#ASKGARYVEE: The Entrepreneurial Street Smarts & Business Instinct & Story & Winning & Legacy

It is deliciously ironic that I, an F student, have received invitations to speak at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.
School was never my thing. It’s an unusual thing for an immigrant to say, especially a Jewish immigrant. Traditional education was my people’s ticket out of the ghetto. But I sucked at it.
We’re not talking B’s and C’s, with the occasional D popping up it’s ugly head. We’re talking a long, remarkably consistent stream of D’s and F’s. There were just so many more interesting things to think about than the Pythagorean theorem.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take On Leadership, Social Media & Self-Awareness talks about the hard knocks of his hardcore business instinct, navigating the digital and social, clouds and dirt, and the New York Football Jets of New York. The book outright says don’t regurgitate Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice, instead deploy them for your own means and ends. Okay. So story time. Story and creativity. One of the great leverages in life is the skill of personality, because it can’t be commoditized. You can’t duplicate Kobe Bryant, you can’t clone a Dave Chappelle, and you can’t copy GaryVee. It’s too hard to do. Ironically, our school systems reward uniformity, making other kids more like other kids as the definition of success. But in business, in American capitalism you get rewarded for being able to do things others can’t. Things like the SATs homogenize kids, stunt creativity, and say “if you’re not doing things this way, you’re doing it wrong.” But just like that Kanye West “La La wait til’ I get my money right” it pays to pivot against the standard quo. Thus the Clouds and Dirt, says GaryVee…
I’ll put my own spin on things here, but I remember not learning jack crap in my two years of college, except learning how to make some friends in dorms (a valuable skill is small talking, seriously though) and watching sports. The New York teams got really, really good in 2010, so I’d always catch those TNT Eastern Conference Knicks, Celtics, Heat games at 4:00 pm or 5:00pm, go sit for three straight hours just watching television, then go off and dink around later that night. The Knicks got Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and the Jeremy Lin Linsanity all happening within like one year, in 2010 or 2011. The Jets just came off their first AFC Championship game, then reloaded with all these bad ass, controversial, over the top personalities and Hall of Fame stars the following season. LaDanian Tomlinson, Santonio Holmes, Cromartie, and Jason Taylor. Bart Scott talking about “how it was too damn hard to please” everybody, but in more colorful language. Rex Ryan Hard Knocks food rants. The Rangers simultaneously went on a run around this time, so all the jerseys Knicks, Jets, Rangers hanging in my dorms at Eastern Washington University. In classes, I’d bring my laptop and read every blog, article, Rich Cimini’s angry post game beats, magazines, and YouTubes on all things Knicks, Jets, Rangers. Those were the things I cared about at the time, and in the future helped my craft more than any professor in college.
There’s also something to be said- about coming from the bottom. If you want the best McDonald’s manager, you want the guy who started by mopping the floor, and next week on to the fries, as Kanye once said. Instead of paying 300 thousand on universities telling you how to become the manager, by testing you with multiple choice questions on how to mop the floor, stir the fries, etc. My example is growing up in inner city schools. Though I would attend a good high school in the suburbs, elementary and middle school was rough & tough. But an interesting thing happens in an inner city. You learn about the culture. Consumer culture. Things that are cool, and things that are not. People get clowned on for not wearing the cool stuff, in no uncertain terms, and the kid with the hot stuff (shoes, jackets, girls, basketball skills, haircuts, ability to talk trash in class because that’s all you did, who you hung out with, watching MTV/rap/hip hop videos… Unconsciously learning that form of visual story) are things that money can’t buy. It’s like a different language. Growing up in rough areas it is always about who has this, who has that. Stunting. Styling. You’ll never forget as a kid what it felt like to want something, not get it, then actually get it, then another kid getting something better, than wanting his “it” isn’t that what advertising agencies in Fifth Ave do? Ever flowing never stopping. The feedback you get is so intense, compared to growing in a more friendly, homogenized place: like a middle class suburb where parents can just give the kids what they want, so kids miss what it feels like to want something they can’t have. You definitely learn about culture that way. Just my two cents.
But that’s only if you’re an artist.
For those making big money with Science, Technology, Engineering, Medical — yes school probably matters a lot.

What is Clouds and Dirt?
The following are actual advice and concepts from the book. Clouds and Dirt are the North Star of your business or craft, and the daily execution and nuts bolts and tactile movement of your business or craft. Where do most people stay? In the middle. Clouds are unwavering, commandments. They are the soul reason for existence of your brand. Bring value to the customer. Always play the long game, patience, people are your most important commodity, and never be romantic about how you make your money. Dirt is the tactical. For example, understanding video lengths on Instagram vs. Snap, the ROI of ads on Facebook, says Gary. Back in the early 2000s, Dirt was knowing to go all in, ALL IN, AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL IN on Google AdWords, instead of investing in billboards or radio at the time.

Why Do You Focus On Top-Line Revenue?
Start-ups typically cut hard margins and try to balloon profits. VaynerMedia focuses on top-line revenue, because in the media/agency landscape people capital is the only capital. By accruing as many customers as possible, same for Wine Library (Gary’s first business) for the first three to five years you’ll build a base of followers: from video blogging, social media, or ecommerce. Then you can ask for the bigger pay day, where the following knows who you are and is bought in, invested enough to pay for your brand. Here’s the biggest misleading thing about advertising: It’s not about converting people. It’s about those who have already bought in, and talking to them. Call it land grabbing, call it scaling, but build the following first by any means. Wine Library gave away a lot of the cheap liquor, to get people in the door, then salesmanship and store layout had people tasting, experimenting, and purchasing slightly higher end items. Never raise prices for short term gain, by sacrificing long term top-line revenue.

What advice would you give a high school senior in America who is trying to decide whether to go or not to go to college, and which one?
GaryVee gives way to Casey Neistat on this one, the video blogging bad ass who once washed dishes as his only career option while knocking up his baby moms. Neistat has done video campaigns for Nike and Mercedes Benz and made a movie for the New York Times. There’s only two things you should ever do in your life, says Neistat. Eat cheddar cheese and use extra lube with wife. No, it’s 1) discovering your passion and 2) actualizing it. Neistat has snow-boarded in New York City, vlogged it, then vlogged it again, and aaaaaaagain. College is a great place to discover your passion, says Neistat. I agree, it’s a great way to get laid for sure. GaryVee disagrees here, not on the getting laid part, but on college for passion finding. It’s expensive as hell. You’ll likely go into student debt that you can’t even declare bankruptcy to get out of. Besides, if you’re into studying abroad- You know if you want to learn Spanish because that could possiby… Just might help… Your… Job… Prospects… (wink), then why not just go to Mexico or Latin America and learn the culture, instead of books and professors. But tech has given more options away from college. Online courses like the Khan Academy, and Seattle’s very own Chase Jarvis’ Creative Live programs offer real-practical-tactical know how on all things photography, writing, drawing, video editing, food making, food photography, other food stuff, etc.

Do you think giving up a secure job for a new and exciting opportunity is irresponsible when you are the sole provider for your family?
The irresponsible thing would be to not go for the new exciting thing. But you should talk to your spouse, ask whether you guys can live on just one income stream from one partner. Lots of this is just personal, what kind of things you want, how do you already spend your lives. But on practical terms, again it’s the irresponsible thing to not go for the new and exciting things in life, but if you’re the only one bringing in income for your family, then that’s probably a big no no. Entrepreneurship can come at the expense of luxuries, but never rent or food of your children. Now if you’re single, fresh out of college, and in your twenties, you might as well go for it. It’s worth the fight. As for students just graduating college, looking to get into advertising agencies, if you can’t find a job for three or four months, work for free. You might as well get skills, get connections in your industry or field, and most of all get something very useful besides money while working. It’s worth the fight.

What Is Self-Awareness? How do you increase it?
Don’t know.
Rely on others to give critical, tough pill to swallow truth.

