. Like, it’s just, I’m living. I’m living. The way I justify it a lot of times is I feel like when I’m in
my most selfish place it’s that I’m doing
something that optically looks selfish for me in the short term but is actually gonna positively affect the people in the long term and that I’m making a decision and I think I’m right
in a five year window versus a five month window and that history will allow that person to feel that it was palpable when they rekindle their thoughts around it, even though it might
sting or not feel as great in the short term.

“If you could only make one post “and then not post again for another year “on any platform, what would your post be? – That’s a great question. Who’s this from? – [India] Jacob. – Jacob, two things went
through my mind fast. Literally, I think fast. So as India is asking the question, I was like, the first one was gonna say, “I love you.” And then the second one– This is really– This may be– You know what, we need to
really think about this. This might be the question
that most sums me up. As you asked that question, the first reaction was, “I love you.” The second reaction is, “What
call to action do I want?” Which is like, “Buy my book.” or like, “Download my show.” or, “I promise I’ll be back “so sign up for my email newsletter.” It was literally, literally,
literally, literally, the two most polar opposite thoughts and that my friends, sums it up. That’s insane.