GaryVee on Minimalism, Hustle & Finding Meaning

getting off of social is no different than stop watching CNN or Fox every night or reading the journal or a times we consume as animals and I think if one feels overwhelmed they should stop consuming garyvee is one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs of our generation he's the author of several best-selling books including crushing it and Jab Jab Jab right hook he's a speaker podcaster and CEO of the ad agency vaynermedia in this short 30-minute conversation I get his take for the first time on minimalism he talks about what it means to hustle with intention and provides advice for those looking to live a meaningful life well dude thanks so much connecting so I don't mean are you familiar with minimalism I'm familiar with it the way that many people are familiar with most things which is they can headline read but they're not you know it's not something I'm deeply aware of but I'm the headlining of you know keeping things simple not having a lot of stuff like those kind of things I can understand the nuances from afar has anybody called you a minimalist before no but it's funny that you just said that like I understand that about me in some weird way I mean honestly well you look at your office you got the Jets memorabilia a lot of stuff and things and a lot of people they have misconceptions about what minimalism is and if you have a lot of [ __ ] that means you're not a minimalist I mean it's just a term but realistically a lot of the stuff that you've been talking about lately and even over the past ten years has been about stop focusing on materialism consumerism we're getting distracted with stuff if that's where it goes where it's like you know if there's a deeper understanding to why one owned something then it's a movement I can get really behind once I get educated because I'm desperately sad that people buy things too close emotional gaps why do you think that people do are getting distracted with consumer purchases the car they can't afford because people are insecure and they need validation from others and I think they use items to get validation from others I really do I think I think when I think about anything I buy it's a hundred percent for me even all the chach cos the thrill of finding them at a garage sale or like the one thing I actually buy that I think is silly is like custom New York Jets jerseys but so for me and I'm happy that I don't buy things for other people's opinions but I think most people do I just watch this last night your Melbourne talk that you gave I believe it was last thank you yeah and you were talking about it right you were essentially encouraging 30 to 40 year olds to downsize move back with the parents where does that come from there's something very in the ear that is manifesting to me that's clear which is we have a lot of people out there that really pretty much live their lives based on other people's opinions and I just know that right now somebody's listening or watching who overextended themselves and owns things they can't afford actually desperately loves their parents like you know it probably comes from place of like secretly I'd like to still be living my parents I like them so much it'd be nice you know I don't feel a burden if I walk through the kitchen be like hey mom like I could live my life but like it'd be nice to say hey MA like I like it anyway nonetheless I think a lot of people are overextended and I think they could restart and if they're in the context of you're overextended you're underwater you're in debt you're living too much above your means you can sell off your home that you bought that was too big for you in the first place get some level of dollars back or at least get out of debt or a mortgage move back in with your parents which is a if you're if you're not worried about your high school friends or your co-workers saying oh I'm sorry that you moved back in with your parents if you can deal with the stigma well then that's probably a nice way to save some you know first of all again plenty of parent and children relationships are not great but plenty are amazing and good enough to save the money there's millions of relationships out there were both the kid and the parent would think it's the greatest thing that ever happened that the kid came back and lived there for a year or two including the family including but you know people have pride or or or have a preconceived notion that that's unacceptable that's in the air and so I'm trying to start conversations that I believe in I believe there are hundreds of thousands of people who would become miraculously happier if they if they saw the world in a different way and did something as practical and as out of left field and at least today's popular society as selling their home getting back that equity moving in with their folks for a couple years and re-establishing a Korean you know one of the big things that I'm passionate about is are you doing something you enjoy to do like happiness and fulfillment has to become a much bigger part of the conversation than financial upside I'm always very hurt when people think that I'm pushing hustle and too much work and make it for the money you know my behavior doesn't map to that I would have been a venture capitalist then like I'm talking about actually liking what you do and being in a place where you don't have issues or internal mindset struggles because you actually have been able to start the process of not worrying about other people's opinions the best decision I ever made in my life was after college ninety seven thousand dollars in debt buying a brand new car that wasn't the best decision but it was then moving home and being able to spend two years at home with my parents starting my business actually is funny the my the retained client that changed my life was actually viddler I where I was like their video guy for years and actually I did an interview with you maybe like six seven years ago yeah in the town mm-hmm but if I didn't move home if I didn't take that leap yeah that leap I mean because everybody was starting going going out with their starting salaries they were making money and then for me to move literally my parents basement making no money that was where like minimalism payment for me where I saw I was like oh I don't I don't need all that stuff I don't need to prove anything to anybody I don't need to prove anything in myself like I'm happy with what I have now and I'm happy with the stuff that I'm making and I have a vision of where it could go and I think too many people get just trapped in this that they have to prove themselves to other people a hundred percent you talked a little bit about hustle I think if we had done this interview a year ago even before crushing it it would have been a different interview because you have talked a lot and I think clarified a lot of your vision of what it means to hustle to work hard and obviously there's a lot of people that have their own opinions about hustle and hustle porn and all that stuff so we don't have to kind of go all into that but I am curious about how do we hustle with intention so for myself and there's a lot of people like me who are incredibly ambitious about their work lives but they're also ambitious about their health their wellness their relationships how we make sure that it doesn't sway too far well you know we definitely don't do it by listening to Gary Vee or the anti Gary Vee we make it very contextual to ourselves and we also don't judge ourselves through the process there are going to be times where naturally if right now I'm in the phase in my health in working out especially after I really severely sprained my ankle where over the last four years I'm probably at the heaviest I've got the most fat that I've had in four years and for last three months I've just not been in the same zone that I've been for the last four years I'm dealing with it by not over judging myself and so things have been flow like right now you're massively good physical shape I think you just saw her I did biceps today breasts but I'm sure you intuitively understand they'll probably be a chapter where you won't be as tight on your regimen and what have you the way you know I'm very fascinated by the conversation of work ethic so overworking I'm fascinated by people's ability to not take on accountability I never feel like my points of view and my thoughts and my heartaches and my passions and my story are right I've never believed that in my life I don't they're right I think I enjoy sharing them because I enjoy sharing them I'm a community cater there's some selfish needs of communicating I'm sure but like I share them but everybody shares them this thought that you know I think one of the biggest things we need to get more thoughtful about is this question which is the answer to the question is by conversating with yourself and trying to develop self-awareness and not look for outside validation when people email me and say Gary Vee I've been hustling 15 hours a day I'm like you're getting enough rest you good he like already pumped like with intention my intention is to be happy and so I'm not gonna apologize for enjoying my work like I don't need validation for my work my work is not my family or anything you know I watch these conversations I'm fascinated by them I respect other people points of view I just I don't think that I just want to make sure that they don't think they're right either a lot of people that push against hard work also are people who've already hustled and didn't find fulfillment from it but maybe somebody else did in the same way that I haven't had to clarify my points of view there are plenty interviews in 2010 where my point of view on crush it was make 86 thousand a year and talk about strawberries I've been talking about happiness the whole time I have evolved and and have been forced because I feel like I've been dragged into being a poster child of something that I don't believe in and creating clarity but I think to answer your question directly I think you have to answer that for yourself and what I would say is don't over judge yourself in every chapter it's okay to be losing by 14 points at the end of the first quarter of an NBA game you can win that game and so if you're if you're like working 15 hours a day for a year because you're starting your videography business that's probably okay it does take work to start something if you've achieved some level of success three years in and you don't want to take it to a ten million dollar business from a three million dollar business because you fall in love and you've started a family and you want to go to with them you won't play wiffle ball outside with your child that's amazing there there is no right there's only right for you more importantly there is no line in the sand I'll be very honest with you I'm I'm I'm unbelievably excited to evolve there may be a reason there be a time where I don't want to be as passion about my work and there may be some cause or some game or who the heck knows what I'll get excited about and so I think to answer your question it's a to do it for yourself be to know that it's going to Evan flow when you're 96 in debt and in basement you're grinding when you're not in the same place you don't have to do the same things you may still want to I still want to I love operating I you know I was afforded a lot of opportunities besides building vaynermedia and having a client service business thousand employees a lot of chaos I enjoy that and look there's a lot of people I don't post pictures of my family on social media lots of people do I could judge that I choose not to I think there's a lot of judgment in the air on this issue right now and so yeah I'm trying to do a better job or last year of clarifying it because I don't want to be dragged down in the momentum of something I don't believe in which is why in the world what I believe in why would any human being wants somebody to burn out and not be happy but guess what I would be burnt out and unhappy if I work 9 to 5 I would die yeah I think that was my favorite thing that you said in crushing it was this idea of thinking about the people who are just drudging through a job that they hate I know unbelievable amounts of unhappiness from people that work 40 hours a week who gets to decide definitely not me and definitely not people who are pushing very hard in what they perceive to be my point of view on this issue I think I've been consistent I could have been better at clarifying it along the way one area in which you're definitely not a minimalist is the amount of content you produce yes and also the amount of content that you suggest people produce and even in crushing it you said there's not there's not one person who isn't creating enough content and that's I agree with you I think obviously there's an appetite for it you can always be creating more but in the same way let's use working out cuz you're in such great shape please tell you you could be in better shape yeah you're in really good [ __ ] shape so that's my punchline which is a good behavior is in perpetuity I do believe in the modern Internet to create awareness for something you want whether that's to raise money for a non-profit or to sell glasses I believe the volume of content is because then you're able to contextualize it to your audience is absolutely the leverage of the current state of consumer consumption one's capability financially energy-wise creatively you know that's no different than saying run really fast if you can own really really fast faster than anybody you can win an Olympic gold medal and then make twenty five million dollars a year in sponsorship if that's what you choose or live in a cave and say I want a gold medal I'm speaking to what I genuinely believe is the right strategy you know how one interprets that you know is really up to them I think it's it's certainly true for when you're getting started out when nothing is sticking and you have to be on every platform because you don't know which one when something is sticking you need to collect ripple down on it right that's what I was gonna ask look you know like I understand what you're saying you're trying to find your thing well if you find your thing is you know how to make potato salad there's 87,000 potatoes so I mean I made a thousand episodes of wine show on viddler that I could still be doing good there's too many wines there's so many things one can do I don't you know I've come to learn that I'm a little more creative than I thought you know I seem more creative angles I think people get I think people we underestimate how much creativity it takes to create content but that's why I think documenting over creating is a very fascinating conversation but I guess with the documenting versus creating - is that is there enough of a differentiator in terms of like I don't think you have enough scale that you're reaching everybody so to me in a net-net game I'd rather get 20% of my audience to get bored I'm seeing the same old thing too me the opportunity to consistently reach more people like you know there may not be enough differentiation through the document thing but nobody's reaching even a fraction of the amount of people they could be there are literally millions of people that are into entrepreneurship and business in America that I've never heard my name and I've gone at it hard for the last 10 years at scale at the tippy top of my game and I think we'd all agree I'm out there millions millions of Americans that are in Tantra premiership and business that have never heard my name so that I've got something I believe that has to map your ambition same with any brand service organization you know I think the fragmentation of attention across all these mediums has created a scenario where you can't have over exposure you talked a little bit about quality being subjective in a lot of ways that that comes to play with this idea I want to push back a little base in that yeah because I mean at least from my own experience it's been producing one high-quality video every single week and that's like eventually what it became in the beginning it was podcasting I'm doing eight teasers for every single podcast I'm putting them on social I'm sharing them with the people that were on my show and it became so much work when I was seeing a massive return on these short edited videos that I was making eight to ten minute videos on YouTube and then it became for me how can I make one amazing video every week versus five decent videos that's what worked for you yeah and first Steven Spielberg gets one movie you know a year yours is doing way too much volume for him right and for me it's not even close to enough volume because I think there's 47 meaningful pieces of content potentially in this 40 minutes we spend together I think that's right I think that goes back to self-awareness and back to the theme that's I think evolving here which is this is very contextual you know I think that's right for you and by the way I think the debate for you is if you know how much micro content does come out of this 40 minutes it used to be a lot more yeah and I mean because it it was just for the me here's the question and if you hire somebody for $40,000 a year who's great at it in post-production contextual to social will it be much more and will that lead to much more awareness to the top of the macro piece of content that you're passionate about yeah and then it becomes what are your ambitions do you wanna make that investment so I really don't think there's a right or wrong I think that what I'm passionate about is oh my god there's a permission for an enormous amount of content and for you this has been the way it played out but for some people a single piece of micro content on Instagram became the piece that brought them awareness to their long-form YouTube video also in the beginning if your shitty then it doesn't matter it's like maybe one shitty thing a week it'd be better to make five shitty things or to your point I don't think so I think like I you know I think [ __ ] is [ __ ] like the audience gets to decide I think you know this format works for you yeah this will be fun so I did last year 30-day social media detox quit social media I so uploaded YouTube videos once a week but I didn't really see a social media for me you didn't read the comments I didn't read the comments now I completely go I saw the greatest it I had a video go viral at that time which now is 8 million views which but like so that's it's hard to say it's because I quit social media that my social media following grew but I saw a massive growth in my audience and the viral videos already it's too tough to eliminate it why should do it again yeah but I think did you like it yeah no I loved it it was great but like for me when was this this was October of last year but the idea and this is something that says goodness talked about Cal Newport has talked about the idea that social media is a symptom that just because you have 10x social media managers on your team doesn't mean your new 10 X 10 X the numbers yeah that's right what are your thoughts on social media obviously you were one of the first ones I was talking about how important it's gonna be for brands and personal brands this retraction now for a different reason I think it's great I mean I to me I don't overthink it I I you know there was time like tip to me I'm so contextual like dude I don't think you grew because you were off it I think I appreciate you want to finance a look that viral video you get you get a YouTube video that has eight million views pop on it or 2 million at that little window you're gonna feel the effects on your social social numbers yeah I mean look I think that I think that people need to try to be self-aware about what makes them happy and doesn't make them happy right now social me I've used social media as a as a mirror I think what people are putting out is an incredible indicator of what's inside of them so right now there's a lot of political anxiety there's a lot of ideological anxiety and so what we're seeing is a lot of judgment you know I think you know the early days especially when you and I were on ER they're like there was a lot of Nirvana early users it was very soft I think you are seeing a different version of that today but that is you know getting off of social is no different than stop watching CNN or Fox every night or reading the journal or a times we consume as animals and I think if one feels overwhelmed they should stop consuming but I don't put social media consumption in a very different place than the films and music and and books that one reads like the collective replies of people's angst is no different than Kurt Cobain's singular angst other than it's a collective versus singular and so I think it's great and like when people like oh like like what are you gonna think about that I'm like I don't care about social media I really don't I care about humans communicating with each other I'm fascinated by communication and I'm fastening that we now have a collective ability to communicate at a scale that we've never seen before and I think right now people are focusing on the downside of that and I think we're forgetting the upside of it there's so much love and greatness going on every day I think humans find what they're looking for they're signing in to Twitter to find a fight to find somebody to fight with or to see some negativity you're gonna find it I think if you go to Twitter or Instagram to find happiness and positivity it's there at scale I'm curious for people who are trying to find meaning in life to live a meaningful life what would you say to them I think a couple things you know it's a very heavy question I think people first of all have to give a lot more thought to the environment and the parents that raised them there's a lot of answers in there like a lot so that's interesting to me that's just one ha take I believe one of the great ways to mix things up is what you listen to and who you surround yourself with I would I'm unbelievably passionate about people finding more optimistic practical friends and I and I think optimism gets can get can slide into delusion which is why I say optimistic Oh practical you know it's funny as you were talking about middle ism like I did it it's so interesting that you're the first person ever say it to me that I can recall and it feels very real to me like I don't have outside things kind of driving me and that's what leads me to a lot of happiness and so I would say auditing your circle like if somebody wants to meet a minute for life little meaningful life ly just get happier I think the people that you spend your time with is a big one the amount of people listening right now who've got a mother who's super pessimistic and cynical but they love their mother and they don't realize that cutting down their time from seven hours a week of engagement with their mother - - and adding like going out of their way to seeing the person that's always smiling in the office and trying to spark up a friendship and become friends with that person and cutting up that seven hours a week from mom to - to mom maybe thirty minutes with that person and maybe reallocating the other hours to themselves or other things is a massive deal it's a massive deal like there's only offense and defense there's only the force in the dark side right and I think that um right now people are a lot of people are choosing to be driven by fear and negativity without realizing it and so if you're listening right now my biggest thing is start leaning into a little bit more of optimism and positivity I think we're in overcorrects is when it goes into delusion and that's when you start creating entitlement and that is the tightrope that I've been talking about thinking about watching and it's I create entitlement a lot of times because I like positivity and it took me a little while maybe 20 or 30 years 20 years of operating and managing and parenting and being like okay I think I can see this but I'm not but I'm a product of not having entitlement I mean everything you're talking about is in the alignment with like minimalist principles living a meaningful life I think it's just that sometimes people put their their own life and try to fit it into a box they they try to they're not personalizing it enough for themselves too many people aren't asking themselves the right questions I think one of the things that is probably evolving my content is as I have more attention I feel a greater responsibility and so I've become very passionate about creating more context I think I'm at my best when I have time to talk like this and I'm not when I'm too excited on stage or in a one-second clip you know I think that I'm I'm becoming more thoughtful because I'm surprised at the sheer level of quick judgments that our society has become comfortable with I thought about doing it myself I mean I reread crush it and I'm like there's some things in there that I could pull up and say hey this is kind of crazy yeah I'm like this is no worse than pulling up tweets from 10 years ago it's like great just have a conversation it's it's very easy to do that because I think it's very easy and and it's also written in context I wrote that book in 2008 when people like the economy collapsed and this internet thing emerged and there was a land grab there was an amazing opportunity if you were a fast mover on those platforms and those things played out you know it's not as easy to build a huge personal brand or a media property on YouTube or podcast or Instagram as it was five years ago its supply and demand you know so I don't feel anything or any like it's contextual like yes I think you should have spent all your money on Manhattan real estate one hundred eighty years ago and that was a good bet yeah so yeah I you know I also I also and so one of the things that's struck me in the last year that I'm like oh wait a minute these people think they're right I never think I'm right ever I think I'm communicating my observations I have no interest in telling anybody how to do anything really I don't I don't have that level of audacity and I think I think what I'm watching is much more in much you know I don't I'm surprised I'm surprised that some of my friend contemporaries that take different points of view are coming at it with more of a I'm right you're wrong you know that's been really interesting to me that's something I want to throw more in the air it's probably why I'm yapping down being late yeah cuz I respect your platform and like just kind of respect your point of view on this like I'm surprised that we've got not surprised we are in that place and so I wanted I'm gonna do a much better job over the next half decade to say look this is how I see it these are my circumstances and I think I'm I also pretty aware of my happiness and not that everybody has the same chemicals or circumstances but I I would feel we're missed not to speak about what I say I also think that when we start demonizing work ethic we get into it I think we are the byproduct of the last ten years being so fruitful you know a lot of the people that push against me are venture-backed company founders who were able to raise 25 million dollars over four years based on their idea by never running a profitable company so everybody and not that they're wrong I just think everybody has different perspectives so I think we need to get into a healthier you know minimalism I'm sure I don't know I assume there's some sort of counter debate to it and oh yeah yeah like there's a minimalism is dead and it's just the whole thing I mean from the same perspective of hustle it's like well it's not a cult these are just some ideas I think it's important and I think you know for example I think I both love work ethic and minimalism and I think they're you know I already know that I'm a kind of enigma and have like some pretty contradictions within me so I'm hoping that because of that and that's just the luck of the draw of DNA and given the platform that I've earned and been afforded maybe I can create some better conversations because I think I think it'd be a really good time for all of us in any sector about any debate red versus white wine let alone minimalism anti mentalism hustle Anton it's a really good time to get back to a cordial state of debate I also know what's contextual like how can't you tell somebody who's not afforded any opportunities that work ethic isn't gonna help them there's no no thing you can pull up that speaks to me saying money is happiness I wasn't raised in that environment I know it's not true so that's a lot of fun yeah thanks for watching you can let Gary know what you thought of this interview on social he's at gary vee across all platforms get behind-the-scenes of how i make my videos including a breakdown of how I landed my interview with Gary Vee prepped for the interview and set up in less than 45 minutes at patreon.com slash mat I also released an exclusive AMA podcast just for patrons thanks to Caleb logic for helping to capture this interview I couldn't have done it without him and thanks to Gary for taking the time to have this meaningful conversation you can continue the discussion about minimalism and hustle in the comments below see you next time [Music]

Channel: Matt D'Avella

Views: 1,576,993

Keywords: garyvee, gary vaynerchuk, gary vee, minimalism, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, gary vee motivation, what defines a minimalist business?, hustle, finding meaning, matt davella, Matt D'Avella, gary v minimalism, gary v hustle, gary v finding meaning

Id: nhMuBEvopk8

Length: 30min 46sec (1846 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2019