“differ for a free service
versus a paid one?” – When you’re throw the
right hook that’s free I get excited because
there’s less friction, and it feels like I’m gonna really be able to land that right hook. The problem is, there’s a
really funny thing about free. Free creates a scenario where people value it for what it’s been put out. It’s really interesting. I think that a lot of people who watch this show value it quite a bit. I think that the 10% left,
if I started charging four bucks an episode,
or two bucks an episode, the you know, actually you know what, that’s gonna be the question of the day. And I know this is a tough question, and by the way, I will
not be charging for this, so don’t worry, don’t hedge and say zero, I don’t have any plans on it. But if I was, what would you pay to watch an episode of
The #AskGaryVee Show? And yeah that’s the real question. And clearly, I expect most
of the comments to be zero, or no, because I respect that there’s so much content out
there, but I do believe that my content is better
than a substantial amount of content out there in the world. Especially when it talks about new platforms, business,
running businesses, leadership, entrepreneurship,
start up, tech culture. So, I do think that we’ll
see a surprising number, and I’m sure you’re
probably getting answers right now in Meerkat,
so Staphon, feel free to not shout it out, cause
I want to be surprised. But I do think that
it’s really funny to me to think about the 10% of
you that I would expect to pay for it that if you
were paying four bucks for it you’d actually value the show more. It’s really quite interesting psychology. So, how do I act differently? One, when I throw right
hooks, for example, when I tweet out later
today that episode 80 is up. You know, I expect to
land more than saying, “Episode 80 is up, pay
me three dollars Snapcash “if you want to watch it.” You know, I have a little less angst of the conversion because I know that there’s no friction financially, which is one, besides time,
finance is the friction. And so, I think it’s got a
totally different cadence, different expectation,
different pressure hold. I think it’s easier. – Hey Gary, answer my question.

“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

should you ever work for exposure only? – Mary, congrats on being the, by the way, the first person to
get two questions asked on the #AskGaryVee show, and I know, I know I’m gonna see in the comments, everybody’s gonna be like, you haven’t even answered mine yet, and now you’ve answered
Mary’s second question? Yes. She asks good questions. But, this question, I really wanna answer because I’ve been having a lot of Twitter conversations
lately, and very honestly for the basic eight to 10 years that I’ve been in the tech game, meeting all these wonderful people, especially when you
think about the tech game when I first got into it, it was a very, save the world and much more zen, it was less business-y. Characters like me probably ruined it. (thumping) This is a big debate, this
is something that I sit on a very firm line on,
which is, I do think that people should do things
for free, for exposure. I still do things for free. And I get very compensated for my time, and my efforts, and I still do it, and somebody will say,
I had an easier base, people have to pay the bills. But the fact that people
don’t take into account that there is strategy in
doing things for exposure, that then lead to bigger
money in the future. This is not about elitism, like
some people jump on Twitter and say, pay the people! You gotta pay for the quality of work! I agree. But one needs to understand that money is not the only way to pay. Giving people in an at-bat, the platform, the exposure, is an absolute monetary way to compensate them in the
way that I define monetary. Listen, by the way, you
might fully disagree with me, and that’s ’cause you’ve
gone romantic on the issue, in my POV, and I respect that. But I just don’t know a
single person that is deemed, has achieved success without doing a solid percentage of things for free, as a jockeying chess
move to their success. So if you’re asking me, the answer’s yes. If you don’t do it, and
you only pay to play, I get it. And, by the way, it ebb and flows. I now respond to many of you, no I cannot speak at this
event unless I get my fee, because I promised my
wife I will not travel without getting my fee, because
I’ve got two young kids, this and that, and so like, it changes. You know, I will not be sold by anybody that it is inappropriate
to do some spec work, because I really believe in its strategy. – What’s up Gary, it’s Mitch Schneider,

“engagements when you
aren’t well known yet?” – Saura, they way I booked
speaking engagements when I wasn’t well known yet
was, I did them for free. The entitlement that you are not known, you do not deserve to get paid. Do you know why you get paid to speak? Because you put asses in the seats. Because people want to come and see you. The reason I get astronomical
speaking fees is, knock on wood, zoom in
here, lemme knock on wood, knock on wood, I am very
fortunate to have an audience that wants to travel
and go to these events, and that’s why you get
justified those fees. You don’t get paid if you’re
not bringing any value, so either your content is phenomenal, but even then if you’re not
putting asses in the seat you are not getting paid,
so the best way to do it is to do what I did,
in my opinion, which is I spoke for free in the
beginning, quite a bit, to establish my name, to show everybody how good I was at it, and then
the demand side came to it.