What's Inside? , Youtube Channel Tips & Becoming the Next Ellen | #AskGaryVee Episode 247

- On this episode, these two YouTube legends stop by. (hip hop music) - [Gary] You ask questions, and I answer them. This is The #AskGaryVee Show. Hey everybody, this is Gary Vay-ner-chuk, and it's episode 247 of The #AskGaryVee Show. First of all, what do you got, Instagram? That's Facebook live? - [Dunk] Instagram Live. - You're Facebook live? And Facebook live is where we're taking the phone numbers from? All right, Facebook live, put your phone numbers down, I'm gonna introduce my guests in a second, but your phone numbers in and we're gonna call you in a little bit. We are on a roll with guests on The #AskGaryVee Show, last couple have been really substantially awesome, and this one, I think, has the potential to top it even more. I've a cut in half wrestling belt that, if you watch DailyVee, you know what that's about, but for the ones that don't or didn't serendipitously catch that, I'm gonna allow these two tremendously handsome individuals introduce themselves, so let's start with the better looking one first, my man? Why don't you tell the Vayner Nation who you are. - I am Lincoln from What's Inside, our channel is that we cut stuff open, so. - That's what you do? - Yeah, that's why we have there. - And Lincoln, how old are you and where are you from? - I'm 11, and I'm from Kingsville, Utah. - So, you were born in 2006? - Yes. - (laughs) I know, seriously, right? - Bro, that hurts. - Yeah. - And you, my man? - So, I'm Dan, I am Lincoln's dad, and we started this channel off of his second grade science project, and all of a sudden it turned into a YouTube channel where we now have four million subscribers. I used to sell drugs, like Viagra and Lipitor and those things, and now I'm a YouTuber full time, as of July of this last year, so kinda crazy the way the digital world works. - And I heard this story, and I don't think it made our vlog, but the second grade project, let's spend a second on that because I think it's important for everybody to realize what the seed of things that can happen. So many of you are sitting at home and saying I'm gonna become an influencer, I'm gonna become a YouTuber, and you're manipulating it in your head, and you're trying to force something instead of listening, you're talking, right? You're trying to manifest it instead of paying attention to, and reacting to something. Yours was a reaction, you became a full time YouTuber by reacting to something that happened, let's tell that story, because I think it can be a framework for so many of you that can help you get to what you want in reverse. - Right, so, yeah, I mean we'd had like 80 different videos on YouTube that are family videos and different things, and I'd kind of looked at the algorithm and saw maybe we should optimize these, and you can make money off of YouTube and stuff. - How did you even stumble in that thought, did you read an article? - So, way back in the day, just reading articles and seeing the Google Adsense, I had a website of a failed company that I did way back in the day that was like secret, that people didn't know about, some people still don't know about. We spent like $25,000 on this company, failed, and I learned about Google Adsense with that website that we had, and then once we got onto YouTube, I'm like oh, ads can run on there. - They have it here too. - Yeah, and so he had a science project, and at the time, there was an article that said that the number one place that people look for questions is on YouTube, not Google. com but on YouTube, and so his science project was ask a science related question, and then you answer it in your project. So, his was Dad, what's inside of sports balls? So, we cut open the five different sports balls, I set my phone up on the kitchen counter, Lincoln was totally sick during those videos. - Yeah, like I was like a zombie, I looked like a zombie. - But we put 'em up there as like we put 'em individual videos, like what's inside a baseball? - What? You were green? - Not that much of a zombie. - Got it, got it. - And so we put those on YouTube, and we just like a year later, we made four dollars in one day off of Adsense. - That's when you decided to retire and go full time. - That's it, full time, there we go, quit the day job. Yeah, so that was December of 2014, and bam, four dollars in one day. So, I'm like Lincoln, I think we got something here. By the time you're 18 years old, you might have a little bit of money for college, so let's just keep cutting stuff open, we'll keep doing it in different worlds of YouTube. And so, any time somebody's watching a video, the suggested will hopefully be our video. - So, we just cut open some more sports balls, and we published like five videos in one day, and we lost half of our 40 subscribers. - You went from 40 to 20? - Exactly. - You said okay, no more posting five things a day. - Yes, time to learn about like what the algorithm actually does. So, January 2015, started fresh, April of 2015 we hit 1,000 subscribers, we went out for ice cream, we were super stoked. - What flavor did you get? - Oreo and vanilla. - And you? - I just got a mixture of like cake batter and yummy stuff, yeah. - DRock, what's your favorite ice cream? - [DRock] Cookie dough. - Andy? - Good choice. - Cookie dough's pretty good, I vote cookie dough. - [Gary] Cookie dough? Yeah, I get it, I get it. Dunk? - [Dunk] For Ben & amp; Jerry, it's... - No, not Ben & amp; Jerry, I know that you've gone there, globally, your favorite ice cream flavor. - [Dunk] Chocolate fudge brownie. - Just? - [Justin] Cookies and cream, for sure. - Yeah, there we go. - Cookies and cream? - [Man] Vanilla fudge. - Gary? - I mean, none of my top three even made it, coffee, mint chocolate chip, and strawberry. - Okay, that's good, nice. - All right, good. - I love strawberry. - The fruit? - No, for smoothies. - Smoothies, okay, got it. So, you made 1,000 bucks, now what? - Well, we hit 1,000 subscribers in April, and then by August we hit 100,000, crazy. - So, what was the first viral video? - So, the first viral video, I would say would be the bowling ball video that we had, what's inside of a bowling ball, and it's the first time I had ever used a chop saw before, and that was kind of the draw. - If you go back and watch that video, he has a big ply two by four stick poking the bowling ball trying to cut it open. - It was bad. - You guys have become much better at cutting things open. - Kind of. (group laughter) - A little bit better. So yeah, a year later we hit a million subscribers. So December 2015-- - Wait a minute. - Yes? - Is today Wednesday? - [DRock] Yes. - Is it? - So, he just misses school? - He misses school today, yep. But that's the thing. We told him he's learning from you. Like, what? - Yeah! - You don't learn this in school. You don't get to be with the king of digital advertising. - No, no. Just so you know. Just so you know, I didn't do that for a laugh. I did that to remind everybody how much I actually believe in what you're doing. I promise you, this man has no prayer of remembering what the curriculum was in his school on today's day, but he will always remember meeting DRock. - That's right. - For a second time! (group laughter) All right, let's keep this going. So, boom, 100,000. Now you clearly didn't say this to me the other day, and now I'm putting the pieces together. You have been historically fascinated by this ad arbitrage, this AdSense thing. I, listen, I will tell you that me and AJ early on were fascinated by Google Adwords and AdSense and the arbitrage. So you naturally went into understanding distribution. Right? You figured out what your creative was, which is, which is by the way brilliant. Because you never, in your lifetime, and you're a young dude, will ever be able to cut open every item on Earth. Which is why Wine Library TV was very successful. And this is the lesson for everybody. When you create something, try to create something that you'll never achieve doing all of it. Too many people start channels or concepts or creatives that after four videos, it's over. Because you can't do anything else. Wine Library TV was amazing because I could never taste every wine. - Makes sense. - Forever. You have no chance of ever cutting. So once you've got your creative down, you really got super smart around distribution. As a matter of fact, as everybody knows, I asked you, once I picked up on that, I emailed you a couple days ago and said, hey, can you stay for an extra hour and talk to Andy and the team? Love to pick up on some of your nuances. And we know what we're doing, but YouTube has never been historically the place I went quadruple deep down on. And so you really became not only this creative powerhouse but you've become quite strong at the distribution of content within the ecosystem. - Yeah, I think most of it is we're not living-- - Are you proud of your dad for that? - Yeah. - Okay, good. - We're not the best actors if you're going to put it that way. Like, a lot of times, we don't even know what's going to be inside of something before we cut it open. Because-- - Sometimes, I don't even know what we're cutting open. He just surprises me sometimes. And I have no idea. - Let's not downplay what kind of star this guy is. - Yeah. No, he's good. - You? - No, I'm not that great on an actor. But I feel like we understand the algorithm. I have a finance background, and that's what I did. I'm like, I'm gonna go and figure out every little thing about the algorithm that I can. So that I can understand it. - And it's a moving target, right? - It does. It changes all the time. - Right. Do you get excited when it changes, because you can find new things? - Yeah, it's-- - Or, are you at this big place now, where you're like do not change that much because I've got it figured out? - I mean, we do have it, a lot of things figured out. But as soon as something does change, we're pretty quick to figure out what happened. - And have you brought him to that part? Or is that kind of like it gets, I mean, that's kind of nerdy stuff. - So, a lot of it is like, I don't want Lincoln to feel like he's this kid that has a job. Like, a full time job. So, he comes and does the fun stuff. It is a lot of work. - Yeah. - But there are some things that he -- - Yeah. I do have fun with some of the ideas. - Yeah, like creation. Or when we're working with a brand, we'll come to Lincoln and be like. Sometimes I've pitched something. One of our first big possible brand deals that we had, a company came to us and wanted to give us $50,000 and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so much money. I said, Lincoln, all we have to do is cut open this product. And we can't say what it is. So we didn't end up doing it. I was like, this is so much money, let's do it, Lincoln. - Lincoln said no? - He says, Dad, we'll be selling out. We can't do that product. So what did we do that week? - Lincoln, what gave you the internal strength to turn down so much money? - I just didn't feel like it was the right thing to do. Because we kept on filming things that are not brand deals. 'Cause we just wanted to build it up, too. - Yep. You thought Dad was trying to cash out a hair too early? - Mhmmm. - Very good. - [Dan] Yeah. And the funny thing is, this is a true story. That week is the week that we published a video that I didn't like at all. It was the what's inside a rattlesnake rattle? That video got 42 million views in a week. And was the number three most trending video viral video of all of 2016 on YouTube. And that was the week when I wanted to do the $50,000 brand deal that would have been the sellout that Lincoln's like, "No Dad, we can't do this. " - So Lincoln, do you take full credit for all the success? - Ahh, not really. - What percentage of the success is you, and what percentage is Dad? Just in your opinion, one man's point of view? - I think that 25% is me. And, yeah. - What a great kid, huh? - He's the face, man. People love Lincoln. (laughter) - Lincoln, Lincoln. What we know, and what everybody who's watching knows, is that for kids age five and a half to eighteen and beyond YouTube is such an incredibly important place. You are the face or one of the two faces of a channel that has four million subscribers. Do your classmates think you're famous? - They don't think much of it. But sometimes we just watch the videos in class. Like last year, we watched a couple of them. 'Cause that's like around subject that we're working on. But really it's not that much 'cause, like, people at school, like at recess, they say, I love your video. Let's go play football, let's go play basketball, let's go-- - They don't make a big deal about it. - Yeah. - Cause you keep it chill. - Okay, but how 'bout when you guys go to ice cream now? I have to assume sometimes people roll up on you and say, whoa, I love your videos! - Yeah. - And people want to take selfies with you. - Yeah, that's cool. - You love that. - Yeah. - I agree. - I love that. (group laughter) - I agree. Okay so, what's the punchline now? Like, this is insanity. - It's a good question. Like we, after watching some of your videos, we want to try to grow in some of our other platforms. YouTube, I feel like we're crushing it and we're having a blast. But maybe on Instagram. Lincoln's favorite platform right now, not favorite platform but favorite thing to do is to go live on Instagram right now. - I just love connecting with fans in Instagram live. I don't know why, but I just love it. - 'Cause it's addicting. - Yeah! - Yeah. - Yeah, you just have conversation with them. So we're learning that side of it. We're building a brand. We've, we've worked with more brands this year already than we worked with our entire history so far. So, luckily, like we had some good mentors like Shonduras with Snapchat. He took us under his wing and was like, hey, help me grow my YouTube channel I'll teach you how to not stop making TV commercials in your YouTube videos, but actually make authentic integrations that make the brand look like the all-star and makes great content for your fans. So, yeah. We're still learning and evolving. It's just like, just us right now. We haven't even hired a full time employee yet. - Let's go to the phone. But that's coming. - Soon. In the next couple weeks, we've got two people coming on board. - Two full? - Two full time employees. - How many people applied? - A lot. (laughter) A lot of people. Yeah. - Mhmmm. - In person, weeded out a lot of people. - One of the things I keep telling you is to document and not create. When you document, or you just do, serendipity happens and then you can react to it. And that's the story of this. - [Brian] Hello? - Hey, this is GaryVee and you're on The #AskGaryVee Show. - [Brian] That's fucking sick! - (laughter) Yes it is. - [Brian] Awesome! - What's your name? - [Brian] My name is Brian Pickowitz. - Hey, Brian. So what's your question? - [Brian] So right now I own an online personal training company, where I do online coaching. And I have a really successful platform that I'm operating on Facebook and Instagram, but I'm having a really difficult time getting more viewership and subscriptions through my YouTube channel. So I don't think it's as much of a problem with the content, although the content could certainly be better. But I guess I really don't understand

is there something else I could be putting into it, that would help really drive more content to my YouTube channel? - Good question, really good question. How much time are you putting into your titles and your descriptions? And from that side of the thing, are you paying much attention to the tags and titles of descriptions that you put in? - [Brian] I am paying more attention now to the tags, as I've gotten more into it. I try not to clickbait people too much, but at the same time, that is a big part of getting attention organically. I kind of base off of doing a Monday rant, like a Monday motivational rant, and then I do vlogs throughout the week. So I'm trying to build a brand around that. I'm trying to attach it to different fitness entrepreneurs and things of the like, but I guess I don't understand more of how that works. - Before we get into the smart questions, let me ask you a macro question. What are you trying to achieve? - [Brian] So, right now I honestly deleted you for a while, which is awesome. I kind of added you again, based off of just trying to get more focus on it. For me, I have personal goals-- - Wait a minute, wait a minute. You deleted me because of my rants of like, stop listening to me and go do? - [Brian] Yes. - Or you deleted me, Okay, that reason, right? - [Brian] Yes. But what I started tapping into again was just trying to get more direction. But to answer your question, I am a budding competitive bodybuilder, so I'm working my way on that. And I'm building this coaching business as I grow. So my goal is, as I grow, my personal brand grows, and this coaching grows with it. So I want to attach different-- (crosstalk) Yeah. What are you coaching? And what does it cost, do? - [Brian] Well, what I offer is, essentially, lifestyle coaching. I am a competitive bodybuilder, but I don't look at what I do as a way of offering people bodybuilding, because that's not what I wanna do. I want to teach people how to diet healthy, understand how to diet-- - And how much does that cost? - [Brian] It depends on the package that they buy. Some of my packages range up into... I have a year-long package that's about $3000. And it kind of goes down from there. The actual product is very in-depth, I guess, as far as what I'm offering my clients, because the way that I look at it is, I'm not just giving you a product of value, based on this and that. I'm someone who's in your corner, so I try to actually build a team based off me and my client that makes it so that they know that. I think the hardest thing about fitness and getting in shape and stuff like that, is most people feel like they're alone. - And do you do that in actuality? In phone calls and video? Or is that through content email? - [Brian] It is through phone calls. - How often? - [Brian] Biweekly and then they have weekly report cards that they have to fill out. The business is actually very successful at this point. I've worked with over 200 clients in two years. And the hard part right now, I guess, is I'm trying to kind of transition into more of growing my brand, rather than just growing based off clients. If that makes sense. - Of course. - [Brian] My YouTube channel is where I'm trying to put more of my energy, so I can attach because not everyone can afford an expensive online coaching package. So I want to branch into smaller products that make it so I can grow this message a lot more vastly, I guess. - Have you factored in that you're one of 8 million people that are trying to do the same exact blueprint? - [Brian] Yes. - Okay. So let's go back to the YouTube channel, because I'm done with my macro work. - He said clickbaiting. I think he put a negative connotation on something that you've used to create an enormous opportunity. - Yeah, I don't consider it clickbait if it's something that's within your video, like for example our rattlesnake rattle video, the one part where you see the thumbnail, it's a black background and then we have the rattle on top of it. That was planned out, I was going to use a cutting board. I wasn't going to cut it on there, but we purposely, in the video went, oh this is too hard, let's get a cutting board, but it was just for that shot, just for the thumbnail, it was thought out. So, that's in the thumbnail and then the title is like what's inside a rattlesnake rattle. We have a family channel where we will do clickbaity stuff, but if it's in the video that's what it's about and that's going to be... - No, no, no, let's just establish this right now. Here's clickbait, naked boobs inside and it's a football video. Watch this video, win a $1,000,000 and it's an ice cream video. It's not being smart. We are terrible at our YouTube titling. Me and DRock debate over a text and I'm like, uh, rumbling in Arizona. We do nothing smart about our image thumbnail and our title, which is why I'm just winning on the actual content, not on all the smart things and I know that because where I do the smart things, I win and I win twice, 10, 15 times better than when I actually know the de... What I'm doing on YouTube, which is my whole career, has been lollygagging on YouTube, including leaving YouTube when I was one of the first YouTube stars and going to Viddler. So, it's this funny relationship I have with it, but I want to make sure you, Brian and everybody knows that clickbaiting is when you fully trick somebody into it. - For sure. - Not you describe it properly and make it enticing to watch it. Clickbaiting is putting, again, an attractive individual on the image and when you click into it, it had nothing to do with it and that one second they flashed that, so they could show that. - Exactly. - Not strategically thinking about what you're going to make in the video and then doing that for that purpose that's called being smart. - Yep. And, and a lot... - [Brian] Absolutely, absolutely. - Listen man, I'll tell you this, I answered your question just so you know. Which is everybody's trying to do what you're doing. People want to sell courses then they realize that, that doesn't only scale so much so then what they decide is let me get even more famous so I can sell t-shirts or get paid $500,000 to write a book or get $100,000 to speak. Here's the good news, you can do it, it's going to come down to how good you are because what I know that you know that everybody knows is, you know, you're getting paid for the access of the phone call and the curation of the content because the content is free. They can go find that stuff, there's the tried and true principles of lifestyle and health and benefits. They're established. I think what you need to think about is how you disproportionally, disproportionally bring value to your audience. The reason I wrote the Thank You Economy after Crush It! This is where you turn to the books. Ty, thank you. The reason I wrote Thank You Economy after Crush It! was, hey everybody can do this. Thank You Economy is, oh crap, everybody's going to do this, let me help people figure out how to win in a world where it's going to be very competitive. Bro, I'm telling you something right now. Every word out of your mouth was, what's in it for you. If you switch it into what's in it for them, you will have a chance. - [Brian] Mhmmm. - Period. - [Brian] No, absolutely, absolutely. - I promise you if I go onto your Instagram account right now that there's comments on your posts and I promise you didn't reply to all of them. - [Brian] That's not true. You check it out. - I will. I want you to. - I'm doing it right now. - What's your Instagram handle? - [Brian] Brian Pickowitz. P-I-C-K-O-W-I-T-Z. - Bri, is it one word, or space, or Brian? - [Brian] Yeah, just one word, just one word. - Brian P-I. - [Brian] C-K-O-W-I-T-Z. - Yep, I see it. Dude you're in good shape. - [Brian] Thank you. - You're welcome. - [Brian] Thank you, this is my life (laughs). - Alright, good job. One thing I wasn't anticipating was three comments (laughs). (group laughter) Dude. Yeah, okay, so what's awesome, first of all, is I'm pumped that that's your mentality. The problem is... So, first of all, kudos to Brian. He's absolutely right that he is getting in there and engaging. So, first of all, I'm fucking pumped with you. Sorry. (Brian laughing) The thing that does concern me is the stunning low amount of comments off your 4,000 base. Did you build that organically or have you ever done anything that made it go to 4,000 like a contest or something random? Tell me. - [Brian] I've never bought any, quietly entertained and the like... I've pretty much have been building this the last two years. So, very organic. I do try to reach out to my audience. Asking more questions and trying to get more feedback. I find that, that usually comes through DM's though. - Yeah, I agree. - [Brian] Not necessarily. Most people, I get... With what I do it's so hard for some people to want to ask for advice. So, I find that a lot of times what I get is the private message on the side and obviously, that's where it helps to put in the work. I get putting it on the other aspect of putting it out in the open is a little bit hard. - Yeah, and as far as the YouTube front goes I would just say if you want to crush it on YouTube all the information is out there. Go to Google, type in YouTube, click on the news, find out what the latest news is. Type in YouTube SEO. Really hone in your titles and descriptions. Do things that are timely. Caption your videos because YouTube doesn't really care as much about the tags anymore like they used to. They do really care about your actual captions and what's said in the video. If we're doing a video about boxing, I'm going to mention Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao when I'm talking about a punching bag because I know that it's going to be picked up in the captions and then hopefully that will be picked up in the suggested views if somebody's watching a Manny Pacquiao video. So, I would do that. Think about your timing, try to find a regular schedule. YouTube loves regular schedules. - He said something very important. Listen, he said be timely. That means hack culture, right? You're talking about lifestyle, fitness, health. You got to be smart being aggressive when Arnold Schwarzenegger is in the news. When something is happening in fitness. When the competitions are on ESPN, World's Strongest Men. Be smart about what's going on in culture. - [Brian] Okay. - Alright buddy. - [Brian] That helps out a lot actually. - Alright, good luck. Good stuff. - Yeah. Alright, let's keep it going. So Linc, while we're getting the next phone call, what's the most exciting thing that has happened because of this whole process? - I've love traveling, I've love seeing new places and exploring. That's something I've love to do and is so much fun. - So I know that when we were hanging out the last time, you went to Paris for example for like 20 hours. (phone ringing) - Yeah. - That was the coolest. - Yeah that was so much fun! I just love traveling. - I get it I mean, that's it you love it. - Yeah. Love it. - [Ari] Hello? - Hello this is GaryVee on The #AskGaryVee Show. - [Ari] Oh my gosh that's awesome, hi! - Hi what's your name and we are you from? - [Ari] Hi my name is Ari Cobb and I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. - Have you been to New Orleans? - No. - Sounds like dad we need to make a trip. - I've never been there either. - Alright so what's your question? - [Ari] Oh my god I can't believe this is happening. Okay my question is I wanted to know since you're all about inspiration and everything, I've been feeling a little bit unmotivated and I've been feeling like I should be doing something or I should be, just I feel like I should be pulled in like, I'm feeling uninspired basically that's my question how do you get

when you lose inspiration or you lost motivation how do you get it back? - I get it back by remembering that you might die tomorrow. - [Ari] That's true. - So I'm inspired by practicality and reality and the truth which is it is ridiculously impossible to become a human being. I am one, I have other good things going for me as a human being and I'm just grateful. You're dwelling and looking at what you don't have versus have. If you actually looked at what you had, your health, you know, living in America who the heck knows what would be on your list if you actually spent all your time looking at that versus I don't have a million dollars, I'm not famous, I don't have this, if you spent all your time on what you have versus what you don't have you would be the happiest girl on Earth. - [Ari] I didn't think about it like that. - I'm aware that's why you're uninspired. (Ari laughs) You know, that's what's happening. You're spending clearly and you're dragging yourself down into what you don't have right? - [Ari] Yeah. - You've been spending your-- How do you - Go ahead. - [Ari] How do you just, like when you're I doubt that you ever feel negative 'cause you appreciate everything just how do you just, I feel so negative all the time and like you said I do always dwell on what I don't have and just everything that's going wrong how do you stay positive and motivated? - Lincoln so positive I'll get to that in a second but I wanna incorporate my guests here. And you're a young man you haven't lived that long. - (laughs) Yeah - But when you're down what do you do? - (Sigh). - Do you ever get down? - Sometimes yeah. - Okay. - I just see what I could be doing right now instead of just looking at it and just being sad about that instead of looking forward to how to fix it. - Dad? - That's good I think for me I was born in the Philippines, really, really poor place I lived there for two years when I was 19 years old and I feel like that side of it is something that, it's interesting because I go to the Philippines whenever we go back, we went back there a couple years ago I see how poor people are but yet they're like the happiest people in the world and I'm like how is that possible? But then when I come back to America-- - 'Cause money doesn't buy happiness - Yeah but then it's interesting-- - Money doesn't buy happiness - You forget too you know even though I was born in those poor circumstances I come after being in America for a year you get caught up in all those things and it, I think coming back to that whatever it is that grounds you whether it's your family, getting out there and just working or serving other people being thankful for what you have like whatever it is that grounds you if you can get back to that point and feel grateful and thankful and cut those things out your life that you don't need that helps you bring happiness. - Ari how old are you and what are the top three things that are bringing you down? - [Ari] I'm 20 years old. - Two, zero. - [Ari] Yes. - Okay, and so what's making you Debbie Downer? - [Ari] I'm in school right now and I'm down just because I'm just stressed out because I feel that when I get out of school I'm not going to have anything to do, I'm down because when I train I'm not as good as I would like to be and it's mainly just being negative and being too hard on myself. - Right and so do you think that stems from the way you were parented? - [Ari] Yes and no, I was really sheltered as a kid, in kind of like, my mom treated me like I was a special little snowflake, which is not the case anymore. - Or maybe you are, in just a different way that your mom then created it, right? Like, in theory, everybody makes fun of the modern parenting, and everybody makes their kids feel like they're the best, and now the kids are saying, "Oh crap, I was confused, I thought I was the best," but the reality is we have to take on the responsibility of ourselves, like my mom told me I was the best, I equally spent all my time thinking that I was not the best, because I could understand that I wasn't winning in every single thing always. You know what I mean? I mean, - [Ari] Yeah. - She might've created that sheltered thing, but I promise you, you realize pretty quickly in first, second, fourth, ninth grade, there was things that you weren't the best at, right? - [Ari] True, very true. - Whose opinion are you worried about? - [Ari] I'm worried about the opinion of the people that I train with, the people that have invested so much time in me. - And what are we talking about training-wise? In what? - [Ari] I'm an Olympic lifter and I do mixed martial arts. - Woah. - Wow. Okay. - [Ari] And I, oh I'm sorry. - No, go ahead, what does "an Olympic lifter" mean? Like, you might go to the Olympics, or you're in it? Explain that to me. - [Ari] Oh, God, no I wish. - Got it. - [Ari] Olympic lifting is the snatch and the clean and jerk and it's different movements that you do with the barbell. - So what, can you please tell me this, Ari? You literally go into your room sometimes, like after a workout, and say, "Damn it, I wish I lifted 10 more pounds"? - [Ari] That, and it's just, I feel like I could've tried harder, that I could've done more, that I could've had a better attitude. - Ari, did you see the video that I posted on YouTube that says 'you need to be your biggest fan'? - [Ari] Yes. - You need to watch that eight thousand times in a row. - [Ari] Okay. - Listen, Ari let me give you a really good piece of advice. The rest of the world is gonna critique you and judge you. You need to stop doing that for yourself. - [Ari] Okay. - I'm being dead serious with you. - I think the other side is just this day and age in social media, a lot of people, even with our videos, they see the video, they see us traveling, they see the glamorous side of things, but then maybe they don't see the other side, where it's just, we're regular people, like there's no difference between the way we live than any other people live, like we have our down times. Sometimes we're sad, sometimes things can be hard, but I think it's important to not compare ourselves to other people on social media and see all the glamorous stuff. - Are you envious of what you're seeing on social? - [Ari] Yes, I'm very envious and that's a big problem. I'm a very envious person. - Ari, I'm not envious of anybody. You need to figure out how to really become a bigger fan of yourself, and not be... Listen, if you're aware of these things, and I don't know if it's going to see somebody, there's a system in place, but you're not gonna win this game if you continue down this path. - [Ari] Yeah, I know I'm not. I'm just gonna, self-loathing is not gonna get me anywhere, I just don't know how to fix it. - Yeah. I respect that, and like, I'm not a psychiatrist or you know, I just wanna get these things outta your mouth because I think they help, but you've gotta realize you got it so good. (grunts) There's seven point seven billion people on this Earth. Ari, you rank in the top percentile just be being in New Orleans. - She's Olympic lifting. I can't, I'm too skinny, I can't even do that. (laughing) - She doesn't have a disease currently, like, Ari you really gotta get your perspective in order. - [Andy] Break the pattern. - You gotta break the pattern. That's exactly right. - Ari, you have it awesome. - [Ari] Yeah. - I mean it. You just need to believe it now. - [Ari] Yeah. I'm gonna work on that. - I have good news for you, you live in New Orleans. There's some shitty neighborhoods. Go take a ride. - [Ari] That is true. - Wake the fuck up. - [Ari] There's some shit down here. The majority of people have it worse than you. Sorry. - [Ari] Yeah. - Yeah. I need a more emphatic "yeah". - [Ari] Yeah! You're right. - And that's it. - [Ari] I'm writing all this down. - I have a news alert by the way. Nobody cares about your problems either. - [Ari] Yeah. - Like, too many people think their dwelling and complaining leads to an action, because they grew up in environments where it did. Problem is, mom's not around anymore. - [Ari] We all got shit, man. - We all got shit. - [Ari] Yep. So, I'm telling you: the number one thing that I do when I get dangerously, and I'm never there, but I fix my perspective. Get in your car right now, and go drive around parts of New Orleans. You could wake up real fast, if you choose to. - [Ari] Okay. - Good. - [Ari] You're absolutely right. - Oh, that I know. I'm just sitting here, and keeping you on the phone, (Ari laughing) 'cause I'm trying to think of a way to get you to know. You know? - [Ari] Yeah. - Good luck, update us, okay? - [Ari] Thank you. - You're welcome. - What do you think? - It's a tough one, 'cause she has to believe withinin herself, and not compare herself - And this is a common theme, - to other people, and it's, it is. - where there was a vibe there not so different than Taylor's, that we had the other day. This whole, like, "Other people have it better, "I don't have it as good," like, it's just not real, and people are allowing themselves to go down this rabbit hole, and you know, you were super happy when you weren't making, people were saying, "oh, it's easy for him to say, "he's getting $50,000 brand deals", but you were happy when you weren't! - Right, right. - Like, it's not a money thing. It's a mindset thing. And you gotta figure out how to break that pattern. - Yeah. It doesn't matter how rich or how poor you are. You gotta find that within yourself, (phone ringing) what makes you happy. - [Andy] Swardik. - But, I'm glad she's willing to ask. That's a good step. (phone ringing) - Well, the reason I'm keeping people on is the fact that people are even saying it out loud, because 99% don't. - [Q] Hello? - Hey, it's GaryVee, and you're on The #AskGaryVee Show. - [Q] Holy shit. Thank you so much. Oh my God. Thank you, thank you. - You're welcome. What's your name, and where are you from? - [Q] My name is Swardic Mayanja. I'm from Woburn, Massachusets. Everyone calls me Q, just like the letter.

- Alright, Q, I've got a very important question. - [Q] Please. - Are you a Patriots fan? - [Q] Oh, of course I'm a Patriots fan. I'm sorry. (group laughter) - Alright, Q, I had to do it to you, but I promise you that I will call you back another time. I'm just not in the mood right now. I'm still bitter. Let's move on. - Oh my gosh. - Keep it going. - Oh, don't ask Lincoln any of that. Kick us out now. - Lincoln's a Patriots guy, too? - There's one player on there that he loves that just maybe went on there six months ago. - Okay, he doesn't bother me. - We're college guys, but yeah. - That's fine. - That's great. Nope, not the other guy you're thinking of. (phone ringing) - That's the guy. I could have ended this meeting. Hey it's GaryVee, and you're on The #AskGaryVee Show. - [David] Holy fucking shit, are you serious? - I am. What's your name and where you're from? - [David] Yeah, this is David Trotter from Jersey City. Jersey love in the house, baby. - Alright, David, what's going on man? What's your question? And can you turn that down in the background because it's echoing. - [David] Yeah, hold on. I'm like driving in my car. Let me just pull over. - Yeah, pull over. Because we don't need a death. Yeah, go ahead. - [David] Alright, so, first off, Gary, I came to see you're whole company man. You flew away. You weren't even there. I missed you. - I'm sorry, man. - [David] Brought my whole house. - I apologize. [ - [David] That's alright. I'll see you again. All good. Anyway, so I just partnered into to a wine company. I'm a 15% partner, my fiance is the other 15%. We have a 70% partner. I think you actually did them on Wine Library way back in the day. It's called David's Family Wine. - Okay. - [David] Formed with Michelle Reeves. - Yep. - [David] I don't know if you remember them. - I remember them - [David] So, it's been great bottle of wine, but the brand has kind of been dead the past three years. Michelle lived in New York, moved over to the West Coast, and had two kids and went from doing $300,000 a year down to $80,000 a year. And, you know, I have a hospitality company. She roped me in because we're doing events all over New York, New Jersey, and she's like look, I think you'd be a great partner to kind of reinvigorate it.

We're trying to figure out what the next strategy is for the company. I tend to think it's a couple of different angles, like we have the idea, obviously like distribution, like we're in Gramercy Tavern, we're in Eleven Madison Park. Reinvigorating those sales. The other angle would be, obviously, the direct to consumer angle that we added to our website, and then I kinda had this crazy idea like why don't we screw all of this stuff and go around it. We do 500 cases a year, why don't we just do a bunch of really cool events, and maybe the only way that you can get the wine is, you know, through these events. I tend to think the GaryVee answer might be all of them. So I wanted to throw that out there and see what you said you thought might be a really good idea. - This show's eventually not going to be fun, because I'm super pissed that you took my answer. (group laughter) - [David] Sorry! - I mean, look, not sorry. It makes me happy. It means that people are hearing me, right? The answer's all of them, brother. Now look, the model of doing events that it's the only way to buy it would then eliminate the other two. I wouldn't go that hard. I would just still do events, but I would create as many... Too many times people don't understand that you need to create as many ways for people to buy as possible, right? They may discover it at a restaurant. They may walk into the Wine Library and buy it off the shelf. They may go to a party and taste it and then go buy it. You've gotta do direct-to-consumer branding on Instagram and Facebook for your direct to consumer channel, directly from the winery because you get to keep 100% of the economics, instead of sharing it with the retailer and distributor. So, there's a million ways to do it. It sounds like you're pretty grounded in it. I have a funny feeling above and beyond the answer I just gave you, you know the next answer which is it's just patience. It sounds like you're grounded. It's just a matter of time, and you've gotta think about the details. I think one of the great things that my partners here on this episode have done, is they talk about the nuances. Here's a nuance, be smarter about how you guys, and what you put on the label of the wine. Is your social handles on the back of the label, right? Can you induce people to share it by doing a hashtag on the back of the label. So, it's some of these nuances, as well, but it sounds like you've got the religion down, which excites me around the strategy. - [David] Hey, man, listen-- - Hello? Oh, he was about to say something really cool about me. (group laughter) I took that one, because I wasn't sure that you were really ready to give a detailed wine answer at this point in your career. - Yeah. - You've drank no wine yet. - No. - Okay, understood. (group laughter) - [Andy] I saw Swardic just comment - Q? - [Andy] Q. Please call me in the next #AskGaryVee, but I truly respect your decision. (group laughter) - Let's call Q back. I'm happy he said that. Yeah, let's call him back. - [Andy] He has a question about YouTube. - Good, let's do it. (group laughter) That's a good job by Q. Q, way to handle that adversity. Right? He didn't dwell. - Yep. - He figured out how to fix it. He did it buy doing a public Tweet. (phone ringing) And, Q has won this episode of The #AskGaryVee Show. - Just like they win the Super Bowl every year. Yep. - [Q] Hello? (laughing) - Q! - [Q] Yes. - I respect what you did. I like the way you handled the adversity, and so we're rewarding it. You are now back, first time ever, two-time caller, on The #AskGaryVee Show, and Lincoln's fired up! - [Q] I truly, truly respect that. I do, I do. Thank you, thank you. - What's your question? - [Q] Oh my God. So, I just started a brand-new YouTube channel, and it's like, from the beginning, it's super, super difficult just breaking and making a name for yourself. - As it should be. - [Q] I wanna know real talk though. Yes, as it should be. But, I wanna know, like real talk, where should I go, because I'm lucky enough where people in my life, people who surround me

are all really supportive, but I need people who are truly, truly real at giving me critical, you know, constructive criticism. Just tell me what I'm doing right, wrong. Everyone's like oh, that's cute, that's nice, good for you, but I don't know if it's actually good, because I just know these people so basically, like my mom, telling me they love me and it's good. - When it comes to YouTube, this is a really good question, like we hear this a lot, and if you look at our channel, I didn't share that we had a YouTube channel with my co-workers, my parents, with my family, until we hit 100,000 subscribers, and we were in the news. - [Q] Holy shit. - But we had a bunch of different videos that we tried different things. We didn't think we'd become these huge YouTubers, but that's the kind of bit of advice I have is that what I see as a big problem that people do is that they will go put a bunch of money behind a YouTube channel, and they will throw it out there to all of their Facebook friends and family, and they'll go on a give them artificial views, and then they'll give them these positive comments, and then you start feeling like oh this is a good idea, but even if all of your Facebook friends watched your video every single day for the entire week, you're not gonna make any money off the channel. It's not going to grow that much. It really does take, you have that global audience. The beauty about not telling everyone what you're doing on your YouTube channel until you find an idea, like ours was cutting stuff open, that's what took, but some of the other videos we just made the videos private. The beauty of that is you have the whole world that can look at your channel and they can give you feedback, and sometimes they're pretty, they're always honest. Like, they're brutally honest, and that way you don't live off of like oh, my mom said it's good, or my family said it's good. You can find an idea, and then finally find out what works, and what your niche is on YouTube, and then go all-in. Hide everything else, create a new brand, and just go for it. - [Q] So, just to follow up on that. So, now they know and I can't go back on that. - Yeah. - [Q] Like I have over 100 videos up, and basically my channel is, I interview people, and it's called like the Everyday Hero Series. So, I interview every day people, right? And, I consider them heroes, and they tell me why they are a hero, why they are special, and that's my idea. - How long have you been doing it, and what do your numbers look like? - [Q] So, my numbers are pretty, pretty crappy. I've been doing this series of this type thing for about two months now. I have like, probably 35 to 40 videos up, of probably like 8 to 10 different interviews, and I'll chop them up. I'll put some on Instagram, like a real short clip. I'll put the longer videos on Facebook. - How many subscribers, and how many views are these getting? - [Q] I average anywhere between like 10 or 50 views and I have like 45 subscribers, I'm brand new. Like I started six months ago. - Okay, so what's, why was the advice that you were just given not feasible? - [Q] Come again? Say that again please? - So you just got some great advice in my opinion, and then you said, well yeah but, the cat's out of the bag. They already know. Why did you dwell on the fact that they know versus the strategy of trying different things? - [Q] That's a good question. And the thing is, I'm not dwelling on it. What I really do want to go out and look for, is am I not just getting exposure? Or does my idea suck? I want someone to tell me. - Sure. But I have good news. Somebody told you. It's called the market. They told you it sucks so far. - [Q] Okay, yes. - But, Wine Library TV was told two months in that it sucked. You were told, kind of sort of, in the first couple months. - It took a long time til it actually took off. But it, you do have to listen to the market and you have to look and see, does this video have the potential to go viral? Are a lot of people gonna be watching it? And if you're already looking, make sure your looking at the algorithm, the advice I gave earlier. Make sure you're doing all of those other things that you can control, like your titles. The first line of the description is super important. Then some of your tags not as important. Make sure you're captioning your videos. But at some point you want to look at it and say, this stuff isn't taking off. Is there something else I can do? And experiment with it, come up with different thumbnails. - Q, I think you should start making videos as the Boston guy that hates the Patriots. (group laughter) Q, real quick, Q. Why do you want to do this? Like straight up. - You want to become Casey? You want to make $5 million dollars a year just making videos? What are you doing? You want to be Ted Koppel, like why are we doing this? - [Q] Sort of like, I'm going to be honest. - Hold on real quick, real quick before you answer that I just had a thought. Do you know who Ted Koppel is? Yeah, okay. Go ahead. - [Q] Who? - Yeah no, okay. Sorry Q. You don't either, I get it. So why are you doing this? - [Q] Because I want to basically be like the male Ellen DeGeneres. I want to be like Joe Rogan, like the dream. That's the dream. - Great. - [Q] Like that's what I want to do. - Great, if that's true, then you need to stop calling shows and getting positive feedback or feedback two months into it. If you're trying to do that, you need to know that you are on a ridiculous marathon and that most likely, nothing good will happen for the next seven to 11 years. - [Q] Seven to 11? - Yes sir. - [Q] Okay, I mean that's absolutely legit. But then just a little off topic, I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time. - No problem. You're not taking up my time. I just need you to know something. - [Q] Yes. - Whenever that piece of advice comes out and the response is, "Yes your right, but," you've already lost. You know that right? - [Q] Wow, okay. - That's the punchline, Q. The punchline is, it's seven to 11 years. How old are you again? - [Q] 23. - Great. I'm telling you to your face, you have no prayer of being Joe Rogan or Ellen DeGeneres for the most part. And if you do, I want to remind you that both of them had 7 to 15 year careers before they even looked to remotely close to Ellen. I just want to remind everyone who's watching this show, I have been in the public limelight producing content on an everyday basis for the last 11 years. So like my perspective is just... - Fucking broken. You're worried about shit two months in on a journey that is gonna be the next 10 to 15 years. - [Q] Yeah. - You're just not in the right mindset. - [Q] That's real. - And you know what else is real? You haven't Googled, how do I get better titles? How do I use YouTube SEO. So you've lost on the architect side and you're also losing on the plumbing side. I won on the architect side. I don't know all your story, but you clearly won on the plumbing side. And you're not playing either. - [Q] Geez, lord. Okay. - Alright? - [Q] Alright. - You know how you Patriot fans make fun of shitty teams? That's what I'm doing to you in reverse. This is how a Jets fan feels good about himself. (group laughter) You know what, what I just did? This is my favorite thing, just a little side story. I never tell this. I'm such a bad human being at sporting events. I'm the worst version of myself, Lincoln. There's something called beer muscles. This is where people get drunk drinking beer, stupid guys that are older and then they want to fight people. I have sports muscles. When I go into a stadium I actually want to fight people. I'm like the reverse of me. - [Q] My goodness. - Yeah, so when I go to Foxborough, Q you're gonna love this. When I got to Foxborough, and I wear my Jets jersey and people start making fun of me. I change the conversation, literally this is me arguing with a fan, but the guys like, you suck. Jets suck. I go yeah, yeah bro. But what about me versus you. (Q laughs) I'm like, tell me about your life. Beause I'm beating you, dick face. - [Q] You get real petty when you go to Foxborough. - I get real angry. So listen man, your macro and micro are broken. Fix both. Go spend 15 hours researching on Google, how to become better at YouTube. And start realizing you're on a marathon. Take your sprinter shoes off. - [Q] Yes. Gary, I totally appreciate this. - Go man. Good luck. - He doesn't get, like I'm 37 years old. And I, like I said, I started a few businesses early on after reading books that got me really motivational. Like I was this young kid with a global finance degree and like I can do this. But I kept my day job for all these years. And it wasn't until this was finally the thing, I never would have thought it was like cutting stuff open on YouTube. But that turned out to be the thing and now I can step away from my day job and do this. But sometimes you gotta experiment and be okay with failing and walking away. And going, I just learned something better than I could have learned by spending the money of getting an MBA. Like I just learned in the real world. - Go figure. Lincoln, the guests on this show get to ask the question of the day. I would love for you What question to you want to ask the Vayner Nation? By the way, it could be anything. It doesn't have to be the theme of the show. It doesn't have to, it could literally be like, what's your favorite bubblegum flavor? Like what are you actually curious about to get thousands of people to respond on Facebook and YouTube about? - What is everyone's favorite ice cream? - Nice. - That works with what we've already talked about. I like it. - My man. Thank you for being on the show. - Yes. - Thanks for having us. - And you my man. - Thanks you so much. - You're awesome. - Thanks for your advice. - You keep asking questions, we'll keep answering them. (hip hop music)