what changed the most I mean you know a
million things changed I started understanding the industry I like being
an operator that learns the industry by doing instead of readings for not
reading Ogilvy’s book you’re reading at age I learned and so I think my ability
to run the company increased tremendously that pounding team of six or seven three
people were all kids all the beaches friends they shorten their men now and
November 22 they’re getting close to thirty which isn’t saying much bigger
companies we have different dynamics everybody knew everybody intimately now
that happens in pockets with tremendous culture but like not every person knows
everybody not even close anymore so you got that dynamic run all sorts of cities
were big company we’re going up company it’s a very very very different yet the
energy is pretty much the same the mission of the same which has helped
clients whether they’re an NGO non profit or selling bottled water helped
themself up communicate at the best possible price in the best possible
channels to reach the biggest possible audience to create that business result
and more poorly that will treat each other tremendously well and have a real
real community here because continuity is what I’m going for continuity built
speed things that people are saying about business when you are useful ball a lot of any
use it sorry for people to follow but when your offensive line with all five
of those guys play the whole season together as they work as one it’s really
magic it’s really quite interesting when you really understand how football is
played it so it’s really a team sport more than anything when those five plane
the whole season together or two seasons together three seasons together and they
have that unity and continuity they follow the flow and that’s what I love
and businesses the reason I W my people so much am I
wanna make it so great for them as I want them to your not because I’m some
evil like Colt overlord it’s because continuity breeds speed and
I W speed more than anything and so we’re not as fast as we used to be
because we’re a little bit bigger but I’m proud of the speed and the scrapping
of the entrepreneurial spirit we have 600 that is still at least a solid
version of the first eight thank you Alan Jack bender truck yet another from
AJ about you know about AJ’s request to

– Hey Gary, it’s midnight
here in Israel so I figured I’d use this filter. My question is, how do
you grow an audience on Snapchat? Do you have to go Facebook
and Twitter to tell followers? – That was basically the
question, “how do you grow “an audience on Snapchat?” So Snapchat has no natural
in Snapchat app discovery, which is f-ing with a
lot of people’s heads, because they’re like “what the
hell, where’s the suggested “user list, where can I
search, how do I run ads? “I can’t grow,” of course you
can, you grow the old way. Pre-internet apps infrastructure,
you use other things to grow your business. I built this business using
a newspaper and a radio and other things of that
nature, so the answer is absolutely, I think he was going there. I mean, watch my behavior,
it’s not super complicated. I’m using my Twitter,
my email, my Facebook, my Instagram, to drive
awareness towards my channel. I’m hitting up, I mean I don’t
think I remember throwing this many right hooks outside
of a book ask, which is weird because I’m doing
that right now as well. Dropping March eighth, go get it. I’ve asked plenty of people
and they’ve sent me emails, like “oh, you’ve really
helped my Snapchat.” These are historically emails
that I would reply to and say “thanks, have a great day.” Now I say, “hey in your
next story, shout out “my @garyvee handle.” I’m going in for the ask,
how about the bottom of your email signature? How about your user name on
Instagram, go look at mine. You hack to build awareness for it. You think about billboards
and print, where there’s no click or permalinks or
anything of that nature, no. It’s just awareness drives,
you didn’t have to move, it’s got a wide angle, dammit. I was trying to make you move. – [DRock] I know. – I was very impressed
with you there DRock. That was a standoff that you
won, which pisses me off. Where you drive awareness
to your handle, so yes, any means of awareness,
I mean soon I’m gonna put a sign in here that says
“follow Gary on Snapchat.” So yes, that’s the answer,
using other platforms to drive awareness to get
followers from that platform. But scalable ones, email
signatures, your Linkedin account, look at my Instagram
profile, things like that. – [Voiceover] Kyle asks,
“When you are hustling,

has been around a few years why now
what’s changed Kevin I’ve done this a lot I did this
with Instagram as well I only get really loud in my career when I think things
hit that moment when word just a year away from mainstream I’m in love with
the moment when something is much bigger than people realize that means street
right before I went on to do the show right now I just retweet it that the
white house went on snapchat has always been a symbolic kind of thing
meeting other things I have a good understanding consumer behavior a
website in 1996 email marketing in ninety-seven Google AdWords starting
your YouTube show people are just what I bet you could google right now likewise
starting a YouTube shows a good idea I did that ten years ago Twitter change the course of my career I
wrote a book called crush it the basically speaks about everything
that’s going on right now on YouTube and buying an Instagram and snapchat the
reason passion now is even though two years ago I was like wow this snapshot
think is going to win the numbers are they are this is the moment right now
where I see that window of 12 to 18 months to really win grab at scale
before the whole market comes along and tries to do the same I believe that
that’s why so many of the people watching the show and watching my
content are gonna win many people that were already paying attention to me
because of what I did on YouTube focused on Twitter and Facebook pages and more
successful because I yell about Instagram as much because it was very
head down and then it was probably the one it happened so fast didn’t like it happened so fast that
even though it’s funny it’s why I know you ask me what you wanna do something
that peach I do it’s the incident happened so fast I didn’t have time to
like letting go mainstream and then talk about it so so why now cause its the
moment by moment and my moment is defined as the attention-grabbing moment which is
the moment one year before something goes completely mainstream where I think
something is big enough to really land grab and I’m not guessing and I’m not
wasting my time which is what a lot of people ask me like I do not we should
hire easy because I’m tasting things like peach and musically but I’m not all
in its funny a lot of you like what I see so I hear a lot of people think is
snapped up paying dario Gary investments that same year ago guys I care about my personal brand and
being right more than anything more than anything in the world in the white house
with all my might there’s no transaction that will trump me being this right historic sure that ghost stuff on
grabbing the ghost I mean what was this close to 100 episodes go look this isn’t
like like like this has been watching carefully calculating what do you think
all this is like by accident you think I got lucky you think if you
think it’s this thing I’m throwing random shit on the table you think I’m
predicting peaches gonna be number one in three years know it is understanding
it is a talent of understanding when things are on the dawn of complete
Mainstreet equity and so humble out right now because I’m gonna end up being
right she’s serious silence such a good
feeling right I like deep songs and yeah

wager Patriots are taking on your jets
today and I’ll betcha magnum of double back versus a bottle of your choosing to
my Patriots even with just my old backup quarterback playing him take down Ryan
Fitzpatrick and his beard next question for do you think there’s a tipping point
for Washington wines where the general population will realize what the wine
world news and that is that you can get better value better wine from washington
than you can from Napa go Patriots lot of fun drew let them play through so
what now the video can pop up while I’m on or not can have a cookout good so
true listen first of all thank you for
allowing me to win that bet expect to get that wine India ki work with the
mail to make sure I get that drink it on this show drew to give you one more shot
up exactly you make wonderful wine you can go back to 2001 a show of six at
like eight nine ten I’ve been a long huge advocate of Washington State waste
Unwin is is got a lot of ties to the world you know what drew I think much
like things in business I’m gonna take this into a business environment like I
think that what will tip Washington State wines are the same things that
tipped let you sit and talk about it took Ashton Kutcher going on Twitter and
challenging CNN to see who would be the first person to a million followers to
tip Twitter mainstream I believe what college did over november december
tipped it because I was affected by Mike Okri if he’s the biggest mean and he’s
doing stuff that’s in my genre and the date I’ve been seeing the last six
months that snapshots agent up this is what it takes like this is the
mainstream time and I go and I’m sure anybody’s watching marketing as I’ve
gone 10,000 marketers have gone and the just and then they’ve got groups under
them and so does tipping points Khalid for snapshot to go mainstream you know
we’ve been yelling about it for two years but he denied my actions have been
affected by that Russia India and Twitter and Washington State much like
the tasting in california where the Californian wines and 78 bpm the French wines and there was one
writer from time magazine Toronto remember exactly what it was that
covered it and everybody in america new W Washington State wine that comes along
that’s twenty bucks 15 bucks 80 bucks will do something President Obama could
have had a Washington state wine and everybody raved about it I know we did
but but likes but not just ronald reagan put one shoe California wanted to become
a cultural phenomenon like the next president could do it and for some
reason habits more likely a Kardashian could fall in love with the Washington
State wine and that becomes it there just a million things are you know digital million
things that they can come in many different directions but it’s gonna take
a pop culture moment drew for it to cross over something that everybody
knows about Counting Crows a in the wine world must read for years and just
started happening so it’s going to take something like that something that a
left field that we probably can’t think of just like it happens but I don’t
think anybody was thinking that a fifteen year deejay and hip-hop was
gonna be the person that kind of started changing the direction of a platform
that already had a hundred twenty-five million active monthly users that small
thing with Washington State they’ve been making great wines for twenty years but
it’s a pop-culture meme to get a gun if you look at Gary I’m 13 and raiding a
non-fiction book where do I start with

and nap track that’s very easy it’s
called how many views are you getting on your stories a week ago I was getting three thousand
views now getting 20,000 views are making progress making progress let’s go

“what’s the smallest routine “that’s made the biggest difference “to the #AskGaryVee Show since starting?” – Uh, the friction between consistency and constantly trying to evolve. Now, you know, obviously
like the show yesterday, outside, not asking a question of the day, now bringing back the question of the day, India coming in somewhere along the line instead of Stunwin, and probably more things
that will continue if we’re lucky enough to have a run here. There’s the consistency of doing it, and really letting the
essence of the show happen. You know, what’s really interesting is if you look, for all of
you that have watched, and by the way, leave a comment if you’ve watched every episode. Actually, I might wanna do a pic, where’s the pumpkin? Left already? We’ll tell you about it later. There’s obviously a lot of themes. I’m not gonna change my pillars or religious points of view on things, but the reinforcement,
it’s been interesting. I’ve been getting emails lately that say, “you know, Gary, it’s funny, I’ve watched all 160 episodes and this theme has really
caught my attention, but it took me hearing
you answer a question, maybe 15 different questions,
with the same theme, different answers, the same theme, it really now just hit me. Like, wow, I really now
understand what you mean of ‘execution’s the game, idea’s shit.’ Of course, ideas aren’t shit, but boy, everybody’s got an idea.” Things like that, and so I think the consistency of doing it, the consistency of there being four to 15 things I believe in, hard work, you know, not being romantic about the current state of the marketplace and always putting
yourself out of business, being 51-49 to the other person, so just actually being authentic enough that you know yourself, that
your answers align in that way, and then just making
it interesting and fun, and different settings, the outside energy mixed
up with being in my office, the predictions at the end of the show, those will go away after
the football season. So, you know, just mixing it up, so putting pressure on the format while letting the essence
always be the same. Being the same person even
though you grow up and mature and maybe change your
outfits, grow facial hair, get older, start losing hair, but still always being that same person, but evolving with the times. (muffled applause)

– So. – Actually I’m scared. – Ready? – Yeah. – So VaynerMedia has always been in like, turbo growth mode.
– [Gary] Aw, crap. – [Gary] Yes. – Right, like always. It’s always bring on more clients, hire more people, run out of space, rinse and repeat, right? – Yes. – Do you think there will ever be a time where VaynerMedia prioritizes depth over width in terms of charging more, you know, bigger, fatter — – Scopes? – scopes, and — – Subjective call on the
quality of the output? – Right, or, but then that
laddering up to sort of… – A plateauing of people? – Turning into like big,
huge, lavish benefit packages and things like some agencies get really, really, really
crazy with that, right? Where we’re scrappier, right? – Yup. – And I’m not saying that’s the point — – No, no, no, you’re not. – But do you think Vayner will ever slow down —
– [Gary] You mean like, paying people 200 thousand dollar bonues to be the best creative director
in the world kinda thing? – Well, yeah sure, I guess. – I mean, I’m just, I wanna
quantify that part of it. – Right, exactly. So it’s like depth over
width in terms of like, sheer dollar amounts as
they relate to clients, employees, benefits, all that stuff. And I’m not saying it’s bad right now, by any stretch, right? – Yeah, no. I’m not worried about that. So I think, for me, the way I run my business, which is why I think I’m running a much better business than all these other
agencies that do that, is because I think you can
achieve both in parallel. So I think what I uniquely
as an entrepreneur am good at, is running both trains. So I think you could easily, as, in the context of your question, speak to a very different level of quality in the building from 18 months ago. – Right. – So, if you just project out, if you think about the fact that we didn’t have a single SVP
or real creative director like of any, real’s not fair. A creative director of 10
years or more experience just 18 months ago. – Mmhmm. – That you can see that
happening in parallel. I think that, I think
where it gets disguised is we have people that come
from Gray and Ogilvy and things of that nature. We also have, what’s
been very happy to me, to see Aton and Harry and Pensoot and all these people
leveling up in parallel. What it gets disguised by is the thing that’s much more obvious. What’s much more obvious is
hyper growth of people, right? – Yeah. – It’s just, getting
crammed when we grow, right? What’s less obvious is,
you know, anyone’s ability to really truly dissect 550
people’s depth of skill. – Yeah. – And there’s pockets of clients. You’re always gonna have
variable depending on the people. Plus, hiring the right people. So, to me, the answer is,
it’s happening in parallel. I think the only thing that makes people think that it’s happening,
is stop the hiring process and then they’re like, “Oh! “We’re not going hyper,
we’re going deeper.” – Yeah. – I think we’ve gone stunningly deep in 18 months by two variables. One, bringing the outside
talent in their 30s and 40s, right, depth, which is gray hairs. in a lot of people’s
subjective point of view. And number two, the actual growth of the people that have been at Vayner that are totally different animals. And I think that, for every
individual it’s different. And I also think that for the people that have been here longer, it’s a different context point
than it is for other people. You know, and so, no I mean, I think as long as I’m running the business, I’m never comfortable in thinking one has to be done without the other. I truly feel that you’re
capable to do both. And I think if you project
out what’s happened in the last 18 months on the depth chart, that it’s actually tremendously scalable and gets way deeper
because as you get bigger, you deploy those dollars to those things. – Mmhmm. – And as far as like, benefits
and packages, you know. I’m very weird when it comes to bonuses. I think bonuses, so we’ve
hired two people recently that left their agencies
because of bonuses. Because they felt they deserved more. I think when you have a graying zone of, I get to be the judge
and jury on the bonus, I think what is safer
is to just try to get to a number together. And I think that those
things ebb and flow. I also think that when you’re
in a fast-growing company, what a lot of employees don’t calibrate, ’cause they shouldn’t,
’cause it’s very hard for anybody to care about anything besides what they care
about for themselves, is the notion of what happens in a 36-month window
versus a 12-month window. So I’ve been happy to be honest with you, of getting three to four
emails in the last six months from former employees
who left because of money who now make less money than some of their counterparts here
because VaynerMedia is growing, and we’ve been able to rise all ships, and in their other places they haven’t. And so, those are my answers. – Bonus question. – Please. – How fast do you think
we max out the space at Hudson Yards? – I think we might of already. – Nice. I think, you know, I do think that every company has to bear the negatives that come along with the positives for their individual
self around the person that runs the company. I love insanity. (laughter) I like it. I like when we’re like this. I like when we’re sitting
this close to each other. I like it. And if you are not that, if you’re somebody that really like that, and your space, and this
is where I put this, and this is where I put this, then, you know, Vayner
can be tricky at times. Though, no question, I
think it’s a leader’s job to adjust to his reality,
and I’ve definitely deployed more empathy towards the way we plan on scaling Hudson Yards, and if we need secondary offices to try to come back a little bit
on my own selfish love of that kinetic energy. Mainly predicated on, because
the floors are so big. So I think I’m gonna be
able to scratch my itch, ’cause they’re just big floor plates and there’ll be three, four
hundred people comfortably on one floor. And so I’m hoping that
solves that problem. So, thanks Steve.

“You’ve joked about being overstaffed, “but what’s the balance between hiring “for capacity and waste?” – Tim, that’s a great question. For all of you that are growing quickly, I think one of the things
I take the most pride in is my ability to have a
pulse on my organization from a sales top-line revenue impact, and on the bottom-line cost thing. I think I grow businesses way faster. I do believe that if I end up
operating two more businesses, if I have four businesses
in my career before I die, that I’ve hypergrown, I
have two now in my bag, like, really fast, like,
all-time, like, really, especially non-technology
companies, really fast, I will be known, I mean,
I actually think my legacy as an operator could be speed to victory. I think what I’m really good
at is I have disproportional understanding of the
pulse of what I’m selling, and I’m willing to bet right to the brink, because I don’t need to
take home a lot of money. Like, I’ve always left my own moneys and my own vices on the
table to reinvest back into my business, which
allows me to overstaff, which means I’m them
ready for the new business that comes in, and I
don’t have to go crazy finding the talent, and so, because I’m trying to build culture, sure, you can freelance and
outsource less margin, but you can do better cash
role, make more profit, but I want those people part of my team, and grow with them, let them
learn the religion, grow. So, I think everybody’s
got their own balance, but I think it’s completely
predicated on your stomach for risk, because it comes with risk, you don’t wanna overstaff,
then you lose an account and you have to let people
go, that changes the vibe. I think it comes down to
your salesmanship ability, can you always, in a
pinch, sell some more stuff out of nowhere, and I
think that it comes down to the understanding of where
your business is positioned compared to the landscape, meaning, I always knew that I’m
ahead of the market, and the world’s gonna come to me. A lot of our scopes,
our contracts for 2016, are growing very quickly,
because I knew the world in 2009 would spend more money on
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram,
Snapchat, or whatever was there at the time, you know, the current state of the internet, so I’m riding that wave. It lets me bet a little bit more. It’s a pulse-cadence feel, taste thing that allows me to get away with it, but ultimately, more than anything, it’s the balance of your own selfish wants of your take-home income,
versus how much you wanna reinvest in your business. It’s as simple as that. If you’re running a
business and you’re making a million dollars in revenue, and you have $600,000 in expenses,
you’re taking home $400,000. You could make it $850,000 in expenses, take home $150,000,
and then know that that extra investment will allow
you to make three million the next year. I believe in myself ultimately, any entrepreneur, CEO, or decision maker that’s taking money off the table, I believe is betting less
on themselves along the way and are playing a short-term game. To me, the time I start extracting dollars is when I believe less in
the growth of the company.

“You don’t talk much about Tumblr. “Do you think it’s losing relevance?” – Yes. You keep asking quest– (laughs) Yes, I do think it’s losing relevance. I think Tumblr lost its moment, which is tough for me ’cause I was an early investor in Tumblr. I made a lot of money
when it sold to Yahoo! but it’s part of a bigger company that’s selling media in a traditional way even though it’s Yahoo! And I think that it lost to Instagram in the mobile translation much like many people did. It is still a very high
rated app in the app store, if you look in the top 100, it’s usually around number 90 to 110. But I do think it’s losing relevance. I think there’s a lot
of people that love it, it’s still a very big platform but I don’t say huge growth in it. I don’t see it. I think it’s a niche now, where a lot of creative
people are doing their thing, it’s a great creative outlet. A lot of people are doing
their anonymous work on it. But then Snapchat came along and kinda created a world– India, what’s going on behind me? – [India] Nothing, I was just waving to– (slaps table) – What, no, no, you were laughing before. – [India] No, I wasn’t. – Okay, I’ll have to watch
that part of the show. (laughs) I think, the show. I do think Tumblr’s lost its momentum and would need to have
some real innovation to get going again. Yes, I don’t talk about it a lot because it’s not atop of mind. And it’s a current show, right.

– Yes. – And how you map that. I heard you say recently
that for your 30th birthday, you freaked out and
started Wine Library TV. – I did. – And I thought that was interesting thing to map back, was that the
start of a hockey stick that you kinda went on? I know you talk about turning 40, and how that’s very exciting. – Couple months away. Exciting. A la, I might just disappear. – I’m excited, yeah. How do you see, sort of
like, milestones like that, like, an age or something like that, and sort of like, career,
and comparing yourself to sort of like, where you should be or… – I don’t know if I’ll
ever have anything like 30 because 30 was a real kind
of interesting moment for me because I really, really felt
for the first time in my life, on my 30th birthday, that I
would not buy the New York Jets, or that my, you know, and I think, look, this is a good time to
talk about it if like, if it’s confusing to
anybody, I’d be very okay if I don’t buy the New York Jets. I want to buy the New York Jets, but more importantly, I want the process of buying the New York
Jets, and what hit me was my behavior wasn’t
acting towards a process of buying the New York Jets. That I was starting to become complacent, which was very weird for me,
and it scared me a little bit. Like, I had made it, right? And by everybody else’s definition, and I allowed, in a
world where I very much, we talked about it in Sid’s question, live in my little world, for some reason, you know, obviously I got married at, the day before my 29th birthday, so Lizzie was new in my life, like,
whatever had happened in those two, or three, or
four years from 26 to 30, it was the most complacent
version of myself. I mean, I am a, dramatically,
more of a hustler today than I was at 26, which is
tough because I have children and a marriage, and
I’m like, damn, I mean, this would have been a
much, I’d much rather have worked it out, which
is why I push that objective so much in people’s 20s,
that’s when you don’t go for the cash, that’s
when you sleep on the floor. Right? Like, with 19 people, and like, this room. Like, Jerome Jarre slept at VaynerMedia. Right, like, he hustled,
and now he makes millions of dollars being Jerome
Jarre, freakin’ slept here. Like, I know what it takes, and I, so, anyway, I don’t know why
I’m going left field, birthdays are interesting. You’ve had some big birthdays recently. Birthdays are interesting for me. I’m definitely freaking
out about my 40th birthday. Like, because what’s happening
in my brain right now is like, 40 to 50 is the
foundational decade of like, you know, like, if I don’t
really crush that decade, and there’s a part of
me that laughs at me, because then I’m like, hm. Then I’m gonna come to 50
and be like, all right, 50 or 60 is, like, this is
where you really go to moguls. Like, I know my, I’m
self aware enough to know that’s how I’m driven. I have this equal push
to like massive ambition and equal understanding
of myself knowing that the goals that, you know, it’s funny, I can’t wait to be a
public figure in my 60s, 70s, and 80s, and talk about,
there’s a weird part of me, and it’s an emerging weird part that says, wow, I can make a bigger
impact on the world if I don’t buy the Jets
because I could talk about, you know, the satisfaction
that I have in that I gave it my all, and I, you
know, there’s serendipity, and there’s other variables,
or that, you know, this, you know, I’m a weird
dude, this tragic event happened, and I adjusted my
priorities for, this incredible thing happened, let’s look
at the bright side, and I, you know, my son was a whiz
kid violinist, and I decided to deploy against that. You know, so, I think that
the way I think about it is for me, birthdays are weird, I, definitely milestone birthdays. 30 and, 40 is ripping me right now, and like, 30 did, and so 50 will, and so, and I don’t know if I’m
forcing that narrative or not, but they’re real, but I think
that they definitely make me think about things and readjust, like, I’m sure that, it’s a
cliche thing that I’m sure happens to everybody, but
I didn’t have them at 18, or 21, or 25, it started at 30 for me. And probably speaks to
what I’m ambitious about. I wasn’t as much worried
about my childhood, or things that of that nature. My career has been the beacon of my life outside of my family, and that’s what, I don’t associate myself
with, you know, like, being a party dude, or
like, getting the most out of my 20s, it was
more career oriented. And so, I think it’s
different for everybody. And I think, you know, it also speaks to, you know, these big birthdays are also a tremendously important time to reflect around family and health. Obviously, I took care of my health, and in spending a
disproportionate amount of time on my family hacking, as happy as I am with the extremism of
weekends and vacation time, I’m starting to bubble
up some other thoughts. And so, I think, you know, I
think it’s fun being a human, like, it’s fun to hang
out with the interns here who are like, starting to
go to that next chapter where like, the game they’ve
played their entire lives of school infrastructure’s gonna go away, and they go into a different game. And that’s interesting to watch, and that’s interesting that my parents are interesting to watch to me. You know, there was
something I read that said, you know, when you save
money your whole life, you don’t know how to spend it. So, I’m watching my
parents struggle to relax and enjoy this next
chapter of their lives. And so, like, I’m very
observant as a business person around psychology, but
also as like, a human, I’m interested in how people roll, and I think the best thing
I can say is, you know, go with what feels right. Attach yourself to a couple
principles that matter the most, and let the cards play out as they will.