Gary Vee: Your AI & Social Media Must-Knows + 7 Life-Changing Keys to Success! Pt 1 Gary Vaynerchuk

I've never said this publicly, so it's fun to give you the exclusive.

Gary!

You ready?

I don't know if you're seeing my goosebumps here.

Regret is the great thing we should fear.

And if you do not chase your dream or you jump into the water, if you don't go for it, all because you're scared what your spouse, your siblings, your parents, your neighbors, your friends, or worst of all, a random person on the internet that leaves a comment on the post, think about you, you will wake up at 70, 80, 90, 100, and you will regret the way you lived your only life.

We have this little sliver

and to not squeeze this little orange of life for every ounce of juice that it has is devastating to me.

I was scared to ride a bike.

I was scared to kiss a girl.

I was scared a lot.

But I then jumped and I wasn't scared.

What they're doing now to protect themselves from the micro hurt of judgment

is going to be super trumped by the macro hurt of regret in their later years.

So good.

That is so good.

You have two kids.

Do you want more kids?

It's the first time I've ever told this story.

Success leaves clues and when people betray you or hurt you or go against you or

you don't let that take up your capacity by staying in a place of resentment.

You quickly go to, how could I have helped them?

You go to a place of love.

It's fascinating.

I just am imagining how much of your capacity is freed up.

To your point, wow, what an observation.

I believe the reason I can do 9 million things, and I do 9 million things,

is

that I

do not have the ability to dwell.

If you've ever felt uncertain about the future with AI, social media, and the rapid pace of digital growth, if you've ever wondered, will I even have a job in a few years?

Will AI replace us all?

Does college still matter?

What should I tell my partner, my friends, my kids or grandkids to do so that they have a bright future?

If you have these questions, then today's episode is for you.

My guest is known by millions as someone who predicts what's next and can tell us exactly what he thinks we should do to put our lives and our future in perspective today.

Gary Baynerchek, known as Gary Vee, is someone who's not only built billion-dollar businesses, he's shaped the way so many understand branding, marketing, entrepreneurship, and getting attention online in big ways.

I can lose every dollar I have.

I could be universally disliked by the public.

Literally, I'm not crippled at all by that.

I have this, in fact, I have almost like a weird dark fantasy of like,

I was very aware very early on that I was different.

But I knew fairly early on that people like me.

But it's funny, and here's a big sentence.

It's because I knew I liked them first.

I believe the way I encounter for the first time a stranger, what I feel in my heart and soul, is a deeper energy of love than most people when they encounter their relatives they like.

Your eyes started tearing up.

Your eyes have started tearing up right now.

You got goosebumps all up and down.

My father is incredibly honorable, incredibly,

word is bond.

My dad thinks a slight embellishment, James, is like the great lie of a lifetime.

So when I started working in my dad's liquor store at 14, He scared the shit out of me on that.

This means I'm saying something that's the most honest thing I could say.

And my goosebumps go, that's how real it is.

Gary is a serial entrepreneur and serves as the chairman of VaynerX, the CEO of Vayner Media, and the CEO and creator of the entertainment and collectibles company VFriends.

Gary is considered one of the leading global minds on what's next in culture, business, and the internet.

He was an early investor in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, Snapchat, Coinbase, and Uber.

He's a six-time New York Times best-selling author and documents his daily life as a CEO through his social media channels, which have more than 45 million followers.

His podcast, The Gary Vee Audio Experience, ranks amongst the top podcasts globally.

He's a newlywed to his wife, Mona, a dad of two, and he's the person millions of people look to daily.

And he's taken time out of his busy schedule.

He's flown here.

He's in person on the podcast just for you today.

From advice on mindset and how to succeed on social media with AI and entrepreneurship and how to know exactly what's coming next and what to do about it in a world of technology and AI that's changing by the second.

I am so excited for this conversation.

And whether today you're listening for yourself or because someone that you love shared this episode with you, I want to welcome you to the Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast family.

Thank you so much for being here.

And can you take two seconds right now and just hit the subscribe or follow button on the app that you're listening or watching on thank you so much it truly means so much to me you can also get your inspiration into your inbox from me for free you can join my newsletter community at jamiekernleima.com also this incredible podcast episode today it's not just for you and me please share this with every single person you know who might need some inspiration today or perhaps a boost in their self-belief because what you can hear today can truly impact mine yours and their lives too.

Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima Show.

Oprah, how have you defied the odds?

Her show is unlike any I've ever done.

A revelation.

When you listen, it feels like a hug, but your brain and your spirit and your heart is like, wow.

Melinda French Gates.

When I look into Jamie's eyes, I feel like I am on some other cosmic level with her.

I could see the light around her.

She's infused with light.

Imagine overcoming self-doubt, learning to believe in yourself and trust yourself and know you are enough.

Welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lima Show.

Jamie Kern-Lima is her name.

Everybody needs Jamie Kern-Lima in their life.

Jamie Kern Lima.

Jamie, you're so inspiring.

Jamie Kern Lima.

Gary Vee, welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lima Show.

James, thank you so much.

That's such a sweet intro.

I'm really, really genuinely excited to be here.

I'm so excited you're here.

First time on the show.

Yes, thank you for having me, really.

First time on the show.

Congrats about the show.

It's really exciting to be here.

Thank you.

I want to just right off the top ask you this because so many people are impacted by this.

They're afraid to start or to make a change or to go after a dream because they're afraid of judgment or rejection or they're sort of like frozen by fear of what other people might think.

That's right.

What do you say to them?

That it's the greatest pandemic in our society.

You know, we've created this, I don't know if you've heard this term, imposter syndrome.

Yes.

This is fun to say to you.

It is makeup for the word insecure.

The world is insecure.

Period.

You know, this has been a great epiphany of my life.

I was so mothered properly.

I really genuinely, and for the people that follow me that are listening right now that know me, they know how often I reference my parents and specifically my mother.

I was parented so uncomfortably well.

The greatest book I'll write, and I'm, and even though I've written all these books and have done well, I've been working slowly but surely because I want to give it more time on a book called Perfectly Parented.

Parented.

And it's obviously, you know, of course I wasn't perfectly parented.

There's no such thing, or is there such a thing?

That's all judgment.

But it gets to the crux of your question.

The world is insecure.

I'm devastated by it.

It has driven my personal brands' content in hindsight my whole career.

And what I say is

one of my great fascinations in society is that I think we've overglamorized youth

and we've dramatically undervalued wisdom and the elderly in the last 40 years.

There's been a a huge shift.

For the history of time, I'm talking cave men and women, the elder was put on a pedestal.

And that was all the way until recent times.

And as you know, because of technology, we're more likely to make fun of our grandmother for not knowing how to use TikTok than we are to sit next to her and extract her wisdom.

And we

we now overvalue 20-year-olds for their knowledge of technology or fashion or what's cool.

And that's okay.

I love that.

I sit here with a ball cap.

I'm 49 years old.

I love being youthful.

There's a lot of beauty in the fact that our society has become more youthful.

I love that the golden girls looked one way and the sex in the city girls looked the different way.

There's a lot of greatness to that, but there are also consequences.

And I feel like we as a society have dramatically underestimated the elder wisdom.

And I implore everyone.

here to spend more time with a 70, 80, and 90 year old that is not a relative because it will be highly valuable to their their life.

And that little rant about the elderly gets me to my point,

which is

we have gotten to a place where we have things out of whack.

And if you speak to a 90-year-old that is not your grandfather or grandmother, what I promise you, Jamie, you will see is that regret is the great thing we should fear.

And if you do not chase your dream, or you jump into the water,

if you don't go for it, all because you're scared what your spouse, your siblings, your parents, your neighbors, your friends, or worst of all, a random person on the internet that leaves a comment on the post think about you, you will wake up at 70, 80, 90, 100, and you will regret the way you lived your only life.

I don't know if you know this, Jane.

We were not, you and I and everybody listening, we were not born for a very long time in the history of the world.

And we will be dead and we will be dead forever.

So we have this little sliver.

And to not squeeze this little orange of life for every ounce of juice that it has is devastating to me based on the fact that your parenting, your DNA, and your environment led to you valuing someone else's opinion

greater than your own opinion about what you want to do.

And so I continue, what do I say?

I say, I'm searching every day of my life for the words that may make one person on the other side of this podcast finally jump maybe that little rant did it but at the end of the day whatever it takes therapy exercise reading hanging out with different friends cutting out negative people

cold plunges massages like hiking like whatever it takes to get you to jump

and I will say this And this should be very encouraging.

Everyone listening here was scared of doing things in her adolescence.

I was scared to kiss a girl.

I was scared.

In fact, I was a real scaredy cat, which is wild.

I was scared to swim.

I swam when I was nine, late.

And by the way, on the record, the only reason I swam is because my sister started swimming, and there was no way I was going to have my six-year-old sister start swimming before me.

So I jumped directly in the pool the second I saw her swimming.

And I'm like, we swam at the same time.

I couldn't fathom that she started.

I was scared first.

I was scared to ride a bike.

I didn't want to skin my knee.

I didn't want to hurt my elbow.

I was scared to kiss a girl.

I was scared a lot, but I then jumped

and I wasn't scared.

And I really believe someone here quitting a job, breaking up with a bad boyfriend, starting to make content on TikTok.

The thing I'm wildly passionate about these days, we'll get into it later, I'm sure, live social shopping, which is super cool to say in front of you, given that you're the queen of that format in a different way.

I just want people to jump because they're going to regret, Jamie, they're going to regret the negative of like

what they're doing now to protect themselves from the micro hurt of judgment

is going to be super trumped by the macro hurt of regret in their later years it's so good that is so good and i think for a lot of people it's hard in the moment or it feels overwhelming are you scared of anything right now

only the health and wellness of my inner circle of family and friends.

The only thing I'm scared of,

I can lose every dollar I have.

I could be universally disliked by the public.

Literally, I'm not crippled at all by that.

I have this, in fact, I have almost like a weird dark fantasy of like going back to zero.

Like, in fact, it's really weird.

I have to really work through it.

You know, like I'm that not scared of it that I'm almost like weirdly fantasized and romanticize about going back to the humble beginnings.

Is it because you want to like the victory of building it again?

Or

you want none of the pressure that comes with it.

None of the pressure I love.

Okay.

Like it's why I'm so out there, right?

Yeah.

Gary Vee, me.

Yeah.

I've been one of the most consistent public figures of the last 20 years, at least on the internet.

The pressure, no, because in fact I don't feel the pressure.

I live what the rant I just made.

I do not value other, I do not value my mother's opinion about me.

She is my number one North Star.

So why am I going to value some random listener to this podcast?

How did you get to this place?

Because she built me.

It had the DNA.

She has that DNA.

Like, I do believe that I was, I do believe some people are born with some level of a confidence genetic versus not.

I believe that to be true.

However, I've watched friends and people around me go from shy or insecure to dramatically more confident.

I've seen it.

So I think you can build it.

So A, I think I was predisposed a little bit.

B,

I'm telling you, my mother is a masterclass.

I'm telling you, James.

She made me feel remarkable about myself, self-esteem for days, but she didn't create delusion or entitlement.

She grounded me.

She kept me accountable.

So I didn't, she like balanced.

She was purple in a world of red and blue.

Right?

And then finally, environment.

I was born in the Soviet Union.

I immigrated here when I was three.

We were uncomfortably poor.

I lived most of my childhood as lower middle class to somewhat to middle.

Even when we got to middle class, my mom

acted like we were lower middle class or borderline poor, meaning they never bought me anything, like toys.

Like it was, I remember I got like three toys for one holiday season and I thought it was like,

I mean, I can't even explain to you what I thought it was like.

It was the year before my brother was born and me and my sister, I think my mom was overcompensating that holiday season.

And like I literally was like,

getting six different toys, three different toys instead of one was like, I can't even explain it to you.

Whereas like, you know, whereas some people like max out their credit card to give their kids 40 toys.

And I understand why, but I think, I think environment, I grew up in Jersey in the 80s, you know, it was, you go outside, your parents are not helicoptering you, you get into fights, you skin your knee, you, it's rugged out, especially 80s Jersey, lower middle class.

Like, I got into fights.

I, I, you know, I learned to be respectful because if you disrespected somebody, you might get punched in the face.

Like a lot of things we don't grow up with nowadays

behind our computer screens.

Everybody's a tough guy on Twitter.

Right.

You know, in 1980, Twitter was the the cafeteria and if you said something wrong, it happened.

Right.

And so, you know, I think the combination of environment, nature, nurture, and here I am.

And in fact,

my confidence,

I don't think belongs to me.

Like,

Gary Vee,

me,

all the accolades I get, I think that's an indication of my parents, the American dream, and Jersey.

I think V-friends, my businesses, I feel a little bit more of me, you know?

But I think one of the reasons I'm so detached from my personal

brand and my awareness slash fame, whatever you want to call it, or my financial success is

I kind of feel like I'm the byproduct of them, not necessarily on me, if that makes sense.

Also, you know, there are, as you know, hundreds and millions of people online, a lot of people putting content out there, speaking their soul, doing all the things, even showing up authentically.

And very few people are able to communicate a thought or an idea in a way that just

like stops people.

People can relate to, stops people, but also that people just connect to, that they instantly foster trust with, that they want to watch.

Do you,

you being one of the best communicators in the world, indisputable by numbers, not an opinion, indisputable by numbers and by impact and by the number of people that repost your content, the number of people that are on your pages.

Have you, do you feel that you have a calling or like an anointing that was predetermined on your life to be an impactful communicator?

Is it something you studied obsessively with?

Because it's different than,

I'm guessing, all the people you were raised around,

all the people that you give credit to so much for.

I believe that I did not grow up thinking anyone on earth would know me.

You know, I made my first piece of content when I was was 30 years old, and it was a wine video that I was trying to use to build up my wine business.

And it wasn't until 34 that I started to make the kind of content that I'm now known for.

So

I didn't, you know, I didn't know who Tony Robbins was.

I didn't know, like, I didn't know that game of personalities, or I didn't know what a motivational speech was.

So, so I didn't study anything, I didn't know anything.

On the other side, I think that

I think that I was very aware very early on that I was different.

That I could say.

You know, I remember consciously

deciding school didn't mean anything in fourth grade in 1986 when not going to college meant you were the lowest of low.

And I had the confidence to follow my calling, which at the time I called being a businessman, it's now known as entrepreneurship, right?

I knew that I was, I didn't know the word charismatic, but I, you know, I was the president of our school in fifth grade.

And even before that, I knew that humans gravitated towards me.

Every kid in my neighborhood, even leaving their parents,

I didn't know what charisma was.

I didn't know what being dynamic was,

but I knew fairly early on that people like me.

But it's funny, and here's a big sentence.

It's because I knew I liked them first.

It's really wild how much I love people.

And I mean the general public.

Like, like, I wish everyone on this podcast could see in like visuals with words or diagrams.

or colors how I feel when I'm walking through an airport.

I wish people knew how I feel about your two guys right now behind the camera.

I'm being dead serious.

When I said hey guys to them, I wish, I don't know if you're seeing my goosebumps here.

I do.

I wish people knew how I felt when I encounter a stranger.

I believe what I'm about to say.

I've never said this publicly.

This is fun to give you the exclusive.

We need to pause for a super brief break.

While we do, take a moment and share this episode with every single person that you know who this could inspire because this conversation can truly be the words and inspiration that they need to hear today to keep going, to remember they matter, to feel less alone, more enough, more connected, and more worthy.

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And I'd love to hang out with you even more, especially if you could use an extra dose of inspiration, which is exactly why I've created my free weekly weekly newsletter that's also a love letter to you delivered straight to your inbox each and every Tuesday morning from me.

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And now more of this incredible conversation together.

It's really wild how much I love people.

And I mean the general public.

Like, like, I wish everyone on this podcast could see in like visuals with words or diagrams

or colors how I feel when I'm walking through an airport.

Look, I wish people people knew how I feel about your two guys right now behind the camera.

I'm being dead serious.

When I said hey guys to them, I wish, I don't know if you're seeing my goosebumps here.

I wish people knew how I felt when I encounter a stranger.

I believe what I'm about to say, I've never said this publicly, so this is fun to give you the exclusive.

I believe the way I encounter for the first time a stranger, what I feel in my heart and soul, is a deeper energy of love than most people when they encounter their relatives they like.

So I think I always knew that.

And then I think the serendipity of how the world works.

I'll give you an example.

If I was 30 years older, I would have never been known because I would have never left my family in New Jersey to go to Hollywood to be found.

The internet just happened to come along at the right time.

The maturity of the internet to be in the social media era came at the right time.

and I just happened to be at the right place

and I understood what was happening and I had the you know I believe that many people build audiences for many reasons I believe I've built the audience I've built because I think I outlove my community my audience

in comparison to almost anybody else producing content in the world.

I really believe that.

And I don't think I'm better than, and I'm sure there's others that feel exactly the way I do towards strangers and acquaintances, but I'm in the fucking mix at the top of I've never made a piece of content where my brain did not go into what's in it for them.

I believe one of the reasons most of the people listening right now do not build the audience they're hoping to build is they spend all of their time thinking about, is this gonna get me likes?

Is this gonna get me followers?

Is this gonna get me money?

When I make content, I mean, we talked before camera, you're like, I'm like, I wanna be on this show because I know I'm the right voice for three of the people on this podcast listening right now that have never heard of me.

I always think about them.

I then know, listen, I'm not some saint or angel.

I'm aware that if I'm bringing value, that may lead to opportunity for me and the things that I want for myself emotionally, financially.

But I only know how to start with what's in it for them.

In fact, I'm at a point in my life where I'm trying to be more balanced of selfish and selfless behavior because I think I go into superhero syndrome too much.

And that's something I'm thinking through in my life professionally, personally, and just in general, but never with my audience.

I think I've got the right framework.

When you said

if people understood what you were thinking and how much love you have when you meet a stranger, your eyes started tearing up.

Your eyes just started tearing up right now.

You got goosebumps all up and down.

Where do you think that comes from?

I'm just a very fortunate,

back to the earlier question.

I genuinely think I was genetically predisposed for it, and then I think I was molded by it.

I view as though I was the really remarkable ingredients of love, and then I had the best chef cook me.

I think between who I was and the mother I had,

I think I was the best.

I think that's the best analogy I can use.

I think for loving strangers, I think I was all the perfect ingredients, the best carrots, the best meat, the best chicken, the best sauce.

And then I had the best chef in the world cook my ingredients.

And then here I am.

You talk about your dream of wanting to buy the jets.

Your mom's

role in that.

Can you share?

Yeah, I think, you know, everyone, this is pretty deep.

There's a very detailed video at the top of my Instagram.

It's Gary V-E-E.

If you want to get a little more color on this, very simply, back to selfish ones.

I have this great dream, always have had it since fourth or fifth grade, around the time I decided school didn't matter, that I would, that was probably also the time I realized I couldn't play for the Jets.

I was pretty good.

I have very good hand-eye coordination.

So in first, second, third grade, I was a really good athlete and better than all the kids in school and baseball and things of that nature.

And then around fourth and fifth and sixth grade, I was like, wait a minute, what's this strength, speed, and athleticism part?

And I was like, uh-oh, I'm not going to be a football player.

and I probably at that point I was already doing very well with lemonade stands and shoveling snow and then by sixth grade I was making a lot of money selling trading cards and I kind of pivoted to okay I can't play for the Jets I'm gonna own the Jets and so I had this great dream and that's always been there and then

the part that you're referencing when I was seven and fell in love with the Jets

A lot of the boys in the neighborhood had a Jets jersey.

And I wanted one.

And I asked my mom, can I get a Jets jersey?

Because we played a lot of backyard football and everybody had a Jets jersey and I had a t-shirt and I wanted to be in a mix and I wanted I love the Jets now and I want a Jets jersey well for all the immigrants listening when you're a couple years into America and you're not very you have really no money buying a $20 at the time Jets jersey was not on the in the cards you know everything was for food and shelter, even clothes.

Like my dad worked at a liquor store and like, I literally wore liquor t-shirts my whole life.

you know like we did not buy clothes for them at least t-shirts

and so

at night for the next several weeks because my mom was an immigrant mom cooked cleaned like waited for her husband to come home at 10 p.m.

cooked for him like her day was

7 a.m.

to midnight cook clean

parent cook clean parent like real hard work um

and then after all that at night she she knitted me a jet sweater.

I don't know if you know this, if you've seen my content, I put up the number five a lot.

I do this a lot.

And the reason I do that is that jet jersey that she knitted me had the number five on it because already it was my favorite number.

And when I knew seven or ten years ago, I'm like, oh man, I'm going to take a lot of pictures for the rest of my life.

Like, I kind of...

tipped where I knew I was going to be known and I knew we were in the pictures era with phones and I remember thinking like huh I'm going to probably take millions of photos for the rest of my life with people.

I'm like, I want it to be meaningful and I started to throw up the five as a little head nod to my mom, you know.

And so

yes, she made me that jersey.

It had the number five on it.

I wore it every day and now it is in a literally fireproof safety deposit box so that when I buy the New York Jets, I'm going to hang that jersey.

I'm going to build a stadium, potentially in Queens, because that's where the Jets fans want the Jets back.

Even though they're in Jersey.

It's funny.

When we immigrated to America, I lived in Queens for two years.

And then we moved to Jersey.

And the big thing among Jets fans is they play in New Jersey.

I don't know if you know this.

At MetLife Stadium where the Jets and Giants play, they play in New Jersey, even though they're both New York.

But they originally played in Queens.

And I always think, like, when I buy them, will I keep them in Jersey since I'm such a Jersey boy?

Or do I bring them to Queens?

Because a lot of the diehards want that.

And when I first came to America, that's where, you know, it's very romantic for me.

Anyway, the other thing that's romantic to me is when I build my own stadium, I'm going to put that Jets jersey right in the front of the main entrance for everyone to see.

And it's going to have a little plaque, and it's going to say, from not being able to own a $20 Jets jersey to eventually owning the entire team, all of you can do it too.

So I think about that a lot.

How has your mom responded to that?

You know, I think at this point in my life, it's very clear to me that it is shocking how much I do strictly for the opportunity to make my parents proud.

And my mom is like

my best friend, you know.

Everything I've accomplished is because of her, 100%.

Like, it is so not lost on me.

And by the way, before my dad sends me this clip and yells at me and complains.

I'm also very fortunate.

I think there was a couple pieces that my mom could not instill in me.

My dad is much more competitive than my mom.

Huge factor in my career and my personality.

And the other thing, my mom is gift of gab, and so am I, which means a little embellishment, a little, you know.

My father is incredibly honorable, incredibly,

word is bond.

My dad thinks a slight embellishment, James, is like the great lie of a lifetime.

So when I started working in my dad's liquor store at 14, he scared the shit out of me on that.

I remember one time I told him I had a big day of selling a wine he wanted me to sell.

And on the way home, we were driving and he said, How'd you do with the wine?

And I was like, Dad, I sold 20 cases of the wine.

I sold a ton.

And then that was Saturday.

And then a Monday, when he came back from work,

I was in school.

I was a kid.

When he came back home for dinner that night, He like got really mad at me and he's like, You sold 17.3 cases of that wine.

And like really made it like a deal.

Like, this is a problem.

And I was like, what are we talking about here?

17, 20, same shit.

And over, I would say from 14 to 18, my dad instilled in me honor and truth and sucked out of me embellishment and borderline bullshit.

And I believe that that has had a profound impact.

on who I am and how I'm perceived and who I became as a public figure.

I think a lot of people when when they first encounter my energy and my style are like, wait a minute, I don't know when you first saw, like, I'm very aware that when you're this hyper, you know, I'm pretty chill right now in this interview by comparison.

Like I'm pretty high energy.

I, you know, I'm selling my beliefs.

Sometimes I'm selling my collectibles or my wine.

You know, I'm empathetic to some people being like, eh, what's up with this guy?

And I always think about this.

I'm always like, man,

you know, a lot of people go on the journey with me of like, eh, I don't know about this guy to like, I really like this guy.

And a lot of times I think like, man, that's all my dad.

Because if I wasn't as, like, if I wasn't as true and I was the bizarre, you know, the Superman, there's like Superman, bizarre Superman, like the bad, if I was, if I was the bad version of Gary Vee that some either start believing or even some people are very cynical, think that I am, I wonder if I could have been that.

if I didn't have my father in my life.

You know, I wonder if with a different father, if my dad was a shyster and at 14, I started working for him and I already had all this gift of gab and charisma, would have I gone down a path of being a shyster instead of something I'm incredibly proud of?

Very grateful for my parents.

Does it bother you when you sense someone else is embellishing or lying?

Not really.

You know,

you want to, this is going to be a fun part of the podcast.

It's funny how quickly I jumped from like answering you not really to where I want to go with this.

Not at all.

And let me explain where I'm going.

I actually,

I actually

am incredibly empathetic, sympathetic, and compassionate

to people that do wrong things.

I actually struggle with judgment

and anger.

to things that people do that are really not great

Let alone something like a white lie or an abel.

Like, I struggle with judgment, James.

When I see someone doing something wrong, like, I'll give you just like, let me give you a very simple example.

It happened yesterday in LA.

Somebody, like, cut off someone on the street, and I watched someone, like,

massively yelling at that, but like, they're just so angry.

And I was just thinking about both of them.

I was like, both the person that did the thing, like, where are they coming from on that?

Are they impatient?

Do they have a problem?

Like, what are they doing?

And then the person that, like, do you know how many times I've been cut off?

I lived in Jersey, like, a million.

I would never, like, go crazy and like road rage.

To go there, you're not in a good place overall.

Yeah.

So, I think, in general, in life, when I see someone do something wrong,

Even like bad stuff, my brain goes to like, what's how, why are they hurting?

What's going on?

And I'm talking about even when people are really bad to me,

when people have stolen from me, when people have done very bad things to me, when people have, when people that I've helped financially and emotionally do horrible things behind my back.

It's crazy how little energy or time I spend on the normal reaction.

I default pretty quickly into, man, I'm so, A, I'm so grateful that I'm not in that place mentally and emotionally and B

I hope they'll I hope they'll get better I hope you know have you had a lot of people betray you sure yeah it's life I'm so out there yeah I've run businesses my whole life one of my one of my dear friends in my dad's liquor store that I took from being a kid that you know was a high school dropout I think or maybe graduated high school like basically took from like a

At the time, whatever minimum wages was in Jersey, nine bucks, $10 an hour, to all the way to like the head of our shipping department, like a real job that he built his whole family on.

Stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory from my dad on finding a very smart kid, like found a very unique loophole that allowed him to like ship things to himself and sell it in the black market.

Like, just like unbelievable layer of betrayal.

My dad, actually, I think this is the first time I've ever told this story, mainly because if my dad listens to this, he's going to go into a five-week depression about it.

He's that hurt still and angry.

I forgave the kid on the moment we understood.

And by the way, years later I found out like he hurt his back and then he started taking back pain medicine and you know like this is where my brain goes.

Like I knew he wouldn't do that in his soul, but a series of events led him to do that.

I believe most humans in their soul are not looking to do bad.

But things happen.

And I think what's happening in our world now is a lot of people are selling fear and hate.

And I think a lot of people are not strong enough to see through it.

I think a lot of people go down paths they don't need to.

And then I also think that people struggle with accountability.

When bad things happen to me, I view them as my fault.

I don't even view them as betrayal.

I view them as like, what could have I seen to not let this happen?

And then I quickly go into like, and then maybe, it's so crazy.

This goes back to love.

Oh, I could have helped him see it a different way earlier.

Not, oh I wish I fired this person earlier so this never happened.

Oh crap, if I knew he was going down this path, I could have stopped him from ever getting to the thing that would have been firable.

Which is the polar opposite of a victim mentality.

I'm just fascinated listening to you share all this because you know the idea that success leaves clues and

you have this just

abundant capacity to do so many things, to give so many, you know, to give so much, to impact so much.

And I'm listening, and I just want to call this out for everyone listening right now, because what you're sharing is you don't let things, even when people betray you or hurt you or go against you, or you, you know, you don't let that take up your capacity by staying in a place of resentment.

You quickly go to, how could I have helped them?

You go to a place of love.

It's fascinating.

I just am imagining how much of your capacity is freed up.

To your point, wow, what an observation.

I believe the reason I can do 9 million things, and I do 9 million things,

is

that I

do not have the ability to dwell.

I believe almost everyone listening right now

is not winning because they're spending all their time looking backwards.

I believe a sentence that starts with, I should have, is the beginning of a very bad sentence.

I love learning from my mistakes.

In fact, it's probably one of my great strengths, contextualizing everything that's ever happened in my life to make better decisions tomorrow.

But to your point, if you want to go down that path, it is: I am confident when I deliver this sentence.

My dream about heaven is it tells you everything.

When I get to heaven, one of the 21st things I'm going to do is, during my time on earth, where did I rank amongst 8 billion people in the ability to not dwell?

I'm pretty confident I'm in the top 10,000.

I just don't have it in me.

Which gets to the biggest point of all.

You can't be scared.

You do not have fear when you are not scared to lose.

I love losing, James.

It's so crazy how much I like losing.

Think about what I said earlier.

I dream about losing everything.

That's how much I, I mean, Again, here it is.

This is, by the way, this has been a huge factor in my life.

The fact that everything great

or everything I'm worried about comes up in goosebumps, like naturally, this is how in tune I am with myself.

Like, I always know this means I'm saying something that's the most honest thing I could say.

Literally, I'm talking about losing everything and my goosebumps go, that's how real it is.

You think I'm going to be scared about a micro loss?

You think I'm worried about Johnny Pants49 leaving a comment that you suck, Gary B?

Like, you think I'm scared of a business going to zero?

You think I'm scared of any?

I'm not scared of anything in a world where I'm willing to lose everything and do it again.

It makes you unstoppable.

Do you think, you know, you mentioned heaven.

Do you believe in heaven?

I do.

Predominantly through this dream I've made up for myself of what heaven is.

I literally think heaven is this super AI computer that can tell you everything about your life and you just chill up there and play scenarios.

Like,

one of the things I can't wait to ask the heaven supercomputer is: show me the moment I was closest to dying besides the time I actually died.

And I always think it's like this weird thing of like, had I like not forgotten my keys, you know, the butterfly?

Like, if I had not forgotten my keys, or if I didn't meet this person, I would have met this person and we would have been here, and I would have fell off a cliff, or I don't know, or I would have eaten this banana, and that banana would have triggered a gene in my body.

Like, I'm so fascinated about that.

I don't know why.

I would have asked about like showing me my alternatives in life if I didn't move here, or if I stayed here, or if my dad did this, or if my, my, I love the what-ifs.

One of the reasons I'm a successful entrepreneur, you know, it was even weird.

Obviously, many people, when they read my intro, talk about the things I invested in.

I don't know if it's the energy we're in right now, but it was,

I mean, I've heard it 500,000 times, but I was micro-reflective for a second when you were reading that.

I'm like, man, I really did invest in those companies before people knew.

And I'm like, I think the reason that happened and the reason I'm talking about heaven the way I'm talking about it now is I think my superpower, which is very disguised, and I'm curious because you know enough about me to say, I'm curious how this is going to land on you, I actually think one of my core superpowers is curiosity.

I'm inherently curious.

I'm, you know, I hate I should have,

but I love what is, what, I love that.

And I think it sends me down.

I'll give you an example.

Do you know what I use Chat GPT for?

What?

On the flight out here from New York, I spent an hour and a half prompt engineering questions about why Laboo Boo happened.

I bet you did.

Yeah, you know, with me, with collectibles and pop culture and marketing.

Like,

I'm wildly curious.

It helps me see around corners.

It makes me a fun dinner date.

It makes me a great entrepreneur.

I wish more people were into it.

And in fact, V-Friends, and I'm sure we might touch on it, is really the great extension of me, the person.

I know that I'm not everyone's cup of tea.

I do not believe I can impact all 8 billion people.

But I believe my characters, Patient Panda, you know, Ambitious Angel,

Curious Crane, you can see where I'm about to go now.

If I can make Curious Crane famous, if I can make

cartoons and comic books, if some of the people listening now, when they have grandchildren one day in 30, 40 years, if those kids are wearing Curious Crane pajamas,

I can elevate the word curious to the youth,

the word patience, the word accountable, which is really missing right now, and that's why I have accountable and

empathy elephant.

If I can elevate those words, because I can get to people earlier in their journey, youth, or it might be a character that I, Gary Vee, am not the right personal brand for someone, but I can get them to get into accountability through the videos or the cartoons of these characters, the hello kitty of it all,

then I can leave a bigger impact.

And I think Curious Crane is one of my favorite V friends

because it's getting more obvious to me as I get into my middle era that curiosity is a superpower of mine.

You have two kids.

Do you want more kids?

Yeah, I'm definitely, you know, look, my great-grandmother said,

I grew up with her, you know, in Russia, in the old country, everybody had kids at 20.

Yeah.

She basically used to say this Yiddish word,

lost language, basically translates to kids are the ultimate happiness in the world.

So for sure.

Me too.

I haven't shared this yet, but we're expecting our third.

Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

Congrats.

And I want more.

And you know, I'm about to turn.

I turned 48

this year, so it's like,

but I agree.

And I actually love having them later also, because I feel like, you know, it's just a different perspective.

You know, I've been fortunate in my business career to

spend a lot of time with 70 and 80 year old, back to the thing I was talking about earlier.

I'm as likely to hang with an 80-year-old business person as I am an 18-year-old business person.

And I do a lot.

In fact, I do a lot of both.

I would argue I spend a lot of time with 18-year-old entrepreneurs about IRL streaming and AI and then 80-year-old real estate and like, you know, those kind of characters.

Yeah.

You know, it's wild.

I just say this.

So I was in Copenhagen last week at a table in a restaurant, and there's a couple next to me in their 80s.

Yes.

And the guy's phone goes off and he's doing audio prompts to ChatGPT.

He's in his 80s.

And I'm like, the whole world is changing so fast.

I have so much to ask you about VFriends, about AI, about social media, about ChatGPT, about all of it, about AGI, all of it.

This conversation with Gary Vee is so incredible.

We made it into more than one part.

And if you've ever felt uncertain about the future with AI, social media, and the rapid pace of digital growth, if you've wondered, will I even have a job in a few years?

Will AI replace all of us?

Does college still matter?

What should I tell my partner, my friends, my kids, or grandkids to do so that they have a bright future?

If you have these questions, you are not going to want to miss this incredible part two of our conversation with Gary Vaynerchuk coming up in the next episode of the Jamie Kern Lima Show.

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Please share it with every single person that you know because it can truly impact and change their life too.

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And thank you so much for joining me today.

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