BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR | Gary Vaynerchuk With Larry King 2016

welcome to Larry King now our special guest is Gary vaynerchuk the self-proclaimed Hustler is a digital media Mogul author web show host and venture capitalist among many other things as the CEO and co-founder of Vayner media Gary hosts the hugely popular YouTube show Ask Gary V and has penned three New York Times best-selling books Gary has been named to Fortune Magazine's 40 under 40 list of the most influential Business Leaders and holds the number one ranking on Forbes top 40 social selling Market Masters his newest book Ask Gary V is available now how did this all start you whne what happened with you uh what happened with me is I had the great benefit of being an immigrant I was born in bellus in the former Soviet Union my mother was from bellus I didn't know that Minsk I think yeah I was born 40 minutes from m and uh came to the states in 78 uh when they let some Jews out of there and uh we uh set up in Queens and my parents lived the American dream they worked very hard my dad was a stock boy in a liquor store in Clark New Jersey and eventually became the manager of that store and eventually saved up enough money to buy a store in Springfield New Jersey I was lemonade stands baseball cards real Hustler kid Blow Pops anything to make a buck um and at 14 I got dragged into the store you know oldest son immigrant family I always tell people Larry that I live their grandparents life more than theirs right I'm a couple Generations behind most I did in the 70s and ' 80s and 90s when most people did in the 30s 40s and 50s um you're a legal immigrant I am thank God okay uh otherwise I probably wouldn't do show uh and uh I fell in love with people collecting wine when I was 17 because I was into collecting sports cards that was my connection point I wanted collecting I wanted to build 4,000 wine shops that was I was going to build a Toys R Us of wine sell the franchise buy the New York Jets that's what the plan was heard the internet my freshman year of college heard that sound knew that it was special and in 1996 I launched one of the first e-commerce wine businesses in America called wine library. com took over my dad's business kind of running it day-to-day in 1998 alongside with him and from 98 to 2003 uh helped grow that business from a three to $60 million business that became the foundation built that on e-commerce email marketing Banner advertising Google AdWords things that the marketing world didn't believe yet and then YouTube came out and I started a wine show four months after YouTube started and you were not a wine expert though I grew up a wine expert I you know from 15 to 30 in those 15 years my whole life was wine were you always successful in everything but school didn't do well in school poor terrible actually um punted it you know it was funny and this is where I give my parents enormous credit and i' you know it's funny it's a business book that says self-awareness my parents grew up and I give them so much credit in a world where all their contemporaries as and you know this education's the way out for immigrants sure is my mom recognized that I was a merchant an entrepreneur a promoter so did School fail you or you failed school failed me schools failed entrepreneurs every single day because it's not built to for entrepreneurship it's built for workers you know if you're being taught to play Within the lines and there's nothing being taught that maps to the entrepreneurial Market as a matter of fact my biggest cynicism when I sit across an entrepreneur today is if they are too successful at school I probably look at Ivy leag grad starting startups right now with more of a negative light than I do somebody who wasn't as good because what I've learn learned over the last 5 to seven years and by the way in the last two to three years I've taken a step back on this because there's too many entrepreneurial friends who've gone to Great schools that have been successful so this is not a blanket statement but I will tell you that in a world of private schools mommy and daddy having a lot of connections that when you go from 12 15 18 years of that ecosystem and you go into a market and you create an app the market doesn't give a crap who your dad is the market responds to your product and a lot of these kids have not been able to take the punch in the mouth that comes along with entrepreneurship you're big on self-awareness right huge how does one get to be self-aware I don't know so how do you teach it I don't know but I know it's damn important and so I know where I start and where I stop Larry and I wish honestly I'm curious to see over the next 40 50 years of my career if I figure it out I I think that the things that I've been pushing people to do is one create an ecosystem where you make the people closest to you feel comfortable to tell you the truth so one of the things I've been asking for people to do is tell your mom and dad and spouse uh best friend cooworker hey tell me the truth what am I good at what am I bad at and spend a month or two to get them comfortable to actually tell you the truth because the people that love you sure don't want to tell you how did the website thing come about way back when I mean you your we or the thing you do as your web show the biggest thing I do right now is I run a 650 person social media a digital agency that works with the brands like Toyota and Pepsi and that's called Vayner media what does a Vayner media do we're a modern day Madmen we're a Madison Avenue Agency the same people that used to sell commercial time on anything you ever did in radio and television we now do that on Facebook Snapchat Instagram and we produce the creative for the brands to sell stuff through the phone because Larry and I'd love to get i' almost want to I know we're doing a show here but I'd love to get your thoughts maybe after maybe right now who knows I think we're living through a very interesting moment I believe that the telephone is becoming the television and the television is becoming the radio and I've been spending a lot of time studying the transition in the late 50s from Radio to television because this is the first time we've had a platform shift in our society in a half a century and I think it's a very big deal and I've been spending an enormous amount of time the last five years trying to be the best Storyteller for that platform next utilizing the digital world for your entrepreneurial benefit how social media can transform your business stay with

us we're back with the incredible Gary vaynerchuk is that a Jewish name you know what's funny I know it always confuses people don't think it but I am okay the book Ask Gary V is out now on entrepreneur on entrepreneurs take on leadership social media and self-awareness okay how do we use social media to help our business well I think we first understand that social media is a slang term for the current state of the internet and when you position social media that way you take it a lot more seriously so step one Larry for 97% of the people that are watching is to actually take it serious that's number one and again we were talking as we were getting ready a lot of radio people didn't take television serious when the transition happened that was their loss correct right that's what's happening right now Larry this is historics that history always tells you the future and so that's what's happening so first take it serious two understand that at Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and YouTube these are different channels it's the difference between CNN and fox and ABC and sports ESPN you've got to understand the context of the medium that you're on so when you're storytelling about your business on YouTube you've got to produce different content than when you're putting a picture on Facebook so again sitting in your presence I almost want to ask questions more than do this interview I think that people underestimate context of the medium right I would assume that when you interviewed somebody on radio versus when you did on television there's slight differences because they're different mediums slight and it's slight but it's real and in that slightness is all the magic number three it's understanding that you have to provide value too many businesses right now on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram every post they put out is buy my stuff buy my stuff here's where I'm going to be check me out buy my book check out my experience watch me on my show and nobody's providing value so the prior book I wrote to this was called jab jab right hook give give ask and it gave people a formula of how to put out content that actually gave people enough value that you then had them in a consideration to buy your stuff but the technology changes so much that something could be new to Mara that wipes out what was yesterday right tough crap right the market is the market every day people put out shows on radio and television that try to knock you off your pedestal you had to become number one stay number one that's the market I wish that Twitter wasn't losing its leadership role I have 1. 2 million followers on Twitter I build my brand on Twitter I'm dominant on Twitter I have 2. 8 well because you're a legend why is Twitter going because Twitter lost its way in my opinion because they didn't create an algorithm and everybody who follows everybody sees everything and it gets too loud and so they had what I call a fire hose problem too much information meant that people tuned it out and so what Facebook did and what Instagram does is they don't show you everything they show you the stuff based on what you've been liking that it thinks that you're going to like all this is most appealing to the young right if you're over 40 are you into this if you're over 50 I think so I think if you look at Behavior let me ask you a question have you noticed some of your over 40 over 50 Friends start to send emojis on text I don't know what that is do you know the little poop pictures and the little face and the smile I don't text well listen let's turn off the cameras we got things to do here I need Larry to sell some poop emojis immediately a poop emoji yes poop emojis is the next thing we're in the next segment we're going to talk poop emojis but I look I think if you look at the data it's stunning what's happened 35 to 60 I'll go a different round with you if for anybody who's watching right now if you're lucky enough to know your parent at the age that you are now if you're of an age where you actually knew your mom and dad at the same age you are now you will notice that your behavior is much younger that has a lot to do with technology technolog is draging people we're living through a youthification of our society the fastest growing segment on the Instagrams and the Snapchats in the world are the 40 and overs because just like Facebook these things age up wow yeah now explain all of this with regard to the New York Jets uh I desperately want to buy them Larry you do yes I do can you afford it not yet but I've never felt more in control of that actually happening than I do right now why this uh you're so levelheaded and top of things but Sports things are a fan thing yes they are that's short for fanatic yes it is and that's emotional yeah listen I'm a flawed human I mean we all have our shortcomings so you know look I'll tell you the truth when I came to America in Queens and in do I couldn't speak English uh do New Jersey spoke Hebrew no wasn't speaking yish but I was speaking Russian um but there was something when I moved to Edison New Jersey the kid Eric Godfrey Robbie turnick they were playing football and they made me a Jets fan and it was my first kind American thing and my mom I everybody had a Jets Jersey and I wanted one and my mom we couldn't afford stuff like that it's not what immigrants do you don't go out and buy a $30 Jets Jersey so my mom knitted me one and so I have it it's my prize possession it's literally my prize possession and I've created a fairy tale in my mind somewhere around second or third grade that I was going to go from not being able to afford a Jersey to owning the whole damn thing and that is the quest to buy the Jets is my happiness whether I buy them or not so many variables what if Woody Johnson doesn't sell well he'll be dead but well that's right I mean there's an advantage of being 25 to 30 years younger than the curent owner but you don't know anything can happen right and so there's a lot of things I can't control in that fairy tale but I can control the ambitious climb to get there you are so on top of things does a jet loss affect you yes the Jets are my one Kryptonite I'm actually stunningly levelheaded un I'm basically unemotional when it comes to business I can tell I you know it's a win loss thing it's a net game I can deal yes the Jets bother me it's a because I'm not in control we got quite a few questions on my blog regarding tips for jump starting a business what are the three most important things to keep in mind when starting up one that cashes oxygen I'm Blown Away by all these people that are starting businesses that don't realize that money is important like they think about all these things they're trying to think about four years from now and they haven't made their first check just complete lack of practicality when thinking about a business number two strengths are you a Salesman are you the accountant are you do you have Financial strength do you have sales strength are you operationally are you good at HR whatever you're best at do that surround yourself with the other three or four pillars that need to have a business and number three look for the white space meaning where are people not marketing and storytelling that you can is Snapchat is YouTube is a blog or a podcast your way to separate yourself from everybody else while they're running direct mail or radio or television or print advertising what's the white space in your sector that nobody else is

filling okay well a little game if you only knew I just real quick what's the best piece of advice you ever got that when I was 14 I was full of crap I was a Salesman I would say anything to you to make you buy my baseball cards or a bottle of wine my dad grabbed me by the neck and he said listen to me where we come from you've got one thing your word and that one moment easily my mom did most of the work my dad was at work I never saw my dad until I was 14 she built a self-esteem she made me the right kind of guy kind she built the foundation but that one tweak by my dad changed the outcome of my life from being a good Huer salesman who would have made it okay and made a good Buck to having real potential did you get some bad advice too I don't really listen to advice at all so I'm sure I get bad Larry I actually think I get bad advice every day is there a company we should be paying more attention to music. Le it's the emerging thing Snapchat's the one for most people but I'm making that assumption that as people continue to watch this they'll know about that music. ly is the emerging social network with Junior High kids in America and China it has a chance your biggest failure and what you learned from it I think my biggest failure was when I transitioned from day-to-day in the wine business to starting Vayner media I wrote a book called crush it that became a big New York Times list I started three other businesses I was the I was like a guy that came out of a long relationship and wanted to date everything uh I learned that even though my brain tells me I can do everything because I work 15 to 18 hours a day I can't and you only have so much energy and focus and I need to cut that in what industry is on the verge of exploding virtual reality and let me say this Larry because I think you're going to get a kick out of this because if you think emojis is crazy let me tell you what I'm about to tell you 12 years from today when we're doing this interview as we're going to have a long relationship as you said we're going to be doing it it's going to feel like it's happening just like right now except one thing we're both going to be sitting at home

how about an industry that's slowing down or dying uh I think television advertising is in deep crap business leader we should be paying more attention to I think Jeff Bezos who runs Amazon is the single best entrepreneur of this Century including Steve Jobs and he went into the newspaper business cuz he's smart you know what he did there Larry he went into the brand business he bought that brand Washington Post for nothing and now he's going to deploy it in a different platform like the Kindle what's the best success story you ever heard you know what funny that's a great question I I'm very undereducated on the entrepreneurs and successful people in the world my favorite success story is my dad he came here with nothing yeah zero good example I lived in a studio apartment a quarter the size of this studio yeah he's young he's 62 he's only 20 years old 22 years old me still working then on fire part of the world that is exploding in business and commerce I'm very intrigued by Africa I think Africa is emerging they've got cell phones that at scale I think that's going to be the place everyone's going to focus the next decade young entrepreneur who's impressing you I think Mark Zuckerberg is going to

take that Throne from Jeff Bezos and I think he's grossly underestimated and in parallel Evan Spiegel of Snapchat has surprised me he's under he's 25 I think the way he's navigated that business with all the pressure of the whole world looking at these kids get this in garages where do it where does this come from this G it comes I don't think it's genius I think that they're lucky that the internet came along and allowed them to do it earlier the internet is such scale Larry where is the internet I in the ocean in the sky I mean you know like the internet is basically Our Lives I actually think the internet is more life than this is where people spend their time attention is the asset and the inter that owns it Gary vanderchuck in 10 years uh hustling owning the Jets no not yet my behavior doesn't map to owning the Jets in 10 years my behavior maps 30 lot of social media questions Serena brainy on Facebook when do you know you're ready to start a business if you're asking that question you're probably not ready Larry I believe a pure Brad entrepreneur suffocates in the notion of doing anything but running their own business at Chief chipper on Twitter what was your favorite baseball card as a kid 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas rookie card me and my friend Brandon adored that card just saw Frank a couple weeks he's a real player he was a real player Hall of Fame yep Bruce McKellen on the Larry King now blog do you get political at all what are your thoughts on people from the private sector Donald Trump I don't tend to get political mainly because I've voted both party lines already at this young of an age multiple times I really I'm quite practical about politics I wait till there's a decision and I make the decision that I think is best in the current situation at bre landscape on Twitter what's the more what's more investable a digital company with millions of users and no profit or one with a few users and millions in profit both is true but if there's real growth at no profit with millions of users that's the one that you want to run because the upside is so great now Twitter had that right yeah and look I was an early investor in Twitter isn't bad is it no it's not bad I mean and by the way I made a crapload of money Larry like the people who invested in Twitter before it went public made a fortune um Twitter's issue is that it needs to hold on to the attention of its users Mr L on Facebook asks in the age of digital media how do you suggest someone maintain a solid print Audience by making sure a they are building a digital audience and by B trying to find something clever that the print product can deliver that the digital product cannot and also this Larry holding your breath I mean the user is dying off and when I say dying I don't mean literally dying I mean we are watching 40 50 60 70 80 year olds shift into digital consumption but if print is dying why does a Carlos Slim invest in the New York Times because he wants to use that to push his propaganda he's got a vehicle yeah as Jeff bizo of course uh Larry that's the real answer you know it yeah at kjm 1016 on Twitter how would you suggest one avoids running their social media Outlets without making it feel like spam by not being spam Larry this pisses me off all the time people are like how do I be less s provide people actual value like if you don't want your social media to feel spammy why don't you talk about putting out content and acting like a media company instead of acting like a salesperson John Crabtree on the Larry King now blog do you see any new apps emerging as game changers in the next few years you know I'm very like I mentioned I'm very hot on musically I also think anchor this audio app is quite interesting think it's think of it as uh voice Twitter so you instead of tweeting you're doing it by voice so you literally put up the phone to yourself and say you know today I'm thinking and quite interesting it's very early but I'm keeping a very keen eye on it who invents these things youngsters a lot of times who don't know any better you know what I would tell you and I think you'll you this will make sense to you I look at it very similar to music genres I think of it as like The Clash and Kurt Cobain and Run DMC I think it's people who come up they don't see what they want and they create it at soulman scoffield do you think you'll ever retire or do you enjoy working too much I look I think when I'm sitting here with you and I know all the context I know about you and all the fact that you pretty much have interviewed anybody who's important in the last 50 goddamn years the thing that most excites me is that you're sitting right here right now and interviewing me I have no interest in doing anything other that to me is the most interesting thing that's happening in this room right now is that while I'm doing this interview the parallel part of my brain is saying damn this is the guy I'm doing this is exactly what I'm going to be doing are you married I am you have children I do what how old are the children six and three boy and a girl mhm girl boy all right how do you your thoughts on your ability in business to raising a family do you use the principles at home I do I think first of all I'm an eqhr driven CEO I think I win not on my IQ but on my emotional intelligence I think that I'm very in tune to people's feelings I try to reverse engineer what they're about for example I have no interest in my kids being anything but who they are my mom gifted with me gifted Me by parenting me to my strengths if my kids are artists or want to be in the nonprofit sector climb mountains I'm all in I want them to do them um the one Line in the Sand I have is no eighth place trophies Lizzy knows and now I'm looking at the camera because I wanted to see my eyes again no eighth place trophies life is about winning and losing it's binary right so as long as my kids know that I don't care what they do they don't need to make money be entrepreneurs but to win there's a real Market to be a great artist to be great at helping other people you have it does your wife get involved in your business no we have a very strong Line in the Sand my parents had that um her parents had that for the most part so I think we're just kind of acting on what we saw behaviorally we don't I don't like look when you're the CEO of a when you're the top dog you're only in the negative issues business I'm a firefighter all I'm dealing with his headaches what's going to happen right now I'm going to step out of here and I'm going to look at my phone and there's going to be seven things I have to deal with that isn't a fun thing to deal with so to come home and pour that on my wife isn't interesting I don't have anything positive to say on a micro level it's all negative it's the macro level that's awesome Gary you're incredible great meeting you is the first of many meetings thank you my friend