I sat down and had an incredible interview with the renowned entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, also known as Gary Vee at his iconic conference Vee Con.
We explored his journey, the inspiration behind his projects, and his unique perspective on success and entrepreneurship. Known for his charismatic personality and innovative approach, Gary Vee continues to make waves in the business world. Gary was engaging and many of his answers surprised me. Let me know what you think below!⬇️
Gary Vee Interview
Note: The following is transcribed from the original interview and may not be 100% grammatically correct.
Julie:
So happy to meet you, Gary. Wow. You are crushing it here at Vee Con. Tell me all the onus for starting VeeCon?
Gary Vee:
it probably goes back as far as 10 years, you know, which...would be 2013. Yeah, probably four or five years into my speaking career. It was really off to a great start. It was a lot of speaking and I went to a lot of conferences and you know, I'm an entrepreneur more than I am an author, right? More than I am, you know, a creepy influencer. And so I thought, oh, I need to do one of these myself. Tiny my own conference. So it's been from a meeting, you know, manifesting kind of like percolating for a long time. And when I decided to do VeeFriends, I knew I wanted there to be a real-life utility to take advantage of the NFT spark contract and it just felt very obvious that it needed to be, you know, really need to be something that was the highest impact on and for entrepreneurs.
Julie:
Is this exceeding your expectations?
Gary Vee:
No... I don't really create those kinds of expectations. Like usually things... I don't even create expectations. I create a focus to try to make it a great by focusing on trying to bring as much value as possible. So I don't think about exceeding or not exceeding; I just think about executing.
Julie:
Who are you most excited to see on stage?
Gary Vee:
That's a good question. There's a panel with Carla Hassan, Carolyn Everson, Pam Kaufman, and others that I'm incredibly excited about. These are female CMOs of the biggest brands in the world that I've gotten to know for a decade. They're friends with me, but they're also like the titans of marketing. So it's going to be like a girls' barber shop or like a salon shop talk mixed in with real amazing business content. So I think they're going to crush it on stage.
Julie:
What I find so fascinating about you, Gary, is I love everything you do. You have an homage to the 1980s, and you're doing the '80s in such a different and unique way. Where did that come from?
Gary Vee:
Besides living in the '80s? Living in the '80s. Yeah, but you know, this... I think those of us that grew up in the '80s and early '90s love our decade in a way that I think is a little bit different. I love pop culture. Yeah, and there was so much of it going on in the '80s. So, um, you know, just think I was overly affected...
Julie:
What is your least favorite decade?
Gary Vee:
I don't have a decade I like but it is probably this one just in terms of pop culture. Probably this one currently right now only because it's not finished because I do respect everything that the '90s. I think we're really cool that Nickelodeon era like I understood like the 2000 I think has a lot of stuff that was really revolutionary. So, you know, I don't know if there's one that I dislike. It's probably the one we're in right now because so we have two or half three years to get it going. I love that...
Julie:
For new entrepreneurs who are burgeoning and just like starting the hustle if you will, what would you... what is your best advice to give them?
Gary Vee:
You know, I think the game is based on self-awareness and kindness to oneself. You know, so what I would say to them is like, don't beat yourself up for all the misses upfront.
Oh, losing is an incredibly important part of this and so that would be my biggest advice like fall in love with the losing and don't judge yourself.
Julie:
Have you ever felt like you've made a mistake in your business and that you were right or do you have any regrets in terms of building this Empire? That is very big.
Gary Vee:
I don't, you know, probably the only regret I have is that when AJ was just talking about on stage Candor was something that came very late to my career even today. I would call it one of the bigger weak points of my full stack of skills. So I regret that the people that I, you know, fired or core like that. I didn't warn ahead of time and give critical feedback. So there were sloppy exits in my 20s and 30s that I definitely regret because I don't have as good of a relationship with people that like could have seen me fumbling it at the end. But in general, I'm not overly worried about the mistakes. I mean, I was laughing when you said have you made any mistakes? I'm like, I made a mistake today really like we're tell us it's the deep down. Like I think this this seats on the Beacon stage or one section too far to the side. I think she should have been in more like just like I'm thinking about stuff all the time. Yeah, right. So, you know, I think I think that It's just part of the game and I'm okay with that right...
Julie:
Now, you just... it seems like you amass so many things. I mean plus from everything you do where you... your business touches so many different industries. When do you think enough is going to be enough?
Julie:
What is one thing nobody knows about you?
Gary Vee:
That's tough because the reality is that I'm very vulnerable and an open book. I think the thing that especially with the people I'm looking at behind the cameras right now. I think the one thing that is not known is a thing that is maybe more misunderstood, which is I am more real than you would ever guess.
The thing I'm most proud of is the closer you get to the inner circle of my life starting with my parents and my siblings the more likely it is that you believe.
You know when you put out what I put out when you do what I do when you put yourself out there when you are both focusing on motivational positivity and optimism. And you're talking about business which comes along with the money and the other things that I like kind of the world looks at. It's very easy to be cynical. It's very easy to not believe it's true. I promise you that the separate team member that I see that are around me.
The most common question for them is like "What's Gary really like?" Which, just even think about that question. What's the answer? I think the answer extremely positive. I think anyone who's cool and I think that process goes on and I think it builds. I think Dustin answered that three years ago, positively. I think he answered it more positively a year ago, and I think he answers it more positively this week because he has more affirmation, more examples, more moments, more truth, more messages, more realities, more listening to how people are effective. I did it. So, I don't think there's something that's not known. Right right, but I think what would make my biggest fans thrilled is that it's more real than they think and would make my biggest detractors devastated is that I am more real than they ever imagined!
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