The Garyvee Audio Experience

#QOTD: What's your favorite thing about San Francisco? To me, a name is made. I have some friends that sit around and spend wayyyyy too much time trying to figure out the name for their startup. What did "Google" or "Facebook" mean to anybody outside of their inner communities when they weren't the household names we know today? None of these words mean ANYTHING until they're SOMETHING.  Some people email me saying they don't like their own last name. My response? You're emailing Gary VAYNERCHUK. Let's call it what it is, Vaynerchuk SUCKS. And yea, they'll be those that tell me it's unique and kinda cool, and I get that - BUT, it's only good because I made something out of it.  And so, what does a name actually mean? To me? NOTHING.  I actually think a new trend in this short-form world we live in will be that most business names will start getting abbreviated. People used to call me "V-Chuk" because they didn't want to call me by "Vaynerchuk," and that became my slang last name. We will evolve our name to ou

#QOTD: What do you think of the 3-question episode vs. the 5-question? Let me know! General statements like "you should move your budget to digital video" scare me. Typically when people think about online video they think about spending 5/10% on the overall production and then 90/95% on the distribution. Of that 95% of allocated budget, they just end up pounding the users with right hooks and wind up pissing them off. So what does online video mean to most people? It's the pre-rolls on YouTube where people end up tabbing out and don't end up consuming the content. OR, they're going to sites like ESPN.com and getting pounded by 30 second videos that waste OUR time, which I'm sure pisses most of us off.  What I'm most worried about when I hear about these allocations is that I actually like live TV commercials better than the online videos that end up blocking the users from what they actually want to do or see. As I've stressed a million times before, this comes down to providing VALUE.  So when I hear these

#QOTD: Who is the biggest influence in your life right now? As an entrepreneur, I default into assuming it's always going to be competitive. It doesn't matter if "nobody is in your space" because if you're any good, and you've figured something new out, EVERYBODY is going to be in your space eventually.  To me, competition between startups is the same old game: Better product, better service, better execution. Those are the things that will drive your business.  When you're David, you shouldn't play Goliath's game. When you're Goliath, you should CRUSH David. Here's an example: Did anybody think it was weird that, for three years, I NEVER mentioned VaynerMedia. The truth there was that my size (or my lack thereof) was my advantage, and I couldn't let these other big guys know how huge we were getting! I was learning the landscape. Now that we've got the money and the scale to compete, you'll see that I'm talking about it more.  The important thing is to NEVER PLAY THE OTHER PERSON'S GAME.

 #QOTD: Would you pay $10 a month for Ello? Look the bottom line is that Ello raised venture capital. The investors are looking for a return on their investment, so they're going to have to figure out a business model. So the question becomes, if they're not going to sell your info to advertisers, are they going to charge a fee to use the service? Now look they may come up with something totally new and innovative, and God bless Ello if they do. I'm rooting for everybody all the time. My big thing is that **people don't care if you're selling their data**. We actually want targeted ads. When I'm in the market for another pair of Nikes, I WANT to see ads for them. Now there are those of you who disagree, but the data shows it. We'll take them when they go from ads to content.  So here's the thing: 1. I think the way Ello is financially structured has vulnerabilities. 2. This has happened before with things like Diaspora. It didn't work. 3. I'm not in love with the actual product, but I'm glad they're moving an

 #QOTD: Who is the person that you are SO afraid of letting down, it's keeping you from starting something big? It was so incredible to participate in Dave Ramsey's event. Thanks to everybody who came out, and a HUGE special thanks to the lovely people who stayed after to help me make this episode. To me there is no such thing as "an entrepreneur with a JOB." If you're a true entrepreneur, you can't breathe when you have a JOB. If you're not out there making it happen and running a business, you're not an entrepreneur, you're a person with entrepreneurial tendencies. Now that's fine. As long as you're HAPPY that's what matters.   

 #QOTD - What are the first three sites you look at in the morning?  I always find that the best way to attack your own industry and innovate is to spend *zero* time in it. I spent an extreme lack of time in the wine industry, and I spent almost no time dealing with the "agency world" right now. I think I've been to like six other agencies because we had meetings there, but that is literally it. I don't read AdAge, I don't ask my senior people what they did at other agencies.  For me, my lack of industry knowledge, and my lack of education have actually allowed me to innovate even more. I go with what I think works, not with what everybody else in the industry is doing.  So pay attention to the food industry, or the rock-climbing business. The best way to not innovate is to pay attention to everybody else in the business, because they're just doing the same crap, too.  

 #QOTD: What is your favorite restaurant right this second?  If you were to go back to a caveman and ask him what he thinks of our media consumption today, he would reject it. it would be weird and unnatural. But the fact of the matter is that it's where we are today, and technology is just a part of our world. I'm not the dad who is going to tell my kids to "get off the computer and go play!" Frankly our kids are already eating a hell of a lot better than we ever did at that age. Kids are just growing up to be different characters than we are. Information is a commodity, so they're not going to be as "fact-smart" as we were, but they're going to be much more intuitive about learning how to use new systems.  Sure I'm worried about them being active enough, but if you're a good parent you can make your kids do literally whatever you want. What I'm *not* going to do, though, is restrict Xander's time on the iPad.

 #QOTD - What are you dressing up as for Halloween? Just because you decided to build a business through Kickstarter doesn't mean you should be thinking about it's promotion differently. Facebook Dark Posts targeting people interested in related products, Medium updates in blog form, GUEST CONTRIBUTING! Email every single blog, regardless of size, in the industry relating to your product and reach out and say "I'd like to guest contribute to your publication" in a way that't not spammy. It's all about creating content, and not about creating infomercials.  To many of the people watching this show, when they hear about content marketing, think "Billy Mayes infomercial." When I think about it, I think "New York Times" or "Scandal."

 #QOTD: What will the results of the Jets-Lions game be? Look, I'm a salesman. I'm all about the CTA (Call to action), but at the end of the day we're talking about the difference between sales and branding. Anybody can be a great salesman, but creating a great brand is something totally different. Being a Nike, being a Puma, as opposed to just selling sneakers, is totally different. Sometimes I don't go for the CTA, sometimes I don't go for the popup, or the other growth-hacking techniques. The reason for that is I believe in the Jabs. I believe in branding. I believe that there is a time and a place. I believe there's context. In a 2015 world, people watch this show, and they see that I'm not selling them anything; that I'm taking the time to do this in my favorite place in the world (the Jets' parking lot). Sure I COULD throw some call to action at them, but by asking for that, I leaving something huge on the table. That person has the ability to google me, find out more, and develop a real relationship wi

#QOTD: 1) How do you like your iPhone 6? 2) What do you think about the Ali Baba IPO? I love it when a random question leads me back to my core value: Create content (JAB) to grow the audience, and then sell (RIGHT HOOK) them your product. It's so simple, it's so straightforward, and it applies to just about ANY situation where you want to sell something.  

#QOTD - What's your favorite tailgate food? (Lurkers, I'm looking at you!) A wine review?! THAT'S RIGHT BABY! We're bringing it back to my roots for episode 20. Back to the show, though, I get the gender question a lot, and it's always kind of baffling to me. VaynerMedia is 63% female, a number that's equally reflected at the top levels of management. I guess it's just something I never think about because the simple math reveals everything I'd say anyway.

#QOTD: Can we make a deal? I want to get my show distribution, and I want to talk to YOU about getting it on your blog. HEY LURKERS! Yes I'm talking to you. My favorite part about the old WLTV days was having a real community of commenters who I could rely on to be there day after day. FEEDBACK IS MY OXYGEN, so get in there and TALK TO ME!

 #QOTD: What do you think of the new http://garyvaynerchuk.com ?? The fact that I can (and have) effected and touched so many people is absolutely mindblowing to me. Buying the Jets is will happen one day, but even if it doesn't I take enormous pride in the fact that I've already cemented my legacy as a person who can communicate and engage at scale.

 #QOTD: Share something about yourself in the comments. I want something to cheer me up! Sorry I'm in just a bad mood today, guys. Miss America was a totally amazing experience, but the Jets game yesterday really put me on a bad track for this week. On the plus side, I got to share some new facts about how I built up VaynerMedia this episode.

#QOTD: What was the hardest decision you've ever had to make? If the Apple Watch is one thing, it's predictable. I think when I say "we're all going to become robots" people think I'm kidding, but I really mean it. Over the next 100 years, evolution is just going to take us there.

#QOTD: What state do you live in? I'm just not that interested in other people's rules. I mean thinking like that can be really helpful for some people, but I've only ever done what felt right, and I think layering on some kind of framework on top of it starts to create a product. Value your authenticity!!  

#QOTD: Where's your favorite vacation spot?   #mini-QOTD: Sound off if you have discovered me because of this show!   Loving these video questions, but definitely try to keep them to under 30 sec! Today's episode had a really special energy to it. Maybe it was Nate's cameo. Maybe it was all the talk about soccer and tennis. Maybe it was the fact that I got to work some good old-fashioned #humblebrag action in at the end. Whatever it was, this is a really truly fun episode, and perfect to share with any of your friends who might not know about The #AskGaryVee show yet.  

 #QOTD: What YouTube star would you like to see me make a video with? I have always said that my #1 most important trait is self-awareness. I mean that. People come to me and they ask all these personal questions that I just can't answer because I don't know them! My number one advice to everybody reading this is to step back and take a really honest inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. Are you a strong writer? Are you good on video? Do you have an awesome voice? Are you a photoshop wizard? The answer to these questions will point you in a very clear direction and show you whether you should be on YouTube, Souncloud, Medium, or Slideshare. They're all out there waiting for you!  

#QOTD: What's your fantasy football lock for this week? It feels so amazing to be back from vacation and in the VaynerMedia offices hustling again! Did you miss me? Today we went all out! There are plenty of guests, and plenty of REAL answers. I mean it. It gets a little weird today, but that is the point of this show: for me to be 100% honest and deliver as much value as I possibly can.

 #QOTD: What are you doing this weekend? Guys, I'm so serious. If a winery in Napa started doing unbiased wine reviews from around the world, it would be HUGE. When one of you does it, you can thank me later ;) I'll see you all in a couple of weeks when I get back from vacation. I hope you all get to spend tons of time with your families, and I can't wait to answer your questions in September!