– Hey Gary and Gary’s crew. Good evening from
Lincoln, Nebraska. I’m Blake Bowland actually
enjoying a Malbec currently. Pretty good one from Argentina. But was thinking about a question for the
#AskGaryVee show. Specifically one pertaining
to the #AskGaryVee book. Gary, in the book you talk about
how you believe our brains and what they’re capable of are
vastly underestimated and that science has yet to prove really
what they’re truly capable of. You also mention as an example
that a few years ago you told your brain you didn’t
want to get sick any more. Then you attributed the fact
that you haven’t gotten sick to when you told your brain that you didn’t want to
get sick any more. Now I recently stumbled
upon the Law of Attraction. I’d heard of it before but I really dug in depth
in a audiobook. If you’re familiar with it,
and for those of you who aren’t familiar with it the Law of
Attraction basically states whatever you focus on
will manifest itself. So if you focus on the things
you want to accomplish and you believe you can accomplish them,
they will manifest themselves over time whereas if you focus
on the things you don’t want those things will also
manifest themselves. So the point is to focus
on the things you do want. So Gary, I’m wondering about
the relationship between your beliefs and the Law of
Attraction and if you could explain how we in Vayner Nation
can leverage those concepts to better live our lives both personally and
in our businesses. So, Gary, really looking forward
to your response here and thank you so much for
taking my question. God speed. – Blake, it’s a really
interesting question. Yes, I believe in some of that
stuff and I don’t know how much of the Law of Attraction is
different than “The Secret”. Sounds very similar. These books sell like crazy
because, boy, does it sound super fun right now if you’re
sitting on Facebook Live or watching episode 232,
is that what we’re on? – [Eliot] Yeah. – And you’re like,
“Wait a minute, “if I just say I want a yacht “or if I just say I want
to be a pop singer “or I just want to say
I’m gonna be an influencer.” I don’t know what either of
those two books say but let me give you what I’ve done. Go ahead, please, you know. – [Eliot] The Law of Attraction,
“The Secret” is basically based off of the Law of Attraction.
– Okay. – So the Law of Attraction
is the, it’s like the religion. And “The Secret” is a
book which is basically– – Plays on it? – It’s very huckster-y
from the Law of Attraction. – Got it. So listen, I believe in it, all of your actions
have to then map to it. It’s clouds and dirt. That’s my version of it. I don’t know if anybody
talks about the dirt. I do.
I do. I know all, you know,
cynical newbies are like, “What’s he gonna sell me on?” Nothing. I’m gonna sell you
on the following: hard work. And don’t buy my hard work
course ’cause there isn’t one. There’s no hard work sessions. There’s no hard work e-book. There’s just hard work. My answer to this is I believe
in it but then you have to make your actions map it. I want to buy the New York Jets. I think about it, I want it,
I start building VaynerMedia, there’s an opportunity to sell
my company, sell a piece of my company to
thousands of entities. All of them pass. I then sell it for
less to one entity. An owner of an NFL team. That’s called putting your
money where your mouth is. I didn’t do that by accident. I knew what kind of life I had. I could’ve dated and married a
bunch of different people but when I found what I needed
for what I really knew I wanted, I went in that direction. Right? I talk about HR driven culture
and this and that and some people be like, “Oh, you got
a bad review on Glassdoor “or four or seven.” Yes, that’s fine but come here. Watch what I do everyday. You guys know my
calendar, you see what I do. You know what’s on
the back end of this. So my belief in the
Law of Attraction is Blake, believe in it. Believe in it but then you have
to execute against your belief. If you want to be an e-sports
celebrity, shouldn’t you spend every one of your minutes
selling shit on eBay, buying a ticket and then going
to the e-sport con not like, “Oh, I can’t go to
the e-sports con.” – [Eliot] Okay. – Work. Work. By the way, on that note, we
got to pick up the Musical.ly. You’re a killer
on it, I want it. I’m so into it. That work, work,
work one is so fun. – I was thinking,
I was thinking about it. – I was saying it
right now with that. That tone. Work. It’s work. There’s gonna be nothing else. Yes, work smart. I can hear the cynicism already. I can read the comment
from Sally right now, “But you got to work smart.” No shit, Sally. I’m leaving Rick
alone for a minute. You know, no shit. Yes, it’s better to have a
better strategy and to work smarter but
here’s the punchline, nothing happens without it. And I mean a lot of it
and the more you want, the more work you got to put in. The bigger your ambition, the
more you got to punch that clock and you got to give up shit,
fun and leisure and laziness and rest and all of it. So my belief is it’s real. I live it. But my actions map to it. It’s like intent. I talk a lot about intent. Some of the people
internally razz me about it. They’re like, “Yeah, cool but
intent without your backing “up the actions is whack.” And I’m like, “I respect that.” But it starts with intent so
I believe it probably starts with visualizing what you want
or the Law of Attraction or saying it or putting it in
the universe, fine. Fine. I believe in that. I live it. The problem is
I disproportionately out execute everybody else I know that talks about it and then does
nothing about it. You know how many of you tweeted
me that you’re gonna buy the Cavs or the
Dolphins or the Rams. People tweet me all day long
that they’re buying another sports team and then I go
look at what they’re doing, I’m weird. Just let’s establish
something, I’m very weird. I’m so broken in the way that
I’m so utterly competitive, that I’m like, I live for it. You know, I live
for competition. And so when somebody tweets
me that they’re going to buy the Rams first, I waste seven of my
minutes auditing their lives. (group laughter) Let me tell all of
you something right now. I haven’t seen the person
that’s buying the Rams before I buy the Jets. People like to talk, show me. ‘Cause that’s the best part. Because when you live on
execution, all those days you have where people say you’re
staging garage sales or you’re not gonna do this or
you’re not gonna do that, you know what the best part is? 2023. 2023 because then you
get to say, now what? And 2047, that’s more fun. I’ll let you guys all debate and pontificate and I’m
gonna do it too. We’re all talking, I just want to re-watch these
videos and comments. Let’s go read everybody’s
comments that I could never build VaynerMedia. Let’s go read everybody’s comments that
Wine Library TV was a farce. Let’s go read all
those comments that I’m a flash in the pan. Let’s read them all. Let’s fucking read ’em. (group laughter)

– Hey Gary, Zack here. Question referring back to
episode 156 when preparing employees for leadership how
do you foster leadership with rising stars or unsung heroes? Thanks for everything you do.
‘Preciate it. – Zack, I think this is
really interesting question. You know what’s really funny
to me is it’s a funny where my brain goes on this one which
is actions trump everything. Meaning you prepare them by
giving them opportunities to show that they can. I think one of things that
I’m most proud of is, for the intensity that I come with, for
as much as I want to happen, I would tell you that if you
audited everybody here in this room and everybody the 700
people across five offices across here it is stunning
how little I micromanage. If you want to foster leadership
you have to put people in a position to be leaders. I don’t box you in,
I don’t box Garrett in. I critique when I give him the
room to win or lose if he loses in the game that he’s playing,
I’ll articulate what the shortcomings were,
what the opportunities are. So I think leadership is
only accomplished or, let me rephrase, the prepping of
something is only accomplished when you actually do. This is where I get really
mad about entrepreneur school. Entrepreneur school is
like reading about push-ups. Dunk wants to challenge me in to
some crazy weight thing of who can bench more,
whatever you’re up to and so what’s the
preparation for that? I can’t read about
bench press technique. I got to go do it. You got to put in the work. I’ve been working out
every day since then. Dunk has not. I’m getting more prep. Now, he may have
more natural talent. He just might be stronger. He’s definitely much younger and
should in theory win this but he won’t because I’ll out-prepare
him and so that’s the punchline. Prep and so whether
they’re an unsung hero, whether they’re the
most shining star. I always worry at Vayner that
people think the people that PR themselves or the most loud and
charismatic are the ones who are gonna get the opportunities
and I’ve been really enjoying building Vayner over
the last five years. Especially the last two years
’cause the smartest people here are like, “Hey, wait a minute. “Look at this person winning and “they don’t even really
interact with Gary. “I’ve never even
heard of that person.” That’s the role and
responsibility I have. That I’m not just pandering to
the easiest move and so you give people opportunity. Some are loud about it. “I got this.” Others just quietly go and do it
but here’s the punchline whether you’re like me and you talk a
ton is shit and you back it the fuck up every fuckin’ time,
that’s a win or you say nothing but you back it the
fuck up every time. It’s the second part that
matters so put those people in a position to succeed and then
watch if they’re doing it. Call their bluff,
give ’em a shot. Push them harder than
they think that they can do. Believe in them more than they
believe in themselves and create the framework and the
opportunities to do that. Understand it is in your upside
as a leader for them to fail and you figure out if they can do it versus that task
being done correctly. I prefer that we lose a client,
lose a client, money out of my pocket but I learned something
about the leaders that I’m thinking about
going to battle with versus me micromanaging it, never learning about their
opportunity as leaders and then getting the client
for two more years. That’s called scale. That’s called auditing. That’s called how
you build stuff.

listening and going
through people’s twitter feed. Finding stuff they’re interested
in, responding to that. – [Gary] Yes. – You’ve now evolved to a
book called #AskGaryVee,– – [Gary] Yes. – and it’s very much your show
is now focused on you and your world–
– [Gary] Not true. It’s all listening. – What’s shift? – [Gary] Nothing shifted.
– Nothing shifted? Think about what you just said. Let’s break it down #AskGaryVee
is completely predicated on me listening to you first. No, it’s true. – That’s not the sense I get. I’ve been
following you for a while. We’ve communicated
with each other. – [Gary] Yes. – We follow each
other on Twitter. – [Gary] Yes, yep. – I felt a shift and the shift was
very much it’s all about you.– – [Gary] Yep, yes. – to a little bit
it’s all about me. – [Gary] Yeah. Well then, I’m doing a poor job. I totally understand
because how could I argue that if that’s what you feel. So maybe my bad job was the
tactic of it being #AskGaryVee instead of ask everybody, right,
may be it’s something like that. I don’t know man I’ve never felt
like I’ve been able to provide more value than
I’m doing right now. May be the positioning. May
be what’s going on with the positioning is throwing it off
but I’ve never been at the scale of engagement so Thank You
Economy I really feel like this is absolutely evolution of it
because instead of me putting out content that I want to put
out its completely predicated on everybody else. Right? I’m answering and
engaging more than I ever have. I’m producing more
about myself than ever and maybe
that’s the shift. Right? I’ve never had DRock following
me around so I have empathy for where you’re going with it. – And by the way, the reason I
ask is a lot of people ask me

relationships to your social media and
you should do the same for customers and employees to follow many of your
employees and like comment on their personal content traditional management
which they know what they eat I follow is laughing when employees like were
closer we get to spend more time but obviously places imagine that it may be
entering the CD for four months and then I’ll show up on her Instagram and say
yeah and looked like her and her boyfriend you like this the creepiest
shit about type look I’m not following any company you because I’m not scared
of being sued because I we believe in my life that intent trumps everything like
you can sue on anything you like anything at anytime about anything I’m
so so the answer is held i sees the end what he say how does this say what is it
he says that that I watch a lot of the content of the ones putting on a
reference Lego India’s putting up like ok but does it look nice picture looks
something like you like lately nonetheless like I’m seeing what
everybody’s doing and there’s a lot to see it as funny stuff but don’t get a
public domain right like you know on Instagram they have to accept me if they
want to follow me like I don’t feel like I’m intruding because it’s the rules of
the game I’m watching I’m watching this I want to know them better to bring them
more my intent is to follow so I can make it better for them not show up on
your fired you drink beer too late at night intent is what trumps everything and
then I engagement coming from a good place and they get pumped like a lot of
employees are happy when I engage cause I think it’s cool and like my bosses you
know like you know to me like so I just think intention so yes I follow yes I
engage i dont give you a lot because I do have respect for like everybody views
these things definitely some tribes smart I don’t think anybody
uncomfortable but my intent is pure is sure you know what I want to be good I’m
doing it for good and so I’m not scared executives income companies are bad
often they don’t care about the employees of their intent is bad hey we need to cut fifty people from
payroll this year we let swallow people’s social and blame them for blood
that’s what happens when things going on that’s going on but not everywhere but
that’s that’s in can’t do anything you want like you know companies are highly
regulated Pharma financial they’re scared of the government’s suing them
stood up mad at the cut employees they’re just doing governance so that
they don’t become exposed as the company so I understand why I have letter of
intent if you are a financial service and your monitoring your people and your
not letting them use social media because the government makes you feel
that you’ll be fined for doing something that’s not intended to bad just protect
that got it but don’t look at a tactics freely back to the intent wright also do
anything ok but your police might not be not
awesome it might be more vulnerable things maybe our CEOs also scared of
those kind of maybe but up massively bored one day my
career I take a step back and change and 10th always changing Ask Gary are you more of a delegator or
micro manager can’t wait for the UK book

– [Voiceover] Shawn asks, “I was
asked to fill out a self-evaluation, “but I think these are just a waste of time “and don’t help that much. “What do you think?” – I think it depends on
who’s on the receiving end of the self-evaluation. There are things that
I’ve done in my career where I’ve asked employees to do things and never then read it, and that was obviously a waste of time. (laughs) Right? And that’s not fun for me to admit, but things that I learned
as a kid at Wine Library and the truth is even at VaynerMedia there’s been things that I’ve done. A lot of my employees
now know, let’s do it on a call for two minutes
instead of emailing me ’cause that’s not how I roll. If somebody’s on the other
end listening to that feedback and actually does something
with that feedback, the self-evaluation is tremendous. I think you’re barking up
the right tree, though, is I don’t think that’s happening
in 99% of organizations. mainly ’cause the intent
isn’t there to give a crap enough about the employee, and
so my cynical point of view of how businesses are
treating their employees leads me to, you’re probably right. Now, if you’re there because you believe, I’d like to think that India feels good about doing it at VaynerMedia with me on my team, so then it’s valuable. But I think it comes down to more about how much you believe in the organization, more so than the tactic that is deployed in a self-evaluation. I also think people are full
of crap in self-evaluations, like you’re always gonna give yourself, if it’s 50-50 if you’re
like am I good or great? Great! Am I lazy or just solid? I’m solid! So like everybody’s always leaning to their best benefit, it’s human nature. – [India] Really, you think everybody is? – No, I think that’s a good point India, I do think some people are
stunningly hard on themselves. But yes, I think, you know, first of all it’s a good opportunity,
I never think anything’s a hundred percent, the
hell’s a hundred percent? Nothing. But yes, I do think the far majority, and 94%, which allows me to say everybody.

“good listener?” – Malik, I think good
listening comes from actual intent and actually wanting
to be a good listener. Like anything in the world,
when you want to beat something, be something, and beat. I wanna beat some things right now. If you wanna be something,
you need to actually mean it. Meaning, I decided I
wanted to get in better shape and health, I just
went out and did it. Like words are such shit. You know what’s the matter
with a lot of people? Like a lot of people. A lot of people watching this show, a lot of people in the
world, a lot of people, is there’s only actions. You know I always talk about
intent is what matters, right? Like at the end of the
day, I’m publicly tending, every time of that, I get tons of comments with like scripture
from the Bible, I think. I apologize I’m not up
on that, but I think I’m pretty sure what it’s like. Intense is good for leading things like, basically it says, intent’s great,
but like you can say you have good intent, but if your actions are you’re doing wrong things, like, and I get it. To me, like intent is the starting point so I think it’s nice to start there, but I agree. I agree. Words are the problem. Malik, you wanna be a good listener? Be a good (beeps) listener. Like, when somebody’s talking, listen. When somebody’s saying something, listen and try to do that. Because listening is not just listening, listening is listening
and then doing something about it. Like there’s a comma. The definition of listening
is consuming it and doing something about it. The problem is that
most people aren’t doing things about it. Just a whole lot of talking. A whole lot of talking
going on in the game.

“Ask Gary Vee to create Ask Sam Guillen “in the real estate space to
hustle for agent recruits?” – Ha, ha, I love it Sam, you
can do whatever you want. I want the entire viewership of this show to call this show, ask
Tommy D., ask Leo Leo, ask DRock, I don’t care. I wanna provide value,
bring that upfront value, I don’t feel like it’s a ripoff. I’m not the first person to do a Q&A show. Absolutely do it, just make sure that if you want to honor going that route that you try to provide
the value that this show trys to provide to you and so that if you’re gonna produce and provide value to
the real estate space, make sure it’s in the best interests of everybody who’s watching and if there is then some fall-over, some sprinkles that lead
to good things for you then that’s great, but make
sure the energy is pure. That would be the best way to tribute, not just cause you want to
use it as a sales channel. – [Voiceover] John asks, “How can entrepreneurs avoid
being soft in business?”

– [Voiceover] Daniel
asks, “How do you think “overly-edited photos and text overlays “affect the authenticity
of Instagram posts?” – Daniel, thank you so much
for a wonderful question. Just off the back of authenticity, so you must have been thrilled. I think it’s what you’re
trying to accomplish. I think that if you’re a photographer trying to catch the wild,
like, you can’t edit and put words over it,
but if you roll like me where a lot of things, like
you wanna inspire people to think differently or
make them feel something, it’s really powerful
to put a quote of yours on top of a photo. I really do think it’s the strategy, the will, the interest
of the content producer to really make this judgment call. What I like most of
all about this question is how Instagram really works. The ability to unfollow
somebody on Instagram is so easy, and this is
a subtle product thing that I don’t think people
spend enough time on. People’s ability to unfollow somebody feels so native as you’re
scrolling that, you know, at the end of the day,
content’s gonna find its audience if it’s
good, and whether that’s highly edited or super raw, or black and white, or booty shots, or inspirational quotes,
or whatever it is, it’s going to find its audience, and so I think it’s something that people should not overthink in either direction, right? It’s not a tactic that
automatically makes it pop, and it’s definitely not a
tactic that’s gonna cripple you, it just needs to be right. I actually think you’ve said it best, which is, authenticity has
nothing to do with the actions. It has to do with the seed
of where this comes from. If you authentically, like
me, want to put things like kill it or crush a face today, or whatever you wanna
say on top of a picture, that’s what’s coming from
me, that’s why I think my audience finds it attractive, in the same way that, if all of a sudden on my Instagram feed
I’m taking sunset shots of New York City, people
are gonna be like, “That’s not.” that’s not, that’s just not who I am, right? And that’s why I yell at DRock always trying to edit and shit, and that’s it, right? That’s it so, I think your
question’s got the answer in it, which is the word authenticity. If it comes from the heart to have quotes on top
of it and edit it, cool. If it doesn’t, cool. Cool?

“White lies. “Do you believe the hype? “It seems you can’t win in business “without bending the truth.” – Dan, this is a really intense question. I want you to show India right now, because I’m giving her props for navigating the
questions and finding stuff. This question is one that I’m really struggling to figure out what the right answer is, which leads to the answer which is, appropriate embellishment feels appropriate at times to me, but I’m scared to say that out loud. If you feel like you’re growing into it within weeks or maybe maximum a couple of months, I think it’s okay. Right? Like, I feel comfortable
saying VaynerMedia’s a 450-person agency right now even though we’re 417, but we have 59 job openings, and I expect this to be 450 by the time the far majority of people watch this episode or listen to it, right? So, I guess that’s where I’m willing to go. I’m not willing to say we’re 7,000. I’m not willing to say we’re 1,000. I think fake it ’til you make it is a very scary line that I think most people struggle with, but you know, we live in a transparent world. Like, the reason I even say this answer is ’cause I’m always trying to correct myself, ’cause I’m scared to, like, get called out for, you’re losing all your credibility by getting called out on something. So, it’s a very fine line. I think the intent matters. For me, I’m just going in speed, rounding out numbers, I’m going fast. Not trying to trick you to think we’re bigger than we are. So I would answer you a couple things. One, white lies that become truths within a very quick or
short period of time feel a little more comfortable, and the intent of the white lie. If you feel like, if you feel like you’re not
trying to do the wrong thing, that you’re gonna be able to
deliver for the other person, you just wanna tip them over in their own, you know it’s so funny, with my clients, I think they get so much more benefit working with us than the alternative that I’m like, I feel like I’m helping them along. I feel like it’s in their
best interest, not mine. Of course there’s a secondary
best interest of mine, and it’s funny, I tend to not, you all right? What’s that? (laughs) Are we meeting?
– Yes. – I’m running just a few minutes late. Do you wanna say hi to the VaynerNation? – Hi guys! I’m Claire. – Um, you know, I think that it’s all about like every other answer which is, it needs to have the right intent and it needs to be appropriate. So, that’s what I got. Miles Keever with HappyHumanoids.com.