“will leverage Meerkat the best? “Who is their target user? “What do you think Gary?” – So John, throwing
Periscope in there as well, Meerkat and Periscope will be
leveraged by a lot of people but I actually think retail man. I think QVC like opportunities on Meerkat. Like, we’re Meerkating right now. How many people on? 200? – [DRock] 275. – 275. You know, I can schedule a Meerkat, and I’m planning on doing this by the way, in a couple of months,
maybe a couple weeks, where I’m going to say
from 6 PM to 9 PM Eastern. I’m going to do a QVC-like wine show. Where I’m just going to
sit here and taste wine and somebody, DRock, on the other end is going to be like,
“This person asked this, “this person asked this.” Like we’re literally
going to do a live QVC. I think retail, selling stuff on live is very real to me. I’m a big believer in it. Imagine I’m Meerkating, then I’m Tweeting or Facebooking links to the things I’m talking about. People are interacting, sharing the links. It’s just super fascinating to me. So, my big bet is that retail will be able to take big advantages of
it because it’s the people that can really take advantage
of what this is replicating. The reason I do well with business is I realize nothing really changes, things just evolve. Meaning, Meerkat and Periscope
are just live television. What does well? QVC. What else does well? Entertainment. So that means that someone can start an entertainment show. What else does well? Sports. So, I could see a local
minor league baseball team or you know, like there’s just, sports does well right? So like, you could start a Frisbee league that you get people into by watching it and then sponsors will pay you. Backyard basketball leagues. You know the fighting that… The hardcore fighting
that you see on YouTube that gets me into the rabbit… I mean, I waste no time on anything and even I once and a while
get suckered into like street fighting on YouTube because the knockout is just so intense. You know, I would watch that on Meerkat. I would watch that on Meerkat right now. Like if two dudes want to raise their hand and fight, two chicks, you know, whatever. Fight! I’ll watch that shit. I mean, I’ll pay 2.99 to watch it live. So I think that anything
that’s live on television, Periscope and Meerkat have
the chance to play in, that’s where I see the upside.

“the Wired story on Walt Disney World’s Billion Dollar Magic Band? “How do you see this space evolving? “What do you think about
the necessity for these “online/offline bridge technologies?” – Brian, I mean you
know the answer, right? Like this is an interesting question because this is inevitable. Smart technology is
going to eat up the world everything in the world will be smart. All of it. All of it. Your shirt, your pants, your underwear, your sneakers, your socks, the wearables. It’s all coming over the
next 10, 20, 30 years. It allows things that are physical to go so much further
in the digital world. The layering that, and the ammo that this gives Disney and that upfront investment
is extraordinary. The recall, the content pushing out, the unlocking virtual things, all of a sudden now they can change the flow of the park. One of the things I’m
fascinated by as a retailer and I thing that I don’t
think a lot of people think about is efficiencies in an airport or an amusement park, or a retail store where you
know there’s congested area around Splash Mountain, but
you know there’s other parts of the park where people aren’t going. Well now imagine slapping some technology on a rock all the way in left
field around the Haunted House where that’s the last
piece of the band touching for you to unlock the thing no you’re moving people there, less lines, less lines in front of food. All of a sudden people are buying an extra fourth of a hot dog on average. Got it? These are really fascinating
business dynamics that I think will play out
for Disney specifically, as for the rest of the space. Hey man, I mean, the Apple Watch is going to be a game changer for one, whether it’s successful or not. From what I’ve read, and
I have one on pre-order, this buzzing on your body, which is saving you time
from looking at your phone, you know what I think about time, is super fascinating, it’s going to start, if it clicks the way the smart phone did, you’ll start having
people that scale with it. It’s going to be the next smart thing that kind of happened, the watch. It’s just all coming. You’re properly looking
at it for your business. Everybody should be looking
at it for their business if they produce stuff and it’s a space that I’m
spending a lot of time looking at Vayner/RSE
for our investments because it’s clearly in the way that social networks and the
maturity of the internet felt right to me in 2005, 6, and 7, wearable, smart, technology
being infiltrated into everything we do. This cup from India telling India that the coffee is getting… Coffee. The coffee is getting cold and drink up kiddo. It’s fascinating, it’s all fascinating.

– [Voiceover] Jeanluc asks,
“This questions really “got me thinking. “When do you shift from
hiring a freelancer “to hiring someone for full time?” – Jeanluc, easy question. It’s just easy. There’s really a couple of scenarios. Number one, the moment
you fall in love with them and you say you should
join my team full time because we’re going to be great together, this well bring value to my business. Number two, when you have a necessity. When you’re business is growing, whether it’s a new
client or you’re selling more of your stuff that
they’re producing for or whatever it may be. Your business has grown and now you have a tested employee that goes to full time. There’s a third scenario when the freelancer is so infatuated with love with your business that
they’re pushing aggressively to join the team. It may not be practical,
you may not be able to fully afford it, but
your intuition tells you that long term, you know
nine months from now, the ROI will start kicking in and I want to reward this
person’s passion around me so I’m willing to make a little
less money in the short term for that relationship and that
stickiness of the long game. Those tend to be the
scenarios when you make the shift, Jeanluc. – [Voiceover] Zack asks, “What’s
your travel schedule like

– [Voiceover] Rodolfo asks
“Do you have a business card? If so can we see it?” – Rodolfo I do not have a business card. A business card in 2015
makes absolutely zero sense. A business card delivers information. Take out your (beep) phone and
email the person on the spot. Better, cleaner, never
lose the business card. More efficient, it’s
right I like to show them, is this your email? Good, good, good. Like pchtaw.
(laughing)

– Lewis asks “Where would
you start in building a digital team within a
traditional TV or print agency?” – Lewis there’s an interesting
thing that I believe in very much which is you are what
your actions show you are. It’s very similar, I’m probably
affected by Bill Parcells, in football legendary hall
of famer coach Bill Parcells former Jet coach always said
you are what your record says you are because everyone’s
like we’re eight and eight but we could have been 10
and six if we you know, but at the end of the
day you are what you are. Thanks Mike. It’s very easy to create
a digital practice within a traditional print or direct
mail, outdoor media or PR. All these agencies now have
to shift into the world that we’ve created because
that’s where the dollars and the momentum and where
the story telling is going. This video will be consumed
a hell of a lot more in YouTube and Facebook
native than it will as a pre roll pop up somewhere. And so I think it’s super
important that you understand you are what your actions say you are. Meaning it’s very easy, go out
and hire seven to 12 people that work in digital social,
bring them into your department and now you have that capability. Now the key for the CEO or
the chairman of the board, her and his job is to
really integrate that new, we’re going through it now
VaynerMedia has a new live division called VaynerLive,
it’s live events activation. It’s not what we’ve historically done. It’s activating at Coachella or South By or things of that nature. And we’re six months in and
we still have to integrate it into the business but we brought in Robert and other people that have
done that work in the past. Now we have the skill set. Now how does that practice mold in to the whole organization? That’s the tricky part, that’s
where dictatorship comes in. That’s where letting things happen the way they have to happen. I’m a big fan of letting things
lie so I’ve stayed hands-off for the first several
six and a half months. Now maybe I feel like maybe
like I’ll get my hands in a little bit dirtier
just get it molded in. Leadership is knowing when to
listen, knowing when to talk. Knowing when to take a
step back, knowing when to jump in and integrate it. But the commodity of
hiring people that have the skill set to do the
work, it’s out there. It’s just making the
leap to decide to do it. – Andrew asks “Do you plan
on embedding Facebook videos

“people to make the same decision I made “by leaving a very secure
job to pursue their dream. “My question is, will my
employee retention rate drop? “Since you started building
up your personal brand, “has your employee
retention rate dropped?” – Benjamin, the thing you
need to understand is that intent trumps everything. And so I think one amazing
thing in this company that I’m extremely proud
of is I truly believe that these people that
work at VaynerMedia really recognize that I want to win but not at their expense. I want to buy the Jets, not at
the expense of my employees, with my employees and I equally
want what’s best for them. Of course, you know,
looking at these three, and things are running through my mind and, obviously, I know them
all at different levels, but you know, there’s
narratives in my mind that I can play out right
now that leads to a world of them not being here. And that makes me sad and I really don’t want that. And from an ego standpoint,
I truly believe that I can bring them so much
value over the long haul that makes it interesting
for them to stay. But I think it’s massively
important that they always, deep down, feel as though I want them to have what they want, even though, optically,
it doesn’t benefit me. And I would say 40% of
VaynerMedia believes that. And that may surprise you as a low number, but I hope you understand
the level of cynicism that is instilled in us as human beings to not believe everything I just said. And so I’m massively proud of the 40% and I’m really pumped
that I think that 40% was actually 12% only 12 to 18 months ago and so I’m building momentum, right? Look, I think if you’re
scared to lose somebody who believes in their heart that they have the skill set to go and do it, you’re making a huge
mistake and I actually think you build retention by
showing them the reverse. It’s a reverse psychology
game that is not a tactic because if you don’t actually believe it, that reverse psychology
will come across as bullshit and you’ll lose it. I don’t do it because I want
to reverse psychology India, I do it because I believe it. And then they have to believe
and evolve in their place. You know, I believe that
the evolution of people not being here is gonna
have a lot more to do with things in life, they
fall in love and get married, and have to move ’cause
their spouse really needs to do this and they have
the empathy and being the bigger man or woman
in the relationship to go let their spouse do that, unfortunately, maybe something tragic. I actually think that when you’re pure, when you want to win but
you want to win with, not, you know, on the
back of, people start sticking around because the truth is, if somebody works at a
job, in a lot of ways, they weren’t thinking
purely, I’m gonna put this on my back to begin with, right? And you, and I don’t know your age, is there a picture, or
is this a written word? – [India] Oh, this is written. – You know, I don’t know
your age, but again, if you’re over 30, you were
sold on a world where it wasn’t, I’m gonna go do my own thing, right? So now that we live in
that world, I actually feel that the kids that are going
to work for companies now in lieu of entrepreneurship
are truly not entrepreneurs. Back into that big argument of
entrepreneur-like tendencies and entrepreneurship,
I’ll tell you right now, show me a 23-year-old
that wants to work here and I’ll show you somebody
who is, got entrepreneurial tendencies but isn’t pure entrepreneur. So I just think doing
the right thing is always the right thing and I think
empowering your people to follow their dreams if
they have one, if they think they’re good enough, if
they are willing to deal with the stress and all the
dog shit that comes along with having all the
pressure on your shoulder, then, you know, you empower
them and root for them and try to be part of that narrative. But if they have tendencies, what you’re doing is
actually building a deeper relationship with that person, and actually, my belief
is that percentage, you’re creating longer term. I mean, the stickiness of this company is pretty intense,
given the agency world’s a tough place for stickiness
and so I’m very proud of that and you know what I spew. Great last question. Question of the day,

“an old school mind set? “Why not focus on building
wealth via passive income?” – You know, Tommy, I think both work. You know, I think that when people say, “Hey, let’s do passive
income,” they go into Spam City, USA oftentimes. You know, I have passive
income when I’m investing in early stage startups
that then go sell for 400X and I didn’t do anything, I made money, shit, I made more money
on my passive income, probably, than my hustle income. They both work but please
make sure that your passive income has practicality to it because all the people who
have tried to create systems and automate their cash,
there’s been a very small percentage of people that have
been able to lay on the beach while they collect money on the internet. A lot of that stuff is
completely ludicrous and I promise you the ones
in the 1% of passive income spent a boatload of
hard work and hard time to get to that evergreen
place up in the sky. And so, you know, I think that there’s an enormous, massive, misunderstanding that there are (scoffs) almost zero people that
have pulled off substantial success without putting
in real time and effort. Now, we all have different
ambitions and goals. Do I think that it’s easier
to create $60,000 a year in passive income on the internet today? I sure do and if that’s where
your goal and ambition is, that’s more practical than millions. Millions of dollars in passive
income on the internet, smoking (beep) weed in
Jamaica while it just keeps coming in is just not
as real as you think, partner. (laughing) You like that one? I’m right, because that’s
what everybody thinks it is and it’s just not real. (beep) Show me, ’cause I’ll show you a billion people that have won through hard work. Show me. Show me this magical person, ’cause I’ll show you
somebody who sells you that dream but isn’t actually doing it. That, I’ll show you. You want me to hire some
models for the afternoon and get a boat and go to
some sunny (beep) place and be like, this is it? I’ll show you that. You want me to show you
the people on Instagram who go take all the money
they own in the world in $100 forms in the bank
and throw it on a bed and take a picture and then
put it back in their bank? I’ll show you that. I’ll show you the front of
this passive income dream of the internet.

“on delegation?” – Denni, you know, I
actually think the best piece of advice that I can give
to delegating is actually going to be very much up in the clouds, and as you know, I like
the clouds and the dirt. DRock, link it up. I think I’m tremendous at delegating and I’ll tell you the number
one rule to delegation, recognizing that 99.9% of things don’t mean shit. If you actually think
it’s not that important, it becomes a hell of a lot easier to let somebody else do it. If you recognize somebody
else’s 7.7 skills is better off because
that job is worth that, versus your 10.0 skills,
it’s humility, my friend. Ego oftentimes is the
issue with delegation. Even though I have a ton of ego, I have a boatload more
humility than you think. – [Voiceover] Tommy asks,
“Gary, isn’t working long hours

“What usually prompts you
to walk away or turn down “great opportunities?” – Well, Antoine, I don’t
want to be in the business of saying no to great opportunities. I’d like to think that the
answer to the question is my intuition. I’d like to think my intuition
is allowing me to walk away from bad opportunities that
may look good on paper. You know, I just go with my intuition. Really nothing else. I mean, I’m not an analytical thinker. Right? I’m not going to look
at a whole lot of data. A lot of these big funds
that try to ask me like, well how did I know this
startup was going to be great or why did I think this
was going to be great, it was never predicated
on monthly active users or some sort of other data set. It was me, what I would like
to say is that I like to taste things. It’s me observing and then me counter
punching that observation. I tend to be very, very
all-in on my intuition, and so that’s, you know, that’s kind of how I make the calls. It’s funny the way you asked the question. You asked the question in
what I think is more of a defensive mindset, which is if you breakdown the question, it ends with the real kicker which is, run it one more time for
me, India, how do you– – [India] How do you,
what usually prompts you to walk away from or turn
down or know when to say no to a great opportunity? – To me that never runs through my mind. The thought of saying no
to great opportunities is just not in, I don’t
put those words in that pattern of a sentence. So, that is what I think you
should be thinking about. It sounds to me that you’re
crippled by the miss. I’m not. I just keep having the
at bats and the swings, and I know that I’ll
have more wins than loses and if I pass on something good, so be it. But literally, I mean,
we’ve talked about it on this show before, passing on Uber’s angel round
twice and leaving $300 million dollars on the table. Literally, outside of being
a great story to tell you how I feel, doesn’t
come into my mind ever. Well, maybe once in a blue moon. But, pretty much never, and I think that’s an important thing. And an offensive mindset
versus a defensive mindset, something I want to get
deeper into content team.

just want to say thank you
because your book, Crush It!, allowed me to go out full time on my own. My question is why did you
start a service business, your agency, instead of
starting a media company, which you seem really good at? – Ryan, great question. I mean this is… Can we get like a, Can you make some sort an all time great episode alert thing here? Put it in my hand. (majestic music) This is a great question and it’s a very specific, detailed answer for a couple reasons. One, I’m not sure that I
was aware of how good I was at it five years ago. Two, I had an inkling when
we started VaynerMedia. The first project we worked
on was something called Daily1to10.com and we were doing Facebook
fan pages driving to a Tumblr. So, I was on that kick from the get, but three, the most practical thing was, I knew that speed mattered
and that money mattered, and that scale mattered
and the agency-client service business was very obvious to me as the quickest path to scale and money. Because now we have Vayner Publishing and we’re building out lostlettermen.com, you can check it out, we just bought it, wait for the redesign, but
we’re now staring to get into the media business and we
have the infrastructure and the scale and the skill set. And I have 500 people that
I’ve been able to effect with my thinking. They’ve got to counter that
with their own thinking, but clearly, as a CEO and a
thought leader in a space, I’m sure I’m evolving their
thinking towards a direction that picks up speed. Because the more I agree with them, and they agree with me, the quicker we can be
at what we need to do. So, really, the answer
to your question is, because I’m patient. I thought the right
strategy was to build out an infrastructure that
allowed me to get to it later. Plus, not to mention, media’s evolved enormously
in those five years. And if you look at media
and the upside of media, and the media sites of today, five years ago they were very
predicated on SEO and SEM, something that I never really loved. Now, we’re predicated more on
social sharing and content, something I love more. So, I think that, my intuition, and I’d like to think rightfully so, at the time was, I was not the
perfect player for that time. But my intuition was, there’s
a chance that the market may move into that, if I’m in a certain place
in five years to capture the market’s evolution on
the media side perfectly, then I can win triple. And I think I’m starting to maybe play out and benefit on that bet. So, I was just strategic about it. “What usually prompts you
to walk away or turn down